Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been on a mission for about a year or so now to find the perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I've been on numerous blogs, Pinterest, Food Network, all the big recipe websites and more. Tried hundreds of recipes and some were great, and some well not so great. Then one day I was looking in an old recipe book I had started when Ryan and I were first married. It was a gift from my only sister Marlo who had shared a dozen or so of her favorite recipes in the front of the recipe book and the rest of the book was blank for me to write recipes down. When I came across this book the other night I started flipping through it. When I found a recipe for CCC's (chocolate chip cookies) that I used to make all the time when the hubs and I were newlyweds.

So I busted out the Kitchen Aid and whipped them up. I had completely forgotten how awesome and soft these cookies were. Not only were they soft but they still had an awesome buttery taste too. They even stayed soft the next day. I wouldn't know about any longer than a day because they didn't last that long ;-) The recipe makes the perfect amount for my little family of 5. OH! And the dough was delightful, cuz you know we all eat the dough by the spoonful am I right?

So now I'm sharing the recipe with you and also making sure I have a digital copy! Enjoy the yummies!

CCC's

1/2 cup shortening (I used the butter flavor cuz why wouldn't you?)
1/2 cup butter (1stick)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 bag milk chocolate chips (or your favorite chips)

Cream together shortening, butter, sugars and eggs. Add salt, soda, vanilla and flour and mix together. Add the chips last. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Pinterest

Who else is in love with Pinterest?!? It is my new online recipe book. A few of us (that I know of) are on Pinterest so you should come follow us! You can find me as TBeautyBox I have lots of food boards. (Ladies of this blog if you want to throw your Pinterests on here ;-) feel free) I was so excited to find a certain recipe last night. It is a Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Weight Watchers. I love the recipe and was devastated, but then I never really took the time to track it down again ha! So I was thrilled to come across it on Pinterest last night. The cookies are very low in calories and fat and are delicious. I have yet to make them but I wanted to share the recipe on here with you.

And just a little shameless promotion for myself. I also have a website that is centered around beauty Tristan's Beauty Box  I do video makeup and hair tutorials and other fun videos. I post product reviews and such. It is a lot of fun! You can also add my website to your Google Readers by copying and pasting the address into your subscriptions. Thanks!! www.tristansbeautybox.com 

WW Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
– 2 tbsp light butter, softened
 - 2 tsp canola oil
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, dark-variety
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp table salt
- 1 large egg white
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, about 1/2 cup

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375ºF.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter, oil and sugar. Add vanilla, salt and egg white; mix thoroughly to combine.
In a small bowl, mix together flour and baking soda; stir into batter. Add chocolate chips to batter; stir to distribute evenly throughout.
Drop rounded half-teaspoons of dough onto one or two large nonstick baking sheets, leaving a small amount of space between each cookie. Bake cookies until golden around edges, about 4 to 6 minutes; cool on a wire rack. Makes 24 servings.
Serving size is 2 cookies
Each serving = 1 Weight Watchers Point

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

I first discovered these lovelies over a year ago. So completely and delightfully delicious! It is a Paula Deen Recipe, the Queen of Butter. These cookies are so super easy and cheap to make. Thus making them perfect for this blog. I made them for my nephew's mission farewell luncheon/open house thing this past weekend. They didn't last long. Hope you love them as much as I do!

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Crockpot Creamy Chicken and Rice

This is probably my #1 go to thing I do with my crockpot. You know those packages of rice mixture thingies?? You know these ones:

Yeah! So I use these glorious mixes to make crockpot chicken. I've only used these 2 flavors so far but it is always a hit and always yummy and so easy! In my photo above I've used the cheddar broccoli one with frozen broccoli. Here is the recipe.

2 chicken pieces I usually use boneless skinless breasts

1 package of rice mixture

2 cups water/broth

1 can of cream of chicken

1 package of cream cheese. I love using the new cooking cream ones from Philadelphia

1 package of frozen veggies

2-4 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper optional

(Recipe can be doubled)

Place chicken in crockpot with butter and you can salt and pepper if you choose. Dump in the rice package and pour the water/broth over that. Then mix together the cream of chicken and cream cheese in a bowl and pour over chicken and rice.

Cook on low for about 6 hours or on high for 3. Can use frozen chicken if you want just adjust your cooking time. At the last hour or 2 pull out the chicken and cut it up or shred it. Put it back in the rice mixture and stir everything together. Add frozen veggies and stir to combine. Sometimes I add a little milk to thin it out just a tad but that is completely optional. Then let it all come back up to temperature and the veggies thaw as well. You could even add some cheese if you wanted.

