The Easiest Home Made Veggie Ground Beef Soup Evah!

1lb-ish ground beef, browned and drained

Undrained
1 can carrots
1 can peas
1 can whole kernel corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
last nights left over green beans
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Salt & pepper
About 3 dashes of green tabasco
Just a little instant 3-cheese mashed potatoes

Throw it all in a big pot and simmer for about an hour and a half

Top with shredded cheddar and crushed saltines

Devour

Lemon-herb pasta

So you want something easy, but you're out of spaghetti sauce. Or maybe you want dinner to seem fancy without putting a lot of work into it. Try this. Super yummy, and so easy.

1 lb. pasta of your choice (we like linguine)
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried parsley
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Cook your pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse so it doesn't stick together. Return to pot (or put in a big bowl) and add olive oil, lemon juice, and spices. (You can adjust spices and lemon juice to taste -- this is just a rough estimate to get you in the right direction.) Toss well to mix everything, and serve hot. Great with garlic bread. You can also add in some crushed red pepper if you like it. If you have premixed Italian Seasoning on hand, you can use that instead of the individual spices and just add it to taste.

This works great as a main dish, or if you use little noodles like penne or something, it's a really nice side. Easy peasy, and a nice change of pace from regular spaghetti. :)

Taco meat burrito thingys (an alternative to regular tacos)

2 cups taco meat (I keep it in the freezer in 2-cup packages)
2 carrots
1 onion (or half a large one)
2 large whole-wheat soft tortillas
cheese

Grab some taco meat that's been in the freezer for a while and you don't know what to do with it. Or just make some with ground beef and taco seasoning. If you're making it fresh, drain it well after it's brown. Use a food processor to finely chop the onion and carrots together, and then put them in the skillet with your taco meat (you don't have to defrost your meat first if it's frozen -- just stick it in there). Cook over medium heat until the onions are getting tender and a little browned. Spoon the mixture onto the tortilla shells, half in each one. Put it right in the middle, in kind of a strip down the middle. Put your cheese on top of the meat, however much and whatever kind you like. I used white American because it was what we had, but I think cheddar or a spicy cheese would be better. Fold the sides of the tortilla over everything, so it's like a flat burrito. Stick it on your George Foreman grill and grill it until it's brown and the cheese is melted, just a minute or two. If you don't have a George Foreman grill -- um, you need to get one. But you could probably brown it in the skillet if you wanted, if you've drained out the oil.

I don't like tacos because I hate lettuce and the stuff that's usually in tacos, so this is a good alternative. You don't *need* the carrots, I suppose, but they do enhance the flavor a bit, and it's added nutrition. I add chopped carrots to whatever I can add them to, because it's good for you and you don't notice the flavor that much. You could probably also do the same thing with chopped celery, maybe even some chopped baby spinach leaves. Whatever. This is great because it's a quick lunch packed with protein and flavor, and you can customize it for your tastes. Although I don't think I'd put lettuce in it. It would get wilty on the grill.

Easy chicken and rice dinner

Seriously, it's easy. I'm a big fan of easy. I'm also a big fan of dry vegetable soup mix, apparently, since I'm using it in everything lately.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders (any kind of boneless chicken will do, but you can't use big pieces like whole breasts. If you have large pieces, cut them to be smaller so they'll cook faster.)
1 cup white rice
3 cups water
1 package dry vegetable soup mix

Brown the chicken slightly in a little bit of oil. Nothing too major. If you over-brown, that's ok. Or if you forget to brown it, that's ok too. Whatever. Either way, use a really big skillet so you'll have room for everything (I used my 12-inch cast iron and it was just big enough). Then pour in your water and the veggie soup mix, and stir it to dissolve the powder and get everything evened out. Dump in your rice, and try to spread it evenly around the skillet. Make sure there's no rice hanging out on top of the chicken where it won't be in the water. Bring the water to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the rice is done and the chicken is cooked through.

