Oh So Simple Burgers

Do you have 1 pound of ground beef and an onion? Ok, you'll need burger buns and salt and pepper and trimmings too. This recipe makes two generous burgers or three more moderate ones.

1 pound ground beef (not too lean)
1/2 onion
salt and pepper

You're going to want a large baking pan with roasting racks for this one. (I'm not even sure I'm using the right words here, but heck, a rectangular cake pan with some wire racks is all you need)

Turn on the broiler in your oven, and place the rack so that your patties will be about 3-4 inches from the burner. You need to take into account the height of whatever you are using to broil them in. Then pan and racks I use are about 2 inches tall, so I set mine as close to 5 inches from the coil as I can.

Mince half an onion as fine as you can. Place your beef in a bowl and drop the onion on top of it. Sprinkle on a respectable amount of salt and pepper, according to your personal tastes. Gently mix everything together. Your goal here is not to make goo of the meat, just to get everything kind of introduced. If you have some onion left over, that's fine. Gently form the meat into patties and place them on the racks in your roasting pan. If you have left-over onion, simply sprinkle it on top of your patties.

Place the hamburger-cooking-apparatus in the oven and broil for about 4 minutes, then flip the burgers and cook for another 4 minutes. If you like your burgers slightly better done than pink-in-the-middle, cook for 5 minutes on each side.

If you're looking for a cheeseburger, I would add the cheese less than a minute from when you want to pull it out, since the broiler will melt it VERY fast.

I know this recipe seems extremely simple, but I promise that it is quite tasty, and it is a jumping-off point for more complex flavors, if you like, such as adding Ranch flavoring, or even something so simple as adding Worcestershire sauce to the mix.

Thanks, "How to Cook Everything!" (my go-to cookbook)

A Very Tasty Veggie Rice Dish

Remember that vinaigrette recipe I just posted? It works wonders on rice and veggies too.

1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups water

1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic (or one spoonful of the pre-minced stuff)

sliced mushrooms
sliced or diced onions

In one pot, place 1 cup uncooked rice and two cups water. Bring to a low boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes.

Wait a little while (you don't want to overcook your mushrooms and onions), then, in another pan, saute some sliced mushrooms and sliced or diced onions in butter.

Also, mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and garlic in a food processor or blender until there is a "creamy emulsion." Basically, until it's a bit frothy, but not TOO much.

Now mix everything together and lightly salt.

If you don't want a Veggie Rice dish, you can add chicken or Italian sausage -- both chicken and pork go well with this flavor.

Chicken So Yummy

This one is so incredibly easy. All you need is a couple of chicken breasts and a vinaigrette. I suppose any vinaigrette will do, but I'm about to give you one of the best I've found.

2 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar (roughly)
1 clove garlic (or 1 spoonful of the minced stuff you get at the store)

So, this may be the easiest thing I've posted so far! All you have to do is broil your chicken breasts for 3-4 minutes per side (cook on very high heat fairly close to the the top of the oven), until their juices run clear, they are not pink in the center when you cut into them, or they read 165 degrees on a meat thermometer.

While your meat is cooking, you can be making your vinaigrette. Just pour the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and garlic into the food processor and process until it's all happy-mixed-together...probably under 30 seconds.

Once your chicken is done, pull it out and place each breast on a plate and cover with the vinaigrette. It may not look all that pretty, but OH...it's tasty.

I REALLY recommend serving this chicken/vinaigrette dish with some steamed cauliflower, since the vinaigrette really seems to complement the cauliflower. Also, some Italian or French bread works well to pick up any of the 'grette you might have missed.

**the vinaigrette I detailed here (thanks, "How To Cook Everything) goes so well with the steamed cauliflower that I might mix it with some yogurt to make a raw vegetable dip.

Enchilada Casserole

I grew up in the Southwest, eating a lot of Mexican food. As a result, I'm very picky about my Mexican food. However, while I grew up eating a lot of enchiladas, I'm not very good at cooking them! They are time consuming and difficult to get right. This casserole gives you the enchilada-y goodness without the hassle. It's very simple and very tasty! Thanks to my mom for passing it along to me!

2 boneless chicken breasts
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can nacho cheese soup
1/2 onion, diced
1 can sliced olives
1/2 cup chicken bullion or chicken broth
corn tortillas

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cube and cook the chicken breasts on the stove top. In a bowl, mix the chicken, enchilada sauce, nacho cheese soup, onion, olives, and chicken broth.

Now you're going to layer your enchilada casserole like a lasagna. Pour 1/3 of your enchilada mixture into an 8x8 casserole dish, then top with corn tortillas that you've torn into bite-sized pieces. Cover that with cheese, then spread another 1/3 of your mixture on top of that. Add a layer of torn-up corn tortillas, the last of the enchi mixture, and lots of cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes. YUM. Enchilada-y goodness without the hassle!

TIPS:
When I'm doing a layered casserole like this, I often find it helpful to pour the liquidy portion of the dish into a large Pyrex measuring cup. That way, I know exactly how much I have, and how much I should use for each layer. I usually use less for the first layer, so I can use more for the last layer, since the liquid will seep down from the top to the bottom. You don't want to get to the top layer and realize you don't have enough liquidy stuff left, so err on the side of caution, and use a measuring cup. If you have 3 layers, and 3 cups of liquid, use slightly less than 1 cup for the first two layers, and the rest for the top layer.

Chicken Not-Quite-Caprese

So, the other night I was in a bit of an embarrassing spot. I had proudly announced I was going to make Chicken Caprese (Caprese Salad needs grape tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil), and when I went to prepare it, my mozzarella was moldy. What was I going to do? Well, I had everything else I needed, and some shredded cheese...

2 boneless chicken breasts
olive oil
flour
bread crumbs plus salt and pepper
1 egg
shredded cheese

grape tomatoes
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
basil

I like to prepare the Caprese salad early, so that the tomatoes (and usually mozzarella) have a chance to soak up the flavors. Cut up your tomatoes, put them in a Ziploc bag, and toss with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil. Place in the fridge until you need them. I did mine about an hour before I was ready to cook dinner.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Coat the chicken breasts in flour, then dredge in egg and coat with the seasoned bread crumbs, pressing them into the bread crumbs to thoroughly coat. Place into the heated oil and cook on medium heat about 7 minutes, then flip them. Cook for about 3 minutes, then sprinkle shredded cheese on them, cover and cook for another 3 minutes or so. Either use a meat thermometer (temperature should read 170 degrees), or cut into the thickest part of the breast to make sure they're done.

Once the breasts are done, place them on their plates and spoon the Caprese salad (in this case, just marinaded tomatoes) over the chicken.

It really is quite tasty, even if it's Not-Quite-Caprese. :) My husband wants it again, anyway.

Beef Stroganoff

So this is another favorite at our house. I know it's not the *prettiest* of dishes, but it is so so tasty!








1 pound stew meat (or other cheap meat cut into small chunks -- you can buy the cheapest meat you can find and cut it yourself to save money)
olive oil
flour
salt and pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 packet onion soup mix
water
cooking sherry
sour cream
egg noodles

Heat some olive oil (just enough to coat bottom of pan) over medium heat. Mix flour, salt and pepper in a quart Ziploc, then add meat, seal and shake. When meat is well coated, brown it in the oil.

Add the can of soup, the onion soup mix, and enough water and cooking sherry to thin it out. Probably 1 cup water, and about half that in cooking sherry, but everyone likes it a different consistency, so just add and stir, add and stir. ;)

Cover and simmer. Go take a nap. The longer you simmer, the more tender the meat, so if you're using a cheap meat, you're going to want to simmer for a long time. But 30 minutes is ok too, if you're in a hurry or have a more tender cut of meat.

Start your egg noodles. Uncover your meat and stir in about 3/4 cup or 1 cup sour cream. Drain noodles. Cover noodles with stroganoff on your plate. Enjoy!

Oh, for the picture I sprinkled parsley and a little paprika on top, just to make it a little prettier. My husband said it was tasty that way.

Thanks, Mom, for this recipe!

Modifications:
You don't have to use the sherry, but it's not quite as good without it. If you don't like noodles, you can serve this over rice, but it's better on noodles.

Flatiron Steak with Potatoes

So this is a pretty easy, affordable steak dish, with spinach cream sauce and accompanied by butter-fried red potatoes. Yum!










1 pound flatiron steak (if your shopping choices are Kroger or Walmart, in this case I would go with Kroger -- their flatirons are much better quality, with less gristle and fat)
Worcestershire sauce
Cumin
Cilantro
Garlic salt

3 Tbsp butter
7 or 8 red potatoes
Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb seasoning

2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour (I use whole wheat, but you can use white if you prefer)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 handful chopped fresh chopped spinach

Marinate your steak in the Worcestershire, cumin, cilantro, and garlic salt. Go easy on the cumin and cilantro -- it doesn't take much to get the point across. As always, the longer you can marinate, the better, but even a half hour will be fine.

Wash and quarter your red potatoes, then halve the quarters. Melt the 3 Tbsp butter over medium heat, then add the potatoes and mix them well in the butter. Sprinkle on the Mrs. Dash and stir again really well, then turn down to just below medium heat, cover, and cook for around 20-25 minutes.

This gives you plenty of time to do everything else you need to do! Chop your spinach, measure out your milk and cream (I just measured them into the same Pyrex measuring cup for ease), and set up your frying pan and sauce pan.

Your steak and sauce will take less than 10 minutes. I start them at the same time.

Place steak in pan and turn it on to just above medium heat.

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in sauce pan. Add 2 Tbsp flour and whisk until it's smooth and bubbly. Pour in the milk and cream, and as you're whisking that into the flour/butter mixture, sprinkle in the chopped spinach. Whisk until everything is good and mixed.

Flip your steaks.

Bring your sauce to a boil for about 1 minute, whisking constantly, then simmer and whisk until your steaks are done. I like mine rare or medium rare, so it doesn't usually take long.

Now, if you bought your steak at Kroger, you likely just cooked ONE piece of meat that will feed both of you. What I usually do when I have a Kroger steak is cut it into thin strips after I've cooked it, and then cover them with the sauce.

However, if you bought the steak at Walmart, it's probably 4 smaller pieces. Just arrange them on your plate and cover with cream sauce.

I found that the potatoes and the sauce went well together -- the potatoes made a good "mopping up" food, since I didn't serve any bread with this. I figured that the potatoes were enough starch.

Economics and substitutions:

You can usually get enough flatiron steak to feed two people for $5 or under -- I got mine for tonight on manager's special and it was less than $4. If you don't feel like spending extra money on the cream for the sauce, then use 1 cup milk instead of half milk and half cream, and simmer a little longer. If you don't have cumin and cilantro for the marinade, then just use Worcestershire and salt, or, if you don't have Worcestershire either, just salt. I've done it all 3 ways, and they're all good.

Sour Cream and Mustard Chicken

Soooooo easy.

I used drumsticks tonight, but you could do this with breasts or thighs or even whole cut up chicken. Cook time will vary between bone-in and boneless pieces, so keep that in mind.

Chicken pieces
Sour Cream
Mustard (I used stone-ground spicy brown mustard, but any kind will work -- yellow, spicy, horseradish mustard -- your pick!)

Heat oven to 350.

Mix sour cream and mustard (you decide how much of each depending on how much you like each flavor). Coat chicken. Bake. If you are using bone-in pieces such as drumsticks, bake for about 45 minutes. If you are using boneless pieces like boneless breasts or thighs, scale it back to about 30 minutes.

Serve with previously mentioned garlic bread and a veggie.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of this one, cause it was kind of pretty. :)

4 stars

Home-made Crock-Pot Spaghetti Sauce

Ok, I know you can just buy a jar of spaghetti sauce, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's what I grew up with, and I loved it. But honestly, I think this is better, and probably better for you, and it's not hard. It hardly takes any time at all in prep-time, but try to start it a couple hours before you want to eat, because the longer it has to cook, the better it will be.

