Recipe - Bacon Cheddar Meatloaf

Every time I buy bacon, I never know what to do with it. We love it, but just can't eat a whole pound or whatever they give you. This time, I used the extra in a meatloaf, and it came out great! (Okay, it doesn't look so great, but trust me. And maybe leave it in 10 minutes less than I did.)

10 slices bacon
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 pound ground beef chuck
1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar cheese
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Place bacon in a large skillet and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on paper towels. When cool, crumble into a large bowl.

Mix ketchup and mustard in a bowl.

Thoroughly combine 1/4 the ketchup mixture, ground chuck, Cheddar cheese, eggs, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and black pepper with crumbled bacon in bowl; pat the mixture into a 5x9-inch loaf pan. 

Spread remaining ketchup mixture evenly over top of meatloaf.

Bake in the preheated oven until the meatloaf is no longer pink inside, about an hour.

Recipe Monday - Easy Beef Turnovers

This meatpie uses a homemade version of "manwich" which is so good, especially for kids!

Ingredients:

2 lb ground beef (80/20)
1 1/2 large onions, chopped, about 2 cups total
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 Tbs fresh ground black pepper
2 1/2 cups ketchup
Kosher Salt to taste, about 1 tsp
Water – 1 to 1 1/2 cups

Biscuits in a can

Instructions:

Brown the ground beef until all the water is cooked out and only grease remains, then throw in the onions and cook until they just start to turn translucent.

Then add the garlic and onion powder, black pepper, ketchup and salt.

Combine well, then add water to almost cover the mixture. This helps absorb the meat absorb the flavors, and gives a good fine texture, instead of hard chewy lumps.

Cook over medium heat until moisture dissipates, stirring every 10 minutes or so, then turn to low.
Stretch out biscuits to make large round 'pizza-dough' like circles (I used two biscuits per circle.) Spoon four to five tablespoons of beef mixture into them, a little to one side. Fold the other side over and seal like you would a calzone.

Cook in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, if that.


 

Recipe Monday - Homemade Hamburger Helper

I'd made a few hamburger helpers when I just couldn't get myself to do anything more, and I noticed I was making it super hard on myself anyway by adding chopped veggies and all other kinds of things to try to make it more healthy. So, this time, I decided to nip it in the bud, and just make my own "helper" too. It came out great! The girls asked for seconds.

1 lb ground beef
1 cup hot water
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
1 cup cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon salt
 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1 Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain.
2 Add hot water, milk, pasta and all spices.
3 Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 12 minutes or until pasta is tender.
4 In the last few minutes of cook time, add cheese, stir and re-cover.
5 When pasta is tender and cheese is melted, remove heat and uncover.
6 Let stand about 5 minutes. Sauce will thicken as it stands.
7 Top with additional cheese if you like.

I added sauteed onions, summer squash and bell peppers to this and it was delicious. You can throw in any vegetables you like!

 

Recipe Monday - Salisbury Steak

Delicious salisbury steaks in less than 30 minutes!

1 1/4 lbs ground beef
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon steak seasoning (I use Montreal Steak spice)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups beef stock
salt and pepper



1) Gently combine ground beef, worchestershire sauce, steak spice and onion - be careful not to overwork the meat mixture.

2) Shape the meat into oval patties

3) At medium to high heat, fry the meat patties approximately 6 mins on each side - turn only once.

4) Remove the cooked patties to a platter and cover to keep them warm.

5) Add butter to the same pan and melt.

6) Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper to the pan, saute until golden brown

7) Sprinkly the flour over the mushrooms and cook for 1-2 mins until flour has absorbed the butter 

8) Whisk in the beef stock and cook until thickened. Check for seasoning.

9) Serve gravy over the meat patties.





 

Recipe Monday - Taco Skillet

Okay, so that looks half-disgusting. It's delicious, though, particularly for young kids, and a very quick way to use ground beef.

• 1 lb ground beef
• 10 34 ozs condensed tomato soup (campbell, regular or 25 less sodium)
• 12 cup salsa
• 12 cup water
• 6 flour tortillas (6 6 inch, cut into 1 inch pieces)
• 12 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream

1. Cook beef in 10-inch skillet until well browned, stirring to break up meat. Pour off fat.
2. Stir in soup, sour cream, salsa, water, tortillas. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes Stir. Top with cheese.

That's it. Mexican without the messy, keep-it-in-the-tortilla challenge. Also sweeter because of the soup.