Baked Meatball Parmegiana

BEST OF TASTY CHEAPSKATE

Comfort food season is almost over, so you better take advantage while you've got the chance. This recipe gives some serious vavoom to an otherwise fairly nothing-special-Tuesday-night meal. While still keeping it simple. Because I think we all love comfort food if, you know, your grandma makes it. But then when you have to hang out for four hours breading the meat or dicing 800 potatoes or shredding two pounds of cheese and simmer down the sauce until it's a nice balsamic glaze and then get everything onto the table at just the right moment so nothing gets cold--well then fried eggs start to sound a lot better. And while there's nothing wrong with fried eggs, how about some hearty comfort food that's a little easier to pull together.

Baked meatballs are a new and glorious thing for me in general. In the past, I've always stood by the oven, rolling meatballs around in a skillet while the fat spit everywhere and the balls got too brown on the outside while still being a bit too pink on the inside. No more. Now that baked meatballs and I have been introduced, there's no turning back. They're so much easier and neater, juicier, and more evenly cooked.

This dish builds on the beauty of baked meatballs and adds to it. All you've got to do is roll meat in to balls. It takes about 15 minutes and then you're "work" is done. You do need 45 minutes to for these to cook, so plan for that. Otherwise, a pot of pasta later, you're done.

Baked Meatball Parmigiana
adapted from Hugs and Cookies
Serves 4
prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Cost: $6.50 (even with a box of pasta, this comes up to less than $2.00/serving)
beef: 3.00, bread: .05, Parm cheese: .75, eggs: .20, tomato sauce: 1.50, mozzarella: 1.00

1 lb ground beef
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 C bread crumbs (I just used one slice and put it in my little blender)
3/4 C Parmesan cheese (I used the shredded, but in this recipe the powdery stuff might work too)
2 eggs
salt to taste
36 oz. your choice tomato sauce
1-2 C mozzarella
some pasta to serve it on if you're too proud to just spoon it out of the dish and eat it

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine ground beef, garlic, bread crumbs, Parmesan, eggs, and salt. I squish it together with my hands like a boss (naturally). Then roll it into meatballs. Larger meatballs will have a slightly longer cook time than smaller ones. We made 14 or 15. [Note: That means if you really want to speed up this cook time, call in some little helpers and roll you some tiny meatballs.]

Put a tiny bit of olive oil on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Then add your meatballs.

Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Then add sauce, stir around the meatballs to coat and cook for another 15 minutes or so. (Note: Around this point, you want to start boiling your pasta water, so your pasta will be ready in time.)

Then throw on the cheese and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Cut one open to check for meatballs doneness and, uh, while you're at it you better taste it to make sure it's okay and stuff.

Serve over pasta or with bread.

The Best Beef Stew Ever: aka Beef Burgundy (Minus the Burgundy)--An Alcohol-free Knock-Off

BEST OF THE TASTY CHEAPSKATE

How do I decide what makes the cut for the Best of the Tasty Cheapskate this year? Well, I figure if the title is really long, then I must be on to something good. Wait, no, that's just an unfortunate personality quirk. No, the real way I know: if looking at the pictures of it makes me want to make it again. Right now. Without delay. Then I know I've got a winner.

I've made this a couple of times for our Christmas party and both times people have asked for the recipe.

It was originally supposed to be Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy), minus the, uh, Burgundy (wine). Which, if you think too hard about it (you shouldn't), doesn't really make any sense. But I'm a Mormon and don't keep alcohol in the house, and even though alcohol is supposed to cook off in a stew, I'm just not particularly comfortable buying it. And although I sometimes feel like I'm alone in this little cooking eccentricity, I know I'm not alone in this. A whole slew of religious folks (Mormons, Muslims, certain Christian groups) don't drink wine. And there are others in this world with reason not to have alcohol lying around as well. So for this Non-Burgundy Beef Burgundy recipe, you're welcome. 

And for all the rest of you lushes out there, you're welcome too. Because this stew is FANTASTICALLY, amazingly awesome whether you have strong feelings about booze or not. It's just a really solid recipe that stands strong on its own without the wine.

To all you skeptics, I'd just say don't knock it until you try it.

AND, from a purely cheapskate perspective, wine is a fairly expensive ingredient. By bumping it off your grocery list, we just saved you $10 off this recipe. You're welcome, again.

This stew is slightly fussy for a soup. And you MUST give it time to simmer, or it won't be good. You don't have to DO anything while it simmers, but you do have to plan in the time.

