Pepper Steak (freezer meal)

My mom used to make this and it was one of my favorites! Now I make it and surprisingly the kids love it too! But only when I chop the veggies very small. LOL

1# lean hamburger
3 green bell peppers
1-2 onions
4 packets brown gravy mix (or 4 cans)
1 large tsp of minced garlic
pink salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste

4 c minute rice
4 c water

1. Bring 4 c water to boil. Remove from heat and stir in rice. Cover with lid. 
2. Chop veggies. Brown hamburger and veggies in large pan. Add garlic and seasonings. Cook until meat is no longer pink and veggies are almost soft.
3. In measuring cup, add 4 cups water. Add 4 packets of gravy, whisk to blend. (add more gravy if you like it really runny like I do). Add to meat. Stir.
4. Cook on low until gravy is thick and veggies are soft.
5. Serve over cooked rice.

(Make double or more and put meat mixture into aluminum container, seal and freeze. Thaw and heat and then serve over rice.)

Spasagne

I think I found this recipe on www.plainchicken.com.  It's a nice combination of spaghetti and lasagna! I have made my fair share of spaghetti but never lasagna. Now this has become a family favorite and now no one wants spaghetti or pink spaghetti any more! I also made it for a potluck and everyone LOVED it and wanted the recipe. Bonus: it serves a ton!

Spasagne (serves easily 12-24)

Ingredients

24 oz spaghetti noodles
2 (15oz) jars garlic Alfredo sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 (26oz) jar spaghetti sauce (I have used different ones but meat flavor is great!)
1 lb Italian sausage or ground beef (I mixed some of both and it was delish!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook spaghetti according to directions, drain.

3. In the empty pot you just cooked the spaghetti in, stir together Alfredo sauce, mozzarella cheese, milk and Italian seasoning. Add spaghetti and stir until well coated.

4. Pour spaghetti mixture into 9x13 that has been coated with non-stick spray. (I used the 10x15 for a potluck and could have served 24 as it is not as thick as would have been in a 9x13).

5. Sprinkle top of spaghetti with Parmesan cheese.

6. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350.

7. While pasta is in the oven, brown the meat in a frying pan. Drain and return to frying pan. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer.

8. Remove pasta from the oven. Cut into squares and top with some meat sauce.

NOTE: I just pour the whole thing of meat sauce on top of the baked pasta and spread it evenly over the pasta. That way each serving is basically the same and you don't run out of meat sauce, especially if you're at a pot luck.

Serve with some buttered corn, side salad and garlic bread! Delish!

Easy Crockpot Pot Roast with Gravy

 

This was the very best pot roast I've EVER made! Cooking is NOT my talent but somehow this one made me feel like a professional chef!

 

Before!

 

Ingredients

 

1 beef pot roast

1 dry packet onion soup mix

1 dry packet brown gravy mix

1 1/2 cups water

pepper to taste

 

Directions

1. Heat a frying pan on HIGH with some vegetable oil in it. Place the roast in and sear all sides only until brown.

2. Remove roast and place in crock pot.

3. Mix both packets of soup and gravy in water with a whisk. Pour over roast. Sprinkle some pepper on top.

4. Cook on low 4-6 hours or high 3-4 hours. After it's done, remove meat from crockpot and let it sit while you make gravy.

5. Add some flour (I used wheat)  to some water (about 1/2 cup) and mix well (I use a shaker). Put the drippings from the crockpot into a small pan if your crockpot cannot be put directly on the stove.

6. Slowly add some flour water to the drippings and heat to boiling while stirring constantly. I use an emulsifier blender. It will thicken. You may NOT need to use all the water flour or you may need more. Depends on the size of your roast and how much drippings you have. Taste before adding salt and/or pepper. Mine was pretty salty on it's own so taste first!

7. Serve with mashed potatoes and a veggie.

The picture below is my husbands plate. He came home from work late and all that was left was the end of the roast so I put the whole thing on his plate and drowned it in gravy! It really was one of the best meals I ever made!

After!

Peppery Crockpot Pot Roast

 

The seasoning on this is a little on the peppery side. My husband and I like it but it's a bit much for the kids.

 

Ingredients

 

1 pot roast

seasoning pictured above

 

Sear pot roast on all sides in hot frying pan in some vegetable oil. Put seared roast in crock pot. Sprinkle top with seasoning. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

Meatloaf

2# hamburger, 1 c mayo, 1 c plain bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, pink salt and pepper (I didn't measure). Mix and bake in 8x8 square pan pressed to edges at 350 for 45-55 min. Delish!

Easy Shredded Chicken Sandwiches

My friends uncle owned a restaurant in Ohio and as the story goes, people would go there just for these sandwiches. So I'm the lucky one that got the recipe! And a bonus is its so easy.

Ingredients

Family pack of boneless skinless chicken breasts
Family pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs
3-4 packets dry onion soup mix
Salt and pepper

Put all the chicken in a large crock pot. Add water until chicken is just covered. Add soup mix. Stir to dissolve soup. Cook on low all day. Stir to shed chicken. Use slotted spoon to slightly drain chicken before putting it on a roll. Add a slice of cheese if you wish. Makes a ton. Delish!

Easy Cake Mix Banana Bread

Although I have a wonderful recipe from my church friend Miriam Smith, I wanted to find a super easy one since we seem to let our banana's go bad all the time and I don't want to waste them. And I'm all about quick and easy recipes. So I came across this recipe that uses a box cake mix. My daughter wanted chocolate chips in it but I didn't have any so I compromised and used chocolate cake mix. Needless to say, it wasn't the same, it was ok but the one with the yellow cake mix was the best between the two. The chocolate one on the right in the picture is the one I poked with the knife to see if they were ready so that's why it looks like it fell.

Ingredients

2-3 bananas (I used 2 but 3 would probably taste better)
1 box cake mix (I made 2 batches and used yellow and chocolate but heard Butter Pecan is really good)
1 stick of butter
2 large eggs
cinnamon sugar - optional (I sprinkled this on the top of the yellow, just to see what would happen)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Mash bananas in the bottom of a bowl while melting butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds. 3. Pour melted butter in with the bananas and stir.
4. Dump the cake mix on top of banana mixture to cover it. Make a little hole in the cake mix and crack the 2 eggs into the hole. If the butter is very hot, you don't want the eggs to scramble so maybe let it cool off a little.
5. Then mix the eggs and cake mix into the bananas and butter. I just used a spoon and didn't over mix it.
6. Pour into a sprayed/buttered loaf pan.
7. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Stick a knife in the middle at 30 minutes. If it comes out clean it's done. If it has batter on it, cook for another few minutes.

IMPORTANT: DO NOT remove the bread from the pan until it's cooled off or it WILL crumble!!!

UPDATE: I had a piece of the chocolate bread right out of the fridge with butter on it and it was WAY better cold the next day so take that for what its worth. =0)