Beef Barley Soup

The temps dropped this weekend and it rained off an on and it was time to make some soup.  I've made beef barley before but this one a touch different.  That's the beauty of making soup, you can make it different but similar and the result is always YUMMY.

I had some leftover Crockpot Beef in the freezer and decided to go from there. I would also like to note that I don't have the right amount left over from one crock pot of beef. I keep a container in the freezer and add to it. When the container gets full, I make soup! The crockpot beef gives it a little extra flavor because it has the sauce/gravy with it.

Here's what you'll need to get the party started:

4 C of Crockpot Beef
7 C Beef Broth ~ I use 7 cups water and 7 beef bouillon cubes
1 Soup Bone ~ this is just a bonus.  I happen to be at the butcher and grabbed one.  It just gives your soup a little more depth but completely not necessary.
1 small Onion chopped
2 Carrots chopped
1 can Petite Diced Tomatoes
4 cloves Garlic chopped
2 Potatoes chopped
3 Cloves of Garlic minced
1 T Italian Seasoning
2 t Basil and Oregano
3/4 C Frozen Corn
2 C Fresh Green Beans
1 C Barley ~ I used quick cook

Put beef, broth, soup bone, chopped garlic, carrots, onion, tomatoes, spices and bring to a boil. Add leftover beef and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for an hour.  Add Barley, potatoes, green beans and corn. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Dinner is served! Or you can put in a crockpot, put in the fridge and reheat for tomorrow, takes about 4-6 hours to get to proper temp on low.

Chop your potato

My Grandma didn't make soup but I've heard from a few people that it tastes like the one their Grandma did:) Enjoy!

 

Meatloaf

We've been getting some winter weather.  Image that, it's end of February and we're finally getting some snow.  At any rate, I needed something warm and comforting.  Something that reminded me of when I was a kid.  A "real" home cooked meal.  So, I went looking in my recipes and meatloaf was the winner of the day.  I've posted before, but maybe you missed it?? 

At any rate, this is a quick, 6 minute meatloaf.  Yes, you read that right. Six minutes is all it takes to make this meatloaf. Add the mixing up part and we're at about ten minutes total.

So, obviously, I make a pretty simple meatloaf. It's the one I grew up with. My Mom is not a fan of Ketchup so her meatloaf is like a big meatball without sauce and this is her recipe. I prefer to make a brown gravy with mine but you can throw some Ketchup on top if that's what makes you happy.

Here's what you'll need..

1 lb Ground Beef
1 Egg
3/4 package of crushed Saltines or about 1/2 C bread crumbs ~ I prefer saltines because it isn't as heavy
1/2 small Onion minced
1/2 medium Green Pepper minced
2 cloves minced Garlic
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Pepper
1/2 t Garlic Powder

Mix everything together and pat into a microwave safe dish. Divide the meatloaf down the middle so you have two rectangles. I used a 9x7 rectangle. I also have lost the top to my dish or maybe I never had one so I used Saran wrap over the top. Microwave on high for 6 minutes. You can also bake it at 350 covered with foil for probably an hour.  But why would you do that??  This is quick, this is easy, this is moist and yummy!!

Let it cool a couple of minutes, remove wrap, slice and serve with garlic mashed potatoes and brown gravy. Or my favorite way, let it cool and make a sandwich!

Throw everything in the bowl
Pat into microwave dish
Cut to make sure it's cooked through
Dinner is served

Beefy Lentil Soup

I had some leftover crockpot beef and wasn't really sure where I was going so I didn't take step by step photos but it's easy.  You've got this:)  The result is YUMMY!!  Did I mention that I don't typically like lentils?  I promise, they worked in this soup.  It was the kind of soup that warms you up and makes winter weather a bit better for a day.

To achieve leftover beef, everytime I make it, I throw what's left in a ziploc and throw in the freezer.  When I get a decent amount, I make soup.  Or if you want to skip the leftover part, make the beef with a smaller roast and you're directly ready to make soup.  You can still follow the recipe, it will just make more broth which is a good thing:)

What you'll need:

1 1/2 lbs of leftover crockpot beef
12C water
7 bouillon cubes or 12 C beef broth  replaces water and bouillon
12 baby Carrots chopped
I can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
3 cloves Garlic minced
1 small onion minced
3/4 C dry Lentils
3 small Potatoes sliced into bite size pieces
1 C frozen Corn
1 1/2 C fresh Green Beans
3 C Chopped Zucchini
2 t Olive Oil
2 t Red Pepper Flakes

Bring leftover beef, water/bouillon or broth, carrots, tomatoes, garlic and onion to a boil in your soup pot.  Turn down heat to a simmer and pour in 3/4 C dry lentils.  Simmer for about 45-50 minutes  stirring occasionally until lentils are soft.

