Taco Salad

This is a tasty treat. I haven't had it in forever and came across this recipe. Now as you can see from the photo I followed the recipe and added a bottle of Catilina dressing. Note to self: Half a bottle will do ya. I also think you could eat it plain without the dressing. I took a bite and it was lovely. Or just let each person "dress" their own. Here it is. Plain and simple and quick and easy.

1lb. ground meat

1 package taco seasoning

1 can black olives sliced

1 can ranch style beans drained and rinsed

2 c. shredded cheese

1 cup shredded carrots

1 head chopped lettuce

1 tomato chopped

1 small bunch green onions sliced

1 bag nacho cheese Doritos crushed

1 bottle catalina salad dressing



Brown hamburger and add taco seasoning, let cool. Add all ingredients together and dress with catalina when ready to eat. Garnish with avocado.

Indian Tacos

I used to love going to any kind of festival where food is served so I could happily pay my six bucks for an Indian Taco. Then one day I was talking to Mommie Dearest and said I really wanted an Indian Taco. She responded, "why don't you just make some." I told her I didn't know how and I got my hiney in my car and went on down to her house so she could enlighten me. It is super easy and super cheap. You can make a lot of Indian tacos for the price of one. And even better you can make it to your liking. Do you want a small Indian Taco with less meat and more sour cream or would you like a giant taco. The kind that will shame you into eating it in the closet? Either way whip one up at home and save some cash. Here's how.

1. purchase fry bread mix. Yes! They sell it at the grocery store. It's next to the flour, corn meal, etc. and it looks like this.



Just follow the directions on the package. It is really simple and is very tasty.
Then make your meat sauce. Here is what I do.

Take one pound of hamburger meat and brown in the skillet. Then add one can of pinto beans and one packet of taco seasoning along with the 3/4 cups of water suggested on the packet. Let it simmer down. Top you taco with this meat sauce, lettuce, onions, tomato, salsa, cheese, sour cream. Whatever you like really. And there you have it. One delicious Indian Taco.
This post is linked to The Grocery Cart Challenge. AND Tasty Tuesday

Porcupine Meatballs

I have neglected this blog for several months and decided I either needed to stop doing it or start posting some stuff! I wanted to keep it because it is handy for me to have all my recipes in one place and hopefully you all enjoy trying some of them. I realized that I am only posting meatball recipes under beef which is weird since I use beef a lot. I will get some more options under the beef category! These are my very favorite meatballs on the planet earth. They are so tasty. My friend Heather makes these for her family all the time and her mother-in-law brought them to me after Benjamon was born. They make a huge batch and freeze great. One batch makes three meals for my family. We eat the first ones and then I seperate into two freezer bags for later.

1 package Beef Rice-A-Roni
1 package Chicken Rice-A-Roni
2 lbs. ground beef
2 beaten eggs
2 1/2 cups of water

Combine rice mix from both packages with ground beef and eggs. Add beef seasoning packet to meat and rice. Shape into meatballs. Brown in a large skillet or electric skillet. Combine contents of chicken seasoning packet and water. Pour over meatballs. Cover and simmer 30 minutes OR if you are making these in your electric skillet you can put the lit on and cook on the lowest setting for a few hours.

Pizza Meatballs

Okay so this isn't the best photo I have ever taken. Sorry. Sometimes I forget to take pictures of my dinner. I serve these meatballs with spaghetti. Since my hubby doesn't really like spaghetti much I have to jazz it up so he won't complain. The kids and I like to eat spaghetti and obiously it is a frugal meal. I cut this recipe in half and it makes plenty for our dinner and then enough for Jamon to have meatball sandwhiches for lunch. See, everyone is happy now. I got this from an old Taste of Home magazine. I love cheese so the cheese in the middle makes these meatballs extra yummy. Here you go.

Ingredients:
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup dried minced onion
2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 pounds ground beef
1 block (8 ounces) mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup canola oil
2 jars (28 ounces each) pizza sauce (Just use regular size jars of sauce. This is a lot of sauce if you do 28 ounces)

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 48 meatballs. Cut mozzarella into 48 cubes, 1/2 in. each; push a cube into the center of meatball, covering the cheese completely with meat. Roll lightly in flour.
In a large skillet, brown meatballs in oil; drain. Add pizza sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until meatballs are no longer pink. Serve over pasta or rice, in buns or as an appetizer. Yield: 4 dozen.

