Easiest Lasagna EVER

"Lasagna"

I'm all about cheap and easy. There's days when I really want to make an effort and create a masterpiece for the fam, but most of the time...eh, no. Both Josh and Stevey are huge "red" sauce fans. Stevey has discovered the tastiness of tomatoes. I've been craving Olive Garden "Tour De Italy" and since I can't have that...

What you'll need:

1 lb hamburger
1 medium onion, diced (or you can used dried onion)
1 TB garlic powder
salt & pepper
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 16 oz container of small curd cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 package of oven ready lasagna noodles

Preheat oven at 375 degrees. Spray a 9*13 baking pan with non-stick spray. Brown the hamburger with the onion, garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. I also use roughly a tsp of oregano, but that's just me :) Drain and mix spaghetti sauce with hamburger. Heat. Pour roughly 1/4 c of sauce mixture into bottom of pan. Layer noodles and then sauce and cottage cheese. Repeat until your top is a layer of noodles. Pour remaining sauce onto noodles. Cover with foil and bake for 20 mins. Remove foil, top with cheese and bake until cheese is melted. :) Yummy stuff dude :)

Pizza Rolls :)

"Pizza Rolls or Calzones"

Again, cheap and easy :) For that pizza lovin' family (MINE) its a great way to get the pizza flavor without having to take tons of time to make it or tons of money to buy it :)

What you need:

Rhodes rolls (2 per roll)
4-6 slices of Pepperoni per roll
2 slices of Mozzarella cheese per roll
Pizza sauce
Melted butter
Parmesan cheese (i used leftover packets from Pizza Hut lol)

Take the Rhodes rolls out of the oven and thaw according to the instructions. I made 2 adult size rolls and 2 Stevey size rolls, so I used 6 rolls. I got them out at noon and they were ready by 4pm even with my swamp cooler blowing :) I made Stevey's rolls first. You flatten out the rolls and put a TB of pizza sauce then pepperoni and then cheese. Close the ends and roll similar to a burrito. With the adult size rolls, you do the same, only flatten 2 TWO rolls together. You can use more or less cheese or pepperoni depending on your taste.

I brushed them with butter and then sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. You can also roll them in the cheese if you want them super coated. Bake at 350 degrees for roughly 10 mins.

Brush with butter when you're done and TA DAH!

They come with the Stevey seal of approval :)

**you can also use other pizza toppings like crumbled sausage and my fave-black olives! :) **

Poor Man's Stroganoff

"Stroganoff"
I am a HUGE fan of Stroganoff. I've usually seen it made with flank steak or cubed stew meat. I can't always find this tasty cuts of meat for cheap, so I improvised.

What you'll need:

1 lb hamburger
1 medium onion, diced
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 16 oz container of sour cream
milk
1 package of egg noodles

Brown hamburger and onions. Drain.

Boil egg noodles. Drain and rinse.

In separate bowl, combine soup and sour cream. Add one soup can of milk. Mix well. Mix with hamburger. Slowly mix with egg noodles. Heat thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste :)
**if you'd like, you can also add fresh mushrooms to the hamburger when it's close to being done.**

Cheap "Steak" Fajitas

"STEAK" Fajitas
Steak can be expensive. But it's soooooo tasty. So, the other day I was in the market, and they had their stew meat marked down for quick sale. I thought to myself, "Self, you could make some tasty fajitas with this." So here we go :)

What you'll need:

1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 medium size yellow onion
1 pkg stew meat :)
Garlic Powder
Pepper Flakes
Salt & Pepper
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheese
Flour Tortillas
Salsa

Start to brown the stew meat. Add the garlic powder, salt & pepper, and pepper flakes to taste.
Thinly slice the peppers and onions. I always do the peppers first. I have a problem. I always seem to eat more of the peppers then I put in the mixture. :)

Add peppers to the stew meat and cook until the onions and peppers are tender.

I warm the tortillas by placing them on top of the meat mixture.

