Better Late Than Never!

Hey friends!  There was a bit of a recipe swap a little while ago, and yes, I failed at that.  Here are a couple of Child family staples:

Red Italian Sauce

Ingredients

•1 lb. hamburger

•1 c. chopped onion

•1 c. chopped green pepper

•16 oz. tomato sauce

•2 small cans tomato paste•

1 ½ c. water

•1 envelope Italian Style spaghetti mix

•½ crushed bay leaf

•Oregano, Italian Seasoning, minced garlic to taste

Directions:

Brown hamburger with onion and green pepper. Drain grease and put in crockpot. Add remaining ingredients and simmer on low 3-5 hours. (the longer it simmers the better).

Works great for lasagna, baked ziti, or really anything where a red Italian sauce would be used.  

I LOVE to make a lot of it, and then freeze it in quart sized bag for a quick meal. It tastes  great without the meat too if you'd rather, but I came from a meat loving family, so we make room for it in the budget. I like to bulk it up a bit in the summer when we have fresh vegis too...zucchini, yellow squash, fresh tomatoes...whatever.

Paprika Chicken

Ingredients:

•4 chicken breasts

•Paprika

•Garlic salt

•3 small cans creamed soup (mushroom or chicken)

•1 c. milk

•Dried parsley flakes

Directions:
Place chicken in glass casserole dish.  Sprinkle both sides with paprika and garlic sat and parsley.  In another bowl, stir together soup and just enough  milk to resemble a thick gravy. Pour over top of chicken.  Sprinkle with more garlic salt, paprika and parsley flakes. Bake at 350º for 1 hour. Wisk around gravy to mix flavors.  Serve over rice, potatoes or pasta.

Breakfast Burritos

Hashbrowns

Vegetables (fresh or frozen: zucchini and yellow squash work great, as well as frozen mixed vegis)

Ham or bacon (optional)

Scrambled Eggs

Cheese

Cook the hashbrowns, vegetables, and meat in a large skillet until done.  Add scrambled eggs and cheese.  Cook through.  Serve in tortillas.  Great with salsa as well.

I also remember that someone was talking about freezer meals. I'm ALL ABOUT THAT! We've found that most soups freeze great, with the exception of things with potatoes.  I freeze a lot of chili, white chicken chili, taco soup, chicken enchilada soup, pizza sauce (when I don't just make it fresh), sour cream chicken enchiladas (just the filling, I thaw it and then wrap it the tortillas when I'm ready to use it).  Almost anything that you cook in a crockpot can be frozen (just don't freeze starchy things- mostly potatoes and pasta). Freezing is also a great way to preserve tomatoes from the garden.  We just cut them up (diced tomatoes!) and add some onions, green peppers and a little salt and then seal them up good in a quart sized bag.  I love the garden!