1 pound ground beef
1 16 oz can of tomato sauce
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 10-16 oz can of diced tomatoes (my regular tomatoes come in 16 oz cans, but the Rotel tomatoes I used tonight are 10 oz)
1 2 oz can of sliced olives (this is how much I love you people -- I had used my last can of olives, so I wasn't sure what size can it was...so I dug through the trash to find it for you. Then I washed my hands.)
1 handful chopped or sliced mushrooms
1/2 onion, diced
garlic powder
onion powder
Nature's Seasons
pasta

Brown ground beef. While it's browning, chop your onions and mushrooms. Pour the tomato sauce, paste, olives and diced tomatoes into the crock pot and add your veggies. Add liberal amounts of garlic powder, onion powder, and Nature's Seasons. Stir.

When your meat is browned, mix it into the tomato mixture in the crock pot. You can drain the meat if you like, but personally, I think the little bit of grease (especially if you use lean ground beef) adds flavor. Cover and cook on low for however long you like. By now, you know what I did while it was cooking -- went and took a nap with the baby. :) I think our sauce simmered for about 4 hours altogether.

(Side note -- I promised "healthy" recipes. I hope you don't disagree with me when I say that I would rather have some grease in my food than eat food with unpronounceable ingredients. So...it follows that if I'm making my food mostly from scratch, I can have a little grease for flavor...which, let's face it, is tasty. And the sauce doesn't turn out greasy feeling if you cook it long enough. BUT if you don't like grease, then by all means, drain the meat. The sauce will still be tasty -- I've done it that way too, and it was still very good!)

When you're ready, boil and drain your pasta, then just toss it in the crock pot and stir it in. Then I leave the crock pot on "warm" so that if anyone wants seconds, it isn't cold.

My husband has always loved my homemade spaghetti sauce -- tonight was the first time I tried it in the crock pot. He says it's better than ever.

4.5 stars

Mmmm Zucchini!

When I posted the chicken dinner with asparagus and garlic bread, some told me that they didn't do asparagus. I can understand that, so here is an alternative veggie for that dinner.

2 zucchini
2 Tbsp butter
garlic powder
bread crumbs

Heat oven to 350 and spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.

Place 2 Tbsp butter in a little bowl and sprinkle garlic powder on it. Melt in the microwave, a little at a time, swishing to make sure the garlic is well mixed in. In between swishings, slice zucchini into wedges. You should end up with 8 approximately 2-inch wedges per zucchini. Once the butter is well melted, pour it into a Ziploc baggie and add the zucchini wedges. Shake well.

Using a fork or tongs, move the zucchini from the bag to the dish. Sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how well done you like your 'zukes.' These have a nice buttery flavor that my toddler quite enjoyed. :)

Thanks, Mom, for helping remember how to do this. :)

4 stars

Excellent Applesauce

Lest you all think I am a rice-freak, I decided to post something a little different. This is actually something I don't eat much myself, but my son loves it, and my husband and my mom both agree that it is much better than what you can buy at the store.

I try not to be a fanatic about anything, but I am pretty concerned with what my son eats, and I try to make sure that I *know* what is going into his little tummy. I don't like buying a lot of processed foods, or things with too many unpronounceable items in the ingredients list, so I've made most of his baby food myself. It's really pretty easy, and this is something that babies and adults both love.

apparently 5 stars!

8 medium Granny Smith apples
1 cup water
cinnamon
brown sugar to taste

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Peel your apples. This is the most time consuming part of the whole process (in terms of time you have to actually spend working on the dish), especially because with Granny Smiths, you're going to want to make sure that you have gotten ALL the peel off your apples. Peel left on will ruin your sauce. Once they're peeled, chop them up, throwing away the cores and seeds and so forth, of course.

Drop all your apples into a casserole dish and add the cup of water. Sprinkle cinnamon very liberally over your apples. Then stir everything up so that the cinnamon gets in the water as well.

