Cheeseburger Kabobs

So...is everyone else done with the Cupboard Project? If so, I will stop posting.

I didn't have a meal planned for tonight, and I wanted something with meat. I found this one and it fit the bill. I used a pound of ground beef I got free, and happily it was 85% lean instead of the fatty 73% I normally buy. Well, I normally buy ground turkey, but when I happen to buy meat, I go cheap.

Cheeseburger Kabobs

1 pound ground beef
3/4 c grated cheddar cheese
1/2 c fine bread crumbs
2 T French's Prepared Mustard
2 T catsup
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 t French's Onion Salt
Green pepper pieces, onion and cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes

Combine beef, cheese, bread crumbs, mustard, catsup, egg, and onion salt; shape into 1 1/2-inch balls. Alternate meatballs on skewers with green pepper, onion, and cucumber. Brush grill with oil to prevent sticking. (Or place heavy duty foil on grill and pierce with a fork so drippings can drain.) Grill kabobs 3 to 4 minutes each side. Garnish with cherry tomatoes. 6 servings.

The taste really was somewhat like cheeseburgers. All they needed was a pickle and bread to complete the taste. Brian thought they were bland, so he added salt and ketchup. I thought they were salty enough as is. While the taste passed, the presentation was a fail. Most of the meatballs fell apart and came of the skewer. I'm glad I didn't try to grill mine--they would have all fallen through. I broiled them, and while it made them fattier, at least I didn't lose all the meat.

One plus was that O liked the stick idea and had a small bite of the meat on the stick. Seeing as I can't even remember the last time he ate ground beef, I'll call that a win.

Enchiladas

This recipe is one that is very similar to the enchiladas Big Chubb's Mom makes. I figured it would be easy enough since we had Velveeta and I accidentally bought corn tortillas instead of flour.

2-8 ounce cans tomato sauce
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 cup flour
2 c. water
2-3 tsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. vinegar
Salt
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
2 lg. onions, chopped
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 lb. American cheese
1 pkg. corn tortillas

Mix tomato sauce, shortening, and flour together in a saucepan; slowly add water. Make a paste of the chili powder with a little water; add to sauce. Add vinegar, allspice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer for 1 hour or longer. Sauce will thicken. Fry beef until almost done; add onions. Add chili powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, and a pinch of allspice. Grate 1/4 pound of cheese into meat and cook until melted. Dip each tortilla in the warm sauce. Place large spoonful of meat in center. Roll tortilla and fasten with toothpick. Place in greased baking dish. Pour any remaining sauce over rolled tortillas. Sprinkle remaining grated cheese over all. Heat in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 6-8 servings.

Well, Big Chubb was thoroughly reminded of growing up when we ate these. I very much prefer the good old black bean enchiladas we usually have. They had a much better taste, in my opinion. The Chubb kids agreed with me.

Slow Cooker Taco Shredded Beef

I was waiting to make this recipe, hoping to have some to put it in the freezer for a quick meal.

4 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
2 packages (1 oz each) Lawry's Taco Spices & Seasoning
1 medium onion
2 teaspoons Lawry's Seasoned Salt

1. Trim and discard all fat from meat; place meat in slow cooker. Sprinkle both packages of taco seasonings over meat with onion.
2. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Remove beef to platter and shred with fork. Return meat to juices in slow cooker; stir seasoned salt.
3. Serve shredded meat in tacos, burritos, taquitos, flautas, on rolls or over cooked rice.


Well.

If anyone wants to try this out for real, please do.

I thought that maybe this would be a good use for the leg of deer Dad gave us last Thanksgiving. It had been taking up SO MUCH room in our freezer, and I wanted to get it out. I thought that maybe if I used the cookers from the kitchen at church that this would be a good thing to do. Plus, it would really load up the freezer with that extra meat.

I asked the Relief Society President if I could use the cookers from church. She said sure, so I went and picked it up one day while we were running errands. Then I dug the leg of deer out of the very bottom of the freezer. I decided it might be good to cook over night. I peeled the grocery bag of the frozen meat. I dumped it in the pan and saw all the deer hair frozen onto the meat. It was too late to pull it out (it was already sizzling on the bottom of the pan), so I figured we could just pull the hair off once it was cooked.

