Impossible Cheeseburger Pie

This is one of my all time favorite things my mom used to make us when we were younger. The Betty Crocker version (here) is called 'impossibly easy cheeseburger pie' but my mom always said it was impossible because there was no way something that easy could taste that good. 

I made it tonight for dinner and Todd was a happy camper. So was I. 

Here's the recipe.  

Ingredients: 

1 lb ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 tsp. salt

1 C shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 C Original Bisquick mix

1 C milk

2 Eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400*. Spray 9 inch pie pan with cooking spray. (You'll notice that I made ours in a cake pan. I was a. too lazy and b. too cheap to go out and buy a pie pan and my mom said this would work just as well.) 

2. In a skillet, cook ground beef & onion over medium heat until meat is brown. Drain. Add salt. 

3. Put ground beef and onion in the bottom of the pie plate (or cake pan if you're so inclined) and sprinkle with cheese. 

4. In a small bowl, stir together remaining ingredients with a wire wisk until blended. Pour into pie plate. 

5. Bake in oven for about 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

(hey mom, those are in fact veggies on my plate. Broccoli,  cauliflower, and carrots!!! 

"Impossible Cheeseburger Pie is my favorite mom!"

Grocery Store Victory & Recipe

Jacky doesn't like veggies. It's a known fact around my house. Ask anyone. I'm more of a carbohydrate girl. But in an effort to be more $$$ savvy (which by the way is going swimmingly), I sat down and planned my menu for the entire week on Monday. I got this great menu & shopping list forms for my Franklin Covey planner (full disclosure: I do work there. I love it, but I do work there. I love their products and my planner keeps me organized. But, my opinions on their products are 100% mine). So, I sat down and looked at when I would be home, when I would be working, when T would be up here for dinner and when I'd be in Provo. I planned out my menu (it includes me making a huge batch of something then eating it for the rest of the week) . 

After my menu was planned, I flipped the page over and wrote down my shopping list. Do you know how easy it is to go to the grocery store with a list, determined not to go over budget, and actually accomplish it. Easy. I think I only bought one thing that wasn't on my list and that was fabric softener because my entire box of 120 sheets has gone missing. Sigh. But when I got to the register I only ended up paying $48 and change for AN ENTIRE WEEK OF MEALS. Granted, I didn't buy any snacks anything but maybe that's for the better? I mean, I am trying to get into wedding shape. 

Anyway, back to the task at hand. Monday night was veggie soup night. Like I mentioned before, I don't do vegetables (why is it so hard to spell that word btw?). But I decided to give it a try. It's my moms recipe and she swears it's the best thing ever. So, why not? 

Ingredients:

2 32 oz cans (boxes) of chicken stock. 

10 large tomatoes (roma if you can find them.) OR 3 cans of diced tomatoes 

3 large carrots 

1 yellow or white onion 

1 green and 1 yellow zucchini 

Olive oil

1 10 oz can of sweet corn

1 can white northern beans

Any other veggies you want! Seriously, this recipe is so versatile. 

Directions: 

1. Dice all the veggies into bite sized pieces (beware, big giant carrots are a pain to cut. Or maybe it was my cheap Ikea knives) 
2. Sautee onion, zucchini in olive oil until tender 
3. Add diced tomatoes and let cook for 20 minutes (unless you're using the canned. Then cook for about 5 minutes or so) 
4. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. (I only used 1 3/4 of the 2 things of stock I bought. I ran out of room in my pot but you can add/subtract if you like a thicker or thinner soup) 
5. Reduce heat to medium 
6. Add the other veggies. Put raw ones in first for 15-20 minutes (This is when I put in the carrots) and then the caned (corn, beans, whatever) and cook for another 15-20 minutes. 
7. Add salt, pepper, seasoning to taste. 

These were my enemy. SO HARD TO CUT. Thanks Ikea.

Yummay

leftovers for DAYS. 

Notes:
I'd bet even the most anti-veggie in your family would still like this. It's that good. 

You can use veggie stock in place of chicken stock if you're a vegetarian. 

Fresh tomatoes are better than canned according to my mom, but I'm lazy and used the canned. 

Play around with the veggies in it! I used kidney beans instead of white beans and was planning on putting peas in but didn't. My mom loves spinach in hers.

If you want to switch it up, add already cooked chicken or pasta to it too. 

Did you know you can BAKE bacon?

'tis true my lovely readers. You can, in fact, cook bacon in the oven. 

I had some bacon that I bought with the intention of frying, but never did. It was coming close to expiring and I didn't want it to go to waste. I don't remember how I ended up finding the wonderful news that you can make it in the oven, but somehow, thanks to the internets I did. 

Start with a cookie sheet. Line it with aluminum foil (Use two sheets. Trust me. Just use two.) The aluminum saves you mucho time on clean up afterwards. 

Lay the bacon on the sheet. Did you notice that I didn't tell you to preheat the oven? I meant to do that. DON'T preheat the oven. I don't really know why, but just listen to the recipe, kay? ;) So, put the bacon in a cold oven, turn the heat up to 400* and walk away. Set a timer for 17 minutes and come back and check it. The recipe said to cook for 17-20 minutes but mine was done at 17 minutes. The bacon will burn quickly too, so watch it. Also, the closer to the bottom of the oven (or wherever the heating unit is in your oven) the crispier the bacon will be. I had 2 sheets in there. The one on the lower rack was nice and crispy the one on the top was more soft. 

PERFECTLY COOKED BACON! Without the nasty jumping burning grease that I am terrified of. 

The best part? 

