Cooking Beauty: December 2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Cooking doesn't have to be complicated!

SIMPLE Meatball Sub and Pasta Salad:

I tried cooking something pretty basic. I went to Kroger and bought frozen meatballs, sub rolls, Italian Blend shredded cheese and marinara sauce! I heated the meatballs and marinara in the sauce pan. I sprinkled the sub bread with cheese and toasted it in the oven. Once the meatballs were cooked I put them on the toasted sub and sprinkles more cheese over meatballs and marinara! Simple and good! :)

Ben likes pasta salad. I used Kroger brand rainbow noodles. I boiled and drained the noodles. I added Kroger brand Italian dressing and chopped red onion! I tried added a little parmigiana cheese! It was good! Very simple! YOU CAN also add...black olives and tomatoes to the pasta salad! I just didn't have them!

Pasta Salad!

Meatballs and marinara sauce!

Toasted sub bread

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Meatloaf....Meatloaf...Meatloaf..

It's official!

I am sticking with my grandmom's meatloaf recipe! Her meatloaf beats all others we have tried! (At least Ben and I think it is better than all the others I have cooked!!) Yes, it beats the pioneer woman's meatloaf (We tried it tonight). The pioneer woman's would probably be pretty good....but WITHOUT the bacon!! The bacon did not cook after I cooked it an hour longer than the recipe said. Here is the link for Pioneer Woman meatloaf. (Click) Pioneer Woman Meatloaf

My grandmother's meatloaf is very old fashion but it is GOOD basic meatloaf! My grandmother does not measure the amounts she puts into her meatloaf. This made the first couple of times difficult for me, because I am use to going by measurements. I will say every time I have made it I have not measured the exact amounts of anything, and it has TURNED out great every time!

This morning I mixed up the poineer woman's meatloaf and put in the fridge. I went out to make a couple stops around town. One stop was at my grandmother's house this afternoon. It just happened that my grandmother was making a meatloaf for supper tonight as well. I had to pleasure of actually making the meatloaf with her. It was a really fun experience! I have really never cooked like that with my grandmom. I loved it!

*edit* - WHOA..so I was looking through my church's cookbook...and I noticed my grandmom's meatloaf is in there.. (I never knew it was in there!) ... so here it is:

Mrs.Rampley's Meatloaf:

2 1/2 lb ground beef,
1/2 c. ketchup,
1 egg beaten,
1/4 c. onion, chopped,
1 1/4 c. oatmeal,
salt & pepper to taste.

TOPPING:
2 Tbsp. ketchup,
1 tsp mustard,
1 tsp. vinegar,
1 tsp. sugar.

350 for 1 hour and 30 minutes!
___________

Here is the Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf I made today.

(Again see the PW link above. The meatloaf would be pretty good, just without the bacon. If anyone has cooked it with the bacon successfully...I would love to know how you cooked it in the oven!)

Meatloaf, Hot Crash Potatoes (see previous post), and Gmama's secret biscuits!

GREAT - Pot Roast

My first POT ROAST = SUCCESS!

I loved the recipe and will be using it for many years to come!

The roast was delicious!

Ben really liked the roast! I think I may have impressed him with this meal! :)

The ingredients are:

3-4 lbs beef chuck roast

1 packet ranch dressing mix

1 packet brown gravy mix

1 packet Italian dressing mix

1 tbsp. dried chopped onions

2 cups water

I cut up my veggies and put them in a prep bowl! I did not add them in until half way through the cooking time~! These are the veggies I choose to use, but you can use which ever veggies you like, or none if you choose!

Mixed 2 cups of water with the 3 packets and chopped onions. I poured the mix over the roast.

LOTS of green at first! I was kinda nervous about all the green, but once it cooked for a little bit the brown gravy started to show!

Halfway through, (about 3 hours after cooking) I added the veggies and cooked another 3 hours!

The roast had a GREAT taste! It was very tender! I loved how easy this meal was!

I got the recipe from http://www.thecountrycook.net/2012/02/slow-cooker-pot-roast.html

Bacon wrapped chicken!

Sweet & Spicy Bacon Chicken:

For supper one night I tried Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken with Crash Hot Potatoes!

The chicken had a GREAT flavor! Ben liked it! (That is always a plus!)

The ingredients for the chicken are:

4 chicken breasts cut in thirds (12 pieces)

Pack of bacon

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder

chili powder and brown sugar

You simply sprinkle salt and pepper chicken. Shake garlic and chili power over chicken. Take a piece of bacon and wrap it around chicken. Take the chicken that is wrapped in bacon and roll it in brown sugar!

Once you have rolled all your chicken in brown sugar...you just BAKE!

This was a really easy recipe! Plus once you have bought the chili powder, garlic powder and brown sugar all you have to buy at the grocery store to make this is the chicken and the bacon!