Hawaiian Meatballs

This is one of our favorite meals! Not only is it delicious, but it looks beautiful! I love colorful meals.

Hawaiian Meatballs

Make this yummy ground beef recipe for dinner

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 C dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 C milk
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 C)

Serves 6

Preparation time: 10min

Total time: 10min

Meatball Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients and form into round meatballs. Should make about 20 1 1/2 in meatballs.
2. Bake uncovered at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Sauce Ingredients:
1 20 oz can pineapple tidbits
Water
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 C. vinegar
1 C. brown sugar
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbps. lemon juice
1/2 C. chopped green bell peppers
2 Tbsp. pimentos
*when I'm on a tight budget or I'm lazy, I omit the green bell peppers on pimentos and it still tastes great!

Sauce Directions:
1. Combine pineapple juice with water to make 2 cups. Blend with cornstarch and cook until thickened.
2. Add remaining ingredients and heat through.
3. Add meatballs and serve over rice!

Preparation time: 10min
Total time: 70min
Serves 6

Lasagna

This yummy, cheesy lasagna is sure to please a crowd

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 12 oz tomato paste
• 1 oz. spaghetti sauce mix
• 24 oz. cottage cheese
• 1 tbs. dried parsley
• 1 lb. grated cheese
• 1 box lasagna noodles

Directions
1. Brown hamburger, drain any excessive oil.
2. Stir in tomato paste, water, and sauce mix. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally. NOTE: when I first started making this meal, I thought this step was unnecessary and I skipped it. I was wrong. I ended up with soupy lasagna.
3. Mix the parsely into the cottage cheese
4. Lightly grease a large baking dish, 9x13. Spoon enough meat sauce on bottom of pan to cover
5. Top with strips of lasagna (do not cook lasagna noodles)
6. Spread half of cottage cheese and then cheese on top.
7. Repeat layers. END WITH MEAT SAUCE. Sprinkle with parmesan cheses
8. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cover with tinfoil!

Just out of the oven.

 

Serve with garlic or french bread and a salad or green beans.

Manicotti - One of our favorite meals!

Before we go any further, I have to tell you: I kind of made this recipe up. I know, scary, right? When Devin and I were first married, he mentioned that his Mom's manicotti was one of his favorite dinners. I'd never had, or even heard of manicotti. So, on our first Valentine's Day as a married couple I called his Mom up and asked for the recipe. She responded by saying she didn't really have one, she just kinda threw it together.

AGH! As a new bride, not using a recipe was unheard of! (frankly, it still terrifies me). She gave me what directions she could, but I didn't think it would work out. Still wanting to impress my husband for with a scrumptious Valentine's dinner I went to google and looked up the recipe. There are a TON of different ways to put manicotti together. Based on tips from my mother-in-law, ideas from online recipes, and my knowledge of lasagna, I came up with this recipe. *note, it took a few times to get this right. The first time I made it, we had WAY to much filling for manicotti noodles. Not wanting to be wasteful, I tried putting it on a sandwhich the next day. NOT a good idea. Leave it for inside the noodles. 

 Okay, on to the recipe:

Manicotti:
1/2 lb ground beef $1.75
1/2 container of cottage cheese $0.79
1 pkg. Itallian mix cheese $1.25
1 c. cheddar cheese $.20
1 box manicotti noodles $2.29
1 jar Ragu Garden Combination Sauce $1.89 (I have tried multiple brands and flavors, this one is by FAR the best for this meal) 
Total: $8.17
4 Servings = $2.04 per person. Pretty good for a fancy meal!


Directions:
1. Brown the hamburger. Season with salt and pepper as desired. 
2. Mix all the ingredients (except the sauce an noodles, of course) together in a bowel. Save a little bit of the Italian cheese mixture for the end. Like a handful or two.

3. Get out a cake pan and pour a small amount of the sauce on the bottom of the pan, just enough to  cover it.

4. Stuff the mixture into the uncooked manicotti. (when I first started making this, I tried using a utensil to stuff the manicotti and  it took way to long. Now I use my hands. Warning: it gets kinda messy. oh, and don't pay attention to the dirty dishes in the background). Place in pan.

5. After all of the manicotti are in the pan, pour the remaining sauce on top.

 
6. Cover the pan with tinfoil and put in the oven at 350 degrees, bake for 50 minutes. *note, it is essential to top the pan with tinfoil in order for the noodles to cook! Don't forget this step. (my pan also has tinfoil on the bottom, because they're having a rusting problem) 

7. I always top the manicotti with some Italian cheese mixture and a little parsley, because I like how it makes it look fancy.

8. Eat and enjoy! I usually serve with green beans.

 

Don't feel like cooking

Have you ever had nights where you just didn't feel like cooking? I had one of those this week. So we had sloppy joes, tater-round, and fry sauce.

Devin and I love the tater-rounds more than tater-tots because they are crunchier.

Ground Beef $2.50
Manwhich sloopy joe sauce $1.49
Buns $0.99 I bought the cheap Western Family kind
Taters $.75 (assuming you ate half the bag) 
Total $5.73
4-5 Serving =$1.43- $1.14 per/person

Now, I'm sure that many of you non Idaho and Utah readers are wondering: WHAT IS FRY SAUCE? Well, I'm going to share a simple recipe with you that will change the way you eat fries. Fry Sauce.

Pull out the ketchup and the miracle whip. Put it inside a bowel. Stir it around. The end. I usually just do the proportions half and half. Play with it and find out how you like it. Give it a try and let me know! Oh! And, don't forget to go to Miracle Whip's facebook for a $1.00 off coupon!

Have a great weekend!

Stroganoff Boats

Warning: for a lot of this meal, I've had the stuff in my cupboard/freezer for a long time. So I'm not sure about pricing. Just kinda guessing here. Plus, I haven't figured out how to price things like 1tbsp of Worcestershire sauce yet.

Stroganoff Boats
1 lb hamburger $2.50
1 c. sour cream $0.79 yep. we're using the other half from our Darigold coupon found on: coupons.com
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce $0.10
3 green onions $0.30
1 green pepper $1.99 I know, YIKES!!
1 tomato (optional)
1 c.grated cheese $0.87
1 loaf french bread $1.49

Total: $8.04  (remember, this price might be off, I need to go shopping to find out some prices)
4 Servings = $2.01/per person


Directions:
Brown hamburger, then add Worcestershire sauce,sour cream, and chopped green onions. Slice bread lengthwise and place on a pan (the cheese can get a little messy... you'll see in a picture below) so you might want to put tinfoil on the pan. Spread the hamburger mixture over both halves of the bread. Top with sliced pepper, tomatoes (Devin and I aren't the biggest fans of tomatoes, so we don't usually put them on ours, but you can!), and top with grated cheese. Place under broiler for 8-10 minutes. Don't let it burn!

*note: since Devin and I are only a family of 2. I halved this recipe. I will be using the rest of my french bread later! 

There's something I need to tell you about myself. I'm not the great of a cook. Just an average one. And, I make mistakes all the time and MESSES. Just ask Devin, I'm a messy cook. Remember how I told you to put down foil? This is why:

Not only did I have to scrub the pan, but it dripped off the pan and now I have to clean the bottom of the oven.

Enjoy dinner though! It's a tasty meal and one of our favorites!