Looking for a taco recipe to please chicken and ranch dressing lovers? If so, this is the one. The original recipe called for mixing the chicken with taco seasoning but I wasn’t settling for that. Instead I made my own shredded chicken taco filling and the result was amazing. If you have left over chicken, you can just shred it and use that. If not, the chicken is best if it is first boiled, shredded and then mixed with the sauce ingredients. You can add whatever condiments you want on the tacos but I just used cheese, lettuce, tomato and green onion. Not a fan of ranch dressing? No problem, just leave it out. This recipe is the perfect treat for Cinco de Mayo.

Ingredients:
Shredded chicken filling-
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
½ cup onion (sliced)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 teaspoon salt
water
2 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove (minced)
½ medium onion (chopped)
1 medium tomato (seeded and chopped)
½ green bell pepper (chopped)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon marjoram
¼ cup cilantro (chopped)
1 ½ teaspoons cumin
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
½ cup reserved chicken broth
Tacos-
10 taco shells
1 ½ cups shredded lettuce
1 tomato (chopped)
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
ranch dressing

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Place chicken, ½ cup onion, 2 garlic cloves and 1 teaspoon of salt into a large pot. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked (about 20-25 minutes).

Step 2: Remove chicken from the pot reserving the broth. Allow the chicken to cool and then shred it using two forks. Melt butter over low heat in a large skillet. Add garlic, onion, tomato, green pepper, black pepper, marjoram, and cumin. Sauté until the vegetables are soft. Stir in shredded chicken. Stir in tomato sauce and reserved chicken broth. Stir in cilantro. Cook until chicken is heated through. Remove from heat.
Step 3: To assemble tacos- place shredded chicken mixture into the bottom of each taco shell. Top with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and ranch dressing.
(Makes 5 Servings)

Tacos are great for dinner so why not make them for breakfast? These breakfast tacos are perfect if you want to spice things up for breakfast. The best part is, they are extremely easy to make, and fans of Mexican food will love them. These tacos combine chorizo sausage, scrambled eggs, cheese and salsa. Chorizo sausage is fairly spicy, so those who do not enjoy spicy foods will probably not care for this recipe.  The hot sauce is totally optional but would be great if you want to add even more heat to the tacos. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
6 ounces chorizo sausage
8 small flour tortillas (or corn tortillas)
6 eggs
¼ cup milk
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
1 dash hot pepper sauce (optional)
½ cup salsa

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a large skillet over medium-high heat, crumble the chorizo sausage into the skillet and cook and stir until fully cooked. Remove from heat. Heat another large skillet to medium heat. Lightly spray the skillet with cooking spray. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour the eggs into the skillet. Cook and stir until almost firm. Add the sausage and continue cooking and stirring until firm. Remove from heat.
Step 2: Heat tortillas according to package directions. (Stove top or in the microwave).
Step 3: To make tacos- sprinkle shredded cheese on each tortillas. Top with the scrambled egg and sausage mixture, add hot pepper sauce (if using), and top with salsa.
(Makes 4 Servings)

This is just like the Spicy chicken that can be found at your favorite Chinese restaurant. It is the latest recipe to be added to my collection. This Chinese dish is sure to please fans of both sweet and spicy food. The chicken gets a nice crispiness from a light coating of cornstarch and the sauce is one of the best around. The sauce is soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, and rice wine vinegar mixed. Rice wine and rice wine vinegar is not the same thing. If you cannot find rice wine, any white wine will work in its place. This recipe calls for deep frying but you can fry in the pan instead if you choose. Serve with white rice. If you want extra sauce for the rice, you can double or triple the sauce ingredients.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1 inch chunks)
½ cup cornstarch (for dusting)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine (or any white wine)
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon garlic (minced)
2 teaspoons ginger (minced)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more, to taste)
¼ dry cup roasted peanuts
4 green onions (sliced)
Oil (for frying)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees. Lightly toss chicken pieces of cornstarch until evenly coated.
Step 2: In a small bowl combine soy sauce, rice wine, rice wine vinegar, and brown sugar. Set aside. Deep fry chicken in patches at 375 degrees until golden brown and fully cooked (about 5-7 minutes). Drain on paper towels.

