Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips

My family was coming over this past weekend to watch the Wings game on the big screen. Brad asked for these to go with the dips we would be making for gametime. I used to make this often as they are so easy and taste great! It also helps that we can choose how salty they are and whether we wanted them flavored.

Homemade Tortilla Chips


Soft Tortilla's (corn, flour, wheat-whatever you like)
Non Stick Cooking spray (PAM)
Salt, garlic salt-whatever seasoning you want to try.

1.Preheat Oven to 400.
2. Cut the Tortilla's into wedges, or whatever shape you want. Again, you decide how big and whatnot you would like them
3. Arrange them on a baking sheet being sure they don't over lap. Spray them lightly with the cooking spray and top with salt.
4. Bake for 4-8 minutes depending on how many you make. They should be crisp and beginning to brown. You don't want them too crunchy or hard!

(Ridiculously Easy!) Peach Crunch Cake

I guess some people call this a 'dump cake'. It would totally apply since that is basically the ONLY thing you need to do after measuring things! The first time I saw this recipe on one of the blogs I frequent I knew that I would try it out someday. We were having company two nights in a row for dinner so I literally threw this together. I loved it but will admit that it is VERY SWEET.

Peach Crunch Cake





24.5 oz can of sliced peaches in light syrup
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick of butter cut in 16 slices
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup walnuts (I omitted this since a lot of the people couldn't eat them anyway)

Preheat oven to 350. In a 13x9 baking dish pour the peaches (syrup and all) in the bottom. I used a knife to cut the peach slices into smaller pieces once they were in the dish; made three pieces out of each sliced peach. Then pour the dry cake mix right on top of the peaches. Next, scatter the butter slices around on top of the cake mix. Lastly sprinkle the brown sugar over the top of everything. Bake for about 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold-I prefer hot. With or without ice cream-I say with!

Banana Nut Muffins

I had three bananas that were overripe...lots of brown on these peels. I was leaving town for two days and since I knew Brad wasn't going to eat them I wanted to use them. I searched lots of recipes and found one that people said was a lot like the Bob Evan's banana bread recipe. I didn't want bread so instead I upped the oven and made them into muffins that I can eat for breakfast or as a middday snack. They came out really good and were so moist I wasn't even sure they were done they were so soft. The recipe makes one loaf of bread or two dozen muffins; I have no idea who is going to eat them all! Ps. this calls for several untesils and bowls which means a bit more clean up. You've been warned.

Banana Nut Muffins


1 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
I added nuts...would suggest walnuts but I had chopped pecans and they taste just as good.

Preheat oven to 325 (450 for muffins).

1. Cream the sugar and the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time being sure to mix well after each one.
2. in a small bowl mash bananas with a fork. Mix in milk and cinnamon.
3. In another bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
4.Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until flour disappears. Stir in nuts at this point if you wish.
5. Pour into a loaf pan or lined muffin pan. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes for loaf or 15 minutes for muffins.

Creamy Chicken Alfredo

This is one of my favorite things to make and one of my favorite things that I make that I LOVE to eat :). I used to belong to this 'club' where I would get about 10 recipe cards every month for a small fee. I now have the entire collection and have tried MAYBE 5 recipes...this is one of them and have I mentioned I love it? I am going give you the real recipe with my notes in the parentheses. I make way more sauce than the recipe instructs you to. This sauce is great and instead of having just a little bit of cheese and cream left over after the recipe I use the whole package.

Creamy Chicken Alfredo


1/4 Cup Flour (I NEVER actually measure this out)
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves ( I usually only have four since I generally freeze them in packs of two)
1/2 teaspoon of salt (again, NEVER actually measure this part either)
2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon olive oil, divided (guess what? Yep, I just eye ball it)
3 cloves garlic, minced (I have used both fresh and ready to use from the jar and I can't ever tell the difference)
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 1/2 cups whipping cream (I can only usually find it in the pint sized cartons-thats the smallest and like I said I use it all)
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese (the bag is usually 1 1/4 cups and I use it all-so GOOD!)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (YEAH RIGHT! I use the dried stuff in the jar)