Enjoy!!

Mexican Chicken Chowder

1 onion chopped (from bountiful basket)

1-2 green pepper chopped (from bountiful basket)

6 cloves of garlic pressed

1 stick of butter

2 tblsp olive oil (divided)

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1 can cream of chicken soup

32 oz chicken broth

2 cans green chillies

1 can diced tomatoes with green chillies

3/4 bag of frozen corn (or a can drained)

salt

pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

2 limes juiced

2 tblsp chipolte adobo sauce

2 large chicken breasts

sour cream garnish

Mexican blend cheese garnish

tortilla strips garnish

cilantro leaves garnish

(You could add black beans if you wanted. I just hate beans and don't eat them ha ha!)

Season (with salt pepper and 1 tblsp olive oil) and cook chicken breasts in crock pot on low for about 6 hours(You can cook the chicken any way you want really. Or even get a rotisserie chicken from the store.) When chicken is done, pull them out of crock pot and place on a plate to cool. In a very large pan melt butter and 1 tblsp olive oil add onion, press garlic and green pepper and cook until tender. Stir in flour until all veggies are coated. Then stir in milk. Pour in chicken broth and stir together to combine. Add cream of chicken and stir that to combine. Add green chillies, tomatoes, and corn. Then add chipolte sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Juice 2 limes and stire all together. Bring to a slow boil and then turn burner down. After chicken has cooled, chop/shred the chicken and add to the chowder. Stir to combine. Simmer on low for 15-hour or whenever you are ready to eat :)

Serve in bowls with cheese, sour cream, chips and fresh cilantro leave for garnish.

This soup was DELICIOUS!! Even my kids ate it! I had to hurry and blog it so that I wouldn't forget it! All measurements are estimates because I made this recipe up as I went.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

We are on a smoothie kick here at our house. Ever since we go our Ninja Master Prep last weekend. We got strawberries and bananas in the Bountiful Basket so my girls asked if we could make a strawberry smoothie. Here is what we came up with.

1 1/2 cups of hulled chopped strawberries (from BB)

1 banana sliced (from BB. You could add more banana but I don't like smoothies where all you can taste is the banana.)

8-10 ice cubes

1/2 a carton (2 lb) of vanilla yogurt

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp of lemon juice (I personally wanted to add more but my girls insisted that was enough)

Blend all ingiedients together until smooth. Pour in glasses and Enjoy!

Mango Lassi

So I'm thinking mangoes are my new favorite fruit. We are getting them a lot in our Bountiful Baskets. So yes, this is another BBasket recipe post :) But this one is a smoothie. And OMG! It is so yummy! I first had a Mango Lassi when I lived in California. It is an Indian drink (and no, not Native Americans, but people actually from India). So I looked up a recipe for one and came across this one. I altered it a little bit though.

Here is my version of the recipe.

2 mangoes (from BBasket) peeled, flesh removed from the seed thingie in the middle and roughly chopped

1/2 a carton of vanilla yogurt (from the 2lb carton)

about 3/4 cup of milk (I eyeballed it)

a large handful of ice

1/2 cup of sugar (you can add more, but my mangoes were really ripe and very sweet)

Place all ingriedients above in a blender (I just bought the Ninja Master Prep this weekend and it is awesome!) and combine until very smooth and thick. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Roasted Panko Asparagus

For the last month I have gotten a bunch of asparagus in my bountiful basket. I love asparagus, but needless to say I have thrown out a few bunches cuz I didn't use them. This week I was determined to use the asparagus. But I wanted something different. I saw a recipe similar to this somewhere online and just threw it together.

1 large bunch of asparagus (from bountiful basket)

2 eggs whisked

1 package of Panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

2-3 tsps of Emeril's Essence

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray

Pam Olive Oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Pour the Panko crumbs into a casserole dish or something like that. Add the salt pepper, cheese and Emeril's Essence to the panko and stir to combine. Cut the ends off the asparagus and rinse them. Whisk the 2 eggs in another casserole dish. When asparagus is dry toss them a few at a time in the egg. Then toss them in the panko. Place the covered asparagus on a foil lined and cooking sprayed cookie sheet. After all asparagus is on the sheet dump the remaining panko crumbs on top of the asparagus. Then spray with the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray all over the asparagus. Then I sprayed more Olive Oil cooking spray on top of that.

Bake for 15 mins.