This recipe serves 4, or maybe 5 depending on how much chicken you have and what sides you serve with it. I didn't serve any sides and it served the 4 of us with a few leftovers. As with my other chicken recipe, this would be great if you cut the chicken into small bite-size pieces, but I didn't and it was still good. I'm sure you could also bake this, but I have no idea how long you'd need to bake it, so if you go that route you're on your own.

Pancakes

Here's a recipe from my mom. She makes the best pancakes ever. Light and crisp at the edges, fluffy in the middle. Mmmmm. :)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
heaping teaspoon baking powder
2 shakes salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon cooking oil
approx. 2/3 cup milk (soy milk may also be used)
Optional: capful of vanilla, a generous helping of cinnamon, chopped frozen or fresh fruit, ginger

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add egg, oil, and a little milk (1/3 cup or so), and any extras, and whisk together. Add milk until the batter is runny, but not too thin. (If you get it thin, you can use it that way, you'll just have thin pancakes.)

Heat about a tablespoon of cooking oil on the griddle over medium heat. When the oil is hot, pour pancakes onto griddle. (You can tell if the oil is ready by dripping a drop of batter onto the griddle -- if it instantly starts to sizzle at the edges, it's hot enough.) Make them whatever size you want. I like to make small-ish ones for the kids. When the edges start to brown and the middles are bubbly, flip the pancakes over to brown the other side. When that side is browned, remove them from the griddle, add a bit more oil to the griddle to heat, and make another pan full. You'll need to make sure you have a bit of oil on the pan, because that's what's going to give you the crispy edges. Serve with butter and warm syrup.

My new favorite pancakes are with vanilla and a bit of cinnamon. The kids like "purple pancakes," with frozen blueberries -- the juice makes the batter purple. Experiment!

Peach Cobbler

6 Cups peeled and sliced peaches

1/3 C Flour

2/3 C Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 White or yellow cake mix

Butter

Mix together first 4 ingredients. Pour in a 9x13 pan. Pour DRY, UNPREPARED cake mix onto the peaches, breaking up any lumps. Dot with butter.

Bake @ 350 until golden brown on top about 45 min.

Warning, ADDICTIVE!!!

Country Club Chicken

another super easy one...

1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup or so of sour cream or plain yogurt
favorite seasoning
8 chicken thighs
1 pkg of bacon

mix soup, yogurt, and seasoning (i used italian seasoning) in a glass casserole (9x13). wrap each piece of chicken in a strip of bacon and place in the dish on top of soup mixture. after all chicken is in the dish, spoon some of the sauce over the pieces. lay the rest of the bacon over the top of the whole deal. bake at 350 for about an hour checking after 45 minutes for doneness of bird.

EASY Chicken Pot Pie

ingredients:

one can each: (drain all veggies but one...doesn't matter which one)
carrots
peas
grean beans
corn
mushrooms
cr. mushroom soup
cr. chicken soup
cooked and cut up boneless chicken
biscuits (canned, home made, bisquick)

in a large baking dish, mix all ingredients except biscuits. season this mixture to your liking. we used garlic powder, dried onions, salt, and pepper. once it's all mixed up and smelling yummy, cover the top with your biscuits.

i baked this at 400 for about 10 minutes. the biscuit tops were done but the bottoms were gooey and the "stew" wasn't as hot as it could have been. i think that lowering the temp and cooking longer might do the trick. remember...it's all cooked already...you are just heating it up and cooking the biscuits.

have fun with it and make it yours. i'd also suggest seasoning the chicken separately. i thought ours was a little bland. dh said to not even worry about putting the left overs away, he was going to "work on it" for a little while longer.

Potato Chip Fish

Submitted by mamabobbs5

Potato Chip Fish

Half of a 5-0z. bag of kettle-cooked salt and vinegar potato chips

4 (5- to 6- ounce) cod fillets, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick

Salt, for seasoning

4 tsp. light mayonnaise

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place the chips in a gallon-size zipper bag and use a rolling pin to crush them. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it lightly with cooking spray. Arrange the fillets on the foil and season them lightly with salt. Smear a tsp. of the mayo over the top of each fillet, then sprinkle on the crushed chips, completely covering the top of each piece. Bake the fillets on the top oven rack until they are just cooked through, about 10 minutes.

