The Cookbook Experiment: Cheesy Nacho Bake

The final cookbook experiment of the night is Mrs. Susan Strom's Cheesy Nacho Bake. Susan is a woman at church who I greatly admire. She is a very brave and courageous woman who believes and loves with her whole heart.

Cheesy Nacho Bake by Susan Strom

(1 1/2) pounds ground beef or turkey
(1) 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, unstrained
(1) package Taco seasoning mix (1 1/4 ounce)
(1/2) cup water
(1 1/2) cups sour cream, divided
(1) 5 ounce package tortilla chips (8 cups)
(1) 8 ounce package Shredded Colby and Monterrey jack cheese
Chopped tomatoes and green onion for garnish

Brown meat, drain. Add tomatoes, 1/2 cup water and seasoning mix. Cook, uncovered 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in 1 cup sour cream. Place 1/2 of the chips in a 13" x 9" baking dish, cover with 1/2 the meat mixture and 1/2 the cheese. Repeat layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated through.  Top with remaining sour cream, chopped tomatoes and green onions if desired.

My take-a-ways for this recipe:

• This was very easy and very tasty
• The sour cream blended with the meat and tomato mixture was just perfectly creamy.
• Adding the fresh grape tomatoes and green onion on top with some sour cream was wonderful.
• This is definitely going on the list of things I will make again and again. Thanks Susan!

The Cookbook Experiment: Taco Soup

Tonight's cookbook experiment is another excellent recipe by Sharon Giambrone. I love Sharon and I love her recipes too. My family loves anything to do with tacos and I thought I would give this one a try. It sure is easier than trying to wrangle all the ingredients together for regular tacos and tonight after a rough day at work and a rough time at physical therapy I needed easy.

Taco Soup by Sharon Giambrone

(2) pounds ground beef
(1) onion, chopped
(3) cans mild Rotel
(1) can Shoe-peg corn
(1) can black beans
(1) can kidney beans
(1) can pinto beans
(1) package dry ranch dressing
(1) package dry taco seasoning
(1) cup water

Brown ground beef and onions, drain. Add other ingredients and simmer at least 2 hours. Layer in bowl: Fritos or other corn chips, soup, cheese and sour cream.

My take-a-ways for this recipe:

• I drained the black beans and rinsed them.
• I had a green pepper I needed to use before it went bad so I chopped it and added it at the same time.
• I also had some bacon leftover (how did that happen in this household?) so I added that in. It was actually not a good idea because it got soggy. I should have saved it for the top as a garnish.
• Before I added any of the cans and after I drained the hamburger meat, I added the taco and ranch seasoning so that it could mix well and would not be lumpy in any of the juice/water.
• This was an excellent recipe. My whole family (minus the one vegetarian) loved it. I will definitely make it again.  Thanks Sharon!

The Cookbook Experiment: Amish Layered Dinner

Tonight's cookbook experiment also included this dish by Dick John. Mr. John is very important to me. He was a good friend of my father's and he is married to a very sweet lady, Pat John (one of her recipes is posted previously and it is to die for!).

Amish Layered Dinner by Dick John

(2) cups hamburger (uncooked)
(2) cups sliced raw potatoes
(2) cups chopped celery
(1/2) cup diced onions
(2) teaspoons of salt
(1/4) teaspoon of pepper
(1) cup diced green peppers
(2) cups canned tomatoes
(1) onion, thinly sliced (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a casserole dish. Sprinkle each layer with salt and pepper before adding the next layer. Place potatoes in the bottom of the casserole dish. Add a layer of celery. Add layer of hamburger. Add the layer of onions. Add the green pepper. Pour the tomatoes over the mixture. Lay onion slices on top, if desired. Bake for 2 hours, covering with foil after about one hour.

