Italian Beef & Cheese Buns

My momma used to make these for us when we lived in Phoenix. I LOVED it when I saw her hollowing out rolls, because I knew what we were having for supper. In fact, I SPECIFICALLY recall that for my kindergarten birthday, this is what I chose for family supper that night. (I also remember that I got 2 SUPER cool pair of leather high tops that night, in both black AND pink! Oh, I was in 1980’s heaven!)
These Beef & Cheese Buns were as good as I remembered; think lasagna filling inside a French bread roll!

Beef & Cheese Buns

(click title to print at TK’s website)

• 1 pound Ground Beef, With Salt And Pepper
• 15 ounces, fluid Tomato Sauce
• ½ packages Dry French Onion Soup
• ½ teaspoons Basil
• ½ teaspoons Oregano
• 1 cup Cottage Cheese
• ¼ cups Parmesan Cheese
• ½ Tablespoons Italian Seasoning
• 8 whole French Bread Rolls, Hollowed Out

Cook and season meat. Drain Add sauce, dry soup packet, basil and oregano. Simmer for 5 minutes, uncovered. In a separate bowl, mix Parmesan cheese, cottage cheese and Italian seasoning. Cut a thick slice off the top of each French Bread Roll, saving “lid”. Carefully pull out extra bread, leaving 1/4 inch walls.
Divide half the meat between rolls, divide cheese mix and top with remaining half of the meat mixture. Top with roll “lids” and wrap individual buns in foil. Bake at 400* for 20-25 minutes. Dig in!

I’ve never tried it, but my recipe says it can be frozen. Just heat for 60 minutes to thaw and cook. You may need to remove the foil for the last few minutes of bake time to pull moisture from the bread though.
Enjoy this unique and savory supper with a side salad.
~T

Update 2021: We have teenagers now and are making this recipe with 1 pound hamburger & 1 pound sausage and doubling all ingredients. I am buying 18 pack of mini hoagie buns from the Sam’s club bakery section and it works out just right. I’ve also added a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella before closing each bun “lid”. YUM!

We baked at 350* for 20 minutes or until center is warm, without foiling individual buns. Worked out great! I highly suggest these changes!

Crock Pot Kraut & Bean Soup

This is post 2 for today, head back a post for Destiny’s post: “The Heart of Worship”.

 I adapted this recipe from my good friend, Mrs. Baker’s blog.  The second I saw it, I knew I HAD to make it.  I am intrigued by sauerkraut and I have to tell you something….this is BY FAR, the number 1 best soup I have EVER MADE.

PROMISE me you will try this!  I am not even kidding you, we GOBBLED it up!  {As in 2 bowls each, including the kids!}

  The Kraut cooks away to a sweet, mild flavor, which melds in your mouth with the smoky sausage, hearty beans and hint of dill.

Oh. My. Stinkin. Word.

  I want to go make this again right now!!!!!!!!!!!!

• 4 cups Diced Unpeeled Potatoes
• 2 cans (14 Oz Each) Sauerkraut, Un-drained
• 1 cup Water (I added more because mine was too thick)
• 2 packages Kielbasa Sausage, Halved And Sliced
• 2 cans (15 Oz Each) Northern Beans, Pour Off Top Liquid Only
• 2 cans (15 Oz Each) Pork And Beans, Un-drained
• 4 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Dill Weed (I Did A Bit More, Yum!)

 Boil potatoe cubes until slightly soft.  Then, in an 8 Qt. crock pot layer potatoes, sauerkraut, water, kielbasa, then beans. Sprinkle brown sugar and dill weed over all.
Cover, cook on high for 3-4 hours, or until potatoes are soft and forl tender. Make sure you stir a few times during cooking, adding another 1/2 c water as needed, if it appears too thick.

Oh my word, this is seriously my new FAVORITE soup! It was so sweet & savory, big enough to feed a crowd and is OH SO GOOD!

{This makes a HUUUUUGE batch, so it can be easily halved and put into a 4 Qt crock pot as well.}

Repeat after me, ok?

Fill in the blank with your name…….

I, ________________, do hereby PROMISE to give this soup a try, even though I think sauerkraut is stinky and gross because I love Tonya and I trust her Foodie Opinion.

  See, that wasn’t so hard!  Now go…….make this soup, then report back to me how much you loved it!

~T  🙂

Supper On A Bread Slice

This is Post 2 for today, head back to Post 1 to read “Out of the Fire & Into The Oasis of His Love”!

  This was a staple at my house when I was growing up! I just remembered it again recently, and made it for my own children tonight….guess who LOVED it?!  They didn’t just love it, they DEVOURED IT!  I’d say, we have a keeper!

Easy, simple ingredients and so so good!

Ingredients

• 1 loaf Whole Wheat French Bread, Sliced In Half Lengthwise
• 1 pound uncooked Ground Beef
• ½ cup Crushed Saltines
• 1 whole Large Egg
• 1 whole Small Diced Onion (about 1/2 A Cup)
• 1 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard
• 1-½ teaspoon Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons Pepper
• 10 slices Velvetta Cheese

Cut french bread loaf in half, lengthwise and place on a baking stone or cookie sheet side by side. Combine ingredients with hands, except cheese, and spread 1/2 of the uncooked meat mixture on each side of the bread. Wash hands well! Bake at 350* for 25 minutes.
Top with slices of Velvetta cheese, like overlapping diamonds and bake 5 minutes more, or until cheese is melted.

Serve with your favorite veggie for an EASY meal!

  Your kids will LOVE it! Promise.

~T

 

Mexican Smothered Chicken Thighs with Spanish Rice

Dillon’s had a nice sale on Chicken Thighs recently.  Usually we grill any “on the bone” chicken I buy, but let’s be realistic, it’s NOT really grill season! BRRR! (By the way, that is a “He-We”. I do not grill, that is a Dale-only job.)  What?  You’ve never heard of a He-we before?  Hmm, well, an example of a “She-We” would be: We need to bake those pies today. Get it?  That’s a job I would typically do alone, even though I said “we”. 

Except when Dale and I talk to each we tease: “Is that a YOU-we or a ME-we?” 

  Anywho, I came across this chicken recipe in one of the many recipe magazines that reside in my home and I had to give her a go.  This photo is SUPER ugly, but trust me, the meal was SUPER delish!  For those who are anti-meat with bone, don’t worry, the chicken falls right off the bone, it is so tender. Plus, think how much money you will save your family by being brave and getting this “budget” kind of chicken!  Bone-in is typically cheaper, sale or no.

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Season Salt
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 2 teaspoons Pepper
• 1-½ cup Milk
• 10 whole Bone In Chicken Thighs, Skin Removed
• Olive Oil For Pan Searing
• 1 whole Onion, Chopped
• 2 whole Jalapeno Peppers (seeded And Chopped)
• 16 ounces, fluid Tomato Sauce
• 1 cup Water
• ½ teaspoons Chili Powder
• 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
• 2 teaspoons Cumin

Remove skin from chicken. In a bowl, combine flour and seasonings. Pour milk in a separate, shallow bowl. Press chicken into first flour mixture, then milk, then flour mixture again. Set aside. Heat up several tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and pan sear each chicken thigh until flour is starting to turn golden brown. Transfer to a sprayed 9 x 13 casserole dish.
In the same skillet, sautee onion and jalapenos until tender. Add tomato sauce, water and spices. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes or until thickened. Pour over chicken.
COVER and bake at 350* for 35 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.
Serve chicken and sauce over Mexican rice.

Ole’!

~T

Be sure to head over to Post 2 for today to see our photos from Christmas! 🙂

Cheddar Bread Lil’ Smokies

  These tasty little morsels are a nice change from you “typical” little smokies appetizers.  The Cheddar bread has GREAT flavor! 

Ingredients

• 2 sticks Softened Butter
• 2 cups Flour
• 4 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 2 teaspoons Paprika
• ¼ teaspoons Tabasco (more If You Like Hot)
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 package Little Smokies Cocktail Sausages

Mix all ingredients except little smokies until a dough is formed. Take tablespoon size balls of dough and spread thin with hands, wrap a little smokie and press to cover fully. The amount of dough to sausage ratio is up to you!
Bake at 400* for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with BBQ sauce and ketchup.

Yum! Dig in!

 Soooo, tomorrow, I have a very special guest post-er for you:

My BFF!  🙂  YAY!

Have a safe and Happy New Year everyone!!!!  See you in 2012!

~T

Oh, I almost forgot: be sure to head over to Post 2 today, Entertaining Jehovah.

Mushroom Muenster Chicken

  This dish is DELICIOUS! Despite the ugly photo, the end result is a cheesy gooey chicken dish with a lot of “dish appeal” for your table, company-worth even!  It tastes like you worked WAY harder than you did! 🙂

• 2 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Seasoned Bread Crumbs
• 1 teaspoon Cajun Seasoning
• 2 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts Cut Into 1″ Cubes
• 1 pound Fresh Mushroom Slices
• 10 ounces, weight Muenster Cheese (8-10 Slices)

In a shallow bowl, beat the eggs. Place bread crumbs and Cajun seasoning in a Ziploc bag. Dip chicken in eggs and then place chicken in the bag of flour and shake to coat.

Spray a 9 x 13 Pyrex dish, add breaded chicken, sliced mushrooms and sliced cheese until chicken is covered. Bake at 350ºF for 45 minutes or until chicken juices run clear.

Enjoy!

