Old-fashioned "Basic" Meatloaf

Picture and Recipe courtesy of the Food Network and Paula Deen

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice
  
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

Topping:

• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix all meatloaf ingredients well and place in a baking dish. Shape into a loaf.

Topping:

Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf. Bake for 1 hour.

Michelle's Notes: I don't care for big hunks of veggies in my meatloaf, so I chop my veggies pretty fine. I also usually hate waiting an hour for it to cook, so if I'm in a hurry I put the meatloaf mixture into a muffin tin. Bake at same temp for about 30 minutes (check after 15).

Stuffed Pizza Rolls

Picture and Recipe courtesy of Our Best Bites

1 roll refrigerated pizza dough (regular or thin crust is fine)
marinara/pizza sauce
2 T grated Parmesan cheese
1 T melted butter
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t dried Italian seasoning
mozzerella cheese
Pizza toppings of your choice: ie, ham and pineapple, pepperoni slices, sausage, etc.

Preheat oven to heat specified on pizza dough package.

Unroll pizza dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll the dough so it's about 12" by 8". Cut it into 24 squares using a pizza cutter.

Place cheese and desired toppings on each square. (Note that you're not putting the marinara sauce on the dough- it's for dipping after) Just eyeball how much. You just need to be able to enclose the toppings in the dough so keep that in mind.

When all of your dough squares have cheese and toppings on them, carefully lift up each square and wrap the dough around the toppings. Pinch to make sure each ball is sealed shut and then place them seam side down in a lightly sprayed pie pan (or similar sized dish).

Brush the tops of the dough balls with melted butter and then sprinkle with the garlic and Italian seasoning and top with Parmesan cheese.

Cook them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top. Check after 10 minutes to make sure the tops aren't burning.

Serve warm with warmed marinara sauce on the side for dipping.

Pepper Jack Mac Cups

Picture and recipe courtesy of http://thematzats.blogspot.com

5 T. butter or margarine
1/3 lb. ham lunch meat, sliced thin (substituted bacon instead)
1/4 c. flour
2 c. milk
2 c. pepper jack cheese, shredded or diced
1/2 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked
1 T. butter or margarine, melted
1/4 c. breadcrumbs

Directions

1. In a sauce pan, melt butter or margarine. Add ham and cook for about 5 minutes, until slightly crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

2. Stir flour into pan and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk, bring to a slow boil and cook just until thickened. Remove from heat and add cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Add macaroni and ham. Stir to combine.

3. Grease muffin tins and press about a quarter to a half cup of mac & cheese into each cup. Combine 1 T. melted butter with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle over each cup. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until bubbly and slightly crisp. Remove carefully once they have cooled a bit.

Recipe makes about 20 cups, depending on the size of your muffin pan.

Michelle's notes:

This was my first attempt at home made mac n cheese and it does not disappoint. I made a few changes though. I substituted bacon in place of the ham. Also, instead of stuffing the whole of the mixture into a muffin tin, I just put it in my square pyrex dish. It turned out extremely good. Hot, spicy, cheesy with bacon pieces throughout. I was going to serve it with cornbread (because what else do you serve with a bacon mac n cheese dish?) but I didn't want to wait 20-30 minutes. So I took my Jiffy mix and decided to make cornbread pancakes. Yeah, I know, I'm lazy like that. But sometimes my laziness turns into sheer genius because they were really good. Throw on some honey butter and they're good to go.

Chicken Lickin' Good Pork Chops

6-8 Lean pork chops 1" thick
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. oil
1 can chicken stock

Dredge pork chops in mixture of flour, salt, dry mustard and garlic powder.

Brown in oil in a large skillet.

Place browned pork chops in a crock pot.

Add the can of stock.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours (or high for 3 1/2 hours).

Michelle's notes:  Do not overcook chops.  Can also do this over the stove.  Serve over rice.

Crescent Chicken Squares

Courtesy of The Sideline Mom @ Tasty Kitchen

1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1-½ cup Cooked Chopped Chicken
¾ blocks Cream Cheese
3 Tablespoons Butter
¼ teaspoons Onion Powder
2 Tablespoons Milk
1 dash(es) Salt
1 dash(es) Pepper

Mash cream cheese and butter together.Mix in onion powder, milk, salt and pepper.Stir chopped chicken into mixture.

Separate Crescent rolls into 4 rectangles. When unrolled and you will be able to see 4 rectangles quite easily. You can pinch together the perforated line that runs diagonally down the rectangle to ensure that none of the divine creamy mixture tries to make a run for the border. Or not.

Then spoon a generous amount of chicken mixture into the center of each.Close the pocket by pulling all 4 corners together at the top and again pinch down each seam to ensure none of the divine creamy mixture escapes.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Michelle's notes: I didn't have any onion powder. All I had was dried minced onion, so I sprinkled in a little of that. I didn't affect the texture to me at all. Also, this only makes 4 pockets. I could only eat one, but would double the recipe next time especially for leftovers.

Cinnamon Crisps

Frozen puff pastry dough, thawed
water
cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a sheet of wax paper unfold puff pastry. With a pastry brush, brush on some water to cover. Sprinkle on cinnamon sugar mix. Flip the pastry over and repeat with water and cinnamon sugar. Cut into strips (pizza cutter is easiest). Twist strips before putting them on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle on more cinnamon sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. If you bake them on a piece of parchment paper, they are really easy to get off the cookie sheet. If not quickly remove the twists from the cookie sheet after baking.

Sloppy Joe Di Maggios

Courtesy of Rachel Ray

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds lean ground sirloin or ground turkey
1 packages beef or pork hot dogs, sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon steak seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
1 tablespoon chili powder
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 (14.5-ounce) can tomato sauce
9 soft burger rolls like at the ballpark

Heat the extra-virgin olive oil, a turn of the pan, in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add meat and crumble as it browns . Add chopped hot dogs after 3 to 4 minutes then cook 3 to 4 minutes more. Add the onions to the pan and cook to soften, 5 to 6 minutes more. In a bowl mix the spices, sugar, Worcestershire and tomato sauce. Pour sauce over the meat and simmer a few minutes to combine flavors. Slop onto buns and serve.

Michelle's notes: I'm not a real big fan of sloppy joes, but this is a great substitute. I wasn't sure how it would taste with the hot dogs, but it really makes the dish. I halved the recipe and still had enough for leftovers the next day.

Easy Parmesean Garlic Chicken

Courtesy of Kraftfoods.com

1/2 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 envelope GOOD SEASONS Italian Dressing Mix

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (2 lb.)

HEAT oven to 400°F.

MIX cheese, dressing mix and garlic powder.

MOISTEN chicken with water; coat with cheese mixture. Place in shallow baking dish.

BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until chicken is done (165°F).

For a golden appearance, after chicken is cooked through set oven to Broil. Place 6 inches from heat. Broil 2 to 4 min. or until chicken is golden brown.

Michelle's notes: This sounds bad, but I actually preferred to use pre-frozen chicken breasts and then thaw them. They came out more moist than the fresh chicken.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons chopped onion (can also use a couple shakes of dried chopped onion.)
dash of pepper

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together with your hand. It will be somewhat sticky. Form into balls and brown in a small amount of oil (or bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until juices run clear.) Drain all but 1 tablespoon of oil. Pour the meatballs and oil into a dish and set aside.

Sauce:

1 small can pineapple tidbits (and juice)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 tablespoons vinegar
6 tablespoons water
1/2 cup sugar

Mix the above ingredients in frying pan until it thickens. Mix water and cornstarch separately to avoid lumps. Put meatballs back in sauce and heat through. Serve over rice.

Yields about 17 meatballs depending on size.