Hot Beef Sandwiches

3-5 pounds mock tenderloin (or cubed beef)
1 package onion soup mix
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 beef bouillion cubes
small amount of water (until creamy)

Cut up meat into cubes. Bake in dutch oven for 5 or 6 hours at 300 degrees. Mash up cubes with potato masher. Serve on buns.

Can also put meat into crockpot and mix soups, bouillion and water and pour over meat. Cook on high until meat can be shredded, about 5 hours.

Rice Pudding

In Teddy's second grade class they are studying the way Christmas is celebrated in other countries around the world. Each child is asked to bring a certain food that comes from the country your child picked. Today was Teddy's turn to bring something. His country was Sweden and he was asked to bring rice pudding. Luckily, we make rice pudding pretty regularily and in bulk so it was not something we had to work real hard at. With just a few ingredients and about 30 minutes we made an ice cream pail full.


I dropped it off at school this morning.....BUT I forgot to bring along cinnamon for sprinkling on the top. Oh well......


Here is the recipe for the whole pail: (divide by 4 to make one batch)

RICE PUDDING

1 gallon of milk (would be about 4 cups for single recipe)
3 cups long-grain rice
2 cups raisins
2-1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon nutmeg
cinnamon for sprinkling on top.

Bring milk, rice and sugar to a boil. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer about 20 minutes or until thickens and rice is soft. Sprinkle with cinnamon before serving. Serve warm or cold.

Purple Mango

The kids are always asking for smoothies so we experiment with different flavors. This was a new one we tried. We ended up adding a couple of teaspoons sugar to it in the end but all-in-all it was a good, quick drink. we buy a case of peeled and sliced frozen mangoes to keep in the freezer to have on hand for smoothies. They pack alot of vitamin C which helps the immune system during cold and flu season!

Purple Mango Smoothie

1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup cubed,(or sliced) frozen mango
sugar to taste, optional

Savory Spaghetti Sauce

I like to teach the older kids how to make a meal so when I am sick or gone away from home they can still have a decent meal. I like this recipe because it is soo easy and kids love spaghetti. I believe it is from a Taste of Home magazine.
For some reason, all my kids have liked to brown hamburger so this step is usually always their job whether I cook dinner or they do.

Add a few seasonings (see recipe). Another great way for kids to learn their measurements.

And serve over noodles. The kids use a pizza cutter to slice through the noodles before adding sauce. Even though slurping all your noodles is fun, this mom likes the clean chins at dinner. :0)


Spaghetti Sauce:

2 pounds hamburger, browned and drained
1 onion, chopped (can substitute 4 tablespoons minced onion if kids are making)
2-30 ounce cans tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons basil
1-1/2 teaspoon oregano
4 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

cooked spaghetti noodles

In a dutch oven, cook beef and onion. Drain and add next 8 ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for one hour; stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaves. Serve with spaghetti.