This was REALLY good! Enjoy!

Mango Salsa

I am totally loving bountiful baskets! It is fun to come up with ways to use all the fruit and veggies I get each week.

This week we got Mangoes, tomatoes, and cilantro. So I knew I wanted to make a salsa. So I waited a few days for the mangoes and tomatoes to ripen a bit more so they would have lots of flavor. This turned out so yummy! I have made salsas before so I just went off of my knowledge of salsa making and had fun.

2 mangoes (from basket)

3 tomatoes (from basket)

1/2 red onion (from Italian pack in basket)

1 clove of garlic pressed (from Italian pack in basket)

1 jalapeño (I took the seeds out)

a bunch of cilantro (from basket about 2 Tblsp)

Chop all the above ingredients and put into bowl. Then add salt and pepper to taste. 1 Tblsp lemon juice (I would have done fresh lime juice if I had some limes) and 1-2 tsps of balsamic vinegar. Stir it all together and enjoy with chips! Refrigerate to marry the flavors together a bit more, if you have any left after making it ;-)

Cheesey, Creamy Veggie Soup

Not the best photo but at least there is one right? :)

So I wanted to make something that used a lot of my veggies I got in my bountiful basket. Mostly the broccoli and the cauliflower. I didn't want to make a pasta or anything and because it is still so annoyingly cold here in Utah I had a go with a soup. I wanted to post this recipe while it was fresh in my mind so that when I want to make it again I will know where to look for it. I just made it up as I went. I love doing that!

I chopped up the following:

1 head of cauliflower (from bountiful basket)

1 bunch of broccoli (just the florettes also from the basket)

1 yellow onion (from basket)

4 carrots

4 large yukon gold potatoes

So I steamed the broccoli and cauliflower in my steamer for 30 mins. Meanwhile had the potatoes boiling. I melted a stick of butter with about a tablespoon of olive oil. I threw in the onions and carrots and pressed 4 garlic cloves in and cooked those in the butter for about 10-12 minutes. The I put in about 2/3 cup of flour and stirred that and cooked for a few minutes. Then poured in 32 oz of chicken broth/stock. Stirred to combine then poured in a pint of cream. Stirred that all together and let it come to a boil. It thickened nicely. Then I added the steamed broccoli and cauliflower. At this point the soup seamed to be getting too thick so I added about a cup of water. Then for flavor added salt, pepper, and two big heaping spoonfuls of sour cream. Then I added 2 cups of grated sharp cheddar cheese. Cuz everything is better with cheese ya know. Stirred in the cheese as it melted. Then drained and added the potatoes. Then let the soup simmer for about 10 mins while I fried up some bacon.

Served in bowls with crumbled bacon on top.

It was YUM! Certainly not the healthiest soup, but it was warm and comforting.

Easy Chicken Alfredo

Is anyone else not cooking as much the last couple of weeks? I totally haven't been. We have been eating out a lot. So back to cooking this week. And I don't know why, but every time I start cooking again after I have stopped for a little while, it always reminds me how much I enjoy cooking.

So I had bought 2 jars of Classico brand Alfredo sauce about a month or two ago and they have sat on the self in my pantry since then. So I decided I should probably do something with them so they weren't just taking up space in my pantry.

3-4 chicken breasts cut into strips

olive oil and butter for cooking chicken

salt and pepper for cooking chicken

cayenne pepper for cooking chicken

Italian seasonings for cooking chicken

1 box of spaghetti, angel hair or fettuccine pasta (I used thick spaghetti)

2 jars of Alfredo sauce

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Boil water for pasta. Cook pasta while cooking chicken.

Salt and pepper chicken well. Sauté chicken in olive oil and butter. Just before chicken is done sprinkle about a tsp of Italian seasonings on the chicken. And then about 1/8- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper (whatever you and you family can handle) The cayenne pepper I actually added completely by mistake. I went to grab my seasoning salt which is about the same color but more orange the reddish. Anyway, so after about 3 shakes I realized it was cayenne. Oops! I said...and then decided it wasn't a lot so I just went with it. And I'm REALLY glad I did. It added a great spice to the dish. My kids still ate it, so luckily it wasn't too much.

Then when the chicken was cooked through, I added the 2 jars of Alfredo sauce. Stirred it well to combine all the olive oil, butter and spices on the pan and chicken. Then tossed in the mozzarella, cuz it sounded good. And I LOVE cheese. Everything is better with cheese. Stirred that to combine. Then added the drained pasta. Mixed it all together and then let it sit on low covered for about 15 minutes.

