Baked Spaghetti, Witch Fingers and Monster Teeth

3 recipes 1 post

It’s been raining and cold here and this baked spaghetti was a great meal to warm us all up. It’s the ultimate comfort food, fast, easy, yummy! We had ours with a nice spinach salad and warm fresh homemade bread. Life is good!


INGREDIENTS
Adapted from All-recipes
· 12 ounces spaghetti
· 1 cup chopped onions
· 1 cup chopped green bell peppers
· 1 pound lean ground beef
· 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
· 1 (4.5 ounce) can mushrooms, drained
· 1 teaspoon dried oregano
· 2 cups shredded mild Cheddar cheese
· 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
· 1/4 cup water
· 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spaghetti, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain, and set aside.
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute the onions, green peppers and ground beef. Once beef is brown and onions and peppers softened, add the tomatoes, mushrooms and oregano. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place half of the cooked spaghetti into the prepared dish. Top with half of the meat mixture. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the mild Cheddar cheese. Repeat. In a medium bowl, mix together cream of mushroom soup and water until smooth; pour over casserole. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Monster Teeth
These are a fast and easy snack to prepare for all the little monsters in your life. They always get a big smile.


Ingredients

• Red Apples, any variety will do in fact green would be fun too.
• Mini Marshmallows
• Peanut Butter or almond butter
  

Directions

• Core and section your apples
• Spread peanut butter on one side of all the slices.
• Stick 5 to 6 mini marshmallows on half of the apple slices.
• Top with the other apple slices and serve.

Witch Fingers

I was not going to post these as they can be found all over the Internet and blogosphere but I’ve had too many people ask for the recipe and this is an easy way to mass distribute it.
A fun variation is to add a drop or two of green food coloring to the dough to give it a more sickly hue.

Witch Finger Cookie Recipe
Yield: 5 dozen
· 1 cup powdered sugar
· 1 cup Butter, softened
· 1 Egg
· 1 tsp Almond extract(I stopped using this)
· 1 tsp Vanilla extract
· 2 2/3 cups Flour
· 1 tsp Salt

· 3/4 cup whole Almonds, blanched

· 1 tube red decorating gel

· green food coloring

In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla; beat in the flour, and salt. Add a couple drops of green food coloring to dough, until it has a light green tint. Divide the dough into four equal parts, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 325F. Take one quarter of dough at a time from the refrigerator. Break off one heaping teaspoonful and roll it into a finger shape, then press an almond firmly into one end for a nail. Squeeze in around the middle of the finger to create a knuckle shape. Using a butter knife, make indents in several places to resemble a finger. Repeat with rest of dough. Place cookies on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool three minutes. Gently lift up the almond; squeeze red decorating gel onto the nailbed and press the almond back in place, so gel oozes out from underneath. Remove cookies from baking sheets and let them cool on wire racks.

Zucchini Rice Casserole

When I was a kid my mom made only one casserole, which I still remember. She continues to make it and so do I. It’s always a hit and always yummy. There is a bit of prep work but with our modern kitchen conveniences it makes short work of it. This casserole is my go to meal whenever I want to bring a meal to someone, as we did this week for our sweet neighbor who had her second baby a few weeks ago. I make this because I can leave it unbaked and then the family can either bake it then or freeze it to eat later. The recipe comes from my mom’s 1974 Southern living Casseroles Cookbook. I’ll give my adapted version that is 35 years in the making. OH, and by the way I remember her telling us she was making this for the first time. She had a small mutiny on her hands…until we all tasted it.

Zucchini Rice Casserole

Adapted from Southern Livings Casseroles Cookbook.

Circa 1974

Ingredients:

This will make two casseroles. So if you don’t want to give or freeze one then cut the recipe in half.

• 3 C cooked rice
• 2 Lbs. Ground beef, I’ve used ground turkey and it tastes the same.
• 1 onion
• Lots of Oregano, I use fresh.
• Salt/Pepper
  
• 6 large zucchini, sliced
• 2 large tubs or large curd cottage cheese
• 4 Cans of cream of mushroom soup
• Breadcrumbs

Directions:

• Cook rice. I actually cook mine in the microwave so that I can reduce my amount of prep time.
• While the rice is cooking brown the beef with the onion and oregano and set-aside until the rice if done cooking.

• Wash, cut and cook the zucchini. Leave it a bit al dente as it will bake again and you don’t want it mushy. Again, I use the microwave to do this step.
• While the zucchini is cooking mix the beef and rice together. I just dump the rice into the cooling pan with the beef.