My take-a-ways for this recipe:

• I should have used very low fat hamburger. I did not think about it and it made the casserole a little bit greasy (okay, a lot greasy)
• I peeled and sliced about five potatoes to equal the 2 cups
• I did not measure the salt and pepper...I confess. I just liberally used them both (the pepper more than the salt actually)
• At the store today I did not pick up any canned tomatoes because I thought I had some at home. Nope! I used some canned whole Roma tomatoes that I roughly tore apart over the top of the casserole.
• I was really, really not sure how this was going to turn out, especially when what seemed like backward to me to put the aluminum foil on AFTER it had baked an hour. I did it, but I thought that was definitely different.
• This was tasty. I loved the way the celery just seemed to melt away and you would have never known they were in there if you did not see it being fixed.
• The onions were as equally amazing, of course I am an onion fan. They were so tasty.
• Thanks Mr. John. This was a hearty meal for my boys!! I love you! 

Cowboy Casserole

It's been a long time since I have posted! I am sorry....life gets busy, family gets sick and the computer takes a backseat! So did my family's dinner menu. I realized I was fixing the same thing over and over again. I have heard it said the average family eats the same five things every week. YUCK! I don't want that for my family! BUT I am tired and I don't have very much time or resources for new recipes!

I decided to pull up my big girl panties and try something new. It was mostly made up out of my head after looking at several old cookbooks and not liking what I saw.  I wanted something quick, in the skillet and that ever one would like. This is what I came up with:

Brown the following in a very large skillet:

(2) pounds of ground chuck (poor Chuck)
(1) medium onion, chopped
(1) medium green pepper, diced

Drain fat from the hamburger after it is completely done and put back in skillet. (Your skillet should be on medium heat.)

Drain the following and add to the hamburger:

(1) can of pinto beans
(1) can of black beans (rinse them first)

Stir this into the hamburger and then add the following:
(1) teaspoon garlic salt
(1) teaspoon chipoltle chili powder
(2) teaspoons chili powder (regular kind, nothing fancy)

Next add to regular size cans of diced tomatoes WITH their juice and stir.
Now add the following:

(2) cups of Minute Rice with (2) cups of hot water.

Stir and bring all to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat, stirring occasionally. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or so until rice is cooked and juices have reduced.

Serve on a plate circled with Frito corn chips and sprinkled liberally with shredded sharp cheddar cheese and shredded pepper jack cheese.

 

Chili....really quick!

Last night I was smart and sorted through a rather large bag of pinto beans, got out all the rocks, rinsed them and put them in my crock pot (turned off) to soak all night.  Even smarter, I remembered them this morning! Rinsed them off again, put them back in the crock pot and this time turned it on at the 8 hour setting and went to work!

When I got home at 4:00 today I was greeted with a large pot of pintos that were soft and yummy.  I put in a stick of butter and let that melt.  While this was melting, in a separate pot on the stove I put in a pound of ground chuck (poor chuck) and an onion, chopped to cook.  I also added about four cloves of garlic, smashed and minced.  Once the chuck (poor chuck) was done, I added two small cans of Hunt's Tomato paste and some of the liquid from my crock pot of pintos.  I also added chili powder and my very favorite chipoltle chili powder, more beans and liquid from the crock pot and one can of V-8 tomato/veggie juice. 

This has blended into a very flavorful, tomato-ey chili.  While it simmers on the stove and deepens in flavor, I threw in a batch of cornbread.  All of this delicious food is heading to the nursing home.  I know my sweet momma and  Uncle Buck will enjoy the homemade food.  Well....not ALL of it is going.  I have to feed teenagers and the hubs too!  It was fast and it is healthy and that makes me a happy mom!

The Hobo Dinner

In the midst of my cleaning spree today, I plopped down at the computer to find inspiration for tonight's dinner.  I wanted something quick and easy or at least easy!  I went to one of my favorite recipe sites, allrecipes.com and typed in easy dinner.  This is one of the first recipes that popped up:

The Hobo Dinner

I had most of the ingredients.  The only thing I lacked was the ground chuck (poor Chuck).  I ran down the street (okay...I did not run, I jumped in my Mustang and sped...ummm...I mean slowly drove) to my closest grocery store.  I decided to use the leanest beef I could find since it called for it to NOT be pre-cooked before adding everything else.  I did not follow the recipe exactly.  You know me! I have to put my "Crystal" twist on everything I do. 

