Beef Stroganoff

This is one of the first meals I ever remember eating at my in-laws house. It's definitely a family favorite. It says to use round steak, but I use pretty much whatever steak is on sale (price-matching at Walmart is the key to getting a good deal.) Fry the meat, throw everything in the crockpot and enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff
Source: Sue Peaden

Ingredients:
1 lb round steak (thin)
3-4 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 to 2/3 milk per can of soup
1/2 to 1 tub sour cream (to taste)
1 1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
 Garlic Salt
Onion Salt
Salt
Pepper
Rice

Directions:
Combine cream of chicken soup, sour cream and Worcestershire sauce in large crock pot. (David combines it in a bowl, then transfers it to the crock pot.) Cut up steak into small pieces and brown in frying pan. Season with garlic salt, onion salt, salt and pepper to taste. Pour steak and all juices into crock pot with soup mixture. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. (Sometimes we add a little bit of milk to make it a little more saucy.)

1/2 hour before stroganoff is done, cook rice. (We make 8 servings and then use this stroganoff for leftovers for the rest of the week.) Serve immediately.

{5/14/2011}

M- Chicken and Twice Baked Potatoes
T- Thyme Pasta from Howe to Cook
W- Crispy Chicken Wraps
Th- BYU/USU Basketball Game Party (maybe this, this, or this?)
F- Chicken and Potatoes with Mrs. Dash seasoning
S- Chicken Sandwiches
S- Beef Stroganoff
M- Corn Chowder from Our Best Bites
T- Chefs Salad

Chicken Nachos

I found this yummy recipe from one of my most favorite real-life family food sites, Howe to Cook. It originally is meant to be put on rice or in a tortilla but we love to eat it on chips as a dinner version of nachos. Pop it in the crock pot in the morning or afternoon and then dinner comes together in minutes.  

  

Chicken Nachos

Source: Adapted from Howe to Cook. 

Ingredients:

2 cans corn, drained

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can diced green chilis

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1/2 jar salsa (1-2 cups)

{Tortilla Chips}

Directions:

Layer it in the order of the ingredients. Cook on low 3-7 hours (the greatest thing about this meal is that you can put it in three hours before dinner or in the morning before you leave. It won't hurt it to sit in the crock pot all day - it just makes the chicken even more tender.  Stir everything together, shred chicken using a fork, and serve on top of tortilla chips. 

We halved the recipe (just used one can of corn and beans) and added about 1/3 can of diced green chilis and it was perfect for the two of us. Yum!

Sugar Cookies

If you want a delicious, melt in your mouth sugar cookie - then this is the recipe for you!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting, sprinkles, colored sugar, decorations

Beat together butter and sugar. Add sour cream, eggs, and vanilla; beat well. Stir
in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate at
least one hour.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness. Dip cookie
cutters in flour then cut dough into desired shapes. Place cookies 1-inch apart
on un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes (cookie will be a very light
tan on bottom - tops will still be pale). Remove to wire cooling rack. Frost when cooled.



---------
Butter Cream Frosting

1 cup butter, room temperature

5 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

4-6 tablespoons cream or milk

gel or paste food coloring (optional)

Method:
Beat together butter, sugar, salt, vanilla and 1/4 cup cream or milk. Add
additional cream, 1-2 teaspoons at a time and continue to beat until frosting is
smooth, creamy and is desired spreading consistency. Beat in food color, one
drop at a time, as desired.

Meat and Bean Burritos

This is the perfect meal to use up that leftover hamburger you have sitting in the fridge. Whenever I make my meal plans and we have tacos on one night, you are probably going to find these meat and bean burritos two nights later. We really love them, and I love that I am usually able to pull two meals out of one pound of hamburger.

Meat and Bean Burritos
Source: The Peaden Kitchen

Ingredients:
1/2 lb leftover hamburger
1 cup leftover rice
1 can refried beans
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 packet taco seasoning
Tortillas
Cheese

Directions:
Mix hamburger, rice, refried beans, salsa, taco seasoning and cheese in a sauce pan. Heat thoroughly. Fill tortillas and wrap up burrito style. Cook on George Forman for 2-4 minutes until crispy and golden brown. Top with cheese and salsa. Delicious!

Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1 can cream of chicken soup, or cream of mushroom
• 2 1/2 pounds cut up chicken or chicken breasts
• 1 cup of frozen broccoli
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cook rice. Cube and cook chicken. Mix soup, broccoli, chicken, and rice; season with salt and pepper. Spread in 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Top with cheese and bake for 15-25 minutes at 350°.  Put casserole under broiler for a few seconds to brown.

Tacos

This is a classic. You know... one of those "I need something delicious, filling, easy and happy" meals.

Tacos make us happy.

Tacos
Source: The Peden Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
Chili Powder
Garlic Salt
Onion Salt
Tortillas
Toppings: Salsa, Cheese, Cheese, Cheese, Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, Lettuce

Directions:
Brown hamburger in a skillet. When hamburger is almost done, coat it in chili powder, with liberal amounts of garlic salt and onion salt. Mmmm.....

Wrap in tortillas and top with many delicious toppings.


p.s. whatever you do.... check the Chili Powder bottle. Cinnamon is not on the ingredient list.

Menu Plan - 5/7/2011

M- Tacos
T-Leftovers
W- Chicken and Rice Casserole
Th- Meat and Bean Burritos
F- Pizza
S- Thyme Pasta
S- Mexican Crock Pot

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. butter
4 sp. unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs beaten
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 c. flour
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Melt together butter and chocolate and mix that with sugar. Add eggs, flour, vanilla, baking powder, salt. Heat waffle iron and drop one scoop of batter in each section. Be careful not to burn.

Frost with chocolate frosting.

Shantel's Dad's Special Frosting: (His amounts are approximate and were full of hand gestures paired with statements of "about this much." If you get it right - it is divine.)

1 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs melted butter
4 capfuls of milk
Cocoa to taste.

Mix

Oven Grilled Pizzas

These are a quick and easy dinner, so long as you have the supplies on hand and you remember to pull out the Rhodes rolls before leaving for work in the morning. I've also started making my own dough (saves on money as long as you have the time). You can make these pizza's on the grill outside, but we usually just make them in our oven. Delish!

Oven Grilled Pizza
Source: The Peaden Kitchen

Ingredients:
5 Rhodes Rolls
Pizza sauce (lets be realistic, we use the jar of spaghetti sauce that is always in our fridge from eating so much spaghetti.)
Pepperoni
Lots of Cheese (we buy a 5 pound brick of cheese at Sams Club for just about $10.00 - it's a great deal and then we don't feel like we have to skimp on our cheese.)
Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (See here for more details)

Pre-preparation directions:
Take rolls out of freezer before leaving for work in the morning. Place them on a plate covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator.

Preparation directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Take two rolls and mush them together then stretch them out to create a little personal pizza. We use five rolls total. Two pizzas for David and one and a half for me. (Today we had an extra roll due to me being really tired this morning when I pulled out the rolls, so I turned one into a breadstick and put it right in with the pizzas and it turned out great.)

One all of the pizzas have been stretched out, place them directly onto the oven rack. Let them bake for about five minutes or until the bottoms have turned golden brown. Take them out, flip them over and put the sauce and toppings on the browned side of the pizza. Then lay a piece of tin foil on the bottom rack and place the pizzas back into the oven directly onto the top rack (so that any drippings fall through onto the tin foil below.) Bake until cheese is melted and gooey.

Remove from oven carefully. Serve immediately with Hidden Valley Ranch and Dr. Pepper. (Don't judge us.)

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches & Tomato Soup

David is the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich maker this side of the Mississippi. (And he could probably give those East coasters a run for their money!) I have the tendency to "char" my attempts - or at very least turn them into flat, tough cheese 'n bread bricks. David's grilled cheese sandwiches come out flaky and buttery with gooey cheese in the middle. One word: Perfect.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Source: David Peaden

Shantel's Directions:
Heat campbells tomato soup and one can of milk in small sauce pan. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and a tiny bit of pepper. Watch David make the grilled cheese sandwiches. (Some people are above tomato soup from a can, but this is so easy and we really like it.Although, next time I am going to try THIS recipe.)

David's Directions:
Butter bread. Carefully place thinly sliced pieces of cheese on un-buttered sides of bread. Grill until a delicious shade of golden brown. Enjoy the buttery crispness with a nice hot bowl of tomato soup.

We ate this tonight with a side of mozzarella sticks. It was exactly what we needed after a busy day. Yum!