Stuffed French Bread Cheeseburger

Merry Christmas to all!
No matter what holiday you celebrate, I hope it is spent with friends and family.


This is my first year with the girl child as "Santa's Helper".
Her and hubby sort of ganged up on me and used the whole "she's, um, an adult" reasoning. Any mama will tell you, it's a sad (yet happy) moment. I have to relinquish that part of her kid-ness and allow her to be part of the adult-ness of it all.
Oh how bittersweet.
Ingredients:

1 Lb Ground beef

¼ Cup Onion (chopped)

1 Can (10 ¾ oz) Tomato soup

½ Tsp Garlic salt

¼ Tsp Salt

¼ Tsp Pepper

1 Lb French Bread (whole)

1 Tbsp Butter (softened)

8 oz Velveeta (sliced)

Directions:

1. In large saucepan, cook beef and onions

2. Add tomato soup, garlic salt, salt and pepper

3. Simmer for 5-10 minutes

4. Slice the top third off the bread, scoop out middle

5. Spread butter on removed top

6. Spoon beef mixture into bread shell

7. Arrange cheese slices on top

8. Broil 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted

9. Replace bread on top

Print

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Adapted from: Moms who Think

Korean Tacos with Asian Slaw

Oh the simplicity!

I love me some super fast weeknight dinners, and this totally fits that bill.

My magazine swapping friend handed me an issue of Woman's Day and this was inside. (it's like a gift within a gift!)

I whipped these up one night for dinner. Hubby and the girl both ate 2 each! One satisfied me...and it left enough for lunch the next day.
(Ours didn't make 8, it made 6 because I couldn't find the small tortillas that day, we used medium)

So, I bring this into work the next day and everyone in the breakroom started going nuts! "What smells so good" "what is that" "how do you make it".

I have the feeling this will be on everyone's tables soon...I know it will be on ours again really soon!

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

½ Tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tsp soy sauce

1 Bag cole slaw mix

2 Tbsp light brown sugar

2 Cloves minced garlic

1 Tbsp grated ginger

1 Lb ground beef

1 Tbsp canola oil

8 Small flour tortillas (warmed)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, red pepper, and 2 tsp soy sauce

2. Add cole slaw mix and toss to combine. Let sit, tossing occasionally.

3. In second bowl, combine sugar, garlic, ginger and 2 Tbsp soy sauce. Add beef mixture and combine.

4. Heat oil in large skillet.

5. Add onion and cook until tender

6. Add beef mixture and cook, breaking it up with a spoon

7. Fill tortillas with beef and top with the slaw

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Sloppy Joes

My hubby is a Manwich junkie.

I won't make you relive my silly story about it, if you are interested, you can click on the link.

It was a hard sell to get him to eat another sloppy joe. He is one of those "if it's not broke, don't fix it" sort of folks.

Not only did he have the biggest plate, but he went back for seconds AND ate it for lunch the following day.
That is some serious compliment.

Thanks to Tasty Kitchen for having this recipe, which made hubby open his eyes...and mouth...and stomach....

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp Butter

2 ½ Lbs Ground beef

½ Large Onion (diced)

1 Large Green pepper (diced)

5 Cloves Garlic (minced)

1 ½ Cup Ketchup

1 Cup Water

2 Tbsp Brown sugar

2 Tsp Chili powder

1 Tsp Dry mustard

½ Tsp Red pepper flakes

Worcestershire Sauce (to taste)

2 Tbsp Tomato paste

Directions:

1. Add butter to a large skillet

2. Add ground beef and cook until brown

3. Drain fat from meat

4. Add onions, green pepper, and garlic. Cook until vegetables begin to get soft.

5. Add ketchup, brown sugar, chili pepper, dry mustard and water

6. Simmer for 15 minutes, adding Worcestershire to taste.

Print

Yup forgot something...not just one thing though...

Nope, I am so awesome, I forgot 2 things. Go me!

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Sour Cream Noodle Bake

Hubby and I ran to Target yesterday to pick up some necessities...and all those random items that somehow make their way into the cart.

We were walking down the main aisle at the back of the store and I saw two kids, a girl and boy. Both young, he might have been 5-ish and she maybe 7.
She was standing on the bar at the base of the cart, leaning over the handlebar and he was pushing. He was too short to see over the handle, so she was directing "straight" " a little left" etc.

Passed them and kept on going.
Next thing I hear is a crash and hubby sort of yelling out "Ow! you didn't have to do that!"
I turned around and he was bent over, grabbing his ankle.
The kids had rammed him with the cart. Whoops.

Dad was headed our way.

