Meat Loaf

Wow. It has been a minute. It has been a crazy two years. I think I am back now though :)

I have been wanting meatloaf for a while now, but I was waiting on beef. I finally got some! Wahoo! Now I needed a recipe. So I did what I always do, went to Pinterest :) Here is the one I found, I didn't search much to be honest. I opened this one up and had everything I needed so my search stopped.

Classic Meatloaf Recipe


Prep time

15 mins


Cook time

1 hour 20 mins


Total time

1 hour 35 mins


Recipe type: Dinner

Cuisine: Comfort Food

Serves: 6 servings


Ingredients
•1½ lbs ground beef
•¾ cup quick oatmeal
•¾ cup milk
•1 egg
•½ cup onion, finely diced (or grate it if your kids will freak out if they see a piece of onion)
•1¼ tsp salt
•¼ tsp pepper
•⅓ cup ketchup
•2 tbsp brown sugar
•1 tbsp mustard



Instructions


1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.Combine ground beef, oatmeal, milk, egg, onion, salt and pepper in a medium sized mixing bowl. Using your hand, incorporate everything into the meat. This only takes 30 seconds or so, you do not want to over mix.
3.Transfer meat into a large loaf pan and press it down evenly into the pan.
4.Mix ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard in a small bowl. Pour over meatloaf.
5.Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes
6.Remove from oven and drain off excess grease. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

This is what my house looks like with a clever, curious 2 year old :)

This is what was going on while I was trying to cook dinner. Husband outside burning the ditch, while I had to keep a hungry 7 month old happy :)

I am a visual person, I like to have this somewhere I don't have to unlock with gross hands :) I also made it a little more condensed.

I made some sautéed veggies to go with, perfect side for this! My husband wasn't home for dinner, he had it later. We LOVED this! So good! The sauce was awesome! My almost 4 year old had 2 1/2 slices, my 2 year old had 2 slices. They even ate all their veggies so they could have more! That is when you know it is good! My husband came home after young mens and ate. He couldn't stop telling me how good the sauce was. He told me at least 3 times that I need to put this one in the recipe box. So I added it :) Keeper for sure!!

Rainbow Noodles

So this one I have seen pictures of the finished product and never saw how to do it so I guessed.

I got 4 pots of boiling water, put a different color of food coloring in each one. Then cooked the noodles as usual.
I made some yummy sauce and we enjoyed it :) something super fun to do with the kids.

Taco Spaghetti

Say what?? Taco spaghetti. That sounds....different....why not try it. haha That was my thinking on this one. I have one of those husbands that eats anything. So I gave it a try.

Here is where I found it

INGREDIENTS:

5 oz. dried spaghetti, broken
1 lb. ground beef (or turkey)
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 cup water
2 tbsp. taco seasoning mix
11 oz. can whole kernel corn with peppers, drained
1 cup sliced pitted black olives
1 cup colby jack or cheddar, shredded
1/2 cup salsa
4 oz. can diced green chili peppers, drained
shredded lettuce
tortilla chips
tomato
sour cream, optional

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. In a 12-inch skillet, cook beef and onion until meat is brown. Drain fat. Stir in water and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cooked pasta, corn, olives, half of the cheese, salsa, and green chili peppers.

3. Transfer mixture to lightly greased 2-quart round casserole. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake until melted.

4. Serve with shredded lettuce, tortilla chips, tomatoes, and sour cream, if desired.



Well, it was different. That is for sure. We did add canned beans, good add. Once you get past the fact that is it taco spaghetti, it is actually kind of good. It took my husband longer then me to get past the fact. We just ate it like a casserole. I will make this one again. It was pretty good, and easy.

Doritos Crusted Chicken Fingers

Who doesn't love Doritos? And I love chicken fingers! So I knew I HAD to try this one out! It just sounds yummy!

