Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Where do I even begin with these cookies? They seriously are little bits of heaven and my ultimate favorite cookie that have ever crossed my lips. If you love coconut and even if you think you don't  you have to try these. Toasting coconut makes it crunchy and sweet and you won't even know you are eating coconut. Please drop what you are doing and go bake yourself a batch of these cookies. Your taste buds will thank me and your hips as well! Did I just say that? Ok your hips will hate me because it is hard to just eat one!!!! But go make some anyway because we all need a little sweets in our life every once in awhile!

Toasted Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter
3 cups brown sugar
4 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. coconut extract
4 eggs
4-5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 pkg. toffee bits
1 pkg. Chocolate chips
3 c. toasted coconut

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until creamy and fluffy. Add the extracts and eggs and mix well. Mix in the flour, powder, soda, and salt and mix till well combined. Stir in the toffee bits, chocolate chips, and the coconut. Roll into 1-2 inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 11-13 minutes, slightly underdone is better. Let cool on pan for 2-3 minutes and then transfer to cooling racks and Enjoy!!!!

Taco Enchiladas

We love love love enchiladas here in our house. Since my husband grew up in Mexico I usually only like authentic red and green enchiladas which I have already posted on this blog. But when I came across these enchiladas over at Mel's kitchen Cafe I knew that I had to give them a try. They were so yummy and the cornmeal crepes tasted very similar to a tamale. Mel said (look I act like I actually know her!! I don't but I feel like I do from her blog)they reminded her of corn tortillas but I thought these tasted similar to eating a tamale because the crepe was tender and soft but whatever they taste like a tamale or a corn tortilla, this recipe is a winner. Your kids will gobble them up(mine did). If you want a new twist on an old classic give these babies a try. The crepes are easy and fast to make I promise. My little two year old helped me make and flip every single one of them!!


Taco Enchiladas with Cornmeal Crepes

Makes about 16 crepes:
1 1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
4 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups milk

Meat Mixture:
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
2 lbs ground beef
2 T. garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp pepper
2 T. chili powder
1 T. cumin
2 tsp Corriander
2(8 oz each)cans tomato sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 (20 oz) can red or green enchilada sauce
1 (10 oz) can red or green enchilada sauce
Optional: sliced olives, sour cream, guacamole, salsa

For the Crepes: Combine all the crepe ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Spray a 10 inch skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat until the skillet is very hot. Give the crepe batter a quick stire . Measure 1/4 cup of batter and pour into hot skillet, tilting the pan to coat the bottom evenly. The skillet should be hot enough that you should hear a sizzle when the batter hits the pan but not so hot that it burns the crepes, Cook for 30 seconds to 1 minutes and then loosen the edges with a rubber spatula and flip. Cooking the other side for 30 seconds or so. Repeat with the remaining batter, giving the batter a quick stir in between each crepe. Stake the crepes on top of each other. The crepes can be made 2 days in advance. Cool the crepes completely before storing them in the fridge in a ziploc bag or plastic wrap.
For the taco meat: brown the ground beef in a skillet. Drain the grease when no longer pink. Add in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno and cook until veggies are tender. Add in all the spices and cook for a minutes then add the tomato sauce and simmer for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. LIghtly coat a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. Lay all the crepes flat and fill them with 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the taco meat, sprinkle with cheese, roll up and place in the pan seam side down. Repeat with all the crepes. Pour 1 large can green enchilada sauce and 1 regular can red enchilada sauce over the top and sprinkle with cheese.(or you can use one large red and 1 regular green sauce) Bake for 20-25 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve with optional toppings if desired and rice and beans!!!
Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos

So a few weeks ago I saw this recipe over at Mel's Kitchen Cafe and decided I needed to try it out. I am not a huge sweet potato fan so I was a little nervous about how these would turn out but Mel assured us that even her non loving sweet potato husband was going back for seconds with this yummy combination. So I decided to get over my nervousness and just give these babies a try and boy were they yummy. They are more of a sweet and savory burrito than your traditional bean burrito but tasty non the less and oh so healthy for you!!! If you are sweet potato fan and even if you aren't give these babies a try and your kids will gobble them up too!! Well at least mine did!!and they like me do not like sweet potatoes that much. I mean look at all that colorful food!!! so so good and good for you. The more colors of the rainbow you eat the healthier you are and I mean as in veggies and fruit not candy/doughnuts!!!!!

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed small
3 jalapenos, finely diced
2 red bell peppers, diced small
2 red onions, diced small
2 T. olive oil
2 tsp cumin
1 T. chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2(15 oz each)cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2- 1 cup chopped cilantro, depending on your taste(we like the full cup)
juice of 2 limes
Cheese of your choice-we use sharp cheddar
tortillas(wheat or white we always have homemade tortillas)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. IN a large bowl, toss the sweet potatoes, jalapenos, red peppers, and red onions with the olive oil, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Dump the coated veggies onto a large rimmed baking sheet and roast for 20-30 minutes, tossing halfway through. Veggies should be tender but not mushy at the end of the cooking time. Mine took closer to 30 minutes but just use your own judgement. Let the veggie mixture cool a little bit then scrape veggies back in the large bowl and toss with the black beans, lime juice and cilantro. Taste the mixture and add additional salt and pepper if needed. Place desired amount of veggie bean mixture onto a tortilla, sprinkle with cheese, roll up and lay seamside down on a baking sheet. Repeat with all the mixture and tortillas. Bake at 375 for about 10-15 minutes or until heated through and golden brown or if you like the tortilla soft wrap each in tin foil and heat through. Serve with salsa and avocados!! Yumm!!!!!