Beef Stew: aka Beef Burgundy (Minus the Burgundy)--An Alcohol-free Knock-Off
Serves: 8-10
Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
Cost: $7.50 (that's less than $1.00/serving; and it's so divine)
onion: .15, carrots: .40, meat: 4.00, flour: .03, Sprite: .40, red wine vinegar: .02, tomato paste: .25, beef stock: .30 (I use bouillon cubes, which are cheaper than stock in cans), potatoes: .40, mushrooms: 1.00, butter: .05, olive oil: .10, spices (mine are almost free because I have an herb garden, so I'm guessing here and giving dry spice estimates): .40

A few notes: 
-This is great with the bay leaves, thyme, and oregano. But once I totally, completely forgot them and it was still great. So you can consider them optional.
-You'll notice there's a wide range for the beef measurement (1-2 pounds). I've done both and love both. Less is obviously cheaper; we usually do more if we're feeding this to guests.
-You could just dump the mushrooms in and simmer, but I like to give them a quick saute in butter first. Because I'm fancy like that.
-If you are short on time and need a simplification, you can skip the saute of the original onion, carrot, and garlic; and just throw it in with the rest of the carrots later (I think this loses a little flavor, but won't ruin this delicious stew). Or you can cut some time (but dirty another pan) by sauteing them in a separate skillet while the beef cooks in your Dutch oven (I favor this pan-dirtying time-saver).


1 1/2 C diced onion (about 1 onion)
1/2 C diced carrot (about 1 carrot)
1 Tbsp garlic (3-4 cloves)
1-2 pound stew meat (depending on how meaty you want it), cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 C flour
salt and pepper
1 can Sprite or ginger ale, divided (I prefer Sprite)
1 1/2 C grape juice
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/2 C beef stock
1/2 C water
5 bay leaves
10 sprigs thyme (or about 1 tsp dried)
a few shakes of dried oregano
2-3 diced carrots
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 lb mushrooms, halved or sliced (I prefer halves)
butter
olive oil
parsley for garnish if you're taking pictures for a blog or want to impress people, or are just a cool person in general

Heat a Dutch oven (or similar-sized pot) with a bit of olive oil. Add the onion and the 1/2 C of carrots. Saute with salt and pepper for about 5-7 minutes until somewhat softened. Add garlic and cook another minute.

While those veggies are cooking, put salt and pepper on your beef and then toss with 1/4 C flour.

Remove veggies from pot and set aside. Add more olive oil to pot. Put beef on to cook (Note: if you are using 2 pounds, you will need to do this in batches; otherwise, there's just too much meat in the pot). Brown the beef on all sides. It doesn't need to be cooked all the way through. When you're about done, add about half of the can of Sprite to the pot. The carbonation (and maybe the sweetness too) act as a tenderizer for the beef (all acidic foods do this, so here we're kind of making up for some of that wine we're not using).

Take out the beef and set it aside with the vegetables. Add grape juice, red wine vinegar and the rest of the Sprite to the pot. Boil until it reduces somewhat--about 5-10 minutes.

Return beef and veggies to pan. Add tomato paste, beef stock, and water. Add bay leaves, thyme, and oregano (if using).

Simmer. Simmer. Simmer. This is where the magic happens. Allow it to simmer covered for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add remaining carrots (2-3 diced carrots). Simmer for another 20 minutes.

Add diced potatoes (the smaller they're cut, the faster your cook time at this point, so if you're short on time, dice them smaller).

While those are simmering, saute your mushrooms in butter with salt and pepper. This is optional, but so awesome that you really should do it. And they've got to get cooked anyway, so you might as well do it with butter.

When they've released their water and browned somewhat, toss them into the stew and let everything simmer another 10 minutes.

Taste to check seasonings.

Serve with crusty bread and prepare for the best stew of your life.

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Meatball Soup

This is one of those recipes I made and then after everyone ate it and loved it, my husband said, "That dinner was way better than it sounded." It's a pretty common phrase in these parts because if I try anything new (and I try LOTS of new things), it is always suspect.

But this was so delicious. So so delicious.

Before summer comes upon us in all her glory you should make this divine, cheap, veggie-filled comfort food.

P.S.I should note that the above pictures were taken the day after I made this. A lot of the saucy/soupy stuff got sucked into the noodles. The day I made it, I took pictures, but they didn't come out very well (nighttime lighting and all). Nevertheless, here's a picture to show what it looks like the first day.

Meatball Soup
serve 6
prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Cost: $6.00
beef: 3.50, bread: .05, egg: .10, other stuff: .10, onion: .10. carrots: .20, Italian diced tomatoes: .70, tomato paste: .30, beef broth: .30 (from cubes), spinach: .35, pasta: .30

For the meatballs:

1 lb ground beef
3/4-1 C bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 Tbsp milk
1 egg (optional--once I forgot it and I actually thought these tasted even better, BUT they didn't hold together as well)

For soup:

Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped (or blended if you've got onion haters in your midst)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1-2 carrots, chopped
1 zucchini, diced (didn't have so skipped this and all was still well)
1 14-oz can Italian diced tomatoes
1/2 C plain, smooth tomato sauce, or 3 oz. tomato paste
5 C beef broth
2 C chopped spinach leaves
1 -1 1/2 C small pasta (such as ditalini)
salt and pepper if needed
Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)
a bit of cream for creaminess (optional)

For meatballs:

Put everything into a bowl and smoosh it all together. Roll into balls and cook in a Dutch oven or large soup pot. Note: If you don't have bread crumbs, put a crust in a small blender and blend.

