L - Lasagna Soup

We love this yummy soup!  It is SO EASY to make.

Lasagna Soup 

Ingredients:

 1 lb. ground beef
½ C chopped onion
1 pkg (7 ¾ oz) lasagna dinner mix (Hamburger Helper)
5 C water
1 can (14 ½ oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (7 oz) whole kernel corn, undrained
2 T grated parmesan cheese
1 small zucchini, chopped

In a dutch oven or soup kettle, cook beef and onion over med heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add contents of lasagna dinner sauce mix, water, tomatoes, corn and parmesan cheese; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 min, stirring occasionally. Add the lasagna noodles and zucchini. Cover and simmer for 10 min or until noodles are tender. Serve immediately.

Recipe Given By: Quick Cooking S/O 1999 p. 13

You can add a little parmesan on top of each serving, if you'd like. It makes great leftovers!

C - Cheeseburger Pie

This is one of our staple casseroles. It's so tasty, even as a leftover. I can usually get two meals out of a 9 x 13 pan. With some bread, salad and fruit it's an easy meal to put together.

Cheeseburger Pie

Ingredients:

2 lb. ground beef
2 C chopped onion
1 t salt
2 C shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz)
1 C Bisquick
2 C milk
4 eggs
1 or 2 cans (4 oz each) mushroom pieces, optional

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 in. pan. Cook and stir ground beef and onion over med. heat until beef is brown; drain. Spread in pan; sprinkle with salt and cheese. Beat milk, eggs and baking mix until smooth, 15 seconds in blender. Pour into plate. If desired, sprinkle mushroom pieces on top. Bake 25 min or until knife inserted in center comes out clean, 5-8 min longer. Cool 5 min.

Serving: 12 (Can be halved and baked in a pie plate.)
Recipe Given By: Colleen Fleshood
Hint: I usually sprinkle 1 can of mushrooms on one half of the pan for my husband and I. The kids like the plain side.

Pizza Burgers

Tuesday night I had a work meeting, but my family wasn't going to be home in time to eat dinner all together.  I put together this "pizza-joe" and left it on the stove top covered. (There was about a 10 minute disparity between my departure and their arrival.)  I wrote out the final instructions and the gang finished up the recipe with no problem.  They even snapped a picture for me to share!  It was delicious!  Check out the Taste of Home link below for nutritional and freezer info, plus, other great recipes.

Open-faced Pizza Burgers

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 ounces) pizza sauce
1 can (4 ounces) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
6 hamburger buns, split and toasted
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the pizza sauce, mushrooms, sugar and oregano; mix well. Spoon onto buns; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Place on ungreased baking sheets. Broil 4 in. from the heat for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

To freeze for quick lunches later, place the split and toasted buns on a baking sheet. Spoon the meat mixture onto buns; freeze for 1 hour. Transfer to heavy-duty resealable plastic bags or airtight containers.

Serves: 12
Recipe Given By: Taste of Home

Pizza Roll-ups!

For a quick & easy lunch or snack, try:

Pizza Roll-Ups

Ingredients:

½ lb ground beef
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
½ C shredded mozzarella cheese
½ t dried oregano
2 tubes (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent rolls

In a skillet, cook beef over med. heat until no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat. Add tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and oregano; mix well. Separate crescent dough into eight rectangles, pinching seams together. Place about 3 tablespoons of meat mixture along one long side of each rectangle. Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Cut each roll into three pieces. Place, seam side down, 2” apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 min or until golden brown.

Serving: 2 dozen
Recipe Given By: Quick Cooking J/A 2000 p. 41

**Sorry, my picture is blurry. There is a better picture on the Quick Cooking link above.

Biscuit Barbecups

These make a great winter lunch when the kids are home!