The smell of the onions and deer meat cooking in the roaster was enough to gag me all night long while it cooked. Even though I followed the slow cooking instruction, the pan still worked like a roaster. We had to keep adding liquid to the meat all night long, just to make sure that it wouldn't burn the house down.

The next morning after Big Chubb left to play basketball at the school at 6AM, I had to fish the meat out. It did fall right off the bone, but it looked really sick. I told Ben he would have to shred it. Well, ithas been in the fridge a whole week now. Ben looked at it the other day and said, "I think I will only eat this once it has cooked for a long time. Again."

Mexican Dinner in a Crust

We are big fans of Mexican food. When I saw these I realized it was similar to another dish that we love, so I figured we could have it for dinner and see if it is as good.

Crazy Crust:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4. solid shortening
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg

Filling:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. chili powder
16 oz. can (2 cups) kidney beans
6 oz. can tomato paster

1/2 cup chopped lettuce
1 medium tomato
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese

    Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour bottom and sides of a 9 inch metal or 10 inch glass pie pan. (Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off.) In bowl, combine all Crazy Crust ingredients. Stir together until blended (batter will be slightly lumpy). Spread batter thinly on bottom and thickly up sides to within 1/4 inch of pan rim.
    In skillet, brown ground beef. Add onion; cook until tender. Drain excess fat. Stir in remaining ingredients, except lettuce, tomato and cheese. Spoon into crust. Bake 20 to 30 minutes until crust is deep golden brown. Sprinkle with lettuce, tomato and cheese . Serve with taco sauce, if desired. Makes 6 servings. (crust may be covered and refrigerated, unfilled, up to 13 hours before filling and baking).

This meal was good, but our original one is better. I knew that I would have a hard time with just tomato paste and chili powder, so I added in a packet of taco seasoning. The crust was really good, and I would probably use it in our original recipe in place of just a regular old pastry crust. Little and Baby Chubb were undecided about it.

Mom's Stew

The scouts went camping last weekend and had a dutch oven cook off. Big Chubb was assigned to make some stew, so I decided this would be a good chance to use this recipe. I ended up making it because Big Chubb had less than an hour between when he got home from school and when he had to leave to go meet at the church. We don't eat stew often because we never have beef. I used some of the venison Dad gave us at Thanksgiving. Plus, if it turned out gross the scouts would be eating it.

I'm not sure which Mom this belongs to, but I don't feel like we ever had stew like this.

Mom's Stew

2 pkg. stew meat
1 green pepper
1 onion
celery
potatoes-4 big
carrots-6 good size
tomato sauce (big) 29 oz.
1 can water
salt
pepper
6 TBLS tapioca
2 bay leaves

Put in lg. casserole. Stir to mix. Cook 5 hours without opening lid. 350 degree oven. Makes a lot!

So it would have been fairly easy to assemble, but we don't have a huge casserole. And, I wasn't about to clean out the dutch oven Big Chubb got from church. So I used our huge stock pot. It seemed to work fine. It started getting stuck to the bottom of the pan, but it was right when Big Chubb was moving over to the Dutch oven to take it, so it didn't get burned. I also had to cut up the venison, which took for ever. Plus, Baby Chubb was screaming at me the whole time, and Little Chubb had been sent to take a nap for being naughty. It was a pleasant afternoon.

Anyway, it was well received by the campers. The leaders all enjoyed it, and some of the scouts (all deacons) who poorly planned their meals were very happy to have some. Big Chubb said it had a very tomato-y base, not like a regular stew that has a much more beefy base. I had forgotten that we were out of celery because Big Chubb ate it all, but he said it wouldn't have changed the flavor profile much.

I forgot to snap a picture before Big Chubb took it away, but just imagine all those veggies in a red broth. It did look pretty with the green and orange and white in the red.