When they're ready, take them out of the pot, but leave the grease (unless there's a crazy amount; then just leave some of the grease)

For the soup:

Put onion, zucchini, and carrot into this grease (add a bit of olive oil if you need some). Cook for a few minutes until they begin to get tender. Add Italian seasoning and stire. Add either tomato sauce or tomato paste and stir for about 30 seconds. Add Italian diced tomatoes. Add beef broth. Stir everything together. Bring to boiling. Add pasta and cook for 10-15 minutes or until they're close to al dente (we used a thick pasta so this took longer than a thinner pasta would have). Add more water if necessary.

When the pasta is almost cooked, add the meatballs back in and add the chopped spinach.

Cook for 4-5 more minutes. Taste and adjust for seasonings. You might want a bit more salt or basil or Italian seasoning.

Serve alone or add some Parmesan or cream.

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Beef Stroganoff

In my continuing efforts to throw a few quick, painless dinners into your holiday repertoire and thus rescue you from only eating cookies this holiday season, I've got another meal for you that can be pulled together in 20 minutes. It's hearty and comfort-y and could even be considered healthy as long as you're cool with fat and dairy products (at any rate, it's healthier than stale cookies and/or another night of take out).

It can go with any veggie on earth although spinach and/or mushrooms are especially good pairings (because we're talking about pairings because this is a sophisticated blog about sophisticated stuff). Ahem. In actuality, my mother used to make beef stroganoff by combining browned beef with a can of cream of mushroom soup--a thing which you could still do and live to tell the tale and still be eating healthier than cookies and fast food. But. We're going to raise the bar just the tiniest smidgen and make this whole foodsy and even chop some garlic and throw in fresh spinach, folks. It's that kind of awesome.

Beef Stroganoff
adapted from Learning Patience
Serves 4-6
Prep and cook time: 15-20 minutes
Cost: $7.25
noodles: 1.00, beef: 4.00, cream cheese: 1.00, sour cream: .50, spinach: .60, other stuff: .15

1 lb egg noodles
1 lb ground beef
1 fat clove of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
8 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 handfuls chopped fresh spinach, lightly chopped

Get the water going for your egg noodles. When it's boiling, put the noodles in to cook.

While the noodles are cooking, brown your beef with a bit of salt in a skillet. When it's brown or mostly brown, add your garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper. Then add the cream cheese and sour cream. Stir until combined and creamy. This makes for a fairly thick stroganoff. If you want to loosen it up a bit, add some milk or pasta water to the mix.

Throw in your spinach and cook until wilted.

Serve over the egg noodles.

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Secret Recipe Club: BalsamicBeef Roast

It's been busy and comfort-food-y around here. Which is why when I saw this recipe for Balsamic Roast on my Secret Recipe Club blog: I'm Hungry: Words of Growing Boys, I knew it was the one for me. And it was. Dead simple. But also flavorful, tender, and delicious. It uses a crock pot in the way I like to best use crock pots (the dump and forget method).

I can't tell you how amazing this was to come home to at the end of a busy day when it felt a little bit like I was drowning, and maybe even a little bit like I was failing (you guys know that feeling, right?) But I came home to this, and then all the sudden, I was a little bit of awesome. Amazing home cooked meal, check. Never mind that it took me less than three minutes to put together (less than three minutes people). Throw a 1/2 bag of baby carrots in there (time commitment: 9 extra seconds) and you've even got a vegetable to go with this.

Balsamic Beef Roast
from I'm Hungry
Serves 4-6
Prep time: 3 minutes
Cook time: 6-8 hours
Cost: $6.25
roast: $6, other stuff: .25

2 lb beef chuck roast (or any other similar hunk of beef)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 C beef broth
1/2 C balsamic
salt and pepper

Put the roast in the pot. Add garlic powder and then sprinkle on salt, and pepper. Pour broth around it. Pour balsamic vinegar over it. (I'll confess I wish I'd thrown in a couple handfuls of baby carrots to go with this when we ate. Do so if you wish to live without regret of any kind.)

Cook on high for 6 hours (low for 8).

Told you. Dead simple.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I never knew how many ways there were to prepare meatballs until adulthood. I love these basil meatballs and we've made meatballs wrapped in croissants and wrapped around mozzarella balls. These give meatballs an Asian twist (even though it's probably totally fake Americanized Asian--it's still delicious). You can serve it with brown rice if you want to healthy it up, or quinoa if you want to drop all pretense that this is some variety of Asian food. Also, try to add a vegetable unless you don't care about dying and stuff. But if you do care about dying, then try to eat a vegetable. Because, despite what my son and husband try to tell me, I really don't think barbecue sauce counts as a vegetable.

