Chili Pasta Skillet

At the end of each month I try and print off a calendar (has some nice printable free ones "here") and fill eachday with a potential dinner. It takes the guess work out of my day and I can go to the grocery store once a week to get all the ingredients I need. I have found this to not only cut down on traveling, and the hassle of lugging my spunky kid through the aisles in a cart, but overall it saves money! I recommend highly...

SO, while I was in one of my planning moods and writing out the rest of September meals, I came across this one that sounded interesting, and had little prep time! I gave it a shot, and it was not half bad. Not fantastic, but not bad. ...and be prepared, it makes a lot! We ate it and thought "okay, that was different (with the pasta in it)" and thought nothing much of it. I had it a few times as a left over for lunch and you know what? It is much better as a leftover! (to me at least). Scoop it out and warm it up, sprinkle some cheese, plop a little sour cream and grab a hand full of tortilla chips. Not too bad at all...

Recipe:
1 lb Lean Ground Beef
3/4 Cup Chopped Onion
1 (15-15.5oz) Can of Black, Red, or Kidney beans
1 (14.5oz) can of diced Tomatoes, undrained
1 (8oz) can of Tomato Sauce
1 (4 oz) can Diced Green Chile Peppers, drained
1 Cup Elbow Macaroni (4 oz)
2 to 3 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic salt
1/2 Cup of Shredded Cheese

1. In a large skillet cook mean and onion until meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat.



2. Stir in beans, undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, chile peppers, macaroni, chili powder, and garlic salt. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered (I did not have a big enough cover, so left without) about 20 mins, or until macaroni is tender, stirring often.

3.Remove from heat; sprinkle with cheese/ Cover and let stand for about 2 mins, or until cheese melts.

(note: without cheese on)

That's it! You're done friend! Now try it with the yummy cornbread recipe below this post! :-)

Creamy Meatballs

My son Carter is a pretty decent meat eater (for a 20 month old). I was thawing out 1lb of meat for Sloppy Joes and realized I did not have any seasoning left. The meat was already soft, so I thought I might try my hand at a nice creamy meatball recipe. The outcome was very yummy, and Carter ate it up! This of course is a victory for any mom out there trying to feed a toddler. ** KID APPROVED** Very quick recipe, only 3 ingredients! Serves up great over plain pasta noodles (not spaghetti type meatball) or by themselves with a salad and potatoes.

Recipe:
1 lb of ground beef or ground turkey
1 can of Cream of Mushroom
1 package of Liptons Onion soup mix

1. Roll your meat into desired ball size, and place in a skillet. Brown each side, then cook fully (browning first helps keep your meatballs in round shape, before you move them around a lot while thoroughly cooking)

2. Add in your can of Cream of Mushroom, and your package of Onion soup mix (adding the proper water amount as stated with the mix)

3. Mix and turn on medium/low heat. Allow mixture to thicken and then turn to simmer.

YOUR DONE! Wow, awesome... enjoy the tastiness you just created. :)

Stuffed Pepper Guts

So, I am sure you have heard of stuffed peppers - right? Well, this is the same, just with out the stuffing of a pepper. I use to always buy about 5 green peppers, slice off the tops, wash and clean out the insides and load them up with the meat mixture, place in a dish and bake. I found however, that we never ate the pepper, just carved it out and discarded. What a waste! So now I save a little money, and effort and still get the pepper yumminess. Here is my easy way:

Recipe:
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 green bell pepper
Finely shredded Colby and Monterey Jack cheese
1 Jar (24 oz) of Prego Sauce (I use garden variety)

1 Cup of White Rice
1 large skillet

1. Get your rice cooking first, as it takes the longest. Use a rice cooker or stove top. (remember, 2:1 ratio... 2 cups of water or 1 cup of rice -- boil, then cover/simmer)

2. Cut off the pepper ends, discard then slice up into the rest into fine pieces. Cook meat in skillet, halfway through adding the peppers - when cooked fully drain fat out.

(picture without rice added)

Now place back on burner and add the whole jar of Prego Sauce, and most of the cooked white rice. Mix around and turn to a low/swimmer. Add cheese, or allow your family/guest to serve their desired amount when dished up.
((*NOTE: If your skillet is not large enough to manage the amount, transfer the meat to a large pot, then add sauce/rice..and place on stove burner**))

Yes, you're done! It was that easy! Goes great with some home made bread sticks too! Yum Yum Yum~

Lots O'Meat Lasagna

Oh Paula Deen, you are my fatty southern food cooker. I love you! I wanted to make a lasagna one night, because I figured it would have ingredients Carter might eat and enjoy - so I found this recipe by Paula Deen. She is an excellent cook, but not a healthy one. Oh well...it's good to have a pound of meat on your ribs (or 2, or 6...)! So, yes the lasagna was a success and Carter and Don both loved it. The best thing about the dish was that it lasted a LONG time...I mean, long time. - and made for great Tupperware lunches for Don to take to school. This is not your typical Lasagna, in that it has a variety of meat wedged all so fatly within it. I believe "portions" are the key to eating such things as this... enjoy!! :D

Recipe:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
• 1 pound ground Italian sausage
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons ground oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground basil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
• 2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
• 1 (5-ounce) package grated Parmigianno-Reggiano
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 9 oven-ready lasagna noodles
• 2 (8-ounce) packages shredded mozzarella
• (haha, uhmmm yeah. A lot of good stuff, eh?)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large saucepan, combine ground chuck, sausage onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until meat is browned and crumbled; drain. Return meat to pan and add oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, parsley, and eggs.

