Cheesy Meatball Subs

These were so incredibly easy and I can't believe I never thought about making them sooner. A co-worker mentioned making these, and shortly after I ran across a recipe for them. This is similar to the recipe I found, though not exact, because really, it's a 'play it by ear' kind of thing.
Here are my ingredients:

• 2 cups spaghetti sauce
• 4 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 24 ounces frozen meatballs
• 8 crusty buns (I just used a package of 'sub' buns, but something crustier would be better, like a mini Italian loaf or something)
• shredded mozzarella cheese

Combine spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese in a large skillet. Add meatballs. Stir gently to coat. Bring to a boil.

Simmer 8 minutes or so until meatballs are heated through. Stir occasionally so that they all get heated!

Spoon onto buns and sprinkle with cheese.

This recipe could easily be cut in half or adjusted to how ever many sandwiches you need.

Crispy Baked Pesto Chicken

This recipe was my first foray into the world of 'pesto'. Turns out we like it....it is garlic-y, after all, and we all like garlic. This is a very simple recipe; only takes about 35 minutes. Perfect for a weeknight.
So, here we go. Here is what you will need:

• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts - about 1 pound (though I actually had about 2 1/2 pounds. It's an easy recipe to adapt to more chicken though.)
• 1 pouch chicken seasoned coating mix (like Shake 'N Bake, for instance. I used a store brand though because it was cheaper. Tasted fine.)
• 2 tablespoons pesto (no store brand here. They didn't have any. It was a little pricey for the size jar it was. But no worries, it'll go far. It doesn't take much. And I've already used more because it was so yummy.)
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat chicken evenly with coating mix. Place in baking dish.

Bake per directions on coating mix box, or until chicken is cooked through (when it registers at 170 degrees in the thickest part).

Top chicken evenly with pesto. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes or so, until cheese is melted and lightly browned.

This was SO GOOD. I served it with green beans (the princess loves green beans!) and a rice dish.

Country Vegetable Beef

I made this the other night for the whole fam damily. I questioned one particular step, which you probably will too, when we get to it, but it turned out just fine. This is by no means gourmet (but then, what have I posted so far that is? - Nothing!) but it was good. Good enough to be gone when the meal was over.
So let us begin:

*2 cups water
*2 tablespoons cornstarch
*1 pound ground beef
*4 cups frozen mixed vegetables
*2 packages beef flavored ramen noodles - with seasoning packets

That's it - five ingredients - EASY. So easy my son finished it up for me when my parents stopped over unexpectedly when I was in the middle of it. Anywho, this is how you throw it together:

In a small saucepan, mix water, cornstarch and seasoning packets. Stir constantly over low heat until mixture thickens. (I actually did this part last, thinking that way the mixture would still be hot when I mixed everything together. I don't think I really needed to.)

In a frying pan, brown and drain beef. Add vegetables and cook until tender. This is the part I questioned. There's no liquid for the veggies to cook in. I really wasn't sure about this part. But I worried for nothing. The veggies were fine.
Once the veggies are cooked, add the gravy and stir.
(Next time I make this I will add chopped onion to the beef as I brown it. Onion adds just a little more flavor that we like, though this was good without it.)

Cook noodles in water according to package directions and drain.

Now, you have two options.
Option 1: Serve gravy over warm noodles. (per the original recipe)
Option 2: Mix the noodles with the gravy and serve. (per, well, ME. That's what we did and it was delicious)

According to the recipe this makes 2 - 4 servings. But please, we're talking about 2 packages of noodles, 4 CUPS of veggies, and a pound of burger. It served the 5 of us. It was gone when we were done, but we were also STUFFED.