Meatless Monday

This was really good!  If you're not used to vegetarian meals or don't like them then I wouldn't try this but if you pay the price for vegetarian premade meals this is really good!  I didn't measure spices and am sure I added more of everything it called for and recommend doing the same.  I realize it looks like cat food but meatloaf never looks beautiful...I put ketchup on top for the fam and the boys even went back for seconds!

This came from Rhonda -frugal mommies group- on cafemom.


REALLY GOOD VEGETARIAN "MEAT"LOAF

2 cups water (I needed more than this)

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup lentils

1 small onion, diced

1 cup quick-cooking oats

3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, jack or american)

1 egg, beaten

4 1/2 ounces barbecue sauce or tomato sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Add salt to water and boil in a saucepan. Add lentils and simmer covered 25-30 minutes, until lentils are soft and most of water is evaporated. Remove from heat. Drain and partially mash lentils. Scrape into mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly. Stir in onion, oats and cheese until mixed. Add egg, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, parsley, seasoning salt and pepper. Mix well. Spoon into loaf pan that has been generously sprayed with Pam (non-stick cooking spray) or well-greased. Smooth top with back of spoon. Bake at 350 degrees for 30- 45 minutes until top of loaf is dry, firm and golden brown. Cool in pan on rack for about 10 minutes. Run a sharp knife around edges of pan then turn out loaf onto serving platter.

Menu Monday

Monday: Vegetarian "meatloaf", mashed potatoes, string beans
Tuesday: Quesadillas w/ taco meat
Wednesday: Tuna Casserole
Thursday: Frenc onion soup
Friday: Meatball subs
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: Beans and cornbread

Pancake Saturday

Since the kids started back to school I've made warm pancakes(or waffles) every Saturday morning.  These are the best so far...shoulda known to trust Ree:)  Still not IHOP(my ultimate goal is to never pay those insane prices to get my fix again) but light and fluffy and yummy!

Light and fluffy enough that 7 month old Willow got a whole one herself and Justin ate three!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/perfect-pancakes/
Ingredients


3 cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Cake Flour

½ teaspoons Salt

3 Tablespoons Baking Powder

2 Tablespoons Sugar

2 cups Milk

2 whole Large Eggs

3 teaspoons Vanilla

4 Tablespoons Butter

Extra Butter

Maple Or Pancake Syrup(Mrs. Butterworths here...nothing like all those chemicals to wake up!!)

Preparation Instructions

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix together milk, eggs, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring very gently until just combined. Melt butter and add it to the batter, stirring gently to combine.

Cook on a greased skillet over medium-low heat until golden brown. Serve with an obscene amount of butter and warm syrup.

Velveeta Tex-Mex Beef and Potatoes

I was looking for something different to make on my last menu and Tee sent this a few months ago.  It was really good and different!  There weren't any complaints from the kids(Justin did scoot all his red bell pepper pieces to the side).

VELVEETA Tex-Mex Beef and Potatoes


Prep Time:

10 min

Total Time:

45 min

Makes:

6 servings, about 1-1/3 cups each

What You Need!

1 lb. ground beef

1 red pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix

1/2 cup water

4 cups frozen Southern-style hash browns (cubed not shredded variety)

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen corn

1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Make It!

HEAT oven to 350°F.

BROWN meat with peppers and onions in large skillet; drain. Return to skillet.

STIR in taco mix and water. Add potatoes, corn and VELVEETA; mix well. Spoon into 13x9-inch baking dish; cover.

BAKE 20 min.; stir. Bake, uncovered, 15 min. or until heated through.

TACO BELL® and HOME ORIGINALS® are trademarks owned and licensed by Taco Bell Corp.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Use Your Stove

Brown meat with peppers and onions in large skillet; drain and return to skillet. Stir in taco mix, water, potatoes and corn; cover. Cook 5 to 7 min. or until potatoes are tender. Stir in VELVEETA; cook, uncovered, until VELVEETA is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring occasionally.

Persimmon bundt cake

This is the first thing I've baked with persimmon pulp this year--straight off recipezaar.com   With mom having such a bumper crop(501 on ONE tree!) I am happy to say all persimmons are off my counters now and this winter will be full of persimmon baking!

I did not use raisins because I didn't have any on hand but this cake still turned out great.  Very good spice cake!!

Persimmon Bundt Cake Recipe #86897


Got a lot of persimmons you don't know what to do with? Or have you always wanted to make something using this little-known fruit. Here's your chance to make a wonderful, flavourful Bundt cake that not only has luscious persimmons in it, but warm spices that make it extra-special.

by evelyn/athens

1¼ hours
20 min prep



SERVES 10



4 large ripe persimmons

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3 extra large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

3/4 cup dried currant

confectioners' sugar

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F.

Butter and flour Bundt pan.

Peel persimmons.

Press pulp through coarse sieve into medium bowl.

Measure 1 1/3 cups persimmon puree into small bowl.

Mix baking soda into puree and set aside.

Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until blended (mixture will be grainy).

Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Mix in vanilla.

Sift flour, cinnamon, salt, allspice and cloves into butter mixture; blend well using rubber spatula.

Mix in persimmon mixture, walnuts and currants.

Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes.

Cook cake in pan on rack 5 minutes.

Turn out cake onto rack; cool completely.

Sift confectioners’ sugar over cake.

Mom's chili

Made this for the 1st time this week and it was a huge hit.  Will be a staple meal...served it over rice but crackers were really good too.

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
Gephart's chili powder
2 cans Ranch style beans, partly smashed with potato masher

Cook beef, drain, add a little water and half bottle of chili powder.  Cook until meat has gotten the flavor color throughout.  Add beans and water(to your liking/thickness).  You can heat through and serve or let simmer as long as you'd like.

Menu Monday

The pantry is overflowing so I've made a list and am trying to use it up. I have managed to use up everything in the deep freeze, defrost it, clean it and put it back to use:)

Our menu for this week.

Banana Zucchini bread

3 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 cup grated zucchini

2 bananas, mashed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x4 inch bread loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light yellow and frothy.

Add oil, brown sugar, white sugar, grated zucchini, bananas, and vanilla; blend together until well combined.

Stir in the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Allow to cool in the loaf pans on a wire rack before removing and serving.

Italian Herb Bread

This is out of my breadmaker recipe book and was really good. It smelled awesome baking:)

All ingredients at room temperature(70-80 degrees F)

9-11 ounces water

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon dried parsley

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons dried onion flakes

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsps active dry yeast

Select French setting.

Homemade Black Bean Burgers

For a vegetarian burger these were so good! I've tried a bunch of frozen ones and these blow them out of the water:)

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and
rinsed
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 egg
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
3/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

**(After washing/draining beans let sit in the colander and after washing bell pepper and onion also let them sit awhile to drain completely so your burgers will stick together while grilling)**

If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.

In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.

In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.

In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.

Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
6.
If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Buttery Bread Machine Rolls

These make 24 but I made 12 to fit our burgers:) They were sooo soft and nice!

Buttery Bread Machine Rolls Recipe #65340

2¼ hours 10 min prep
24 rolls
1 cup warm milk (70 to 80 degrees F.)
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
In bread machine pan, put all ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer.
Select dough setting.
When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface.
Divide dough into 24 portions.
Shape dough into balls.
Place in a greased 13 inch by 9 inch baking pan.
Cover and let rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 13-16 minutes or until golden brown.