Don't you just LOVE my new dark eggplant purple colored plates?? I do. Got them at Ikea for only 25$!! And it is service for 6. I'm temped to buy another set so I have service for 12. Ya know...for whenever I will have special occasion dinners in my home ;-)

Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

4-6 pieces of frozen chicken

16 ounces in weight of sour cream

2 packages of onion soup mix

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (or 1 can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of mushroom)

your choice of noodles or rice

I salt and peppered the chicken, and also added 4 tablespoons of butter.

Put the chicken into the slow cooker. In a bowl mix together all other ingredients and then pour over chicken in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. During the last hour cook your noodles or rice. I also took the chicken out on a place and shredded it with 2 forks and added it back. Then add drained noodles or fully cooked rice to the mixture. Cook for another 30 minutes to and hour.

I forgot to take a photo, but this dish was really yummy, and obviously very easy. The hubby and kids loved it so I will for sure make it again.

I'm really into my slow cooker lately! I love the ease of it and the food is really good. Enjoy!

Bakerella's Cake Pops

Bakerella is famous for her cake pops and cake balls and really just about any baked good. She has some yummy and cute ideas. My family and I have fallen in love with her cake pops and balls. I prefer the pops only cuz it is less messy.

Visit Bakerella here.

Last night I made strawberry cake pops, but I have made chocolate and red velvet. Red velvet is my absolute favorite cake flavor of all time. I liked it way before it became trendy. But I love that it is trendy, because now you can find red velvet cake mix by Duncan Hines in the grocery store. Also you can find cream cheese frosting in a can too! You can pretty much use any flavor of cake mix for these. Although, I don't think lemon, spice or carrot would be a good flavors with these...but I guess ya never know ;)

Here is the recipe:

Red Velvet Cake Balls
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

To make them pops, you just insert paper sucker sticks after they have chilled. You can get those at any craft store, and sometimes the grocery store. Also the melting chocolate can be found at the craft store too. Usually in the same section as the sucker sticks. They have a rainbow of colors. I have only tried milk chocolate and white chocolate. But I think I'll make some for Easter and get some fun pastel colors :)

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.) I have found that you do not need the entire can of frosting. And each cake is different. Really moist cakes need less frosting and the dryer ones need more.
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.) If doing pops, then just insert the sucker stick and use that to dip and roll the cake balls in the chocolate. Also, you can stick them on wax paper to dry still, but if you want them to not have flat tops then you can stick them in a foam block thingy to cool and set.

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti

Oh. My. This was so delicious!! My kids ate a lot of it and kept saying "Mmmm!" Well Mmmm is right! This was such an awesome dish. Easy and so yummy! It makes a lot too. So I'm excited for left overs for lunch this week. Here is the recipe: (Only I did 1 can cream of mushroom and 1 can of cream of chicken and just did boneless, skinless chicken breasts.)

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cooked Chicken
• 3 cups Dry Spaghetti, Broken Into Two Inch Pieces
• 2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
• 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• ¼ cups Finely Diced Green Pepper
• ¼ cups Finely Diced Onion
• 1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
• 2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

**Make sure you make it over to her site to look at her step by step photos. They really help!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/

Enjoy!

Honey Balsamic Chicken and Pasta

YUM!

I took a recipe and then altered it to make it a pasta dish. Cuz I LOVE pasta. No I think I'm obsessed. ;) Plus I know my kids will eat it if it has pasta in it. I also love sweet and savory dishes. There is just nothing better in life!

So here is my recipe:

1 sweet onion chopped

3 cloves of garlic minced or pressed (I have that handy dandy Pampered Chef garlic press. LOVE IT)

Olive Oil

3 tsp brown sugar

3 heaping Tablespoons of honey

3 heaping Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 pound penne pasta

1 pound chicken (I used tenderloins)

Options: mushrooms, flat leaf parsley chopped, and fresh grated parmesean...maybe lemon.

