These recipes are a big hit for my family. Some are great for the evening, some for noon. Especially the one with meat, potatoes, and vegetables. This allows you to get it ready in the morning, turn down the cooking temperature and let it cook while you get something else done! Make sure you keep checking back for more recipes and pictures.
Please leave comments, questions, ideas you would like to see, have, or your own experiences below.
I do not know any nutritional value to these recipes. I do not have any dietary needs or restrictions in our family. These are just quick recipes I go to when I don’t want to look (or think) about what to fix.
Pasta Surprise
- 2 cups pasta of your choice, cooked (we like whole package purchased beef ravioli, less than 20 oz.)
- 1 24 oz. jar spaghetti sauce, your choice
- 1/4-1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 cups (about) shredded (cheddar or mozzarella) cheese
Cook & drain the pasta. Mix spaghetti sauce, pasta, Parmesan cheese in a bowl. (Fairly good size if using ravioli). Parmesan cheese just absorbs some liquid from spaghetti sauce. May not be that much or it will be dry! Mix some shredded cheese in it and stir it up. Put in a sprayed pan depending on the pasta used. Top it with a layer of the rest of the shredded cheese. Cover with foil (it may need to be sprayed if it touches the cheese), Put in oven for about 20 minutes until cheese is melted. Take the foil off the last few minutes of cooking to lightly brown. I even toast some bread and put butter and garlic powder on it to have with this.
I’m sorry I can’t be more exact on amounts, but I just adjust as I need to. The last time I made it for my family I cooked frozen beef ravioli, mixed about 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese in with pasta and sauce and covered with a cheddar blend cheese because I was out of mozzarella. I didn’t measure the Parmesan. I used a 9 x 13 pan and had it for 2 meals. To heat the 2nd time, I poked some holes in it and added a little water and put the foil back on. My son even took the last bit to school the next day for lunch! If I don’t have beef ravioli to use, I have added browned and drained a pound of ground meat to put in it with the pasta and sauce. For a little more spice use the Italian sausage pasta sauce and you’ve got 2 birds with 1 stone if you have to have meat.
Leave the meat out and you have a Lenten dish besides cheese pizza. They even make frozen cheese ravioli too! Want me to try giving you another recipe when I try to figure out what I just through together? Well here goes.
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From-The-Farm Food
I’m not sure how this will translate into store-bought food, but I’ll give you my version and you can see if you can come up with something like it if you want to try it.
- 1 lb. thawed ground beef
- 1 qt. canned potatoes
- 1qt. canned carrots
- 1qt./ pint canned green beans
- 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
- Worcestershire sauce
I use a sprayed, speckled roasting pan. Open the carrots, potatoes, and green beans and add them to the pan, juice and all. Our ground beef comes in 1 lb. packages from the meat plant. I move the potatoes and vegetables to leave a little less in the middle, but mix the vegetables. Take the ground beef still in its shape out of the package and put it in the middle of the pan. It’s okay to put on top of some vegetables and flatten the ground beef a little. I sprinkle the onion soup mix over it. Then I sprinkle some Worcestershire sauce over it meat and all. Make sure that the liquid is over the vegetables. If not, be sure to add more water. Set the lid on and put in a 350 degree oven for about 1-1/2 hours. The oven doesn’t have to be preheated when you put the pan in. If you have more than 4 people to feed, you can put in 2-1 lb pkgs. of meat with quarts of vegetables.
I have used a beef roast, quartered potatoes and a sack of baby carrots with onion soup mix and pieces of onion. Except it usually takes 2-3 hours at 350-400 degrees. My kids look forward to that meal!
I like this recipe because it has meat, potatoes, and vegetables in it. Once it goes in the oven, I’m free to go do something else!
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Lazy Cook’s Swedish Meatballs for 2
- 8 frozen pre-cooked meatballs (appetizer size)
- 1-1/2 cup noodles
- 1 envelope dry brown gravy mix
Cook noodles according to package directions in medium saucepan. In medium-size skillet, get about 8 meatballs out of a bigger sack and put in skillet on medium-low. Roll them around and let them thaw. I keep them moving so they don’t lay on 1 side and burn. Get amount of water called for on gravy mix in measuring cup and add brown gravy mix. When mixed add to meatballs in skillet.Bring to a boil. Turn burner to low/simmer to let gravy thicken a little, stirring occasionally. Drain the noodles while you are waiting. Put a serving of noodles on a dinner plate and cover with a serving of meatballs and gravy. This dish takes about an hour from start to eating. I use it when I don’t have any meat set out for dinner or don’t have ANY other ideas or leftovers. It gets me by for noon, then I can redeem myself at supper!
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Tater Tot Casserole
- 1 lb. ground beef, thawed
- 1/4 cup chopped onion or 2Tbsp. minced onion
- Worcestershire sauce
- 1 qt. (32 oz) green beans. drained
- 1 10 oz. can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
- 2 cups shredded cheddar-blend cheese
- 1 small bag of frozen tater tots
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 9 pan with non-stick spray. Place ground beef in pan. Flatten out so is level.Add onion. Sprinkle Worcestershire sauce over top. add green beans and may need to press down a little if getting too tall. Spread soup over top covering green beans. Sprinkle cheese evenly over top. Then add tater tots on top. May not use entire bag. Can press down again if getting to tall. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour removing foil for the last 15 minutes of cooking. My family loves the tater tots on top so we make sure the top is covered. The cheese adds just a bit of cheesy surprise. This dish feeds my family twice because of the thick layers.