Meatballs (Yup, nothing fancy Meatballs)

So I can’t believe I haven’t posted a Pioneer Woman recipe yet. I know you can’t either right? It just occurred to me that I have a few newer cooks/bloggers following and you may not know the Pioneer Woman? Say it isn’t so? Surely you know about this lovely lady who resides right here in Oklahoma. Anyway I love her and have made several of her dishes and they are ALL amazing!! CLICK HERE for this meatball recipe. It was oh so good. I have several recipes for meatballs/meatloaf that I use to change it up. But JR (shall we call him that from now on? Let’s.) commented that these were really good. It made a big pan so tomorrow we will have leftover meatballs on an open-faced sub that I will cook in the oven with cheese on top. I know I’m a genius. What can I say…?

Freezer Spaghetti

Since I have already spent my grocery budget for the month let’s talk about some other stuff shall we? When you make a casserole do you end up throwing out the leftovers after a few days? I hate to waste food and I hate to eat leftovers. Here’s how I solve it. Instead of making things in a 9X13 I use two smaller pans. We eat one and I freeze the other to eat later. This dish is really just spaghetti that I put in a casserole. My hubs doesn’t really like spaghetti much so I have to trick him by changing it up. I use whatever I have on hand. Here is my example:
Boil your noodles (whatever you have) & drain
Brown meat-this dish has ½ pound of sausage, ½ pound of hamburger
Then I add any veggies I have. Mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes. Just whatever you like and have at home.
Mix your noodles and meat. Add spaghetti sauce. Put in the two dishes. Then I put pepperoni on top because I had some that needed to be used.
I add cheese to the one I will bake and leave the other. I prefer mozzarella but anything will work. I don’t add the cheese until I thaw and cook.
Bake at 350 until heated and cheese melts. About 15-20 minutes.
Let the freezer meal cool and then top with foil. I write the date, what it is, and cooking directions on the foil. This comes in handy if you need one of the men folk to put it in the oven. Then top with a lid if you have one. If not the foil alone will be fine. The night before I will cook this I put it in the fridge so it has all night and the next day to thaw. Then I take it out, top with cheese, bake and have a super easy meal.

Eight Layer Casserole

This is a good freezer casserole. When I make this I just split into two pans and put one in the freezer to serve later. These ingredients are simple and cheap and most you will have on hand. I hope you will give this one a try! kreid

Ingredients
· 3 cups dried medium noodles (6 ounces)
· 1 pound ground beef
· 2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
· 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
· 1/2 teaspoon sugar
· 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
· 1/4 teaspoon salt
· 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
· 1 8-ounce carton dairy sour cream
· 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
· 1/2 cup milk
· 1/3 cup chopped onion (1 small)
· 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, cooked and well drained
· 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
Directions
1. Grease a 2-quart casserole or a 2-quart square baking dish; set aside. Cook noodles according to package directions; drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook beef until brown. Drain off fat. Stir tomato sauce, basil, sugar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
3. In a medium mixing bowl beat together the sour cream and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Stir in milk and onion. In prepared casserole or baking dish, layer half of the noodles (about 2 cups), half of the meat mixture (about 1 1/2 cups), half of the cream cheese mixture (about 1 cup), and all of the spinach. Top with the remaining meat mixture and noodles. Cover and chill remaining cream cheese mixture until needed.
4. Cover casserole or baking dish with lightly greased foil. Bake in 350 degree F oven about 45 minutes or until heated through. Uncover; spread with remaining cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with the cheddar cheese. Bake, uncovered, about 10 minutes more or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
5. Makes 8 servings
6. Make-ahead directions: Prepare as directed through Step 3. Cover with lightly greased foil and chill in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes or until heated through. Uncover; spread with remaining cream-cheese mixture. Sprinkle with the cheddar cheese.Bake, uncovered, about 10 minutes more or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before baking.