~T

The Night Before Christmas Ring & Egg Casserole

   Christmas is almost here!  Are you looking for an easy breakfast for Christmas morning?  Maybe one you can put together the night before, after you get home from your church Christmas eve service?!  Then you have come to the RIGHT PLACE!   🙂

Christmas Eve Overnight Egg Sausage Breakfast Quiche

• 8 slices Wheat Bread, Cubed
• 1 pound Sausage, Browned And Drained
• 2-½ cups Shredded Cheese
• 5 whole Eggs
• 2 cups Milk
• ⅛ teaspoons Salt
• ¼ teaspoons Dry Mustard
• 1 can Cream Of Mushroom Soup
• ¼ cups Water

Brown sausage and drain. Cube bread. Layer in a 9×13 pan, bread,sausage and cheese.
Mix eggs, milk and seasonings and pour over previous layer.
Next mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup with 1/4 cup water and spread on top of casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning, bake for 1 hour at 300* or until set. Let cool 20 minutes before cutting into squares.

Enjoy! This is really AMAZING!

  This next recipe I am sure you’ve heard or made a thousand times, but here it is, just the same:

T’was the Night Before Christmas Ring

24 Frozen Rhodes Rolls (dinner rolls)
1 cup brown sugar
1 box butterscotch cook & serve dry pudding mix not instant
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter, (not margarine)
pecans or walnuts, chopped, optional

Right before going to bed, or 10 pm, sprinkle pecans or walnuts into a greased Bundt pan, (I use Pam cooking spray), then put 24 frozen Rhodes Rolls into pan. Mix brown sugar and dry pudding mix together and sprinkle over frozen rolls. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of that.

Melt butter and slowly pour over rolls in Bundt pan, trying to cover all of the sugar. Leave on counter overnight and when you get up, the rolls should have risen nicely and you will put Bundt pan on a cookie sheet in a preheated 350°F oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and pour rolls upside down onto a large platter. Serve warm.

  Enjoy this fantastic Christmas morning breakfast! Easily prepared Christmas eve night after you get home from church. 

Hugs!

~T

T’was only this week, I took my Child one day,
Up the street to view a manger display.
I thought to myself, how can I show,
The TRUE Meaning of Christmas, so she will know.

To a small child, I must make it plain,
That this story is REAL, I must truly explain.
I wanted to tell her that God loved us so,
And that the meaning of Christmas was not just for show.

We walked to that scene and I started to tell,
The OLD CHRISTMAS STORY, that I knew so well.
But somehow just looking at those figures there,
There arose in my heart, a real feeling of despair.

I never had truly re-lived in my mind,
How our Heavenly Father, could be so kind.
He COULD have looked down at my sin and my shame,
And NEVER as the SON to Bethlehem came.

He COULD have said, “The sacrifice is too great!,
To pay for the sins of the men I create.
I’ll not send my SON, to die on the CROSS,
I’ll let Sinners DIE, and forever be LOST”.

But Thanks be to God and to JESUS His Son,
Jesus CAME–DIED–AROSE! and the Victory is won.
God in His Mercy, and with a love so great,
Gave us CHRIST’S BIRTHDAY, to celebrate.

I want so much on this coming CHRISTMAS Day,
To celebrate Christ’s birthday in a new glorious way.
To truly give thanks to the wonderful One,
That made Christmas possible by sending His SON.

I hope you will join me and pray day and night,
That our lives be examples of Christ’s Holy Light,
Shed abroad in our hearts far and near,
And REALLY keep Christ in our Christmas, this year.

This recipe shared with:

Recipe Round Up at Gooseberry Patch

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

  Don’t miss post 1 for today: “Dear Abby”.

  So let’s say you were having a super tough, running late, kids are disobeying so you ground them from the play closet until further notice, phone ringing off the hook, “WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES?!?!?!” kind of Monday.

  Let’s also say you were 20 minutes late when you started your drive to Preschool.  In your goal to accomplish two days worth of work in one day, you push your foot a little harder on the accelerator, the list of To Do’s racing through your mind: get the Chicken in the crock pot by 10 or it won’t be done by supper time, make fudge so it has time to set up before 11 so you can finish up holiday goodie platters for the teachers, edit wedding photos, write tomorrow’s blog post……

  You are so busy with the list in your head, that you are not looking at your speedometer when, YOU SEE HIM….

THE COP.

  Oh boy.  This is not going to be good. 

    Nope. Not Good at ALL.

  So, I went home, re-did my eye makeup, and ate 3 pieces of fudge for a morning snack, and lived happily ever after.

The End.

Let’s do a little math and review the situation:

Christmas Time + BIG Ticket = Bad. 

Sad Tonya with tear streaked makeup + White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge = Good.

