Baked Spaghetti

This is another recipe I found on Full Bellies, Happy Kids. And oh. my. goodness. It was GOOD! Super good. I might need to get the cookbook she keeps referencing!

This is definitely not healthy food. But man alive, it is delish! It's totally worth the 5 hour workout you'll need after consumption to burn all those calories! ;-)

Ingredients:
6 slices bacon
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped bell pepper
3 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes with liquid
1 2.25-ounce can sliced ripe black olives, drained
1–2 tablespoons dried oregano, according to taste
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
12 ounces thin spaghetti, cooked and drained
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (5 ounces)
1 10-ounce can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.

In a large skillet, cook the bacon until slightly crisp, then chop into smaller pieces. Remove bacon from pan, then saute onion, garlic, and bell pepper in the bacon drippings until tender. Add the tomatoes, olives, oregano, bacon, and cooked ground beef. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Place half of prepared spaghetti in the prepared baking dish. Top spaghetti with half of the meat mixture, then sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese. Repeat layers.

Mix the canned soup and water until smooth, then pour evenly over the top of the spaghetti. Sprinkle the top with Parmesan.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Try not to eat it all in one sitting!

What's your favorite pasta recipe?

Crockpot Nachos

Today I officially have a 3rd grader and a kindergartner! I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. For now, my house is far too quiet. I'm feeling even more thankful for my little 3 year old running around, otherwise I don't know how I'd deal! The plus side to school being back is that now I'll have lots more time to devote to the little bloggy!

This is another recipe I got from Sandra at Full Bellies, Happy Kids. My kids all love nachos, so when I saw this version adapted for the crock pot, I knew I had to give it a try. It got rave reviews from all the kids, and the adults liked it as well. I just love my crock pot!!

This would be something that would work awesome to serve at a party. I love using my crock pot to feed people at parties. It makes so much less work for me, and I can actually enjoy my guests and the party!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 can refried beans
1 can red kidney beans, undrained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder
tortilla chips
jar of Mexican salsa con queso
Topping of your choice (I used finely sour cream, tomatoes, olives, green onions, and lettuce)

Brown the ground beef, and drain the grease. Put into the crock pot, and add in the refried beans, kidney beans, tomato paste, taco seasoning, water, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5 hours.

Warm up the queso. Then plate up your nachos! We put the meat/bean mixture on first, then the cheese, then the toppings.

It really can't get any easier than this meal!

Do you have kids back in school yet?

Spaghetti a la Philly

First off, I'm sorry about the lack of posting (again with the lack of posting!). It's finals for me right now, and it's just been a bit crazy. One week left! Woo!

A few weeks ago, I told you about the hot corn dip I found from Full Bellies, Happy Kids. Well, since then, I have tried many of her recipes and have really enjoyed them all! Today's is also from her site. She said she originally found it from Love My Philly. I have yet to check out that site, but I'm going to. We always have cream cheese on hand, and I'd love to come up with new ways to use it!

So this recipe was super simple and tasty. It's a perfect quick weeknight meal. It really intrigued my kids that their spaghetti had cream cheese in it. My kids love spaghetti anyway, but this made it even more kid-friendly. Admittedly, my husband was very skeptical ("Cream cheese in spaghetti? Are you sure about that?"), but he even said it was yummy after we were finished.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound spaghetti
1 pound ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce
4 ounces cream cheese, cubed
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Cook noodles according to package directions. While noodles cook, brown ground beef in a saute pan; drain. Add spaghetti sauce and cream cheese, and cook until cream cheese is melted.

Drain spaghetti, and toss with sauce. Serve topped with Parmesan.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Aaaaaaaaaaand we're back! :)

Wow, going back to school was a rude awakening for me! I thought, "Yeah, I can totally do it! No sweat! How hard can it be?" Um, hard. Really hard. Now I'm juggling 3 hats -- Mom, Wife and Student. But as hard as it is, it's still great to be doing something for me!

Anyway. This recipe we tried for the first time last night. I got it out of my Healthy Cooking magazine back in December of last year and finally remembered to try it. It was really tasty and SO easy. It's also a great meal to have on hand in the freezer. You can have it completely prepared and then just pop it in the oven on a busy day. Fabulous! You could also easily make this in the crock pot. And if you wanted, you could even turn this into a great appetizer for a party. Just omit the rice and serve the meatballs on toothpicks with extra sauce for dipping!

The only thing I changed was that I omitted the raisins. We didn't have any anyway, but I thought that sounded really gross to put in the meatballs. My husband says he thinks it would be really good, so we'll try it with raisins next time, I guess.

Ingredients:
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 cup water, divided
1/2 cup raisins
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 cup egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups hot cooked rice

In a saucepan, combine tomato sauce, 3/4 cup water, raisins, brown sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, seasonings, egg and milk. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Put meatballs into sauce. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until meatballs are no longer pink. In a small bowl, combine flour and remaining water, then stir into meatball mixture, cooking for 2 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Serve with rice.

What's your favorite meal to have on hand in the freezer?

Lasagna

I'm back! Did ya miss me? ;) Like April said, we bought our first house 2.5 weeks ago, and things have been a bit crazy since then! But we're officially unpacked now, and once our %*&!@ couch finally arrives at the furniture store for us to pick up (it was supposed to be in on Saturday, but no), we'll be good to go.

I've had tons of fun in my new kitchen already. The inspiration for this recipe (I only changed a few things) was another one I found out of a cooking magazine I got recently, and it's extremely delicious. I made it for dinner one night, then we ate it for dinner again the next night, and I'm eating more leftovers for lunch today. My kids normally love lasagna at restaurants, but of course when *I* spend an hour slaving away in a hot kitchen to make them a fantastic lasagna from scratch, not one of them will touch it. Punks.

Making lasagna isn't quick. It's not difficult, by any means, but it's a process. It took me a good hour to do. But it's so worth it! It's definitely one of my ultimate comfort foods.

Ingredients:
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
12 ounces ground beef
1/2 pound bulk hot sausage
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons parsley
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 15 ounce container ricotta
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups mozzarella, shredded
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook sausage, beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain any excess fat. When meat is done, add tomatoes, tomato paste, water, sugar, basil and pepper. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, combine egg, ricotta, parsley and salt.

Drain noodles. Spread 1 cup meat sauce in the bottom of a greased (I used butter, but you can use cooking spray if you want) 9x13 baking dish. Top with 3 noodles, then 2 cups meat sauce, 2/3 cup ricotta mixture, 2/3 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Repeat twice. (The ricotta won't spread extremely well without messing up the layer of meat sauce you already have down. So what I did is just "dot" the ricotta around evenly with my fingers, if that makes sense.)

Sprinkle any extra parsley on the very top.

Then cover and bake at 375 for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer, or until the cheese gets a little golden brown tint to it. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

I was tiiiiiired after standing in the kitchen for that long, so I served mine simply with some frozen Texas cheese toast. But if you're really motivated, serve it with these breadsticks and a green salad!

What's your favorite comfort food?

Mini Barbecued Meat Loaves

This is another recipe from the Bisquick cookbook. I told you there would be a lot from this one. There are things you’d never think of using bisquick in but everything I’ve made has turned out great!

Mini Barbecued Meat Loaves

½ cup barbecue sauce

1 lb lean ground beef

½ lb ground pork *

½ cup original Bisquick mix

¼ tsp pepper

1 small onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup) **

1 egg

1. Heat oven to 450.
2. Reserve ¼ cup bbq sauce. Mix remaining ingredients and ¼ cup bbq sauce. Place meat mixture in ungreased 13x9 pan; pat into 12x4-inch rectangle. Cut lengthwise down center and then crosswise into sixths to form 12 loaves. Separate loaves slightly. Brush loaves with reserved ¼ cup bbq sauce.
3. Bake 18-22 minutes or until loaves are no longer pink in the center, juice is clear and meat thermometer reads 160 when inserted in center of loaves.

* I didn’t have any ground pork so I just used about 1 ½ lbs of ground beef.

** I rarely use fresh onions in my recipes so if you need to use dried onion it works just as well.

Mine look a little overcooked in the pictures but they weren't really. They were delish!

Spanish Spirals

I can't remember exactly where I got this recipe but I am thinking it's from one of the more recent cookbooks my mom has acquired. It is very simple and tastes great.

Spanish Spirals

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cups uncooked rotini

2 tsp salt

1 tsp chili powder

¼ tsp garlic powder

In a skillet, cook the beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

Stir in the tomatoes, rotini, salt, sugar, chili powder, and garlic powder. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until rotini is tender.

Serves 4-6

Thai Tacos

Guess where I got this recipe from? You'll never guess. ;) If you guessed "yet another cooking magazine" or "stop with the cooking magazine recipes already!", you are correct!

This one was a cinch to prepare and tasted really good. I love me some Mexican food, but this was a great alternative to traditional tacos, which, ironically, my husband hates. He said "these were better than regular tacos any day". Then I asked him if he really liked it or just really hated tacos, and he laughed and said he really liked it. "Definitely a keeper" were his exact words.

Tuesdays we have several shows to watch, so I like to make us a late dinner after the kids are in bed to each while we watch. Which means the kids didn't get to try this one out. But I'm glad they didn't because it was really good, and the hubby and I finished off all but one serving anyway.

If you've never had water chestnuts before, don't skip adding them! They really have no flavor at all and just add some really great crunch. They're like a flavorless apple. I guess that makes them sound pointless, but they're really an interesting element to this dish!

Only one suggestion. Make double the sauce to spoon over the tacos before serving.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cups coleslaw mix
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
cilantro, for garnish
flour tortillas

Cook ground beef in a large skillet until no longer pink. Add ginger, onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, water chestnuts and coleslaw mix. Stir fry with meat for 2-3 minutes, or until veggies are wilted.

Combine last 5 ingredients. Pour over meat and mix well. Serve on warm tortillas, garnish with cilantro.

Are you a cilantro lover or hater?

Chuck Wagon Bean Bake

This is another recipe from my mom's collection. And since I'm living with her at this time you can just assume they come from her collection unless I specify otherwise :) This was so super easy and quick. It is one of those *make from the pantry* meals. Most of this is stuff I would always keep in my pantry so that makes it cheap as well. You could do several things with this. It is very hearty and yummy. It would go wonderfully with cornbread!

Chuck Wagon Bean Bake

Ingredients:

-- 1 lb lean or extra lean ground beef

-- ½ cup chopped onion

-- ½ cup chopped green bell pepper

-- 1 can (15 oz) baked beans, undrained

-- 1 can (15 oz) dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

-- 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed

-- 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

-- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce

-- ½ tsp salt (opt)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine ground beef, onion and green pepper in a large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until beef if browned and crumbly, about 8 minutes; drain.
2. Combine cooked beef mixture, baked beans, kidney beans, black beans, tomato sauce, barbecue sauce and salt in a 3-qt casserole dish.
3. Cover dish. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover dish; bake until mixture is bubbly and slightly thickened, 15-20 minutes longer.

Makes 6 servings

Variations:

You could omit the ground beef and serve as a side at a bbq.

You could even serve on buns like sloppy joes.

Enjoy!

Taco Soup

And I'm baaaaaaack! My new charger finally came. Let's hope I can keep track of this one a little longer than last time. I never did find the original one. Strange.

Anyway, taco soup. This is pretty much the epitome of easy and delicious. My husband's grandma made this for us when we visited her, oh, 6 years ago or so, and I begged her for the recipe. We've made it frequently ever since. I really love it because the ingredients are all things I always have stocked in my pantry, so it's one of those "go to meals" for when nights get busy and dinner plans need to change.

