Beef Noodle Soup!

This was a complete gamble for me - several ingredients I'm not too big a fan of, but it looked interesting and since the ingredients weren't expensive or hard to come by, I thought I'd give it a shot. You need:

1 pound ground beef

1 46 oz can V8

2 beef ramen noodle soup package (but only one seasoning packet)

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 bag (16 oz) frozen vegetables

1 beef buillion cube

Start by browning your beef in a large skillet. Once meat is completely browned with no pink left, drain the excess fat. Add in V8, onion soup mix, ramen seasoning packet, frozen vegetables and buillion cube. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for 6-8 minutes, until soup thickens. Return to boil, and add ramen noodles. Cook for 3 minutes or until noodles are tender.

My changes to this receipe had to do with the frozen vegetables. I didn't have the frozen vegetables so I used 2 cups of frozen green beans, 1/2 cup frozen peas, and 1/2 cup fresh sliced carrots. I really liked this, and was pleasantly surprised! It's very filling, and makes a large batch, definitely enough for a whole family. I also topped with a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese.

Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole

This was a nice recipe for the Crock Pot. I had a few minor complaints on it, some easy to fix, and some a littler harder. I'll get to those at the end. This easy recipe calls for 6-7 hours to cook so in my opinion, it's not really easy to use for breakfast unless you want to start it at 2 in the morning. :) Recipe as follows:

1 20 oz bag refrigerated hashbrowns

1 cup diced onion

1 lb bacon

1 red bell pepper, diced

10 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheese, cheddar or monterey jack would be fine but I used a four cheese blend.

Start by cooking your onion and bacon. For me, this took quite a while to get the bacon to cook, so I would put the bacon in first and let it cook for awhile, then add the onion. After the bacon is completely cooked, drain off excess oil. Add red bell pepper and cook for a few minutes more. Layer 1/3 of the hashbrowns in the bottom of your Crock Pot (the 4-qt size works really well for this.), then layer 1/2 of bacon mix. Layer another 1/3 of hashbrowns and the remaining 1/2 bacon mix. Cover the casserole with the rest of the hashbrowns. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and milk together, then pour over hashbrown/bacon layers. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours. Before serving, top with cheese.

OK - so what did I think? I loved the casserole! My complaints were 1, that the prep time seemed to take a long time; dicing the onion, bell pepper and bacon took awhile and then the bacon took awhile to cook, probably just because I put them in at the same time as the onions. 2, when I actually ate the casserole, it really needed salt. This was easy but it would have been nice if the salt had already been in the casserole. 3, the hashbrowns turned out just a little on the mushy side. I would have liked them to be a little more solid and crunchy. Overall though I really liked this recipe! It was very tasty and it was easy to portion up to take with me for breakfast for the rest of the week. The original recipe called for sausage, but since I don't really like most sausage I substituted the bacon. Enjoy!

Stir-Fry Goodness!

This is a common meal around my house - it's really easy and very tasty. It's also great because you can really change the ingredients either based on what you have in the house or how your tastes run. You need:

1 each of Red, Yellow, and Green bell peppers, cut into strips

1/2 large red onion, sliced

Olive oil

Soy sauce

1 pound beef (can be sliced steak, stirfry meat, etc., just something that is pretty thin and sliced)

Cooked rice

Basically, start with two skillets - one with the oil and the beef, and the other with the soy sauce and veggies. Get the beef about half way done and add a little soy sauce to that as well. (I've also used teriyaki sauce instead of the soy sauce here) Saute the veggies to your desired crispness (I prefer them pretty soft) then add to the meat. Continue to cook until meat is completely done, then serve over rice. Like I said, REALLY easy! You could also steam some broccoli and carrots if you don't really like bell peppers all that much. I make this dish a lot because it makes quite a bit of food and I can take it for lunch the next day. I went the easy route and bought some frozen wontons as well to serve with instead of trying to make my own this time.

NUMMY!!

Ok tonight's dinner really wasn't a new recipe but it was sure tasty! I used a Tyson pork tenderloin (Bourbon and Maple Flavored) for the first time and just baked that up in the oven. I also did rosemary roasted new potatoes and lemon garlic green beans. I've made the potatoes and green beans a dozen times before but I haven't posted anything on them yet so I thought I'd give that a whirl. Potatoes are SUPER easy - quarter small red (new) potatoes and rinse. Place on cookie sheet (preferably one with a rim) that has been covered with parchement paper. Drizzle 2 Tbsp of olive oil over potatoes then sprinkle 1 Tbsp dried rosemary, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Place in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, turning potatoes every five minutes. Depending on the size of your potatoes, they may need longer. For the green beans - start with fresh green beans and steam in a Zip N Steam bag. Then in skillet, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic. Once garlic has heated and starts to give off a strong smell, place green beans in skillet along with 2 Tbsp lemon juice (I just use the stuff in the little lemon shaped bottle). Saute until beans are thoroughly done. I love these two side dishes because they are so easy and they have a GREAT flavor to them. I've served with chicken and pork and if you eat fish, I think they would be pretty good sides to that as well. (I don't eat fish - I find it nasty and gross. :) ) Enjoy!