Chop zucchini and green beans into bite size pieces, drizzle Olive Oil over top and season with 1/2 t of salt and 1 t of pepper.  Toss together and put on cookie sheet.  Into a 425 degree oven to roast for 30 minutes.

When lentils are soft, add corn, potatoes, roasted vegis and red pepper flakes.  Cook until potatoes are done.

Makes 10 servings at 6 points per bowl.

Beef Barley

I was hungry for some really good soup. I had some leftover Crockpot Beef in the freezer and decided to go from there. I would also like to note that I don't have the right amount left over from one crock pot of beef. I keep a container in the freezer and add to it. When the container gets full, I make soup! The crockpot beef gives it a little extra flavor because it has the sauce/gravy with it.

I also think good soup comes from a little bit of this and a little bit of that, so my measurements are very close but aren't exact. If you want to change it up a little bit and give it your own flavor, I encourage it.

But, here's what you'll need to get the party started:

4 C of Crockpot Beef
7 C Beef Broth ~ I use 6 cups water and 7 beef bouillon cubes
7 stalks of Asparagus broken into pieces
1 small Red Onion chopped
1 Zucchini chopped
2 Carrots chopped
1 Green Pepper chopped
1 can Petite Diced Tomatoes
4 cloves Garlic chopped
2 Potatoes chopped
1 T Garlic Powder
1 T Italian Seasoning
2 t Basil and Oregano
3/4 C Frozen Corn
3/4 C Barley ~ I used quick cook

Toss the Asparagus, onion, zucchini, carrots and green pepper with a tablespoon of Olive Oil and 1 T Garlic Powder. Spread out on a cookie tray. Roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes

Put beef, broth, chopped garlic, vegis, tomatoes, spices and bring to a boil. Add Barley, potatoes and corn. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Dinner is served! Or you can put in a crockpot, put in the fridge and reheat for tomorrow, takes about 4-6 hours to get to proper temp on low.

Vegis pre oven

Vegis post oven

Chop your potato

My Grandma didn't make soup but I've heard from a few people that it tastes like the one their Grandma did:) Enjoy!

Gyro Kjome Style

I remember my kids taking a bite of my Gyro at the fair and after they said, "what kind of meat is that"? I said, "Lamb".

"ewwwww, why didn't you tell us. I think I might be sick".

"You mean like Mary had a Little Lamb..LAMB".

The horror of it all. It's what I like to call a therapy moment for my children. You know, when they are older and are sitting in their therapist's office..."and then my Mom fed me.......LAMB".

To this day I don't think Max will try anything I have unless he first asks, "what's in it"? Live and learn I guess.

So, when I put these on the table I got an eyebrow raise. "Just eat it", I said.

"But what kind of meat is this"?

"It's like steak".

"What kind of steak"?

"$15 per pound beef tenderloin now EAT it". Another therapy moment perhaps?

At any rate, it was a hit. Dinner was on the table in less than 20 minutes. And, Max even said that he'd like to try it with cheese next time. It's all about baby steps:)

What you'll need:

3/4 lb Beef Tenderloin ~ you could use a strip streak or even sandwich steak
your favorite seasoning~I simply used salt, pepper and garlic powder
Package of Flat Bread
Lettuce

Tenderloin

Sliced nice and thin. Let's hope my Father in Law doesn't see this because this is a crime in his opinion to do this to a piece of prime beef

Flat bread that I heated up in the oven for a couple of minutes. You could skip that step but I think it makes it just a bit tastier. And, if you wanted to melt cheese on the bread, now is your chance.

I cooked the meat to medium because that's about as funky as it gets with meat around here.

Serve with some fries and you've got dinner

I would throw a little sour cream mixed with salsa on mine but I'm crazy like that:)

Enchilada Pie

I was craving Mexican food today. So, Claire had tacos and I made a version of this for me. I used the leftover taco meat instead of Mexican beef and altered just a bit but the final answer is the same, so I left the photos for assembly purposes. It was YUMMY and just what I wanted...how often can you say that??

