Pastor Ryan's Bolognese Sauce

I've been eyeing up this bolognese recipe from The Pioneer Woman's website ever since it was posted. I knew I had to make it post haste and try its deliciousness, so I threw it on my menu plan for this week. I love, love, love homemade pasta sauces, and this one looks amazing. Pioneer Woman has never steered me wrong, so I'm assuming this will be awesome. Although I guess technically it's not one of her recipes, but I still assume it will be good. The post for the recipe on her website has great pictures of the process, if you want to check them out.

Ryan’s Bolognese
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1 large red onion, diced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 pounds ground beef
2 tablespoons dried oregano flakes
2 tablespoons dried basil flakes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 cups red wine
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
salt
pepper
2 28-ounce cans whole tomatoes
1 cup milk
Fresh Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet over medium heat. Add grated carrots and onions and cook for a few minutes. Make a well in the center of the mixture, then add in the ground beef. Cook for a few minutes until brown, gradually stirring it into the carrot mixture. Throw in oregano and basil. Use fresh if you have it; if you don’t, it’s fine.

When the meat is browned and combined with other ingredients, make another well. Add tomato paste and let it heat. Add garlic and stir to combine. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add red wine. Stir together. Add Worcestershire and stir. Add canned tomatoes. Finally, pour in milk, stir, and let simmer for 30 minutes to 2 hours—however long you need.

Serve with pasta and a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

*****

Did I mention I love homemade pasta sauce? I've pretty much stopped buying the jarred kind because it's really so easy to make your own and you can control what goes into it. And it just tastes so much better. The husband has another hockey game to watch tonight, so it will be nice to get this sauce going in the afternoon so all I have to do at dinner time is throw in some pasta to boil.

There's a bread recipe on PW's website also by Pastor Ryan that looks amazing that I think I'll make to go along with this. Either that or Barefoot Contessa's Garlic Ciabbata Bread which is without a doubt the best garlic bread I have ever had. My mouth starts watering just thinking about it. I think I'll go with Pastor Ryan's and make it a Pastor Ryan/Pioneer Woman dinner all around.

*****

This was yummy sauce. I added in two cups of wine, and I think one cup would have been enough. My sauce only got to simmer for one hour because I got a later start on it than I had planned (see my reason for not making the bread!), and I really would have liked it to simmer longer. I was worried for awhile because it seemed too liquidy (is that a word? Not sure...watery, soupy, etc.), but it thickened up in the end. I hate watery sauce so I was a bit apprehensive. But it all worked out. This was definitely good sauce, but I don't think it was the end all be all of spaghetti sauce. I'd make it again because it was tasty and fairly easy to throw together. Oh, I ended up using kitchen shears to cut up the whole tomatoes. Had I been thinking, I would have cut them up while they were in the cans instead of once they were already in the pot. And this made a TON of sauce. We ended up having leftovers for dinner on Sunday night because there was so much of it. So we had Saturday dinner, Sunday dinner, and I probably put about half of the pot into the freezer today. I'd say if you didn't want to eat this for days or freeze it or serve it to a crowd, you could easily cut it in half.

Mmmm...sauce simmering on the stove:


Just to keep things interesting, I took a picture of dinner on the boy's frog plate:

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

So today beings a new era in the life of my little boy--using the potty instead of wearing diapers. Once he gets up from his nap it's hello underwear, goodbye diapers. I have to admit I'm kind of sad because it means he's growing up, but I won't miss having to change two kids' diapers. And the few times he's worn big boy underwear, his little butt just looks so cute running around in them. Seriously, it should be illegal to be that cute. Since the rest of my day will most likely be consumed with trips to the potty (and I'm guessing multiple changes of underwear...for him, not me), I wanted something easy for dinner. I was going to do something in the crockpot, but the husband may have to work late, so I changed my mind and am doing something easy that he can eat if he gets home late. I stocked up recently on ingredients for spaghetti sauce, so I'm going to make some of that. I also seem to have a ton of ground beef, so I figured I'd make meat sauce for it. I'm going to use my go-to spaghetti sauce recipe and just brown some ground beef to add to it.

Chili Pasta with Beans

I was going to say "What a day" but haven't I been saying that just about every day lately? Ah, life with a three year old in the house. Always keeps things interesting. It's a good thing I'm nursing the baby because if I wasn't, I'd probably be an alcoholic. Just kidding. Maybe.

Anyway, this was another recipe from last month's Cooking Light, actually from the same article as the falafel recipe I mentioned in my post yesterday. It was on the same page as the falafel, so I happened to notice it when looking at that. I had pretty much everything on hand for it, and as I've been trying to use up items from my freezers and pantry I thought it would be good.

Chili Pasta with Beans
1 tablespoon canola oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 pound ground sirloin
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cups water
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces uncooked ruote (about 2 1/4 cups uncooked wagon wheel–shaped pasta)
1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes with green chiles (such as Muir Glen), undrained
1 (8-ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and beef to pan; cook 4 minutes or until onion is tender and beef is browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in chili powder, cumin, and oregano; cook 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups water and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 18 minutes or until pasta is done.

Nutritional Information
Calories:294
Fat:8g (sat 2.3g,mono 3.6g,poly 0.9g)
Protein:18.8g
Carbohydrate:35.4g
Fiber:4.6g
Cholesterol:21mg
Iron:3.7mg
Sodium:644mg
Calcium:59mg

*****

I figured since the nutritional info was posted I'd include it here. I'm changing it up slightly and adding a can of kidney beans instead of the ground beef. I have a ton of ground beef for some reason, but I needed another vegetarian dinner in my meal plan, so I thought that would be a decent substitute. Also, a big THANK YOU to Jen B. for giving me some chili powder since I'm out and didn't want to go to the store with two kids (I still haven't braved that). Oh, and I couldn't find wagon wheel pasta, so I think I got fusilli instead.

I think I'm going to heat up some canned corn (I heart Trader Joe's canned corn so much!!! I've been known to eat it straight from the can. I hope that wasn't TMI.) and some bread to go with it. Had I thought far enough ahead I would have thawed a loaf of frozen bread dough, but I never think to do that with enough time for it to thaw and rise.

*****

This was decent but not something I'll make all the time. If I need a dinner and have everything on hand I'd probably make it again, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to make it. I liked that it was healthy and made a lot, but overall it was just kind of "eh."

(I forgot to take a picture when I made it, so I took a picture of the leftovers when I was having some for lunch one day.)

tacos

I had originally planned something else for dinner tonight, but it used leftovers from the beef I was going to do in the crockpot on Wednesday. I've been thinking all day about what to make and haven't had any really good ideas. I asked the boy and he didn't have anything to suggest either. I thought about tacos and have decided to go with that. Easy, tasty...what more can I ask for?

Tater Tot Casserole

this is one of my most favorite meals ever!!! My mom went to a sewing expo not far from my house last week. I invited her for dinner one night, but she said she was just going to head home. The next day she asked what we were having. :) I had originally planned on making this that night, but I got those ahi tuna steaks at Trader Joe's and switched things up. So I told her I'd make it one night this week and she could come for dinner then. She comes over once a week and stays with the kids so I can go grocery shopping alone. Isn't she a saint?! My mom's awesome. So, she's going to come over this afternoon and then just stay for dinner. I love this casserole because it's easy to throw together and so super tasty. Seriously, it's been one of my favorites since I was little.

Tater Tot Casserole
1 lb ground beef
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Cheddar cheese--sliced or shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Tater Tots

In an 11x7 pan, crumble or spread ground beef. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder on top of beef. Cover with sliced or shredded Cheddar cheese (NOT American cheese...real cheddar). Spread can of cream of mushroom soup over the cheese layer (this can be tricky business if you've used shredded cheese). Top with tater tots. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, uncovering for last 30 minutes. Or bake at 375 for one hour, uncovering for last 30 minutes.

*****

Mmmmm. Yum. I can't wait for dinner. I like to eat mine with ketchup. I usually use shredded cheese because that's what I always have on hand, but it's much easier with slices. Actually I have a big block of cheddar cheese in the fridge, so maybe I'll slice some of that up to use instead of the shredded. We'll have some kind of vegetable on the side--maybe green beans.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I heart spaghetti and meatballs. I heart it so much. We rarely had spaghetti when I was growing up because my mom doesn't like it. She claims she ate too much of it in college and can't eat it anymore. Same goes for macaroni and cheese, which is odd because personally I ate a TON of that in college (and my whole life really) and still could eat it multiple times a week. Who knows. Occasionally we would get spaghetti but we'd never get meatballs. I was so excited when I found out my mother-in-law makes meatballs and even more excited when she gave me her recipe for them.

For whatever reason, I don't make this all that often, even though I love it. Probably because we don't eat a lot of red meat, and soy meatballs just aren't the same thing. They'll work in a pinch, but they don't even come close to real meatballs. Originally I had planned on making just spaghetti sauce last Tuesday for the boy and me for dinner, but that's when our family crisis came to a head, and by the time the boy and I got home from my mom's house, I was completely drained and exhausted and didn't have it in me to cook dinner. So I figured I'd bump it to Sunday night dinner and add in meatballs since the husband loves them too. The meatball recipe is my MIL's, the sauce recipe is from a cookbook put together by members of a message board that I belong to. I've made it before and loved it.

Meatballs
lean ground beef – 2 pounds or more
Italian bread crumbs ( 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
chopped onion – 1 chopped fine
parsley (1 1/2 tab minced)
grated Parmesan cheese (3/4 cup)
eggs –2
salt/pepper
garlic powder

Mix ingredients for the meatballs (ground beef, italian bread crumbs, chopped onion, parsley, grated parmesan cheese, and eggs. Salt and Pepper. Shape into balls and fry in a little olive oil.

*****

Tomato Sauce
3 cans crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
Oregano
Salt
Pepper
Fresh basil

Mince the garlic and onion. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Add cans of crushed tomatoes plus half a can of water and bring to a boil. When it's boiling, turn the heat way down and let it simmer. The longer you let it simmer, the better it will taste. For three cans, let simmer about 90 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and oregano to taste. At the very end chop up some basil and stir it in (dried basil would work too).

*****

I forgot to add the parmesan cheese to the meatballs. I could tell something was missing, but the husband didn't say anything about them being off. They were still good, just not as good as they could have been. Also, my sauce turned out really watery for some reason. It was fine in the pot, but then once it was on our plates it was super runny. I didn't rinse off the pasta--which is what I always thought caused the problem--so I have no idea what happened.

Oh, and here's my fancy way of doing this. I cook the meatballs in the same pot I use to make the sauce. Then you get yummy little bits of meatballs stuck to the bottom of the pot. I deglaze the pot with some red wine, let it cook like that for awhile to get rid of the alcohol, then add in the sauce ingredients. Mmmmm...gives it just a little extra flavor that's super yummy.

Tacos

It was another dinner crisis tonight. I had gotten out some chicken drumsticks to make using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman, but I got the chicken out too late, and it was still frozen when I needed to start working on it. Oops. Maybe Friday night. I remembered seeing a box of Boca grounds in my garage freezer, and I just bought tortillas at the grocery store yesterday, so I think it's going to be taco night. We don't have much in the way of fixings, but I think that should be okay.

My taco recipe--if you can call it that--isn't even worth posting. Pound of ground beef (or Boca Grounds in our case tonight), packet of taco seasoning, tortillas, cheese, sour cream, salsa, etc. Pretty humdrum, but I'm actually excited about it. I heart taco night.

Get ready for an exciting dinner tomorrow night! The husband's big 3-0 birthday is on Thursday, so we're having his choice tomorrow night because we're going out on Thursday. It's something that I'm not sure I've posted before, or if I have it was quite awhile ago. I'm already excited for it!!

Jen A/B's Sloppy Joes

Yeah, yeah...I still haven't updated the last few posts with pictures and reviews like I keep saying I'm going to. Cut my some slack...I'm eight months pregnant and needed a nap today. As soon as the husband gets home, I'm hightailing it upstairs to upload pictures and get that done!

So tonight is Jen B Night at our house. She's been copying me so much, I figured I should copy her. I figured I'd try something new in the Sloppy Joe realm and give her "from scratch" recipe a try instead of my usual Sloppy Joe recipe. While I was making a Jen B. main dish (she got the recipe from our friend Jen A., by the way, hence the name of the recipe), I figured I should make a Jen B. side dish as well, so after I post this it's going to be Jen's Cheesy Potatoes. She made them when we went to San Diego together a few months ago, and they were AWESOME.

Jen A/B's Sloppy Joes
1 lb ground beef
1 T onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 T vinegar or Worcestershire
2 T prepared mustard
2 T sugar or brown sugar
1 C ketchup
Onion powder to taste
Garlic powder to taste
1 Green peppers, diced (optional)
2 T water (if needed)
1/4 cup Beef or chicken broth (for extra liquid)
1-2 T Heinz 57
1-2 T Dijon Mustard to taste
6-8 hamburger buns

Brown ground beef and onions; drain. Add remaining ingredients and simmer. Serve on buns.

*****

I hope I have beef broth, but if not I'll throw in some chicken broth and hope for the best. I also don't have Heinz 57 sauce, so I'll have to come up with something creative for that substitute. Honestly I have no idea what Heinz 57 tastes like, so not sure what I'll do there.

Now, for cheesy potatoes...

*****

The sloppy joes were really yummy. The husband and I agreed we like these better than the version I usually make. I didn't end up needing to add in any extra liquid, so my lack of beef broth wasn't a big deal. I was down to the end of a bottle of ketchup, so I did add some water into that after I squeezed out all I could to get some of the ketchup off the sides of the bottle, then poured that in, but that was it for extra liquid. I put in some BBQ sauce instead of the Heinz 57, and it was yummy. Thanks Jen A/B for a great recipe!

(Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures...sorry!)

Tater Tot Casserole

It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that we haven't had this in FOREVER. Like, seriously forever. I don't even know if it's on the blog, it's been that long. This is one of the casseroles my mom would make when I was little and my folks weren't that well off. Kind of poor people food, but it's awfully good. She refused to make it for a long time, and I remembered it in college or shortly after I graduated, and I've been making it ever since. We were going to have it last night, but we ended up running to Walmart, and by the time we'd get home it was going to be too late to start it, so we just got one of their take and bake pizzas instead. Incidently, their pizzas aren't that bad, and they're pretty reasonably priced.

Tater Tot Casserole
1 lb ground beef
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Cheddar cheese--sliced or shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Tater Tots

In an 11x7 pan, crumble or spread ground beef. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder on top of beef. Cover with sliced or shredded Cheddar cheese (NOT American cheese...real cheddar). Spread can of cream of mushroom soup over the cheese layer (this can be tricky business if you've used shredded cheese). Top with tater tots. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, uncovering for last 30 minutes. Or bake at 375 for one hour, uncovering for last 30 minutes.

*****

You can use regular onion instead of onion powder, I just hate chopping up onions and opt for the easy way out. My mom always slices up cheese when she makes this, but I usually have shredded on hand and go with that. Slices are definitely easier than the shredded.

Personally I like a little ketchup on my plate to dip it in, but not everyone goes for that.

Pioneer Woman's Best Lasagna Ever

I have a new website obsession. Okay, two websites. The Pioneer Woman and The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Thanks to the BTB girls for turning me on to the cooking one, then I found the other one through there. This woman is HILARIOUS. And she's an awesome photographer. The PW website is under construction right now, so you might have to wait a couple days to check it out. I'm slowly working my way through reading all the recipes on the PWC website...there are some things I'm DYING to try. If I didn't care so much about my weight, I'd probably have made a lot of them by now.

Anyway, I wanted to make lasagna for dinner tonight because the boy and I are heading out of town tomorrow for four days. I figured having lasagna would give the husband leftovers to eat while we're gone instead of him getting pizza every night. Let's hope it works. I'm going to be pretty mad if I come home and the same amount of lasagna is in the fridge as when I left. I'll also be mad if my house is in any state other than what I left it. Love you, husband, but consider yourself warned. Happy wife, happy life.

I digress. I was going to make the same old lasagna recipe I always make (my mom's...which is very yummy), then I saw one on PWC that I thought I'd try. I read through all the comments (all 314 of them) and decided it would be worth trying. A couple food snobs didn't like it (or didn't like her choice of ingredients), but for the most part it got rave reviews from everyone else. I'm excited to try it.

Pioneer Woman's Best Lasagna Ever
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound hot breakfast sausage (Jimmy Dean’s bulk)
2 cloves minced garlic
2 14.5 oz cans whole tomatoes
2 6 oz cans tomato paste
2 T dried parsley flakes
2 T dried basil
1 t salt
10-oz package of lasagna noodles, cooked to al dente
1 lb sliced mozzarella cheese

Mix together:
3 cups lowfat cottage cheese, 2 beaten eggs, ½ cup Kraft Parmesan cheese, 2 T dried parsley flakes, 1 tsp salt

In a skillet, combine 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, 1 pound hot breakfast sausage, and 2 cloves minced garlic. Cook until brown. Drain off about half the fat (or more, to taste). After that, add two 14.5-oz cans of whole tomatoes, two 6-oz cans of tomato paste, 2 tablespoons of dried parsley flakes, 2 tablespoons dried basil and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix together thoroughly and simmer, uncovered, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the meat mixture is cooking, mix 3 cups lowfat cottage cheese in a bowl with 2 beaten eggs. To the cottage cheese, add 1/2 cup Kraft Parmesan Cheese. 2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes, and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix together well.

Now, go ahead and build your assembly line: meat mixture, 1 pound sliced mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese mixture, and cooked lasagna noodles. Lay four cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of the pan, overlapping as you go. Spread half of the cottage cheese mixture evenly over the noodles. Then lay 1/2 pound of mozzarella cheese slices on top of the cottage cheese mixture. With the spoon, make a line through the middle of the meat mixture so you’ll distribute it evenly. Spread a little less than half of the meat mixture over the mozzarella cheese slices until it’s evenly distributed. Repeat and finish with meat mixture. Top with a pretty generous layer of good ole Kraft grated parm.

Now pop it in a 350-degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until hot and bubbly. (Alternately, you could cover and freeze it, unbaked, at this point or cover and refrigerate, unbaked, for up to two days before baking.)

*****

Quite a few of the reviews said it was too salty, so I think I'll probably leave out the extra salt. I'm using shredded mozzarella because I couldn't find sliced mozzarella, the block of mozzarella was expensive, and I already had an 8 ounce bag, so I only needed to buy one more.

I had recently decided I was only going to use Parmigiano-Reggiano going forward. I used to use the parmesan cheese in a can, then switched to buying it already shredded, then to buying a chunk of parmesan and grating it myself with my awesome microplane. Slowly I'm making the transition to the good stuff. I hesitated to make this recipe when I saw the canned cheese because that's a major step back for me, but I'm going to try it and see how it turns out. The can of cheese was only $2-something, so not a big deal. Can of cheese...that sounds so wrong.

I just mopped my kitchen, so once I've given that time to dry I think I'll assemble the lasagna, so that's one less thing I have to do once the boy is up from his nap. Fingers crossed we like it!

Shepherd's Pie

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!! Are you wearing your green today? I wasn't...the bank teller reminded me. Not so good for a girl with an Irish husband! So I changed shirts when I got home. Conveniently the boy wanted all of his clothes off when I changed his diaper, so I swapped out his outfit for something with green, too.

I bought a six pack of Guinness when I was grocery shopping today and we're having Shepherd's Pie for dinner. Probably not the most Irish meal, but we had it when we were in Ireland, so I figured it counts. Granted, we also had pizza while we were there, but that wasn't something on the menu everywhere we went. Now if I was really being Irish, I'd make fries to go with it because EVERYTHING we ate in Ireland came with fries. Yes, even the pizza. Seriously.

I actually bought an Irish cookbook while we were there, but I flipped through it last night and nothing really seemed feasible to make. Or rather nothing I wanted to make or nothing that sounded good that all three of us would eat.

Shepherd's Pie
1 lb ground beef
1 packet brown gravy mix
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
Mashed potatoes
Shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef in a skillet until cooked. In a small saucepan, make gravy according to package directions. Once ground beef is done, stir in vegetables and gravy until desired sauciness. Transfer beef/veggie/gravy mixture to a pie pan or 8-inch square pan. Top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is melted.

*****

This is so easy to make...I love it. I think I'm going to use Boca Grounds instead of ground beef since we're still trying to cut back more on our meat consumption. I need to get started on it soon. I have a free Coldstone coupon that expires today, so we have to run over there tonight after dinner. I am not one to let free ice cream go to waste!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

I heart spaghetti and meatballs! I'm really excited for dinner tonight. We didn't end up having the frittata last night because neither of us were hungry. The husband said why didn't we have it tonight, but I've been dying for spaghetti and meatballs. This is my mother-in-law's recipe, and it's so good. I've tweaked it a little the last few times I've made it.

Meatballs
lean ground beef – 2 pounds or more
Italian bread crumbs ( 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
chopped onion – 1 chopped fine
parsley (1 1/2 tab minced)
grated Parmesan cheese (3/4 cup)
eggs –2
salt/pepper
garlic powder

Mix ingredients for the meatballs (ground beef, italian bread crumbs, chopped onion, parsley, grated parmesan cheese, and eggs. Salt and Pepper. Shape into balls and fry in a little olive oil.

Sauce
3 jars Ragu Sauce traditional 1 lb 10oz
1 can tomato paste
1 tablespoon sugar
Italian Seasoning
Onion
Garlic
Bay leaf
Meatballs or Italian susage
½ to 1 cup of water

Saute onion and garlic. Brown paste. Add Ragu and previously browned metballs. Add sugar, Italian seasoning and bay leaf. Simmer 1-2 hours.

*****

I only used one pound of hamburger and forgot the parsley. For the sauce I just used one jar of Ragu. I cook the meatballs in the pot I'm going to use for the sauce so the bits on the bottom of the pan get absorbed into the sauce. I used my new enamel pot (okay, it was a Christmas present, but this is the first time I've used it). Once the meatballs were all done I added some garlic to the pan and deglazed it with a bit of red wine. Then I added in the other stuff. I let just the sauce simmer for awhile and then added in the meatballs.

Sloppy Joes

So, did everyone have a nice weekend? I forgot to say that we were going to Houston for our nephew's birthday. We left Friday and got home last night. It was so fun, I love my niece and nephews so much! Will had a great time playing with his cousins, and my in-laws were there, too, so he got to spend time with his Texas grandparents whom he doesn't get to see very often. A good time was had by all.

Now it's back to our regular routine. I'm trying to use up some stuff we have on hand this week, so tonight is sloppy joes. It seems like we just had these, but when I went to copy the recipe it was about two months ago. Or I used different tags and made it more recently. ;)

Sloppy Joes
1 pound hamburger (or one box Boca grounds)
1 can Campbell's Chicken Gumbo Soup
1-2 cups ketchup, depending on taste (or how sloppy you like them)

Brown hamburger in skillet. Add in chicken gumbo soup, gradually add in ketchup until mixture reaches desired consistency/sloppiness. Serve on hamburger buns.

*****

I love sloppy joes...so tasty and so easy! We're having crinkle fries with it and probably some kind of vegetable. I'm trying lately to make sure we have a vegetable with dinner every night. Oh! Maybe I could sneak in some sweet potato puree. I bet that would work! But we'll still have a vegetable. :)

Shepherd's Pie

This is going to be my first attempt at making Shepherd's Pie with veggie grounds instead of ground beef. The recipe I use is a take-off of a Weight Watchers recipe, but I've modified it a bit over the years.

Shepherd's Pie
1 lb ground beef
1 packet brown gravy mix
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
Mashed potatoes
Shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef in a skillet until cooked. In a small saucepan, make gravy according to package directions. Once ground beef is done, stir in vegetables and gravy until desired sauciness. Transfer beef/veggie/gravy mixture to a pie pan or 8-inch square pan. Top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is melted.

*****

I think it should turn out okay with veggie grounds instead of ground beef, but I've found with the Morningstar Farms veggie grounds that the consistency gets kind of funny when cooked in a sauce of some sort. I definitely like the Boca Grounds better, but these were on sale recently.

Sloppy Joes

I was taking dinner to someone from my MOMS Club tonight that had a baby recently and figured I'd just make us the same thing I made her, only I used Boca grounds for ours instead of hamburger. So yummy...I love Sloppy Joes!

Sloppy Joes
1 pound hamburger (or one box Boca grounds)
1 can Campbell's Chicken Gumbo Soup
1-2 cups ketchup, depending on taste (or how sloppy you like them)

Brown hamburger in skillet. Add in chicken gumbo soup, gradually add in ketchup until mixture reaches your desired consistency. Serve on hamburger buns.

*****

These were so yummy! The husband almost washed all the leftovers down the sink, but luckily I caught him in time. Phew! There's enough left for at least two more sandwiches.

Meatballs In Sauce

Creative title, huh? I wasn't going to be able to make it to the store today (normally I grocery shop on Monday), so I had to come up with something that I already had the ingredients for. I was flipping through a crockpot cookbook and saw a recipe for some kind of meatballs and remembered I still had a package of Trader Joe's Meatless Meatballs, and then I thought of the good Lil' Smokies recipe where you make the sauce with grape jelly and chili sauce, so I thought why not use that sauce but with meatballs instead of Lil' Smokies. So that's what we're having. I think the recipe link I found was for a crockpot one, but I'm just going to heat up the sauce and then throw in the meatballs. I figure we'll have rice with it, and I also have some asparagus that needs to be used. I'm the only one that will eat that, though.

Meatballs in Sauce
1 lb. meatballs
1 bottle Chili Sauce
1 cup grape jelly

Combine chili sauce and grape jelly in sauce pan. Heat through. Add meatballs. Serve.

*****

How's that for easy?! The TJ "meatballs" are already cooked, you just have to heat them, so I'll just have them heat up in the sauce after it's done. Brilliant! I love easy dinners. :)

Sloppy Joes

Okay, I'm slacking again. What can I say, I didn't cook Thursday or Friday nights! So given that, I'm not that far behind. Thursday night I was home alone, so I got Chinese take-out because the husband doesn't really like it, so we never get it. I know, he's weird. Then Friday night we had the leftover mac and cheese from my potluck. Way to say "Welcome Home," huh, with leftovers. ;)

Anyway, Saturday night we had Sloppy Joe's, so of course I was once again singing Adam Sandler's "Lunchlady Land." It's kind of tradition when we have sloppy joes. My recipe for them is kind of random, but they're SO good. I was thinking I could post them as vegetarian because we used Boca grounds, but I realized that won't work. You'll see why.

Sloppy Joe's
1 lb. ground beef
1 can Campbell's Chicken Gumbo soup
Ketchup
Hamburger buns

Brown and drain hamburger. Stir in can of soup. Add ketchup until mixture is at a good sloppy joe consistency. I meant to measure as I went, but I just squirt some in the skillet until it looks right. I'd guess it's between one and two cups. Just depends how sloppy you like them (which always makes me think of "Billy Madison" and the crazy lunchlady..."I know you kids like 'em sloppy!"). Serve on hamburger buns.

*****

So, like I said, I used Boca grounds instead of hamburger, but that was it. They're so yummy. Will didn't really eat them, but he has a tooth coming in and hasn't really been eating much of anything the past few days.

Wafflewiches

So the husband has been out of town this week at a conference in Vegas. He left Monday morning, so that night we went over to my mom's for dinner. My grandma came home with us and has been staying with us. I figure this is my chance to eat things we don't normally get to because of John's diet.

I had made these sandwiches some time ago, but John doesn't eat lunch meat anymore, so we haven't had them even though they're so good. It's a Rachael Ray recipe from her "Express Lane" cookbook. My grandma really liked them. Will's not so much in to sandwiches, so he didn't really care one way or the other.

Wafflewiches
2 tablespoons softened butter
4 tablespoons honey mustard
8 waffles, lightly toasted (such as Eggos)
1/2 lb sliced ham (deli-sliced)
1/2 lb sliced smoked turkey or honey roasted turkey breast (deli-sliced)
1/2 lb sliced swiss cheese (deli-sliced)
3/4 cup prepared cranberry sauce

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add in the butter; let melt.
Assemble the sandwiches by spreading the honey mustard on 4 of the waffles, then top with equal amounts of ham, turkey, and Swiss cheese. Spread the cranberry sauce liberally on the remaining 4 waffles and place them atop the sandwiches.
Fry the assembled sandwiches in melted butter and cook for a few minutes on each side until they are deeply golden in color and the cheese melts.

*****

It's kind of like a Monte Cristo sandwich, which I LOVE but can never find in restaurants (except for this one place in Seattle). Anyway, they were really good. My grandma really liked them, like I said. I let them go a bit too long in the frying pan, but you couldn't really tell from the taste of them.

I just realized I didn't review any of the recipes I just added. Oh well. They were all good and nothing super spectacular.

Mostaccioli

Tonight's dinner isn't one I would usually fix because it has ground beef in it, but I'm taking dinner to a friend that had a baby last week, and I don't want to make two things. This recipe makes A LOT, so I'm giving them half and keeping half for us. I'm also modifying it a bit, but I'll list that out below. This recipe is from my mom's friend, Ann Graham.

Mostaccioli
1-1/2 lb. Italian sausage
4 c. meatless spaghetti sauce
1 lb. cooked mostaccioli or rigatoni
1 beaten egg
1 (15 oz) ricotta cheese
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 c. grated romano cheese

In a large pan, brown sausage; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and pasta; set aside. In a bowl, combine egg, ricotta, and mozzarella. In a 9x13 prepared pan (or 2-1/2 to 3 quart casserole) spread 1/2 of the pasta mixture into pan. Layer cheese mixture over all; top with remaining pasta mixture. Bake, covered, at 375 for 40 minutes. Top with romano cheese; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Serves 8 to 12.

*****

I'm using a pound of hamburger (93% lean) and half a pound of ground turkey sausage instead of the 1.5 pounds of Italian sausage. I'm also doing it in two 11x7 pans, and I think I'm going to top it with some mozzarella instead of the romano because I don't have romano cheese.

My friend that I'm taking this to is a very picky eater. I made it for them when they had their first child, and they really liked it. So I figured why come up with something new this time around. :)

We're heading out of town on Wednesday, and when I was cleaning out my fridge this morning I noticed I have quite a few vegetables, so I think we'll have a big salad on the side so I can use up some of those.

By the way, this recipe is very easy to half. I've made it that way several times because with just two people, it takes forever to eat.