This meal is also a great one to keep pre-made in the freezer for quick weeknight meals! It would freeze and reheat beautifully. It would also make a very tasty meal to take to someone who's sick or who just had a baby. And it's perfect for large get-togethers because it's so cheap without compromising any flavor. Kids and adults alike love this one.

This recipe can easily be modified to work for a crock pot, too. If you want to do it that way, just cook your ground beef, onion and garlic until meat is done, then throw everything into the crock pot on low until you're ready to eat. It only gets better the longer it sits.

My toppings are just the basics, the things I always have on hand anyway. But you can easily jazz it up by adding cilantro, avocado, using the fire roasted hot chilies instead of the mild kind, different cheeses, etc.

Ingredients:
3/4 - 1 pound ground beef
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can kidney beans, quickly rinsed and drained
1 can whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 can diced green chilies
1 package taco seasoning OR 1/4 cup bulk taco seasoning
1/3 cup water

Toppings:
shredded cheese
sour cream
Fritos

Brown ground beef in a large pot. Add onion and garlic. Saute until onion is tender, about 5-7 minutes.

Drain any excess fat. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.


Then you assemble the deliciousness -- Fritos, then a ladle of taco soup, then cheese, then sour cream. My husband does his with the Fritos on top because he hates them getting the least bit soggy. Either way works.

Fiesta Rice Saute

This is a recipe we found off a Spanish rice box years and years ago. Seriously, years ago. I remember making this when my oldest was just a brand new baby, and she's turning 7 in January. Anyhow, it's super-duper easy and yummy, is quick to throw together, can feed a crowd and tastes great! How's that for some key selling points?

My husband and I just had friends over for a game night a few weekends ago. So we had 4 adults and 5 kids eating between all of us. We made the recipe as is, no doubling or anything, and we still ended up with leftovers. So yeah, really filling.

Ingredients:
3/4-1 pound ground beef
1 box Spanish rice
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can diced green chilies
shredded cheddar
sour cream
green salsa
tortillas

Cook rice according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown ground beef. When meat is done cooking, add cooked rice, corn and green chilies. Heat through.

Serve wrapped in tortillas and topped with green salsa and sour cream. See, I told ya it was ridiculously easy!

Cornbread Casserole

I'm finally back in the game! My new laptop cord finally arrived yesterday -- it shipped from Hong Kong, so it took for-e-ver (said like Squints from The Sandlot. Great movie. Watched that all the time as a kid.). Anyway.

This is a yummy dinner that fills you up fast, which is great for cheap cooking! It's kind of like a one-dish chili and cornbread. We made a pan of this last night, and it fed our family of 5 with plenty left over for several lunches throughout the week. This recipe is one that my husband takes responsibility for preparing, since it's his grandmother's recipe. So that means I get a night off when we make this, which definitely adds to its appeal! :)

You can change it up tons of different ways! Add kidney beans, green chilies, jalepenos, Monterrey Jack instead of cheddar, toss in some leftover veggies, etc. Spice it up with cumin or chili powder, make it more Italian by adding some oregano and basil.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
cheddar cheese, shredded
1 package cornbread mix, or see our made-from-scratch recipe

Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Add onion, corn, tomatoes and bell peppers. Saute until veggies are soft. Meanwhile, prepare cornbread mix. When meat/veggie mixture is done, pour into a 9x13 casserole dish, top with cheese, and then spread cornbread mix on top. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes, or until cornbread is done. **Insert a toothpick into the center to make sure cornbread is cooked all the way through before serving.** Top with sour cream, if desired.

Skillet Spaghetti

This is another of my mom's recipes. She makes it all the time and it's so good. Isn't it funny how everything tastes better when your mom makes it :P This recipe is very easy and very versatile. It is also great for sneaking in extra veggies when certain people *ahem, my husband* don't like them. I've put in carrots, fresh tomatoes, zucchini, etc. The possibilities are endless as long as you disguise it well :)

Skillet Spaghetti

1 lb ground beef
2 tsp chili powder
1 ½ tsp. oregano
1 tsp garlic salt
2 cloves chopped/minced garlic
1 small can tomato paste
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 ½ c. water
2 cans tomato juice or V8 (again, more veggies)
2 T minced onion
7 oz uncooked spaghetti


Brown ground beef.



