Mom's Hamburger Casserole

Growing up, my mom would cook dinner for us every night.....maybe that's where I get this from. Anyway, she never took the easy way out. I didn't have Hamburger Helper until I met Jason (very telling, isn't it?). Tonight, I pulled out a recipe that mom would make for us all the time. It sort of reminds me of Hamburger Helper, but way better. It definately brought back some good memories eating this tonight....enjoy my mom's Hamburger Casserole.

Hamburger Casserole:
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
Salt & Pepper
1 small can corn
1 small can tomato sauce
2 cans of water (just use the tomato sauce can)
5 shakes of Worcester Sauce (I maybe used 10 shakes)
3/4 of a package of egg noodles (not sure why you don't use the entire bag, but just don't)
Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Brown ground beef and onion in a large oven-safe skillet.
2. Add garlic and salt/pepper.
3. In another pot, cook the egg noodles according to package directions (about 8 minutes).
4. Once ground beef is cooked, add corn, tomato sauce, Worcester sauce.
5. Add cooked egg noodles to meat mixture.
6. Top with cheddar cheese and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


Here's what the finished product looks like.....way better than anything from a box, and it's really easy. The Worcester is the secret to making this so good....that and all the cheese on top.

Homemade Granola

I love granola. I saw Barefoot Contessa make granola that she packaged and gave to her neighbors as holiday gifts (I Tivo all of her episodes). This could not be easier. I'm going to give you the recipe with the ingredients that she used, but you could add anything you want really. It would be a nice gift for co-workers....who knows, maybe I'll bring some.

Homemade Granola:
4 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups sliced almonds
1 cup shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups dried cherries (if the dried cherries are big, just chop them up a little)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:
1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Add the oil & honey....if you put the oil in the measuring cup before the honey, the honey will slide ride out.
3. Mix well and bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
4. Stir the mixture about halfway through to make sure it all gets browned.
5. Let cool and enjoy!

Shrimp Scampi

After tonight, I realized that we didn't have to go to Red Lobster for good shrimp scampi. This is one of those dishes that just seems really intimidating. It's so easy though!!! Like many of my other recipes, I got this one from the Barefoot Contessa. She recommends buying your shrimp fresh, not frozen if possible. I bought mine from the seafood counter at Publix....that as fresh as I can get, right?

In case you've never had shrimp scampi, it's a wonderful baked shrimp dish. The shrimp is swimming in butter, wine, and lemon juice and it's so good. If this is your first time making it or eating it, don't freak out over all the butter - it's supposed to be like that.

Shrimp Scampi:
1 lb shrimp with the tail on (I bought 26/30 shrimp)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup white wine
Salt & Pepper
1 1/2 sticks of butter, at room temperature
4 teaspoons minced garlic
2 shallots, minced
1 teaspoon rosemary, chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 egg yolk
2/3 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) -- I forgot to buy these, so I used regular bread crumbs and they turned out fine.

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place shrimp in a bowl and toss with olive oil, white wine, and salt & pepper.
3. In another bowl, combine the softened butter, garlic, shallots, rosemary, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt & pepper, bread crumbs, and the egg yolk.....mix well.
4. Line your shrimp around the edge of an oval baking dish with the tail up. I used a glass pie plate and it was perfect.
5. Once all of the shrimp are in the dish, pour the remaining wine/olive oil marinade back over the shrimp.
6. Spread the butter mixture all over the shrimp (see the first picture below, this isn't pretty).
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until hot and bubbly.

This is what it looks like before it goes into the oven. It looks like shrimp covered in bread crumbs and butter. Well, essentially that's what it is, but it will look and taste much better after it comes out of the oven.


Here's the final product. I served it over rice, but pasta would also be nice. For the rice, I cooked minute rice in chicken broth (instead of water). Once I took the rice off the heat, I stirred in garlic and 2 Tablespoons of lemon zest (I had some left over from the zest for the shrimp). This rice would be good with anything, but it really brought out the lemony taste in the scampi.

Sharla's World Famous Pork & Taters

Pork & Taters....this is our friend Sharla's best recipe. Her family is from Alabama like us, and our people love called potatoes "taters." This recipe is super simple and can be cooked in the oven or in a crock pot. All you need is pork, taters, and a can of cream of mushroom soup. The pork is tender and delicious. The potatoes are flavored from the soup and the pork chop drippings that run down on them. Sounds yummy, right?

Sharla's Pork & Taters:
2-4 bone-in pork chops
1 can cream of mushroom soup
4-6 potatoes, sliced thin
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. Slice potatoes very thin and place in the bottom of your crock pot or casserole dish.
2. Pour cream of mushroom soup over potatoes.
3. Place pork chops on top of soup and season with salt & pepper.
4. If using a crock pot, cook on low for 6-8 hours. If using the oven, cook at 350 degrees until the pork chops and potatoes are done (anywhere between 45 minutes - 1 hour, depending on the thickness of the pork chops).

