Not Ignoring The Blog

I promise that I'm not ignoring the blog.  I had some work done on my back this past Friday and mom fixed us a delicious meatloaf for dinner that night.  Since then, we have pretty much had leftovers and turkey bacon sandwiches up until last night when I decided to make us an egg and cheese omelette to add to our turkey bacon sandwich.  I promise to get back to cooking and sharing recipes again shortly.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese

That's a mouth full to say, but it's so very good.  As I continue with our second month of cleaning out the pantry, I realized that I had so much pasta and didn't really want to make just plain spaghetti to use it up, and then I remembered making this years ago for my family and decided to do it again.  I will admit that this is not my recipe, but one found on Kraft's recipe site.  I will link to it shortly. 
 

I only had to splurge and buy a couple of things that I don't always have on hand and that was the Zesty Italian Dressing and the Cream Cheese, I also picked up a can of diced tomatoes that did not contain green chili. I had a small green pepper so I chopped it up into tiny pieces and snuck it in there.  I served it with some bread I had in the fridge topped with butter and garlic and broiled to brown it.

Spaghetti with Zesty Bolognese Sauce

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing (I bought an 8oz bottle and used all of it)

1 lb. extra-lean ground beef

1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

3/4 lb. spaghetti, uncooked

2 Tbsp. PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese (I used Cream Cheese)

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

 

Cook and stir onions in dressing in large skillet on medium heat 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Add meat; cook on medium-high heat until browned, stirring frequently. Stir in tomato sauce and tomatoes. Bring to boil; simmer on medium-low 15 min., stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti as directed on package, omitting salt.

Remove sauce from heat. Add Neufchatel (Cream Cheese); stir until melted. Drain spaghetti; place in large bowl. Top with sauce and Parmesan.

 

This is a very tasty dish, one day I might make it exactly as directed, but today was not that day.

 

Enjoy!

 

Tator Tot Casserole

Tator Tot Casserole

Monday was the 25th Birthday of my twin sons.  It's hard to believe that they are not toddlers anymore.  Seems like I just had them and now they are handsome young men, treating mom out to dinner on Sunday night because we share a birthday week.While we were at dinner they were both huddled over their phones at one point and suddenly they looked up, turned the phone around and asked, "Mom, do you know how to make this?"  The funniest part is, they both know that I do because they grew up eating it.  They were asking me about, none other than, Tator Tot Casserole. 

I originally had this planned for Wednesday night's dinner, because it's easy and I like it and it's my birthday, but as with any plan, they are made to be broken so I made this on Monday night instead and one of my sons joined us for dinner.

Since my husband is still out of town, I have been amassing quite a freezer collection of dinner items for him because I have been saving him a serving of each meal that I have been making.  I made this one a bit different than normal. 

I had a little over 2lbs of pre cooked ground meat, this was a mix of ground beef and ground turkey that I had prepared earlier this month and froze.  I thawed it somewhat in the microwave and broke it up into smaller pieces and mixed it together with the soups ( I used 3 cans of soup and 2 packs of the onion soup mix since I had extra meat), then put it in the bottom of the baking dish and added the cheese and tots. It wasn't until my mom was having it for lunch on Tuesday that she even thought to ask about the meat remembering that I had precooked the ground beef with the ground turkey.  After I affirmed that it was that meat, she decided that she was full and refused to eat the rest, lol. If I were to use extra meat in the future, I think I will stick to just the one pack of onion soup mix and this was a tad bit heavy on the salt, other than that it was delicious and my son had absolutely no complaints.

Tator Tot Casserole

This can be done in the crock pot or the oven, depending on how you want to prepare it..

2 lb ground beef, browned and drained
2 cans cream of potato soup (any "cream of" soup will work)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (we use mild)
1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 bag of frozen tator tots

To bake in the oven, preheat oven per the bag of tator tots.  Mix the Cream of soup and the Lipton Soup mix together, then layer the beef in the bottom of a casserole dish, spread the soup mix over the beef, top with the shredded cheese and then place the tator tots over this until it is completely covered.  Bake per the directions of the tator tots until the cheese in the center is melted. I usually cook it at 400 for 35 minutes and check the center.

If preparing in the crock pot, spray with non stick cooking spray (to make clean up easier).  Mix the "cream of" soup with the Lipton Onion Soup Mix.  For mushy tator tots, place them on the bottom of the crock pot, then cover with the meat followed by the soups, cook on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2-3 hours.  If you don't want the tots to be mushy, put them on top of the other ingredients, or even split them up evenly between the top and bottom (you may need to adjust cooking time for the ones on top).  Top with cheese when serving.

I personally prefer the oven.

Enjoy!

Shredded Mexican Beef Steak

Shredded Mexican Beef Steak

I had 3 medium sized steaks given to me that I had been keeping in the freezer trying to decide how to fix them.  Since it's winter here and no one has used moms grill in several years, that wasn't an option for me and I just didn't like the thought of baking them or frying them in a pan.  So, I started thinking outside the box.  We had a delicious cube steak and gravy a few nights back and it was so tender from being cooking in the crockpot with the onion soup that I decided to do that with these steaks.  I added in a can of cream of onion, an onion soup mix and a packet of taco seasoning to give it a different taste than the cube steak and viola, we had a Mexican steak.  I liked it, mom just got back late the next night so she hasn't tried it yet and my son loved it.

I added some jalapeño and hot sauce to my bowl as I tend to like extra spice with mine.

