A flavorful, meaty, thick soup that you'll love if you like stuffed green peppers. For some reason many people seem to consider soup as 'winter' food, but if you have access to a garden overflowing with green peppers in the summer, a pot of this soup is a perfect way to use them. Provided by a restaurnt in Kentucky, this recipe first appeared in Taste of Home about a dcade ago.
Make life even easier by buying a pouch of cooked rice, or make extra some night so you'll have leftovers specifically for this soup. I've used both brown rice and mixed wild-and-white rice, but plain white rice works the best.
In a large pot, brown 2 lbs. ground beef and drain it. Add 28 oz diced canned tomatoes & their juice, 28 oz tomato sauce, 8 c. water, 2 c. cooked rice, 2 c. chopped green pepper, 2 beef bouillon cubes, 1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar (use brown sugar twin or splenda if you wish), 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, 30-40 minutes or until the peppers are tender. Like most soups and stews, the flavor is just as good or better when reheated.
Serves 6-8 hungry people
This quickie is SO good I serve it to guests and call it 'frozen banana truffles'.
All you need on hand is 3 staple ingredients- chocolate chips, nuts, and bananas.... and the nuts are optional! You can make them in 10 minutes and serve it in 30 minutes. I haven't made them for a long time til I saw Ellie Krieger on the Food Network this morning, making something very similar---- more like the frozen bananas you can get at the local Dairy Queen. She cut the bananas in half and poked a Popsicle stick in them. I like 'em better this way... bite -sized heaven!! You can decide, and maybe make them both ways- on stick for the kids and in chunks for the adults.
Cut up bananas- probably 1 small banana per person - in small bite size pieces. If you have time, freeze the chunks for 15-30 minutes. This isn't essential but will speed the process.
In the microwave, melt chocolate chips ( regular semi-sweet or dark chocolate, but not milk chocolate. A 6-oz bag will do 2-4 bananas, depending on size. Before you start, add about 1 heaping TB shortening to the dish. This will make the choclate smoother and easier to dip. Zap it for maybe 2 minutes at 50% power- this will vary depending on the wattage of your oven and how old it is...watch carefully..stir and check often so it doesn't begin to overcook at the bottom.
When it's melted and smooth, just dip your banana chunks in one at a time, coating completely, then lift out and drop into a small deep bowl of chopped nuts - pecans seem to work best but experiment with what you have. Use a spoon to spoon the nuts on it. Place on a foil-covered cookie sheet and pop them in the freezer again.
If you don't eat them soon, let freeze hard, then put in a freezer bag or plastic container to store. Serve frozen.
This thick, cheesy, gooey pizza is crustless, making it a decadent low carb-pizza recipe. Other than the few carbs in the small can of tomato sauce, it's pretty much carb free and you may come to love this more than regular pizza. Obviously, feel free to add or change toppings, but try this version first so you know what it's like before you begin fooling around with it. It came from the Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery as "Hamburger Pizza Pie" in the "Oregano " section and had nothing to do with any kind of diet. Just lucky for me that I found it around the time the Atkins diet first became popular, I'd guess around 1973.
Preheat the oven to 450. Use 1 lb (or a little more, maybe 1-1/4 if you have it) of lean ground beef and mix it with 1 tsp instant meat tenderizer, like Adolph's brand. Pat into a 12" pizza pan, or a shallow rectangular baking pan like a small jellyroll type pan. . Make a slight edge ( and be sure to use a pan that has a lip to it!!).
Mix 8 oz tomato sauce with 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp mixed Italian herbs or oregano and spread over the meat. In order, layer these on top of the sauce: 1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced; 1/4 lb pepperoni or hard salami, thinly sliced; 8 oz ( 2 c.) mozzarella cheese, then one large can of drained sliced mushrooms.
( I know, it seems weird not to have the cheese on top but try it this way). Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp oregano and 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese.
Bake in very hot ( 450) oven about 15 -20 minutes, til cheese is bubbly and browned.
Depending on the fat content in the burger, you may have some grease to carefully pour off toward the end of the baking time or when done, so remove the pan from the oven carefully.
Slice and serve. It can serve 4 but two hungry pizza fans may easily devour it by themselves It's also good reheated, and leftovers sometime show up in the morning with an egg perched on top..
Creamy comfort food from the 70's! I think this old favorite was a state fair prize winner. If you avoid beef cube steaks because you think they're tough, try this tasty dish, layered with potatoes, onions and mushrooms in a rich buttermilk* sauce. Even my kids ate the onions and mushrooms, which was unusual. The buttermilk tenderizes the steaks, but if you're still ultra-paranoid about cubed steak tenderness, sprinkle them with a little Adolph's tenderizer before browning them.