Here is where I found it

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 large bag of Doritos, nacho flavor (or flavour of choice)
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
4 eggs
cooking spray, optional
Instructions
Cut the chicken into thin ½ inch strips.
Place the chicken in a bowl and pour in the buttermilk. Stir so the chicken is coated in the buttermilk. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for about 2 hours.
Using a food processor, crush the Doritos so that they are a texture similar to panko or coarse bread crumbs. Set aside in a large bowl.
Place flour and optional cayenne pepper in one bowl and eggs in another. Whisk the eggs so that they are well scrambled.
Preheat oven to 400F and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Set up the four bowls in order: 1. bowl with the chicken, 2. bowl with the flour, 3. bowl with the beaten eggs, 4. bowl with the crushed Doritos.
Using a fork, lift out a few chicken strips and let excess buttermilk drain off. Place them in the flour and dredge them in so they are all coated in flour. Lift the chicken strips out of the flour and shake off any excess. Place them in the egg wash and turn them so they are evenly coated in egg. Lift them out of the egg and then dredge in the crushed Doritos. Place the coated chicken fingers on the baking sheet. Do this with the remaining chicken strips.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through.
Serve with buttermilk ranch dip, bbq sauce or your favorite dip.




Well to start out, I didn't put them in buttermilk for an hour. I just dipped them in milk first.
I can tell you, they did not taste at all like Doritos. They tasted like corn chips. The chips were also soggy...not something I like. I do not plan to make these again. They weren't horrible...but they werent good.

Caprese pasta

I was working on my meal planning skills and found this. It looked easy and yummy!! My husband likes anything with cream in it...partly so he can drink the leftover cream...

Here is the link


Ingredients

1 lb rigatoni pasta
1 tsp kosher salt
1 TB olive oil
2 cups prego spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 ounces mozzarella
1 cup grape tomatoes
3-5 fresh basil leaves
Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook pasta according to package in a large pot of water with salt. Once pasta is fully cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil.
In a large pan warm spaghetti sauce over medium heat. One the sauce is heated, add in heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Once cheese is melted pour sauce over noodles.
Cut grape tomatoes in half and mozzarella in 1/2 inch cubes. Then combine the mozzarella (save about 1/4 cup) and tomatoes with the pasta. Pour into a 9x9 baking dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Top with fresh basil. Enjoy!

Well the flavor was great! The only problem was it was too dry. I didn't add the tomatoes....not a fan of cooked tomatoes. I also did extra mozzerella. Next time I'll make extra sauce and cover it while baking.

Busy Day Lasagna Toss

I am a fan of lasagna, but hate the time it takes. So I wanted to try this one out :)

Here is the link

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1 C. green pepper, chopped
1/2 C. onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
26 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
1 2/3 C. water
1/4 C. Italian salad dressing (prepared not dry)
1/4 C. brown sugar (I used 1 Tbsp. and it was plenty sweet)
12 no boil lasagna noodles, uncooked (or use regular noodles and just break them up, then cook them in a pot of water and add to the beef mixture)
1/2 C. ricotta or cottage cheese
1 C. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
Brown beef in a large deep skillet over medium heat; drain.
Add pepper, onion, and garlic; saute until tender.
Stir in sauce, water, salad dressing and brown sugar. If using regular noodles, leave out the water.
Bring to a boil.
Break each noodle into 4 pieces; stir into mixture.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook, stirring occasionally until noodles are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Stir in ricotta or cottage cheese.
Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese; cover.
Let stand for about 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.
Serves 6.

From getting the hamburger out of the freezer to sitting down and eating was under an hour! How great is that? This meal was also great! I loved it! I only did the TBS of brown sugar, and my green pepper was an anaheim. Next time I plan to try regular noodles and boil them while I brown the hamburger. I can't wait to make this afain! My hubbie says it's as good, if not better then lasagna :)

{Copycat} Panera Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These just looked yummy! I am a sucker for chocolate chip cookies!!

http://www.thepinningmama.com/2013/05/15/copycat-panera-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/

{Copycat} Panera Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Serves: 24 Large Cookies

Ingredients

1 c butter, softened
1/2 c shortening
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions

Mix butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.
Combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and mix together.
Mix dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and blend well.
If the dough is crumbly, stir in water 1 teaspoon at a time until it just holds together. The dough should not be sticky.
Add in chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.
Using ¼ cup measure, scoop out dough and form into a ball. Continue until all dough is balled. Approx 24 cookies.
Place dough in the freezer for 2 hours or up to 3 months.
Place frozen cookie onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 min.
Let cool 2 minutes.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. This is my new go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies!! I love that you can just pull out a few and alway have fresh warm cookies :) I only have 2 left in my freezer....they haven't lasted an entire week!! The recipe made 24, I am sure they could have been 25 if some dough didn't 'disappear' :) I also only had regular size chips, worked great! We baked them 16 or 17 minutes. In my house we only use milk chocolate chip! I might have to make a new batch today!!