This was super yummy. I used flounder, cause it's what I had, but it still tasted great. Also, if you don't care for salt & vinegar chips I'm sure you could just use the plain ones, but make sure to use kettle cooked so that the crumbs stay crispy.

Basic white bread

This recipe is stolen from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. My version is older than the one linked here, but I'm sure the recipe is the same in the new one. Best cookbook ever. Buy it.

Anyway, on to the recipe. It's a very basic white bread recipe, great for beginners.

Ingredients:
5 3/4 to 6 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups milk or buttermilk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter, margarine, or shortening
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. In a large mixing bowl combine 2 1/2 cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir milk, sugar, butter, and salt just until warm (120F to 130F) and butter almost melts. Add milk mixture to flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.

2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface of dough. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double in size (45 to 60 minutes). *Note from the sidebar in the cookbook: You can tell if the dough has doubled and is ready to shape by pressing two fingers 1/2 inch into the dough. Remove your fingers; if indentations remain, it is ready to punch down.

3. Punch down dough (push your fist into its center, then use your fingers to pull the dough edges to the center). Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly grease two 8x4x2-inch loaf pans.

4. Shape dough halves into loaves by patting or rolling. To shape by patting, gently pat and pinch, tucking edges underneath. To shape by rolling, on a lightly floured surface roll each dough half into a 12x8-inch rectangle. Roll up each rectangle, starting from a short side. Seal seams with your fingertips.

5. Place shaped dough halves in prepared pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double in size (30 to 40 minutes).

6. Bake in a 375 oven about 40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped (if necessary, cover loosely with foil the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning). Immediately remove bread from pans. Cool on wire racks.

*Amy's note: the bread can get too heavy and kind of dry if you use too much flour. When you're kneading the dough, add only enough flour so that the dough is slightly sticky -- not enough to come off and stick to your hands, but more like the stickiness of a Post-It note. If you need to make this dairy-free, you can use plain soymilk and vegan margarine, and it will turn out just fine.

Hashbrown Casserole

So easy and so yummy...

in a 9x13 glass dish, put down a layer of frozen hashbrowns (i used the string kind), in a pan, brown up some sausage, add onions, green peppers, whatever you like in an omelet...layer that on top of the hashbrowns. wisk up about 9 eggs and pour over layers. bake at 350 for an hourish. when it's done, put some sliced cheese on top and bake just long enough to melt the cheese and voila...dinner...or breakfast.

The best grilled cheese ever!

I know what you're thinking. "Grilled cheese? Grilled cheese? She thinks I need a recipe for grilled cheese?! Seriously?!" Yeah, seriously. Because I can guarantee you that if you make a basic grilled cheese, it has never been this heavenly.

What you need:

2 slices of whole wheat bread
A little butter or margarine
2 slices of American cheese (white American is even better)
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Garlic powder (to taste)
*Optional, but fabulous: Creole seasoning (gives it a little kick)

Heat up your non-stick skillet or griddle. Lightly butter one side of both pieces of bread and put one piece on the skillet, butter-side down. Layer one piece of American cheese, a healthy fingerful of mozzarella, a sprinkling of garlic powder, just a little sprinkle of Creole seasoning, the other slice of American cheese, and the other piece of bread, butter-side up. When the bottom slice of bread starts to get nice and warm, but not quite yet browned, flip the sandwich over (carefully, the mozzarella will try to escape -- you might want to use two spatulas, or else pick up the skillet and use it to help hold the sandwich together). Sprinkle a little mozzarella on the outside of the now-warmed bread and kind of press it into the bread lightly. You don't need to smash it, but you want it to kind of stick in there. After the other piece of bread is warmed, flip the sandwich and give that side the mozzarella treatment. Now, when your cheese on the inside is getting kind of melty and the bottom piece of bread is browned and the mozzarella on the bottom is nice and crispy, flip it over to brown the other slice of bread. When it's browned, remove the sandwich from the skillet and let it sit for a minute or two to finish melting the cheese and to cool enough to not burn your lips off.

Then eat it, and try not to pass out from the fabulosity.