Quickie Cabbage Rolls

So I have never really been a fan of cabbage.  Until we grew our own this summer!  With some luscious cabbage to use up, I looked around for cabbage recipes and found this one at aubreyswanblog.  It was delicious!  My teen boys loved it, and that is pretty high praise.

Cut up cabbage and place in greased 9x13 pan.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Meanwhile, brown hamburger and drain the grease.

Add a chopped onion, a jar of spaghetti sauce, one cup of uncooked rice, 3 cups of water, and salt and pepper to taste.  Let simmer for 10 minutes for flavors to meld and rice to begin cooking.

Transfer meat mixture to the casserole pan, and cover the cabbage with it.  Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 90 minutes.   I have baked for less time in a hotter oven.

Garnish with cheese if desired, sour cream, or any other toppings you wish!

 

Chilean Stuffed Empanadas

To go along with our history studies of South America this week, I made empanadas for lunch today.  They actually turned out really well!  (yes, I was a bit surprised!)  I cheated and used Pillsbury Grands for ready made dough, because, life. 

What you will need

2 T vegetable oil
2 T butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 T paprika
1 beef bouillon cube, dissolved in 1/4 cup water (I just used beef broth)
salt and pepper to taste
handful of raisins (optional, but I used)
handful of sliced olives (optional, I did not use)

2 tubes of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits

What you do

Melt the oil and butter in a skillet and saute the chopped onion til tender.  Add the garlic and saute for another couple minutes, then add the ground beef.  When browned, drain oil.  Then add the spices and the beef broth.  Also add raisins and olives if desired.  Simmer about 10 minutes so that flavors can meld.  Remove from heat.

Separate each biscuit from the Pillsbury tube and flatten into larger oval shapes.  Spoon filling onto half of each oval shape, fold other half on top and pinch edges together.

Then bake at 350 for about 15-18 minutes until golden brown.  Watch to be sure they don't overbake!

My boys enjoyed them for lunch today!  Might tweak the filling and make other varieties in the future.

Meatball Sandwich Casserole

You will need:

1 bag of frozen meatballs (or make your own from scratch)
1 jar of marinara sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup Italian blend cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 loaf of fresh Italian bread, sliced

To prepare:

Preheat oven to 400. Place entire bag of meatballs in pot with sauce (I also add garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste) and cook over medium heat until warmed completely through, about 10 minutes. Stir as needed to keep meatballs from sticking to pot.  When we made these for New Year's Eve I gave this job to my very capable nephew!

Once heated through remove from heat. Place meatballs in the center of a 9x13 baking dish, layer mozzarella and Italian blend cheeses over meatballs topping off with the Parmesan. Take the slices of Italian bread and line the pan all the way around with them so that they are kind of keeping the meatballs toward the center of the pan. The bread slices will be standing up in the pan as shown below. You have creative freedom here with the bread...you can lightly butter and garlic the bread prior to placing it in the pan if you prefer or even brush lightly with olive oil and garlic (this is what I do). 

Place in oven and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. I forgot to take an "after" picture, but here it was in the oven, baking. 

Soooo good!  Assembly is so fast and easy, this is *almost* a meal in 30 minutes entry.

Loved by all.  I will definitely make again!

Supreme Pizza Burgers

This is another recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and it was F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.  Definitely among the best burgers I have ever had in my entire life!!  Again, Ree's pictures and description are way better than mine, so please go check out this recipe on her blog.  You can practically taste the deliciousness through the computer screen!  For my own reference (I do use this blog as my recipe book!) I will include the recipe here too.

This is basically a supreme pizza in hamburger form, which is great because you can customize it depending on what supreme pizza ingredients the members of your family like.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 pound (or more) Italian sausage
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
Sliced Provolone or Mozzarella cheese (2 or 3 slices per burger)
Pepperoni slices
Marinara sauce (won't use the whole jar)
Grated Parmesan cheese
Kaiser rolls or good hamburger buns
Thinly sliced red onion (optional)
Whole green pepper, sliced in rings (optional)
Sliced black olives (optional)
Sliced mushrooms (canned or fresh - optional)


Procedure

Combine ground beef, sausage, and Italian seasoning in a bowl and mix well.  Form mixture into hamburger patties.  Fry the burgers on one side for several minutes.  Flip over and let cooking begin on the other side.  On the top of each burger, place 2 slices of cheese and several pepperoni slices.  Spoon a dollop of marinara sauce on top of the pepperoni and then lay a couple thin slices of red onion on top of that.  Layer the rest of the ingredients or not, depending on the tastes of your family ~ mushrooms, sliced olives, and green pepper rings.

Spoon a bit of marinara sauce on the top of all these ingredients and then layer another slice of cheese on the very top.  Cover with lid and let the burgers cook all the way through while the cheese melts and the toppings get warm.

In a separate skillet, cook the front and back of each side of the kaiser rolls in a good amount of butter.  When one side is done, flip over and on the top (cooked) side put a spoonful of marinara sauce and sprinkle some parmesan cheese while the bottom side cooks.  When the burger is done, lay it on this marinara "bed", top with the other half of the kaiser roll, and.... voila! 

A supreme pizza burger.  Delish!

Bonita's Meatloaf

This is the meatloaf my mom made as I was growing up, and I carried the recipe with me into marriage. It is very moist and flavorful, and hands down the best meatloaf I have ever tasted! Incidentally, this is the same recipe I use for making hamburger patties, and just form them into hamburgers rather than putting in a casserole pan for meatloaf.

Pictured below are all the ingredients needed to make Bonita's Meatloaf. However, as with many great recipes, I don't know exact amounts. So if you like to be exact with your measurements, you're going to have a hard time with this one!

Hamburger (pictured is 2 lbs)
1 egg
dry oats (for oatmeal, but not the little packages of one serving instant oatmeal)
milk
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
ketchup


Mix hamburger, dry onion soup mix, and egg in bowl. Add a small amount of milk, several squirts of ketchup, and start with about a 1/2 cup oats. Mix with hands. Mixture should be very moist. If it's too dry, add more milk and ketchup. If it's too moist, add a bit more oats.



Bake at 350 for one hour. Check for doneness and bake longer if it's not thoroughly cooked. When I use 2 pounds of meat or more I usually have to bake for a bit longer than one hour.


A favorite of the whole family! Thanks Bonita/mom!

Meatballs in Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

For our family Super Bowl party I made meatballs in the crockpot and tried this new cranberry sweet-and-sour sauce. It was really easy and tasted great! I found the recipe on the Country Living website.


This time I did it the easy way and bought a bag of frozen pre-made meatballs, but I have made them from scratch too.

Meatballs

2 slices bread, shredded
1 pound ground beef, raw
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 T oil - for saucepan

Mix all ingredients and form into 1 and a 1/2 inch meatballs. Heat oil in skillet and brown meatballs, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain any oil and add sauce (recipe below). Cover and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.

Sweet-and-Sour Sauce

2 cans whole berry cranberry sauce
2 T cider vinegar (I didn't have this so left it out)
3 T brown sugar
2 T soy sauce

Mix sauce ingredients and pour over meatballs, either in skillet (as above), or in crockpot. If using crockpot and cooking meatballs from frozen, cook on high 4-5 hours or on low 8-9 hours.

Verdict: easy and yummy! The whole family enjoyed them and I will definitely make again!