Cold Roast Beef Sandwiches

Cold Roast Beef Sandwiches

Miracle Whip
1 part of roast
diced pickles
cubed cheddar cheese
Mustard (i LOVE the spicy brown mustard)
bread

Chopped up the roast into reasonably bite size pieces. Add pickles and cheddar cheese. Add Miracle Whip and mustard, just like you're making a wet tuna sandwich. Put on the bread and serve :) This mixture makes for great grilled sandwiches too.

Shredded Beef Tacos

Shredded Beef Tacos

Taco Shells, hard or soft
1 package taco seasoning*
1 part of the roast, "shredded"
lettuce
tomatoes
shredded cheese
sour cream
salsa

To shred the roast, I simply use two dinner forks and pull :) Heat the roast. If desired add pepper flakes for some heat. Stir in taco seasoning according to the package. Put in a taco shell and add your desired toppings :)

*if you don't wanna buy taco seasoning, I've come up with my own tasty mix
2 tsp. instant minced onion
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. corn starch
1/2 tsp. crushed dried red pepper
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. instant minced garlic
Use 1/2 cup water and then just mix with the meat :)

French Dip East Coast Style

French Dip East Coast Style

1 pkg hoagie rolls
1 pkg au jus mix
1 part of the roast

Using the remaining water that I left in the crockpot, pour in the package of au jus mix. Stir until completely mixed. The juices from the roast make for a super tasty au jus. Pull apart the roast and put in the crockpot. Cover and let simmer on low for a few hours. Put the roast on the hoagie rolls and eat :) The roast should be "wet." That's what gives the dip it's East coast-ness :) There's a shop in on the coast that serves french dip dipped in au jus :)

One Pot Roast-3 dinners

Our freezer had a hiccup. So I had to cook some things fast. Normally, when I make a roast, I invite my sister and brother in law over. We can never finish them before they go bad. I never seem to get the right size for our little family! So here I am, a huge roast and no clue. So...it came to me-cook it in the crockpot.That will you give you time to figure it out! LOL I decided to cook it and then figure out recipes for the next week. To cook the roast, I first seared it with seasonings. For those of you that don't know how to do that-i rub the roast with seasonings such as salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion salt or powder.Then I melt some butter in a frying pan. I "sear" the roast by cooking it on each side for about 3 mins or so at med-high heat. While I'm doing that, I put 3 beef bullion cubes in my crockpot with roughly 6-7 cups of water and put the crockpot on high. Yes, I can multi-task :) After all edges are seared, I simply put the roast in the crockpot and turn it down to low. Then, I walk away :) While this lovely hunk of beef was cooking, I sleep! I put it on before I went to bed :) The next day I woke up, checked it. Good :) At like noon, I took it out of the crockpot and let it 'rest'. I divided it into 3 equal parts. I took out 2 cups of the water out of the crock pot and then here's what I did!!

Mom's Apple Pie

As most of you know, my anniversary was yesterday. My hubby was a super romantic. I decided to be nice and make him an apple pie. He LOVES homemade apple pie!! I thought-hey! I'll post this on my blog! :) So here we go!

You will need:

6-8 med size apples

I used a combination of apples, fuji, red delicious and at least one granny smith

3/4 c granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 (ish) tsp of nutmeg

1/2 (ish) tsp of cinnamon

butter to pat

2 pie crusts.

You can cheat and use the already made ones sold in the refrigerated section of your local grocery store. If you want a NEVER fail pie crust recipe, lemme know :) I cheated with this one :)

Preheat your oven for 375. Peel and slice the apples. Mix in sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place apple mixture into a pie shell. Pat with butter ( i use roughly 4 tbs) Cover with other pie crust. If you're feeling fancy, lattice it up baby! If you're somewhat lazy like me, make sure you slit the top crust to allow ventilation.

Bake for roughly 30-35 mins and wal-la! Super tasty pie :)