Here is the recipe:

Mexican Shredded Steak

3 medium sized steaks
1 can of french onion soup
1 can cream of onion soup
1 packet of dry onion soup mix (might leave this out if I  make again)
1 packet of taco seasoning

Mix all of the soups and seasonings together then pour over the steaks.  I moved the steaks around some to get the seasoning under them too.  Cook on low 6-8 hours, remove the steak and shred, putting it back in and mixing it up to cover with the sauce.  Serve with tortilla (soft or hard), cheese if desired and toppings of your choice.

This is my own recipe, so when I make this again, I make tweak it and make changes.  I'm thinking that it would be nice with some chopped onion and sliced green pepper to make it more fajita like, so who knows what will be in it next time.

Enjoy.

Crockpot Chicken

Crockpot Chicken

I found a whole, organic, cut up, chicken in the mark down at my local grocery store and picked it up for just over $4.00. I decided to cook it in the crockpot with some seasoning and broth and then decide what to do with it afterwards.  I'm sorry to say that I did not get a "finished" picture. When it was done cooking I placed everything in a bowl and put it in the fridge and went to bed.  Unfortunately my uncle passed away before I did anything else with it and I decided to give it to his daughter, my moms neighbor, to keep her from having to cook dinner for her family.  Here is the recipe that I created.

Crockpot Chicken

I layers the chicken pieces in the bottom of the crockpot and sprinkled in  the Garlic and Herb seasoning, followed by the Season All and then splashed on some Cardamom and Coriander.  I did not measure anything, I just went with my gut on how much.

I then topped it with some butter, cut and sprinkled over the top.  Then followed up with a 14.5 oz can of chicken broth.

I then let this cook on low for 7 hours and removed it to a bowl to cool and refrigerate until I could use it the next day.

Crockpot Cube Steak and Gravy

Cube Steak and Gravy

We have had company for a couple of nights so we are changing up our menu just a bit.  I have things planned for the month and as I mentioned in an earlier post, nothing is set, so I'm just rearranging the days I fix things.  Today I had a procedure on my back, so standing up to prepare dinner just wasn't gonna happen.  So I threw it into the crockpot and let it do it's thing while I slept off the medication and rested my back.  The recipe calls for 2 lbs of cube steak, 1 can each of "cream of" soup and French onion soup, 1 cup of water, 2 Tbs of Worcestershire Sauce, letting this cook on low for 6-7 hours.  Make a slurry of corn starch and water, equal measures, and add it during the last hour to thicken things up. and dinner is ready to serve.  The smell is divine and the taste even more so!  I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures tonight, I was to busy preparing plates for everyone to think of taking a picture before we were mid way through eating. Not to mention that my numbing was already worn off on my back.

Cube Steak and Gravy in the Crock Pot

2lbs cube steak
1 can cream of soup (I used chicken, but love it with onion)
1 can French Onion Soup
1 Cup water
2 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
1Tbs Cornstarch + 1Tbs water

Mix the soups and water together with the Worcestershire Sauce and pour it into the crockpot over the cube steak. Let it cook on low for 6-7 hours. In the last hour of cooking, mix the corn starch and water together and then add it to the crock pot mixing it into the soups to thicken it during the last hour of cooking.

I like to serve this with mashed potatoes and whatever veg I have on hand.  Tonight was was mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese because I didn't feel like bending over to look for the veg.

I promise to try and remember to take a picture the next time I make this.

Baked French Toast

 Baked French Toast and Bonus Recipe

Here we are just getting started in February and I've already veered off the written path.  We forgot to lay the chicken out, Sunday night, for dinner on Monday night.  Why you ask, because I was so busy preparing breakfast.  You heard right, I was preparing breakfast Sunday night to have on Monday morning.

I made us a simple snack to go along with some baked ziti we had in the freezer using some crostini's that we received on Friday.  Since I didn't use the entire bag, and didn't want them to go bad, I whipped up a quick French toast using them and let it sit overnight in the fridge until I was ready to bake it Monday morning.

This turned out so good, and we had plenty of leftovers for breakfast for a few more days.  It really is quite simple, just whisk your eggs, milk and seasonings in a bowl, add your bread pieces, making sure they are fully covered and submerged, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate over night. Upon waking the next morning, pop it in the oven and viola, breakfast!

I should have used a 9x13 pan, but didn't think I had enough for one and used a smaller, round, dish instead, which increased my bake time.

Here is the recipe that I made up on the fly.

Baked French Toast

8 large eggs (may use 6, I like mine eggy)
1/2 cup of almond milk (you can use regular milk, i'm lactose intolerant)
1 Tbs Pumpkin Spice
1/2 tsp Cardamon (optional)
1/2 tsp Coriander (optional)
1/2 package of Crostini's (about 30 pieces)

Whisk ingredients together before adding in the crostini's. Make sure that once you add in the crostini's that they are fully submerged in the egg mixture so that they can absorb it overnight.  I covered my bowl with a piece of aluminum foil (couldn't find the saran wrap, lol) and let it soak overnight.

Upon waking, preheat the oven to 350, pour the mixture into a greased 9x13 and bake covered for 35 minutes. Remove the cover and bake an additional 10 minutes checking for doneness.  If the center is not set, bake an addition 10 minutes, checking after 5.  Serve drizzled in syrup or sprinkled with powdered sugar.

***Bonus***

The snack I made Sunday night to accompany our baked ziti was a crostini topped with butter, mozzarella cheese. a sprinkle of garlic/pepper powder and half pieces of beef pepperoni.  Broil on hi until cheese is melted and the pepperoni is starting to crisp, I believe it was 5 minutes, but I kept a close watch on them and not the time.