Also, this is one of those meat meals that cheapskates can really get behind. Most of the other ingredients are dirt cheap (as is white rice if that's how you serve this). Even when you remember to add your broccoli, you're only adding a buck or so to this meal. Six normal, non-teenage people can eat for about $1.00-$1.50 each.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

adapted from Mel's Kitchen

Serves 4-6 (depending on how delicate your eaters are)

Cook time: 20-30 minutes

Cost: $3.90

beef: 3.00, oats: .05, eggs: .20, onion: .05, milk: .05, other stuff: .10, sugar: .20, BBQ sauce: .15, other stuff: .10

For the Meatballs: 

1 lb ground beef

1/2 C quick oats that you pulse in the blender (a course oat flour will also work)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/4 C grated onion

3 Tbsp milk

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

For the Sauce (you can half this if you're not into sauce and just want enough to glaze the meatballs, but we're into sauce around here): 

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C apple cider vinegar

1 tsp yellow mustard

1/2 C barbecue sauce

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Meatballs: 

Mush together all the ingredients and form into balls that are 1- 1 1/2 inches big. 

Cook on a skillet, browning on all sides. (They don't have to be cooked through because soon we'll be simmering them in the sauce. 

Now whisk all the sauce ingredients together and pour over the meatballs. Let it simmer for 15 minutes or so. It will thicken a bit and be lovely and sweet and amazing. 

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Dumb Easy Dinner: Mexican Rice Skillet

Summer is nearly upon us. With it comes the pitter patter of little feet. Or rather the stomp stomp stomp of bigger feet, the sometimes pajama days, the summer reading program, the bike rides, the park visits, the pool visits. And then we must not forget the messes, the muddy shoes, the bitter arguments over which cartoon character you are and why your sister is not allowed to be the cartoon character she wants to be. Oh, yes, and the plaintive cries of "I'm hungry."

Sometimes in summer it's actually easier for me to cook. Things are a little more laid back. We have fewer places we have to be. But sometimes I just want to lounge around like a big pasty-skinned lizard and not spend all afternoon in the kitchen. And other times we get home famished and ready to eat one another. On those days, it's good to have a few dumb easy dinners in the back pocket, preferably ones that won't use a booty load of dishes or heat up the oven for hours. Here you go.

The fantastic, glorious thing about Mexican Rice Skillets is that you just need rice, broth, and tomatoes. After that you can kind of do what you want--add meat or beans or enchilada sauce or heat or cheese. Whatever. It's really a dump and eat kind of meal that can be adapted to whatever on earth happens to be in your fridge. If you already have rice leftover, you can even use that, though it's super flavorful to make the rice with all the seasonings simmering into it.

Mexican Rice Skillet
serves 6
adapted from Butter Yum
prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Cost: $7.50 ( $1.25/per serving)
bacon: .50, onion: .15, pepper: .75, beef: 3.00, rice: .15, canned tomatoes: .65, beef stock (from bullion cube): .15, other stuff: .15

a few strips bacon (optional)
1 bell pepper, chopped; I used red (also kind of optional, but veggies for heaven's sake)
1 medium onion, chopped (or finely grated if you have onion-texture haters among you)
1 clove garlic
1 pound ground beef (or cut this to 1/2 pound or use beans instead; seriously, this is that kind of whatever recipe)
1 C uncooked white rice
6 tomatoes, chopped (or a can of diced tomatoes with juices)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 1/4 C beef stock (if you used the can of tomatoes, reduce this to 1 Cup)
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp black pepper.

Saute bacon if using. Add ground beef and cook (the original recipe just had the beef going raw into the rice and cooking, but I was afraid, so I cooked it first; you could potentially skip this step and you should know the beef doesn't have to be completely cooked through as it will cook longer).Add onions and peppers. Continue to saute until vegetables start to soften.  Add garlic and cook one more minute.

Add rice and cook for a minute. Then add the remaining ingredients.

Bring mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low or medium low. Cook until all the juices are absorbed and the rice is tender. If you taste it and the rice is still a little too tough, add a bit more water (maybe 1/4 C) and cook until it's absorbed.

That's it, and there's dinner. We served it with some grated cheese and sour cream. Also, avocado would have been amazing.

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Baked Meatball Parmigiana

 We're comfort-fooding it up all over the place around here. While still keeping it simple. Because I think we all love comfort food if, you know, your grandma makes it. But then when you have to hang out for four hours while the roast cooks and dice 800 potatoes and shred two pounds of cheese and simmer down the sauce until it's a nice balsamic glaze and then get everything onto the table at just the right moment so nothing gets cold--well then fried eggs start to sound a lot better. And while there's nothing wrong with fried eggs, how about some hearty comfort food that's a little easier to pull together.

