Karen here kitchen-for the love of great food

recipes, reviews, dining out, because who doesn't love good food.

Monthly Archives: January 2016

left over crockpot sloppy joes into burrito and taquitos

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So now that I showed you a scrumptious crock pot sloppy joe recipe, what are you going to do with the left overs? well make burritos and taquitos of course.  so simple for the next night and a totally different kind of meal.

just grab some flour and corn tortillas and get to work.

sloppy joe burrito

  • large flour tortilla
  • left over sloppy joe mixture
  • drained and cooked can of black beans
  • cheddar cheese grated
  • chopped onion
  • chopped lettuce
  • sour cream
  • salsa

now place a large spoonful of sloppy joe mixture, spoonful of black beans, a little cheddar cheese and roll into burrito. place on a cookie sheet into 350 degree oven till outside tortilla is browned.  remove and sprinkle on top grated cheddar cheese put back into oven for a few minutes to melt cheese on top. Sprinkle with onion and lettuce, add a dollop of sour cream and your favorite salsa and enjoy.

sloppy joe taquitos

  • corn tortilla
  • left over sloppy joe mixture
  • olive oil
  • sour cream
  • guacamole

heat olive oil in a pan, place corn tortilla in pan for a couple minutes, turning once, just till it starts to raise some, remove and put on a paper towel to remove excess oil. spoon some sloppy joe mixture inside, roll into taquito, place on a cookie sheet and into over at 350 degrees. cook, turning once until nice and crispy.  plate and dip into sour cream and guacamole

Veggie Lasagna in crock pot

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IMG_5389Yes yes, as I had promised on facebook, I would post this amazing recipe.  Now I love love love lasagna, however never cook it from scratch even at christmas time, which is our usual dinner for christmas eve.  why you say? because it takes forever and has several processes. so when i discovered that you can actually cook lasagna right in a crock pot, with all the ingredients put in at once, no need to cook the lasagna noodles first, or meat, or veggies for this recipe, just put it all in, layering as you go, I had to give it a go.  Well let me just say, awesome possum.  I will no longer be cheating on this any longer, fresh, home made lasagna for my family from now on.  Here is the recipe I did this time, but of course, you can add any kinds of veggies, or meat to the layers you want.  Imagination is all yours. So go get that crock pot out and enjoy home made lasagna tonight for dinner.

Ingredients

  • lasagna noodles (uncooked)
  • tomato sauce (large can)
  • italian seasoning blend
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 sliced up zuchini
  • 1/2 chopped onion
  • 1 large tomato (sliced thin)
  • spinach leaves
  • ricotta cheese
  • parmesan cheese
  • sour cream for garnish
  • chopped green onion for garnish
  • grated cheddar for topping

combine

mix into tomato sauce the italian seasoning, salt and pepper. be liberal here. now spoon some of the sauce onto bottom of crock pot, sprinkle chopped onion, fresh sliced tomato, sliced zuchini and spinach leaves. Then spoon on ricotta cheese and sprinkle some fresh parmesan, place on top a layer of lasagna noodles (break to size), then layer again starting with sauce. keep going till your last topping is the cheese.  Set on high and cook for approx. 4 hours.

cut up and use spatula to remove sections.  sprinkle on some grated cheddar, chopped green onion and a good dollup of sour cream and enjoy!

crock pot sloppy joes

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7 layer dip recipe

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7 layer dip

one great dip is the 7 layer dip.  For those of you who have never made this, give it a try. Not as scary as it seems and well worth it.

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced small
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 cans pinto beans, drained, reserve liquid
  • 2 medium tomatoes, diced small
  • 2 avocados
  • 1 to 2 pickled jalapeño chiles, minced (depending on your spice tolerance)
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 6 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 6 ounces black olives, sliced
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 to 2 bags tortilla chips, for serving

Directions

  • In a large pan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook over low heat until onion is translucent, approx. 5 minutes.
  • Stir in beans cooking  for approx. 3 minutes. Roughly mashing beans, add reserved liquid if needed to help in mashing.
  • In separate bowl, season tomatoes with salt and pepper to taste.
  • In another bowl, mash avocados with jalapeños and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste.
  • In a casserole dish, cover bottom with mashed beans, top with cheddar, spread avocado. Now layer sour cream. sprinkle tomatoes, green onion, and black olives on top and walla.
  • Serve with chips.