Here's the part that gets me.
Sadly, in this day and age, my first thought was "oh man, this guy is going to come have a fit that hubby said anything to his precious babies".
So many times now, it's never the kid's fault, and heaven forbid the parent take blame for not watching them.
Then my second thought (as the poor dad was watching gimpy husband and looking at me with wide eyes) was....holy schnikes, he's afraid we are going to sue. (once again, it's the effect of this day and age)
All these thoughts took less than 10 seconds.

Then, I felt totally guilty for all my thoughts because all Dad was concerned about was if hubby was OK, explaining to his kids why this was wrong, and trying to get the little one to apologize.

Hubby has a very deep voice, and when it (rarely) gets raised, it's a scary sound. The little boy was so shy and nervous that he refused to apologize. Understand. Loud voices are super scary to little people.
Hubby looked at the kids and said "it's OK. I got hurt, but it will go away", which I think relaxed the little girl a bit.
Then he joked around with the dad a second about rubbing mud into it and walking it off.

I was proud of the other dad for making his kids aware they did wrong.
I was proud of hubby for biting his lip and joking with the family.
I was proud of everyone for just realizing that kids will do silly things, they certainly didn't mean to hurt anyone. 
More than anything, my faith has been a slight bit restored. Not everyone is "my kids do no wrong" ridiculous.
Hubby has an ugly bruise, but that will go away, everyone involved will remember this little moment that we all feared would be so much worse, worked out just fine.

'Tis the season...remember that in everything you experience.



Ingredients:

1 ¼ Lb Ground beef

15 oz Tomato sauce

½ Tsp Salt

Ground black pepper

8 oz Egg noodles

½ Cup Sour Cream

1 ¼ Cup Small curd cottage cheese

½ Cup sliced green onion

1 Cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Brown meat in a large skillet, drain fat

3. Add tomato sauce, ½ Tsp salt and pepper to taste

4. Cook egg noodles until al dente, drain and set aside

5. In medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese

6. Add plenty of pepper

7. Add noodles to sour cream mixture, add green onions

8. Add half of noodles to a 9x13 baking dish

9. Top with half of the meat mixture

10. Sprinkle on half of the grated cheese

11. Repeat

12. Bake 20 minutes

Print

Adapted from: Tasty Kitchen

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Cheeseburger Quesadillas

It is that wicked crazy time of year!
I feel like we are running around at 90 mph with no brakes.

Memorial Day is the unofficial start to summer. We spent time with family at the coast and it was really relaxing. I did make a big batch of my chili for them and froze half so they could have it at a later date.

Short weeks at work are crazy weeks! We were straight out, and even our clients seemed a little more hectic than normal.

This weekend, my "little" cousin graduates. My use of quotes revolves around the fact that he is 6'4". Seriously. As short vertically challenged as I am, it's always awkward when we stand together and I look like the child and him the adult!

Next weekend is the graduation party for him as well as plenty of other social functions. For a homebody such as myself, this is craziness!

Ingredients:

1 Lb Ground beef

Salt and Pepper

¼ Cup Ketchup

⅛ Cup Mustard

2 Tsp Worcestershire sauce

4 Large flour tortillas

Optional Toppings: Relish, Cheese, Tomato, Onion, Pickles etc

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef, lightly season with salt and pepper. Drain.

2. Stir in ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire

3. Lay tortillas out and spread ¼ of the ground beef mix on half of each tortilla. Fold closed.

4. Cook in a large skillet until browned, flip and repeat

5. Add any toppings

6. Cut and serve

Print

Our particular additional toppings

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

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Poppin Fresh Barbecups

Hi ho hi ho, it's off to the mall I go!

It's my yearly in-between birthdays mall trip with my friend and her daughter! Our lives are so crazy busy, we set a realistic goal of getting together 2 times a year. Any more is awesome, but 2 is obtainable.
Our birthdays are just a couple of months apart, so we pick a date just in between and meet for lunch and a mall crawl.

It's so much fun just wandering around and getting caught up.

Her daughter has been joining us since she was born...my girl, well, this is the first year she has bagged out on me.
A better offer came along.
She's a teen, I get it.
Seriously, very OK with it...like this OK

Just kidding. I really am all about her spreading her wings and being who she really is
(did I convince anyone?)

:::sigh:::

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef

½ Cup barbeque sauce

¼ Cup chopped onion

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Can junior flaky layered biscuits

½ Cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400

2. Spray 10 regular sized muffin cups with cooking spray

3. Cook beef and onions in skillet over medium heat, breaking up, until cooked through

4. Drain meat/onion mixture, return to pan

5. Add barbeque sauce and brown sugar.

6. Cook to blend flavors, stirring well

7. Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Place 1 biscuit in each muffin cup.

