Tuesday Tip

I've decided that I'm going to try to give you a little tip every Tuesday morning.  This will all depend on what kind of mood the twins are in.

Today's tip is parchment paper.  I use this stuff all the time.  I line my baking sheets with it just about every time I make biscuits or cookies.  It keeps them from sticking and it makes clean up super easy.  Just about every time I've used it, there has been zero clean up on the pans.  I just have to throw out the parchment paper.  The pan stays clean.  Several weeks ago I used it to make sausage balls hoping it would at the least keep clean up a little easier.  I fully expected to have to wash the pans due to the grease from the sausage.  I was pleasantly surprised to not have any clean up and the bottoms of the sausage balls browned nicely.  If you've never used it in your baking, I highly recommend that you try it.  Especially if you're a busy mom like me or if your dishwasher stays full all the time like ours does, you definitely need to try this "trick".

I thought of this tip last night while making dinner.  I made taco stuffed biscuits.  (Not sure if that's the "real" name for them, but that's what I'm calling them.)  It seems that every time I make biscuits they stick something awful. I don't know when it was, but Aaron and I decided to start putting parchment paper down when we made biscuits to help with clean up.  As I did that last night, I wondered how many other people did that.

This week Aaron issued me a challenge to cook things that were half-way healthy and something we thought Michael might think about trying.  Michael is a VERY picky eater.  Most nights he eats either chicken nuggets, mac n cheese or a fried weenie.  (I know.  Go ahead and nominate me for mother of the year.)  I can usually get him to eat taco meat, spaghetti and rarely can get him to try whatever Aaron and I are eating.  I do have to say, though, that he will eat his weight in fruits and vegetables.  As I was going through recipes this weekend, I came across this recipe and decided it might be something he might actually try.  Not only did he try it, but he loved it.  He's even told me several times this morning how good dinner was last night.  That's high praise from a three year old.  The other great thing about this meal is it is a great one handed meal.  That means you can very easily eat it with one hand.  In our house, that's incredibly important as it always seems one of the girls needs to be held or fed about the time we have dinner.

This recipe was super easy to throw together and I was able to just about get both girls fed while it cooked. It's super important for me to be able to multi-task these days.  Want to see the original recipe?  Find it here.
The only change I made from the original recipe was that I didn't add any salsa to the meat.  Michael doesn't like salsa and if he had seen it in the mixture, he would not have eaten it.

Taco Stuffed Biscuits:

1 can Grand biscuits (Do NOT get the layered biscuits.)
1 lb ground beef (I always use the 97% fat free ground beef.)
1 packet taco seasoning (I like the McCormick low sodium.)
shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350*.  Brown ground beef and mix with seasoning according to the packet's directions. Roll out biscuits to about 1/4 inch think.  Place 1-2 tablespoons of meat on half of biscuit.  Top with cheese.  Fold other half of biscuit over the meat and press to seal.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes until the biscuits are brown.  Serve with your favorite taco toppings.