Flautas (Beef Taquitos)

Making these made me think of an old friend from New Mexico, Gracie. She was born in Sanora, Mexico, and had lived in Pheonix before moving to New Mexico where our husbands new jobs were. She had the three most adorable daughters, and she was the best cook ever. We would spend all day eating, drinking coffee, and talking. Occasionally we went for a walk, because of all the eating. Anything she made was delicious (except mole that stuff is not right). She was such a good friend to me when I really needed a one.

Anyway...she made these delicious "flautas", which to me, a white chick from Utah, looked an awful lot like crisp meat burritos from Taco Time. While these are REALLY good they aren't as amazing as anything she made.

In an oiled skillet on high cook one medium onion chopped and one clove of garlice minced until tender.

Brown one pound of ground beef in the same skillet. Now I strain out the oil, but that is optional. After you do or don't straing the grease off the meat, add 3 tablespoons of taco sauce, 1/2 salsa, and two shakes tabasco. Mix and heat through.

Shred 1 1/2 cups of whatever kind of cheese you have on hand. I had colby jack and it works great.

Now take 10 flour tortillas and warm for 20-30 seconds in the microwave. This helps them roll easier. Scoop 1/4 cup of the meat mixture and as much cheese as you would like and roll up tight.

Place them seam side down on a baking sheet and brush with oil. Be pretty generous this helps them crisp up. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 min or until the tops brown.


Serve with salsa, sour cream, or if you are from Northern Utah....ranch. Cuz ranch goes on everything here. Then enjoy.

Side Note: TJ doesn't like flour tortillas, so...needless to say I won't enjoy these cheesy, crispy, yummy...mmmm.... Wait what was I saying?

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

This cake is very yummy! I didn't get any pictures of the final results, but it really is good.

Get together your list of ingredients.


I love this. It is such a time saver and it really works.

I evenly coat my "nonstick" loaf pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder & salt.

It would be ideal to use lemon yogurt. but I had vanilla so I added lemon zest and juice of one lemon.

Add 1 cup of sugar if your yogurt is sweetened and 1 1/4 if its not.

Add oil and mix completely. Add three eggs one at a time blending completely.

Add flour in three seperate parts and stir until just mixed.

Blueberries look so good, but I really don't like them plain. Add one cup and gently mix.

Pour into loaf pan and bake completely for 50-60 minutes.

Now this is where I messed up. I undercooked the cake and it fell apart when I flipped it over. So I can't show you how yummy it looked with a sugar glaze over the top. But believe me it was.

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups yogurt

1 lemon

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup oil

Grandpa Ken's Beans

TJ's Grandpa Ken's beans are famouns. It has long been a goal of mine to make a really good recipe for ham and beans. TJ's Grandpa Ken passed away when TJ was very young, and I have never tasted a version of his beans. But I try to make them and ask TJ each time "Does that taste right?" So I have recently tried again only to later find out that he used white pinto beans, and I had been trying with navy beans. So it wasn't right but they were pretty good.

But it only tastes good if your stove is this dirty when you are done.

So here's the jist of the recipe that made these edible, but not Grandpa Ken's beans.

One Ham Hock
One pound navy beans soaked overnight
One large onion chopped
Three cloves of garlic chopped
1 tsp Onion and garlic salt
6 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 cup vinegar

Pour the olive oil in a large pan and heat onions for 5 five minutes and add garlic for another 2. Add ham hocks, 6-8 cups water and simmer for an hour and a half. Add beans and all remaining ingredients and simmer for 1-2 hours. (add water as needed)

TJ ate two bowls so it must not have been terrible.

Lemon Garlic Asparagas

This is a very easy tasty way to cook asparagas. I love it because its so simple. You can buy it from the store if you must, but it is way better when your grandma picks it for you and ties it with a pretty ribbon. But like I said the store bought kind will work if your grandma didn't do that for you.

Lay the asparagas in one even layer on a cookie sheet and drizzle olive oil evenly. This will keep it from burning so be pretty generous.

Crush and roughly chop two cloves of garlic.

Zest one lemon and slice into thin layers.

Cover asparagas with garlice, lemons and salt and pepper.

I also started the lemon pasta, but I'll let you get that from The Pioneer Women's site. I just can't do it justice.

Roast the asparagas in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 min or until tender.

Then enjoy!