  See, math is fun!  And White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge is FANTASTIC! 

adapted from Girl Who Ate Everything

• 3 bags (11 Oz Each) Ghirardelli White Chocolate (I Wouldn’t Do Off Brand This Time)
• 3 containers (16 Oz. Each) Vanilla Frosting
• 1-½ teaspoon Peppermint Extract
• 12 drops Red Food Coloring
• 6 whole Candy Canes, Crushed

Line jelly roll pan (or oversized cookie sheet) with wax paper.
Melt white chocolate chips in a double boiler or microwave, stirring often
While still warm, stir in frosting quickly before chocolate starts to set up. Add peppermint extract, stir.
Spread into prepared pan evenly, then drop food coloring over the top of the fudge. Swirl with a knife.
Add crushed candy canes and press lightly to set.
Cool for an hour in the fridge.
Remove from pan using wax paper and cut on a cutting board into small squares.

  This makes a nice large pan of fudge, supposedly about 70 pieces. I didn’t count, but we did 14 goodie platters with this batch and had some leftovers to enjoy, but it all depends on how small you cut them.

Very simple, creamy and just plain GOOD!

  Our Goodie Platters are almost complete, just need ribbons tied on them yet before delivery.

Here’s to hoping my Tuesday goes better than my MONDAY did…..

Happy day to you and yours!

~T

Hello There, May I Offer You Some Coyote Poo?!

  This is Post 2 for today, be sure to head back to Post 1: I {Heart} Library Day.

   Sooo, this is just the most disgusting recipe title ever!  It was actually Coyote POOP, but Destiny panicked: “MOM! We don’t TALK like that!!!!!!”, so Poo it is. 

 (still gross, sorry!)

  Let me tell you, this may be the weirdest recipe I have ever made, but my goodness, were the results amazing.  These are sweet, savory, cheesy, crisp and crunchy, chewy and CRAZY good, all at the same time!!!!!!!

  I give you……………..

Coyote Poo

(As always, click on title to be taken to Tasty Kitchen to print)

Ingredients

• 2 cups Brown Sugar
• 1 cup Butter
• ¼ cups Light Corn Syrup
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• 15 ounces, weight Cheetos Cheese Curls

Pour Cheetos into a extra large bowl. 
Generously spray a large baking sheet or jelly roll pan. 
Bring sugar, butter and syrup to a boil. Stir for 5 minute without stopping. Remove from heat and quickly add baking soda, stirring rapidly.
Pour over Cheetos, carefully stirring them, so they are well coated.  Pour coated Cheetos on to prepared baking sheet and separate them a bit so they don’t overlap too much.  Make sure to eat all the leftover caramel bits in the bowl, then bake at 125* for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately dump out on to clean cookies sheets or foil lined counter tops to cool before placing in Tupperware to store.

 Or you could save yourself a step, and just fill a giant bowl with them and eat them all during movie night with your sweetie.

  Not that I would know or anything……

Enjoy! Coyote Poo is FABULOUS! Who knew?!

~T

Tex Mex Brats & Beans and Nana’s Perfect Cornbread

This is post 2 for today, be sure to check out “Keeping It Local” for gift giving ideas in post 1.

 

I don’t remember when or how we came across this recipe years and years ago, but I can tell you one thing….you are going to LOVE this!

  Sweet BBQ meets smoky brats with a variety of colorful beans, all this topped with a bloop of sour cream and fresh snipped cilantro…A-MAAAAAZING!

  Tex Mex Brats & Beans

{click for easy printable}

• 2 cans (15 Oz. Can) Northern Beans
• 2 can (15 Oz. Can) Kidney Beans
• 2 cans (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans
• 10 whole Johnsonville Brats
• 8 ounces, fluid Tomato Sauce
• 1 cup Your Favorite BBQ Sauce
• 1 can (4 Oz. Can) Chopped Green Chilies
• 1 cup Salsa, You Decide The Heat Level
• ¼ cups Brown Sugar

Drain and rinse beans. Slice brats diagonally in 1-inch pieces. Combine remaining ingredients in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 hours.

Just before serving, sprinkle with some cilantro, cheese and sour cream. 

You are gonna LOVE this!

Tastes great with Corn bread, and I just so happen to have a favorite Corn Bread Recipe to share with you, straight from my Momma’s kitchen!

Nana’s Perfect Cornbread

• 1 cup flour (we used whole white wheat)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 T. baking powder
• 1 t. salt

Preheat oven to 425*.  Mix dry ingredients well.  Stir in corn meal.  Beat eggs, then add eggs, milk and oil to dry ingredients.  Beat just until smooth.  Pour into 9×9 baking dish or deep dish baking stone. Bake for 15-20 minutes.  We grew up putting butter, honey or syrup on our cornbread.  It’d be good crumbled up in the above Brats and Beans recipe too.

~T

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Melt In Your Mouth Monday

Ultimate Beans & Rice Party