Mustard BBQ Meatballs in a crock pot

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meatballs in crock potThis is the easiest and most delicious recipe to follow. Yes it is cheating some as we are using those frozen meatballs, but also offer a more involved recipe below for those that like there balls fresh. lol This however is Great for parties or when the host asks you to bring an appetizer, just cook and take crock pot with you, place on warm and wala.  If anyone else has great meatball recipes please comment below.

Mustard BBQ sauce meatballs

  • 1 pkg. (1 lb. 12 oz.) frozen fully cooked meatballs (1 inch)

 

Prepare

  • Place meatballs in slow cooker.
  • Mix barbecue sauce and mustard until blended; pour over meatballs. Stir gently to evenly coat. Cover with lid.
  • Cook on LOW 3 to 4 hours (or on HIGH 2 hours).
Hand rolled and mixed meatballs (alternative to frozen)

Ingredients

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1/2 cup  Italian-style bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper 
1 small onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup) 
1 egg 

Directions

  • 2 In large bowl, mix all ingredients. Shape mixture into 20 to 24 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs. Place 1 inch apart in crockpot.

Brio, Victoria Gardens

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Sunny afternoon before Christmas, feeling cooped up and wanting to get out and do anything.  Had been laid up with back and leg pain for months now and just feeling so over it and in need of a little fun on this beautiful day so I head out to Victoria Gardens. Brio was one of my favorite places to frequent in Las Vegas, NV. The happy hour there was amazing in the bar and people were always friendly and inviting, plus you could have your choice to sit at the bar inside or outside. Of course my choice always being outside.  So I head out knowing I couldn’t walk that far before pain unbearable with Brio at Victoria Gardens in my site, wondering what this lay out was going to be like.cosmopolitan, bread at Brio

I arrived and even though parking lot was packed managed to score a parking spot pretty darn close.  Yeah me! I notice as I walk up that there is outside seating and today just happened to be sunny and warm enough to sit outside and watch all the Christmas shoppers go by.  Walking into the restaurant I notice the pleasant atmosphere. Not as elaborate and beautiful as the one in Vegas, but familiar.  The bar area to my left was nice and large and for a second I pondered sitting my butt there, but the lure of outside was too strong.  A couple ladies in front of me were purchasing gift certificates for gifts and quickly I was escorted outside to a sunny seat.

Definitely going to celebrate the ability to get out today I order up a cosmopolitan, which I was a bit surprised at the time it took to get it, but the bread came as well.  I love, love, love the bread here.  They do sliced as well as crispy seasoned wedges.  I decided to order the soup and salad, which can highly recommend the lobster bisque.  Perfectly creamy, lobster bisque Briobut not too creamy, flavorful, with a few chunks of lobster.  Dip the fresh bread smeared with butter into the soup and enjoy.  Salad was a Caesar of course and also very good, predictable almost average Caesar. Being Brio you almost expect to get an over the top Caesar made in front of you but they don’t do that here. As I sit in the warmth of the day, watching people shop, enjoying my lunch, by the time it came I ordered another cosmo, I notice a paper explaining how to download there app and start getting points.  So while I sit there I fumble thru my phone and achieve success with my first code to provide my server for points.  Great I think now finished with my meal and my drink.  Servers come and go. My server helping other tables, but can’t quite get him to look this way at all to acknowledge I am finished.  So I sit and wait…….wait…….wait, still he wont look my wCaesar salad Brioay.  Just when I was about to get real annoyed, almost hey if you are not going to ask me if I want anything more. Obvious I am done, my drink is empty, or offer to retrieve my check, thinking, fine just gonna get up and go then, he finally comes over so I can ask for my check.

I would definitely recommend Brio at Victoria Gardens, because no matter what the food is good, prices not so bad and atmosphere pleasant.  Be prepared to wait awhile though. If going to Vegas make sure you stop at the Brio in town square, never been slow on service there and top notch.

Brio Tuscan Grille

www.brioitalian.com
12370 S Mainstreet, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739
(909) 463-1036
Open today 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM