Tostada with Ground Beef and Fixings

My youngest has a new friend spending the night and asked for tostados for dinner, a perfect request since we had a perfect ripe avocado. I pulled some ground turkey from the freezer and cooked it up with some taco seasonings.  A while back I bought a container of taco seasoning but I actually prefer this recipe with onions and tomato sauce and cumin.  But sometimes you’re in a hurry and the mixes aren’t all that bad.   You could also make up your own taco seasoning packets if you’d like.

While the meat was cooking, I served up small dishes of grated cheese, sour cream, lettuce, sliced olives, diced avocados, diced tomatoes and got out some bottled green salsa and hot sauce.  I also heated up a can of refried beans.

Tostado Fixings

When the meat was done, I removed it to a serving dish and covered it to keep warm, rinsed out the cast iron skillet I was using, then put in a small amount of canola oil and fried up some corn tortillas for the base of the tostados.

Leftovers will make a great taco salad or soft tacos.

<edited later to add pictures!>

Meatball sandwich

In truth, there’s hardly a recipe for a meatball sandwich. At its simplest, you take a French or hoagie roll, put a few meatballs on it, ladle some spaghetti sauce on it and eat.

If you want to get a bit fancier, you’d use your own homemade meatballs. My favorite recipe uses ground pork and ground beef, plus cheese.  But if ground pork is hard to find or too expensive, just use all ground beef. These days I prefer to bake them rather than fry them. I make a lot, then flash freeze what i don’t need so I have a handy stash in the freezer.

The other night we had company and I went all out and made Sunday Gravy a la the Soprano’s. I made double the meatballs though and froze the extra sauce and meatballs, plus sent some sauce and sausage and meat home with a guest plus sent some over to the neighbor with a broken leg. The recipe makes a lot!

My youngest has been loving having spaghetti and meatballs for lunch every day this week, although she took a break today. Then she came home and asked if we could have meatball sandwiches for dinner! Ha!  Sure…

I put some meatballs and sauce on the stove to heat up, then took the French rolls and opened them up, spread with some butter, sprinkled with some garlic powder and broiled until crispy.   By then the meatballs and sauce were warmed through. I put 3 meatballs on each French roll, ladled some sauce on top, then put some grated Mozzarella over it and put the sandwiches back under the broiler for a bit.

Mmmm.  We broke with tradition and ate dinner while watching Glee on TV.  Served the sandwiches with a green salad and it was a lovely dinner.  What a great way to use up leftovers.

Stuffed Green Peppers and Mini Meatloaf

I got this recipe from my sister. Unlike most stuffed green pepper recipes, it has no rice. I personally think I would like this a bit better with some cooked rice added, but it was good. My daughter was aghast at the idea of eating astuffed  green pepper, so I used the same meat mix in a silicon muffin liner and made a mini meat loaf. I had just bought these Wilton Easy Flex Silicone Baking Cups and they worked great for muffins the other day and for a single meatloaf muffin tonight.

• 3 bells peppers, tops cut off and insides trimmed
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbs diced onion
• 1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese for topping

Heat a quart or so of salted water in a pot until boiling. While the water heats, trim the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds and membranes. (Note, you can use red, orange, yellow or green peppers. The non-green ones will be a little sweeter.)

Simmer the peppers in the water 5 minutes and then drain.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix together the ground beef, tomato sauce, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and diced onion. (Note: Next time I may add a bit of Worcestershire sauce.)

Place the drained peppers in a shallow baking dish. Stuff them with the meat mixture. Cover and cook 45 minutes. Uncover, top with some grated cheese, and bake another 15 minutes.

• leftover taco meat
• homemade salsa if it’s summer or bottled if not
• chopped lettuce
• grated Cheddar cheese or a Mexican blend
• refried beans or black beans or whole pinto beans
• sliced olives if you’d like
• chopped avocado if you have some
• chopped fresh tomato
• chopped green onions or yellow onions
• tortilla chips or broke up leftover taco shells

If you’ve got a vegetarian in the family, this is a great dish because you can serve everything in small bowls and let everyone build their own taco salad, with or without meat.  You could also substitute leftover cooked chicken for the ground beef. It’s very flexible.

