Hunk of Meat Monday: Pizza Casserole

If you’ve ever eaten at my Grandma Bailey’s house, then more than likely you’ve eaten her famous Pizza Casserole. It’s a family favorite and kids and adults both like.

It’s easy. So easy a Husband can do it. (No Ronny, I’m not suggesting you’re a caveman!). The other night I had all of the ingredients for Pizza Casserole and when he asked, “What do you want for dinner?”, I told him I had all of the ingredients and he willingly said he would make it.

So while I got to spend some more time with our little man, he made my favorite casserole. He doubled the amount of cheese it needed, but I won’t blame him for that!

{Pizza Casserole}

Ingredients
1 (12-oz.) bag wide egg noodles
2 lbs. hamburger
1 onion, chopped
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans tomato soup
1 (6-oz.) pkg. pepperoni
8 oz. mozzarella cheese
½ tsp. garlic salt
Sliced black olives, optional

Directions

1. Cook noodles to al dente.
2. While noodles are cooking, brown hamburger and onion together, then drain.
3. Mix soups and hamburger mix together.
4. Spray a 11 x 15 casserole dish (or make 2 smaller-sized casseroles – this works great in the freezer!) with cooking oil, then add noodles to the bottom of the pan.
5. Layer meat mixture on top of noodles, and top with cheese.
6. Generously layer pepperoni slices on top of cheese. (Add black olives if you want – or add other veggies to make it “supreme”!).
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Enjoy!

Sausage Soup recipe for a snowy day

As with most of the Midwest – we finally got snow! My neighbor, Kim and I who carpool to Lincoln left early in the afternoon and we’re glad that we did.

When I got home soup just sounded like the most logical thing to make to warm me and the kitchen up. So I made Grandma Bailey’s amazing Sausage Soup. Sounds simple – and it is – but it is SO good! The secret ingredient is….shhh…liquid smoke. :)


Since it’s not a secret family recipe, I’ll share. Try it. You’ll thank me later.

Sausage Soup 
Ingredients 
1 lb bulk sausage
1 cup water
1 medium potato, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. liquid smoke
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. summer savory
1 – 10 oz pkg frozen mixed veggies
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. sugar
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 soup can milk
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup Velveeta cheese, grated or diced

Directions Crumble sausage in frying pan and cook until done. Drain fat. In a large saucepan mix sausage, water, potato, onion, bay leaf, liquid smoke, popper and summer savory. In a small saucepan, cook the frozen vegetables, water and sugar until they are tender. Pour mixed vegetables into large saucepan, then add remaining ingredients. Stir until well blended and simmer until the potatoes are tender and flavors blended, about 30 minutes.

sweet n’ salty pork burgers.

Yum. I made Shana’s sweet n’ salty pork burgers from from CommonGround Nebraska this week and they are to.die.for. 5 easy ingredients = a quick meal. Enjoy!

sweet n’ salty pork burgers
Ingredients

1 lb ground pork
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp seasoned salt
Sliced Provolone cheese
Buns or Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

Directions

1. Preheat the grill or a stove top griddle to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine ground pork, sugar and salt
   
3. Mix with your hands until the sugar and salt are incorporated evenly.
4. Make 4 to 6 patties.
    
5. Cook on first side for 6 minutes or until golden then flip for another 6 minutes until the internal temperature is 145 degrees. (If grilling, use a sheet of heavy foil and spray with cooking spray. The sugar caramelizes as they cook (which is delicious), but can cause the burgers to stick to the grill grate.)
   
6. Add your favorite cheese right before you’re ready to take them off the grill. I used provolone. 
   
7. Pile onto a bun and serve. Enjoy!
   

Check out other CommonGround recipes here.

Beef Sticky Buns Recipe

This recipe brought me back to my elementary through high school days where Colorado Beef Rolls where the most popular school lunch meal. Basically, they were a cinnamon roll with beef in the inside (instead of cinnamon/sugar) and covered with cheese. So when I saw this recipe for Beef Sticky Buns from the Texas Beef Council, I immediately pinned it on Pinterest.

Source: txbeef.org via Kelsey on Pinterest

This grown-up version of the Colorado Beef Rolls I grew up with were excellent with the combination of beef, spinach, cheese and pizza dough.

I filled my dough up a little too much so the dough had a hard time keeping it all in, but they tasted great regardless!

Recipe found here.

