Korean Beef

Ahhh! Is it already the end of August? Where oh where did summer go? I feel slightly like a chicken with no head this year. Everytime I sit down to do something on the computer I get distracted by my school timetable and feel the need to pick up my textbook instead of blogging/emailing etc. 

Last summer our meals consisted of a lot of hamburgers and hot dogs. This year buns (or any bread items) are such a premium item around here that we have strayed from that. I have had to find a few other meals that are quick, easy and don't need the oven turned on! 

I came across this recipe on the blog LizzieWrites, and have made it numerous time throughout the last few months. Hubby loves it, the kids gobble it up and it makes the house smell fantastic!! From start to finish this recipe takes approx. 20-30 minutes (and most of that time is waiting for the rice to cook!). All I've changed are some quantities because I found her sauce didn't make enough to decently simmer the meat in.

I've made this so many times and I keep forgetting to take a picture. One day I will learn, one day!

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef,

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce (I use a GF one)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp ginger (1 tsp if using fresh ginger minced)

1 tsp crushed red peppers (or more if you want it spicier!)

1 Bunch green onions, diced (optional)

Rice, cooked as directed..

Brown ground beef with garlic. Mix brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger and red peppers in a bowl. Add to cooked ground beef. Simmer for 5 minutes to blend flavours. Serve over hot rice. Top with diced green onions if desired.

Taco Pie

I love any type of meal that can be served from one dish. Things that I can prep earlier and then throw into the oven 30 minutes before supper. This taco pie certainly fits that bill.
It's gluten free (of course) and quite tasty. I've made it two nights in a row, but the first night I followed a different recipe for the 'filling' and I wasn't happy with it. It was good, but forgettable. I knew I needed to make it again right away with changes so that it would be memorable and I would then remember to make it again later! The crust recipe is from Here, but I wouldn't make her meat recipe again. Like I said, it was good but not great. As soon as I bit into the original version of this pie, I had a lightbulb moment. Refried beans! That's what this needed. So without further ado....Taco Pie! (Which of course was gobbled up before I took a picture, that's what happens when a tasty supper is pulled out of the oven with 4 adults and 2 children looking on! Just imagine a taco pie and that's what it looked like!)

Crust:
1/4 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup Milk
1 Tbsp. Taco Seasoning
2 1/2 Cups Instant Potato Flakes (as I've said before, not a huge fan of instant anything, but when cooking gluten free sometimes we have to make do!)

Melt butter in a small pot. Add milk. Bring to a boil and add taco seasoning. Mix well. Remove from heat and add Potato Flakes. At this point you may need to add a few Tbsp. of water to get it to mix properly. You want a 'doughy' type of consistency, but you do want all the potato flakes mixed in.

Press into a pie plate. Bake just the shell at 350F for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool (or if you are in a hurry add the filling right away and just bake. Prebaking/cooling just allows the crust to firm up a little bit, but it's not a complete must-do!)

Filling:
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 Recipe of Refried Beans

Cook and drain beef. Cook refried beans. Mix together. Scoop into shell. Bake at 350F for approx. 25-30 minutes or until the crust starts browning.
Remove from oven and top with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Serve with sour cream.

Meatball Muffins!

I thought I would liven up supper a little tonight and see if I could convince my kids that supper can be fun. It actually worked quite well! I got the idea off this picture from Pinterest. It's supposed to be meatloaf, but I didn't feel like making the sauce that typically goes on top of meatloaf so I just made my favourite meatball recipe and went with that!
They have a wonderful presentation, and are fairly easy to make. The kids thought it was great to lick the potatoes off first then dip the remainder in ketchup :)

Mini Meatball Muffin...mmm

Meatballs Recipe

2 lbs Ground Beef

1 Egg

1/3 Cup Potato Flakes (or bread crumbs)

1/4 Cup Milk

1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp. Parsley

2 Tsp. Garlic Powder

1 Tsp. Onion Powder

1 Tsp. Pepper

Mashed potatoes for topping.

Grated cheese for topping.

I use my stand mixer to mix it all up, then fill the muffin cups (or just make meatballs). Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Mini muffins will be closer to 10-15 minutes and large muffins will be closer to 20-30 minutes.

Remove from pans, top with mashed potatoes. I put mashed potatoes into an icing piping bag and it was quite simple. However I do not recommend trying to do this when the potatoes are still super hot. I was impatient and did this and my hands are paying for it! Top with grated cheese and serve hot :)

Don't know if the pink comes through, but it's pink enough to teach me a valuable lesson!

Taco Casserole

I was trying to decide what to make for supper yesterday and came up with this really yummy dish! Not really a super pretty dish, so I once again forgot to take pictures...I'll try to get better at that!

Ingredients
2 Cups Rice - Cook as directed
1lb Ground Beef, Browned
1 Recipe Refried Beans
1 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Water
2 Cups Salsa
2 Cups Grated Cheese, plus some for topping 
Tortilla Chips, Crushed

Mix together everything over medium heat in a large frying pan (except the rice and the topping cheese). Stir until well mixed (it wont look pretty lol). In a 9x13 pan start layering rice, meat mixture, rice, meat mixture. End with meat mixture and then extra grated cheese on top. Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve hot, topped with crushed tortilla chips.

Delicious the first time and delicious reheated the next day!

Chili

Yummy, super filling and easy to make. 3 of my favourite adjectives when describing cooking!
The original recipe was from a magazine called The Canola Digest. It was called Cheapskate Chili.
I have modified a few things and this is our regularly used recipe now :)

1lb. Ground Beef, browned
680mL Tomato Sauce  
398mL Diced Tomatoes  
3 Cups Kidney beans, soaked & cooked (or canned)  
1 Tbsp. Chili Powder  
1 Tsp. Garlic Powder  
1/2 Tsp. Onion Powder  
2 1/2 Tsp. Taco Seasoning  
1/2 Cup Lentils, dry  
1 Cup Quinoa, dry (I used red quinoa, but regular is fine too)


Mix together all ingredients except the quinoa in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer, covered. Cook the quinoa as directed on the package (it cooks like rice...1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water). Simmer the chili on the stove while the quinoa cooks. When its finished add to the pot. Mix well. 
Serve hot with bread/buns or just topped with cheese! Or over fries with cheese sauce on top for chili-cheese fries!
It is also a really good meal to make ahead and freeze.