Monday, February 18, 2008

Dinner Tonight

It will be a late dinner this evening. We didn't make it to the store until 4 and then came home to fix up a delicious meal. I'm making the ultimate comfort food, thanks to my cousin, Nikki. So I'm going to post the meatballs recipe - I hope it's not a family secret!

BBQ Meatballs

Balls
3 lbs ground beef (I'm sure you could use ground anything)
1 C milk
1 onion
3 C oatmeal
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp salt
2 eggs

Sauce
2 C ketchup
1 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 C onion
3 T liquid smoke

Make balls ingredients into meatballs. Make sauce ingredients into sauce. Brown balls in skillet then put in pan to bake. Pour sauce over. Bake at 350 for one hour, or use crock pot (high for 2-3 hrs, low for 4-6 hrs).

You can obviously modify this recipe to your heart's delight. You could make them spicy, sweet, whatever. Also, you could use ground turkey or chicken. The possiblities are all there. The great part is that this basic recipe is fantastic. It's baking in my oven as I type. They are so good! Oh - and of course, every time I typed balls, I turned into a giggling jr. high girl. Balls. Tee hee.

Then, the potatoes. The good, company potatoes. Also a basic recipe from a hometown (my hometown) church cookbook, ready to be modified to your own tastes.

Potato Casserole
2-lb pkg frozen hash browns
1/2 C melted butter
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp mustard
2 T minced onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pt sour cream
2 C grated American cheese

Thaw potatoes. Mix ingredients and put in 9 X 13-inch pan. Top with 1/4 C melted butter, mix with 2 C crushed cornflakes. Bake at 350 for 45 min to 1 hr.

In about 40 minutes, we will be sitting down to a warm, delicious meal. And obviously low-fat (ha, ha).

Also on my menu this week?
Some soup recommended by Beck (check in comments on my previous post), both recipes.
A few new recipes: broccoli soup, cheeseburger and fries casserole
Some old stand-bys: spaghetti and meat sauce (I use ground turkey) with breadsticks and green beans, hamburger helper with a side of biscuits (a super easy meal for later in the week when we are all weary)

I'll take some left overs for lunch. I also bought pitas, hummus, turkey, and some veggies to make some turkey pitas for lunches when I don't have left overs. I'm still trying to eat smarter. Small portions, less junk, eat at home. The basics.

I'll let you know how my new recipes all turn out!

7 comments:

Girlplustwo said...

i love a woman who can cook.

Mimi in the Midwest said...

M-m-m. Have your cousins told you that their mom had a menu for one month? 3 meals per day plus snacks. It provided the grocery list and helped the husband to know what to do it "mom" wasn't home from school as expected. It worked wonderfully. There is a copy available.

Anonymous said...

My mom made those potatoes. Real stick to your ribs comfort food. I've got a craving now.

Melissa said...

I'm so trying these recipes - they sound delicious!

Beck said...

A friend makes those potatoes for every church potluck and I LOVE them!
I want to start getting into the habit of making month long menu plans - if I do, I'll post it.

Bea said...

Mmmm, hash brown casserole. I make it with cream of mushroom soup, and I always sprinkle parmeson on top of the cheddar. Yum.

Bea said...

How did yours turn out? I was inspired by you to pick up the ingredients, which I then threw together hastily before picking the kids up from day-care. I didn't measure anything, so I think I somehow managed to increase the grease factor: it was actually pooling at the bottom of the casserole dish (maybe too much cheese?). Yummy, though.