Cincinnati Chili

I've been wanting to make this for a long time.  Since Muncie is only a couple hours from Cincy, there are some Skyline Chili restaurants around the area and we've talked about how adding cinnamon makes them so different.  The Cannon Center served it and none of my friends ever liked it, but I did.  Spaghetti is not a favorite in our house, but I thought the extra flavor and spice would be a happy change and it was.  We had it with a nice seven layer salad, which will be the feature food on the blog in a few days.

Cincinnati Chili
from McCormick

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs. ground beef
1 c onion, chopped
Cincinnati Spice Blend:
2 T chili powder
1 t garlic powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t allspice
2 t sugar
1/2 t salt

1 can tomato sauce
2 c water
8 oz cooked spaghetti
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 -1 c cheddar cheese
1/2 c chopped onion

Directions:
1.  Cook ground beef and onion in large saucepan over medium-high heat until beef is no longer pink.  Drain.
2.  Add spice blend, tomato sauce, and water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes (do not cover), stirring occasionally.
3.  Serve chili over spaghetti.  Top with kidney beans, shredded cheese, and chopped onion as desired.

It was good.  I don't know if I would call it a favorite, but it was really very good.  The husband liked it way more than plain old spaghetti, the kid had a lot of fun eating long strings of noodles, and everyone thought it was very filling.  I only used one pound of meat, and it will still give us leftovers for days.  I would recommend it, but it just might not be your cup of tea.

Meat Saver

Sorry it's been so long since a post from me.  While it was the me and the kid at home we ate pancakes, eggs, easy things that we love but daddy doesn't.  We had this the night he came home .  I started throwing up the next morning and Monday the rest of the family followed suit.  Meat saver didn't make us sick, but it was the last food we ate before dooms-day, so I'm not the biggest fan anymore.

After that happy introduction, here's the recipe:

Meat Saver
recipe from the Fargo Ward Cookbook

Yield: 4 servings
1.5 cups ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 c water or potato water
salt and pepper to taste
2 c favorite vegetable
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
toast, rolls, or potatoes

Crumble meat and brown with diced onion.  Ad  1/2 c water or potato water.  When done, salt and pepper to taste and add vegetable.  Add soup and simmer 15 minutes.  Serve over toast, hot rolls, or potatoes.

To begin with, I never found these types of recipes very meat saving.  Just a few people down a whole pound of meat in one sitting, whereas I could add it to a casserole with other cheap ingredients and make it last much longer.  That being said, it wasn't near as bad as I was expecting it to be.  It wasn't great, but if you're in a pinch it would do just fine as a quick meal.  I'll probably remember it for a last minute meal.

Slow Cooker Beef Barley Soup

This is from Allrecipes.

Slow Cooker Beef Barley Soup

Original recipe makes 10 to 12 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds boneless lean beef, cubed
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
3 (10.5 ounce) cans beef broth
6 cups water
4 stalks celery, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
6 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 cup barley
1 teaspoon dried thyme

PREP 10 mins


COOK 8 hrs


READY IN 8 hrs 10 mins

Directions

In a skillet over medium heat, saute the beef in the oil for 5 minutes, or until browned. Stir in the salt, pepper and garlic powder and place seasoned meat in a slow cooker. Add a little water to the skillet and stir to pick up the browned bits. Add to the slow cooker.
Add the broth, water, celery, carrots, green onions, parsley and barley. Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours, or until the vegetables and barley are tender. Add the thyme just before serving.

I made it for Sunday dinner. Despite the fact that Brian doesn't like soup much, especially stew types, he liked this. I thought it was good, but nothing special. I didn't let it cook for 8 hours, and I used a yellow onion I sauteed a little instead of green onions. I don't know if I'll make this particular recipe again, but I will use barley more. We both enjoyed that part.

Edited 10/1/14: I had the leftovers for lunch today, three days later. It was gooood. I guess the extra time did help the flavor. If you make this, try and give it the full 6-8 hours to cook for the flavors to meld. 