Biscuit Barbecups

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
½ C prepared barbecue sauce
1 T. minced onion or ¼ C chopped onion
1-2 T. brown sugar
1 (10 oz) can Hungry Jack Flaky Biscuits
2 oz. (1/2 C) shredded cheddar or American cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 10 muffin cups. Brown ground beef in large skillet; drain. Stir in barbecue sauce, onion and brown sugar. Cook 1 minute to blend flavors, stirring constantly. Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Place 1 biscuit in each greased muffin cup; firmly press in bottom and up sides, forming ¼ in. rim. Spoon about ¼ C of meat mixture into each biscuit-lined cup. Sprinkle each with cheese. Bake 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until edges of biscuits are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from pan.

Hint: Tip: To make ahead, prepare as directed above. Cover; refrigerate for up to 2 hours. Bake as directed above or just cook burger up ahead of time & use later.

Serving: 4
Recipe Given By: Quick-Cooking M/J ’99, p. 61

Beef Stroganoff

This, like the Chicken Cacciatore, is a VERY simple meal. You can find more robust recipes out there that add green peppers and whatnot. This is just the recipe that my kids like. Actually, this is my 20-year-old's favorite recipe. Why do they always choose the simple, almost embarrassing ones? Memories, I guess.

Speaking of memories, my youngest brother-in-law (he was nine when I married his oldest brother) lived with us during the weekdays when he was in Jr. High so he could attend the school where my husband and I taught. At the time, we only had Ashley and she was between one and two years old. I wasn't anything special in the kitchen, but enjoyed trying new things here and there. Anyway, Matt (the Jr. High B-I-L) went around school telling everyone that I was the best cook! His favorite foods: PBJ sandwiches (because I added way more jelly than his mom) and Hamburger Helper. Ha! I begged him not to say that; at the time he never really got why that wasn't quite the compliment he thought it was.

Now he's 31 years old and still teases me about how much he likes my Hamburger Helper. I haven't made it in almost a decade, but it's a sweet joke between us.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 pint of sour cream
salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
small can of mushroom pieces, drained

Brown ground beef; drain. Add one can of cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 pint of sour cream and any spices you would like to add. I use salt, pepper, garlic powder and sometimes onion powder. Add drained mushroom pieces. Mix well. Warm through on low heat and serve over rice or egg noodles.

Serving: 4-6
Recipe Given By: ?? (maybe my mom-in-law)

Taco Casserole

This is such a quick easy meal that is so tasty! It's basically tacos and nachos combined. Yum!

Taco Casserole

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs. lean ground beef or turkey
1 taco seasoning packet
2 cans (8 oz each) tomato sauce
1 can (11 oz) Mexican corn mixture or whole kernel corn, drained
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
1 C coarsely crushed tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown meat in a large skillet over med-high heat; drain. Stir in taco seasoning, tomato sauces and corn. Simmer 5 minutes. Spoon mixture into a 2 quart baking dish. Top with cheese and tortilla chips. Bake until cheese in melted about 5-10 min.

Garnish with sour cream, sliced green onions, and serve with shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes.

Serving: 6
Recipe Given By:McCormick

Pizza Mac

Ok, this recipe makes me laugh. It came to my home in a Kraft magazine. They entitled the recipe: Pronto Pasta Italiano. Fancy...ooh, la, la. It's pizza mac, folks. Plain old pizza mac. I'm not complaining. I like a good name as much as the next girl, but it made me giggle. Not gonna lie.

Pizza Mac

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (14 oz) Kraft Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese Dinner
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1 C. pizza sauce
1/2 C. Kraft 2 % Milk Shredded Italian Three Cheese Blend

Prepare dinner as directed on package. Meanwhile, brown meat in large skillet. Add dinner and pizza sauce; mix lightly. Sprinkle with shredded cheese; cover. Cook on low heat 2 min. or until shredded cheese begins to melt.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with a mixed green salad tossed with Kraft Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing.

Serving: 4 (1 1/2 C. each)
Recipe Given By: Kraft Recipes.com

Our family like this recipe "ok" - maybe a 3 out of 5. We thought it tasted a lot like our pizza spread which is a lot more fun to eat. It was fun giving this a try, but it won't be sticking around.

Egg Noodle Lasagna

Although this dish below looks yummy our family didn't really care for it. It was a little too dry and we're not big "Velveeta in casserole" fans.

