Quick Dinner for a busy night!!!

Today was a busy day! Shanks (my husband) was at work until 530 and as always I had plenty of running around to do!!! We don't celebrate Halloween but the Clinic does (Shanks works with kids), so he had to stay at work a little later than usual to pass out candy. After work Shanks went to the Gym around 6pm and I had to use a coupon before it expired today. Since my husband does not like to eat too late, I had to think of something quick and easy for dinner.

Thanks to my older brother, who shared some knowledge with me today, I will try new things with this blog.

For dinner we had my one pot mac and cheese, ground beef, and green bean dish. This is a very easy and economical dish to make. Below I will share the ingredients and recipe... let's go!!!!

Ingredients:

* 1 Box of Velveeta's Shells and Cheese with Rotel
* 1 pound of ground beef or ground turkey
* 1 can of green beans
* 1 tsp. of tomato paste or sauce
* 2 fresh chopped/ smashed garlic cloves
* 1/4 cup of Worcester sauce
* seasoning of your preference or taste (I use Adobo by Goya, oregano, and Seasoning salt)

Cook your Shells and cheese normally. Put the Rotel packet aside (we are going to use that after we brown the beef). While your shells are boiling, begin to brown your ground beef in a large skillet over high heat. When the beef is beginning to brown, go ahead and add your garlic and season the beef, stir well. Add tomato sauce/paste. Open the packet of Rotel from the Velveeta box and mix it with the ground beef. Then stir in your Worcester sauce and add green beans. Continue to cook the beef over high heat until all the liquid absorbs. By this time your shells should be ready to go, drain them and add them to the ground beef mixture. At this time you want to add the cheese and mix everything together trying to evenly spread the cheese.

Now, you are ready to eat!!! I hope you enjoy this dish. It is not much of a Puerto Rican dish but it is very easy, economical, and taste great. It's almost like Hamburger Helper instead Hamburger Helper didn't help you  :)


Buen Provecho (Spanish for bon appetit)

Just Getting Started!!!

Of course like any child away from their mother's homemade meals, I am missing my mother's cooking!!! I'm in the middle of no where and NO there aren't any Puerto Rican food places around. North Dakota is not a very cultural place!!! Sooooo what do you do when you aren't near the ones you love or in my case the food I love???
You find a way to bring your loved ones and the food to you :)!!!! I am going to become a better cook and a more Puerto Rican cook while I'm at it!!!
   I love Puerto Rican dishes, from Arroz con Pollo to Flan and Limber...... mmmmm Limber!!! The first time I left home the only Puerto Rican dish I came close to mastering was Pollo Guisado con Arroz blanco. That's all I knew and if I didn't have Sofrito, I was screwed :(... If I didn't have Sofrito, I didn't even attempt to make any PR dish because I just knew it wouldn't taste the same (I wasn't very creative either).
 Before I got married I was determined to, at least, become successful to making WHITE RICE. I know I know, you're thinking, 'whoa if you couldn't make white rice then you weren't a cook'..... I know it's sad but you don't understand making rice in my family was important!!!! We ate almost everything with RICE!!!! If we had Lasagna, we had a side of rice. Beef-a-roni with a side of rice. Spaghetti....... side of rice!!!!! And the rice wasn't just plain ole rice, it was fluffy and just perfect, kind of like the white rice you get from a Chinese carry out!!! Perfect!!!
Do you know how hard it is to make perfect fluffy DRY but moist at the same time, RICE!!???? Psshhh it was hard!!!! I failed for 3 or 4 years until I went back home and watched my mom make rice!!!! I watched her make yellow rice, Arroz con Gandules, Arroz con maiz, Arroz blanco, and my fave Arroz con Salchichas!!!!! I paid attention this time!!! I was getting married so I had to learn something!!!!
My husband absolutely loves my cooking, which motivates me to get better at it. His co-workers and supervisors tell me they love everything I cook. I feel I've come a long way from what I use to cook, chopped chicken breast with corn and mash potatoes :( It was all I knew. Now that I think about it, that recipe was so bland and not very flavorful at all. My older brother didn't care much for my cooking at all. My parents were didn't eat much of my cooking either. It was so bad!!
OMG, I remember when I was a senior in high school, my parents trusted me to make dinner while they still at work.... The pork chops were so hard you could use them for hockey! They weren't even safe to give to the dogs.
Yea, I've come a long way from those horrible days. I've become more passionate! I love learning new things and new recipes. I watch the Food Network and steal recipes from magazines. I am more determined when I cook, I want the meal or dish to be something great that my peers and loved ones will never forget. Something they will always ask for!!! I want to create memories when I cook, not just for myself but for others...
Now that I've rambled enough about my experiences and love for food, I can tell you what my blog will be about!!!
Throughout my blogs I will be sharing with you my journey to mastering the dish I love from my family the most!! Not only will we make dishes from my family, but dishes from the Puerto Rican culture, and non- Hispanic dishes that interest me! I'm doing something I love to do and sharing with you all!! Cooking has become my passion!!! I'm no professional but I enjoy this just as much, if not more!!!

Well Cheers to a great beginning!!!