Deep Dish Pizza

Tonight I made a really quick and easy deep dish pizza. Usually, we order thin crust pizza. This crust turned out pretty thin, so we really it. You can flavor this however you want. I just happened to have ground beef on hand, so I used that. You could really do anything though.

I also used spices that I like (fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, Greek seasoning - which I put on just about everything), but feel free to use spices that you like or just whatever you have on hand. This is a good recipe to know though, because it took less than 10 minutes to assemble and it cooks in 13 minutes -- much faster than delivery, and it was really, really good!!!

Deep Dish Pizza:
1 lb ground beef
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 jar pizza sauce
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon Greek seasoning
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cook beef with seasonings in a skillet until browned.
3. Unroll pizza dough, press into bottom and up the sides of a greased 13x9 casserole dish.
4. Pour pizza sauce on the dough.
5. Spoon meat mixture over sauce.
6. Top with chopped green onions and then top with cheese.
7. Bake for 13 minutes.
8. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Taco Soup

The picture didn't turn out so great, but the soup was great. This soup is REALLY easy. If you can chop and onion and open a few cans, then you can make this soup.

Taco Soup:
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 large cans tomato sauce
1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn
1 (15 oz) can stewed tomatoes
1 package taco seasoning
1 handful of cilantro (optional)
1 lime (optional)
5-6 Jalapeno pepper rings, diced (optional)

Directions:
1. In your soup pot, brown ground beef green pepper and onions.
2. Add tomato sauce, corn, tomatoes, and taco seasoning.
3. Cook over medium heat until the soup is warmed.
4. Add Jalapenos, cilantro and squeeze in lime juice.
5. Top each bowl with cheddar cheese, sour cream or sliced green onions. Serve with Fritos or tortilla chips.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies literally only take 5 minutes to assemble and only 12 minutes to bake. They are really easy and good, so you should make them tonight.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg (lightly beaten)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix sugar, egg, peanut butter, baking soda, and salt.
3. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Roll the dough into balls, about 1 inch in diameter.
5. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, or until golden brown.
6. Depending on the size of your balls, this recipe makes between 10 - 12 cookies.

Drop Cookies

Today I made some of Jason's favorite cookies....drop cookies. You've all probably had these before, but have you ever made them? There is no baking involved. You just heat everything up in a pot and drop on wax paper to cool. They are really good so if you have oats on hand (and who doesn't? kidding) then you should make these cookies this weekend.

Drop Cookies:
1/2 cup milk
3 Tablespoons cocoa
1 stick butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
3 cups oats
1 teaspoon vanilla


Directions:
1. Bring butter, cocoa, sugar, and milk to a boil, stirring constantly.
2. Boil for 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla.
4. With a spoon, drop cookies onto wax paper or a Silpat.
5. Let cool completely (they cool pretty quickly though).

Country Rice & Sausage

Well, it's the night before Thanksgiving, so I wanted to cook something "light" for dinner. Ha! I found this recipe the other day in a cookbook at the library. One great thing about working in the library is that we have hundreds of cookbooks. If I ever get a free moment, I'll grab a cookbook off the shelf and just thumb through until something interesting pops out at me. Well this one jumped off the page. Jason loved this dish. He said it reminded him of "dirty rice" but since I used sausage, it would be more like a "poor, white trash, dirty rice." Thanks Jason.

White trash or not, this was really good. Be careful with the red pepper flakes if you don't like things spicy!!

Country Rice & Sausage:
2 cups cooked rice
1 (16 oz) package of pork sausage (I used Bob Evans)
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup water
1 large carrot, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced thin
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4-5 fresh sage leaves (or 1/4 teaspoon of dried sage)
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. Cook rice according to package directions.
2. Cook sausage until brown and crumbled.
3. Remove sausage from pan and drain on paper towels.
4. Add celery, onion, carrots, red pepper and salt & pepper to pan and brown.
5. Add water to veggie mixture.
6. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes.
7. Return cooked sausage to pan and stir in cooked rice.
8. Check seasoning and add more salt & pepper if needed.

Tostadas

A few years ago, we found a recipe for tostadas. I'm not sure how traditional this recipe is, but we love it regardless. It's very simple. The hardest part is frying the tortillas. I usually leave this job for Jason. We've tried toasting the tortillas in the oven, but they just aren't nearly as good as they are when you fry them until golden brown, which only takes about 30 seconds.

