Stuffed Shells

I don't know about you, but whenever I'm cleaning out or reorganizing my pantry, I always seem to find at least a couple half boxes of pasta that I've had for who knows how long. I mean, with just me and my husband here, rarely do I cook an entire box of pasta at once. Lucky for me, whenever I manage to stumble upon those half empty (or half full if you like) boxes, it always seems to spark a dinner idea. Well last week as I was standing on my tip toes trying to reach something on the top shelf of my pantry, I happened upon a partial box of large pasta shells. Well, naturally I thought of stuffed shells. I haven't made these in so long so I thought I'd add them to my menu for this week. I had forgotten how good these little cheese stuffed shells are. I had planned on having leftovers for our lunches tomorrow, but let's just say it looks like one of us will have to order out for lunch. They were just too darn good!

Stuffed Shells

1/2 box jumbo shells
1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/4 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4-1/2 cup baby spinach
salt and pepper
4 cups pasta sauce or meat sauce (I used a meat sauce made with ground turkey and jarred sauce)

Preheat oven to 350. Begin by boiling the shells until done (about 8-9 minutes). Drain. Combine cheeses, egg, italian seasoning, garlic powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a food processor. Add baby spinach and pulse a couple more times until the spinach is slightly chopped. In a baking dish, spread 2 cups of the meat sauce in the bottom of the dish. Next, scoop about 1 1/2 tsp of the cheese mixture into each shell and place them in the dish on top of the sauce. Top with the remaining sauce and additional mozzarella cheese is desired. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 25-30 min.

Santa Fe Soup

This has got to be one of my favorite soups. Not only is it easy, it's so delicious. I first had this at an Auburn/Alabama neighborhood football party my sister-in-law had a few years ago. I couldn't believe how easy it was. It's been one of my favorites ever since. I haven't made it in a long time and remembered the other day how much I love it. So I made a big ol' pot today just for me. My husband turns his nose up to any recipe that includes beans, let alone THREE kinds of beans, so I've got a lot of soup to eat! Of course this will be lunch a few days this week and I'll probably freeze some for later. It's a great hearty soup for these cold winter days. And if you want to make it even better, load it up with some cheddar cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips or serve it with some cheddar and jalapeno cornbread.


Santa Fe Soup
(with my alterations)

2 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
1 can chili beans with sauce
1 can black beans, rinsed well
1 can navy beans, rinsed well
1 can or 15 oz frozen corn kernels
1/2 lb lean ground beef or turkey
1/2 a large onion, chopped
1/4 cup chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
a pinch of sugar

*additional salt if needed

Begin by sauteing the onion in a pan with a little olive oil. After 2-3 minutes, add the ground meat and cook until done. Drain if needed. In a small bowl combine chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Then, combine all ingredients in a large pot. Simmer on med/low for 35-45 minutes. Add additional salt to taste.

Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips. Also great with cornbread.

*1 packet of taco seasoning mix can be subbed for the spices if desired.

Roast Beef with Spicy Parsley Tomato Sauce

It's funny how you see recipes you want to try and then sometimes just forget about them. That is the case with this recipe. I saw it several months ago and thought it looked great and put it on my list to try. Somehow it got pushed further and further down the list until I had almost forgotten about it. Then I saw the episode of Everyday Italian last week where Giada makes this dish and remembered saving it to try. So I decided I would put it on the menu for the week. It turned out pretty well. The roast was a little tough, but I thought the sauce was great! I really enjoyed it with my pasta. I'm not sure if I would make the recipe again as it is. I will be saving the sauce recipe though. It's slightly spicy and there's a subtle bite from the red wine vinegar that I thought was so good with the roasted tomato flavor.

Roast Beef with Spicy Parsley Tomato Sauce

Beef Roast:

1 (2 to 2 1/2-pound) sirloin tip or chuck beef roast
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 Roma tomatoes, cut in 1/2
2 teaspoons herbs de Provence
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Spicy Parsley Tomato Sauce:

1 1/2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

To make the beef roast, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Season the tomatoes with salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence.

Place a medium, heavy roasting pan or Dutch oven over high heat. Heat the olive oil. Sear the beef over high heat on all sides. Turn off heat. Place the seasoned tomatoes around the seared beef and place the pan in the oven. Roast until a meat thermometer reads 130 degrees F. for medium rare, 135 for medium, about 30 to 40 minutes. Take the roast out of the oven, tent loosely with foil, and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. The internal temperature of the meat should rise 5 degrees F more and the juices will redistribute into the roast.