DIY | Laundry Detergent

During my vacation for Thanksgiving, my sister, sister-in-law and I all decided to make some home-made laundry detergent using a recipe from Why Not Sew? that we found from Pinterest:

Source: whynotsew.blogspot.com via Kelsey on Pinterest

 

Here is what you will need:

1 bar of soap (any kind you want)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of washing soda
a big pot (that holds more than 2 gallons)
a grater
a funnel
a long spoon
2 empty gallon jugs/containers

Step 1: Grate your bar of soap into a large bowl, or directly into the pot.

Step 2: Add one gallon of water to the large pot on medium heat and stir occasionally until the grated soap is dissolved.

Step 3: Add in the washing soda and Borax (both found at Wal-Mart…look on a bottom shelf). The mixture will thicken as you stir. Bring to a boil.

Step 4: After the mixture is boiling, add the other one gallon of water and remove from heat. Mix well and let cool.

Step 5: Use a funnel to put the detergent in your containers.

We ended up making 2 1/2 batches (with different types of soap – thus the different colors).

Step 6: The directions recommend using 1/2 cups per load.

This detergent solution won’t get sudsy, but will do a great job of getting the clothes clean. You may have to shake up the jug before using as I noticed the soap clumped up, but it got my clothes clean!

The Why Not Sew? blog estimates the cost t0 be $6.00 for 576 loads. Worth the little effort for the savings!

Canning cowboy candy

As you know from previous garden posts, my garden has been popping with jalapeno peppers. I used some in salsa, some in casseroles or other recipes, and froze some – but a little bit of pepper can go a long way!

So I decided to give my first go of canning. I found this recipe for Cowboy Candy (candied jalapenos) from Tasty Kitchen. I started with about 3 pounds of peppers.

Then I sliced them all up…warning: wear gloves!

I cooked these in the vinegar/sugar/spice mixture for about 5 minutes, then funneled them into the sterilized jars.

Then I used my handy new little canning basket to put the jars in and boiled for about 15 minutes.

Then I let them cool overnight and will let them mellow for a good few weeks or month.

I am looking forward to enjoying them on this…

Source

Fresh, baked bread

I used the new Bosch again - this time with the dough hook to make some fresh, honey-wheat bread.

Here are the ingredients I started with:

3 cups warm water

3/4 cup honey

2 pkgs.dry yeast

1/4 cup butter, softened

4 cups whole wheat flour

4 cups white flour

2 tsp. salt

In the mixing bowl, combine and mix together water, honey and yeast until yeast is softened. Blend in melted butter, whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour and salt into the yeast mixture and turn the Bosch on and run on Setting 1 for 7 minutes.

Slowly add 3 more cups white flour in the opening of the splatter screen until stiff dough forms. Add flour if dough is too sticky. Run dough hook 8-10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.

Take the dough out on a floured mat, grease the mixing bowl, then return dough to Bosch bowl and turn over so the outside of the dough is greased.

Cover bowl with a damp towel and set in a warm place until it has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Divide dough in half (or my case remove 1/3 for the smaller bread pan), shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans. Place loaves in a warm place and allow to rise to top of pans, about 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour or until loaves are hollow-sounding when tops are tapped. Turn loaves onto a rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Making ice cream

Remember my Christmas present in May? I've already used the slicer, blender and mixer, so on this hot, muggy day today, I whipped out the ice cream maker.

Here is the recipe I used:

Vanilla Ice Cream
1 1/4 cup milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt

First, bring milk, vanilla and sugar to a brief boil.

Set aside to cool (or stick in the freezer like I did to hurry it up).

After it is cool, mix in cream and salt. Then pour into the ice cream mixer after it is turned on to setting 1.

Leave on for 20-30 minutes and you'll have ice cream! I would recommend putting in the freezer before serving, but soft ice cream still tastes really good!



At least my husband says so. :)

Pork, Beans and Apple Pie

When you hear, Pork, Beans and Apple Pie, you're probably thinking of a meal with Pork....Beans....and Apple Pie. Well I tried a recipe that included all three ingredients into ONE and it was the best sweet and savory delight that has touched my lips.

This recipe, which was created to be served as a main dish, won grand prize in the New Pork & Beans Recipe Challenge sponsored by the Nebraska Dry Bean Commission and Nebraska Pork Producers Association. It was submitted by a gal in my town of Seward, too! I really need to meet this gal.

Being a supporter of the Nebraska livestock industry, I felt I had to do my part and try this recipe out for myself to see if it really was worth the grand prize. And it was. You have to think of it as a main dish and not as a dessert. This wonderful recipe just melts in your mouth with the savory deliciousness mixed with sweetness. Everyone in the office devoured it, and Ronny even ate thirds! I challenge you to truly give it a try!!

Also, here is the pdf version online. It also has four other winning recipes that I have yet to try!