30 Minute Meatloaves

We are a meatloaf loving family. I usually reserve it for weekends when I have a little more time to make it; but occasionally we need a meatloaf fix mid-week. Here is a nice quick way to make some cute mini-loaves. First, gather your ingredients:

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 cup baking mix, like Bisquick or Jiffy
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 egg

Then, start cookin':

-Heat oven to 450 degrees. Stir ketchup and brown sugar together in a small bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup for topping. In a large bowl, stir remaining ketchup mixture with the rest of the ingredients until well mixed.

-Spray a 13x9 inch pan. Place meat mixture in pan, patting into a 12x4 inch rectangle. Cut into 12 sections and separate so no edges are touching. Brush reserved ketchup mixture on each loaf (I admit, I sometimes make more of the ketchup mixture. We're also ketchup lovers.).

-Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until no longer pink in center and meat thermometer reads 160 degrees when inserted into center of loaves.

Delish!

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.

Beef & Ramen Noodles

This is one that I've done quite a few times, because it's easy and the kids all like it. How can you go wrong with ramen noodles?

Here is the ingredients list:

2 packages beef flavored ramen noodle soup
1 pound ground beef
½ cup onion
1 can (11 1/8 ounces) condensed Italian Tomato Soup (or if you can’t find that – I haven’t yet – use plain tomato soup and add some Italian seasoning)
½ soup can water
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Generous dash of pepper

Once you've gathered every thing together, here's what you do with it all:

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain most of the liquid off & add seasoning packets. Set aside.
Meanwhile, cook beef and onion until beef is browned and onion is done. Spoon off fat.
Stir in soup, water, Worcestershire, mustard and pepper. Stir in reserved noodles. Heat through, stirring occasionally.

Everybody likes this one. Add some green beans on the side, and you have a meal. It is not enough if the hubby is home, but for the 3 kids and me, it's plenty; we had a small bowl full left.

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

I like a good crock pot meal. Monday's are exceptionally hectic, with the boys having Boy Scouts that night, so crock pots are a good thing on those nights. This particular recipe is very easy to throw together. I found that for me, the best thing is to brown the burger the night before. And so, let us begin....

Your ingredient list:
1 pound ground beef (the leaner, the better)
1 medium onion, chopped (I had a great big onion, and I used maybe about a third. I don't buy small onions)
2 garlic cloves, minced (or the equivalent in dried minced garlic. That's what I use. I never buy cloves.)
4 cups vegetable juice (V8 or something similar. I used the cheap WalMart brand and it was fine. And cheap.)
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes
2 cups coleslow mix (this is really just shredded cabbage. I don't know why they don't just call it that.)
2 cups frozen green beans (or, if you're like me and completely skip this line when making your grocery list, use one can of green beans, drained. Add 1/2 hour before serving. I called my son and made him do it.)
2 cups frozen corn
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (let me just say, I've used this for years, and never known until now what was actually in it. That's a good thing. Had I known then, what I know now, I would probably have steered clear. Now, I made the mistake of reading the ingredients list. Ew.)
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Seems like a lot of stuff, but it's really very easy to throw it all together. Here is what you do with it all:

In a saucepan, cook beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is browned. Like I said, I did this the night before so it was waiting in the fridge this morning.
If you're not using a handy dandy crock pot liner, you simply throw all the ingredients in the crock pot together and stir them up. If you are using a liner, put it all in a big bowl, stir it up, and then pour it in to the crock pot. It's just easier to stir it all up when you don't have to worry about messing up the liner. At least for me it is.
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours.
Now, the recipe says it makes 10 servings. I don't think so - the Princess really didn't like it (too much tomato flavor for her), so the boys and I are the only 3 that ate it, and there was just enough left for one lunch.

Enchilada Casserole*

Last night was “Kid’s Choice” – and since hot dogs wrapped in refrigerated biscuits don’t need a recipe, I’m reaching back into the files of the Tried and True Recipes, and finding my Enchilada Casserole to share. It’s pretty flexible – you can use turkey (I’ve used leftover from Thanksgiving and deli), chicken, or a pound of ground beef – whatever you happen to have.

And so, here is the list of ingredients:

* 1 can (16 ounces) tomato sauce
* 1 can (4 ounces) chopped mild green chilies, drained
* 1 garlic clove, crushed (or, like me, the equivalent in dried or powder form)
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
* about 8 ounces cooked turkey or chicken, cubed – I usually add more than 8 ounces but that’s enough if it’s all you have. OR brown ½ to 1 pound hamburger and use that.
* 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced (I hope you have better luck finding them than I have been lately – the last 2 weeks, the store hasn’t had any. None. Not even an empty space where they belong. What’s up with that?)
* 9 corn tortillas, cut in half
* 2 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese

Once you have everything together, here’s what you do with it all:

Preheat oven to 375. Combine tomato sauce, green chilies, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and pepper. Line bottom of deep dish pizza sized pan with 6 tortilla halves. Spread a third of the sauce mixture over the tortillas. Cover with half the meat and half the onions. Sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Top with 6 more tortilla halves, half the remaining sauce and all the remaining meat and onions. Sprinkle with 1 cup of remaining cheese. Top with the rest of the tortilla halves, the remaining sauce, and the last of the cheese. Bake 25 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes before cutting into it. Serve with corn and/or corn bread.

The DH likes it best with ground beef. I think I do too, but it’s good with both turkey and chicken as well. It’s a little too spicy for my little one, but she’s happy if I leave out some of the meat for her and give her some corn to go with it.

*adapted from Pampered Chef's Busy Mom's Cookbook

Taco Soup

I stand corrected. Last night’s plan of stew didn’t pan out, because the hubby took all the leftovers to work with him. Here I thought there was plenty for both him AND stew. He confessed that it was just a little bit too much for him, but insists I didn’t have enough for the stew.
He did say there were some very jealous people at work last night. Pure goodness on a plate, I tell you.
So we couldn’t have stew. We ended up just having grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries. It was a good meal, but certainly no beef stew.
Tonight, if we have the beans, we’re going to have Taco Soup. My boys love this. My daughter loves part of it – the corn, the chips, and the cheese. It’s just like Chili (which they say they DON’T like) but it has corn added.

Here’s what you need:

* 1 ½ pounds ground beef
* 1 envelope taco seasoning
* 2 cans (15 ¼ ounces each) whole kernel corn, undrained
* 2 cans (15 ounces each) chili beans, undrained
* 2 cans (14 ½ ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
* Crushed tortilla chips (or Fritos – that’s what we usually use)
* Shredded cheddar cheese

And here’s how you throw it together:

In a dutch oven (I love my dutch oven) cook beef until done, drain (you could probably add some diced onions to the beef while cooking too, I sometimes do if I have an onion lying around). Stir in the taco seasoning, corn, beans and tomatoes. Cover and simmer (stirring occasionally) for 15 minutes or so, until heated through.
Place chips in soup bowls, ladle soup over chips, and sprinkle with cheese. OR, do chips, cheese, then soup. OR, do soup, cheese, then chips. Order doesn’t matter – the end result is the same. It’s all good!