Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

I found this recipe online several years ago. It quickly became my favorite spaghetti sauce and is better than just plain canned and is quick and easy to whip up. The recipe calls for 2 pounds of ground beef, but I've used 1 pound with great results.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

2 pounds ground round (or 1 lb. ground beef + 1 lb. ground Italian Sausage)
1 (14 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, cut up (I put them in the blender)
6 ounces V-8 juice
1 (16 ounce) jar Prego Traditional spaghetti sauce
1 envelope onion soup mix (I use 1/2 pkg.)
1/2 cup grape jelly (I use about 3/4 cup)

In a large skillet, brown meat until pink color disappears.* Drain off liquid and crumble with fork or potato masher. Stir in tomatoes, V-9 juice, Prego, soup mix and grape jelly. Bring mixture to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 15-20 mins or until piping hot and to the desired thickness of sauce you like.

Yields enough sauce for 6 to 8 servings.

*I prefer to boil my ground beef. To do this, put about an inch or so of water in your skillet. Add ground beef and crumble. I also like to add about 1/4 of an onion, chopped, pepper, salt, and a bit of garlic powder. Bring to a boil and continue to break meat into small chunks. Boil on low heat until meat is done. Drain off water and rinse meat in a colander to further remove any excess grease. Place back into skillet and proceed with recipe.

Amish Chicken and Skillet Scalloped Potatoes

The Amish Chicken is a keeper and so is the Skillet Scalloped Potato recipe. I already knew the potato recipe was awesome, but didn't know about the chicken recipe. They're both fairly easy and made with lots of butter.

Amish Chicken
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1/2 C flour
2 t paprika
1 t pepper
1/4 t dry mustard
1 t salt
1 cut up broiler or parts of chicken (I used boneless skinless chicken breasts.)
1 stick (1/2 C) butter

Heat oven to 350º. Place butter in a 9"x13" casserole dish and place in oven while heating up to melt. Mix dry ingredients in a gallon size plastic bag. Clean chicken and pat mostly dry. Place chicken in bag with dry ingredients and coat chicken well. Remove casserole dish from oven. Place chicken in pan. Bake 1 1/2-2 hours for chicken pieces or 25-35 mins (or until juices run clear) for boneless skinless breasts.



Skillet Scalloped Potatoes

- serves 4 -
Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
1 1/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8th inch thick
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 bay leaf
2 ounces grated cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper
Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Heat a large iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter. When melted, add the onion. Cook for 4 minutes, or until soft.

2. Toss in the garlic and thyme, and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Dump in the potatoes, chicken broth, cream, and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer and then cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Remove the cover, sprinkle the cheese on top, and place the iron skillet in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and slightly browned. Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Alfredo Sauce

I don't know where I got this recipe, but it's absolutely delicious! Don't ruin it by using too much garlic and invest in real parmesan cheese so it's not grainy. Don't skimp on the butter, either. Been there, done that and it's not good. Believe me!!

Alfredo Sauce
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INGREDIENTS
¾ cup butter
2 tablespoons cream cheese (optiona, but I use it)
1-¾ cup Parmesan cheese
1-½ cups heavy cream (go for the good stuff!)
3 cloves garlic minced (2 large cloves or 3 small cloves)
salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
In a saucepan, melt butter add heavy cream and cream cheese. Simmer
this until melted and stir until well blended. Add Parmesan and garlic
powder. Simmer for about 15 minutes on low add salt and pepper. Serve
immediately with your favorite pasta.
1 cup of chopped cooked chicken or turkey can be added. 1 small onion
finely chopped can be added when melting butter and sautéed until
transparent.

I usually serve this without meat over fettuccine noodles with Garlic Bread and a salad. Very yummy!! It's best to prepare your pasta first, drain it, then put it back in the pot with a bit of olive oil mixed in so the pasta doesn't stick together. Add the entire batch of sauce to the pasta and you're good to go.

Foil Dinners

The other night, I had 2 packages of stew meat in the fridge, but it was too warm for stew, so I decided to try something different. I made foil dinners!! Being a Girl Scout for 20 years or so, I've eaten my fair share of foil dinners, but I've never thought of making them at home.