Brown 4 cube steaks in 4 TB oil. Remove from pan. Saute 2 medium onions, sliced, and 1 lb sliced fresh mushrooms in the same pan, then drain them on paper towels.
Combine 1 can cream of mushroom soup with 2/3 c. buttermilk*, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper.
In a greased or sprayed 2-1/2 qt baking dish, make 2 layers. Alternate 4 medium potatoes, peeled & sliced, ( actually, that's up to you -- I don't bother to peel them) with the steaks and the onion-mushroom mixture and the sauce. Bake uncovered at 350 for one hour. Start loving tender cube steaks again !
* I seldom have buttermilk around... sour milk is always a good replacement for that tangy taste : 2/3 c milk that you've added 1 scant TB vinegar to. Let it sit minutes to thicken.
Whatever possessed me to make these cookies the first time, I no longer recall. Since I seldom look twice at cookies without chocolate, I can only speculate now that manifest destiny, or the hand of the Fabulous Cookie Fairy compelled me to overlook my chocolate obsession for a few moments. I also have to admit that I have become a major fan of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix. Bakers everywhere will protest that their from-scratch cookie is better but I refuse to believe it, and the ease of using the mix has converted me.
With chunks of tangy feta cheese, salty black olives and a red wine vinaigrette, Greek salads are meant to be bold flavor statements. But too often, they suffer from pale lettuce, watery tomatoes and cucumbers, and a greasy pool of dressing at the bottom of the bowl.
You'll need 2/3 lb brie cheese and one 18 oz box of frozen puff pastry sheets and a jar of hot pepper jelly. Cut brie into 1/2" squares and place on a plate in the freezer while thawing the pastry at room temperature for 30 minutes . As it thaws, unfold and roll lightly to remove creases. Cut each sheet in quarters, then each quarters into quarters. Each sheet will make 16 squares.
Lightly spray mini-muffin tins, and fit a pastry square into each cup. Pointed edges should extend straight up. Place a square of cheese in each, and top with 1/4 tsp hot pepper jelly. Bake at 400 10-15 minutes until golden.
Makes 32
You'll serve this open-faced, it's piled high with a tasty combination of flavors.
This easy, creamy lasagna crammed with 2 pounds of seafood was a popular dish when I was catering.
Preheat the oven to 350. Cook a box of lasagna noodles and put some in the bottom of a greased 9 x13 lasagna pan. Cook 1 chopped onion in 2 TB butter til tender, blend in 8 oz. cream cheese, 12 oz cottage cheese, 1 beaten egg, 2 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper.
Combine 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 1/3 c. milk, and 1/3 c. white wine. Stir in 1 lb cooked shrimp, halved lengthwise, 8 oz drained, cleaned crabmeat, 1/2 lb small cooked bay scallops. Combine the two sauces.
Ham and melting mozzarella spiraled inside make this a memorable meat loaf and sandwiches are great the next day, too.
My teenage Friday nights involved cruising with friends on a route through the Kingburger and Frisch's Big Boy, flirting with boys. McDonald's did not play into our social plan and wasn't the giant entity it is now. In our Ohio town, Big Macs weren't introduced until 1969, so the double burgers we enjoyed then were at Frisch's Big Boy,franchised in other states as Azar's and Bob's Big Boys. Their Big Boy sauce was their tartar sauce. McDonald's Big Mac sauce is essentially Thousand Island salad dressing. 
I enjoyed this perfect ending to Mexican meals at Guadalaharry's Mexican Grill in Boston several times before I came across their recipe and made it my standard "Mexican meal' dessert. Garnish with clouds of whipped cream, a few sliced strawberries and lime twists for a colorful presentation.
I had forgotten this 60's standby until a coworker brought it into work one day. So good! For years it was the one spread found on every appetizer table.
Combine 8 oz softened cream cheese, 3 oz shredded dried beef, 1/2 c chopped pecans or walnuts, 1/2 c sour cream, 2 TB each: green pepper, onion & milk, a couple dashes of sriracha or other hot sauce, 1/8 tsp white pepper. Put into an 8" pie pan or small casserole dish. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 20 minutes or until heated through and edges are bubbly. Serve hot with sturdy crackers such as Triscuits, or toasted party rye breads. Leftovers can be nuked or served cold or make a tasty addition to an omelet. (Leftovers? Has that has ever happened ?)
