Tomorrow's Lunch: Asian Beef and Noodles

I tried this a couple months ago, when I made it I used beef flavored ramen noodles. It turned out ok but it just wasn't filling. I definitely would not make it for dinner, that is why I'm putting it into the lunch category. This came from a cookbook I bought from a school fund raiser, it is under the meats and main dishes section. I like it because it is a reletivly cheap and easy lunch, you could probably even omit the hamburger!

ASIAN BEEF AND NOODLES

1 lbs ground beef

2 packages (3 oz each) oriental ramen noodles, crumbled

2 1/2 c water

2 c frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetables

1/4 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp thinly sliced green onion

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until no longer pink; drain. Add the contents of one ramen noodle seasoning packet; stir until dissolved. Remove beef and keep warm. In the same skillet, combine the water, vegetables, ginger, noodles and contents of remaining seasoning packet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Return beef to the pan; cook for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Stir in onion. Yield: 4 servings.

NOTES: I used a bag of frozen broccoli when I made this, I also didn't use any green onions. 

What I like about this recipe is that (1) it is adding nutrition to something that has virtually none, (2) it is a one dish meal, (3) it is inexpensive!

Like I said before you can substitute hamburger with more veggies, ground turkey or chicken, or maybe even tuna...I'll have to try that! :)

MY RATING: 2 1/2 noodles out of 5

Last Night's Dinner: Hot Dog & Veggie Stir-Fry

I really thought my kids would like this alot more than they did. They only eat the hot dogs and carrots. I found another cheap stir-fry recipe in a cookbook, I'm going to try to post it later. I like them because they are cheap and easy. The family gets the junk food they want and I feed them the veggies they need! I love mixing veggies into things that aren't so healthy! You can do it with almost anything, but I'm starting to ramble.
This recipe was found at the HBHW site, what can I say, I love that place! http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/hotdogstirfry.htm

HOT DOG & VEGGIE STIR-FRY



4 to 6 hotdogs or 1 can of SPAM or 8-ounces of baloney
2 tablespoons oil
4 large carrots
2 or 3 stalks celery
1 onion, sliced
Garlic Powder, Salt & Pepper to taste
Cooked Rice

When you prepare this recipe, you may use whichever meat you have available. They all taste good in this recipe. Try to cut the meat into narrow "match-stick" sized pieces. This shape is called julliene. I cut the hotdogs by slitting them long-ways into 4 to 8 long "worms". Then I quarter them short-ways to get a lot of pretty, skinny julliened hotdogs. Baloney can be stacked after removing the red plastic, and then cut into long skinny strips. Cut the Baloney in half, or thirds the other way and you will have pretty pieces. The SPAM is easy to cut and stack and slice into slivers.

The carrots are cut into narrow slices and then each slice is cut in half. The celery is cut into thin slices and the onion is halved and then sliced into thin half-moons. After preparing the vegetables and meat set it all aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the vegetables. Stir-fry the veggies for at least 5 minutes, or until the onions begin to turn tender. Add the hot dogs or other meat. Cook and stir until the meat browns slightly. Season with Garlic, Salt & Pepper to taste. Add about 2 or 3 tablespoons of water to the skillet. Stir quickly until the water evaporates. There, you are done. Serve the stir-fry over cooked rice. Makes 4 servings.The spiciness of the meat, the sweetness of the carrots, the subtle bitterness of the celery and the piquancy of the onions make this dish quite good.

VARIATION: If desired you can add 2 or 3 cups of finely sliced cabbage in addition to the other vegetables. Add them to the dish along with the other veggies.

Homemade bean sprouts are also a nice addition. Add them at the end, right before servings. Bean sprouts are best if they aren't overcooked.

NOTES: I've tried it with regular hot dogs and spam and I definately prefer the beef hot dogs. I also like to throw a splash of soy sauce on mine, the kids don't like it so I don't add it to the pan.

