Category — Beef Recipes

I’ve been planning on going shopping for several days.  I’d made a great list of all the places I wanted to go.  Since I was going to the next town over, I made sure I included all the places that I can’t go when I go to my normal haunts (yes, small town living really is that way!).  Z-DOW has some birthday money to spend, so she decided to come along.  Luckily, she’s old enough that I can drop her there and then run where I want to go.  Then, whoever gets done first (that’s ALWAYS me) calls the other one and we meet up.  It works out pretty well, except for the part where I said “pretty well” just now. 

There are several challenges to shopping with Z-DOW.  I don’t know if it’s because she’s Z-DOW, or if it’s because she’s a teenager, or if it’s because she has ADHD, or what.  But I do know that she’s S-L-O-W. 

For instance; I dropped her at Barnes and Noble.  I drove over to Bath and Body Works, browsed and bought 8 items.  I left and went next door to Old Navy.  I hit every sale rack, found 2 shirts for Aspie girl, a tank top for myself and debated on a cute little coat for the dog (I didn’t get it).  I paid for that stuff, drove back to Barnes and Noble, exchanged a damaged book at customer service and was just being lured to the magazine department by the call of glossy covers when she called. 

Z-DOW “Mom?”

Me  “Mmhmm?”

Z-DOW “Are you done?”

Me “Yup.  I sure am, are you ready?”

Z-DOW “Well, I found a puzzle.  But, I still want to look at the books, o.k.?”

Me  “You found a . . . puzzle?”

Z-DOW  “Yea!  It’s really cool!  But, I still need to look for books, o.k.?”

Me  “I’m sorry, Z-DOW, we’re out of time here.  If I make it two more steps toward the magazines we’ll never get out of here.”

Z-DOW  “You’re here already?!?  MOM!  NO!  I want to look at the books!  Go exchange the damaged book, o.k.?  I’ll hurry now.”

*Sigh*  See what I mean?  I did all that running and buying and she had picked out . . . a puzzle (which she didn’t buy).

So, you know what happened, right?  I took one. two. three steps toward the magazines.  Then, I turned around and went to the gardening section.  MUCH safer.  Gosh, I wish I could/would garden.  It doesn’t take long:  bored.  I’ll head over toward the gaming stuff, maybe Z-DOW will be here . . . and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw them.  Maaagazines. 

I love ‘em.  I can’t help it.  Big ones, little ones, cooking ones, gossip rags, psychology ones, girly glizty mags, weight loss issues, THE BIGGEST COOKIE COLLECTION of the year,  Paula Dean (doncha just love ‘er?) . . . oh jeez.  And they are so mean at Barnes and Noble.  They put these big ol’ benches right there in front of the racks and you can make this huge spread while you decide which ones you can’t live without. 

My magazine habit started about 9 years ago after the birth of Aspie girl.  I started spending an inordinate amount of time in medical offices.  What in the world do you do when sit in the waiting room?  That’s right; you read magazines.  And so.  There it is.  I am addicted to magazines and it’s all my kids’ fault.

Well, anyhow, I managed to leave Barnes and Noble today with just the smallest pile of only the very most important-nist magazines that no-one should be without.  Oh yeah, and I left broke.  But happy.  Giddy, even.

This is good news for you guys on two fronts.  First, I bought (ahem, a couple) cooking magazines, which means new recipes when I finish mish-mashing the ideas together.  Second, it means you get an oldie, but a goodie for today.  See, the thing about shopping is that when you’re all done you’re hungry, tired, and ready to be off your feet.  So, typically you end up at the food court debating over (I guess you could call them) tacos, or (I think this used to resemble) Chinese.  Yuck.  OR, Maybe you’re lucky and have a pizza joint at your mall that actually leaves the room temperature pizza in the oven long enough to kill the bacteria?  We don’t.   So, I was really, really smart and started my crockpot in the morning and I got to come home to some serious yummy-ness.  Next time you spend a day with your teen, or get pulled in by the glam of the mags, be sure and start the crockpot before you go.

