String Cheese Meatloaf

1 c. plain spaghetti sauce
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 c. bread crumbs
dash of italian seasonings
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. rosemary
1 lb. burger
1/2 lb. sausage
3 pieces string cheese or mozzarella chunks or any cheese really

In bowl, combine 1/2 c. sauce, egg, bread crumbs, garlic and rosemary. Crumble meats on top and mix well. Press 1/2 of mixture in greased loaf pan. Cut one string cheese in half and place the cheeses down the middle. Cover well with remaining meat mixture.
Bake uncovered @ 350 for 1.5 hours til internal temp is at least 160. Drain. Pour remaining sauce on top and cook for 10 min. Let stand 10 min. before slicing.

Easy Slow Cooker Pot Roast

1/4 c. water; 1 med. onion; 5 potatoes, cut in quarters; 1 envelope onion soup mix; 1/4 tsp. each salt, pepper, and dried thyme; pot roast meat. Place water and and vegetables in slow cooker, sprinkle onion mix on vegetables. Stir. Rub salt, pepper and thyme all over pot roast (I feel that putting it in semi-frozen helps with moistness.) Cook with lid in slow cooker low 8-9 hours or high 5-6 hours til tender.

Italian Peasant Soup

This one takes a lot of chopping, but after that it's fast. Makes a ton, I often serve this for gatherings, but I freeze serving sizes in ziplocs when we make it for ourselves.

1 lb. sausage links, cut in 1" pieces

1 lb. cubed cooked chicken

1 large or 2 med. onions, chopped

6 large garlic cloves, minced (I use equivalent of preminced garlic from jar)

2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cans (3.5 cups) chicken broth

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

6 handfuls of fresh spinach (small bag or half of a large bag), chopped

grated parmesan

In skillet/cast iron preferred over med. heat, cook sausage til no longer pink, transfer to large dutch oven/pot. Cook onions (& garlic if you're using fresh garlic) in skillet til tender, transfer to pot. Cook chicken if uncooked til no longer pink, transfer to pot. Add broth, beans, tomatoes, basil and oregano (& garlic if using preminced). Cook uncovered 10 min. Add spinach and heat just til wilted. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Even finicky kids eat it - just don't tell them ahead of time there is spinach! I get raves over this soup all the time and often lots of people go back for seconds.

Easy Taco Soup

1 lb hamburger
4 cups beef broth
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can tomatoes
1/2 pkg of taco seasoning (or 1 if you like spicy)
2 cups of frozen corn

Brown beef. Stir in remaining in remaining ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Kidney Bean and Rice Curry

My friend posted this on Making Home Work and after ordering the Garam Masala from SpiceSage.com (free shipping!) we tried it and it will now be on the menu more often! Of course, I tweaked the recipe, I tweak everything anymore.

Kidney Bean Curry
A Delicious & Nourishing Indian Dish

Ingredients
3-4 tbls. oil
1 onion chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
2 minced garlic
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp curry (or tumeric)
1 heaping tsp garam masala (found in Indian grocery stores or perhaps International section of your local grocery)
2 cans kidney beans (don't drain)

Prepared Rice


Directions
Fry onions in large pot until translucent (about five minutes). Add ginger, garlic and tumeric, fry for one minute. Add tomatoes and remaining spices. Let simmer for ten minutes until oil separates from spices. Add kidney beans and salt to taste. If there isn't enough curry, add a little water. Simmer for 1/2 hour and serve with Basmati or Jasmine rice.

Optional: add a variety of vegetables. I added grated carrots, and roasted red peppers. To learn how to roast a red pepper click here Sometimes I add spinach.

Sour Cream and Bacon Crockpot Chicken

4 chicken breasts
bacon slices
1 can (10oz) roasted garlic cream of mushroom soup
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. flour
(optional, chopped onion, more garlic, parmesan cheese (at the end as a topping)
egg noodles

Wrap raw bacon around each raw breast and place in crockpot.

In bowl, combine soup, sour cream, and flour (onion and garlic if desired). Whisk. Pour this concoction over chicken.

Cook on low 6-8 hours or until meat is 160 degrees. Cook noodles according to package, rewhisk the sauce, and serve over noodles.

Caveat: This doesn't look very appealing but it is extremely yummy.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets

I am a cereal eater and cereal costs way too much! So I ventured into making instant oatmeal packets for myself, they are super easy to make too! I bought some little tupperware containers to place them in,so they are ready for me to add milk to and pop in the microwave in the morning.

Instant Oatmeal Base

3 cups instant oats
salt
add-ins

Blend or food process 1 cup of oats until powdery. Take snack sized ziplocs or small containers (makes about 8 packets) and put in each 1/4 cup instant oats, 2 T powdered instant oats and one shake of salt from the salt shaker.

Put in add-ins for each packet for the flavor you desire.

Spice - 1 T brown sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, dash of nutmeg
(For a Maple and brown sugar, add a glug of Maple syrup to this one after it's been microwaved.)
Banana Nut - 1 T brown sugar, 1 T chopped nuts, 1 T chopped dehydrated bananas
Fruit and Cream - 1 T sugar, 1 T chopped dehydrated fruit, 1 T powdered cream
Apple Cinnamon - 1 T brown sugar, 2 T chopped dehydrated apples, 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pumpkin Spice - 1 T brown sugar, 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Cinnamon Bun - 1T powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and either 2T creamer or microwave with some half and half in exchange for some of the milk.

To make to eat, put mix and 3/4 cup milk in bowl and stir. Heat for about 2 min. in microwave. (My hubby doesn't think these taste well with plain water, so at work he puts in 2 spoons of creamer.)