Beef Skillet

While living with a friend from college, I first had this meal.  As she told me what was in it and how to eat it, I thought she was crazy. 

"Wait, you dip what in it?"

However, to my surprise, the meal was delicious, and a couple of years later I found myself wanting to have it again.  So, I called her up and got the recipe.  If you want something different to try, yet delicious, try making this beef skillet meal.

First brown and drain a pound of ground beef.  Put the cooked beef back into the skillet and add a package of beef flavored noodles (I used regular egg noodles and then added a package of beef broth mix), and a can of corn.  Add 4 tbs of chili powder.  After the noodles have cooked, add a cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  Mix everything together as the cheese melts.  When the meal is ready, use Doritos to dip into the mixture and eat.

Taco Casserole

In high school I decided I wanted to try a twist on tacos (one of the foods that everyone in my family likes).  Thus, my taco casserole was born.  You can try it too.

First, cook some taco meat according to the instructions on the package.  Set this aside.  Place soft taco shells in the bottom of a cake pan, so that they cover the bottom and sides.  (You may have to tear some of the shells to get them to fit.)  Place this pan in the oven at 350 until the shells begin to brown and get crispy. 

Next, mix 1-1.5 cups of salsa with 3/4 cup of cheese, a handfull of chopped onions, green peppers, and jalepenos.  Adjust all of these measurements to how spicy you want it to be.  Sometimes I also like to add 3/4 cup of frozen corn as well.

When the taco shells are beginning to brown, spread taco meat in the bottom of the pan.

Spread the salsa mixture on top of that.

Then, sprinkle crushed tortilla chips on next. 

Lastly, spread shredded cheese on top. 

Cook the casserole at 350 until the casserole is warm and the cheese is melting on top.  Enjoy!

Short Ribs

Last week I had the opportunity to cook something that I had never cooked before.  It was my husband's birthday, and I wanted to make something special, and I knew that we had some short ribs in the freezer, even though I had no idea how to cook them.  To top it off, my husband prides himself on knowing about ribs and BBQ and such (something about him being from the Kansas City area, I don't know.)  Anyway, I set out to find a recipe and see what I could do.

The best recipe that I found was to cook the ribs for 7-8 hours in the slow cooker with some spices, so that's what I did.

I put the thawed ribs into the slow cooker with a couple of cups of water.  Then I added BBQ sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, parsley, onion powder, and garlic powder.  I let them cook on low for the 7-8 hours, while flipping them every hour or so.

The end result was a tender meat that "had a great flavor" as my husband said.

 

Skillet Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my favorite foods, and my favorite way to make it is the same way that my mom always did.  However, a new recipe caught my eye and I just had to try it.  Lasagna?  From a skillet?  What?

First you put about 3/4 of a can of spaghetti sauce in a skillet, along with 3 cups of water, turn the burner on high, allowing the mixture to come to a boil.

As that begins to cook, break half a box of lasagna noodles into quarters.

 

When the sauce has begun to boil, turn down the heat to about medium and put the noodles into the skillet.  Stir occasionally as the noodles begin to cook.

 

While the noodles cook, brown some ground beef (either 1/2 lb to 1 lb) and drain.  When the lasagna noodles are cooked, add the ground beef.  Continue to stir as the sauce thickens.  Add 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese into the dish, and mix it all together.  The cheese will probably melt so much that it dissolves, but don't worry, you can still taste it!  The longer you wait to add the cheese, the less likely it will be to dissolve.

 

When everything is cooked through, sprinkle more cheese on top, and add a little parsley if you would like.

 

We topped off our meal with some delicious garlic bread.  There was leftover homemade bread that my husband had made.  We buttered it, and added, garlic, salt, and parsley, cooking it in the oven at 325 for about 10-15 minutes.  It was scrumptious!

Skillet Enchilada

My friend, Ally, sent me some new recipes to try awhile back.  I was very excited to see how they would turn out.  I didn't have all of the ingredients, so I had to substitute some things, but the meal turned out tasty and very filling. You can make the skillet enchiladas yourself.

First brown some ground beef in a skillet.  You can also use ground turkey.  Since I only had 1/2 lb of beef, instead of 1 lb, I added some corn and later spanish rice.

 

After the beef is cooked and drained, add a 1/2 cup to 1 cup of salsa, 1 and a 1/4 cup of milk, and a can of tomato soup.  (I didn't have tomato soup, so I used tomato juice which turned out well also.)  I added rice which was not in the recipe, but I was trying to make the meat go farther.  Add the cooked rice to the skillet.  (You can add uncooked rice to the skillet, but it takes longer to cook.)  