Baked meatballs are a new and glorious thing for me in general. In the past, I've always stood by the oven, rolling meatballs around in a skillet while the fat spit everywhere and the balls got too brown on the outside while still being a bit too pink on the inside. No more. Now that baked meatballs and I have been introduced, there's no turning back. They're so much easier and neater, juicier, and more evenly cooked.

This dish builds on the beauty of baked meatballs and adds to it. All you've got to do is roll meat in to balls. It takes about 10 minutes and then you're "work" is done. You do need 45 minutes to an hour for these to cook, so plan for that. Otherwise, a pot of pasta later, you're done.

Baked Meatball Parmigiana
adapted from Hugs and Cookies
Serves 4
prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45-60 minutes
Cost: $6.50 (even with a box of pasta, this comes up to less than $2.00/serving)
beef: 3.00, bread: .05, Parm cheese: .75, eggs: .20, tomato sauce: 1.50, mozzarella: 1.00

1 lb ground beef
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 C bread crumbs (I just used one slice and put it in my little blender)
3/4 C Parmesan cheese (I used the shredded, but in this recipe the powdery stuff might work too)
2 eggs
salt to taste
36 oz. your choice tomato sauce
1-2 C mozzarella
some pasta to serve it on if you're too proud to just spoon it out of the dish and eat it

Preheat oven to 400.

Combine ground beef, garlic, bread crumbs, Parmesan, eggs, and salt. I squish it together with my hands like a boss (naturally). Then roll it into meatballs. Larger meatballs will have a slightly longer cook time than smaller ones. We made 14 or 15.

Put a tiny bit of olive oil on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Then add your meatballs.

Cook for 15 to 20 minutes.

Then add sauce, stir around the meatballs to coat and cook for another 15 minutes or so. (Note: Around this point, you want to start boiling your pasta water, so your pasta will be ready in time.)

Then throw on the cheese and cook for another 10 minutes or so. Cut one open to check for meatballs doneness and, uh, while you're at it you better taste it to make sure it's okay and stuff.

Serve over pasta or with bread.

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Sloppy Joe Pie--Secret Recipe Club

This month for Secret Recipe Club, I had a fun little blog called Cheese Curd in Paradise. There was a bunch of stuff that looked good, and I pinned a few, but truthfully I knew what I wanted to make all along. As soon as I read the idea of a Sloppy Joe in pie form, I was on it. And I did not look back. It was delicious. And it can be made in, like, 10 minutes (plus bake time). Or you can pull out your crazy hat (just a little crazy, but you're adding some time to your recipe) and make it from scratch if you'd like (both methods will be covered below). Honestly, I would be glad to have found this blog just for this recipe. Because, I mean, the one problem with sloppy joes is that they're just so...sloppy. You put them on the bun and sure they're good, but they drip all out and you end up having to eat it with a fork anyway, and maybe you wish you'd just cut your burger up in the first place. This pie--it brings all the comfort food and eliminates the middle step of squeezing sloppy joe filling out onto your new shirt. You just go straight from pan to fork. Loved it.

Some notes:
-Ashley made this gluten-free simply by using gluten-free Bisquick
-I made this from scratch by using this recipe for homemade Bisquick. And a riff off of this recipe for homemade sloppy joes (basically a little sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, tomato sauce, and tomato paste). It was super delicious, but it seriously added a good 30 minutes to my prep time. If I had to do it again, I'd do it if I already had my homemade Bisquick all made and a leisurely dinner schedule. I would NOT make it from scratch if I had to get my husband out the door at 5:25 sharp and was about to go crazy--then I'd be dumping that sloppy joe sauce in and feeling pretty good about it too.

Sloppy Joe Pie
adapted from Cheese Curd in Paradise
Serves 4-6 (one pie pan)
Prep time: 15 minutes for the easy version; 30-40 minutes for the from-scratch version
Bake time: 30-60 minutes
Cost: $4.80 )that's $1.20/serving for a filling and fairly complete meal--yeah, I'm counting that tomato sauce in the sloppy joe as a vegetable; what about it)
meat: 3.00, onion: .20, sloppy joe sauce: 1.00, cheddar cheese: .75, Bisquick (not quite sure--totally guessing here): .50, eggs: .20, milk: .15

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (15.5 oz) sloppy joe sauce
1 C shredded Cheddar cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 C milk
1 C Bisquick
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper

Heat oven to 400.

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat, stirring, until beef is brown and broken up. Stir in sloppy joe sauce and cheese (oh my, it makes me feel all drool-y to think about again). Spoon this into an 8-inch square pan or a 9 or 10 inch pie pan (what I used).

