Corned Beef and Cabbage

3-4 lb corned beef brisket

2 tbl butter

1 head cabbage cut into wedges

Beef broth

Fresh parsley

Fresh ground pepper

½ onion very coarsely chopped

Melt butter in large skillet.  Brown sides off beef.  Place beef in pan, surrounded by cabbage, onion, and parsley.  Top with parsley and pour beef broth to halfway cover meat.  Cover and cook at 300 for 3-4 hours.  Let meat rest 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

Ranch Tilapia Fillets

¾ cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 (one ounce) package dry ranch dressing mix

2 ½ tbl olive oil

1 lb tilapia fillets

2 tbl butter

Mix olive oil and dressing mix to form a paste.  Coat fillets in paste and then dredge in bread crumbs.  Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Place filets in skillet and cook for five minutes on each side or until golden brown and easily flaked with a fork.

Crockpot Beef Stew

2 lb beef stew meat

¼ c flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 ½ cup beef broth

1 tbl Worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic minced

1 bay leaf

1 tsp paprika

4 carrots sliced

3 potatoes diced

1 onion chopped

4 stalk celery chopped

Put meat in crock pot.  Mix flour, salt and pepper, then pour over meat and stir to coat.  Add remaining ingredients and stir to mix well.  Cover and cook on low 10 hours (high 6).  Stir thoroughly before serving.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 lb round beef

1 diced onion

1 can Italian seasoned diced tomatoes

1 ½ -2 cups cooked rice

Garlic salt

Pepper

1 tbl Worcestershire sauce

4 bell peppers cored and seeded

Shredded cheese

Boil bell peppers in cough water to cover for 5 minutes.  Remove from water and invert on paper towels.  Brown hamburger and onion.  Add tomatoes and juices, rice, garlic salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.  Grease a casserole dish to fit peppers.  Place peppers in dish and fill to top with ground beef mixture.  Cover and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Remove cover and top with shredded cheese.  Return to oven for additional 10 minutes.  (I usually layer more shredded cheese in with the filling in the bell peppers, but I like lots of cheese.)

La-la-la-lasagna!

Here's a recipe for my mama's lasagna.  I had the missionaries tell me once they'd heard I made a famous lasagna and would like me to make it again.  So, it's pretty good. :)

Lasagna

1 lb ground beef

1 lb jimmy dean sausage

1 to 1 1/2 onion diced

2 lb mushrooms sliced

1 tbl garlic minced (4-5 cloves)

1 tbl basil

1 tbl 1 tsp oregano

1 tsp marjoram

1 ½ tsp parsley

1 bay leaf

3 29 oz cans tomato sauce

1-2 boxes frozen spinach

1 large container ricotta cheese

2-3 lb mozzarella cheese shredded or sliced

1-2 c shredded parmesan cheese

1-2 boxes lasagna noodles

In large pot, sauté onions in a little olive oil until translucent.  Add garlic, sauté for another minute or two then add mushrooms and cook until most of the liquid evaporates.  Remove from pot and add ground beef, and brown.  Remove from pot and drain while you brown the sausage, also draining sausage after it is cooked.  Return everything to pot (or crock pot, I usually put the sauce in there and let it simmer most of the day), add spices and tomato sauce and let everything simmer for a while.

Thaw spinach and squeeze as much moisture as you can out.  Mix with ricotta cheese until well blended.  Cook noodles as directed on package.  In large lasagna pan (this recipe is for my pan, it’s like 10x13 and 4 or 5 inches deep; you could also make two smaller pans with this recipe, but you will need two boxes of noodles) spread a small amount of sauce in the bottom.  Layer noodles on top, spread about 1/3 of ricotta mixture on top, top with generous amount of both cheeses and the cover with sauce.  Layer more noodles and repeat until pan is full.  On top layer of noodles, cover with sauce and then shredded cheese.  Bake at 350 covered for about 45 minutes (or until hot through), then uncover and continue baking until cheese is melted and golden on the edges.

Chicken Florentine

Another recipe from my mother. She loves this one, because you can actually make the whole thing in the microwave with leftover chicken. I love to buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco and then use the leftovers to make this.


1 package frozen spinach
2 tbl chopped onion
1 c chopped cooked chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 tbl vinegar
1 cup chicken broth
1-2 tbl butter
1/4 - 1/2 c bread crumbs



Cook onions in a small amount of oil. Mix in spinach and chicken. Remove 1 tablespoon broth and replace with 1 tablespoon vinegar (this is a wine substitute: you could also use wine, but I don't) Mix soup, cheese and 2-3 tbl of chicken broth mixture. If you are using the microwave, heat this until cheese is melted. Stir sauce into chicken mixture. Melt butter and mix in bread crumbs. Cook in microwave about 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Top chicken/sauce mixture with bread crumbs. Heat in microwave until hot through. Or cook at 350 until bubbly.


I usually use the oven, just because I am not a fan of food cooked in the microwave. But it still tastes fine when my mother makes it in the microwave. And it's faster. And although my friends I made it for loved it, my little penguins refused to eat it,

Meatloaf

I always loved when my mother made meatloaf when I was growing up, mostly likely because she covered the top in cheese. And I have always loved baked cheese. I think my mother wasn't a fan of traditional meatloaf, so she added several things to lighten it up. She would also sometimes hard boil eggs and place them in the middle of it. I, of course, am never this on top of things and always forget to boil the eggs. However, this week I had some extra turkey lying around (or taking up space in my freezer) and I thought it would be an easy meal to make. I haven't been cooking much lately. The baby penguin doesn't nap much during the day and by the end of a day of refereeing the two older ones and walking while patting the baby, I just don't have much energy or enough hands to cook. So meatloaf it was.



1 1/2 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 egg
1 scant cup oatmeal
1 small can tomato sauce
1 tbl Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 c grated cheese

Beat egg in medium bowl. Add ground meat, oatmeal, Worcestershire sauce, spices, 1/2 c grated cheese and tomato sauce minus 2 tbl and combine. Place in loaf pan and top with reserved tomato sauce and cheese. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.


I loved it. My husband loved it. The older penguin took one look at it and said, "Nasty!" But don't take that opinion for too much; every thing I've made in the last three weeks has elicited that comment or "gross-y." It's amazing he's still alive with how little he eats at dinner.

Porcupine Meatballs

A million years ago my dad found out he had high colesteral and my mother started feeding us all a bunch of weird foods. The diet didn't last too long (I guess it wasn't working), but this recipe was one she found somewhere that we all actually liked and asked for again.


Meatballs
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 - 1 package Italian Good Seasons salad dressing mix
1 c cooked rice

Sauce
V8 juice
1/4 - 1/2 c chopped bell pepper
1 tsp garlic salt
pepper


Mix turkey, dressing mix and rice together and form into balls. Place on broiling pan and broil each side of meatballs for five minutes. Place balls into large frying pan. Mix enough sauce to half cover meatballs and simmer until warm. Spoon sauce over meatballs when serving.


You can also freeze these quite nicely after the meatballs have been broiled but not added to the sauce. Then you just need to thaw and make the sauce!