Southwestern Skillet

We had this for supper last night, and for some reason, it really hit the spot for me. This feeds six quite easily, even when three of them are teenagers. It is easy to omit or substitute ingredients to suit your taste, pinto beans instead of black beans, guacamole instead of avocado, no olives no problem.

Southwestern Skillet

1 pound hamburger meat
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 bell pepper
1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilies
1 and 1/2 cups rice
2 and 1/4 cups water
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained or i cup frozen corn
1 package taco seasoning mix, low salt
1 small can sliced black olives, drained

salsa
sour cream
lettuce
shredded cheese
tortilla chips
avocado

Pop some good salsa music in the CD player. Brown the hamburger in a large skillet, drain. While hamburger is cooking, chop the onion, garlic and bell pepper. Add the veggies to the skillet along with the meat and cook five minutes more. Add the tomatoes, rice, water, beans, corn, taco seasoning, and olives. Stir well, cover, and cook over low heat 25 minutes or so until the rice is done. While rice is cooking, shred the lettuce, put out the shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa, and chips. Set the table, make ice tea, put a trivet on the table as a landing space for the skillet. Check the rice, when it is done, turn off the heat and cut the avocado. Bring the skillet to the table and serve! Add your favorite toppings and enjoy.

Root Beer Sloppy Joes

This recipe was printed in the AJC, adapted from 'The Kentucky Fresh Cookbook'. You'll be surprised to know that I make it as published! It is quick recipe, serve with slaw and french fries for an easy dinner.

1 pound ground beef
1 medium finely chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup root beer or other dark soda

Brown hamburger meat in large skillet until no longer pink. Drain fat off of meat. Stir in onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in seasonings, ketchup, and root beer. Simmer for 15 minutes. Serve on sandwich buns with pickles, hot sauce, and shredded cheese.

Easy Beef Stroganoff

We had this for supper tonight, and I can't believe that I haven't posted this recipe yet! The most difficult part of this recipe is waiting for it to cook, because when the aroma penetrates the house, your stomach starts to grumble!

1 to 2 pounds boneless inexpensive but not fatty hunk of beef
1 envelope dried onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup (Healthy Request-it has less sodium, and there is plenty of sodium in the soup)
1/2 of a 16 ounce carton of sour cream

Mix the soups and sour cream in a good size casserole dish. Cut the beef into small bite-size pieces and add to soup mix. Stir together, cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Serve over rice. Aslo serve some green beans, and cooked carrots for some real comfort food, or a salad if you have other things to do while dinner is cooking. You know, other things like make ice tea, set the table, clean up the kitchen, and read blogs.....You can also use leftover beef to make this, tonight I actually used leftover London Broil. If you are of age, you can add a splash of red wine, but not too much because it doesn't really have a chance to evaporate any, and it can taste too strong.

Meatloaf and Baked Potatoes

You guys know that not everybody likes meatloaf, right? So, make it for yourself, for comfort food. Spend just a little time putting it together, bake some potatoes in the oven alongside the meatloaf, make a salad, and you have dinner (and enough meatloaf for meatloaf sandwiches the next day)!

Meatloaf

2 pounds ground meat (85 % lean beef, or beef and turkey)
1/2 to 3/4 cup oatmeal
1 small or medium zucchini
2 good size carrots, peeled
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 eggs
ground pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the ground meat in a large bowl. If you have a food processor, grind the oatmeal. If you don't have a food processor, just use the 1/2 cup of oatmeal. Add oatmeal to meat. Grate the carrots and zucchini in the food processor, or use a chopper and finely chop. Add veggies to meat, along with seasonings. Spray a large baking dish with cooking spray. Mix meatloaf mixture using your hands. Do not over work or compact the mixture! Put the mixture in the pan and shape into a loaf. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for 15 minutes (if possible). Serve with ketchup.

After you get the meatloaf in the oven, wash potatoes well and put them in the oven. They will need about an hour to cook. Go ahead and cook a few extra for hash browns later in the week.