Now, in a separate bowl, stir together the eggs, milk, Bisquick, garlic powder, and black pepper. I'd expected this to be kind of thick/lumpy like biscuit mix, but it wasn't--it was runnier--more like a thick pancake batter (and better that way, my friends, better). Pour this over the top of your beef mixture.

Bake for 30-60 minutes (why the big range? Ashley recommended 30 minutes, but ours was still super raw in the dough part at that point, so I ended up going another 20 minutes at least--again--just trying to prepare you if the husband, or anyone else, has to be out the door at a certain time). The top should be golden brown and if you stick a fork in the Bisquick part it should come out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes if you want and serve. If you serve it hot, it's going to be...wait for it...sloppy. You're not going to get a pretty slice like you see above. You're going to sort of scoop it onto your plate in a big glorious plop of tomato-y meat and carbohydrate (yum). That pretty slice in the picture above was from our leftovers the next day--after it had cooled and firmed up. Then it could be sliced and warmed in a tidy manner. However, sloppy first day or neater second day--it was delicious. Perfect meal, fabulous leftovers.

Thanks Ashley!

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An InLinkz Link-up

Crock Pot Carne Asada--SRC

This month for Secret Recipe Club, I had The Hobo Kitchen. It's written by Ellie. I actually had her blog (with a different name) a while ago. I loved it. The funny thing is that at first I didn't realize I had the same person, but I was like "Oh my gosh; I want to make all these recipes." In fact, I ended up making two of her recipes for dinner one night. And then I went to read Ellie's profile and there she was--the same blogger I'd enjoyed so much when I secret-recipe'd her last blog. Apparently, she's still got it. Thank you, Ellie, for the fabulous recipes.

I made the Carne Asada. It was delicious and super easy and a crock pot recipe and just win win all around. The leftovers were even better. (Note: As a side dish, I also made a cinnamon sugar version of her Tostones (plantains) that were beyond delicious. I'd never made plantains before and I'm a total convert. But the pictures I took for that were ug-ly.)

Crock Pot Carne Asada
adapted from The Hobo Kitchen
Serves 6
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 6-8 hours (in crock)
Cost:$10.00-ish (this is a really rough estimate; sorry)
meat: mine was $5, but it was clearanced and was less than 2 lb, seasonings: .10, peppers (mine were free from a fabulous friend), but I'm guessing 1.50-2.00, toppings: 2.00

Note: I'm slightly red meat impaired. If it's not ground beef or some kind of chuck roast, I'm a little lost. This recipe called for flank steak, which I couldn't find at my store. So I just bought the clearance cheap steak and all was well, but if you can get flank steak, use it.

Another note: I followed this recipe as Ellie had it. However, I bet that if you had taco seasoning and wanted to use that instead of individual spices, that would work and save you a couple minutes. No guarantees because I haven't tried it, but especially if it didn't have thickening agents (such as cornstarch), I bet it'd be just fine.

2 lb flank steak
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 yellow onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 jalepeno, minced
For toppings:
cheese
sour cream
avocado

Combine dry spices. Sprinkle or rub these on the flank steak. Put that in the crock.

Add diced onion, peppers, and jalepeno.

Cook on low in the crock pot for 6-8 hours. Note: I recommend this low setting. I forgot to get mine into the crock and tried to cheat and do this for 3-4 hours on high. It tasted delicious, but wasn't fall-apart-fork-shreddable. I left the stuff we didn't eat in the crock for several more hours and it was perfect, so try not to short-change the cooking times.

Before eating, shred steak with two forks.

Serve over rice, tortillas, or corn chips.

Top with cheese, sour cream, and avocado.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

An InLinkz Link-up

Work-a-Day Wednesday: Crock Pot Ranch Roast

You don't get any easier than this. Plus, it's my family's favorite way to eat a roast.

That doesn't mean it's perfect. The stuff that comes in the Ranch packets isn't exactly swimming in natural-from-your-garden-goodness. But it makes this roast mighty tasty and on certain days a 60 second assembly time is nothing to complain about.

A few notes:

-You can brown this first in a skillet if you've got the time. I think it makes it a little more flavorful and gives it a bit of a season-y crust (which I love). But if you don't have time, just cover the roast with Ranch powder, put it in the crock, and move on with your life.
-You can roast just the meat or add potatoes, carrots, onions, whatever to the crock. If you do add veggies, sprinkle some of the Ranch powder on them as well. We especially love it with the carrots.
-You can use a frozen or a fresh roast. If it's frozen, you'll have to be sure it gets a longer cook time--probably 8-10 hours on high if you want it falling off the fork. But keep in mind that crock pot temps and, thus, times vary a bit. The good news is that you can't overcook this thing. Well, I guess you probably could, but it would take you, like, 20, hours. So err on the side of too long.

Ranch Roast
serves 6
Prep time: 5 minutes or less
Cost: $11.00

1 three-four lb roast (we used beef, but pork works too)
2 packets Ranch salad dressing mix or 5-6 Tbsp Ranch powder
sliced carrots, onions, diced potatoes (optional)

Slather your roast with one packet of seasoning. If you've got the time, give the meat a quick browning in a skillet on medium high to high heat.

