Tex Mex Shells

This is certainly a favorite around our house. I think I might have gotten this recipe off of one of those recipe cards in the meat department at Walmart, go figure :)

1 lb ground beef
1.25-1.5 lbs large shell pasta cooked and drained
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can olives, drained and sliced (or 2 cans pre sliced olives)
1 can diced tomatos, drained (you could also use about 1.5 cupsof halved cherry tomatos)
3 cups shredded cheddar
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 can milk (tomato soup can)
1 package of fajita seasoning (I really think this recipe tastes best with Great Value brand seasoning, I have tried others)

Brown beef with onion and drain.



Mix beef, onion, olives, tomatos and pasta. Mix together seperately tomato soup plus one can of milk and fajita seasoning. Pour this over pasta mixture and add shredded cheese.



Place in pyrex dish and cover with foil and bake at 375 for about 45 minutes.

This is also really yummy topped with crushed fritos!

An experiment...

Spaghetti sounded good today. While at Fred Meyer I thought I would look at their meat specials. Low and behold I found ground pork, at $0.79 a pound! I figured I should try it. I cooked my ground pork with some chopped onion, italian seasoning and garlic. It is better then I expected. It is down right delicious! It tastes like little chunks of lean pork chop. Speaking of lean, the butcher said he estimated the pork to be 85% lean. Not quite as lean as ground turkey (generally ground turkey is 93% lean) but way tastier and much healthier then ground beef. My spaghetti is still simmering (I did half ground pork and half ground beef) but I just had to share with you my fantastic experience with ground pork! By the way, it is normally priced at $1.49 per pound at FM!

Taco Salad

So, I grew up with traditional taco salad. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, olives, taco meat, cheese, tortilla chips and ranch dressing. This is a little twist to the traditional salad.

1 head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
1 can olives, sliced
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained (you can add taco seasoning or not, it's your choice)
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 bag doritos (crunch them all up in the bag)
Catalina dressing

I would normally say to simply toss all of these ingredients but I don't toss them all so that I can save the leftovers without them getting gross. Toss everything but the chips and dressing. WHen serving, add the chips and dressing to each plate. This is such a yummy way to enjoy taco salad! (BTW, this picture is lacking dressing and chips)

Beef Stroganoff

I got this recipe from my mom. While it is not traditional stroganoff this dish has wonderful flavor and is a great comfort food!

2 lbs stew meat (I actually used "taco meat" which is very small chunks of beef)
3 cans cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken)
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 16 oz container of sour cream
1 envelope of onion soup mix

Mix soup, sour cream, water and soup mix in crock pot. Add beef and mushrooms. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over noodles.

This comes out of the crock pot rather thin. What i like to do to rectify that is mix 2 tablespoons of white wine with 2 tablespoons of corn starch to create a slurry. I mix this into the stroganoff about an hour before serving.

Taco Bake

This meal is SUPER easy and super yummy!

2 tubes (7.5 oz each, 10 biscuits each) of buttermilk biscuits
1 lb ground beef
1 pckg taco seasoning
1 can chili
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Sour Cream
Salsa

Preheat oven to 400. Spray glass dish with cooking spray and place biscuits inside, touching and covering the bottom of dish.



Bake for 10 minutes. While that is baking, brown ground beef, drain and follow directions on taco seasoning to finish meat.



When meat is ready, add can of chili. Spread on biscuits. Sprinkle with cheddar and bake another 15 minutes.



When finished, top with salsa and sour cream!

Barley Beef Skillet

I got this recipe out of "Healthy Cooking", the magazine. I am going to make it tonight for dinner ( might be tomorrow night if I don't get to the store soon since my meat spoiled).

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 can (14.5 oz) reduced sodium beef broth
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 cup water
2 small carrots chopped
1 small tomato chopped
2 stalks celery chopped
1 small zuchinni chopped
1 cup uncooked barley
2 tsp italian seasoning

In a large skillet cook beef onion and garlic; drain. Add the broth, tomato sauce and water to beef; bring to boil. Stir in remaining ingredients. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 45-50 mintues or until barley is tender.

*Update- I doubled the barley, doubled the broth and added half a cup of water. I should have also doubled the veggies and will do so next time. This meal was good but seemed to be missing a "wow" factor. However, you can't beat lean meat, veggies and whole grains! Please let me know if you try it!