(2) pounds of lean ground chuck (poor Chuck)
(2) packets of Lipton Beefy Onion dry soup mix
(5) or (6) medium to large russet potatoes
(1) bag of baby carrotts, peeled and ready to eat
(1) egg
(1) large sweet onion, cut into rings

Mix the ground chuck (poor Chuck) in a bowl with both packets of dry soup mix and the one egg until mixed well.  Form thick, medium size patties and place in the bottom of a roasting pan.  Peel the potatoes and slice like steak fries.  Layer the potatoes on first.  Then add the whole bag of carrots. Next place the onion rings on top.  Cover with aluminum foil and put in a pre-heated 400 degree oven and bake for one hour.

That was perfect for me.  I put it into the oven and went back on my cleaning spree!  After about 45 minutes the house was smelling like Sunday afternoon pot roast!  When the hour was up I carefully removed the roasting pan from the oven and peeled back the foil.  I served it in bowls and fed all my hungry crew.  It was quite tasty.  Even though the dry soup mix added a lot of salt content, it still needed some more.  I think next time I make it, I will probably add some cream of mushroom soup in to flavor it up some more.  It definately would have been great with some fresh sliced mushrooms added to the mix!  I can tell you I will definately be making this again!  I can take no credit for the recipe but I am sure thankful that it was posted on allrecipes.com!

It doesn't always have to fancy, sometimes it just needs to be QUICK!

It's Monday! I was tired after a stressful day of work and then running around grabbing children from their school activities.  I was also HUNGRY!!  What to fix?

I chopped an onion and threw it in a skillet with garlic and ground chuck (poor chuck)!

I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees while browning the chuck (poor chuck).

In a separate bowl I mixed one standard size can of Cream of Mushroom soup with a soup can of milk.

When the hamburger was done I mixed it with the soup mixture and put in the bottom of a 9" x 13" glass pan.  After spreading that in the bottom, I put a layer of jalapeno jack cheese slices over it all.  I then put a layer of frozen tater tots over all of it.

I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes I sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese over the top and put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes.

This is what it looked like (after I had already dipped some out).  We all liked it and it must have been good as evidenced by the next picture.....

It's all gone!!!  It was quick and it was good.  It certainly was not very low calorie! Stuff like this feeds teenagers really well!! I am sure I will make it again!

Italian hamburgers!

So, we have to have dinner early tonight as we are going to go to the skating rink for a family fun night!  I was pondering what to do with my fresh ground chuck (gotta love having a butcher at your fingertips) when my husband came in and said he had a "novel" idea....why not just make hamburgers?!  Gotta love my hubby!!

I mixed my fresh ground chuck with some dry Italian seasoning dressing mix.  Nothing else.  It smells wonderful.  I have some fresh tomatos sliced (by my butcher because I am spoiled like that), some onion, cheese, and buns.  Crinkle cut fries are in the oven!  YAY! Another easy dinner night!

If I don't break anything tonight skating I will be back tomorrow with an awesome pie crust recipe!  Bye!

Lunch today



Well, I was not exactly a good girl today.  While I did not technically eat fast food, I did go to the local diner around the corner from my job.  It is called The Ashland Breakfast and Lunch.  The hamburger was a REAL one, not some pre-formed fake patty.  The french fries were thick and covered in Old Bay spices.  They were quite yummy.

Somehow I do not think this fits in on a low-calorie diet but I don't really care.  I was tired and hungry and it was quick.  I only paid $7.54 plus tip.  Today has been a funky day and my emotions are on a roller coaster.  It has been a rough week this week being away from the family.  I am looking forward to getting home tomorrow and spending time with the fam.