Cover and bake. I put this in the oven, and then my son and I went and took a nap, so it was baking for just under two hours. When you remove it from the oven, it's going to look like a mess. Just stir it up really well, and then add brown sugar until it's sweet enough for you. We don't really eat a lot of sweets, so around 1/8 cup was enough for us.

I suppose that if you like your applesauce chunky, rather than smooth, you could just not bake it as long, but my husband likes his smooth, so this works for us. I get to put it in before a nap, and he gets smooth applesauce.

Now, like I said, I don't eat applesauce. I don't know if I'd ever had it before I made this, but I had to taste it in order to make sure it wasn't too tart for the one-year-old, and it was pretty good. My husband and mother, who both like applesauce, both declared it excellent, and MUCH better than commercial applesauce. And it has the added bonus that you know exactly what is in it. Not to mention being almost ridiculously easy to make.

Yummy Ham Casserole

Ok, this one is kind of fantastic, and a bit decadent, in terms of calories, but trust me, it's worth it! And hey, we're using turkey ham instead of pork, so that helps, right?

5 stars

3 1/4 inch slices turkey ham
2 stalks celery (or 1 stalk broccoli)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of mayo
1/4 can of sour cream
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups water
Dill
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I recommend a white cheese)

Cook your rice according to package directions. With typical white rice, it's 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, cook 20-25 minutes. But check your package, because instructions vary for long-grain, short-grain, brown, white, basmati, etc.

Heat oven to 350. Spray an oven-safe casserole dish with cooking spray.

While the rice is cooking, slice 3 slices off your ham, 1/4 inch each, and cube those slices. Then take your stalks of celery and slice them down the middle and chop them. If you choose to use broccoli instead, chop the florets into little bits.

When the rice is done, pour it into the aforementioned oven-safe casserole dish and add the ham and celery (or broccoli). Add one can cream of mushroom soup, and then fill the can with mayo and add that. Fill the can to about 1/4 with sour cream and add that.

Add dill -- I use a lot, but I love dill. This recipe is good without it, but for me, the dill gives it the extra ZING it needs.

Mix everything together. Pour in cheese and stir again.

Mix and smooth top of casserole. You can sprinkle with breadcrumbs if you like.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

Thanks, Mom, for the basis of this recipe!

Veggie Rice

A couple nights ago I had a problem. I had forgotten to take any meat out of the freezer for dinner, and my son and I got up from our nap only thirty minutes before my husband got home from work! Not that my husband is the "You'd better have dinner on the table when I get home" type, but I knew he'd be hungry. What to do....

Fortunately, my friend had just given me some produce from her garden a few days before. Ok, improvise! Meatless Monday!

3 stars

1 cup uncooked rice
1.5 cups water
.5 cup chicken broth (from a can, or powder, or you can just use 2 cups water if you don't have any chicken broth or stock)
2 Roma tomatoes
1 jalapeno
1 cup mushrooms
1 diced onion
salt and pepper
butter

I do this like the dirty rice recipe I posted before, so that it's a one-dish recipe. Melt some butter in a pot, and toss in your veggies, all chopped up, and saute for just a couple minutes. Don't cook them too long, cause they will break down in the cooking process anyway.

Pour in your liquids -- the water and broth. Add salt and pepper. Then add your cup of uncooked rice. Bring to a lively simmer/slight boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes.

Once it's done, I drop a couple dabs of butter on it and put the lid back on for a minute to let it melt, and then stir. I would add a little Nature's Seasonings or more salt and pepper. Husband added hot sauce, but it was hot enough from the jalapeno for me and our 1-year-old. And yes, the 1-year-old loved this, especially the mushrooms!

Thanks to Jen for the tomatoes and jalapenos! Can't wait to stir fry with those squash!

Chicken, Asparagus, and Garlic Bread

This one is pretty easy and quick.

