Mac and Cheeseburger Bowl

This makes for a great quick dinner night. Lots of veggies, and mac and cheese for the kids. Nice!

1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
6 cups hot water
1 package Hamburger Helper® cheeseburger macaroni
2 cups Green Giant® frozen broccoli cuts
2 medium carrots, sliced (1 cup)
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Shredded Cheddar cheese, if desired

1. Cook beef and onion in Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring occasionally; drain well.
2. Stir in hot water, uncooked Pasta, Sauce Mix, broccoli, carrots, thyme, salt and pepper. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly.
3. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender. Stir in parsley. Garnish each serving with cheese.

Ashlee side note: Surprisingly, this is also a fairly low fat dish. Only 9 grams per serving. I usually cook with ground turkey, which would make it even better. :0) I use frozen carrots too, instead of fresh. It's just easier. :0)

Flank Steak Tacos

This is another fabulous recipe from my sister, Crystal. She says she makes these once a month for a fairly quick and easy twist on your everyday tacos.

Flank Steak Tacos

8 flour tortillas, heated
1 1/2 pounds beek flank steak, trimmed of fat
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablesppons vegetable oil
1/4 head cabbage, shredded
2 green or red bell peppers, seeded and sliced
1 small onion,. sliced
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons hot sauce
2 limes, 1 juiced, 1 cut into wedges
1/2 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
2 sliced avacoados
sour cream

Mix the ground cumin and chili powder together, rub onto flank steak. Cook on grill or on the stove. In another pan put the onion, peppers, and cabbage and cook until tender. Juice a lime into the pan, then add the hot sauce and salt and pepper. Stir around and let sit for a few minutes. When the meat is done slice across the grain. Put together like a taco. Eat and enjoy.

Meatloaf, Meatloaf, Yucky Yucky Meatloaf

My hubby doesn't like meatloaf. He used to sing those words growing up when his mom would make it. Now, in my house, meatloaf was AWESOME! We loved it! This first recipe is the one my mom passed down to us. The one we grew up on. I altered it to accomodate hubby's tastes and so you can read on it at the bottom. This is a "by request" from Sister Honey Bunch.

1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef (I think we just used a package of it, which is usually just a pound)
3/4 cup oatmeal
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 egg
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Mix bround beef with oats and chopped onion. Work in salt, pepper, egg, Worchestershire sauce and tomato sauce until texture is consistent throughout. Pat into a loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Topping:
1/3 cup catsup
1 Tbsp. mustard
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
Stir together until smooth. Spread over raw meatloaf before baking.

Ashlee side note: Because hubby said he didn't like meatloaf, I changed the recipe up a little bit to accomodate him. {the things we do out of love}

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 egg
1 package onion soup mix
salt
pepper
Worcestershire sauce

I know, I know...there are no measurements there for the flavoring. And you can't do a taste test with raw meat. But as long as you don't WAY overdo it, you can't really screw this up. It's meatloaf for heaven's sake!
So, put beef, egg, onion soup mix, some salt, some pepper, and a few good shakes of Worchestershire sauce in a bowl {get at least 1/2 tsp in there but no more than 1 1/2 tsp} and get your hands in there and squish it all up together until you get a smooth texture. I'm sorry if that grosses you out, but honestly, it's the best way to get it all mixed properly. Use gloves if you need to, and I would STRONGLY suggest the removal of rings before squishing. :0)
Anyway, here's my other BIG difference. I bake my meatloaf in muffin tins. So, you get little mini meatloaves instead of one big log of beef. I don't know if it just tricks the hubby into thinking it's something different and fancy, but he eats them. And so do the kiddos. Just fill up each tin and bake up at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or so. You'll probably want to check one to make sure they are cooked through.
I don't schmear the top of mine either. But you can if you prefer. We do the smearing of catsup when it's on our plates. Cold catsup, warm meatloaf. MMMMmmmmmmm!

I hope this is what you were looking for Honey Bunch!

Pappy's Fajitas Seasonings

I don't know if this is really a "recipe" but I'm posting it anyway. Because of Jaysen's LOVE for all foods Mexican I try to find new recipes to try out that will perk up his tastebuds. After eating over at a friends' house in December where they served a nacho/taco bar using shredded beef instead of ground beef, he wanted me to do the same. Except I was put to the test to find a different seasoning for the meat. The seasoning they used wasn't bad, it just didn't have the "kick" he was looking for apparently. :0)

This is what I found.

