Pork Chop Casserole

This is an easy and tasty casserole. We like ours with rolls or cornbread. I use home canned tomatoes for this and they taste so good that they make you think of summer. We need that on Beaty's Creek today, it is cold and breezy.

Needed:
5 pork chops
4 lbs. of potatoes-peeled and quartered
2 yellow onions-peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick in rings
1 large can of peeled whole tomatoes(I use home canned tomatoes.)
1 large can tomato sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Salt and Pepper pork chops and brown on both sides. I do this in the same covered pan that I cook the casserole in. Once browned, layer in this order, pork chops, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and tomato sauce. Cover and cook for 1 hour and 45 minutes in a 425' oven. The gravy this casserole makes is so good to eat with fresh bread. Well that is "what's cookin" tonight on Beaty's Creek.

Shrimp Fajitas

I decided that since I just made salsa and guacamole, we should have shrimp fajitas tonight. Glad I have shrimp in the freezer and lucky me they are already deveined. I loath deveining shrimp. This is really an easy but impressive meal to make. All of my brood really like fajitas too. Raine even chowed down on the shrimp tonight. Well that is "what's cookin" tonight on Beaty's Creek.

Needed:
4 pounds of deveined, peeled shrimp
3 large yellow onions-peeled and quartered
5 bell peppers-seeded and cut into inch strips
1 cup oil
2 cups of water-for marinade
4 fajita seasoning packs(I know this is ready made but I really like the already made packs.)
2 pounds of sharp cheddar-shredded
Guacamole
Salsa
Sour Cream
Flour tortillas

Place onions, peppers, and shrimp in a large bowl and mix seasoning packets with 1 cup of oil, I use canola, and 2 cups of water. Let marinade in the fridge for at least 4 hours or a little longer is fine. You will have to cook your fajitas in batches. Don't over crowd your pan. I use a caste iron fajita pan that is not real large so I must cook in smaller batches. I also use part of the marinade to cook my fajitas in. I really like the marinade with my fajitas but this is up to you. Cook your fajitas until the veggies are the tenderness you want and the shrimp is no longer transparent. This happens in about 10 minutes over medium high heat. Serve them with salsa, guacamole, cheese and sour cream. I need to make my own tortillas though. I think maybe that will be my new project, we will see.

Guacamole

Guacamole this time year is a perfect dip, meaning avocados are on sale this time of year and they are good! Did you know more avocados are sold the week prior to Super Bowl than any other time of year? Here is my recipe for guacamole, give it a try!

Needed:
5 avocados-chopped
1/2 small white onion-chopped
1 garlic clove-minced
1 tomato-chopped and seeded
Juice from 1 lime
Salt to taste

I mix all of the ingredients together and then really stir it up. This way you still have chunky guacamole and not mush, don't like to eat green mush. The lime juice will help the avocado from turning but ours never last very long. Munch out with your favorite tortilla chips!

Salsa

Fresh salsa is best when fresh tomatoes are in season but canned work really well in the winter. I will tell you this, "DON'T BUY OFF BRAND TOMATOES"! They are hard and have no taste, buying name brand here is best. We like cilantro in ours, if you don't have a taste for cilantro, leave it out. Make sure you have plenty of tortilla chips to eat this salsa with!

Needed:
4 cans of diced tomatoes or 8 whole garden ripe tomatoes
2-3 jalapenos-diced(I don't seed ours, we like the heat.)
2 garlic cloves-minced
1 bunch of cilantro leaves-chopped
1 small purple onion-diced
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 lime


Mix tomatoes, jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, onion, salt and juice really well. The lime juice keeps the salsa tasting fresh longer, we eat ours so fast it is not needed but I like the taste the lime juice gives. You are ready to serve when finished mixing. This is what I am making today.

El Chico's White Dip

This is my attempt at being a copy cat. I ate the white dip at El Chico's in Muskogee, OK and loved it! I went to an El Chico's in Tulsa and found out you can only get the white dip in Muskogee, bummer. So I knew I had to come up with a copy cat recipe and here it is! Make this for your Super Bowl Party and you will not be disappointed. This is really good with veggies and tortilla chips.

Needed:
8 ounces blue cheese-crumbled
1 cup sour cream
2 cups Kraft mayo
1 cup buttermilk
1 T garlic powder
1 T kosher salt
Tortilla Chips

Mix blue cheese, sour cream, mayo, and butter milk until smooth, now is the time to add the garlic powder and kosher salt. Mix well and place in the fridge for a couple of hours. This makes quite a bit but it will not last if your family and friends are like mine!

Cocktail Meatballs

I bet you have 10 different recipes for meatballs but I bet none of them call for grape jelly. My mom made these for holidays and they are so good. My kiddos love them too. I use ground turkey but you can use beef if you wish. This would be a great snack for your Super Bowl party.

Needed:
2 pounds ground turkey (or ground beef)
1 T garlic powder
1 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper taste
1 jar grape jelly
1 jar chili sauce(this located next to cocktail sauce in the grocery)
1 egg

Mix turkey, garlic, bread crumbs, salt and pepper and 1 egg. Mix well with hands and form into 2 inch balls. I place mine on parchment paper and bake at 325' until done, usually about 15 minutes. Now place jelly and chili sauce in a crock pot and let melt, now add your meatballs to crock pot. Heat on high until bubbling. These are really good with cheese and crackers.

Indian Tacos

Okay I will be the first to tell you I hate the name "Indian Taco". First Native Americans are not Indians because they do not come from India and second I really don't think Natives ate "tacos" per se, but I do love them. I am going to call them Native Tacos, so if you do make them, call them Native Tacos and maybe we can start a good thing. Once you master the fry bread you are ready to make Native Tacos. Practice makes perfect fry bread, just as with any good bread. It is very icy on Beaty's Creek today and this just sounds like a good dinner.

Needed:
2 lbs ground beef or turkey-browned with salt and pepper only
2 lbs Colby cheese-shredded
Pinto beans-cooked with salt and pepper only
1 head lettuce-cut finely
1 purple onion-chopped
3 tomatoes-chopped
Salsa- Paul Newman's Meduim Chunky Salsa is so good!
Sour Cream

Fry Bread

6 cups of all purpose flour
3 T baking powder
1 cup powdered milk
2-3 cups water
Oil for frying


Sift flour and baking powder together, make a bowl in the middle of flour, this is where you will add milk and water. I mix with my hands, I think you get a better feel for the dough this way. I mix until the dough feels like loose biscuit dough. Does that make sense? If not use the comment section to ask me questions. Believe you me it took me making fry bread 10 times before I reached my goal. So don't be disappointed, keep trying! Once mixed together form into disks about 1/4 inch thick and 4 inches across. Heat up oil over medium heat. I place my hand over the oil and can tell if it is ready to add the bread but you can always drop a piece of bread in and see if it sizzles, if it does you are ready to cook your bread. When frying your bread you don't want to turn your bread more than once. I check mine to make sure it is brown enough before turning. This usually happens between 5-6 minutes. Dough should be cooked through and not doughy. I place a couple of paper towels in the bottom of a brown paper bag to soak up any excess oil, and that is where I put my hot fry bread. The bag keeps the bread hot while you finish cooking all the bread.

Now is the time to make your taco. I will list in the order we build our tacos. You can make them anyway you want but this is how we do it on Beaty's Creek.

Bread
Beans
Meat
Cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Onions
Salsa-Paul Newman's Medium Chunky Salsa takes like fresh made!
Sour Cream