Hamburger Pepper Steak

This is a family favorite and easy enough to make.  ESPECIALLY if you have pre-cooked hamburger in the freezer. I just browned 5# with salt, pepper and some minced garlic. Then I put it in sandwich baggies to keep in the freezer and use as needed. Saves so much time! We always laugh when I say I'm making pepper steak for dinner because every.single.time my daughter says, "I hate pepper steak!" And I say, "no you don't". And then she will have 2 or more bowls full and we all laugh. =0)

Ingredients

2# hamburger or turkey burger
2 green bell peppers
1 or 2 large onions
4-6 packets of dry brown gravy
salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste
1 tsp heaping of minced garlic
4 cups Minute Rice, cooked as directed

While hamburger is browning with garlic, chop green peppers and onions and add them to the hamburger. Cook it until it's done. Mix 4 packets of gravy with water as directed and add to hamburger mixture. Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to taste. Bring to a boil then turn to low and simmer for a few minutes. Serve over cooked rice. Serves 4-6.

Cheesy Easy Meatloaf

Hot out of the oven!

So I pulled 3# of ground turkey out of the freezer so I could make meatloaf yesterday.  Then guess what happened? My recipe called for eggs and I forgot I made the rest for breakfast! So I panicked and googled, "can you make meatloaf without eggs?" And someone had posted they used 1/4 cup of MAYO for each egg needed! Yahoo! So I tried it. Here is the funny part and some insight on *why* I'm not a good cook...I forgot it said 1/4 cup for each so I used 1/2 cup for each, meaning just over 1 cup of mayo in the meatloaf!!! So I laughed to myself and thought, well, that's what the adventure is all about... 

 

It ended up tasting good but needed more of the spices.  I didn't actually measure them like I usually do so next time I need to be a little more heavy handed, especially with 3# of meat!

 

Ingredients:

 

3 pounds ground hamburger (I used turkey)

2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar jack mix)

1 cup mayo (or maybe try it with 1/2 cup how it was supposed to be. lol)

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

garlic powder (or a couple tsp of minced)

onion powder (or if you aren't lazy, finely chop a real onion)

Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  Mold into a loaf and add to greased meatloaf pan.  Bake for 60-90 minutes until cooked through.  I served with homemade mashed potatoes (I'll post the recipe for them next time I make them), canned corn and beef gravy.

 



cheesy yum!

Serve with homemade taters and veggie!

Want a bite? =0)

Bacon Rice and Chicken Bake

My hubby was at a convention for 4 days so I decided to make him a home cooked meal when he got home yesterday.  This is what I made and everyone liked it! Well, A and J had a problem with the bacon because it wasn't "crunchy" but they still liked it overall. Hubs was thrilled since he was sick of McDonald's (only cheap eats at the hotel), trail mix and beef jerky. lol

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds chicken (I used boneless/skinless chicken thighs)
8 slices thin cut bacon (enough to line the bottom of your 9x13 pan) I used a package of pre-cooked.
1 1/2 cup long grain rice (not minute rice)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp zesty seasoning salt
salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line bottom of  9x13 with bacon. Sprinkle rice over bacon. Mix 2 cans of soup with 1 1/2 cups hot water and remaining seasonings. Pour 3/4 of mixture over rice, saving some to cover chicken. Add the chicken on top of the rice and soup.  Pour the rest of the soup mixture over the tops of the chicken. Cover dish tightly with foil and bake in oven for 2 hours. FYI: Bacon is mostly for flavor and will not be crisp.
 

Chicken out of the oven, it's baked so it won't be crispy.

Serve with veggie and rolls. Enjoy!

Easy Fish and Fries Bake

This was super easy and super good.  My daughter didn't like it so my son ate his, hers and thirds! lol  At first I didn't bake it quite long enough, some of the fries were not done so I think if she tried it again she would have liked it. We all liked it though so 3 out of 4 makes it in the blog. =0)




Ingredients:

15 oz frozen batter dipped fish
1 (16 oz) bag of frozen French fries
1 can cream of celery soup
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp curry powder

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 baking dish. Place fish on the bottom of the dish. Put French fries evenly on top of the fish. Mix all remaining ingredients together to make sauce. Pour over the top of fish and fries evenly. Bake uncovered for 50-60 minutes until it's bubbly.