I found it on the spice aisle at WinCo. Nowhere fancy. What I really liked about it was this....No MSG, No Preservatives. Just spices. Good stuff.

Anyway...to make our "fancy" shredded beef tacos you'll need the following:

1. Pappy's Fajitas Seasoning
2. A beef roast...small enough to fit inside whatever size of crock pot you've got.
3. If you don't have a crock pot, you'll need one of those too.

Here's how to do it:

Plug in the crock pot. :0) Put a small amount of water in the bottom of crock pot. {Just to make sure nothing burns. The roast will create liquid of it's own while cooking, so it doesn't need to be tons.} Place roast in crock pot. Sprinkle generously with Pappy's Fajitas Seasoning making sure to cover both sides. Turn crock pot to low and cook for about 8 hours or so. {If you don't have that much time, turn it to high and cook till done} About 4 hours into it, I flip over the roast. That way one side doesn't get more moist than the other sitting in all the now juicy water. Then, about 6 hours into it, I put more seasoning on the meat...both sides. Mmmmmm....your house should smell really good at this point.

Once the meat is done, remove from crock pot and let cool for about 5 minutes to let the juices settle. Then, using two forks, shred meat into VERY small chunks.

You now have yummy Shredded Taco Meat. Jaysen enjoys this so much I now have to cook it monthly. I'm not kidding either. I don't mind. It's yummy.

I used this seasoning for my regular ground turkey tacos last night and it was really good too. Just add 1/3 cup of water to the meat before adding the seasoning. It's my new favorite.

Beef n Bean Bake

This is what's for dinner tonight at my house. Quick and easy meal you just throw together and bake. My kind of dinner!

1 lb. ground beef
1 can Campbell's® Condensed Fiesta Chili Beef Soup
3/4 cup Pace® Thick & Chunky Salsa
3/4 cup water
8 corn tortillas (6-inch) OR 6 flour tortillas (8-inch), cut into 1-inch pieces
2/3 cup shredded Cheddar cheese


COOK beef in skillet until browned. Pour off fat.
ADD soup, salsa, water, tortillas and half the cheese. Spoon into 2-qt. shallow baking dish. Cover.
BAKE at 400°F. for 30 min. or until hot. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Ashlee side note: You could also make this without the tortillas and serve it over Fritos chips instead. Add a dollup of sour cream on the top and you can't go wrong!

Baked Ravioli Lasagna

Yay! My sister-in-law, Holly, just shared a recipe that I thought you might want to try out. It looks yummy. It's what's for dinner at my house tonight.

Hey. I have a really easy, good recipe if you want to try it out and see if it's blog worthy. It's called Baked Ravioli Lasagna.

2 pkgs of frozen cheese ravioli
1 lb of hamburger
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup grated mozarella cheese
1 cup of grated monterey jack cheese
parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

It's real easy you just cook the meat and add the sauce, spread a little on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan, place ravioli on top of mixture and top with 1/2 of mozzarella and monterey jack cheese and repeat one more time. Top off with sauce and sprinkle parmesan cheese. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. You can also add chopped onion, garlic powder, basil leaves and italian seasoning if you so desire. Let me know what you think. It's way easy and is a fun spin on lasagna!

Stuffed Ground Beef

So, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you these are low fat or anything. However, alterations can be made to make them a little less scary for those of us watching our figures. Any way you make them though....YUM!

2 pounds lean ground beef (can use ground turkey for a lighter version)
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups herb Stove Top Stuffing
2 cans cream of chicken soup (can use mushroom or celery if preferred)
1/2 soup can water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, milk, salt and pepper until well blended. Divide into 16 portions. Flatten into thin patties.
Make stuffing mix following package directions. Scoop about 1/4 cup stuffing each on 8 of the patties. Place a second pattie on top, then press around the edges to seal well. Place on oiled shallow cookie sheet. Brown in oven for about 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix soup with water. When patties are browned, remove from oven and turn temperature down to 350. Pour soup mixture over patties. Bake for 30 minutes longer.
To serve, spoon remaining sauce in cookie sheet over patties.

Ashlee side note: I don't make these very often, but when I do, they get eaten up. For a smaller family like mine, just half the recipe. These have also been called stuffed mini meatloaves by those who have eaten them before...so if that's you..these are it! When you make these with ground turkey and the fat free cream soups, they really aren't bad at all if you are watching calories. So, eat up!