So tonight I thought I’d experiment with their Carolina Chili Dogs. These were very good and I think a nice option to add for a cookout when you’re doing burgers and dogs.  They suggested that Southeners preferred their chili finely ground. To get this texture, they suggested cooling the mixture 20 minutes or so and then using your blenders or food processor. I just pulled out my immersion blender (love that thing!) and it did the trick just perfectly!  I used a pound of ground beef rather than their 1.5 p0unds because that’s what I had. And I upped the Worcestershire from 2 tsp to 1 Tbs because (a) I’d just used the tablespoon and b) we like Worcestershire.

• 1 pound ground beef (extra lean)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cups water
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 Tbs chili powder
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp vinegar (cider or white)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Put the water and ground beef in a Dutch oven or soup pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Peel and chop the onion while waiting for this to boil.  Add the onion, reduce the heat to medium, and stir to break up the meat a bit.

Add the tomato paste, ketchup, chili powder, Worcestershire, vinegar, salt and pepper and stir until the tomato paste is dissolved and everything is mixed well, breaking up the meat chunks as you go.

Simmer over low heat about 15 minutes, until very thick, stirring now and then.

Serve on hot dogs with grated Cheddar cheese if you want chili cheese dogs. They didn’t suggest that so maybe it’s not a Carolina thing, but around here you get chili cheese dogs if you get chili on hot dogs.

NOTE: If you like boiling ground beef, I’d think you could reduce the water a bit and skip the blending because the ground beef will already be fairly fine.

You can definitely make the chili ahead of time and freeze in portions that your family will find useful. They suggest 2 Tbs per hot dog, so maybe 1/2 cup for a family of 4-5.

This makes about 4 servings.

• 1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
• 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 5 large cloves of garlic, minced (and divided)
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg  (I don’t know that this added much)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 3/4 cup beef broth
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes (she said crushed but diced is what I had)
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup ketchup
• rolls or hamburger buns
• butter and fresh garlic to taste
• slices of mozarella to top the sandwiches

Brown the ground beef with the green peppers, onion, most of the garlic, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. When it’s done, drain any excess grease off.

Add the chopped mushrooms and cook 5 minutes, stirring. Add the wine, bring to a simmer and cook a minute or so, then stir inthe beef broth, tomatoes, Worcestershire, and ketchup.  Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until most of the liquid is evaporated. Stir now and then.

Meanwhile, mix some of the garlic with some softened butter, enough to spread over however many rolls you are using.  Broil the buns a bit until browned slightly. Place some of the meat on top of each bun and top with a slice of mozarella cheese. Broil until the cheese is softened and serve.

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 cup diced onion (a small onion)
• 2 Tbs taco seasoning mix
• 1 14.5 oz can condensed tomato soup
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
• 1 cup sour cream

Brown the ground beef in a deep skillet over medium heat, stirring and breaking up clumps.  Peel and dice the the onion and add it to the skillet, stirring. Cook until there’s no pink in the meat and the onion is soft, 5-10 minutes.

Stir in the taco seasoning mix and cook one minute, stirring.

Add the tomato soup and heat through, then mix in the cheese until melted. Remove from the heat or turn the heat down way low and stir in the sour cream.

We made burritos the first night, adding some sliced black olives, salsa, and diced avocado.

Two nights later we used the rest for taco salads. Chopped lettuce, Ranchero beans, sliced olives, diced avocadoes, a bit more cheese, salsa and/or Catalina dressing.

• 2 tsp minced dried onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp dried red pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried minced garlic or garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano

This makes the equivalent of 1 packet of taco seasoning mix. If you want to be efficient, lay out small pieces of aluminum foil on your counter and measure out each ingredient onto each piece of aluminum foil. Then wrap up to make airtight and store for up to 6 months.

