Baked Spaghetti

Tonight we had baked spaghetti. It's a good make-ahead type dish but good for the last minute too.

Baked Spaghetti

2 cups chopped onion
2 lbs. ground beef
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
4 teaspoons dried oregano
32 oz. cooked spaghetti (2 pkgs)
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese (at least)
2 cans (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 cup water
1 cup Parmesan cheese


In a large skillet fry the ground beef and onion. When done add tomatoes and oregano. Simmer for about ten minutes. Place half of the cooked spaghetti noodles in a big pan. Top with the hamburger mixture and sprinkle 2 cups of cheese on top. Repeat layers. Mix the soup and water until smooth; pour over casserole. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered at 350* for 35 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 24 servings

Sunday Supper Soup

This is a tasty beef broth based soup. I make four batches at a time. So good I even have it for breakfast. If making multiple batches only add as much tomtatoes as your family likes. Mine likes three cans of tomatoes for a four batch pot. I also added fresh parsley vs. dried parsley in the soup base. We had salad and garlic bread to go with it. Y.U.M!

Meatballs:
1-1/2 lb.. ground beef
1 egg, beaten
3 T. water
1/2 C. dry bread crumbs
1/4 t. salt
1 t. chopped parsley
2 T. butter

Soup:
2 C. water
1 can (10-1/2 oz.) condensed beef broth, undiluted
1 can (1 lb. 12 oz.) tomatoes, undrained, chopped
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 C. sliced carrots
1/4 C. chopped celery tops
1/4 C. chopped parsley
1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper
1/4 t. oregano leaves
1/4 t. basil leaves
1 bay leaf

To make the meatballs, combine all ingredients but butter. In dutch oven, heat butter and brown meatballs, a single layer at a time, on all sides. Drain off fat; remove meatballs and set aside. To make soup, combine ingredients in same dutch oven. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20 minutes. Add meatballs; simmer 20 minutes longer.

Makes about 2 quarts or 6-8 servings.

Au Gratin Potatoes

Au Gratin Potatoes

4 cups peeled and thinly sliced potatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 butter
1 Tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

Cook and stir onion in butter in good-sized pot until onion is tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk and 1-1/2 cups cheese. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Place potatoes in your baking pan and pour the cheese sauce on the potatoes. Cook uncovered in 325* oven 1 hour 20 minutes or in 375* oven for 1 hour.

Mix remaining cheese and the bread crumbs; sprinkle over potatoes. Cook uncovered until top is brown and bubbly, 15-20 minutes longer.

This serves 6 and I triple the recipe to serve 18.

Chicken Noodle Casserole

I had some leftover chicken from the night before and not a whole lot of time to come up with something to make. I found a recipe and tweaked it to our liking. This is my version.

Chicken Noodle Casserole

12 ounces cooked and drained egg noodles
12 Tablespoons butter
12 Tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth or 2 cups water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups milk
1 Tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 cups cooked diced chicken
1 cup Parmesan cheese plus some for the top of casserole


Preheat oven to 350*

Grease a 13x9 pan. (I didn't and I was fine)

In large skillet over low heat melt butter. Blend in flour stirring until smooth and bubbly. Gradually add chicken broth, milk, and salt & pepper. Stir constantly until sauce is thickened. Stir in chicken, parmesan cheese and the cooked noodles. Spoon the mixture into a baking dish. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the top. Bake for 2-25 minutes.

Serves 16. (actually it fed our family for one meal and a little bowl leftover)

Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies

This is for Jenn. :)

Because I'm tired and don't want to type the recipe out follow the link and you'll see a yummy picture. Your palate will thank you when you devour these!

