Groundbeef and pasta shells

1 lb ground beef
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 can tomato soup
3 tbsp ketchup (optional)

Cook the ground beef in a frying pan, breaking it into small pieces as it cooks, until there is no more pink left in the meat. Add green pepper, red pepper, and onion and cook until onion is turning transparent, about 5 minutes, add the can of tomato soup and stir well, if your adding ketchup do it now, (my mother made it this way, not sure why but the ketchup adds a nice flavor but it really dose not matter because it is really good without it also) In a large pot cook pasta shells following the cooking instructions on the package. When the pasta is cooked, drain all water and pour shells into a large bowl, pour meat mixture over shells and stir well.

Quick & Easy Recipes

Here are some quick and easy recipes that my family likes.

Calzone's

Dough:2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable shortening

Filling:

Depending on what kind you want, you can add

pizza sauce and pizza toppings

or

Swiss Cheese and Ham

or

Ricotta and Ham

or

Mushroom Marinaraor

Meat and 5 Cheese

Combine flour, salt, garlic powder, and baking powder. Blend in the shortening then slowly add milk to form a soft dough. Flatten dough and place onto a greased baking pan. Add sauce and toppings of your choice onto half of the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch between filling and crust edge. Fold dough in half and pinch or fold seam. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until bottom is lightly brown.

Smoked Salmon Crepes

3 ounces cream cheese

1/8 tsp each salt and pepper

2 tbsp sour cream

1 tbsp minced chives

6 cooked crepes (I also use wraps sometimes)

6 slices smoked salmon (very thin)

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, salt & pepper, and chives. Spread evenly on crepes. Place 1 slice of salmon on each crepe. Roll each crepe and refrigerate until time to serve. When ready to serve, slice each crepe 3 or 4 times.

Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1/2 can baby clams, drain but keep about 3 tbsp of liquid from can

2 cups heavy cream

1/3 tsp italian seasoning

1/3 tsp garlic powder

1/3 tsp onion powder

2 tbsp parmesan cheese (powdered or grated fresh) + 2 tbsp for garnish

Salt & Pepper

1/2 package fettuccini pasta

1 - 2 tbsp cornstarch

Cut chicken into strips, add to frying pan with salt and pepper (use a little oil if needed) cook until no longer pink inside. Remove chicken and set aside, keeping warm until needed. Cook pasta in a pot while making sauce. Clean out frying pan or use another one to heat cream, all seasonings and powders, cheese, baby clams and reserved clam juice on low to medium heat. Slowly whisk or stir sauce until bubbles start to form. In a small bowl add cornstarch with about 2 tbsp water, mix with a fork until creamy with no lumps, add a little more water if needed. Pour cornstarch mixture into pan and stir well for another 3 minutes. Drain pasta when cooked. Add pasta to plates, pour sauce over top, sprinkle warm chicken over top, and garnish with parmesan cheese.

Winter Recipes

These recipes are my favorite foods to cook over the winter months.


Stew (this is by far my favorite winter meal, it takes a long time to cook but is worth the wait)
1 package stewing meat
4 large potatoes, peeled, cubed
3 celery sticks, sliced to about 1/4 inch slices
1 small rutabaga, cubed
15 small carrots
flour, see below for amount
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
2 heaping tbsp cornstarch

On a large plate, pour about 1/4 cup of flour, roll each piece of stewing meat to completely cover. (If the stewing meat is in big pieces, I like to cut it in half to even it out with the size of the veggies) Use more flour as needed to cover all pieces of meat. Heat oil over medium heat in a large pot, when oil is heated, add meat and cook, turning a couple times, until meat is browning, about 10 - 15 minutes. Add about 8 cups of water, salt and pepper to pot and bring to boil (you may need to add a little more water when you add the veggies. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for an hour. Add potatoes, rutabaga, and carrots. Simmer for half hour. Add celery and onion and simmer for another half hour. In a small bowl add cornstarch with about 2 tbsp cold water (the cold water will completely dissolve the cornstarch so you do not end up with lumps), stir with fork until creamy with no lumps, stir into stew and simmer for another 5 - 10 minutes, until thick (you may need to add more cornstarch if you want a ticker stew)
See below for dinner rolls recipe.



Homemade Dinner Rolls
5 cups flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
5 tsp active dry yeast

Heat milk, water, sugar, and salt in a pot until hot, but do not bring to boil. Add eggs and yeast. Pour into large bowl and add flour, cover and set aside for 20 - 30 minutes. Melt butter and add to bowl. Stir well, if dough is sticky add a little more flour. Lightly knead. Cover and let rise 20 - 30 minutes. Shape dough into desired size for each roll, place on baking pan and let sit for another 20 minutes to rise again. Bake in preheated oven at 400 F. for about 15 minutes




Pork chops with mushroom gravy
5 medium pork chops, chopped into bite size pieces
3 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 tsp Italian seasoning Picture coming soon!
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oil


Heat oil in frying pan, add seasonings. Add pork chops to heated oil and cook until no pink inside meat. Add 3 cans of mushroom soup (you can also use a heavy cream and sliced mushrooms) It will seem at first like you have too much liquid, but half of it will be gone by the time its done. Stir well to make soup a creamy mixture. Cover and simmer for an hour, stirring often. You should get a nice brown gravy when done. Sever over mashed potatoes, rice, or any type of noodle.



Chicken Soup
8 chicken legs
5 medium potatoes
1 rutabaga
3 stalks celery, sliced about 1/4 inch slices
1 small onion, diced
20 baby carrots
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp parsley

Add about 8 - 10 cups of water to a large pot and bring to boil. Add chicken legs, salt and pepper, boil for an hour. Remove all chicken from water (do not drain water, use ladle with holes or empty pot into colander with large bowl underneath, pour broth back into pot) This step is a bit messy, and is not much fun. remove all bones and fat from meat while breaking meat into pieces. Put meat back into pot and return to simmer, add potatoes, carrots and rutabaga. Simmer for half hour. Add celery and onion and simmer for another half hour. You can also cook macaroni noodles separately and add to your bowl when you serve. (I would not recommend adding noodles to soup as they will absorb most of the broth.)