To make the sauce, place the parsley and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the parsley is finely chopped. Add the red pepper flakes, salt, red wine vinegar and the roasted tomatoes from the beef pan and process until pureed. Add the olive oil in a steady stream with the machine running.

To serve, slice the roast and place on a serving platter. Drizzle a little sauce over the meat. Serve the remaining sauce in a small bowl alongside.

Taco Salad Bowls

Tonight's dinner needed to be simple. We had some errands to run after work so I thought I'd keep dinner short and sweet. Or I guess I should say spicy! Taco salad is always a fast and yummy meal. Typically I serve crumbled tortilla chips on top of the salad greens, spicy taco meat, and cheese but tonight I made it a little different. I've been seeing these taco bowls on lots of food blogs lately and it occurred to me that I had never made it that way before. I think the crunchy tortilla bowl makes this common salad even better. We had this tonight with mexican rice.

Taco Salad Bowls

1/2 lb lean ground beef or turkey
2 cups lettuce or enough for 2 salads
1/2 cup chopped tomato (I used sliced grape tomatoes)
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup cheddar or mexican cheese
taco seasoning (recipe to follow)
1/2 cup water or beef broth
2 10" tortillas
cooking spray

Taco Seasoning

1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp each)

Combine all ingredients.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make two balls out of aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. (You could also use ramekins.) Place tortillas over aluminum foil balls and spray with cooking spray. These should bake for about 10 min or until brown. Meanwhile, heat a skillet on the stove. Add chopped onion and ground beef. Cook until beef is done and drain. Add taco seasoning and 1/2 cup water or beef broth. Stir to combine. Let this cook another couple minutes to heat through. Place salad greens in the taco shell. Top with beef, cheese, tomatoes and all your favorite toppings. Other toppings that would be good are black beans, corn, salsa, or sour cream.

Spicy Stuffed Bell Peppers

I had never made stuffed bell peppers before tonight and now that I think about it, neither did my mom when I was growing up. But it's always been a dish I really like. I had some ground beef in the freezer and thought this might be a good use for it tonight. So I started pulling spices and things out of the cabinet and sort of made it up as I went. And what I came up with was a very delicious concoction. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, we also had corn bread muffins with dinner tonight that my husband "made". Actually they were Jiffy cornbread muffins from a box, that I mixed together and he spooned into the muffin tin. But he wanted me to be sure to mention that he "makes a mean cornbread." Yes, that was an exact quote.


Spicy Stuffed Bell Peppers

4 bell peppers (I used green but you could use any color)
1/2 lb ground beef or turkey
1/2 white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bag of quick cooking white rice
1/2-3/4 cup corn kernels
1/2 cup beef broth
3/4 cup shredded mexican cheese (I used the pre-shredded bagged kind)
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

(You can adjust the spices according to your taste to make it more or less spicy)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Begin by prepping all your ingredients (chopping the onions, garlic, cut the tops off of the peppers and remove the seeds). Boil the water for the rice. Once you have the rice cooking, heat a skillet over medium/hi heat and add a little olive oil (about 2 Tbsp). Add the onion to the pan and let cook for about 5 min. Add garlic and ground beef. Cook until the ground beef is done and drain. Put the ground beef mixture back into the skillet and add chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes. Next add the beef broth. Drain the rice once it's done and add that to the skillet with all other ingredients. Add corn and stir to combine. At this point add the salt and pepper to taste. Stir in mexican cheese until melted. Place your bell peppers on a baking sheet and fill with the beef and rice mixture. Top with a additional cheese if desired. Bake for about 25 min.

Mmm Meatloaf

Meatloaf, nothing fancy about it. I've made it plenty of times but it never turned out quite right. It was always too dry or too plain for my taste. I saw the recipe for this meatloaf on a website that I visit often. It sounded really good so I figured I would give it a try to see how it compared to my previous mediocre meatloaves. I knew I'd be busy tonight trying to do a hundred things to get ready to go on a weekend trip so I started this cooking in the crockpot this morning before I went to work. Well I'm so glad I gave this recipe a try. It was moist on the inside with a slightly chewy crust on the outside and the sauce was sweet and tangy. My husband said it was "wonderful!" which always makes me feel good. If you are looking for a good meatloaf recipe you should definitely give this one a second look. I served this with mashed potatoes and peas.