When the tortillas are fried, they puff up and become crispy and golden brown. Fry up about two tortillas per person. We use the small size. Let them dry on a paper towl and cool for a minute before you start adding your toppings.

We make a simple bean dip and use as the base of our tostadas. The bean dip is really good on it's own, all you need is salsa, refried beans, and a little shredded cheddar cheese. The recipe is down below. Once you've added your toppings, throw the tostadas under the broiler just long enough for the cheese to melt. This dinner is really quick and easy and you'll love how good these are!!!

Tostadas:

1 package small tortillas

1 package shredded cheddar cheese

1 can refried beans

1 jar salsa

The other toppings are up to you......we used the following:

1 tomato, diced

Shredded lettuce

Sour Cream
Guacamole

Directions:
1. Heat about 2 cups of oil in a frying pan.

2. Add tortillas one at a time and fry until golden brown then flip and fry the other side.

3. Place tortillas on paper towels to drain.

4. For the bean dip, mix salsa, refried beans, and a handful of shredded cheddar cheese.

5. Place bean dip in the microwave for 1 minute and stir, continue process until hot.

6. Spread bean dip on each tostada.

7. Build other toppings and place under broiler for 2-3 minutes until cheese has melted.

Taco Salad

Tonight was the end of a long weekend and we were both pooped. Taco salad was the only answer. There are a million different ways to do this and the toppings are endless. Here's our version, which is very little salad and lots of meat and cheese.

Taco Salad:

16 oz Velveeta

1 - 4 oz can of diced green chiles

1 can of Rotel

1 package of sausage (we used Jimmy Dean Mild)

1 lb ground beef

1 package taco seasoning

Lettuce

Tortilla Chips

Toppings:
Chopped green onions

Sour cream

Chopped tomatoes

Taco Sauce
Guacamole

Directions:

1. Brown sausage in a pot and crumble

2. Drain grease

3. Chop Velveeta and add to sausage

4. Add Rotel and stir over low heat until all melted

5. In a skillet, brown ground beef

6. Add taco seasoning

7. Assemble salad by layering chips, lettuce, meat, cheese dip, and then toppings.

Pumpkin Cake

Our friend Sharla came over yesterday and made her world famous Pumpkin Cake. It was so good and it made the entire house smell like Fall. Jason took one bite and said, "It's not terrible." That's exactly what you want to hear after you've baked something. Then he grabbed four Laffy Taffys and watched Sharla and I sample her cake.

It's really easy, and relatively fat free, because there is no eggs or oil, yet the cake is very moist!!

Pumpkin Cake:
1 box spice cake mix
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup water

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together
2. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean (start checking after 15 minutes)

*This recipe will make around 12-18 muffins or about 6 loaves of bread (see picture).

Thank You Paula Deen

Like her or not, Paula Deen has some good recipes. Tonight, I made Boursin Potatoes. Boursin is a garlic-herb cheese spread. It's really good for a party, but it's even better with potatoes. We also began chipping away at our freezer full of meat, so I also cooked a couple of steaks. The combination of steak with this sauce from the potatoes was out of this world. You will have to try this soon!

Boursin Potatoes:
5-6 Yukon Gold potatoes, skins on, sliced thinly
2 shallots, chopped
1 cup whipping cream
2.5 ounces Boursin Cheese (I could only find the 5 ounce package, so I just halved it)
Salt & Pepper

Directions:
1. Slice the potatoes very thinly and chop shallots
2. Place half of the potatoes and shallots into a glass baking dish (round is better)
3. Sprinkle with salt and pepper
4. In a sauce pot, slowly heat cream and whisk in the Boursin cheese until melted
5. Pour half of the cream mixture over the potatoes
6. Top with remaining potatoes and shallots
7. Season with salt and pepper
8. Pour remaining cream mixture on top
9. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for one hour

** The steak turned out great as well. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, you should ask for one for Christmas (or Hanukkah). First, I rubbed the steaks with olive oil and Greek Seasoning. I haven't talked about Greek Seasoning very much on this blog, but I use it all the time. I prefer Cavender's if you can find it. Then, I heat the iron skillet on the stove and brown both sides of the steaks (about 5 minutes on each side). Then I top each steak with butter and finish them off in the oven for about 15 minutes or so. I love steaks on the grill, but this method is also a great way to cook steaks.

Smashed Potatoes

Today Jason bought $300 worth of meat from a door-to-door salesman.....typical, right? So, over the next few weeks, I'll be focusing on tasty side items and beef/pork dishes. Buckle up. Smashed potatoes are really easy and they go with just about everything. You could add almost anything to them and they would still turn out great. Here's how I do them....