Step 3: While chicken is frying. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a wok or sauce pan to medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger and red pepper flakes. Stir fry for 15 seconds. Add the sauce mixture. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.
Step 4: In a serving bowl mix cooked chicken pieces with the sauce. Add green onions and peanuts. Mix well and serve.
(Makes 2 Servings)

I find it amazing how just a few simple ingredients can come together to make a great dish. This holds true with this recipe for garlic shrimp pasta. You can never go wrong with the combination of shrimp and pasta and this dish doesn’t disappoint. The shrimp are sautéed in butter and garlic, and then mixed with noodles, oil, and various seasonings.  A lot of the seasonings in this recipe can be added to your taste. This is a quick, easy and delicious recipe. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb medium shrimp (peeled, deveined, with tails removed)
1lb uncooked spaghetti noodles
8 garlic cloves (minced)
¼ cup butter
2 teaspoons olive oil
Italian seasoning
black pepper
red pepper flakes
salt

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Boil pasta in water according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water for use at a later time. Drain the pasta.
Step 2: While the pasta is boiling, in a large deep skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add shrimp and cook until they are little pink. Add garlic and cook 5-7 minutes. Add olive oil and continue to cook shrimp until they are pink.
Step 3: Add pasta to the skillet, season with Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, black pepper and salt. Add enough of the saved pasta water till the mixture is not dry but not simmering in liquid (start by adding ¼ of a cup and work your way up from there). Keep tossing all the ingredients around in the skillet until it is well combined and hot.
(Makes 4 servings)

Turkey pot pie is an excellent way to use up leftover turkey. If you have ever made pot pie before you know it takes a little work but the end result is amazing. A local restaurant here in Michigan makes some of my favorite pot pie and I just had to make it at home. This pot pie combines cooked turkey with a nice sauce and vegetables such as carrots, peas, and celery. If you don’t want to use turkey, you can use chicken instead. In this recipe I will assume the chicken or turkey you are using is raw, and provide cooking Instructions to follow. This is a recipe that is sure to please almost anyone. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb turkey or chicken (cubed, can use raw or leftover cooked turkey)
1 cup carrots (sliced)
1 cup frozen green peas
½ cup celery (sliced)
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup onion (chopped)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon celery seed
1 ¾ cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 9 inch pie dish and press one of the pie crusts onto the bottom of the pie dish, set aside. In a saucepan add turkey or chicken (if the meat is already cooked, just add it in the last couple minutes of cooking to heat it through). Add carrots, peas, and celery. Add enough water to the pan to cover the meat and vegetables and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes, remove from heat, drain and set aside.
Step 2: In the same saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add onions and cook until they are soft. Stir in flour, salt, pepper and celery seed. Slowly stir in the chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until the mixture becomes thick. Remove from heat and set aside.

Step 3: Place the turkey and vegetable mixture on top of the bottom pie crust. Pour the thickened chicken broth mixture over the meat mixture. Cover with the top crust, seal edges and cut away any excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow the steam to escape.
Step 4: Place into the oven and bake at 425 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.
(Makes 4 Servings)

A good breakfast can never be complete without scrambled eggs. Making scrambled eggs might seem rather obvious to some, but this is a slightly different take on making scrambled eggs. If you are wondering how to make delicious scrambled eggs, you will want to give this a try. By adding a few simple ingredients such a milk and baking powder, your scrambled eggs can turn out fluffy and nearly perfect. I recommend using a non-stick skillet when making scrambled eggs. Adding the shredded cheese is totally optional. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons butter
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
ground black pepper (to taste)
½ cup grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a large bowl whisk the eggs with milk, baking powder, salt, and black pepper. Whisk until well combined. Let stand at room temperature for at least 5 minutes.
Step 2: Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add butter and melt until sizzling. Whisk eggs again briefly then mix in the cheddar cheese (if using). Pour the egg mixture into the hot skillet. Stir constantly with a spatula until the eggs have reached desired consistency.
Step 3: Remove from the pan and plate.
(Makes 2 Servings)

If you have ever wanted to know how to make sausage gravy this recipe is perfect for you. First off I will start by explaining what sausage gravy is. Sausage gravy is basically a combination of milk, butter, and flour with pieces of sausage in it. Sausage gravy originated in the South and has become very popular. This gravy is typically served over biscuits but it goes great on eggs or toast as well. It is always a great treat for breakfast. For the type of sausage, you can use just plain pork sausage, maple flavored sausage or really any flavored sausage you might enjoy. If you want to add a little heat, the addition of a little hot sauce or red pepper flakes spices up this gravy nicely. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1 (12 ounce) package pork sausage (or maple flavored sausage)
3 tablespoons butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
salt and pepper (to taste)

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Heat a large deep skillet to medium high heat. Add sausage, and break up into small pieces with a metal spatula while cooking. Cook until sausage is evenly browned. Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon reserving the fat drippings in the pan. Set sausage pieces aside.
Step 2: Add butter to the pan and stir until melted. Add flour and stir until smooth. Reduce heat to medium and cook until light brown. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook until the mixture has thickened. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in cooked sausage. Reduce heat and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes. If the mixture becomes too thick, add a little more milk.
Step 3: Serve over biscuits, or eggs and toast.
(Makes 6 Servings)