Make this fun and get the kids involved. Teach the kids how to use chop sticks or make some of your own fotune cookies! I'll see if I can find my fortune cookie recipe, if not I'll search for one and post it! :)

MY RATING: 3 1/2 hot dogs out of 5

Last Night's Dinner: Sloppy Joe Casserole

So I know it isn't the healthiest thing in the world, at least not the way I made it. I just had some Manwich in the cabinet, a roll of cresent rolls in the fridge and no bread or buns. It was cheap to make which is something I am looking for in recipes. I will give some suggestions at the bottom of the recipe (in the notes) about how you can make it better.

SLOPPY JOE CASSEROLE

1 lbs hamburger
1 can sloppy joe mix
1 roll cresent rolls
12 oz frozen corn

Heat oven to 425 degrees. ake corn out of the freezer and let it sit at room temp. Lay half of the cresent rolls flat on the bottom of a 9x9 pan and bake for 10 minutes until lightly golden.
Meanwhile brown hamburger. Make sure you break it up with the back of your spoon as it starts to brown, try for smaller than a dime in size. Once hamburger is brown drain it and mix in sloppy joe mix and partially thawed corn.
Layer sloppy joe/corn mix on top of already golden brown cresents. Top with the other half of uncooked cresents and bake for about 10 minutes but no more than 15. You want the top to be a nice golden brown.

NOTES: There are tons of recipes online for homemade sloppy joe mix. I really like knowing what is going into my food so this is what I'm going to try next time I make this.

You can also use ground turkey instead of hamburger.

Bisquits may be another option for the bread part (instead of the cresents). Things that are made from stratch are always so much better in my opinion.

Also I used mixed white and yellow corn in this but either would probably work just fine.

You could also add a layer of shredded cheese between the sloppy joe mix and the top layer of cresents.

MY RATING: 3 out of 5 Joes!

Snack/Dessert: No Marshmallow Rice Krispie Treats

So I bought a big box of Rice Krispies to make some treats with some marshmallows I had sitting around. I ended up not having enough marshmallows and totally messed up the whole batch! So here I am with a big box of cereal and my girls were just not eating it so I had to come up with something. First I looked for a recipe that had Rice Krispies but was not for the treats, this is nearly impossible. So I decided to try to find a recipe for Rice Krispie Treat that had to marshmallows and this is what I found.

NO MARSHMALLOW RICE KRISPIE TREATS

1 c. brown sugar
1 c. brown rice syrup
1 c. peanut butter
7 c. puffed brown rice cereal

Combine sugar and brown rice syrup in saucepan and bring to a near boil while stirring often. Continue stirring until sugar dissolves.
Remove from heat.
Add peanut butter and mix well.
Add puffed rice and mix well.
Press the mixture into a greased pan and put in the fridge for several hours to cool and harden. If you want it to harden faster, stick it in the freezer for about an hour.
Cut into squares and enjoy

NOTES: I used Rice Krispies instead of puffe brown rice cereal and light corn syrup instead of brown rice syrup. They turned out good.

You can use pretty much any cereal you want/have, a friend of mine said she made something like this with grape nuts.

I also cut the recipe in half and used a 9x9 pan, they came out thick and I cut them into bars instead of squares.

MY RATING: 5 treats out of 5

This Morning Breakfast: Yogurt Muffins

I know I haven't blogged in a while so I'm going to try to put a couple up. I am going to start things off with a twist, how about some breakfast? I got this idea for some yogurt muffins and instantly ran to the computer to in a recipe and this what I found. Original recipe

YOGURT MUFFINS



1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 carton (6 ounces) yogurt (any flavor)
1/3 cup oil1 egg

Preheat oven to 400˚F. Spray, grease or put paper liners in 12 (2 ¾ inch) muffin cups. In medium mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients. In small bowl, beat together yogurt, oil and egg. Stir yogurt mixture into dry mixture until just blended. Do not overmix. Spoon into prepared muffin cups. Bake until nicely browned, about 20 minutes.

NOTES: The original recipe called for raspberry yogurt and raspberries, but I used mixed berry Activia and no berries. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can use frozen berries without defrosting them. Check out the original recipe to find out how and when to add the berries.

This recipe made 12 muffins.

MY RATING: 5 out of 5 muffins!