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/ShowRecipe.aspx?rid=14463

Chalupa Grande

1 pound dry pinto beans
1 pork roast (3 pounds), fat trimmed
7 cups water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
Fritos
Shredded cheddar cheese
Diced avocado
Diced tomatoes
Chopped green onions
Salsa

Place first 10 ingredients in a large kettle. (Beans do not need to be soaked, but you should rinse them and make sure there aren't any rocks/dirt.) Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, about 3 hours or until beans and roast are tender. Remove roast; cool slightly. Remove meat from bones; shred with fork. Return meat to kettle. Cook, uncovered, until thick, about 30 minutes. Serve over corn chips. Pass remaining ingredients as toppings. Yield: 10-12 servings.

Marcia noted that she uses beef instead of pork. That would probably be just as yummy! Also as we were eating today we thought that we could use the meat/bean mixture over rice or even lettuce.

Recipe found in The Best of Country Cooking, Second Edition by Taste of Home Books.

Menu Plans

Sat down with some cookbooks yesterday and came up with:

Spaghetti
Buttermilk Baked Chicken
Pot Roast
Chalupa Grande (Mexican type pork roast/pinto beans/fritos/avocados)
Hungarian Chicken
Red Beans & Rice
Potato Soup

Yesterday we had Chili.
Two days ago we had Chicken Noodle Soup. (I used my Turkey Noodle Soup recipe and used two chicken carcasses for the broth instead of one turkey carcass.)

My most used cookbook is Betty Crocker's orange cover from way back when. I used my first one up and had to buy another on Ebay. I bought one for Jacob when he moved out. It has basic but tasty recipes. It has never let me down. :)

Mexican Lasagna

I haven't made this in a long while, but we had ground beef and it just sounded better than soup. This is from The Best of Country Cooking by Reiman Publications-1993.

I double this!

1-1/2 lbs. ground beef
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper (cayenne)
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 16 oz. can chopped tomatoes
10-12 corn tortillas
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (with peppers-optional)
1 egg
2 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
3 green onions
1/4 cup sliced black olives

Brown ground beef; drain thoroughly. Add cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, red pepper/cayenne, salt, black pepper and tomatoes; heat through. Cover bottom and sides of a 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish with tortillas. Pour beef mixture over tortillas; place a layer of tortillas over meat mixture and set aside. Combine cottage cheese, Monterey Jack cheese and egg; pour over tortillas. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. Remove from oven; sprinkle cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, green onions and olives over casserole. Yield 6-8 servings.

Now the way they have it photographed in the cookbook there is a diagonal row of green onions, olives, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese in the middle, lettuce, tomatoes, olives and onions. The onions are in opposite corners and each row gets longer until the single cheese row in the middle. Of course, you can just sprinkle all of it all over the top and then everyone would get some of every topping.

Guacamole

2 avocados (smashed with a fork)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
few dashes of hot sauce

Combine all the ingredients and serve with tortilla chips or put on your tacos. Enjoy!

Just so you know I used twelve avocados for about ten people and it went VERY fast.

Onion Swiss Steak

2 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 pound beef boneless bottom or top round, tip or chuck steak 1/2" thick
1 tablespoon shortening
1-10 3/4 oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
envelope of onion soup mix or 1/4 cup minced onion, 2 tablespoons instand beef bouillon & 1/2 teaspoon onion

Mix flour and pepper. Sprinkle one side of beef steak with half of the flour mixture; pound in. Turn beef and pound in remaining four mixture. Cut beef into four or five serving pieces.

Heat shortening in ten inch skillet until melted. Cook beef over medium heat until brown, about fifteen minutes.

Mix the soup, water and bouillon/onion mix together and pour on beef. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until beef is tender, about forty-five minutes.

Makes 4-5 servings.

I always double/triple this recipe, and I quadruple the amount of soup mix so that I can have extra gravy for my mashed potatoes.

Carne Asada Tacos

Skirt steak or Flank steak
Corn tortillas (the smaller the better, Street tacos in Tijuana are very small.)
cilantro
tomato
avocado
onion
sour cream
cheese
hot sauce

BBQ the steak and cut into small pieces. I don't season mine or do anything to it other than take it out of the package and cook it.

