Tomato Soup

My husband loves tomato soup from a can, I'm not sure how this is better than a homemade soup from scratch but nonetheless it's a staple of his. This is a quick and easy recipe from my childhood that dresses up that can of tomato soup and makes it a bit heartier, it's one of those recipes that you just throw in general amounts, so I'll try my best to put a measurement to each of the ingredients. You can adjust the spiciness by how much of the taco seasoning you add, we like it on the mild side but the original recipe asks for the whole package.

 

Tomato Soup

3 c. water
~200 g. spaghetti noodles, broken into 1" pieces
1 lb. ground beef
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 onion, diced
1/2-1 pkg. taco seasoning
4 cans tomato soup
4 cans water
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 tsp. parsley
1/2 c. milk

In a large pot boil water and noodles until thick. Meanwhile fry beef, celery and onion until beef is cooked through. When noodles are done combine all the ingredients in the large pot and heat through, enjoy :)

World's Best Spaghetti Sauce

This was my Mom's spaghetti sauce recipe (I'm pretty sure she found it on the back of the Heinz bottle) that she always made for us while we were growing up. And it was one of the first dinners she would ask us girls to make on our own (a.k.a. really easy to make :)). I love the flavor the chili sauce adds to it, and since it makes more than what our little family can eat in one sitting, I usually freeze half of the sauce for a night when I'm in a hurry.

 

World's Best Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb. ground beef
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
285 ml Heinz Chili Sauce
398 ml tomato sauce
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. salt (or less)
1 bay leaf
1/4 c. water

Brown beef, garlic and onion. Add remaining ingredients when beef is cooked and let simmer for 35-45 minutes. Serve over spaghetti that has been cooked according to package directions. Easy Peazy!

Beef Stir Fry



A while back I was asked if I had a good stir fry recipe, and while my regular recipe is ok I have had this one in my To Try Book for a while. Well we finally got around to trying it and mm, mm, mmm, it was good :)

 

Beef Stir Fry

Marinade:
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. red wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Montreal Steak Spice

Mix marinade ingredients and marinate meat at least 1 hour, but not more than 3 hours. The original recipe never gave an amount of meat, I sliced up about 1 1/2 lbs. and it seemed the right amount of sauce).
Drain meat, reserving the marinade, and sauté meat in 1 Tbsp. hot oil until the meat is just browned. Remove from pan and set aside. Add another Tbsp. of oil to the pan and sauté vegetables:

Stir Fry: use a combination of whatever you have, but you should have an onion in there:
sliced mushrooms
sliced onions
red, yellow or orange pepper strips
sliced carrots
broccoli florets
zucchini, cut into strips (discard the soft centre)

When sautéing numerous vegetables remember to add the quicker cooking ones (broccoli-mid way through, and zucchini-very end) later in the cooking process. Saute till almost tender, add the meat, and sauce ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. orange juice
reserved marinade

And as much of the marinade as needed to make the amount of sauce you prefer. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Mix 2 tsp. cornstarch with a little more cold water and stir into the sauce in the pan. Cook until sauce thickens. (If needed you can add more cornstarch if you like it even thicker). Serve immediately over rice or thin noodles.

Hawaiian Meatball Kabobs

We love to use our BBQ, and these are a super nummy way to use ground beef on the BBQ. Grilled pineapple, enough said.

Hawaiian Meatball Kabobs

1/3 c. your favorite BBQ sauce
5 tsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. grated gingerroot
2 tsp. liquid honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
32 precooked meatballs
32 1-inch chunks fresh pineapple
16 1-inch chunks red pepper
16 1-inch chunks green pepper
8 skewers

Sauce: whisk BBQ sauce, soy sauce, gingerroot, honey and sesame oil in a small bowl, set aside.

Preheat grill or BBQ to medium-high heat. For each skewer thread meatball, pineapple, red pepper, meatball, pineapple, green pepper, repeat. Grill for 12 minutes, turning and basting generously with sauce every 2 minutes, serve hot.

Honey Garlic Ribs

We butcher our own beef, so we always had extra ribs that nobody in our family was super crazy about, until ... we tried this sauce, mmm, so good! Now the ribs disappear from the freezer faster than anything else (except maybe the tenderloin).

 

Honey Garlic Ribs

~4 lbs. pork side ribs (I just use beef short ribs, cause that's what I have)
1/2 c. honey
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt

Place ribs in large roasting pan with 1/2 inch of water. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. Drain water from roaster. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over ribs, bake for another 1/2 to 1 hour. If you want you can baste every so often, I just leave them.

Steak Marinades

I often get requests for a good steak marinade, here are a few we use often (the first one is my personal favorite). I didn't post any pictures because I figured a steak is a steak is a steak, and I'm not the best griller in the world so mine don't always look perfect (but they taste good:))

Firehall Steak Marinade (~4 steaks)

1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
3 tsp. Montreal Steak Spice
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 c. Teriyaki sauce

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


Whiskey Marinade (~6 steaks)

1/4 c. whiskey
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. Dijon mustard
1/4 c. finely chopped green onions
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
dash Worchestershire sauce
pepper, to taste (I use ~1/4 tsp.)

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


Teriyaki Marinade (makes 1 cup)

1/2 c. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp. molasses
2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 c. water

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


We use others but these are definitely our most used. If you are in a hurry Club House makes an awesome packaged Mesquite Marinade.

Macaroni Jumble & Garlic Bread



Here is a quick and easy supper for those rushed nights (when you don't feel like having a frozen pizza again! It happens at our house too).

 

Garlic Bread

1 French Loaf
1/2 c. butter
1/4c. Mayo (not Miracle Whip, too sweet)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp. freshly chopped parsley
    *** I use frozen chopped parsley from my garden, but Im sure you could substitute 3 tsp. dried parsley***

Combine all ingredients (except bread), and spread on French loaf that is cut in half lengthwise. Broil until brown and bubbly.

 

Macaroni Jumble

 

2 c. macaroni

1 lb. ground beef

1/3 c. chopped onion

1 1/2 c. frozen kernel corn (or 1 can, drained)
7 1/2 oz. can tomato sauce (or more, we like our sauce)
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. water
2 tsp. chilli powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese (we definitely use more!)

Cook macaroni according to package directions, drain and set aside. Brown beef and onion, drain fat. Add remaining ingredients (except cheese), let simmer 10 minutes. Add macaroni, let simmer 5 more minutes, serve with cheese sprinkled on top.

Cowboy Casserole

This is a super easy, delicious favorite that everyone in our family devours! I love that it only takes minutes to throw together and doubles easily. I often throw it together the night before a busy day or freeze a second one.

 

 

Cowboy Casserole

 
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (or 1cup frozen) corn
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 bag (30 oz.) Tater Tots
    ** I usually use hash browns, and have even used diced potatoes pre-boiled for 8
       minutes.

Cook beef, onion and garlic together till beef is browned. Add corn, soup, 1 1/2 cups cheese, milk, sour cream and seasonings. In casserole dish layer 1/3 of the tots, all the beef mixture, remaining 2/3 of tots and top with 1/2 cup of cheese. Bake at 375 uncovered for 25 minutes.