For tacos, brown 1 pound of ground beef in a skillet until there’s no more pink, stirring as you go. Drain excess fat, Add 1/2 cup water and one recipe of this taco seasoning mix.  Stir well, then lower the heat until it’s at a low simmer. Stir now and then and simmer for 10 minutes or so. This should fill 10 -12 tacos.

First, was the Sunday Gravy from The Soprano’s cookbook, modified only slightly to make smooth sauce rather than chunky. I put the whole tomatoes in my VitaMix and blended them up. You could also chop with scissors or just leave them whole and let them fall apart a bit as they cook.

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 pound meaty pork spareribs
• 1 pound veal stew meat
• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1 pound meatballs, preferably made from pork and beef
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 3 28-oz cans pureed tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 cups water (use the cans to rinse out all the tomato juice!)
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh basil, 6-8 leaves torn or chopped into small pieces

Heat the oil in a heavy pot large enough to hold everything. Brown the pork, turning now and then, about 15 minutes. Take the pork out and put it on a plate. Brown the veal, about 10-15 minutes, turning periodically, then take it out and add it to the plate. Brown the sausage, 10-15 minutes, then take it out and add to the plate.

Drain the excess fat, leaving about 1 Tbs in the pot. Cook the garlic one minute, flattening and turning now and then to flavor the oil. Take the garlic out and discard it.

Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, water, salt, pepper, and basil leaves. Stir until the paste is mixed in well.  Add the meats back in. Bring to a simmer, partially cover, and cook for 2 hours or so. Stir periodically.

Add the meatballs and cook another half an hour. If the sauce becomes too thick, add some water. If it’s not thick enough, take the cover off the last half an hour.

At this point, you can serve take the meats out and serve the sauce over cooked pasta, with the meat as a second course or alongside. Or make lasagna with the sausage and meatballs and sauce and save the pork and veal for another meal.

I made lasagna.

I saw this and then this plus a few recipes in various cookbooks, including Feed Your Family Fast, Healthy Meals on $10 a Day (only available used but a great book!). I was thinking something with noodles and ground beef. This must have been the inspiration for the original hamburger helper.  I combined a few ideas and came up with this.  I’m going to tell you what I did, then tell you a few other ideas I didn’t do this time.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onions, diced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey)
• 8 oz elbow macaroni, cooked al dente and drained
• 2 15-oz cans tomato sauce
• 1 15-oz can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup grated cheese (I used mozzarella this time but might opt for Cheddar or Parmesan next time for more flavor)

Heat the oil in a nice deep skillet and start the onions and garlic cooking.

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. (Note: Some of the recipes had you cooking the pasta in the pan as the meat so you could skip this step,  maybe add a soup can of water to the pan and cook a bit longer, covered.)  Cook the pasta al dente then drain and set aside.

When the garlic and onions are soft, add the ground beef and cook, stirring to break up the chunks. (Note: this would also be a great dish to use boiled ground beef in.)  Cook until browned, then drain excess oil and fat.

Add the tomato sauce, kidney beans, cream of mushroom soup, cooked pasta, and Worcestershire sauce.  Heat through, stirring, then stir in the frozen peas, stir, and cover. Let the goulash simmer a few minutes to finish the pasta and heat the peas.

Top with grated cheese, cover, and let the cheese melt. Serve.

Variations:

Other variations I saw used mixed frozen vegetables instead of peas or no vegetables at all, tomato soup or stewed tomatoes plus juices or diced ;tomatoes plus juices or Rotel tomatoes instead of tomato sauce; cottage cheese instead of cream of mushroom soup or neither one of those; more dried herbs; taco seasonings; paprika, garlic salt, etc.

The two adults I served tonight thought this was great. My own girls picked at it (but one is not feeling well). My youngest had a friend over and she ate hers up readily enough. This poor girl was also here the night I experimented with Ground Turkey Picadillo.  (But she asked for the recipe for that later so I guess she was willing to experiment tonight!)

So mixed reviews from the household but a good review from the cook.