After the zucchini is cooked it's time to start layering the casserole.

Here is the order:

• ½ of the zucchini
• Rice/beef mixture
• Cottage cheese
• Zucchini
• Cream of mushroom soup
• Breadcrumbs
  

Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes.

Time to eat! YUM!

Meatballs, Green Beans and Mushroom with Spaghetti

Have you ever had one of those nights where cooking was more of a chore than a joy. Well Last night started that way for me. My husband was working late (again), the kids were well GRUMPY and the grocery fairy was a no show (again).

I had a pound of ground beef thawed out, no plan and no real desire for anything. My first thought was to go with my dad’s old stand by recipe, gruel. Gruel is ground beef mixed with cream of mushroom soup served over mashed potatoes or rice. Gruel was a favorite of mine as a kid and my kids like it but it seems so heavy and it’s 100 degrees here in Texas. So here is what we ended up having.

Ingredients:

• 1lb Ground beef
• Basil Pesto
• Salt/pepper
• Garlic
• ½ a Red Onion, chopped
• Fresh Green Beans
• Fresh Baby Bellas, sliced
• Edam Cheese for topping
• 1 lb Whole wheat spaghetti

Directions:

• Boil salted for the pasta. Add Pasta when the water boils.
• Mix the beef and pesto in a bowl and roll into mini meatball. I ended up with about 20 meatballs.
• Brown the meatballs in a splash of olive oil.
• Add the onion, green beans and mushrooms then simmer over low heat, cover until the pasta is al dente.
• Drain the pasta and mix with the meatball veggie mixture.
• Grate the cheese on top and serve.

My 6-year-old had three helpings and I had very little clean up. A 20-minute meal and one happy family.

Stacked Burrito Pie

I feel like I've been playing catch up ever since our computer died a few weeks ago.
I'm working to get back in the groove, which is not easy now that I've lost my camera too. It's been a bit of a technology black hole at our house. First the computer, then my daughter put my cell phone in the toilet and now I've lost my camera. Anyway, the short of it is that I'm trying to get back on track and hope you all understand why I've been a bit flighty lately. Don't forget you don't need glasses it's just the stinky pictures from my cell phone.

Stacked Burrito Pie.
Adapted from " family-fun Magazine"

Ingredients
1 Medium Onion, chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
1 lb ground beef. (I used chicken this time. We had some leftover from grilling)
2 Tsp Chili Powder
1 Tsp Cumin
2 tsp paprika
Salt and Pepper
1 Can Black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Can Corn (I cut mine off the stalk. again leftover from grilling)
4 - 10 inch flour Tortillas
Sour Cream
Salsa
Cheddar or Monterey Cheese ( I used the Mexican blend that Costco sells)

Directions:
Saute in skillet garlic and onion. Once soft add spices and brown. When the meat is browned, add the beans and corn and cook until almost all liquid is evaporated. Let cool 10 minutes or so.

Using a spring-form pan, greased on bottom, begin to layer.
Spread a thin layer of sour cream, Salsa, beef and then grated cheese. Repeat three more times ending with cheese.
Bake at 350°f until heated through (about 30 minutes). Allow to cool another 10 minutes then carefully remove from pan. I left the outer rim of the pan loosely in place while I was cutting.

Day of "Rest" feast

Today, on my DAY OFF, yeah right, I kissed my husband good-bye and watched him leave for his trip to LAX. I should have known then that this would not be a typical Sunday but the sun was high and the day warm. Who could have guessed the mayhem to come.
Ten minutes after my husband left my 2-year-old daughter threw dirt in my 4 year-old son’s eye. He, Bryson, was rolling on the sidewalk screaming and crying. Keep in mind that he’s a middle child so all this is normal. After a minute of him not getting up I took him in to flush out his eyes. More crying and more screaming followed, again not too unusual for my boy.
Then, off to church, lunch, and dropping the 6-year-old off at religion class. An hour later I picked him up from his class and drove the 4-year-old to soccer practice. After 10 minutes in the sun I knew that I would be making a trip to the ER. So, I dropped the two other children off at mom’s house and headed to the ER with Bryson. 2 hours later I got back to mom’s to pick up the kids. While gathering shoes, my SWEET daughter runs as fast as she can to my parent’s bedroom. WHY? Well to consume a bottle of thyroid pills I guess??? I scoop the pills out of her mouth, throw the boys in the car and head back to the ER. So, a few hours later life is finally returning to “normal”. Normal…1 crying, 1 throwing up and 1 yelling “Mom what’s for dinner”.
IF your day went anything like mine then “what’s for dinner” seems a huge task but fast food even bigger. All I could think was that none of the drive- through restaurants offer wine and I sure could use a glass.