Crockpot Meatloaf

2	beaten eggs
3/4	cup milk
2/3	cup fine dry breadcrumbs
2	tablespoons grated onions
1	teaspoon salt
1/2	teaspoon ground sage
1 1/2	lbs lean ground beef
Sauce
1/4	cup catsup
2	tablespoons brown sugar
1	teaspoon dry mustard
1/4	teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Comfort Food Main Dish
  
  
  
• Crock Pot Main Dish
  
  
  
• United States Main Dish
  
  
  
• Ground Beef Main Dish
  
  
  
• Reduced Carbohydrates Main Dish
  
  
  

1. Combine eggs with milk, bread crumbs,onion,salt,and sage,and meat.
2. Mix well and shape into a 9x5 in.
3. rectangle or oval.
4. Carefully place into slowcooker pot.
5. Cook on low for about 6-7 hrs.
6. Combine sauce ingredients and pour over meat loaf and cook on high for about 15 minutes.

I added chopped green and red peppers, 2 cloves garlic, some red pepper flakes and parsley flakes in the mix too.

Original Source: Nestie tbrp2005 (Trisha)

* I pretty much halved this recipe, except for the sauce, and it was the perfect amount for 2 people with just a little left over. I also didn't add sage because I didn't have any. I added a couple dashes of worcestershire sauce to the sauce as well.

Pepper Steak over Rice

I was checking out some of my favorite foodie blogs a few weeks ago and came across this recipe on Mary Ellen's Blog. I've had it on my "list to make" for a while now but hadn't gotten around to making it. Well we finally had this for dinner last night and I thought it was fabulous; a very quick but delicious week night meal. My husband liked it too. Thanks Mary Ellen!


Pepper Steak over Rice

Ingredients
- 1 pound lean steak sliced into thin strips
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 red pepper cut into strips
- 1/2 green pepper cut into strips
- 1/2 yellow onion cut into strips
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 package dry gravy mix, mixed with 1 c cold water



Directions
- Marinate your steak in the soy sauce and Worcestershire for a few hours. If you don't have time to marinate, just add these sauces when cooking.
- Add steak to a hot saute pan. Cook about halfway draining some of the excess fat.
- Add the garlic (pressed), red and green peppers, onions, and red pepper flakes. Cover and let cook for about 3-4 minutes over medium heat.
- Add the gravy, stir, cover, and let simmer for about 15 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Serve over rice.

This dinner takes about 25 minutes to cook, about 35 minutes including prep time.

The crockpot, a great little invention...

I spent my whole day off yesterday cooking and baking. By the end of the day, I was beat! So today I wanted to have dinner waiting on me when I got home from work. Since my husband doesn't cook, I went for the next best thing--a crockpot dinner. One of my favorite things to make in the crockpot is beef stew. I made up this recipe a while back and it's been my beef stew recipe ever since. It's great comfort food and makes for some awesome leftovers as well. It was so nice to come home and have dinner ready and waiting with little effort on my part.

Beef Stew

1.5 lbs stew meat
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
5-6 medium red potatoes, cut into 1" chunks
2 cups baby carrots
3 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 14.5 oz can green beans, drained (you could also use fresh or frozen)
1 29 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 14.5 oz cans beef broth
1 packet McCormick beef stew seasoning(yes, I cheat a little here)

Toss stew meat in flour to coat. Heat vegetable oil in a pan over med/hi heat and add meat. When meat is slightly brown on the outside remove pan from stove. In your crockpot, combine meat with all other ingredients. Stir to combine. Turn the crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hrs.

*I served with Jiffy corn bread muffins. One day I will try to make my own cornbread...but not today. ; P

Holy Meatballs!

For years I was afraid of making my own meatballs. Boy was I really missing out! Since I've been trying all these new recipes that I've never tried before, I decided meatballs had to be on that list. I started looking around for great recipes and got tons of suggestions from other foodies. Finally I came up with this one. It's a combination of several different recipes. I had no idea they could be so easy!!



Renea's Meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1 tsp italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and pepper-I just eyeball it

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Roll into 1-1 1/2" balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 min. Remove from oven and add to your favorite pasta sauce.