So I put some extra virgin olive oil in the bottom of my skillet. (I have an awesome big skillet with high sides that I cook just about everything in. So use your biggest skillet) Then I dropped the onion into and sauted over medium heat. After they sweat for 2 minutes or so I added the brown sugar to caramelize the onion. I boiled my pasta at this time too. After 5 minutes of caramilizing I added the garlic. While that caramelized some more I cut up my chicken in bite sized pieces and then added them to the onions and garlic. When the chicken was almost cooked through I added the honey and the balsamic vinegar. It was at this point that I wished I had some mushrooms to add to this. Because that would be so awesome and delicious! I didn't like mushroom as a kid, but now as an adult, I love them. So I reduced the balsamic and honey by about half so it was syrup like (About 6-7 minutes) on medium heat. I drained my penne pasta and added a bit of olive oil to the pasta while it sat for flavor and so the pasta wouldn't stick together too much. Second to last I added the heavy cream (I eyeballed it but it was about 1/2 cup). Then let it come to a boil and thicken a bit (3-4 minutes). Last I added the pasta and mixed well and turned the heat to low/simmer. I let it simmer covered for about 2 minutes. It was also at this point that I wish I had some parmesean cheese and fresh flat leaf parsley too. (I would have made it to the store for mushrooms, parsley and parmesean but there was a freakish blizzard today. And I live on a mountain...so it is 10 times worse!) Next time :)

It is DIVINE I tell you! It is also really fun to create your own recipes. Enjoy!

P.S. If you think this is too sweet, then forget the brown sugar when you make it. But balsamic vinegar is naturally pretty sweet. Just FYI. Also I think next time I'll add something to help cut the sweetness a little. Maybe a little lemon?

Pioneer Woman's Mac n Cheese

I love the Pioneer Woman! Have you ever been to her site? She's awesome. If you haven't checked her out, do so right now. Not kidding...here is the link:

The Pioneer Woman Cooks OK you can wait until you check out my dinner post ;)

She just happened to be on Good Morning America today. I love homemade mac n cheese. It is just so yummy and comforting. Her recipe looked easy enough and I had all the ingredients already. So I went for it. Was not disappointed at all!

I used minature farfalle (bowtie) pasta instead of elbow macaroni. And I also put 1/4 tsp of nutmeg in for that little something that makes you go "what is that?" For sides I did fresh broccoli steamed in Ziplock's Steamer Bags you throw in the microwave. Have you tried them? They are so awesome! Then just buttered, salt and peppered the broccoli. My kids love broccoli. And crescent rolls. Yum.

Here is the recipe.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/04/macaroni-cheese/

I love the way she photo documents each step. She also is completely adorable and has a great sense of humor. She makes gourmet food look easy. And so far her recipes with the step by step photos have been fairly easy to follow. The other cool part is she has it set up so you can click to print out all of her recipes. I will probably do a lot more of her recipes to share here with you. As well as a few other of my favorite food people. Enjoy!

Layered Mexican Bake

Hello there! I'm Tristan, Carrie and I are cousins in law. Which means we married guys who are cousins ;) So here is my frist recipe contribution.

Layered Mexican Bake

I got the recipe and the photo from Kraftfoods.com. Sorry I didn't take my own photo, I forgot. I'll do better next time I promise. ;)

This dish is so yummy! My kids even like it. As long as I use mild salsa. Last night I accidently used Hot Salsa and didn't know it until I was cleaning up after I put it in the oven and looked at the jar. Ooops! So last night's version was pretty spicy. So I served my kids Campbell's chicken noodle soup. The hubby and I ate the dish for dinner and then again for lunch today. It is a great leftovers recipe. Warms in the microwave really well. So here is the recipe! Enjoy!

1-1/2 lb. extra-lean ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped (I use just one, cuz my kids are not big fans)

4 tsp. chili powder (I always just use a packet of taco seasoning)

2-1/2 cups chunky red salsa (I just pour a whole 16 oz jar in)

2 pkg. (10 oz. each) frozen corn (I only use one, cuz it is plenty)

6 high-fiber whole wheat tortillas (8 inch) (I have also used just 10 inch flour tortillas when I didn't have whole wheat ones)

1 cup Sour Cream (I always end up using more cuz it isn't the easiest to spread and it cools off some of the spice that my kids don't like)

1-1/2 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, divided (I use the Mexican blend, and 2 cups...cuz well, who doesn't love cheese?)

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

BROWN meat with onions and peppers in large skillet on medium-high heat. Stir in chili powder; cook 1 min. Add salsa and corn; mix well. Simmer 5 min.

SPREAD 2 cups meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; top with layers of 2 tortillas, 1 cup meat sauce, sour cream and 1/2 cup cheese. Cover with 2 tortillas, 2 cups of remaining meat sauce and half of remaining cheese; top with remaining tortillas and meat sauce. Cover with foil.

BAKE 30 min. or until casserole is heated through. Top with remaining cheese; bake, uncovered, 5 min. or until melted.