Magic Crust Pizza

This recipe serves 8.  You can add your favorite pizza ingredients, or leave it as written, it’s yummy just the way it’s written!

1 1/2  lbs ground turkey or ground beef
1  onion, chopped
1  green pepper, chopped & seeded
16  ounces spaghetti sauce
16  ounces pizza sauce
16  ounces frozen kluski noodles or Reames frozen noodles 
1  cup sliced mushrooms
1 (8  ounce) package sliced pepperoni
16  ounces cheese, shredded

Brown ground turkey or beef with onion and green pepper.

Drain and add spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce.

Use a crock pot liner or spray crock pot with non-stick spray.

Layer ingredients in the following order. (Make sure you cover the noodles with cheese and/or sauce completely, or they will get hard).

Put a small layer of sauce in the bottom then,

1/2 Noodles.

1/2 Sauce.

1/2 Mushrooms, onions and green pepper.

1/2 Pepperoni.

3/4 Cheese.

and repeat, ending with the remaining cheese on top.

Cook on low for 2-4 hours, making sure that the cheese does not burn.  (Note:  My crockpot cooks really hot, so your crockpot might not burn it in 4 hours.  If you want to leave it longer than 4 hours, leave the cheese off the top and wait until you come home to add it.  The cheese on top is what likes to burn.)

We’ve lived in Michigan for darn near 10 years now and frankly, I still don’t think I like it much.  Take today, for instance, we had this pesky little thing they like to call a “snow day”.  Now, I grew up in Indianapolis, and while the weather there isn’t great in the winter, it is milder than it is here.  It also ends sooner, as in a month or so before we’re done having cruddy winter-time, my family in Indy is enjoying the crocuses and gearing up for cookouts and spring break.

When I was a kid, just like every other kid on the face of the earth, I loved snow days.  We had them in Indy, sure.  We just didn’t have so darn many of them.  And, as you all know, I’m hard at work on my first cookbook, with a deadline quickly approaching.  I have a short week anyhow, since the kids don’t have school on Friday (thanks to a teacher’s professional day).  Today’s snow day really cut into some important work time.  Apparently, now that I’m not a kid any longer, snow day translates into a “Angie Pangie doesn’t get any work done today-day”.

It’s not that my kids want to hang out with me and enjoy my company that’s keeping me from getting any work done.  I could deal with that - you know, play some Monopoly, work on a jigsaw puzzle, have a tickle fight on the couch . . . nope, since they’re a bit older now, they’re busy doing their own thing.  They’re quite entertained planting themselves in front of Hannah Montana, the computer, the Playstation, or maybe just arguing about which Webkinz is cutest.  If I suggest a tickle fight, I get a “MO-OM, I’m trying to sort my Pokemon cards here!  You just knocked my Turtwig into my Blastoise!  KNOCK IT OFF, MOM!”  And so, you see how it goes.

Today, I got a grand total of one recipe written, researched two recipes, and reconciled about one week’s worth of business expenses.  That’s it.

On the other hand, I did get to cook a hot lunch for my kids (stir-fried ginger and garlic pork with tamari and white rice) which was quickly replaced by a couple of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a handful of wheat thins.  Don’t worry, I enjoyed it immensely, even if they didn’t.  Oh, and the highlight of the day - I got to load and unload the dishwasher TWO times, not just once.

I suppose I’ll just have to work extra hard and long on my cookbook tomorrow.  At least the girls all got a much needed break from school.  They were all feeling the mid-January slump.  Still, by the time dinner time rolled around I was tired, frustrated, and too hungry.  I wanted to avoid the lunch-time PB&J incident again and decided on an old standby; spaghetti and meatballs.  I made a huge batch of meatballs last month and still had most of them in the freezer.  It took me a grand total of 15 minutes to put dinner on the table tonight.  The next time ground beef or turkey is on sale you might consider putting a batch of these together.  They perk plain spaghetti sauce right up, and if you need to used jarred sauce - no one will even notice.  Oh, and these make fantastic meatball subs!