Throw it in the crock pot. Add more seasoning. It's going to seem like a lot; it's going to seem like a whole lot. Don't worry, that's going to give the meat a lot of it's flavor and the excess will sort of come off into the juices as it cooks, so you won't have a crazy salty concoction. If you've added veggies, be sure they get their share in the Ranch powder love. Again, be generous.

Add just a bit of water. You won't need a lot. Just enough to kind of cover the bottom of the crock--I'd say 1/4 inch deep should do you. Again, this might not seem like a lot. (And you may have been told that you have to do enough water to reach halfway up the slab of meat, but in my experience that just makes for way too many juices and a slightly less impactful flavor for the meat.) Remember the meat itself is going to release a bunch of juices as you cook it. Ditto any vegetables you put in with it. By the end of cooking time, my meat (which had been placed in just a few millimeters water) was swimming in juice and tender and lovely in every way.

Cook at least 6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low (for a piece of de-thawed meat). Again, err on the side of too long if you want this falling off the fork, which we always do.

Come home starving and rejoice that you don't have to go to Denny's for dinner.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Basil Meatball Sandwiches with Crunchy Veggie Slaw

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats well on $10/day.

I realize I'm a day late and a dollar short posting this the day after Independence Day and all. But it's still grilling season. Heck, you don't even need to grill these; if it's a rainy day, just bust out a skillet and pretend you did.

These tasty meatballs were meant to be served with the slaw inside the bun. In some families the belief exists (especially among those of a certain gender which shall not here be named, but which slant rhymes with 'bland') that the only vegetable included in a sandwich should be a red one served in the form of a sauce that rhymes with 'getchup'. If this is the case in your family, don't worry, you can man this sandwich up just fine, as Kip has so generously demonstrated in this picture:

(Oh, wait, I see another vegetable in that sandwich as well--one that rhymes with smickle. Perfect.)

One more note on this sandwich (the female version that is). The recipe originally called for carrots with daikon radish, which is a spicy white Asian radish. I had none on hand, but it is one of those weird vegetables that occasionally shows up in CSA baskets and farmer's markets and you (I) wonder what to do with it. So, although you don't need it for this sandwich so desperately that you should hunt it down if you don't have it, this is definitely a great way to use one if you've got one. 

Basil Meatball Sandwiches with Crunchy Veggie Slaw

adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine (I think)

Serves 4 (large sandwiches)

Prep and cook time: 15-20 minutes for meat; 10 minutes for slaw, but it should rest an hour

Cost: $3.80 (not including buns here)

(hamburger: 3.00, carrots: .40, celery: .30, other stuff: .10)

1 lb hamburger or ground pork

1/4 C fresh basil, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 Tbsp hot chili sauce

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chunky salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt)

Slaw:

2 C carrots, grated

1-2 C celery, finely chopped (or grated daikon radish or cabbage or probably any other crunchy vegetable)

1/4 C rice vinegar (didn't have so used white wine vinegar)

1/4 C sugar

1 tsp chunky salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt)

1 Tbsp Asian sesame oil

16 large cilantro sprigs (didn't have, so didn't use, but think it would have been so awesome)

Note: If you've got pesto, that can be substituted for the basil and garlic--use about 1/4 C pesto)

To make slaw:

Grate carrots and chop celery.

Mix together with vinegar, sugar, salt, and sesame oil. Let sit for 1 hour (I let mine sit covered at room temperature). You might be tempted to skip this resting period, but I have to say that I tasted mine right after I made it and it was so so much better an hour later. 

To make meatballs:

Combine hamburger with everything else. Mash it together and roll it into meatballs that are 1-2 inches across (remember they'll shrink). Cook in skillet until no longer pink in center. 

Serve on buns of some sort with the slaw or whatever other toppings make you and yourn happiest. 

A Word on Waste: 

If you end up with leftover slaw, don't throw it out. Save it and the next day add some granny smith apples (or another crisp apple) and/or raisins to make a salad out of it. 

PRINTABLE RECIPE

6 Ways to Stretch Ground Beef

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 eats, or tries to, on $6/day.

6 Ways to Stretch Ground Beef

1. Add sweet potato puree. I'd begin with about 1/4 C per pound of beef. It makes it go a little further, it adds some extra nutrition, and--in my humble opinion--it actually makes the beef taste a bit better as it adds a touch of sweetness and complexity to the flavor of the meat. The best part about this addition is that I've never had anyone in my family know it's there. Ah, sweet deception.