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American Goulash
1 lb. ground beef- 1 small onion, minced onion works
- 1/4 cup green pepper, dried or minced work
- tomato juice, (2 smallest size or 1 soda-can size) whichever is found in your area
- 1/4-1/2 cup ketchup, maybe more
- 5-6 slices american cheese
- 2 cups macaroni, cooked according to pkg. and drained
- little bit of water
In large skillet on medium heat, brown ground beef, onion, and green pepper. Can shut off skillet depending on how long it takes you; drain off grease and put back in skillet. Turn skillet to medium add tomato juice and ketchup. The amount of ketchup is by the eyeball test. If it looks pink that may be enough until you get the rest in. Take cheese slices and tear into smaller pieces so it melts in quicker. Add macaroni when ready and stir. If no longer looks pink add more ketchup. By this time I have run a little water in juice cans to clean it out and a ketchup bottle if empty. Add this water to the skillet. Stir until mixed well. I add about 1/4 tsp. garlic powder and mix that. If I have plain macaroni color I add more ketchup, a small can of tomato juice and maybe another slice of cheese to help bind it together. It’s ready to eat when you’ve reached the pink color test. (on macaroni) meat needs to be browned. Sorry! I tried to give measurements as close as I could. This is an easy recipe to just “wing it”. You’ll know it’s ready to eat when the macaroni is pink. Then it’s good and covered. Don’t stress if you’re iffy in the kitchen. This is COOKING NOT BAKING. Take a deep breath it will be good. Serve with garlic bread and sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the goulash when you serve it. Refrigerate any leftovers to eat again. A skillet this big and full usually feeds us 3 times. That’s why I make sure the macaroni has plenty of sauce on it when fixing. Hope you enjoy it like we do!
With garlic bread it’s an easy meal that works when company’s there!
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Loose-Lip Bean Dip
- 1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
- 1 10 oz. can refried beans
- 1 10 oz. can Rotel tomatoes, undrained
- 1 2 lb. block Velveeta cheese
In a large skillet, brown ground beef, drain and return to skillet. Add beans and tomatoes and mix over medium heat. Cut Velveeta block into smaller blocks (to melt quicker) and add to skillet. Mix often or turn the burner down so cheese won’t burn. Keep mixing until cheese is melted. Take off burner and serve with tortilla chips. Makes enough to take to a gathering, but I suggest pouring it into a crock pot to keep warm. This works as a dip, but we often eat it as a meal a couple times. As I continue to add more dip recipes, I will probably add a new category. My family lovingly calls it this because of how the name rolls off the tongue. 🙂
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My Family Meatloaf
This isn’t a super spicy dish depending on your sausage. I’ve even add cut up pieces of bacon. You can add drained veggies to, or parsley to the bread. Whatever goes with your likings. If serving a bigger crowd, double the recipe and use a 9 x 13 pan.
Beef or Pork
Make-Shift Pizza
- 1 roll crescent rolls
- 1 lb. browned pork sausage (or ground beef), drained
- 1 8 oz. can mushroom stems & pieces, drained
- shredded mozzarella cheese
- McCormick pizza seasoning
Take the crescent rolls, seams pinched together if not the 1 sheet kind, and put in a sprayed 7 x 11 pan or 9 x 13 depending on the number of people to feed. Take the tomato sauce lid off and sprinkle in pizza seasoning. mix. Repeat until you see the seasoning throughout. Put it on the crescent roll dough. Put the sausage and mushrooms on the sauce. Sprinkle more seasoning on the toppings. Put the mozzarella cheese on that. Sprinkle more seasoning on top. Put in oven according to crescent rolls ( I think 375 degrees for about 12 minutes or until crust is light brown.)
I created this recipe because we like to order out for pork sausage and mushroom pizza occasionally. I thought I had pizza crust in the fridge and pizza sauce in the cupboard. . .but I didn’t so I improvised! And my family actually liked both of these?! Use whatever toppings your family likes on a pizza to make it your own!
These are recipes I’ll fix for supper (dinner) at night.because there isn’t as much.
Meatless
Fettucini Alfredo
- 4 servings of fettucini noodles, cooked and drained
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 stick butter/margarine, softened
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup milk
- dash each salt & pepper
Cook noodles in slightly salted water according to package directions. Meanwhile in 4 qt. saucepan, melt cream cheese and butter by breaking up into smaller pieces. When almost melted, add Parmesan cheese, milk, salt, and pepper. Add noodles when cooked and drained. Stir. If too much liquid, add some more Parmesan cheese. I add garlic bread of some kind with it. It may be toast with butter and garlic powder, I have brought refrigerated crescent rolls spread with butter and garlic powder, or whatever, but there is garlic bread to serve with it. I use The Olive Garden’s fettucini recipe, but I add more liquid. I like a little more liquid in this recipe because it usually serves my family twice. When reheated I don’t have to add more milk to “unglue” it. It’s a recipe I use when I don’t have any meat set out to thaw for supper. It would be easy to add ham, chicken, broccoli, or any small serving of something you have leftover. Whatever, to make it your own! My family asks for it time and time again!