  

With all of these ingredients in the skillet, add about 5-6 tortilla shells, cut into squares.

 

An easy way to do this is to lay the tortilla shells down, and use a pizza or pasta cutter to cut the squares.  Add the squares to the skillet, and continue to cook on medium/high heat.

 

Continue to cook until the shells are limp and a little mushy, stirring occasionally.  When everything is hot, add some shredded cheddar cheese and mix until the cheese is starting to melt. 
 

When everything is done you can garnish with lettuce, sour cream, more cheese, tomato, or whatever else you would enjoy.  We ate it plain and it tasted great.  Enjoy!

Helping Hamburger

One of my favorite boxed meals is hamburger helper.  So, one day, when it came to reworking a bunch of leftovers, I decided to see what I could do that would work.  I started out with some ground beef, and cooked and drained it.  Next I added some mushrooms.

 

Next I added a 1/3 bag of egg noodles, a half cup of milk, and a half can of cream of mushroom soup and a cup of water.

 

 I turned the heat to medium/high, in order for the dish to boil, while stirring occasionally.  When the noodles were cooked, I added peas, and turned the heat down, allowing the sauce to thicken.

 

The result was a delicious meal, that had the taste of my favorite boxed dinner!

Gourmet Hamburgers

Hamburgers are something that my husband and I never have.  Ground beef just does farther in other dishes.  However, one day we decided to splurge and patty out some burgers.  Of course, we didn't want any regular old burgers, so we decided to make them "gourmet."

Before we patted them out, we added several different ingredients to our ground beef.

First we added onion powder, garlic power, and parsley.

 

Then we added some shredded cheddar cheese.

We mixed everything together well, and then we added the liquid ingredients.  Worcestershire sauce and some mustard for a bit of a tangy taste went in.

Lastly, we patted them out and cooked them up.  

They were delicious!  So, the next time you want to fix some burgers, don't go with the same old thing.  Spice it up a little with your own gourmet burgers!

Steak? No. Almost Better

On our budget, steak is a novelty rarely seen, let alone tasted.  (I guess if we wanted to see it, then we could go to the grocery store and look at it, or go to a restaurant and hope that the businessman next to us ordered steak.  Of course, going out to a restaurant that serves steak, well, I guess that might take some money too.)  Anyway, when we were given a package of round steak, there was some discussion as to what round steak was.  No, it's not really steak, but it sure tastes good.

After a quick call to my mom, on the best ways to cook the meat, I soon started thawing things out and peeling the potatoes.  What good is some fried round steak, if you don't have some fried potatoes to go with them.  Fried potatoes are one of my favorite foods.  They were always a pain to make, growing up, because it took a lot of potatoes and peeling and slicing to feed six people.  Now, only feeding two people, it's not bad at all.

I started the potatoes first, because I knew that they would take the longest to cook.  I peeled them, while my husband sliced them thinly.   At the same time, we had some shorting melting in the skillet, getting hot.  When then potatoes were sliced and the skillet was hot, into the pan they went.

I sprinkled some salt and pepper on top, and stirred occasionally.  If you stir the potatoes too much as they cook they start to fall apart, but if you don't stir enough they may stick to the pan.

When the potatoes were on, and the meat was thawed I coated them in a flour mixture.  It included flour, salt, pepper, and season salt.  The second skillet (for the meat) was prepared in the same way as the one for the potatoes.  Making sure that the shorting was hot for the meat.

In both the potatoes and the meat make sure that there is enough shorting that when it is melted, fills the bottom of the pan about 1/2 inch.  Let the meat cook until it is a dark brown color.  Turning every once in awhile so it doesn't burn.

When the meat is done, place it on a plate covered in paper towels.  This will help collect the extra grease as it runs out.  To check and see if the meat is cooked, cut into the middle and make sure it is all brown.

As the potatoes continued to cook, they began to turn a lovely golden color.  I like my potatoes crispy, so I left them in until they were just how I liked them.

Fried round steak and potatoes are just not the same without some white gravy.  I don't know for sure where the expression "good gravy" came from, but it would make sense to me if they were talking about making gravy.  It's something that I haven't mastered (although I'm getting better and better at it).  Drain the extra grease out of the meat pan (making sure to leave any crunchies in it from the meat).  Add some flour and milk into the pan, and stir continuously while the stove is on low to medium heat.  This is where the hard part is for me.  Too much flour and it's too thick.  Too much milk and it's to runny. Getting the exact proportions in just takes practice.  The first couple of times that I made gravy, I ended up with a large amount as I kept adding milk and flour trying to get the correct consistency.  Remember that if the gravy is too runny, cooking it some more will also help to thicken it up.  Gravy is the last thing that you want to cook right before the meal, because it soon becomes thick and harder as it sits.  Add some salt and pepper for flavor. 