4 stars

Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Lemon juice
Seasonings
Butter
Cheese (preferably something like Monterrey Jack)




Asparagus
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Cheese (preferably something like grated Parmesan or finely grated Italian cheese)

Italian Bread
Garlic spread

Marinate your chicken breasts in lemon juice and seasonings -- I used garlic and herb seasonings -- Mrs. Dash -- for however long you want. I think I let mine marinate for about 2 hours, but I had to go take a nap with Elliott. ;)

Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a pan (hey, it's better for you than margarine!) and brown your chicken breasts at high heat for just a couple minutes. Then turn the heat way down and cover them and let them steam/simmer while you do everything else. All told, they should probably cook for at least 15-20 minutes this way, but cut into the thickest part of one of them to make sure it's not still pink before you serve.

Heat the oven to Broil.

While your chicken breasts are steam/simmering, get out your asparagus. This is really easy. Simply snap the asparagus where it wants to snap, and you won't end up with those tough stringy ends. Then put all your asparagus in a Ziploc bag and put in some olive oil. Shake to coat all the stalks with oil. Then I arrange them on a rack on top of a roasting pan.

Before cooking the asparagus, I prepare my bread. Just slice off the amount of bread you want, and then cut it lengthwise. Spread your butter/garlic spread on it (I cheat and buy the one from Wal-mart or Kroger). Because I only have one set of racks, and I'm using those for the asparagus, I just put the bread on a sheet of aluminum foil.

Put the asparagus and the bread under the broiler for just a couple minutes -- it really does not take long, and you don't want to overdo it, because overdone asparagus is a bit gross, and you don't want charcoal bread. For me, tonight, I checked the bread after 4 minutes or so, and it was perfect, so I pulled it out and then checked the asparagus. It was done too.

When you put the asparagus and bread in, cover the chicken breasts with their cheese and put the lid back on.

When you pull the asparagus out, spray it with lemon juice and sprinkle it with cheese while it's still warm. Serve right away, because cold asparagus just isn't as good.

Easy easy dinner, and very tasty. Even Elliott, the one year old, loved the asparagus!

Thanks go to my mom for the asparagus recipe, and for teaching me that garlic bread does not live in the freezer!

Intro

So I’ve decided to start a blog. My husband and I, both good to excellent cooks, are so irritated about people constantly saying that they don’t cook because

1) It takes so much time,

2) It is difficult, and

3) This one blows my mind – it’s expensive!

Cooking doesn’t have to take forever, and my favorite recipes are the easy ones. And if you shop smart, it is SO much cheaper than buying pre-packaged meals or eating out, and SOOO much healthier!

In the future, I will post what we had for dinner that night or the night before, and maybe a picture. Below are just a couple of recipes to get you started.

I will rate these recipes by stars. I was going to do a 5 star system, but I realized I didn’t want to post anything below a 3, so I’m gonna do a 3 star system. 3 is good. 4 is great. 5 is amazing.

Now, I know that many people have something against red meat. Personally, my only problem with cows is that they are bad for the environment in the numbers that we keep them. But once or twice a week, we eat beef in our house. Here is a good beef recipe that takes hardly any time at all.

Dirty Rice – 3 stars (thanks, me liking Zatarains and trying to figure it out for myself!)

One pound ground beef

1 cup uncooked rice and two cups water

1 packet Onion Soup Mix

Brown ground beef. To make this a one-dish recipe, I brown the meat in the pot that I will be making the rice in. Drain meat. Return meat to pot.

Add 1 cup white rice and two cups water. Stir in Onion Soup Mix. Bring to a boil.

Cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook 20-23 minutes (stoves vary).

This will feed 2-3 hungry people. If you have more, increase proportionally. I would always follow the directions on your bag of rice. So, if you have to use 2 pounds of beef and 2 cups of rice, follow the directions on YOUR bag of rice for how long to cook. If you have to double, you might have to use two packets of soup mix.

Here’s another good one, if you like pork chops.

Pork chops – 5 stars (thanks, Allrecipes.com)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

½ cup milk

Lemon pepper seasoning

Dijon mustard (or horseradish mustard)

Butter

Season pork chops with lemon pepper seasoning. Melt butter in pan. Brown pork chops on both sides (about 10 minutes). Add soup, milk, and mustard. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes, until chops are done. Serve over noodles (we like egg noodles, which are cheap and quick) or rice.