 

Just out of the oven!

 

Creamy Crock Pot Corn

I make this corn for all of our big potlucks and parties.  I just made it with our Easter ham and everyone raves about it every time.  It's beyond easy and will become a family favorite!!!

 

CREAMY CROCK POT CORN

4 cans of whole kernel corn

1 stick of butter
1 block of cream cheese
4 packets of splenda (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Place stick of butter and cream cheese in the bottom of a crock pot.  Turn on LOW.  Drain 4 cans of corn and add to crock pot.  Sprinkle Splenda packets on top and add some salt and pepper.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours. Stir after the butter and cream cheese melts.  Can easily be doubled for large parties/potlucks.





Easter dinner!



Ham Pasta Salad

 

 

I made this pasta salad for our Church potluck for Easter Sunday.  Those friends who knew I had made it came up to me and said it was good.  I thought so too so here is the recipe. =0)

 

HAM PASTA SALAD

 

1 pound bag of elbow macaroni

2 cups cooked diced ham

3 stalks of celery, chopped small

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup shredded cheese (I used mix of cheddar and jack)

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup ranch salad dressing

2 TBSP pickle juice

salt and pepper to taste

 

Cook pasta as directed.  Drain and rinse with cold water.  Drizzle with a small amount of olive oil.  Add meat and veggies.  In bowl, mix together mayo, ranch dressing, pickle juice and salt and pepper.  Add to pasta, meat and veggies.  Stir and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Before serving, add some milk and stir to make it moist again. Serves a lot! 

 



Norwegian Kumlas (potato dumplings) 4 recipes

 

You know those old recipes your grandma made from scratch and didn't use a recipe? Well, this is one of those. Luckily before my grandma passed away, we got her to figure out a recipe we could use to continue our family tradition.  We call these "Krubbers" and I have ALWAYS had them for my birthday.  My grandma made them for me every year, then my mom and now I make them myself.  In fact, today is my birthday and I made the biggest batch on Saturday for my party and took pictures too! My cousin and my kids are going to love me because now they will ALWAYS have the recipe and will be able to make them for their families for years to come. <3 

At the end of the basic directions is FOUR recipes for 5#, 8#, 12# and 20# of potatoes.

Basic Ingredients: 1 large bone-in ham (NOT spiral cut), potatoes, flour, oatmeal, salt and pepper to taste and a LOT of butter.

No matter how many potatoes you use, these are the directions for all FOUR recipes: 

1. Cut big chunks off the ham. Place chunks in a 9x13 dish, cover with foil and bake at 295 while you make the Kumlas.  Save some of the ham to cut into cubes about the size of a dice.

2. Fill a VERY large pot half full of hot water, add the ham bone and bring to a boil.

Mix well!

After mixing, it will be sticky!

3. Peel and shred all of your potatoes.

4. Add flour, oatmeal, salt and pepper to potatoes.  Mix well with your hands.  TIP: remove your rings and jewelry! It will be very sticky!




5. Make a little birds nest in your hand with potato mixture and add a little cube of ham.  Pat together to make into a ball about the size of a baseball.  NOTE: they will expand when in the water so you don't want them too big.

Make a little nest, add ham.

6.  Continue this until all the potatoes have been made into balls and you have added them to the boiling ham water.


Sticky potato ball!

7.  Reduce heat to medium-low but watch closely. If they get too hot, they will scorch on the bottom.  Stir occasionally to make sure they don't burn on the bottom.  Also, if you don't use enough flour, they will fall apart in the water.

8. Continue to boil slowly for 60-90 minutes.  Take out one and cut in half to make sure potatoes are cooked through.

9.  Remove from heat, cut up balls and pour melted butter on them and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with ham that has been heated in the oven.  I also like to serve them with steamed carrots because they taste good in the melted butter too! My grandma served them with "crunchies" which were basically cut up raw veggies.  My great grandpa would eat them with maple syrup instead of butter.  I have to admit I have not tried that yet. lol  ENJOY!!!

Here are the FOUR recipes with different pounds of potatoes:

Cooked and ready to eat!

5# recipe

1 large bone-in ham
5# potatoes
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
5 cups flour
1 TBS salt

Use same directions above

8# recipe

1 large bone-in ham
8# potatoes
2 cups oatmeal


Cut up, pour on butter, enjoy!