Spoon 1/4 of sauce into bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan. Place 3 uncooked lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Do not overlap noodles. Spread 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture over noodles, top with 1/4 of sauce and 1/3 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, ending with sauce, reserving 1/3 of mozzarella cheese.

3. Bake 45 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake 15 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Whew! You're done my friend! Now go enjoy your efforts! Just remember, portions are key to eating dishes like this! Give yourself about a closed fist size - then load your plate with a nice salad, veggie and or fruit. This should be made and eaten on occasion.

Swiss Steak

Mmmhmm my husband loved this! The flavors were SO good, and the meat extremely tender! It was easy to cook and did not require any foreign ingredients/spices! I love when I can just open up a recipe and find that I have all the ingredients already...love that! :)

Recipe:

• 1 lb boneless beef round steak (cut 3/4" thick if needed)
• 1 Tbs All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 Tbs Cooking Oil
• 1 (14.5oz) can dice tomatoes with basil/garlic/and oregano - undrained
• 1 small Onion, sliced and separated into rings
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 cup sliced carrot

1. Trim fat from meat. Cut meat into four serving-size pieces. Combine flour, salt, and pepper. With a notched side of a meat mallet, pound flour mixture into meat. (*note: I do not have a meat pounder (gasp!) - but what I do that works well is I take a knife and jab the meat a few times, than place the meat and ingredients into a large sealed plastic bag and shake around and coat real well, pounding in with my hand and squishing, etc...)

2. In a large skillet brown meat on both sides in hot oil. Drain off fat. Add undrained tomatoes, onion, celery and carrot. bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 1 and a quarter hours or until meat is tender.

3. Hey, guess what. No step 3. You're done! Yes, it was that easy. Nice job~ I served mine with mashed potatoes, green beans and Nun's Puffs! (see recipe post for Nun's puffs)

Sloppy Joes

Okay, so this is not really a gourmet wowzers type meal; but it was fun and something Don had been craving for some time now. I did not even do a sloppy Joe recipe completly homemade either! haha Whoops... but here is what I did do. ....and P.S. Carter LOVED it! *Kid Approved*
(Oh man, sorry for the *paper plate and half eaten picture!* haha, I almost forgot to document it and I had already cleaned the whole kitchen and didn't want plates to clean again. ....some might call it lazy. I just call it efficient! :-P

Recipe:

1 Package of McCormick Sloppy Joes seasoning1 8 oz can of Tomato Paste
1 Lb of Lean Beef (we use lean, but whatever)
Water
Hamburger Buns

1. Cook your ground hamburger thoroughly. Drain the fat out and place back on low heat.
2. Add the seasoning packet along with the tomato paste and required water (1 and 1/4 Cup I believe).
3. Cook till mixture has thickened up a bit.
4. Open bag of Buns.
5. Smile because you are making Sloppy Joes.
6. Dish out meat mixture onto buns.
7. Drool.
8. SERVE UP! I made served mine with some Bushs baked beans (which Carter was not a huge fan of, though he loves black beans) and with some Curly fries. YUM...was a fun meal, and very filling. :) Enjoy~

Quick and Easy Korean Bolgolgi

The other night I made a Korean dish called "Bolgolgi" (known as the Korean BBQ). I had this for the first time back in 2004 with a good friend of mine, Brian, who is half Korean and eats practically anything in that genre. He had a Bolgolgi recipe and that is where I got this from. It's been a few years since I have made it - but Don requested the dish - mainly because a few week previously we went to a local Korean restaurant called Seoul, and had the Bolgolgi there....and it was AWESOME. My dish did not look real pretty though, sorry. I normally would have gotten a nice high quality meat and thinly sliced into long lengths - (like thin and long jerky)....but the meat I bought was...well, was "on sale". haha... Sorry Don! So not as tender or juicy, and short strips instead of long....still tasty though.

Recipe:

• 1-1/4lb Thinly sliced meat/steak
• 4 Scallions
• 3 Garlic Cloves - crushed and finely chopped
• 1 Tbs Soy Sauce (I added actually about 1/2 Cup!)
  
• 2 tsp Rice wine
• 1 -2 Tbs Sesame Oil
• 2 Tbs Sugar
• Freshly ground black pepper - sprinkled over-

I took a large ziplock bag and added all the ingredients in and mixed around. Then after I thinly sliced all my meat I added that to the bag. Shake, Squish and Mix all around really well - then put in the fridge for 10 or some mins. This helps with marinating.
Now cook up your meat on a skillet or wok and serve with rice and veggies... or kimchi and watermelon. Mmmmmmm :) Enjoy~

Beef Barley Stroganoff

Sounds good, uh? Well, it is! I grew up with "Stroganoff" where my mother would cube chunks of meat, with a sour cream/cream of mushroom sauce over egg noddles. So, when I saw this recipe I was hesitant, because it didn't sound or resemble the stroganoff mama use to make. It was great though! Certainly a little different, but in a good way.

