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ground beef

Skillet Shepherd’s Pie

Mar 25th, 2013
by ben.
2 comments

Shephard's Pie

Untitled

Date: March 18th, 2013

Recipe: http://ellysaysopa.com/2013/02/01/skillet-shepherds-pie/

Modifications: I used a couple more carrots and celery stalks than it called for because we had extra. I also cooked the ground beef separately because I wanted to drain the fat.

Time to table: 50 minutes

Servings: Four adults, two toddlers, and two more lunches

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie & Luke: Like

Notes: This was a great cold weather meal that we’ll have to add to our repertoire for next winter, and it’s also versatile. I think I would mix in some sausage next time too. With all the vegetables it ends up being decently healthy I think, too.

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Spaghetti Pie

Feb 6th, 2012
by erin.
No comments yet

Spaghetti Pie

Date: 1/26/2012

Recipe: http://weelicious.com/2010/08/31/spaghetti-pie/

Modifications: We used ground beef, and added chopped spinach to the sauce mixture. I also baked this in a cake pan instead of a pie pan and it was FULL.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 30 minutes bake time

Servings: 6 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: Our neighbors are big fans of this meal so I’ve wanted to try it out – I think it could have just used more sauce because the noodles got a bit dry. We made quite a big batch of the tomato sauce recipe linked in the post, so we had extra.

Spaghetti Pie

Annie eating spaghetti pie
Examining the mess on her hands

Sloppy Joes

Jan 6th, 2012
by ben.
1 comment

Sloppy Joes

Date: 12/19/2011

Recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sloppy_joes/

Modifications: Much to Erin’s chagrin I used half ground beef and half ground pork, because I like pork. She was not a fan of this mod.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: 4 adults

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: A bit of a delay on this post, so I don’t really have much to say about it. I liked this and would make it again in favor of the “not so sloppy joe” mix that Erin likes. I liked that this had some vegetables in it.

Annie eating sloppy joes

Sloppy Joes

Garlic burger

Jul 18th, 2011
by ben.
1 comment

Garlic burger

Date: July 15th, 2011

Recipe:

  • 0.5 lb ground beef
  • 1 clove garlic, diced
  • seasoned salt
  • crushed red pepper
  • dry cheddar cheese

Fire up your grill, while grill is heating work some seasoned salt and the garlic into the ground beef and form a patty. Top with a dusting of red pepper. Cook burger to your liking (I do around 4 minutes per side at high heat) putting the cheese on at the end to let it melt a bit.

With garlic in the middle of the burger you run the risk of some not-fully-cooked garlic, which will be strong tasting. Just sayin’

Time to table: 10 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking time

Servings:1 adult

Ben: Love

Notes: I made this for lunch today while it was pouring rain, so I had to don my ski jacket to keep from getting soaked. The photos don’t capture how awesome this burger smelled, and it tasted just as awesome. This meal also serves as a good use case for having a charcoal grill AND a gas grill. If I didn’t have the gas grill, I would have broiled the burger, no time for charcoal on a workday.

Garlic burger

Pasta bolognese

Jul 17th, 2011
by ben.
No comments yet

Pasta bolognese

Date: July 14th, 2011

Recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/spaghetti-bolognese-recipe/index.html

Modifications: I reversed the amounts of meat: 1 lb ground pork and 0.5 lb ground beef, just cause I like pork better. I also threw in some basil that we had and needed to use up. The directions say to simmer for 1.5 hours, but I liked the consistency after 45-50 minutes, so we went with that.

Time to table: 2 hours, over half the time is just simmering.

Servings: Probably had enough for 6 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: This sauce was absolutely delicious. The butter and cream at the end just make it that much richer. At no point in the directions does it say to drain the fat from the bacon, beef, or pork, so this is an extremely savory dish. Annie seemed to like the food very much, but also seemed interested in playing so she didn’t take it down like other dishes she loves. We froze the leftovers because we already have plenty of other leftovers that need to get eaten and I didn’t want this to be wasted.

Pasta bolognese

Annie digging in

Pasta bolognese

Early stages with the bacon (and bacon grease!) and veggies for our base

Pasta bolognese

Finished sauce

Meaty Lasagna

Jun 4th, 2011
by ben.
No comments yet

Lasagna

Date: May 29, 2011

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_lasagn/

Modifications:  We cut the beef down to 1 pound, still made plenty. I think this actually worked out well because this recipe is a tight fit in a 13×9 pan to begin with, so removing 0.5 pounds of meat made it fit a little better.

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, 30 minutes bake

Servings: 6 adults, 1 toddler. 2 adult meals leftover.

Ben: Love

Erin: Like

Annie: Love

Notes: This recipe is seriously so good and makes so many portions, it would be a great freezer meal.
Annie eating lasagna

Spaghetti

May 24th, 2011
by ben.
No comments yet

Spaghetti Sauce

Date: May 23, 2011

Recipe: Modified from http://www.momsbudget.com/freezerrecipes/spaghettisauce.html

Modifications: I used 1.5 pounds of sausage and 0.5 pounds of ground beef because I like sausage better. We added chopped spinach to the portion we ate tonight. I added a few more cloves of garlic.

Time to table: 30 minutes prep, 2 hours to simmer

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler, plus 4 extra meals in freezer bags

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love

Notes: Someday I will make this with around thirty cloves of garlic and revel in the best spaghetti sauce in the world. I also want to try making it with red wine in place of the water. We had this with whole wheat pasta twists tonight, with copious amounts of Parmesan cheese. We love this sauce around here.
Pasta with tomato spinach sauce
Annie's spaghetti sauce with spinach
Annie eating her spaghetti

Softshell tacos

May 5th, 2011
by ben.
No comments yet

Taco

Date: 5/5/2011

Recipe:

  • 1.5 lbs of ground beef
  • 1/2 tomato, diced
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1 cup chopped lettuce
  • 2 cups shredded cheese
  • Sour cream
  • 6-8 tortillas

Brown the ground beef and drain the fat. Add the taco seasoning and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and let simmer until the water reduces down to your liking. Spoon the beef into a warmed tortilla with the toppings of your choice from above. Plenty of options here for toppings: cilantro, bell peppers, garlic, avocado, sweet potatoes (Annie and Mia had these).

Taco seasoning recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Homemade-Taco-Seasoning-Mix

Time to table: 30 minutes

Modifications: I halved the seasoning recipe, but you can make a full batch and freeze it for up to one year. For the toddlers we sauteed some diced sweet potato and onion and mixed that in with ground beef, cheese, tomato, and lettuce in a bowl.

Servings: Four adults, two toddlers.

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Like

Notes: We were going to have spaghetti, but since it was Cinco de Mayo Erin wanted something Mexican. Neighbor Molly suggested tacos and supplied the veggies.

OK, she's got the cheese thing down

Taco Seasoning