Kai Si Ming

This is recipe from Ellen Cooper. I wondered about the origins of this dish since it sounds Asian, but it uses American ingredients. After poking around, I found it's actually Australian, which makes sense. Most of the recipes for this dish include vegetables, particularly cabbage. It seems like you could add in whatever veggies you want, and it would be good.

Kai Si Ming

1 lb hamburger
1 onion, sliced
3 c hot water
1 pkg dry chicken noodle soup mix
2 tsp curry powder

Brown hamburger and onion. Add water, soup and curry. Simmer for 15-45 min. Serve over hot rice. Good with soy sauce, too.

I didn't have very high expectations for this dish, but I liked it better than I thought. Brian thought it was okay. I usually don't go for recipes that take dry soup mixes because they tend to be very salty. This is no exception. If you aren't watching your sodium intake, give this recipe a try.

Tomato Beef Bake

As a preface, since being pregnant I have had low tolerance for foods that have an odor. Especially onions and green peppers. Last summer we got some awesome deals on them so I froze a whole bunch to use throughout the year. Convenient and thrifty, yes. But, our freezers have smelled like green peppers and onions for months and nothing gets rid of the smell. After working at veg prep I also cannot stand the smell of soy sauce, so this recipe had quite low expectations from my end.

Tomato Beef Bake

6 ounces medium sized egg noodles
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion chunked
2 garlic cloves minced
3 medium tomatoes chunked
1 medium green pepper chunked
1/4 cup Kikkoman soy sauce

Cook noodles in boiling water according to package directions, omitting salt; drain. Brown beef with onion and garlic; cook until onion is translucent. Add remaining 3 ingredients; stir to combine. Bring to boil and cook only until tomatoes are heated through. Stir in noodles; turn into 2-qt baking dish. Bake, uncovered, in preheated 35o F. oven 20 minutes.

Big Chubb and I were surprised because it turned out to be quite palatable. There was not much in the way of sauciness to it, which made it a little strange, but it tasted good. It was also pretty quick and easy to make. We had it with sauted zucchini to remind us that eventually we will have weather above freezing.

We will probably eat this again. It seems that it could be quite versatile and one could use ground turkey and whole wheat noodles to make it healthier.

Pizza Buns

I thought this would be a good quick meal for us when I had to switch things around last minute due to Ben's busy schedule.

Pizza Buns

½ lb. ground beef
4 buns, sliced in half
butter or margarine
1 small can or jar of pizza sauce
shredded or sliced cheese
(mozzarella or parmesan cheese works well)

Brown meat. Drain the fat off the cooked meat. Lightly
butter each half of buns. Spread each half of the bun
with 1 tablespoon pizza sauce and top with cooked
meat. Grate cheese and put some on top if desired.
(Add mushrooms, onion, green pepper or other toppings
for variety.) Bake in oven at 375 degrees until hot and
cheese is melted (about 15 minutes).

Serves four. Per serving: 280 calories, 27 g carbohydrate,
10 g fat, 3 g fiber and 560 mg sodium

I did not like them. The buns were soggy under all the toppings, and I even used somewhat stale buns we had sitting around. Big Chubb however, liked them and ate the last one that I couldn't get down. I did add extra toppings because we had some in the fridge to use up, plus Little Chubb really likes it when there are olives to eat, so that is about all that he ate off of his little pizza bun.

Sorry I took no pictures of them. I was grossed out by the sogginess of the bun underneath and spent quite a bit of the evening trying to recover from gagging them down.

Meat and Potato Squares

 This is a recipe of the month prepared by Northwestern Public Service Company in May 1990.  The same month I was born in!  So obviously I wanted to make this.

1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1/4 c milk
1 t mustard
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 c bread crumbs
1/c chopped onions
16 oz frozen french fries or hash browns (I made my own)

Combine and mix well the first 8 ingredients.  Put half of potatoes in greased 8x8 pan.  Pat meat mixture in layer over potatoes.  Press remaining potatoes on meat.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Cut in squares.



This is basically just meatloaf and potatoes  Fairly tasty though.  I wish there would have been something on top of the dish, like cheese or sauce, but I made do with ketchup.  I probably won't make this again.