So if you spent your day shuttling kids to and from the ER, religion class and soccer then here’s a quick and easy solution to “mom, what’s for dinner?”

Ingredients:
½ diced Onion
1lb Ground Beef
2 Links of Hot Italian sausage
1 can of Great Northern Beans
1 can of Sliced Mushrooms
Fresh Parsley
Salt and Pepper
1 lb Penne Pasta

Direction:

Start salted water to boil for pasta. Brown onion, beef and sausage while pouring yourself a glass of wine. Add beans, mushroom and all spices to meat mixture. Simmer until the pasta is ready. Throw everything together and eat.

Husband's Delight

As promised….Husband’s Delight from our fun 1974 Southern Living’s Casseroles Cookbook.

I’m not so sure that it is really a delight, lots of cheese and noodles. My husband is more of a meat and potatoes, stick to your ribs kind of guy. My kids on the other hand were delighted by this meal. I have never had hamburger helper meals but I’ve seen them on the shelf in stores many times and have imagined their taste. If I were forced to equate this meal to something I think I would choose a hamburger helper meal.
And from my wife perspective it’s a lot of prep work and a lot of cleaning for a little bang.
So, if you are so inclined to prepare Husband’s delight for your husbands make sure there are kids around to eat it all up. Also, I think it needs more seasoning.

Husband’s Delight recipe
Adapted from Southern Living’s Casseroles Cookbook
Copyright 1974
Cost $1.95

1 1/2 pound Ground Beef
1 8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 C Sour Cream
3 green Onions
2 tablespoons of butter (I used Olive oil)
2 8oz cans of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon Sugar
1-Teaspoon Salt
Dash Pepper
Dash of Worcestershire Sauce
2 5oz packages of noodles
½ cup shredded Cheese

In bowl, mix cream cheese, sour cream and onions.
Brown meat in butter (olive oil): add tomato sauce, sugar, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.

Cook noodles according to package directions.
In 2-quart casserole dish, alternate layers of noodles, beef mixture and sour cream mixture.
Top with shredded cheese and bake at 350°f until brown.

What I changed:
I used Olive oil to brown my meat instead of butter.
1 pound of noodles instead of 10ozs.
More sour cream so that just a tiny bit would not be left in the container and more than ½ cup of shredded cheese.

Again, my kids loved it and I MAY make it just for them.

Real Spagetti and Meatballs

This is my first post for Barefoot Bloggers . For those of you who are not familiar with Barefoot bloggers, they are a community of bloggers who twice monthly make and share recipes from Ina Garten’s cookbooks. Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake selected this month’s first recipe. She choose Real spagetti and Meatballs from Barefoot Contessa Family Style, page 103

I make red sauce and Meatballs often so I was eager to try her recipe. I vowed to follow it to the T as to not compete with my own recipe. Her meatball recipe is much different than mine and it was fun to try something new. I will however revert to my own recipe the next time I make meatballs. Her sauce is very light compared to mine and was a nice complement with the heavy meatballs.

Her recipe:
OK The only thing I changed was NO VEAL! I also broiled the meatballs and doubled both recipes to freeze some for later meals.

For the meatballs:

1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 slices, crusts removed)
1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 extra-large egg, beaten
Vegetable oil
Olive oil

For the sauce:

1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For serving:nocoupons
1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions :
Place the ground meats, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs.
Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don't crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don't clean the pan.
For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper. Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.

Oven Meal

I cracked the seal, again, on a circa 1974 cookbook that I found in my kitchen.

This cookbook had me in stitches. It is full of add lard here, cream this, butter that. I mean heart attack material. The best part is that my Mom made lots of the recipes in this cookbook and still makes one frequently. None of us have had any major health issues so we survived the cookbook. Now it’s time to pass on the recipes and fun to you guys and my own family. I promise I’ll cut back on the lard and modify where necessary.