Smashed Potatoes:
3-4 baking potatoes, chopped into small pieces (I leave the skins on)
3 green onions1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
A handful of shredded cheddar cheese
Salt & Pepper

1. Boil potatoes until completely cooked, drain and return to same pot
2. Add all ingredients and mash with a potato masher or a fork
3. I like these potatoes with lumps, but blend until your desired consistency
4. If the potatoes seem too dry, slowly add more milk and mix a little at a time

Get Ready to Live!

This recipe is from my grandmother and it's one of my favorite things to eat. This dish goes with everything and it's really easy to prepare. Jason did a little dance when he found out we were having this tonight.....even on crutches, he still danced, which proves just how good this really is.


Baked Rice:
1 cup rice
1/2 cup water
3/4 stick of butter
1 can Campbell's French Onion Soup

1. Melt butter in a covered baking dish
2. Add remaining ingredients
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, stirring halfway through

The rice will absorb all of the liquid from the butter, water, and the soup and the flavor of the french onion soup will go through all of the rice.

Homemade Pizza

We love pizza and Nashville has some really good places to get pizza. We've found that we love making our own "homemade" pizza. We can choose as many toppings as possible, it tastes great, and it's ready in under 10 minutes.


Kyle's Homemade Pizza:
2 thin crust pizza crusts
1 jar of Ragu Pizza Sauce
1 bag of shredded mozzerella cheese
1 package Canadian Bacon


Kyle added sliced green olives and herbed goat cheese. Jason added shredded pepper jack cheese and Italian herbs (we were out of bacon).

Just follow the baking directions on the pizza crust package. Most brands cook in 10 minutes or less. This is so much faster than ordering delivery pizza!! We love it!!

Pot Roast

Pot Roast is one of the easiest things to do. We've used pork and beef in the past and they're both delicious, though pork roasts seem to have more flavor. Tonight, I used a boston butt roast. You will need a crock pot for this recipe and if you don't have one, drop what you're doing and go get one. The roast just falls apart, which again isn't all that pretty, but the taste is so good. We serve this meal with chef hat rolls (aren't those good with just about anything?) and lots of A-1 sauce.

Pot Roast
1 roast (boston butt or whatever is on sale)
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
5-6 red potatoes, washed and quartered
1 package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix
Dash of red pepper flakesD
Dash of fennel seeds
Salt & Pepper

1. Rub roast with minced garlic, salt and pepper
2. Sprinkle onion soup mix over roast and add chopped veggies
3. Add enough water to the crockpot to just cover the roast/veggies
4. Let cook on low for 6-8 hours

Potato Box

We call this meal Potato Box and it's another one of those quick fix meals that is ready in about 30 minutes (and it couldn't be easier). We think Jason's brother Jeff would love this meal for some reason. Maybe it's the combination of ground beef and potatoes from a box, maybe it's the bread crumb topping, or just call it a hunch. Either way, this dinner is in heavy rotation at our house because of how easy and delicious it is.






Potato Box
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 box of potatoes (we've used juliene, scalloped, hashbrown, they're all great with this)
1 small onion, chopped (optional)
Bread Crumbs
Spray Butter
*Some box potato packages call for milk, so make sure you have about a cup on hand


1. Brown ground beef and one small onion in a skillet
2. Drain grease
3. Assemble potatoes according to package directions (add water & milk to dry potatoes and place in a casserole dish)
4. Add ground beef & onion to potatoes before placing into the oven
5. Top with bread crumbs and give it a few hits of spray butter
6. Bake according to package directions


The result is wonderful and if you try this, you'll probably be thanking us for changing your life with this recipe.

Sharla Spaghetti

I used to be a Ragu snob until our friend Sharla showed us that it can be good....in fact, it's the secret to making her signature dish, "Sharla Spaghetti." You take one jar of original Ragu, add tons of garlic powder, and there you have it.

And for dessert.... Nothing like Kroger brand ice cream cookies!

Jason + Bacon = True Love

Jason's favorite vegetable is corn (iceberg lettuce is a close 2nd). So tonight, I was trying to find a way to make corn more exciting. I decided to incorporate the one thing Jason loves more than money......bacon!!!

This recipe is so easy, you will love it. Make sure to use a quality bacon.

Squaw Corn
1-2 pats of butter
1 onion, diced
5-6 slices of bacon, chopped into small pieces
1 bag of frozen corn (or 3-4 ears of fresh corn)
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Add butter to skillet and cook bacon and onions together
2. Drain bacon grease
3. Add corn, salt & pepper
4. Cook until corn is heated through, about 10 minutes


You might be thinking, "Kyle, what would I serve with this delicious recipe?" Um, duh....you would serve Shake-N-Bake chicken and green beans. Jealous anyone?