Preheat oven to 375
1. If your chicken is thick, pound it between cellophane with either a meat mallet or a rolling pin. You want it about 1/2 inch or less in thickness. Put the flour in a pie dish or on a piece of wax paper. Coat both sides of chicken with flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken breasts, turn breasts once and cook until golden on each side; about 4 minutes each side. Remove chicken from skillet and put in a 13x9 inch baking dish.
2. Heat remaining olive oil in same skillet over medium heat until hot. Add garlic and onion; cook until garlic is fragrant and onion is tender-about 2 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add whipping cream and cheese. Cook until the sauce is bubbly and slightly thick. Spoon over chicken in baking dish.
3. Bake chicken 8-12 minutes or until a instant read thermometer inserted in center of chicken reads 180 (yes, this I ACTUALLY do). Sprinkle with parsley.
(we serve ours over egg noodles and with garlic toast...delish)

Italian Crescent Casserole

Another one that sounded so easy and had bread on top. Anything topped with bread HAS to be good in my opinion. Again, I had everything in the house so: SCORE. I wasn't sure how this would turn out since Brad had mistakenly put my crescent rolls in the freezer the night before when unpacking our shopping bags. The can expressly warns against this but I got lucky and they didn't explode on me. They were actually easier to handle too so maybe the freezing had something to do with that. This looked kind of like lasagna when it was done and on our plates (very messy) but tasted MUCH better. Lasagna taste=YUCK. Double score was that this all went very fast and then I popped it in the oven.

Italian Crescent Casserole


1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup onion diced
1/2 cup pasta sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can (8oz) crescent rolls
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated (I had shredded)
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375
1. in a large skillet brown the ground beef and onions. Drain.
2. Add pasta sauce to skillet
3. In a bowl combine mozzarella and sour cream
4. pour meat mixture into a 9x13 pan
5. spoon cheese/sour cream mixture on top of meat mixture
6. Unroll crescent rolls but do not separate. Lay on top of casserole.
7. Melt the butter and brush it on top of the crescent rolls. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Bake for 18-25 minutes or until golden brown.

I wasn't originally going to post a picture of it once it was cut since mine came out so messy (I don't think I drained it well enough) but here it is anyways:

The picture in the blog I found this in was WAY better. You can take a look HERE

Cheesy Chicken skillet

My husband LOVES pasta. I mean L-O-V-E-S pasta. I can go into almost any restaurant and look at the menu and tell you what he'll order. Only ALMOST though. He likenend this recipe to his favorite dish at Applebee's-the chicken penne pasta or three cheese chicken penne whatever it's called. This was so simple and it was all cooked in one pan. Two if you count the one for the pasta but those are easy to clean up when you're done. Both Brad and I agree that next time I am going to try and put some mozzarella IN with everything else at the end to give it a cheesier taste. We'll still put it on at the end though too. Brad's from Wisconsin: we LOVE cheese too. Anyways, I found this one on yet another food blog I read and it is sooooo easy plus I already had everything in the house.

Cheesy Chicken Skillet


2 cups of pasta (I use radiatore)
3/4 lbs. chicken cubed (I probably used more since our chicken breasts were HUGE)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can diced tomatoes (I didn't have any that didn't have chiles in them but I did have three fresh tomatoes so I diced those up)
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

1. cook pasta as directed.
2. in a large skillet over medium high heat cook the chicken untili no longer pink
3. reduce heat to medium and add tomatoes, soup, milk and seasonings.
4. stir in the cooked pasta. Let cook for about 8 minutes stirring occasionally until heated through and bubbly.
5. Sprinkle with cheese before serving.

Red Lobster Rolls

These are so easy to make and they taste pretty darn close to the real thing. If you've never had these rolls then you are missing out! I make this to go with almost anything.

Red Lobster Rolls


2 cups Bisquick mix
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon parsley

Preheat oven to 450
1. Mix all ingredients just until moist.
2. drop onto greased cookie sheet...works best if you leave them as blobs and not form them into balls.
3. Bake for about 8 minutes or until golden
4. melt about a tablespoon of butter and add a dash more of garlic powder and spread on top of rolls before serving.

Mexican Stuffed Shells

It used to be when I wanted mexican food we made tacos. Then, I found this recipe on another blog. Brad and I both loved it the first time we had it. One day while he and my dad were doing a home project I heated up the leftovers from the night before. My dad raved about them and ended up taking some more home for his lunch the next day. If you like Mexican food but want a change from tacos, try this.