You can crumple up the tin foil afterwards. It makes clean up a breeze. :) 

Cheesy Chicken and Rice

My mom would make this all the time for us when we were growing up. It's one of those easy meals that you can throw together in like, 5 minutes and have dinner on the table real quick. Plus, who doesn't like a healthy dose of gooey cheese in their dinner? deeeelish

ingredients: 

2 cups dried rice

1/2 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 can cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup finely diced onion

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces 

olive oil 

instructions: 

1. cook rice according to box and set aside

2. heat oven to 350* and grease a large-ish casserole dish

3. brown the onion until they are translucent in a skillet (make sure the skillet is big enough to get all of the ingredients in one pan) with the olive oil

4. add diced chicken and brown

5. in a separate bowl, mix soup and milk together until it's thick enough/thin enough to your liking. i like it thicker myself. 

6. mix sauce with chicken, rice, and onion in the skillet 

7. stir in the cheddar cheese 

8. mix until well combined and the cheese is all gooey and melty

9. put entire mixture into greased casserole dish

10. put in the oven for 20 minutes

11. in the last 5 minutes, add another handful (or two) of cheddar cheese on top. 

12. when the cheese is all gooey on top, pull it out and serve! 

Easy Peasy Beef Stroganoff

This is so not the Hamberger Helper version of beef stroganoff. It's really not the real genuine version of stroganoff either. But, I'm all for a semi-real version that tastes just as amazing. And believe me, this one does. 

ingredients: 

1 lb ground beef (I'm a food snot so I use ground sirloin but you can use anything really) 

1 small onion (about 1/2 cup)

light sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup milk 

10 oz wide egg noodles 

salt and pepper to taste

instructions: 

1. cook egg noodles according to bag. drain and set aside. 

2. brown hamburger, making sure its broken up into small pieces. think taco beef small. 

3. add onion while the hamburger is browning 

4. add salt and pepper to taste

5. once the hamburger is browned, add cream of mushroom soup and milk to the hamburger. stir until combined. 

6. stir in the sour cream

7. pour the mixture onto the cooked egg noodles and CAREFULLY fold in the mixture. 

notes/variations/spice it up a little: 

you can add fresh mushrooms and just brown them with the beef. i skip this step because i'm not a fan of massive fungi in my food. 

substitute ground beef with a 1 lb sirloin steak. cut into small pieces and brown. don't over cook! just brown it barely 

add red wine (i always skip this.) 

add some worcestershire sauce 

throw in some beef bouillon after you brown the meat 

Broccoli Noodle Cheese Soup (aka heaven in a bowl)

I hate broccoli. I mean, I loathe it. But for some reason, this soup is the most amazing thing you could ever make. It's my mom's recipe (thanks mom!) and she's been making it forever and ever. When we would go to soup dinners during lent when I was little, her's was ALWAYS the first to be gone. It's that good. 

ingredients: 

10 oz. bag of frozen broccoli (sorry Brittany, but there shouldn't be any spears in this soup) 

8 or 10 oz. bag of fine egg noodles (the really really skinny ones) 

6 cups water

6 cups whole milk (you can replace half of the milk with half and half to make it even creamier aka add on the calories) 

1 small onion (finely diced) 

8 chicken bouillon cubes

8 oz. of Velveeta cheese (cubed)

2 tablespoons butter 

(before I start I need to stress that it is VERY important to make sure you do these steps in order and for the time it says. I mean exactly in order or it'll turn gross.) 

instructions: 

1. melt butter and saute the onion until translucent 

2. add water and bouillon cubes and stir until they're all dissolved

3. add frozen broccoli 

4. cook for 3 minutes

5. add egg noodles

6. cook for 3 minutes 

7. add milk (or milk and half and half if you like it creamy)

8. cook on medium heat until warm (DO NOT let it boil. I repeat NO BOILING) 

9. add Velveeta cheese in small cubes (so it melts faster and evenly)

10. stir occasionally until melted

11. simmer on low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally 

12. take it off the heat

13. voila! you're done! 

notes: 

you can either eat it right away or let it stand for about 30 minutes to thicken it up. This soup gets better the longer it's in the fridge. Trust me on that one. 

to REALLY thicken it, cover it and let it stand in the fridge over night and then warm it up the next day. Heavenly 

Super Yummy Summer Tuna Pasta Salad

I love tuna. I love pasta. I love tuna and pasta combined. My mom's been making this for as long as I can remember and for some reason I was craving a little tuna pasta magic the other day. It's so easy (I mean, if I can make it and make it taste good, anyone can) and it's perfect for those 100* days in the middle of the summer when baking something is way out of the question. 

ingredients: 

1 large can of chunk tuna (you can use chunk lite if you'd like, but I think it tastes better with the chunk) 

1 cup of frozen peas 

3/4 cup of mayonaise (you can adjust this up and down depending on how mayo-ee you like your food. I start with a little and add more if need be.) 

1 box of shell pasta 

salt and pepper to taste 

to cook: 

1. cook the pasta according to the box instructions. Make sure you leave it a little al dente too! while the pasta is cooking, take the peas out of the freezer and open the tuna and drain it. set both aside. 

2. drain pasta and run under cold water for 30 seconds or until it's cooled down 

3. in a big bowl combine the pasta, mayonaise, peas and tuna. make sure you stir GENTLY so that you don't break up the tuna or wreck the noodles. 

4. taste it and see if it needs more mayonaise. if it does, add it! 

5. add salt and pepper to taste (you might have to add more when you actually eat it. it tends to need a little more seasoning. but, maybe thats just me.) 

6. stick in the fridge and let it chill out. 

7. once it's chilled (the longer it sits in the fridge, the yummier it gets), go on and serve it! 

notes! 

1. make this earlier in the day (like, lunchtime) and let it sit in the fridge for a while. it's better the colder it is. 

2. you may need to add more mayonaise right before you serve if the noodles soak it up and make it dry.