Stir in chili powder, oregano, sugar, salt, garlic salt, garlic.

Blend in tomato paste.



Stir in tomato juice, onion and water.
Bring to boiling.



Carefully add spaghetti, (one of these scales is great to measure the amount of spaghetti you need)
Stir to separate strands.
Cover and simmer; stirring frequently for 30 min.



Serve with Parmesan cheese.
Enjoy!!

April's Fabulous Crock Pot Chili

Alright, I know you've all been waiting on the edge of your seats for this one. :) I came up with this one day while I was trying to think of something to cook for dinner that wouldn't take much time on my part. Then.... DING.... the light bulb turned on. I have everything to make chili and I could just throw it in the crock pot and not touch it again until dinner time. Well, it was perfect. You can do many variations with it as well. Different beans, veggies, tomatoes, spices, etc. It is also extremely budget friendly. If you are really tight just leave out the ground beef and you have a lot of dinner for just a couple dollars.

April's Fabulous Crock Pot Chili

1 lb ground beef
3 - 15 oz cans of beans (Any combination works great. My favorite is chili beans, kidney beans, and black beans.)
2 - 15 oz cans of tomatoes (any variety, if you like your chili chunky then use diced, if you like it smoother then use crushed)
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 small can diced green chilies
onion
garlic

Spices to taste:
chili powder
cumin
salt
pepper
paprika
oregano

Optional Veggies:
green bell pepper, chopped
red bell pepper, chopped
tomatoes, diced

• Brown ground beef with onion and garlic. I threw in the diced peppers and diced tomatoes when it was almost browned.
• While beef is browning, throw everything else in the crock pot.
  
• I put the tomato sauce into a small bowl and mix in all my spices into that and then I add it to the crock pot.
  
• I also added some chili powder to my beef mixture.
  
• When beef is done, add to crock pot and mix well.
• Cook on low until dinner time
• Serve with corn bread

This recipe completely fills my crock pot. I'm not sure the size but I'm guessing it's about 3 qt.


Enjoy!!

Easy Cheesy Meat and Potatoes

Carrying on with the tater tot theme, our next meal is another yummy one. Sometimes I just don't feel like fighting with my kids to get them to eat something "gourmet", and this is a great go-to meal for those occasions. It's yummy enough to please the parents, too. And it's fast. And it's cheap. So there you go - all perfectly great reasons to make this.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound bag frozen tater tots
4 cups cheese, shredded
(1) 10.5 ounce can cream of mushroom soup
(1) 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup
1 ½ cups sour cream
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon marjoram
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven, and cook tater tots according to package directions.

Meanwhile, cook ground beef, onions and garlic in a large skillet until meat is brown and onions are translucent.

Add soups, sour cream, Worcestershire, soy sauce and thyme to meat mixture. Mix well. Heat through.

When tater tots are finished baking, transfer them to a 9x13 casserole dish. Or you can transfer them to an 8x8 casserole dish and make 2 layers. Either way. Anyway, top tater tots with meat mixture. Then top meat mixture with shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. Then dish up a big scoop, just for yourself. Yummy, right?

Pizza Tot Casserole

I know what you must be thinking.... "What is she thinking?! Pizza and tater tots... together?" Yes, my friends, pizza and tater tots. This is a great quick recipe to throw together with just a few ingredients. And it's delicious too. This feeds my family of five with a little bit left over.

Ingredients:
¾ lb ground beef
Chopped onion
Green pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can tomato soup
½ bag tater tots
1 ½ c. mozzarella cheese
Optional: a few slices of pepperoni and Canadian bacon

Brown beef with onion, garlic and peppers.

Mix in soup. Pour beef mixture into 11 x 7 baking dish.

If you use the pepperoni and Canadian bacon, sprinkle those on top of beef mixture.

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Top with tater tots.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes until tots are golden brown.