While the meat is cooking cut up your onion, cilantro, tomato, avocado and set out your other condiments in bowls.

Heat up your corn tortillas. Don't fry them, just heat them up. I heat mine in my cast iron skillet.

Set everything out on the counter and you're ready to go!

Red Beans & Rice

2 lbs dried red beans, rinsed and sorted over

Place the beans in a large pot, and cover with water by 2 inches or 12-16 cups of water. Boil 3 minutes, cover and soak 1-4 hours, adding water as needed to keep beans covered.

Drain off soak water and rinse and set aside.

Heat 6 Tablespoons of bacon grease, oil, or shortening over medium-high heat in frying pan.

To hot grease add:

3 cups chopped yellow onions
1-1/2 cups chopped celery

Saute a bit

To onions & celery add:

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 sprinkles of cayenne pepper
6 bay leaves
4 tablespoons parsley
4 teaspoons thyme
6 tablespoons chopped garlic

After a few minutes of sauteeing the seasonings & onion/celery mixture put the beans back into a big, big pot and all of the above ingredients. To this you will add 20 cups of chicken stock or water (for quick chicken stock, just add 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon for each cup of water)

Add a nice big ham bone or several ham hocks to the beans, seasonings, and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about two hours. If the beans become thick and dry, add more water, about 1/4 cup at a time.

When the beans are tender and the ham is falling off the bone, take the bone out and go through your beans (I use a strainer with a pot underneath to make sure to catch my liquid) to make sure there aren't any small bones are pieces of fat in your meal. When you're satisfied you can add everything back into the pot and continue heating.

Serve with white rice. I made 12 cups of rice and have used it all even making rice as needed. This lasted us for dinner and several lunches. All my children enjoy it!

Granola

Many years ago I was on the MOMYS board and an acquaintance that I went to an Above Rubies retreat with posted this recipe. I've tweaked it to my liking. My version is below. I thought I lost it, but found it today! Steve has asked me to make this again., but he has to go to the healthfood store to buy some of the items.

Good Day Granola
8 cups rolled oats
1-1/4 cups brown sugar
1-1/2 cups unprocessed bran
1-1/2 cups natural wheat germ
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup walnuts
1 cup coconut
3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips.

Stir oats, sugar, bran, wheat germ, sunflower seeds and walnuts in a large bowl. Heat oil and honey in small pan on low heat until bubbly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour liquids over dry ingredients and mix THROUGHLY! Divide mixture evenly and spread on two rimmed cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated oven at 325* for 15-20 minutes and stirring once to keep granola evenly browned. When completely cool, add in chocolate chips (unless you kind of want the choc. to melt in a little-yum) Store in an airtight container.

No Bake Cookies

If you like peanut butter and oatmeal together then this is a recipe for you! Jesse thinks these are better than fudge and fudge is just about his absolute favorite thing in the world.

No Bake Cookies
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1/2 butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
4 cups uncooked oats

Cook sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter over medium heat until it starts to boil. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat. Add in vanilla, salt, peanut butter and oatmeal. Stir well, then drop by spoonful on to waxed paper. Let them sit and they'll harden up.

Pumpkin Blueberry Streusel Muffins

I found this recipe years ago in a free magazine for pregnant moms. www.verybestbaby.com/recipes is the web page given on the recipe page. The idea was that dad could make you a healthy breakfast while you were recovering and resting with baby. Along with these muffins it was suggested to serve scrambled eggs, fruit slices, and milk.

I made them today since it's been a while that I've made them, and oh my goodness! I forgot how good they are. They were so yummy! The streusel didn't turn out quite like I remember, but it was still good.

Pumpkin Blueberry Streusel Muffins

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups pure canned pumkin
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Struesel Topping (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray 24 muffin cups with Pam.

