Mexican Lasagna

MEXICAN LASAGNA
2 lbs. ground beef, browned
1 can refried beans
1 can green chilies
1 pkg. Taco seasoning (or ¼ cup, if you buy it in bulk)
2 Tbsp. hot salsa
4 cups Colby-jack, or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
12 oz. uncooked lasagna noodles
1 jar (16 oz.) mild salsa (I get my 2 Tbsp. hot salsa from this jar because my family doesn't like it too spicy)
2 cups water
2 cups sour cream
1 can sliced olives
3 green onions, chopped

Add beans, chilies, taco seasoning, and hot salsa to ground beef. (Again, I just dip my 1 Tbsp. into the jar of mild salsa and use that in place of the hot salsa.) Mix well. In greased 9x13 dish, layer 1/3 of noodles, meat mixture, and 1 cup of cheese. Again, here are the layers:

Noodles
Meat mixture
Cheese

Repeat the layers twice. Combine mild salsa and water; pour over top. Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour or until heated through. Uncover, top with sour cream, olives, onions, and remaining cheese. Bake for five more minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

(P.S. I apologize for the picture ... it doesn't do this lasagna justice. And, it probably doesn't make it look really, really good ... but, believe me, you won't regret trying this.)

Barbecue Ham Sandwiches

BARBECUE HAM

2 Tbsp. butter
½ cup celery, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. vinegar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
¾ cup water
½ cup tomato soup
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire's sauce
¼ tsp. pepper
½ boneless ham, thinly sliced
Rolls, or buns

Sauté onion and celery in butter. Add remaining ingredients, except ham and rolls. Simmer for 15 minutes. Pour over ham. Simmer atop stove for 30-40 minutes; or, cook in crock-pot for 1 to 2 hours. Serve in rolls.

Now, I alter mine because my children wouldn't even dream of coming near this fabulous ham if they saw any little pieces of celery or onion. So, I omit those, and I don't taste too much of a difference. Of course, it's much better with them though. I also usually just mix everything together in a bowl, then without letting it simmer I pour it over the ham that I've placed in the crock-pot, and I let it cook in there for 4 hours. And, I usually leave out the water because it seems a little bit too runny for us when I put it in there. But, it's all personal preference. Seriously, this is good stuff; especially if you do let it cook longer because then it is more tender and yummy.

Marinated Grilled Chicken

MARINATED GRILLED CHICKEN

8-9 chicken breasts, thawed (I always get the frozen, boneless, skinless at Costco)
3 parts Sprite
1 part Worcestershire sauce
2 pkgs. fajita seasoning mix (I only used one mix of each and my husband said that there could have been more seasoning, so I suggest using 1½ - 2pkgs)
2 pkgs. Italian dressing mix

Shake, or stir, everything together except chicken. Pour over chicken, and either place in large Ziploc bag, or in a COVERED dish. Then place the chicken in the fridge for at least 1 hour to marinade. The longer, the better.


This is very important: always, always, ALWAYS cover and place your marinated meat in the fridge. It prevents bacteria from growing on the meat. I've been to someone's house in which they had the meat marinating uncovered, ON THE COUNTER! Needless to say, I didn't eat any of it, and neither did anyone in my family. It's just not sanitary, or safe!

Anyway, I'm off my soap box now.

Now, I skewered some of my chicken and some of it I didn't. It's your preference. But, if you're going to cut the chicken and skewer it, do that before placing it in the marinade. It's just not as messy.

Preheat the grill to medium high, then place the chicken on the grill. Grill them for about 4-5 minutes each side, for breasts, and just watch the skewers, turning them as needed until they are browned to your liking (I prefer mine almost black, but that's me!).

We also grilled corn on the cob. So easy! Shuck the husks off the corn, then wrap them in foil. Place them on the preheated grill for 15-20 minutes. I would suggest drawing a line, or a little smiley face or a picture of some sort on the foil so you know how far you've turned them to make sure all the corn is cooked. We had some that on one side the corn wasn't cooked. But, they were so yummy!

Checkerboard Cake

CHECKERBOARD CAKE

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar, divided
1/3 cup water
3 cups cake flour (or measure one cup of all-purpose flour, minus 2 tablespoons for each cup of cake flour)
1¼ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. baking soda
½ cup butter, softened
2 egg whites
1 large egg
1½ cups plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour three 9-inch round baking pans. Whisk cocoa, ½ cup sugar and water; set aside. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. In a large bowl, beat remaining sugar and butter until fluffy; add egg whites and egg. Beat in yogurt and flour mixture. Divide batter in half. Fold cocoa mixture into half of the batter. Spoon chocolate batter into a heavy plastic bag; cut hole at bottom corner. Pipe some chocolate batter in a ring around edges of two of the prepared pans. Fill another plastic bag with white batter. Pipe batter next to chocolate; finish with chocolate in the center; like so:

Pipe white batter around edge of remaining pan. Alternate piping the chocolate batter with the white until reaching center of pan; like so:

Bake about 25 minutes (I think I baked mine too long). Transfer pans to wire racks and cool slightly. Turn cakes onto racks; cool completely.

*Here's where I change it. I did what I do every time I bake a cake. I let the cakes stand in their pans and cool slightly on the rack, then when I turn it out I turn it out onto some prepared plastic wrap and wrap up the cakes. Then, they go directly in the freezer to freeze. This makes for nicely moistened cakes, and very few crumbs when frosting.*

Place a chocolate-edge layer on a serving plate; spread with vanilla frosting. Top with the white-edged cake layer. Spread with vanilla frosting; top with third cake layer. Spread top and sides of cake with vanilla frosting.