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.

Spiced Pineapple Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup salad oil
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups coarsely shredded, unpeeled zucchini (about 2 medium)
1 can (8 1/4 ounce) well-drained, crushed pineapple
3 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted (half of which can be whole wheat)
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts (finely)

Instructions:
In a large bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Add oil, sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until mixture is thick and foamy.
Stir in zucchini and pineapple (gently).
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts.
Stir gently into zucchini mixture until just blended.
Spoon batter into 2 greased and flour-dusted loaf pans.
Bake in a 350º oven for 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the centers come out clean.
Let cool in pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto racks to cool completely.

Zucchini Bars

3/4 cup margarine
1 cup coconut
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini
3/4 cup walnuts
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar

Cream margarine and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla, flour and baking powder. Mix thoroughly. Stir in coconut, zucchini and walnuts. Spread batter evenly in well-greased 9x13 pan. Bake 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Frost while still warm.

Cinnamon Frosting

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 tablespoons milk

Mix all ingredients together and spread on bars.

Carrot Cupcakes

I finally had some free time to make a recipe with my pureed carrots that I was experimenting with. A few posts ago I experimented with pureeing my carrot peelings from canning carrots. I came up with a dozen or so bags in the freezer and set out to find out if I could use this in exchange for shredded carrots. I found this recipe at Week of Menus. This recipe called for one cup carrot puree, exactly what I had frozen. I made them today and I am glad I did. The cupcakes are tasty! I think I found a good way to use up my puree. The kids will be glad to see that I tried a new recipe today!

Carrot Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cups corn oil (or canola or some other vegetable oil)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup shelled walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 cup pureed cooked carrots
3/4 cups shredded coconut
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple
1/2 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cupcake pan with liners.
2. Sift dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger) into a bowl. Add oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat well.
3. Fold in walnuts (optional), coconut, carrots, pineapple, and raisins.
4. Scoop batter into prepared liners. Set on middle rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
5. Cool on a cake rack. When fully cooled, ice with cream cheese frosting.


Cream Cheese Frosting (enough for 18 cupcakes) (this frosted over 2 dozen for me)
6 ounces of cream cheese frosting, room temperature (3/4 of your standard 8 oz block)
6 tablespoons of sweet butter, room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (if you have vanilla bean, you can substitute a whole scraped vanilla bean in lieu of the vanilla extract - then also add a teaspoon of whole milk.)

1. Cream together cream cheese and butter with a mixer. Slowly mix in confectioners sugar. Continue to beat on low speed, slowly until all the ingredients have come together. Do not be tempted to beat on high speed -this adds too much air; rather beat on low speed for a longer time for a truly creamy frosting.

*On the Week of Menus blog she has great pics of how she made her cupcakes. I just scooped the frosting into a ziploc bag and squeezed it out on top, after all, five hungry kids and one starving husband will be home in about 2 hours and they will disappear! :) No fancy frosting needed here! Be sure to check out her site though!