Oven Meal
Adapted from Southern Living’s Casseroles Cookbook
Copyright 1974
Cost $1.95

2 C Diced raw Potatoes
2 C Chopped Celery
2 C Ground Beef (1-1/2lbs)
1 C Chopped green peppers
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
2 Cups Canned Tomatoes
1 C Sliced Onion

Place potatoes, celery, beef and green peppers by layers in a 3-quart casserole dish. Sprinkle salt and pepper over each layer. Pour tomatoes over top, then add a layer of sliced onion.
Cover casserole and bake at 375°F for 1-1/2 hours
Yield: 6 servings

Now What I did:
5 Potatoes
6 or 7 Celery stalks
2 lbs Raw Ground Beef
Yellow bell Pepper
8 Green Onions
2 Cans of Chopped Stewed Tomatoes
1 Sliced Onion
Salt and Pepper
Smoked Paprika

Layered onion, green onions, pepper, celery and RAW ground beef.
Added salt, pepper and Paprika.

Topped with canned tomatoes and onion slices.

Covered and baked for 1-1/2 hours or until I knew the beef was good and cooked.

My husband thought it tasted like an Old Fashion Beef Stew and my 6-year-old said it would be a good recipe for the blog.

So Blogging world here you go….I give you Oven Meal!

Oh and a pre-view of another fun recipe.

Mama's Meatballs and Subs

Meatball subs are a BIG treat at our house. I only make meatballs a few times a year but when I do I always make extras to freeze for subs later.
If you’ve been following this blog at all then you know by now that I often make things that seem hard but really only take a few minutes. My goal is to feed a family of five fast, easy, healthy, and yummy meals. That being said I freeze a lot of things for later use. It’s amazing how many different meals you can make from the original one.

We annually host our extended family for Christmas Eve dinner. The meal is one that I treasure and look forward to all year. The cooking and preparation for the meal takes several days, so if I can save some for later meals I do. I come from an Italian American family so we have a LARGE pasta meal for Christmas Eve. One of the entrees is of course meatballs. I made about 6 pounds of meatballs this past Christmas. I saved approximately 30 of those meatballs for subs.

Meatball Recipe:
1 lb Ground beef
1 Egg
Breadcrumbs
Basil
Parsley
Salt and Pepper

Mix all ingredients and form into small bite size balls.
Place them in a large pan and broil until they are cooked through but not WELL-DONE. For sub making, I steal some at this point to freeze.
Add them to sauce and simmer all day.

Sub Recipe:
Frozen Meatballs
Frozen Tomato Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Bakery Fresh Rolls
Make sure you use fresh baked rolls. They make all the difference.
Cut the rolls lengthwise
Add thawed meatballs. I cut them in half so they don’t fall out when you take a bite.
Spread thawed tomato sauce onto the meatballs.
Top with loads of mozzarella cheese.
Broil until well toasted and cheese is melted.

These are so easy and yummy! My six-year-old even loves to take them to school the next day for lunch. What a great feeling when your son says “MOM CAN I HAVE THIS IN MY LUNCH BOX?”. I think he also likes it because the kids always ask if he got them from Subway and he likes to say “NO, my mom made it.”

These would be a nice treat for Super Bowl Sunday too!

Chili Pot-Pie

Looking for something fun to feed the family on Super BOWL Sunday?


Try these! They are a winner with my team. Everyone has their own bowl and that makes the men of my house feel very special. OK, the girls like it too.
I love them because they are so easy to make and always a crowd pleaser.

Start with individual bowls (oven safe) one for each person at your table.
Fill the bowls with your favorite chili recipe.

This is what I used to make mine.
Ground Turkey
Sweet Sausage
Canned Tomatoes
Canned Paste
Kidney Beans
Black Beans
Chili Powder
Smoked Paprika
Dash of Chipotle Tabasco
Garlic and Onion
Salt and Pepper
Oregano
Parsley
Then we went for a jog/bike ride while the chili was cooking.

Layer green onion on top of the chili.

Spread Cheese on top of the chili. I used a cheddar/jack blend.
Grease the outer rim of each bowl and place a piece of pie crust or Puff Pastry dough over the bowl and seal. I used ready-made pie crust.
Seal by pressing the crust against the greasy rim of the bowl.
Bake at 375°F until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle some extra cheese and sour cream on top.
Allow to cool a few minutes then let the team dive in!



We also had this quick and easy dessert in honor of Inauguration day

It's just a sheet of Puff Pastry dough.
Whipped Cream and frozen fruit.
Sprinkled with ice sugar.
Comments and questions always welcome and needed for growth.