Lasagna Toss - Review

This recipe is a family favorite. It is SUPER easy, and very yummy. It is definitely much easier than real lasagna. It may actually be easier than real spaghetti too because you don't have to drain off boiling hot water. You literally just dump a bunch of stuff in, let it cook, and VOILA! - dinner. *That is, if you have your beef pre-cooked. If not, it takes a little more time.

from allrecipes.com

 The one thing I would have to say is that the picture from the website is deceptive. DO NOT use a pan that barely will have enough capacity to keep the lasagna juice inside. I made that mistake the first time I made it and it was a MESS. So, I use a bigger pot. It still works the same to cook everything, it just doesn't look as pretty when you take pictures of it.

See? This is after I'd started serving everyone up for dinner. Looks like lasagna!











Four of five happily devour it - good enough for me!

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: ****
Cost: $$ (again, depending on price of beef - should be near-ish to $5)
Difficulty: Easy. Hardest thing is cooking up the beef, which is pretty standard.

Sunday Beef Stew - Review

This is another recipe from Our Best Bites - a stew. It had a lot of similar characteristics to our "normal" stew here, but had a few differences as well.

from ourbestbites.com

It has quite a bit of celery, which was nice since we got THREE HEADS OF CELERY with our Bountiful Basket this week (my kids usually turn their nose up to celery unless it is disguised in something - no ants on a log here....), and I appreciated that it seemed to have a lot of stuff cut up in it, like a good stew should.

The concerns I had were that it turned out a little thinner than I usually like my stew (it was more like a "stoup" - a soup-y stew). Also, it wasn't very salty. The recipe actually does not call for salt at all. I know there is beef bullion and tomato soup, both of which have "salt content", but it wasn't enough for us. All of us kept having to add salt to get it to where we liked it. I know salt is essential to good flavor, but I can't remember the last time when I added salt to something. Usually I am taking it out of things (like the frittatas). So the next time we make it, I'd add some salt. Not much (a teaspoon?), but something to get it a little closer to helping to bring out the good flavors of the stew.

My husband graciously took a picture of his leftovers since I had forgotten to take one of the original - thanks J. :)

Overall, though, it was tasty. I would definitely try this one again. The boys all gobbled it up, and that always makes me a happy mom. :)

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: ***1/2
Cost: $$
Difficulty: Easy - just chopping veggies and chucking stuff in a crockpot.

Prize-Winning Meatloaf - Review

This meatloaf recipe is the one that I grew up with. It is perfect. And it is made with oats instead of crackers or whatever people put in their meatloaf, so it's even healthier. Right? I think the picture on the website does not do the flavor justice. Neither can any picture I take when it's done here. It is so good though. And very easy.

from quakeroats.com

Make sure you use a leaner beef, or you'll have your meatloaf swimming in a pool of fat. Or, I suppose you could bake and then drain it, but you may have issues with it falling apart. We usually use 93% lean because, oddly enough, our local store prices it cheaper than even the 80% lean. Go figure. Also, we always substitute 3/4 c. tomato sauce and 1/4 c. water for the tomato juice, since we usually have tomato sauce on hand. And if you are using dried onion flakes, you need about 1 tablespoon of onion flakes instead of the 1/4 c. chopped real onion.

Pure beefy yumminess.

Family Rating: ****
My Rating: *****
Cost: $$ (will be near $5 or just over - just depending on your beef prices)
Difficulty: Easy. Mix a bunch of stuff together, put it in a pan, let it cook.