What you'll need:

Can of HOT Enchilada Sauce
1 1/2 C Taco meat ~ I used ground turkey today but beef works too
2 large Tortillas ~ I used some healthy high fiber ones I found
1/2 can Black Beans rinsed ~ you could also use pinto or refried..whatever makes you happy:)
3/4 C frozen Corn
1 C cooked Brown Rice
1/2 Green Pepper chopped
1 C Salsa
3/4 C Cheese ~ I used Monterey Jack

Spray your pan with cooking spray. Put about 1/4 C of enchilada sauce in the bottom.

Place Tortilla on top of that.

Sprinkle with half of taco meat.

Half of the beans next.

Half of the corn.

Half of the rice.

Half of the pepper.

1/3 of the cheese.

about 1/2 Cup of Salsa

Tortilla. Press down a little bit.

1/4 of what's left of the red sauce

Repeat process one more time.

Add rest of enchilada sauce and top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Top with sour cream and/or guacamole and serve.





You don't have to rip the tortilla. Just make sure it covers as much of the bottom of the pan as possible. This particular tortilla I felt was riding up too far.


You aren't going to see rice in the photos because I made one of these to "taste" it, serving rice on the side. Dylan felt it was a missing component so I added it in the next pan I made and yes, good idea D!




YUMMY!

Mexican Lasagna

I think I could eat Mexican food every day. So many varieties of things that you can do. I fed my kids the chopped Mexican beef on tortillas and then took the rest and made a small Mexican lasagna. I'm not a fan of left overs but this, this was twice as yummy the next day. I should have made a full size pan!

This recipe serves 4 using an 8x8 pan, but just double and put into a 13x9 pan.

What you'll need:

Can of HOT Enchilada Sauce ~ I actually used my homemade

1/2 bottle Verde Sauce
1 1/2 C chopped Mexican Beef
3 large Tortillas ~ I used some healthy high fiber ones I found
1/2 can Black Beans rinsed ~ you could also use pinto or refried..whatever makes you happy:)
3/4 C frozen Corn
1 C cooked Brown Rice
3/4 C Cheese ~ I used Monterey Jack

Spray your pan with cooking spray. Put about 1/4 C of Red enchilada sauce in the bottom.

Place Tortilla on top of that.

Sprinkle with half of chopped beef.

Half of the beans next.

Half of the corn.

Half of the rice.

1/3 of the cheese.

about 1/2 Cup of the Green sauce.

Tortilla. Press down a little bit.

1/2 of what's left of the red sauce

Repeat process one more time.

When you top with last toritlla, press down. Add rest of red and about 1/2 cup of green, swirl together and top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Top with sour cream and/or guacamole and serve.





You don't have to rip the tortilla. Just make sure it covers as much of the bottom of the pan as possible. This particular tortilla I felt was riding up too far.


You aren't going to see rice in the photos because I made one of these to "taste" it, serving rice on the side. Dylan felt it was a missing component so I added it in the next pan I made and yes, good idea D!




YUMMY!

Mexican Beef

I pulled two packages of stew meat out of the freezer intending on making something different. Lack of time and inspiration caused me to throw it in a crock pot and the result was tasty. We had chopped beef on tortillas and I made a Mexican lasagna (I'll be posting that recipe soon) with the rest.

Here's what you'll need:

2 packages of Stew Meat ~ I think I had a little over 2 lbs
1 pkg Onion soup mix
1 Beer or 12 oz water
1 t Cumin
1 t Chili Powder
1 t Chipotle Powder
3 cloves Garlic
2 Chipotle Peppers chopped

Put it all in the crock pot and crock on low for 10 hours. It might have been done sooner but that's when I got around to it and it was perfect. I don't think you can really over cook beef in the crock pot unless you run out of liquid anyway.

Pull it out, give it a rough chop and wrap up in tortillas. My kids actually ate these and asked for seconds..SCORE!

El Grande Burro

Just that title takes me back in to high school and eating at Chi Chi's. I ordered a beef El Grande Burro every single time I ate there. LOVED them!

Unfortunately, Chi Chi's was SHUT down. Shut down before I figured out exactly how to make the burro sauce. But, I think I got close.