If you think the dish sounds good, please, give it a try. You may want to add another jar of spaghetti sauce. That would make it less lasagna-like, but would also moisten the dish. So far I haven't found a crockpot lasagna that my family likes. If you have a good recipe, please share!

*Ha, you may laugh at me. I didn't measure out the noodles when I made this. I just cooked up a bag-full and put it in. Measuring might have made the difference in dry/moist. Who knows. I'm just a home cook, y'all.

Egg Noodle Lasagna

Ingredients:

6 1/2 C uncooked wide egg noodles
3 T. butter or margarine
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
2 1/4 C spaghetti sauce
6 oz. process cheese (Velveeta), cubed
3 C. (12 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. Add butter and toss to coat. In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Spread a fourth of the spaghetti sauce in an ungreased 5-qt. slow cooker. Layer with a third of the noodles, a third of the beef, a third of the remaining sauce and a third of the cheeses. Repeat layers twice.

Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until cheese is melted and lasagna is heated through.

Serving: 12-16 servings
Recipe Given By: Taste of Home

Ground Beef Stew

Years ago my husband asked me to stop making beef stew because I overcooked the meat every time. (Such talent I had!) Because of that, I looked for a beef stew that I didn't have to precook the meat. I'm sure I'll post that recipe sometime this winter, but until then here's a stew that you can throw into the crockpot. It's low-cost, family-friendly and hearty! I serve it with biscuits just like my Momma used to do.

Ground Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 pkg. (16 oz) baby carrots
3 C water
2 T. dry onion soup mix
1 garlic clove, minced
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 to 1 ½ t. salt
¼ t. garlic powder
¼ t. pepper
1 can (10 ¾ oz) condensed tomato soup, undiluted
1 can (6 oz) Italian tomato paste

In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. In a slow cooker, combine the next nine ingredients. Stir in the beef. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours. Stir in soup and tomato paste; cover and cook for 1 hour or until heated through.

Servings: 28
Recipe Given By: Quick Cooking
Hint: I'm sure this would freeze well, although it never lasts around my house long enough to find out.

Pizza Spread

We usually eat one large meal on Sunday afternoon and then get the munchies during the early evening hours. This is a quick and easy snack to whip up and then put into the fondue pot. At our house it gets rave reviews and we're always thinking of other people we can share this recipe with as we chat and eat around the table.

Pizza Spread

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 jar (26 oz) marinara or spaghetti sauce
1 t. dried oregano
4 C (16 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 loaf Italian or French bread, cubed or sliced

In a saucepan, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in marinara sauce and oregano. Gradually stir in cheese until melted. Pour into a fondue pot or small slow cooker to keep warm. Serve with bread.

Serving: 8-10
Recipe Given By: Quick Cooking

Meat Loaf Miniatures

Meat Loaf Miniatures

Ingredients:
1 C ketchup
3 - 4 T. packed brown sugar
1 t. ground mustard
2 eggs, beaten
4 t. Worcestershire sauce
3 C Crispix cereal, crushed
3 t. onion powder
½ - 1 t. seasoned salt
½ t. garlic powder
½ t. pepper
3 lbs. lean ground beef

In a large bowl, combine ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Remove ½ cup for topping; set aside. (**I make extra!!) Add eggs, Worcestershire sauce, cereal and seasonings to remaining ketchup mixture; mix well. Let stand for 5 minutes. Crumble beef over cereal mixture and mix well.

Press meat mixture into 18 muffin cups (about 1/3 C each). Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 min. Drizzle with reserved ketchup mixture; bake 10 minutes longer or until meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. Serve desired number of meat loaves. Cool remaining loaves; freeze. Transfer to freezer bags; freeze for up to 3 months.

To use frozen meat loaves: Completely thaw in the refrigerator. Place loaves in a greased baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through, or cover and microwave on high for 1 minute or until heated through.

Serving: 1 ½ dozen
Recipe Given By: Quick Cooking J/F ’01, p. 29
Hint: A good amount of the fat from the meat remains behind in the bottom of the muffin pan. These go well with mashed potatoes. Perfect size for kids and leftovers.