sloppy joe casserole

2 (10 ounce) cans refrigerated biscuit dough

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey

1 (15 ounce) can sloppy joe sauce

1 small onion, chopped

1 small green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Cut the biscuit dough into quarters and press to cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Place the ground beef into a skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring to crumble, until no longer pink. Add the onion and bell pepper about halfway through, cooking and stirring until tender. Drain off excess grease and stir in the sloppy Joe sauce. Season with garlic salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the biscuits and spread to cover evenly.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the biscuits are cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cheese on top. Return to the oven until the cheese has melted, about 10 more minutes

For this I won't use the canned sauce.  I will make my own sloppy joe recipe and put that into the pan on the dough. 

country fried steak

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Salt and ground black pepper
4 to 6 cube steaks
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup Bisquick or other buttermilk baking mix
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine the flour with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge the steaks in the seasoned flour, dip in the egg mixture and coat with the Bisquick.
Heat the oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the steaks over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes per side, turning once, until golden brown and cooked through. Remove the steaks to a serving platter and keep warm.  I serve this with country gravy (I use the packets from the grocery store for gravy.  I suck at making homemade gravy.  I can cook and bake many things but I cannot make a passable homemade gravy.  Oh well. We all can't be good at everything)

cocktail weiners in tangy sweet sauce

grape jelly
ketchup
cocktail weiners

mix equal parts grape jelly and ketchup. Stir using low heat until jelly is melted and mix has a smooth consistency.  Add in cocktail weiners and stir.  Let simmer for 10-15 minutes. 

Alternately, place weiners in a crockpot and pour sauce over.  Stir and cook on low for 3-4 hours before serving. 

I like to leave them in the crockpot and place toothpicks beside the pot for parties.

easy hamburger gravy

1 lb ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mushrooms
1/8 cup of milk
pepper to taste.

Brown ground beef. Drain.  Dump mushroom soup in a bowl, add milk and mushrooms.  Stir.  Pour over hamburger.  Pepper to taste.  Simmer 4-5 minutes.  Serve over cooked egg noodles or mashed potatoes for a filling easy dinner.

pizza burgers

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground beef
1 small minced onion
   minced garlic
1 tablespoon oregano
2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
2 (6 oz) cans of tomato paste
Hamburger buns
Shredded mozzarella cheese


DIRECTIONS

Brown meat in. Add onion and garlic and cook until they are transparent and the meat is thoroughly browned. Pour off excess fat. Add herbs, tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer covered at least 1/2 hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cut hamburger buns in half and brown the open halves until lightly toasted in the broiler. Remove the top half of the hamburger bun from the baking sheet and put a large spoonful of the hot pizza burger mixture on toasted bottom half. Top with some mozzarella cheese and return to the broiler long enough for the cheese to melt. Place burgers on plates, and put the top half of the hamburger bun on sandwich and serve.

Indian fry bread

1 loaf of frozen bread dough
vegetable oil
butter

Let dough rise according to package instructions.  Warm oil in pan.  Tear off 50 cent piece sized sections.  Pull dough to somewhat flatten.  Place dough in pan and cook until browned flipping once so both sides are browned but not burnt.  Brush on butter.  Serve with chili.  Sprinkle garlic powder on to serve with spaghetti or other italian type dishes.

Jess's sloppy joes

1 lb ground beef
1 can tomato soup
diced onion
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
brown sugar (to taste)
yellow mustard (to taste)

Saute diced onion. Brown ground beef and drain.  Add in can of tomato sauce, 2 squirts of mustard and sprinkle brown sugar over the top.  Stir well over medium heat, covering ground beef.  Taste test.  If it tastes too tomato-y, add in more brown sugar and more mustard. Add in relish.  Stir.  Simmer 4-5 minutes over low heat. 

goulash

1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
2 cups uncooked noodles (different shapes and sizes make this fun for kids.  We use shells, wheels, radiotore, and elbow macaroni)
1 or 2 cans of tomato sauce (or you can use a jar of pasta sauce)
shredded mozzarella cheese 8-12 oz depending on how cheesy you want the mix to be.
parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef, cook noodles until done. Drain noodles and beef.  Put noodles back into a large pot.  Add sauce and Ground beef. Stir.  Add in mozzarella cheese.  Stir cooking on low until cheese is melted. Top with parmesan cheese and serve.

You can also add in mushrooms, onions, green pepper, diced tomato, etc.

tuna patties

1 can of tuna
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
1 egg
10-15 crushed saltines (or ritz crackers)

Open Tuna and drain.  Dump into medium sized bowl.  Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat, crack egg into tuna.  Add in crushed saltines.  Stir until well mixed.  Form mixture into patty shapes and fry until brown on each side.  Serve with mac n cheese.

mac n cheese pizza bake

Pizza Mac and Cheese Bake

1 box Macaroni and cheese
1/2 lb. Ground beef
3/4 cup Onion - chopped
1 jar Pizza sauce
1 can Mushrooms - drained
2 oz. Pepperoni slices
1 1/2 cups Shreddedmozzarella cheese

Prepare macaroni according to directions on box.

Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, cook beef, drain fat, and sauté onions.  Add pizza sauce and mushrooms and heat through.

Pour macaroni and cheese into a greased two-quart casserole.  Top with beef mixture.  Arrange pepperoni on top and sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for ten minutes (until cheese is melted).

Rodney's favorite chili mac

1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 can of chili beans
1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
dash of chili powder


Brown ground beef. Sprinkle on chili powder while it is cooking .  Open cans of tomatoes and beans and dump into a pot.  Add browned ground beef and stir.  Simmer for 20 minutes or so.  While it is simmering, cook elbow macaroni until done, drain.  Add macaroni to chili mix. Stir until macaroni is covered with chili and serve. 

easy italian pasta salad

1/2 bag of tri-colored rotini
1 bottle italian dressing (I use reduced fat or fat free)
1 can black olives (whole or sliced)
small diced tomato
small diced green pepper
small diced onion

Cook pasta as directed on package.  Drain and run under cold water until cooled off.  Place in large bowl.  Add diced veggies (you can omit whatever you don't like or add different ones to suit your taste).  Mix and add 1/2 bottle of italian dressing.  Let chill in fridge for a couple hours or overnight.  Add more dressing if needed before serving.  I usually add more because we like the flavor.

camping eggs

We used to make this on the last morning of camping.  Mom would use 1 dozen eggs, shredded cheddar or mozzerella cheese, diced onion, diced green pepper, a can of mushrooms and whatever meat we had leftover from camping.  Basically she used up the food that we had left over.  I make a 5 egg meatless version, which is perfect for our family.  I serve it with some sausage or bacon and pancakes or waffles for a filling breakfast or breakfast for dinner.  You can add precooked meat to it and pretty much anything.  It is a very forgiving dish to make.

5 eggs
dash of milk
1/4 to 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (whatever type you prefer and however much you prefer)
1 diced green pepper
1 small diced onion
1 can of sliced mushrooms.

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray and warm in it up.  Crack eggs into a medium bowl, add milk.  Stir. Set aside.  Saute mushrooms, onions and green peppers until softened.  Add to egg and milk mixture.  Add in cheese.  Stir.  Pour into warmed frying pan and continually stir until eggs are cooked thoroughly.  Sprinkle on salt and pepper to taste.

cabbage rolls

This recipe definitely is not for everyone.  In fact I made it and couldn't handle the cabbage smell so I didn't even try them but my father in law had requested them and knows I like to cook so I made them for him.  He said they were excellent.

1 large head cabbage
3/4 lb. ground pork
3/4 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup finely chopped or ground onion
1 egg
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup rolled oats

1 can (2 1/2 cups) tomato juice
3 cups water

Core the cabbage and place head-down in enough boiling water to cover. Turn off heat. When cabbage has softened, remove from water and separate leaves, leaving them whole.

Trim heavy vein down to make it look flat. Combine meat, onion, egg, seasonings, and oatmeal. Mix well.
In the center of each cabbage leaf place 2 to 3 tablespoons of this filling mixture. Fold two sides down toward center and roll. Secure with toothpicks.
Place in large kettle or Crockpot; Add the tomato juice and water.
Bring to a boil on high heat; reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
Please cabbage rolls on a serving dish. Pour liquid over the cabbage rolls.

caramel corn

7 quarts plain popped popcorn (or a couple pages of puff corn from the grocery store in the chip aisle)
2 cups of brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1 cup margarine
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place popcorn in a large paper grocery bag.  Preheat oven to 250. Combine brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a large pot.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often.  Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes stiring constantly.

Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.  Mixture will bubble up and be light and foamy.  Immediately pour over popcorn in a bag.  Shake bag until corn is covered.  Dump covered corn into 2 baking dishes (I use cake pans).  Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  When done, dump corn on to waxed paper on the countertop.  Seperate the pieces and allow to cool.  Store in airtight container or resealable bags. 

Cornflake Candy bars

Ingredients

• 1/2 C. sugar
• 1/2 C. brown sugar
• 1 C. corn syrup
• 1 C. peanut butter
• 6 C. corn flakes
• 1-12 oz.pkg.chocolate chips

• In pan; mix sugar, brown sugar and syrup over low heat.
• Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute.
• Take off the heat and add peanut butter.
• Stir well.
• In a large bowl stir together the corn flakes and peanuts.
• Add the sugar mixture and mix.
• Press firmly into a 9" x 13" greased pan.
• Melt chips and pour over the pressed mixture.
• Put in refrigerator and cool for 1 hour.

simple beef stoganoff

1 (8 ounce) package egg noodles

1 pound ground beef

1 (10.75 ounce) can fat free condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 cup sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Prepare the egg noodles according to package directions and set aside.
2. In a separate large skillet over medium heat, saute the ground beef over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, or until browned. Drain the fat and add the soup and garlic powder. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat and combine the meat mixture with the egg noodles. Add the sour cream, stirring well, and season with salt and pepper to taste.