Enchilada Sauce

Large Jalapeno
medium Onion
4 cloves Garlic
1 T Olive Oil
14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilis
28oz can Tomato Puree
2 C Water
1 T Chipolte Pepper
1 T Chili Powder
1/2 T Cumin
1/2 T Sugar
1 t Salt
1 t Pepper

Give the jalapeno, onion and garlic a whirl in your mini food processor or just finely chop up. I left 1/2 the seeds in the jalapeno for some added heat. If you don't like spicy, take the seeds out with a spoon. Be sure to wear plastic gloves when handling peppers OR be very careful of your hands around your face and eyes.

You can also use a variation of peppers but Target didn't offer choices so this time, you get just Jalapeno.

Put the jalapeno, onion and garlic in a pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and let it sweat a few minutes. Stir it around a little bit so nothing sticks. Add everything else, give it a stir and put on a low simmer for at least an hour to blend all the flavors. If you think it needs some more spice, add teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.

Taco Meat

1 lb ground Beef (you can use turkey)
1/2 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic
4 t Chili Powder
2 t Cumin
1 t Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper if you're feeling Sassy

Put all of this in a pan until cooked through.

Now the special thing about a burro is that it has lettuce and tomatoes in the inside. I know, sounds gross...hot lettuce, but it just worked. So..add to your shopping list:

Bag of Lettuce Shreds
1 large Tomato chopped
4 C Cheese ~ I used Mexican Blend
Tortillas ~ I bought the ones that come with 8

Put your tortillas between two damp paper towels and microwave for about 45 seconds. Put about 1/2 C of meat, few Tablespoons of Cheese, lettuce and tomatoes and fold it up. You are going to fold like an envelope, fold in both sides and then kind of roll it up to make a packet. Put seam side down in sprayed 13x9 pan. Pour enchilada sauce on top and bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Top with remaining cheese and bake another 5 minutes or until melted.

Top with more lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream. YUMMY!!

Onion and jalapeno ready for a whirl.














Blend up the onions and jalapenos in the food processor















Let the onions, peppers and garlic sweat a bit















Sauce is ready to go














Put your taco meat first, top with tomatoes, cheese and lettuce last
















Fold in sides and then fold over kind of like an envelope














Put seam side down in your dish













Top with sauce













YUMMY!!

Beef Enchiladas

I LOVE Mexican food and with Cinco de Mayo coming up, I figured you needed a yummy recipe to try.

I made my own enchilada sauce for this one and I think it gave it that extra somethin somethin.

Enchilada Sauce

Large Jalapeno
medium Onion
4 cloves Garlic
1 T Olive Oil
14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilis
28oz can Tomato Puree
2 C Water
1 T Chipolte Pepper
1 T Chili Powder
1/2 T Cumin
1/2 T Sugar
1 t Salt
1 t Pepper

Give the jalapeno, onion and garlic a whirl in your mini food processor or just finely chop up. I left 1/2 the seeds in the jalapeno for some added heat. If you don't like spicy, take the seeds out with a spoon. Be sure to wear plastic gloves when handling peppers OR be very careful of your hands around your face and eyes.

You can also use a variation of peppers but Target didn't offer choices so this time, you get just Jalapeno.

Put the jalapeno, onion and garlic in a pot with a tablespoon of olive oil and let it sweat a few minutes. Stir it around a little bit so nothing sticks. Add everything else, give it a stir and put on a low simmer for at least an hour to blend all the flavors. If you think it needs some more spice, add teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.

While that's cooking, make your taco meat. You can use ground turkey, I do that often but I had beef today so that's what I used.

Taco meat

1 lb ground beef
1/2 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
4 t Chili Powder
2 t Cumin
1 t Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper if you're feeling Sassy

Cook this all together and put to the side.

I also made a quick pan of this rice
but any white or brown rice will work. You'll need a couple of cups.

You also need about 3 Cups of your favorite cheese and the 10 pack of tortillas. I used the Mexican Blend Cheese this time.

Wrap your tortillas in some damp paper towel and heat up in the microwave for a minute. If you just bought your tortillas, you can probably skip this step because they'll be soft enough to roll.

Spray a 13x9 pan. Put about 1/4 C of taco meat off center of your tortilla, add about the same amount of rice, sprinkle with cheese and roll up. Put seam side down in pan. Continue until all 10 are rolled. Depending how saucy you like your enchiladas, you might want to hold back a cup of sauce. Pour enchilada sauce over the top, if you want the additional sauce, add now. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Top with rest of the cheese and put back into oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream.

