Mexican Stuffed Shells

Ingredients
24 uncooked jumbo pasta shells
1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
1-2 T taco seasoning mix
1/3 c chopped fresh onion (or a couple T dried onion)
3 T chopped green bell pepper
1 cup salsa
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 can corn
1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend or cheddar

TOPPINGS (use whatever you want):
sour cream
salsa
olives
green onions

Directions:
Cook pasta shells according to package directions; drain. In a large nonstick skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the taco seasoning, onions, green peppers, salsa, tomato sauce, corn and beans. Cook for a couple of minutes. Spoon into pasta shells.
Place in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Top with sour cream, salsa, olives and onions. Yield: 8 servings.

Stuffed Feta Burgers

2 lbs. lean ground beef (ground turkey would also work great)
Montreal Steak Seasoning (good amount!)
2-3 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. garlic powder
2 t. dried parsley
1 egg
1/4 c. breadcrumbs
Large chunk of feta cheese (I prefer the Greek Feta that is sold at Costco in a large square block--it is softer and has better flavor. Feta freezes well if you won't use up the whole package).
1 package hamburger buns (or homemade) Brush each side with a little olive oil or butter and broil for 30 seconds to a minute until golden brown.

Mix all together (minus the feta) and form half of the mixture into 7 patties. Put a large chunk of feta cheese on top of each half of the patties. Put the remaining beef mixture flattened on top of each patty, covering the feta cheese. Grill burgers until cooked through on the grill (dust off the snow on your outdoor grill, it will be worth the effort to have the yummy charcoal flavor!)

Serve burgers on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber sauce (below):

Cucumber Sauce (this is what makes these burgers)
1/4-1/3 c. mayonnaise (not low fat, you don't want a sweet flavor--sorry!)
1/4 c. sour cream
2 t. dried dill weed
1/2 t. garlic salt
Dash of lemon juice
1 small cucumber, peeled and shredded
Ground pepper
1/2 t. parsley
Salt to taste (it should be salty and tangy with the lemon juice)

Mix together and chill until ready to serve with burgers.

Enjoy!

Shawn's Favorite Stroganoff

1 lb. ground beef or steaks cubed
1 large can cream of mushroom soup *or*
1 can cream of mush soup and 1 can crm of chicken soup
1 c sour cream
1 can sliced mushrooms, or a cup of fresh ones
garlic salt
dried onions
Worchestershire Sauce

Cook the meat in a large pan, season with garlic salt and onions. Add the cream of mushroom soup, the sour cream, and the mushrooms. Season with the worchestershire sauce- let it cook for 5 minutes until slightly bubbly. Taste- see if you want to add more garlic salt, onions or worch. sauce. I don't measure with these- I just season until it tastes good to me.

Simmer for maybe 5 more minutes once you have it seasoned to your liking- cook for longer if you are using steak as it is tough unless you cook it long enough.

Serve over egg noodles.


Seriously- this is one of Shawn's favorites- he asks for it bi-monthly and somehow still isn't sick of it (although, sometimes I am...)

Taco Ring

2 lbs Hamburger
2 pkgs Taco Seasoning
1 C Salsa
16 oz Tomato Sauce
2 cans crescent rolls
2 C shredded cheese -colby jack

Brown hamburger, mix in seasoning, 1 c salsa and tomato sauce. Cook down until it has thickened (10 minutes plus on simmer). Place crescent roll triangle shapes over lapping on a cookie sheet in the shape of a sun. Place meat around the ring on the wider inside area of dough. Then sprinkle cheese over meat. Take the points and go over the top of the meat and cheese. Tuck in end on the inside of ring. Bake at 400 for 20 to 30 minutes- until dough is golden. Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Enchilada Casserole III

I don't know why it's "III". Just is. I use Allrecipes.com a lot. Do you all know that site? You can search by ingredients or dish and then save recipes to your online recipe box to use in the future. It's great! Here's one I tried from there this weekend and it was really good. Super easy, super quick for a hearty meal. You could even add corn into the meat mixture to get a veggie in there and I think it would be even more delicious!

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1 (1.5 ounce) package dry enchilada sauce mix
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
• 1 (12 ounce) package corn tortillas
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix the dry enchilada sauce according to package directions, replacing tomato sauce with the tomato paste and water
3. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef with garlic salt and onion powder; drain fat. Mix refried beans and 1/2 cup of the prepared enchilada sauce with the meat.
4. Dip enough corn tortillas to cover the bottom of a 3 quart casserole dish in the remaining enchilada sauce. Arrange tortillas in the dish. Spoon in half of the meat mixture, covering the tortillas. Spread half of the Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses over the meat. Cover with another layer tortillas dipped in enchilada sauce. Spoon in remaining meat mixture and top with a final layer of tortillas dipped in enchilada sauce. Pour any remaining sauce over the layers and top with remaining cheese.
5. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Classic Lasagna

I made this last night for friends. They LOVED it! I got ratings of "13 out of 10". So simple, so good.

Ingredients:

• 9-12 lasagna noodles (Depending on size of pan)
  
• 2 pounds ground beef (Or vary with 1lb some other kind of meat; sausage, turkey, etc)
  
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 4 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce (sounds like a lot but trust me! I actually just used 2 jars of Prego and it was fine.)
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the lasagna noodles and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes; drain.
3. Cook the ground beef over medium heat; drain. Stir in the garlic salt, oregano, thyme, basil, and tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper; simmer 10-30 minutes (depending on your time constraints).
4. Meanwhile, mix together the ricotta cheese, eggs, and Parmesan cheese in a bowl.
5. Ladle enough of the meat sauce into a 9x13 inch baking dish to cover the bottom in a thin layer. Form a layer atop the sauce with 3 of the lasagna noodles. Spread about 1/4 of the ricotta cheese mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle about 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese over the ricotta cheese mixture and then ladle about 1/3 of the meat sauce over the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering twice more, topping with the remaining 1/4 pound of mozzarella cheese. Add a thin coating of additional Parmesan to make a crusty top.
6. Bake in preheated oven 90 minutes. Allow to sit 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

-I ended up cooking it for only 60 minutes as the oven I was using was really great or something. It was so perfect! With big servings it yielded 12 large pieces.