2. Add quick oats. Again, I'd begin with about 1/4 C per pound of beef, though if that goes over well, you may be able to add more as it doesn't affect the texture as much as too much sweet potato would. Beware, however, because if you go too far, the meat/oatmeal mixture will become bland. Consequently, you can get away with more in ground beef for a pasta sauce than you can for, say, a burger.

3. Beans. You can mash them and they will have a similar look and texture to the ground beef and if seasoned similarly can be used without easy detection in your ground beef recipes (start with 1/4 C per pound of ground beef and see how it goes). I expect that many kinds of beans will work, but pinto have similar coloring and therefore hide the best; while white beans have a milder taste than some beans and therefore are harder for picky eaters to detect. And if your family doesn't care to see a bean mixed in with their ground beef, you can add a ton of beans to just a bit of beef (ala beef bean burritos). The flavor of the beef will transfer nicely to the beans and you'll end up with a cheaper, healthier filling for tacos, casseroles, shepherd's pie, whatever.

4. Chopped mushrooms. You heard me. Mushrooms are often described as being meaty and if you chop them up fine and maybe even saute them in some butter if you want to be fancy, you'll probably get away with this one. Chop 'em up good and beware the super tasters. Also, I'm not sure mushrooms will cheapen your meat, but they will make it less caloric/lower fat and add some extra nutrients. (P.S. You'll want to sweat the water out before you use them for burgers (by sauteeing them first), although you can probably just throw them in with ground beef if you're browning it.)

5. Whole wheat bread crumbs. If you've ever made meat loaf or meatballs, you probably know that bread crumbs work well with ground beef. Don't use too much or you'll end up with a gummy sort of texture, but if you use the right amount (1/4 C-1/2 C per pound of beef), there's a good chance you might like your burgers even better with some bread crumbs thrown in. (To make the bread crumbs, throw a few pieces of bread in the blender and have at it. You'll have crumbs in no time.) You can also use saltine crackers. These won't add nutrition (and they'll wreck your Atkins diet, as will probably all these suggestions), but they do reduce the calories/fat somewhat and they cheapen the meal. (Also, I think Saltines in meatloaf are awesome. Yum, salt.)

6. Use less. Generally speaking, I'd say that in most recipes, the ground beef can be reduced by half, without you and yourn even noticing the difference.

Beef Bean Burrito Filling

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 learns to eat on $6/day.

This is no beauty queen.

It's barely even a recipe.

But it contains beans and it passed the Kip-nearly-impossible-test-of-beany-approval, so I'm posting it anyway.

It has a sweetness to it and a wee bit of barbeque-y-ness (which is surely not a word to be found by Webster). These things allow it to pass the picky man test.

Also, it's a great way to reduce the cost of your ground beefy recipes because you can use significantly less beef. Many thanks to Cara from whom this idea sprang.

Beef Bean Burrito Filling
Serves 4-6
Prep and cook time: 10 minutes
Cost: $1.55 (That's as opposed to the $3.99 it would have cost me to brown a pound of ground beef.)
(beef: 1.00--I use beef that is more expensive because though not entirely grass fed, the cows are given more space and are more humanely treated than is the standard; pork and beans: .55)

1/4-1/3 lb ground beef
1 can pork and beans
1/2 tsp taco seasoning if you wish (I skipped it)

Brown the beef in a skillet. Dump in pork and beans and heat up. Cook off some of the liquid if it's too runny for you. Throw it in your burrito with any other burrito fixings you enjoy.

If you think this is the cheating-est recipe you've ever seen and you'd rather die before using a can of pork and beans when you just spent your entire Saturday rehydrating beans because you are a pioneer and a true cheapskate (unlike some people), you can probably replicate (though I can't promise because I totally used the pork and beans because I am a shameless cheater, {but I do make my own BBQ sauce, so I bet this will work} [and, yes, I did just use a parenthetical statement within a parenthetical statement within a parenthetical statement because I am also a hopeless rambler]}). Um, where was I?

Anyway, you can use:
1/4 lb ground beef
1 1/2 C rehydrated pinto beans
1/4 C finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp worcheshire sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4-1/2 C ketchup or tomato paste (depending on how utterly pure and virginal you want this to be--if using the tomato paste, you probably want to double the sauces, vinegar, and brown sugar).

Add the onion to the ground beef and cook. Add the garlic. Add the sauces, vinegar, sugar, and ketchup/tomato paste. Then add the beans. It should have a similar effect (especially if you sort of still cheat and use the ketchup).

Cheaters may not prosper, but they do have shorter ingredient lists.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

P.S. Yes, you do deserve a Saturday sweet, but I didn't post the carrot cake I made this week in an effort to save time by posting this 2-ingredient, er, recipe. (Have I mentioned I'm a cheater.) But worry not, because I have a link for you. I'm planning to try this chocolate chip cookie recipe tomorrow to see if it can compete with either of ours. So if you need a sweet fix, give it a whirl. Or have a look at any of the other recipes on Sweet as Sugar Cookies.