Mexican Stuffed Shells


Approx. 16 large pasta shells
1 pound ground meat of your choice
1 packet taco seasoning
4 oz cream cheese softened
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
2 cups shredded cheese (I use cheddar or a taco blend)
green onions (optional)
sour cream to top

Preheat oven to 350
1. Begin boiling water for the pasta shells in a large pot. While the water boils, in a skillet brown the meat and then add the taco seasoning; prepare according to seasoning package directions.
2. Add the cream cheese and simmer until the cheese is completely melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
3.In the pot of boiling water prepare pasta shells as you would any pasta. When they are done lay them out on a paper towel lined counter. I have a large plastic cutting board and that works great for me. You want them to cool separated so they don't stick to each other so make sure they don't touch.
4.Pour salsa into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Spoon some of the meat mixture into the pasta shells. Place the shells in the bakind dish open side up. Cover the shells with the taco sauce.
5. Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
6. After 30 minutes remove the foil and add the shredded cheese to the top of the shells.Bake for 10-15 more minutes or until the cheese melts.
7. Top with green onion if you wish and serve with sour cream to finish it off.

Best Ever Pasta Salad

I grew up with the traditional pasta salad of noodles, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers all covered in creamy italian dressing. As an adult it is blah to me. This one is awesome and more filling and the guys love it! I found it on one of the blogs I read and saved it after one time making it :) The following recipe makes a LOT in my opinion so you may want to halve it.

Antipasto Pasta Salad


1 pound of whatever noodle shape you like (I use elbow or radiatore)
1/4 pound of hard salami-chopped
1/4 pound pepperoni-chopped
1/2 pound Asiago cheese-chopped (you will find it in the specialty cheese cooler)
1 red pepper diced
1 green pepper diced
3 tomatoes diced (I use smaller ones since I don't care for them as much)
1 7oz. dry Italian Dressing mix packet (with the other dressing/sauce packets)
Parmesan cheese
Garlic Powder

You just cook and drain the pasta and transfer it to a large bowl. It helps if the bowl has a lid. Add the meats, cheese and veggies and mix a bit. Pour the Italian Dressing mix on top and mix well. The add a couple of shakes of the garlic and parmesan cheese and mix again. If the bowl has a lid put it on and then shake the whole thing each time you add something and it is so easy to finish! The salad is best if you chill it for at least an hour before eating it.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I must admit I made this for the first time last night. LOVED IT!!! Oh my goodness was it full of spice and flavor! I think this is the recipe that finally pushed me over the edge and got me to start blogging about them. We love buffalo chicken anything and this tasted just like our favorite wings. Brad and I both enjoyed it and it is completely gone now. If you don't like buffalo sauce that much then start by adding just a little bit of the sauce and tasting before adding more.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza


1 ball frozen pizza dough
1 pound ground chicken
8oz cream cheese softened
1/2 cup Ranch Dressing
1/4 cup Hot Sauce (I use Frank's Red Hot)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400. On a lightly greased pizza pan (or use a pizza stone if you have one)roll out/toss/stretch out the pizza dough. I use cornmeal on the counter to help keep things less sticky when stretching out the dough. Cook the dough in the oven for 10 minutes but it shouldn't brown yet. Meanwhile brown the chicken on the stovetop in a large skillet. Once it is brown add the cream cheese, hot sauce and ranch dressing. When the pizza dough is done, spoon the chicken mixture into the center and spread it around. Top with the cheddar cheese and cook it in the oven for another five minutes or until the crust is crispy and cheese is melted.

And so it begins....

I love to cook. My husband loves to eat and has a healthy appetite. A better match could never be found. When I married all those years ago :) I knew that I would take over cooking at la casa de Borek about 99% of the time. I came armed with several tried and true recipes from my entire life that I knew I liked and could make. With a picky appetite such as mine (I hate Thanksgiving dinner) I was also hoping to add to my recipe stash with some fresh meat so to speak. I started following several food blogs and have had great luck with my finds. I don't want to brag but I am a good cook and Brad enjoys it immensely. I decided to do this because I'm crazy. Yes, with a new baby I don't have much time but I thought this would make for an excellent catalog for me to find my favorite foods quick as well as share them with people. I have had requests for my recipes before and this seems the easiest way to get them to people. And, in the next year or so I will have to start finding kid friendly and nutritious meals to add to my recipe box so I hope to maybe network some of those out of this. So, please join me in my culinary adventures-Happy Eating!