Our Family Bog

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Meatloaf

I have investigated the meatloaf recipes online and I've decided it's pretty much anything goes as long as you have enough moisture and your meat binds. So really you can concoct something new every time. I used the kitchen aid to mix so I didn't have to touch the raw meat, which I find more gross than normal while pregnant.
This is 2 pounds of ground beef with a Lipton Onion Soup mix packet:

I chopped a couple of stalks of celery in the cuisinart mini prep

And a jar of roasted red pepper -- I drained the juice oil first.

I also added 2 cups of shredded zucchini that I froze last summer from our garden---once it thaws it seems like WAY less than 2 cups, so maybe fresh you'd need less. I discovered our carrots were dead so I didn't use any but normally I would. I used 1/2 cup italian bread crumbs and about 1/2-3/4 cup of Huckleberry BBQ sauce. (This just happened to be what we have right now. We got this in Sisters, OR during the quilt show last summer.) Normally we'd use normal BBQ sauce like Sweet Baby Rays or Bullseye. I debated using teriyaki sauce or salsa or ketchup, but decided to go with the Huckleberry BBQ Sauce.

I shaped in a loaf in a 9X13 dish and baked at 350 for 1 hour 15 minutes until the thermometer read 165.
I like the muffin tin cook method for individual servings, but since I only used 2 pounds of meat I didn't use that method since I figured there wouldn't be a lot to freeze.

recipe organization

I started this recipe blog so I can ditch my paper system of recipe cards in a box, but I've found it essentially just as difficult to let go of my cards as it is to get rid of cookbooks (gasp! the horror of the mere idea!). So I haven't really been diligent about using it, but I think it could work very well for someone who can more easily make the permanent leap to the computer for their recipes. There are tons of other recipe organizing ideas at Monthly Round-up on OrgJunkie, check it out and then get organized yourself!

Sloppy Joes

Brown 1 pound of ground meat (I use Turkey, but beef is good too) drain any fat
add 1 chopped onion and 1 chopped green bell pepper
cook until veggies are soft
add 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
add 1 Tablespoon sugar
add 2 Tablespoons dry ground mustard
mix it all until evenly distributed
add ketchup to the consistency you want---it ends up being quite a lot, kind of a shocking amount.

serve on warmed buns with cheese

Penne and Smoked Sausage Casserole

This is from Taste of Home Easy Family Casseroles that was sold in the spring 2008 at check out counters as a 5x7 sized magazine.

2 cups uncooked penne pasta
1 pound smoked sausage or keilbasa cut into 1/4 inch slices (I use Jenny-O turkey keilbasa)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 can cream of celery soup
1 1/2 cups chedder french fried onions, divided
1 cup shredded mozzerella, divided
1 cup frozen peas (i'll use about 2 cups mixed veggies)

cook pasta. Meanwhile in a skillet brown sausage over medium, drain. In a large bowl combine milk and soup. Stir in 1/2 cup onions, 1/2 cup cheese, veggies and sausage. Drain pasta and add to mixture. Stir.
Transfer to greased 9 x 13 dish, Cver and bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining onions and cheese, bake uncovered 3-5 minutes until cheese melts.

Egg Salad

I forgot to snap a photo--but really you know what a sandwich looks like.

Put eggs in pot cover with cold water, bring to a boil, boil 8 minutes.
I got this from Kyle's mom and it definitely worked perfectly. No dark ring around the yolk and the shells came off in 2 giant halves--no picking tiny slivers of shell.
rinse and submerge eggs in COLD water (I kept dumping it out and refreshing until the water stayed cool then plopped a lunch box ice bag in) for 30ish minutes.

Peel eggs, mash with a fork. Add mayo/mustard or Dijionnaise by Best Foods. salt and pepper to taste. Add finely diced celery and sweet pickle. Really you can add whatever you like: onion, carrot, red bell pepper..etc....

put on toasted bread with preferred accompaniments: cheese, spinach, tomato etc.

Stuffed Peppers

Usually 4 good sized green bell peppers, but these were a little smallish so I used 5 in the photo.
1 pound ground meat (traditionally beef, but now I always use turkey)
1/3 cup chopped onion---I use about half a mayan sweet which is surely more than 1/3 c
1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz I think these are)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup UNCOOKED long grain rice --I use uncle ben's --I've been afraid to experiment with brown rice since it takes almost double the time to cook.
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce---I use about 2 Tablespoons for ground turkey
4 oz shredded chedder (i'm sure I use way more than 4 oz)

cut off tops of peppers, clean inside, sprinkle with salt. cook ground meat and onion until meat is browned. season with salt and pepper. add tomatoes, water, rice and worcestershire. Cover and simmer until rice is tender (all liquid is absorbed) about 15 minutes. stir in cheese to melt, stuff peppers, place in a baking dish (actually i put the empty peppers in the dish then fill them up.) Bake uncovered at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
sprinkle cheese on top at the end.