French Bread Pizzas

Well, there isn’t much to this recipe, since you can pretty much use whatever sounds good for making these little pizzas, but I figure it helps to keep track of how to cook them anyway.

Ingredients:

The Basics:

• Sub Rolls
• Pizza sauce
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Shredded Mozzarella

Possible toppings:

• Fresh Basil
• Pepperoni
• Plum tomato
• Black olives
• Sausage
• Bacon
• Spinach

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a cookie sheet with foil
2. Cut sub rolls in half and put them on the pan
3. Top with sauce
4. Top with everything else
5. Put the pan in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes.
6. Then, increase the temperature to 425 F and move the pizzas to the top of the oven. Continue baking until cheese is bubbly and turning golden.

 

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

• Bibb lettuce
• 1 lb ground beef
• Large onion (chopped)
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger
• Chile pepper sauce (to taste)
• 1 bunch green onions (chopped)
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil

Method

1. Brown ground beef. Drain and set aside.
2. Dash peanut oil in a hot pan, saute onion until tender.
3. Stir hoisin sauce, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and pepper sauce into onions.
4. Add green onions, sesame oil, and booked beef. Cook and stire until green onions begin to wilt.
5. Serve over lettuce. Add stick carrots if desired.
6. Note: Does not do well over rice. Serve rice on the side.

Lazy Weeknight Dinners

As much as we love cooking elaborate homemade dinners, there are some nights that we simply cannot do that because either we are too busy, too lazy, too tired, or simply just don’t feel like it. So, what do you do on those days? Here is a list of some of our easy, weeknight go-tos that are for the most part pretty easy and quick to cook. Most of these are just thrown together and need no recipe, but there are a few that have recipes scattered on the blog.

On the grill:

• Marinated Hot Dogs: served with fries, chips, or any mac and cheese
• Bratwurst: served with fries, chips, etc…
• Hamburgers: any side dish will do
• Grilled Chicken: any side dish will do
• Steak Tips/ ribeyes: served with fries/ baked potatoes/ roasted potatoes 1 or 2/ mac and cheese/ rice-a-roni, and broccoli/ corn/ salad

On the stove:

• Tacos
• Pasta with meat sauce: serve with garlic bread
• Pasta with sausage
• Comfort pasta: Pasta with butter and cheese
• Ravioli/ tortellini
• Shredded turkey with gravy served over rice and corn
• Comfort food – literally cooked ground beef added to rice-a-roni
• Kielbasa: served with sauerkraut, pierogi or broccoli au gratin rice a roni
• Homemade chicken fingers and salad
• Adult grilled cheese
• Quesadillas
• Steak and Cheese sandwiches

In the oven:

• Steak pinwheels (store bought): see steak tips for sides
• Homemade pizza
• Meatloaf: served with beef gravy, and potato/ mac and cheese/ rice-a-roni, and corn/ broccoli
• Fish and chips
• Corned beef casserole
• Calzones
• Frozen pizza

Quick Beef Stroganoff 1

By no means the real thing, but if you’re craving the rough flavor this might get you by.

Ingredients

• Yellow onion, diced
• 1-2 garlic cloves, diced
• 1-1.5lb lean ground beef
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/3 cup red wine
• 1 packet brown gravy mix
  1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Water, as needed
• Egg noodles or flat pasta

Method

1. Brown ground beef. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, start water for pasta and cook per package directions.
3. Add onion and garlic to beef. Sauté until onion is softened.
4. Add broth, red wine, cream of mushroom soup, and gravy mix. Stir until mixed. Heat thoroughly.
5. Add water to adjust consistency as desired.
6. Remove from heat, stir in sour cream. Serve over pasta.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

The original recipe for this was borderline retarded. This is modified and should yield good results.

Ingredients

• 6-8 chicken thighs, cut into 2″x2″ chunks
• 2 sleeves Ritz crackers, pulverized in food processor and mixed with salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup milk, plus more as necessary
• 3 cups finely grated cheddar cheese
• Dried parsley

Sauce

• 1 10 oz. can cream of chicken soup
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Dip chicken in milk, press into bread crumbs, place in cooking pan coated in cooking spray
3. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes
4. Remove foil and bake for additional 10 minutes
5. Remove from oven and liberally coat the chicken with cheese
6. Bake for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
7. During last 10 minutes, combine sauce ingredients in small saucepan and heat thoroughly.
8. Sprinkle parsley over sauced chicken before serving.

Corned Beef or Tuna Casserole

Two simple comfort foods from my childhood. Both are easy to make, easy to eat.

Corned Beef Casserole
1 can corned beef OR 1 large can of Tuna
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 box macaroni
2 tsp Onion Powder

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Cook the macaroni according to package instructions.  Drain.
• In a large casserole dish, mix together all ingredients.
• Bake for 30 mins till heated through.