Cowboy Spaghetti

I have actually made this a lot in the last year, but for some reason I have never added it to my blog. So strange!! This is a fun twist to regular spaghetti and has a little bit of a kick to it. My kids actually eat this because they really like pasta! Yeah!!

Ingredients:

1 lb. spaghetti

3 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped

1 lb. ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. hot sauce (I use the green flavor for a little less spice.)

1 Tbs. worcestershire sauce

¾ cup beef broth

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

8 oz. cheddar cheese

4 green onions, chopped

Cook spaghetti with salt to al dente. Brown ground beef. Add onion, garlic, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and worcestershire sauce. Add beef broth and deglaze the pan. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes and then stir in tomatoes and tomato sauce. Add hot spaghetti to meat and sauce and combine. Serve pasta with cheese, green onions, and bacon to garnish.

To freeze this recipe, make the sauce as directed and then pour into a freezer-proof container. When you are ready to use it, defrost the sauce, and then cook the spaghetti while the sauce heats up on the stove!! Mix sauce and pasta before serving!!

I doubled this recipe to make for my parents and my family. It lasted us two nights, then Josh taking a medium-size tupperware of it to work, and we still had leftovers for my single siblings to eat when they came over. Next time I will make sure I freeze it!! Enjoy!!

Navajo (Fry bread) Tacos

This was so yummy. I have been meaning to find a quailty recipe to do navajo tacos and I just haven't been brave enough. The Howcrofts', our old neighbors used to make these all the times with scones and I loved them. The nice thing is for my picky eating daughter, I serve hers with honey, and a bowl of chili on the side.

Ingredients:

2 cups wheat or white flour (I did a batch of each, and everyone ate the white ones. little bit of waste)

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

½-¾ cup water

Oil for frying

Browned ground beef or 1 can chili con carne

Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, shredded cheese, sour cream, etc.

Mix dry ingredients. Slowly mix in water until a nice dough forms. (It’s easier to do this with your hands.) Pull off pieces that are slightly larger than a golf ball and stretch into 5-to 6-inch circles. Fry bread in hot oil, turning to cook both sides. Place on a paper towel to drain off excess oil. Top with desired toppings and enjoy.

I bet you could make these with chili leftovers, so you aren't just eating the same thing two days in a row. But it was totally worth it, as the main reason. Delish!! Thanks, Tiffany!!

Ground Beef, how I loathe thee!

Okay, so maybe I don't really loathe thee, but i find you terribly inconvenient. Most of my recipes that call for ground beef, you have to pre-cook it before you use it in your recipe. That seriously adds on an extra step and more time than I am willing to spend. Plus, it usually leaves me one more dish to clean at the end of the night. Oh the agony of it all!! Can you feel my pain?

How do I survive...Here's my solution: Buy your ground beef in bulk at sam's club or costco, or when it is discounted at your local grocery store. When you get home, most people I know, separate that red gooey mess into ziploc bags with a pound in each and toss it in the freezer. Do I do that? Nope. I cook it right there all together. Well, I usually cook half at a time and then divide the amount evenly into five or six bags depending on how many pounds I bought.

Also, most recipes have you cook your meat with onions. Solution to that....add dried onions to the beef while you cook it all together and that will save you the time of sauteing those little guys. Plus, no more tears over cut onions.

Then they go into the freezer until I need them again. Pull out of the freezer in the morning when you want to use it or defrost in the microwave when you are ready to start cooking dinner.

This saves so much time and less mess during the week. I sometimes try to plan ahead and if I want to make a meatloaf or something that requires the meat to be raw, I just put some uncooked beef in a bag before cooking the rest. Time saver, I guarantee, and you only have to clean the greasy pot with yucky beef remnants once in a while.

Check out my spaghetti recipe below using pre-cooked ground beef.

Spaghetti, almost homemade!

I just made this last night and it fed six adults and four little children with lots to spare. I know everybody has a spaghetti recipe or they are just good with opening up a bottle of prego and pouring over hot pasta. Dinner is done, right? Well, I was the same way. Then my mom showed me how to make it semi-homemade and it doesn't require a lot of work. Yeah!

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked ground beef
Spaghetti seasoning packet
Can of diced tomatoes
1 jar of spaghetti sauce

Pull ground beef out of the freezer and defrost in the microwave. Then add to a medium to large size pot. Sprinkle a tablespoon or so of seasoning onto the beef and mix it around and let it cook for a few minutes. You can add more or less depending on how strong you want the flavor. Then add the tomatoes and let that cook for a few minutes. Stir in the jar of spaghetti sauce and heat til it starts to bubble. Serve over pasta.


Pretty dang easy, right? The best part is it freezes really well, so you can use it as another rainy day dinner when you really don't have time to cook. Plus, it has a more homemade taste to it than the basic jar can do for you. Plus, it almost doubles the recipe. More bang for your buck!

Mom's Famous Meatloaf

2-3 lbs. Hamburger Meat
1 cup milk
1 cup oatmeal
3 eggs
2 tbsp. worchesteshire sauce
1/2c. to ¾ cup dried onions

Mix together in a bowl. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour at 350 degrees. Drain fat. Top with mashed potatoes and cheese. Broil until melted.
You can also substitute cheese and potatoes for a can of chopped tomatoes as a topper!
We usually eat this with ketchup or barbecue sauce, but I tried it with brown gravy the last time we made it and it was super yummy!!


I am sure everyone has a meatloaf recipe, but I enjoy the toppings the most. It adds a little extra to the taste.

Taco Soup

Taco Soup

2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 onions (diced) (can substitute for dried onions.)
2 cans pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
1 can stewed tomatoes, loosely chopped
2 cans rotel
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 pkg. ranch dressing

Brown beef and onions in skillet. Drain Excess oil. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for twenty minutes.
-or-
Add all ingredients to crock-pot and stir together. Cook on low for three to four hours.
Serve with sour cream, chips, grated cheese, green onions, etc.


This recipe came in the mail on the back-side of a real estate ad! I know random, but it was a hit at a soup party. It makes a ton, so if you are feeding a small family of four you might want to half the recipe or plan on freezing half.