Layer your meat and rice. You can throw some cheese in there too but it's not necessary. Roll up and put seam side down in your 13x9 pan. Top with enchilada sauce, bake for 40 minutes. Throw cheese on for another 5 and you are in for a treat!

Bacon Wrapped Fillets

Is there anything better than a really good steak? Before I got pregnant with Claire I could name about 100 things that I thought were better. But I swear the second I got pregnant with her, I could NOT get enough red meat. Clearly my body wasn't going the sweet route that it did with Max. I probably ate red meat a couple of times a year but in the months pregnant with Claire, I think I ate an entire cow. Her Dad would beg for chicken to be served, lol. After she arrived, I didn't lose my love of steak.

Imagine my glee when Target was having a sale and I got bacon wrapped fillets for cheap! The added bonus is they are pretty quick to cook.

First thing you need to do is season them with Season Salt, Pepper and Accent. Give a liberal shake, pat the seasoning down, flip them over and repeat. I didn't measure, sorry, but for this size steak, probably between 1/4 and 1/8 t of each seasoning on each steak. Let them rest for at least 15 minutes to soak in the seasoning.

Get a pan out and heat that baby up for a minute or two. Throw in a tablespoon of butter, give it a swirl. Put your steak in the pan and sear for about 2 minutes, flip to another part of the pan that has been heating up. Don't flip over in the same spot, you want the heat of the pan to sear in the juices. If your pan isn't big enough to have open space, no worries, just cook in batches and make sure you use a new hot spot each time.

Put the seared steak in an oven proof pan. Put in 400 degree oven. We like our steak Medium so for this size steak, about 13 minutes worked perfect. Take out of the oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving.
Season and sit for about 15 minutes
Get your pan HOT, throw in a pat of butter and then the steaks
Flip them to a HOT spot in the pan
Put them in the pan and throw them in the oven
Dinner is served

Mock Chowmein

I'm breaking my rule of 8 hours or more for a crock pot recipe but I have a good reason. My son has confirmation on Wednesdays. We leave and are gone for about an hour and a half. We come home ready for dinner.

I typically make this in the oven but it works great with 2 hours in the crock pot.

What you'll need:

1 lb Hamburger or ground Turkey
1/2 small Onion minced
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup ~ I use 98% fat free
1 can Skim Milk
1 can Water
1/3 C Soy Sauce
2 stalks of celery chopped
1 C Brown Rice

Cook meat with onion and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix soup, milk, water and soy sauce in the crock pot. Throw in the rice, hamburger and celery and stir. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours. OR you can put in 350 oven covered for 1 hour. Top with chow mein noodles.

Walking Fry Bread Taco

We go to Pow Wow on our reservation every summer. One of the things we look forward to is the fry bread. So, last week when I made cinnamon rolls I had some left over frozen bread dough and thought I'd see if my kids could tell the difference. I shaped the dough, threw it in some grease and put it on the table. My nephew took one bite and said, "mix or frozen"?

"Frozen", I admitted with the wind knocked from my sails.

He shrugged and said, "It's still decent".

Claire asked why we weren't having tacos? Fry Bread Tacos are one of her favorite things. Fry Bread tacos are exactly like regular tacos except you use fry bread instead of a tortilla or shell. "Walking" tacos is when they chop up the piece of bread and mix with the toppings.

I decided to use the last loaf of bread dough and make Walking tacos for dinner and with the addition of taco toppings, it was even harder to taste that the bread wasn't what your Native Grandma would make. Maybe I'll tackle the real fry bread another time, but until then..this works.

Taco meat
1 lb ground beef (I usually use ground turkey)
1/2 small onion diced
2 cloves garlic
4 t Chili Powder
2 t Cumin
1 t Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper if you're feeling Sassy
Throw the meat, onions and garlic in a pan, salt and pepper to taste. When the meat is about 1/2 cooked, add your other seasoning. It seems to blend better if you do it now, especially true if you are using the ground turkey.

Now let's make our bread. They don't have to be exact, make your circles and let them set a moment while the grease heats up
give it a stretch before placing in the grease...I always use Crisco for frying, it holds up better than oil
Nice and golden brown
Chop up your bread
Add your favorite taco toppingsClaire said, "Just like Pow Wow...only better". I love my daughter:)