Cozy Tummies Warm Hearts: March 2010

Helpful Hints

Clean As You Go : less mess, more efficient, more time to enjoy your food!
Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew : start with small, simple recipes until you feel comfortable and confident.
Have Fun! : No matter what you're cooking, always have fun. You're food will taste better, you will be confident and comfortable with your cooking and yourself!
Know Your Space : get to know the ins and outs of your kitchen; where things are, what works best for you, even the small things like the corks in your oven.
Simplicity Is Always Good : you don't need to make a feast out of a grain of rice, use what you have and be creative!
Stay Organized : gather what you need before you start, including ingredients, bowls, measuring cups, the whole shebang!
Worry About Fiber, Not Fat : make sure you're eating plenty of fiber-rich food and you'll find yourself craving healthy rather than sweet.

Oh Shoot, I'm Out Of...

Wine – I know there are people out there that don’t use wine in their cooking, I’m one of them, so you can use apple juice in an equal amount instead. You can also use water instead of beer, or orange juice instead of liquor.
Unsweetened Chocolate Bars – For each square of chocolate, use 3 Tbsp cocoa with 1 Tbsp butter.
Molasses – It seems like fewer and fewer recipes call for molasses so it’s common to not have this ingredient. Just substitute an equal amount of honey and enjoy!
Flour – Don’t sweat! In breads, you can substitute the amount of regular flour with an equal amount of bran, cornmeal, or whole wheat flour. It works best if you have at least half the called for amount in regular flour.
Cream of Celery – The great thing about all those ‘Cream of’ soups is that you can interchange them! Whether it’s Mushroom, Chicken, Celery, you can pick your favorites and the recipe will be that much tastier!
Butter – Substitute ½ cup of butter with ½ cup shortening plus ¼ tsp salt. This also works both ways, if you don’t have shortening, use butter instead!
Baking Powder – For every 1 tsp baking powder you can use ½ tsp cream of tartar with ¼ tsp baking soda. You can also use regular baking powder if you don’t have double acting baking powder, just add ½ tsp more for every 1 tsp

Monday, March 8, 2010

Firestation Casserole for the Masses

Alright, sports fans, today I have for you another great recipe that feeds lots of people. It's a simple casserole, quick, easy, yummy. All the things we love, am I right?

I call this Firestation Casserole, enjoy!

Brown two pounds of ground beef (or one, depending on how many people you're feeding. I'm typing this all from memory so the amounts are bassed on what we use in our family.) Mix the beef with four cans of cream of mushroom soup and two cans of green chilies, but don't cook, just set aside as you get the casserole dish ready. In the casserole dish, about a nine by thirteen or so, line the bottom with broken up corn tortillas. Cover the tortillas with part of the meat/soup mix. Top with more tortillas, cover with meat/soup - basically, you just layer the tortillas and meat/soup mix. Top the very top layer with cheese and bake at 350 degrees for a half an hour.

Vwala!
Now, sorry to eat and run, but today is quite the busy day!!

Happy Cooking!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

more, More, MORE!!

We got a very unexpected surprise this weekend when my aunt and uncle and their five kids showed up on our doorstep one morning! They drove out from Nebraska to spend some time with the family and ended up staying with us for a few days.
This gave me a great idea for the next several posts: ideas and recipes to feed lots of hungry mouths!

There are a ton of casserole recipes out there and they are great for feeding a lot of family members that show up at your door! You can also make them for your immediate family; they go a long way and are great leftovers.

The first recipe I'm going to share is my spaghetti recipe: it's yummy, feeds a lot, and everyone loves it!

It's really simple, start out with two pounds of ground beef, browned. You can drain the grease, I usually don't because it adds a little kick of flavor to the sauce. If there is a lot of grease, please drain it!
Add in Ragu, tomato sauce, a little squirt of ketchup (it's good! I promise!), mushrooms and onions. The spices are key in this, just add as much as you feel is good. Garlic (I always load up the garlic), Basil, oregano, thyme, fresh cilantro (yummy!! ^^)

Man, my mouth is watering just thinking about this recipe! It's fabulous!
You can also combine the sauce and noodles in a casserole dish, top with oodles of cheese and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees for a delicious Spaghetti Casserole. I typically make the spaghetti one night, then make the leftovers into a casserole for dinner the next night.

Happy Cooking!

Cozy Tummies Warm Hearts

About Me