There we had a great meal.  Was it steak?  No, but with the potatoes and gravy, it was almost better.

Chili con Bacon?

Since the arrival of Fall, I have started cooking the fall foods!  It's so very exciting.  Of course with Fall comes soup, and with soup comes Chili.  It's a natural progression you see.  My chili is usually made just like my mother's, and it's rather delicious.  However, after watching a cooking show (darn Food channel is taking over my life), I decided to try a new recipe for chili.

First you take small pieces of bacon and brown them in the bottom of the pan.

When it has browned, add chopped green peppers, onions, and red peppers.

 

Ground beef comes next.  With that you add chili powder, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and crushed red peppers.

Brown the ground beef, while stirring.  When the beef is browned, added two cans of diced tomatoes (undrained).

Continue to cook on medium, and add tomato juice.  When the chili is hot, turn the burner to low.  Eat and enjoy!

This chili was pretty good, but the bacon caused it to be rather sweet.  That was an interesting addition.  I personally don't like sweetness in anything besides desserts (and sweet tea of course!)  Still, it was nice and hearty, and just perfect for watching football on a fall day!

Grandma Gregory's Goulash

 

Goulash is a relative name.  There are lots of things that I've heard called goulash.  "What's in that pan?"  I would ask.  "Goulash," was the response.  I would start to get excited, because I love goulash.  When I fix it, I make a big pot, and I can eat the leftovers for days.  I like it hot; I like it cold; I like it in the pot, nine days old.

However, my excitement would soon diminish.  I guess I'm a goulash snob.  There's only one way that I like it, and that's Grandma's way.  So, here is the "right" way to make a delicious pot of goulash.  It's pretty easy too!

1. Brown a pound of ground beef.  Drain the grease off of it.  (If you like, you can add just a few pieces of chopped onion for flavor.)  

2. While the hamburger is browning, boil a pot of water.  When the water starts boiling, add a box of pasta.  (Most people use Macaroni noodles.  I, however, really enjoy rotinni, but it all depends on my mood.)  Cook the pasta until it is soft, and then drain off the water.

3.  Mix the beef and cooked pasta in the pasta pot.  Add tomato juice.  (Here is where one of the big mistakes is made in goulash, in my snobish opinion.)  I think that the only way for the goulash to be is runny, like soup.  I always use at least half of my 46 oz can of tomato juice.  I save the rest of the juice, because as you reheat the goulash on other days, it starts to get dry.  I add the extra juice then.

4. Turn the heat to a medium level. Add salt and pepper to taste, and mix while the goulash heats up.  (The second atrocity against this dish is sugar.  Many people add this to their goulash to give it a sweet taste.  Blah!   Dessert is supposed to be sweet, not the main course.) 

So, there you go, a quick and easy recipe that ends in a delicious dish.    

My Meatloaf

You may remember last week I made meatloaf and froze it. This was just fine, except I didn't have a recipe, and I had never made meatloaf before. Well,I have good news! After an odd smelling oven, a burnt hand, and pasta problems, we had a lovely meal of comfort foods yesterday. The meatloaf ended up tasting delicious, so I'll share my "super secret" recipe with you.

Mix 1 1/2 lb of uncooked ground beef in a bowl with a package of crushed saltine crackers. Add 3-4 eggs, chopped green peppers, chopped onions, salt, pepper, and seasoned salt. The best way to mix it is with your bare hands. It's messy, but fun! Make sure every thing is mixed well, and then mold into a loaf type shape. You could mold it into a star shape, but then you would have to call it meatstar.

Place the loaf (or star) into a pan and cook at 375 F, until the middle is thoroughly cooked and doesn't show any pinkness. Then enjoy it! We enjoyed ours with green beans, tomatoes, and homemade macaroni and cheese. Yummy!

Meatloaf is good as a leftover too! My dad loves a cold slice of meatloaf on some bread with mayonnaise.

Also, check out the new poll, and vote!

Detestable Dusting

It's been a few days, since I've written, but I have company. Even though that's the case, I wanted to share the results of our poll! Obviously you all hate dusting the most, which I find very interesting. I mean, I don't like dusting, but I hate washing dishes and doing laundry much more. Half of the voters said that they found dusting detestable.

On another note, I'm enjoying having family here, and also enjoying breaking into that freezer full of food. Tuesday, to celebrate my parents' 25th anniversary, we had lasagna and fresh green beans.