8 cups flour
1 1/2 TBS salt

Use same directions above

12# recipe

1 large bone-in ham
12# potatoes
3 cups oatmeal
12 cups flour
2 TBS salt

Use same directions above

20# recipe

1 large bone-in ham
20# potatoes
4 cups oatmeal
16 cups flour
2 TBS salt

Use same directions above



Valentine's Day Chocolate Fondue Family Tradition

 

A couple years ago I found a fondue kit, brand new and still in the box, at Goodwill for just a few dollars. It sat in the cupboard until Valentine's Day when I decided to start a new family tradition.  So VD is the only time we have our chocolate fondue party.

 

1 bag of milk chocolate chips

various dipping items like strawberries, bananas, cream puffs, pound cake, marshmallows, potato chips and pretzels.  Have fun with it and try a bunch of things!  Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl (I was lazy this year and didn't use my fondue pot on the stove since it's the 19th and the kids were at their dads on the 14th lol), stir every 30 seconds until melted all the way.  Happy Dipping!

 

Pink Spaghetti

 

 

Ok, it's more orange but pink sounds more fun. lol My husband's mom made spaghetti "often" when he was young, so it hasn't been his favorite.  I tried a "vodka" spaghetti once and it was really good so I tried this with the family and it was a hit.  Pretty basic and simple using store bought items. 

 

16 oz (1 pound) thin spaghetti noodles

1 pound ground beef or turkey

1 tsp minced garlic

powdered onion flavor to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Italian seasoning to taste

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

1 16 oz can Alfredo sauce

 

Cook noodles according to package. In the mean time, brown hamburger with garlic, onion flavor, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Once the hamburger is cooked through, add the tomato sauce and alfredo sauce, mix and let simmer on low.  When the noodles are cooked, drain the water and add the noodles to the meat sauce.  Stir and serve. 



Baked ham and cheese sandwiches

I made these today for Super Bowl Sunday. I made them with brown sugar in the sauce but the kids said they were too sweet. So I'm leaving that out of the recipe. 

1 pkg Hawaiian sweet rolls (I used mini sub size)

1 pkg thin sliced deli ham

6-8 slices Swiss or American cheese

1 stick of butter

2 tsp onion powder

3 tbsp Dijon or yellow mustard

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3 tsp poppy seeds

Directions:

Cut the whole sheet of rolls so you have a sheet of tops and bottoms. Line 9x13 pan with foil and place bottom sheet in the pan. 

Melt butter in microwave in bowl and whisk all ingredients except ham and cheese. Pour HALF mixture over bottom sheet in the pan. 

Layer ham then cheese slices over bottom sheet of rolls. Put top on sandwiches and pour the rest if the butter mixture over the top. 

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 min. You can make ahead with sauce and keep refrigerated until ready to bake. 

Cut apart after uncovering and serve hot. Serves 6. 

Faith's Sausage Potato Soup

 

Ok, first of all, I made up this recipe all by myself! Hubby and I ate at Olive Garden a few weeks ago and for the first time passed on the salad and got soup.  I can't remember the long Italian name of the sausage and dumpling soup I had, but it was *really* good.  Hubs had the other one that was sausage and potatoes.  One of them had kale, but I can't remember which.  So today I made spaghetti with sausage for the first time and decided to use half the sausage for soup.  Here's what I came up with and it's really good.  Hubby thinks it gives OG a run for their money!!! REALLY???!!! Look out Top Chef, here I come! lol

Faith's Sausage Potato Soup

1 pound ground pork sausage (the kind in the tube, I used "original" or maybe it was "mild"?)
4 beef bullion cubes
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can sausage gravy (I know, weird, but I told you I made this recipe up by myself!)
3 handfuls of fresh spinach (I didn't really measure, but a little extra wouldn't hurt anyone)
4-6 red potatoes diced
salt and pepper to taste
dry Italian seasoning to taste

Brown pork sausage. Add 6-8 cups of water to a large pot.  After sausage is cooked through, add to pot of water, turn on high. Add bullion cubes, COM soup, can of sausage gravy, stir. While this starts to heat up, dice up red potatoes. Add them to pot along with the fresh spinach.  Add some shakes of salt and pepper and several shakes of Italian seasoning to taste.  Bring to a boil, turn down heat and cook until potatoes are soft. Enjoy!