My foil dinners had onions, sliced potatoes, carrots, green beans, very thinly sliced celery (for seasoning), and very thinly sliced bell pepper in them. I made a total of 5 packets and some I topped with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Others I used seasoned salt, and on 1 I sprinkled some Italian salad dressing mix on. Cooked them at 450º for 50 mins and they were delish!!

While I used beef stew meat, you could use chicken breasts, round steak, or cubed steak. You could even marinate the meat overnight for a different flavor. Also, you can pretty much use any kind of veggies you have on hand, or some partially frozen veggies if that's all you have.

Give 'em a try!! You'll like 'em!

Beef Stew

This was originally posted on my cross stitching blog on 12/5/08.

I have very fond memories of beef stew since my mom would make this often during the winter when I was growing up. She would let it simmer all afternoon and it smelled heavenly. I'm not as patient as my mom was and I had a starving husband to cook for after I got home from work, so I did the speedy stew method.

I actually prefer picking out the meat and potatoes, then eating them separately. I generally don't like to eat mixed veggies or my food all mixed up, not to mention that I'm not a big soup eater. (I also don't like hot drinks, except hot chocolate once it's cooled a bit and hot tea with lots of sugar in it when I'm sick.) Anyway, I like to mash my stew potatoes and smother them with lots of butter. Because I wouldn't eat my stew like a normal person, I'd have to fix myself some kind of veggie to go with my meat, taters, and cottage cheese. Fast forward to tonight's dinner of beef stew.



Doesn't that look good?? It was!! And I ate it out of the bowl! My mom would be so proud of me. LOL For the first time in my life, I ate my stew as it was meant to be eaten and it was really, really good! I'm still tempted to pick out the meat and potatoes, but I shall overcome that urge. When I asked my husband what he thought about it, he told me it needed a bit more pepper and maybe some okra (ick!). Don't get me wrong, I like okra, but not in my stew. I guess it was good; he ate 3 bowls of the stuff! :)

I don't have a "real" recipe, but I'll share how I made it tonight. This is what I used for just the 2 of us. If you have a larger family, use more of the beef & veggies.

Beef Stew
~~~~~~~~~
1 lb. lean stew meat
1-2 T vegetable oil
4 or 5 normal size potatoes, peeled & cut into chunks
1/2 - 1 med. onion, cut into chunks
2 or 3 carrots (cooked separately-boiled until crisp tender then mixed in once stew was done)
Frozen Corn (however much you want, 1-2 cups)
Frozen Cut Green Beans (same as above)
1-3 ribs celery, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt & pepper to taste
1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste

Brown the meat in oil over medium heat in a large skillet or stew pot/dutch oven until no longer pink. If you want, brown the meat, onions, and garlic together. (I didn't do that this time, but I will next time.)
Add everything else (except the carrots) and mix together. If you didn't add the onions and garlic with your meat, add those now, too.
Season to taste.
Add enough water to cover.
Cover with a tight-fitting lid and bring to a boil. Once boiling, tilt lid, reduce heat a bit and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender (about 20 mins or so). Stir occasionally.

BTW, fork tender means that when you stick a fork in the potatoes it should go in easily and come out just as easily. If you have to stab the potato really hard, then it's not done. If you can't get your fork out, the potatoes aren't done either.

While the stew is cooking, slice carrots and place in a small pot. Cover with water and lid, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and cook until crisp tender, about 10 mins. Remove from heat, cover, and set aside. When the rest of the stew is done, (potatoes fork tender and it's thickened up a bit), drain the water from the carrots & stir them in the stew. Cooking the carrots separately will keep the carrots from turning into mush. (Mark doesn't like mushy carrots and I gotta keep the husband happy ya' know!)

Serve with crackers or your favorite bread. Whatever you do, enjoy it!!

Note: You can add whatever veggies you want. If you want a vegetable soup, omit the meat. If you like mushy carrots or you're lazy, just throw them in when you add the rest of the veggies to the meat. You can also add all kinds of different spices to liven it up. We're pretty plain folks, so we don't go "all out" with seasoning.

:o)