Combine flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Combine pumpkin, eggs and vegetable oil in medium bowl; stir well. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (It seems that I only cooked mine for 15 minutes, so check them at 15 minutes) Remove from pans to wire racks; cool slightly. Serve warm. Makes 24 muffins.

For Streusel Topping: Combine in a medium bowl-
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with pastry blender.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread recipe

I made this delicious pumpkin bread today. I found the recipe on the back of the label on Libby's canned pumpkin.

Pumpkin Bread-It will make four 9 x 5 loaves.

6 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp. salt
6 cups granulated sugar
1 can (29 oz) Libby's 100% pure pumpkin
8 large eggs
2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup orange juice or water (I used oj and it doesn't taste like oj at all.)

If you desire you can add 2 cups sweetened dried, fresh or frozen cranberries.

Preheat oven to 350* F. Grease your pans.

Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, oil and juice in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and juice in large bowl with wire whisk; mix until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; sitr until just moistened. Fold in cranberries if used. Spoon 4 cups batter in each prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 75-80 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Enjoy!!!

Potato Soup

Today I made potato soup for dinner. It's a nice meal that you can leave on the stove and ,most everyone can help themselves. This recipe is from our pastor's wife with some of my directions added in.

Potato Soup
(I often quadruple this recipe for our family and have it simmering for several meals.)

6 slices bacon (save grease for onions)
1 cup onion
2 cups cooked potatoes
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup (10 1/2 oz. size cans)
2 cans milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons parsley
Cheddar cheese for the top of soup (optional)

Fry bacon and set aside. Take some grease from the bacon and fry your onion until the onion is transluscent. Fill pot with some water, enough to cover your potatoes, then peel and cut up potatoes to desired size. Drain water from the potatoes when done. Add everything to your soup pot and set on low. You don't want this to boil, you just want to keep it warm. After serving top soup bowls with bacon and cheddar cheese.

I usually make corn bread in my cast iron skillet when I'm done with the soup. Yummy!!! I'll add the corn bread recipe tomorrow. If I did it now that would require me to get up and it's 1:33am in the morning. If I get up now it's to go back to bed.

I found it!!! Peanut Butter Chews

For years I have wondered about a cookie bar I used to have in grade school. I've never had it since and just figured it was one of those things I would never get to enjoy again.

Well!!!!! Lo and behold the recipe was in our local paper yesterday. They had a back-to-school feature and this was it. The recipe was distributed by our local school district. I was so excited that I had finally found it.

Today I made it and they are so good. Steve tried to joke with me and said, "Oh, I don't think you'll like these. You shouldn't even try one." Good try, but no cigar. They were wonderful!!!

Here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Chews

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats

Glaze:
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons peanut butter
4 1/2 teaspoons very hot water

Combine butter, sugars, peanut butter, eggs and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix, creaming well.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add rolled oats and mix well. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix until well blended.

Spread the batter into a greased 12-by-18 inch cookie pan with sides. Bake at 350* for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overbake.

For the glaze: Combine powdered sugar and peanut butter. Gradually add hot water. Spred glaze on warm Peanut Butter Chews. Cut while warm. Cookies will have a chewy consistency.

Makes 32 bars.

(From the San Diego Unified School District Food Services Dept.)

Yummy Cinnamon Muffin recipe

This is our family's favorite muffin recipe. I made it this morning and thought I would share it with you. I found it in the 2004 The Taste of Home Annual Recipe book.

Cinnamon Muffins

1/3 cup shortening or butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk

Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, melted

In a mixing bowl, cream shortening/butter and sugar. Add egg; beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk and mix well. Fill greases muffin cups half full. Bake at 350* for 15-20 munites or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

(By the way, I don't use paper muffin cups, I just use Pam and they slide out of the pan nice and easy.)

In a shallow bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Dip muffin tops in butter, then in cinnamon-sugar. Serve warm. Yield: 1 dozen (of course I ALWAYS double the above recipe)