Fondue For You

I volunteered to cook meals for Christmas Day. Since we usually have the big meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day was wide open for any food I pleased. For my wellness challenge, I was supposed to eat three meals a day (harder than it seems if you're pregnant), so this also helped me to be sure to eat meals.

For breakfast I made a non-Cupboard Project recipe that was very good (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/the-ultimate-breakfast-for-dinner-sausage-and-spinach-egg-strata-recipe/index.html) along with fruit soup. Yum! They were great, and there were leftovers for the next morning. I thought about making cinnamon rolls or French toast, but it was for Christmas morning, when I generally gorge on candy and sweets. This was a nice alternative.

For dinner I made two fondue recipes from a Taste of Home magazine. It made a nice easy-to-eat meal for a group.



Pizza Fondue

TOTAL TIME: Prep/Total Time: 25 min.
MAKES: 22 servings
Ingredients
1/2 pound ground beef
 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
 1 medium onion, chopped
 1 garlic clove, minced
 1 tablespoon cornstarch
 1-1/2 teaspoons fennel seed
 1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
 2 cans (15 ounces each) pizza sauce
 2-1/2 cups (10 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
 2 tablespoons chopped ripe olives
 Breadsticks, bagel chips, baked pita chips and/or tortilla chips

Nutritional Facts
1/4 cup (calculated without breadsticks, bagel chips, baked pita chips or tortilla chips) equals 97 calories, 6 g fat (4 g saturated fat), 23 mg cholesterol, 222 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 7 g protein.

Directions
In a large skillet, cook the beef, mushrooms and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Stir in the cornstarch, fennel, oregano and garlic powder until blended. Stir in pizza sauce.
Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Gradually stir in cheeses until melted. Stir in olives. Keep warm.
Serve with breadsticks, bagel chips, pita chips and/or tortilla chips. Yield: 5-1/2 cups.
Originally published as Pizza Fondue in Taste of Home December/January 2008, p49

For this one, we decided to leave out the meat since we had already eaten meat at like every meal. I made some breadsticks to go along with this, and it really did taste like pizza when you dipped a breadstick in the dip. I think it was too hot when I put the cheese in because some of the cheddar cheese cooked instead of melted. It still tasted good.

Super Sausage Dip

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 15 min. Cook: 35 min.
MAKES: 40 servings
Ingredients
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1 package (8 ounces) PHILADELPHIA® Cream Cheese, cubed
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
Tortilla chips

Directions
In a large skillet, cook the sausage, onion and green pepper over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in tomatoes and chilies. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add cream cheese; stir until melted. Stir in sour cream; heat through. (Do not boil.) Transfer to a fondue pot and keep warm. Serve with chips. Yield: 5 cups.
Originally published as Super Sausage Dip in Taste of Home December/January 2008, p49

I think most people liked this one better. At least, more of it was gone. We had tortilla chips and pita chips to dip (and the breadsticks). Dad also liked this dip cold.

Beef and Black Bean Tacos

I am wary of a recipe to make tacos because, hey, it's tacos. Get a tortilla and add whatever toppings you want. But, I thought this one was worth a shot because it was on the same page as the delicious Chicken and Black Bean Enchiladas compliments of Tonya Campbell.

8 taco shells
1 c onions, chopped
1 T garlic, minced
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
Salt and pepper
1/2 lb ground beef
1 c black beans, cooked and drained
1/2 c tomato sauce
2 c lettuce
1 c cheese, grated
Green onion, chopped
Tomatoes, chopped
Black olives, sliced (optional)
Sour cream (optional)
Taco sauce (optional)

Cook onions in small amount of oil in heavy skillet until translucent. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds. Add chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook 30 seconds more. Stir in ground beef and cook until brown. Drain off grease. Stir in black beans and tomato sauce. Simmer until heated through. Serve with heated taco shells and lettuce, cheese, green onions, and tomatoes. Top with remaining ingredients, if desired.

They were tacos. Neither of us could tell they were different than normal tacos we have (except I prefer refried beans). If you use powdered garlic instead of fresh, do not use a whole tablespoon.