Recipe:
Box of Barley
2.5 Cups of Vegetable Broth
1.2 tsp dried marjoram
1lb Lean Ground Beef
1.5 cups of Chopped Celery
1.5 Cup minced green Onion
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 Cup Half-and-Half
1 package/6oz Mushrooms (optional)

Cook the lean beef, while Barley cooks. Chop up the celery and green onions. After meat is thoroughly cooked add the mushrooms (I don't like mushrooms, so never add) and celery, green onions (I did not have any tonight) plus pepper, marjoram and half/half to the meat. Turn down to about 2-3 heat. After Barley is soft and cooked add a little at a time for desired barley/meat ratio. (about half the sauce pan for me). Stir around and serve hot. ENJOY~

p.s. I also made Italian Cheese bread, that is what you see as well in the picture. However, it did not turn out how I would have desired it. Thus, no recipe or picture for you. Sorry! :-P

Black Bean with Sausage Soup

What happened to last nights meal? Uhhhhh my dog ate it...? Okay, okay! Fine...my dog did not eat it. In fact, I don't even have a dog! The truth is, my cat ate it. Yes, I have a cat thank you...and no, I can't seem to pull anything pass you - my cat didn't touch a thing. Not because he didn't want to, but because (*hold breath*) I DID NOT MAKE ANYTHING...gulp. Yes, I said it. I made not one tantalizing tid-bit for anyone to taste. It was a "left-overs" kinda night. Don has school late twice a week and Carter and I were out with some new friends. I predict this type of post to possibly happen a few more times in the future.

So, did I make anything tonight then? Yes, yes I did. Thanks for asking. I indeed cooked and baked up quite a special treat! The treat won't be done till tomorrow, but dinner tonight was very tasteful. The past few days have been cold here in Arizona. Very windy! So this was perfect to warm up my frozen husband when he came home. I tried and tested "Black bean and Sausage Soup", and it was YUMMY!

(Came from Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book)

Recipe:
(quick version, with black beans already cooked, not dry)
2 - 15oz Can Black Beans
1.5 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Cups Water
1 cup chopped Onion (one large)
1 cup chopped Celery (2 stalks)
1 tea ground Coriander
1/4 tea Salt
1/4 tea Cayenne Pepper
4 cloves Garlic, minced
8 oz cooked, smoked, Sausage (I used Italian, and 16oz)

First cut up your sausage and cook thoroughly. Set aside. In a large pot combine all the above ingredients (excluding meat) and bring to a boil. Boil for a minute or two then turn down to a simmer for about 15 mins. Check the veggies to see if they have softened and then toss in the sausage. I turned the temperature of mine up to about a 3-4, till is was starting to bubble --then back down to a simmer. Leave it on simmer/warm until ready to serve. SUPER easy and very tasty! That coriander is awesome - and the celery really give it a special taste too.
You can add some sour cream if desired as well. I put some on mine and Don left it out. We ate warm with saltine crackers. Mmmmm just right. :)

I thought this Celery base looked pretty after I chopped off the stalks...is that weird? ;)

Onions and Celery chopped and ready to get in the Pot
Black bean and Sausage Soup with sour cream (optional)

Szechwan Beef Stir-fry

Well today on the menu was a Stir-fry, which I am not super crazy about - but nonetheless, will make. It looked nice and did taste good. Now "good" is a word I use to pretty much demean the product, character, person or whatever is in reference. I love words with a little more sass to describe something, so by using good you will know it was "bland" in my opinion. Really it wasn't that bad, it tasted like any other normal Stir-Fry you might encounter. Nothing out of the ordinary or note worthy. Verdict: "Good". Make it if your taste buds yearn for such things...mine are going to eat chocolate right now.

( from Better Homes and Gardens "new" Cook Book)

Recipe:

• 12 oz sirloin steak
• 3 Tbs Orange Juice
• 3 Tbs Soy Sauce
• 2 Tbs Water
• 2 Tbs bottled Hoisin Sauce
• 1 Tbs grated fresh ginger or 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp Cornstarch
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/4 red pepper (optional) (I sprinkled in some black pepper)
• 1 Tbs cooking oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced Carrots
• 1 14oz can whole baby corn, drained
• 1 red sweet pepper, cut small
• Thinly sliced green onion (optional)

I cut the meat into nice thin strips and placed in a large skillet, not cooking yet. Then cooked the veggies ( actually I cheated and bought frozen veggies - the store had horrible fresh veggies!) So I cooked them and let cool. I combined everything from the OJ to Garlic in a bowl and blended well (make sure you get that cornstarch all blended, it tends to chunk up). I heated up a little oil, cooked the meat - then added the sauce and stirred till all the meat was covered and the sauce was a little bubbly and thickened. I then combined the vegetables with the meat and sauce. All the while I had a pot of white rice cooking on the stove. The end result was this:

I served it with some Chow Mein noodles...mmmmm