8. Firmly press into bottom and up sides

9. Spoon about ¼ cup beef mixture into each cup

10. Sprinkle with cheese

11. Bake 10-12 minutes or until biscuit edges are golden brown

Print

Recipe adapted from Pillsbury

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Meatball Stew

We were heading to a family party one afternoon, and I threw this together in the crock pot for when we got home.
Well, the best laid plans...you know.

We ended up staying much later than expected, and eating way more than expected. Nobody wanted to eat when we got home.
In the fridge this went for another time.

My mother in law was coming over the next day to do some shopping. I threw this back in the crock pot thinking it would make for a super easy lunch.

What I wasn't thinking about was her major sodium issues. If she has just a smidge too much salt, she blows up like a puffer fish. It's not pretty.
When I know she is coming over, I plan accordingly.
Well, this was a last minute thing.

I am pleased to announce that since this soup calls for water and no broth, she was fine!
The rest of us sprinkled a bit of parmesan because we felt it needed some extra saltiness, but that's all good.

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

2 Lb ground beef

1 Envelope onion soup mix

1 Cup Italian bread crumbs

2 Eggs

Stew:

Browned meatballs

10 Cups water

1 Can tomato soup

4 Carrots (chopped)

3 Potatoes (chopped)

2-3 Handfuls of fresh green beans (chopped)

1 Large onion (chopped)

1-2 Tsp pepper

1-2 Tsp salt

2 Tsp onion powder

2 Tsp Garlic powder

Directions:

1. Mix all meatball ingredients.

2. Roll into “golf ball” sized balls and fry in a skillet until cooked

3. Mix all ingredients in a crock pot

4. Cook on low for 7-9 hours

Print

Adapted from: Slow Cooker  Adventures

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http://celebrateanddecorate.com/

16 Minute Beef and Bean Burritos

The girl who sat next to me at work has moved on to a different job, in a totally different field. I wish her well!!
I had a new (temporary, while they played musical desks) neighbor, she happened to say something and my response was "oh, that happened when we had our flood".

She looked at me like I had 10 heads (one would think I would be used to such a thing by now).

So the story goes...
I sit in the middle right cube in a section of 6.
We had contractors everywhere building a new section of our office.
My neighbor to my right yelled over one day and said "do you hear dripping?"
Next thing we knew it was Niagra Falls

Gah!

A pipe burst over our heads! 

People came running like ants...it was chaos! We were trying to get all of our computers unplugged and out of the line of fire. Then someone remembered the printers. It was madness I tell you!

My neighbor got the worst of it. My desk got some, but the majority landed in a small lake under my desk.

Oh it was something to behold.

We then became other people's temporary neighbors while our desks and ceilings were repaired.

Nights like that, I am more than happy to make a quick, easy meal. 

Running around trying not to get shocked by office equipment is hard work!

Ingredients:

2 Lbs ground beef

½ Medium onion

1 (7 oz) can Mexican tomato sauce or Enchilada sauce

Salt and Pepper

Cumin, Oregano, Chili Powder

1 (28 oz) can refried beans

¾ Cups grated cheddar cheese

Sour Cream and Salsa to top

12 Burrito sized flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef with onion and season to taste

2. Pour in sauce and simmer (reserve a little sauce to top the burritos)

3. Heat refried beans in a sauce pan

4. Heat tortillas in the microwave for one minute

5. Spread small amount of beans on each tortilla

6. Add seasoned meat

7. Fold over ends and then roll up

8. Place two burritos on microwave safe plate

9. Drizzle read sauce over burritos and sprinkle with grated cheddar

10. Microwave for one minute until cheese is melted

Print

Adapted from here

This recipe was shared with:
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Thursday: Miz Helen's Country Cottage, Lambert's Lately, Sweet Haute, Katherine's Corner, A Delightsome Life, Sweet Bella Roos, What's Cooking Love, Saving 4 Six, Stacey Embracing Change, The Nourishing Gourmet
Friday: The Grits Blog, O Taste and See, Play Party Pin, Lady Behind the Curtain, Daily Dish, The New Mrs Adventures, The Better Baker, Endlessly Inspired, Coffee with us 3, Love Bakes Good Cakes\, Craft Dictator, Thirty Handmade Days, City of Creative Dreams, Diary of a Real Housewife, Craft O Maniac, The Pin Junkie, The Girl Creative, Morsels of Life, Pure Grace Farms, Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom
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