Typically, I make about 5 pounds at a time.

Italian Style Meatballs

1  lb ground beef, turkey, venison, pork, or any combination of these
1  egg
1/4  cup milk
1/2  cup italian or plain breadcrumbs
1/2  teaspoon salt
1  teaspoon dried oregano
1  tablespoon fresh parsley, or 1 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2  teaspoon garlic powder
1/2  teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4  cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand for best results.

Roll meatballs to golf ball size - about 1 1/2 inches.

You can prepare these two ways:

Drop raw meatballs into large pot of sauce and simmer for about 3 hours.  Stir infrequently and gently so that you don’t break them into pieces.

OR
Bake meatballs in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes.  To avoid having your meatballs sit in a puddle of grease; place a cooling rack across the top of a sheet pan with one inch sides and place meatballs on top of the rack.  They can be close together, but not touching.

Meatballs freeze well.

Yesterday is somewhat of a blur.  The day went something like this.

Shop for two hours, looking for special gems like plum juice and a round 10″ cooling rack to nestle in my wok.  This may not sound too challenging, but remember - I live in rural Mid-Michigan.  Yeah.  No Asian market.  No real kitchen store.  Well, not much of anything really, other than your typical, run-of the mill supermarket.

Come home, unload stuff, trash the kitchen.  Clean up the kitchen and put on my apron.

 Cut veggies, mix stuff.  “Honey!  Can you take a picture of this?”  Clean up the kitchen.

Cut veggies, cut meat, mix stuff.  “Honey!  Would you take a picture of this?”  Kitchen’s trashed, again. 

Ack!  Look at the time!  “Honey, will you help me with this?”

Cut veggies, fold dumplings, cook some stuff.  “Honey!  I need more pictures!!”

Hurry.  Forgot the rice.  People show up.  Dishes EVERYWHERE!

Seriously, yesterday was the first time I remember being totally challenged in the kitchen in a LONG time.  I worked from sun-up to well past sun-down.  I was exhausted, smelling of peanut oil, and happy.  Yes, very, very happy.

I got some excellent feedback on the food from our dinner guests.  The cookbook is really . . .  well, cooking right along. 

You’ll have to wait a little while longer for the Chinese recipes, but I do have a Mexican dish I want to share with you that we had for dinner a couple of nights ago.  It’s a casserole and easy as can be to put together.  Maybe you can make one and put it on your table tonight.

Saucy Burrito Casserole

1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 flour tortillas
1 small can corn, drained (I really like the white/yellow mixed corn for this)
1 (10 oz.) can of red sauce (enchilada sauce)
1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh chopped, seeded tomatoes)
1 can (4oz) green chilies, drained
2 cups of shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
Hot sauce, if desired
Sour cream, if desired
Green onions, chopped - for garnish
1 small tomato, chopped and seeded - for garnish

In a saute pan, brown the ground beef with the onion.  Add the garlic powder, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Drain the grease.
In a medium bowl, mix the red sauce, tomatoes and chilies.  You may wish to only use part of the can of chilies, especially if you’re feeding children or the spicy impaired.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place two tortillas in the bottom of a casserole dish.  Tear the tortillas into make them fit and cover the bottom of the dish.
Place half of the meat mixture over the tortillas.  Sprinkle half the corn over the meat.  Sprinkle half the cheese over the corn.
Repeat the layers, ending with a layer of cheese on the top.  If you would like, you can sprinkle some hot sauce on top.  It looks pretty, and it will jazz up the heat a notch.
Bake for about 20-30 minutes, until hot all the way through and the cheese is melted on top.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle green onions and chopped tomato over the top for garnish.  Serve with sour cream, if desired.