Faker's spaghetti sauce

I made this last night and I thought I'd take a minute to type it out since Ash called me recently and asked me how to make it step by step. There's not a thing wrong with making your spaghetti sauce from scratch, but this is a lot quicker and just as good (in my opinion).

You'll need:
1 lb. lean ground beef (dark ground turkey works too...when I make a big recipe I use both together).
1 medium onion, chopped
2 jars spaghetti sauce (the cheap stuff in cans works fine)
1 big can petite diced tomatoes
garlic salt
chili powder
can of mushrooms (optional)

Saute the ground beef in a big pot or saucepan with the onion until the beef has no more pink and the onion is translucent. If you want additional veggies like green peppers or carrots, saute them with the onion with some oil before you add the meat. If there's a lot of fat, rinse the meat and drain (if you're unsteady draining the meat over the sink freehanded, just dump it into a collander with small holes. Just make sure to rise with warm/cool water so you don' t melt the plastic). Return meat to pot. Add spaghetti sauce and tomatoes and stir (if you want mushrooms, drain them and add at this point too). Add garlic salt and chili powder to taste (1-2 tablespoons of each should be plenty). I also add a few dashes of red pepper flakes at this point too because John likes it a bit spicy.

Serve over thin spaghetti or angel hair (Or whatever!). Voila!

Turkey Meatballs (From The Food Network's Giada Delaurentiis)

I watched this gal whip these up on her cooking show years ago and tried it out from memory. My early versions were ok, but when I finally found the recipe I blew John away! Apparently, Italians normally use dark turkey for their meatballs in some measure. It definitely makes the meatballs more light and tender... I love the recipe! Here's Giada's site if you want to check her out. http://www.giadadelaurentiis.com/


Turkey Meatballs & Pasta

1 lb. ground turkey (dark meat)
1/2 C. plain bread crumbs
1/2 C. grated parmesan cheese
~ 1 t. garlic salt (less)
1 egg
1 tsp dried parsley

Mix all ingredients together in bowl with hands. Form into 2-inch balls. Sautee in HOT light olive oil, browning the meat on all sides. Add 2 jars of spaghetti sauce (any kind) and simmer while you cook pasta (penne or spaghetti). Remove meatballs from sauce and set aside (keep warm). Add drained pasta to sauce and combine. Serve pasta with meatballs on the side. Makes a lot!

Mac and Cheese

This is not how Mom made it, but this is based on her original instructions. It's so good. Dang.

Mac & cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Boil and drain about ½ box of macaroni noodles and leave in drainer.

Add butter to hot pot(1/2 -1 stick) and melt it. Turn burner down to medium heat.
Add flour to the pot a tablespoon at a time, and work it in with a whisk until it is all dissolved. 4-6 tablespoons adding one at a time, depending on how thick you want it to be. Salt and pepper to taste while it’s in the pot.
Add milk(if you want it to be amazing, use whole! But you can use 2% too) to pot, about 1/2 gallon...a bit less. Whisk the milk until steam is rising up. Add shredded cheddar (2 cups or so) a handful at a time while whisking. Don't add more until what you just added is mixed into the sauce. If if glops up a little persevere and keep whisking until it combines. When all the cheese is added, turn off the heat and add the pasta back to the pot. Coat with the sauce.

Put into a 9 x 13 or other deep dish. Add chunks of block cheese – 6-8 chunks, and cover with shredded cheddar cheese.

Bake @ 350 for 20-30 minutes (melt cheese).

Guacamole

Now this one I'm gonna be irritated about if you don't give me credit. :) I made up this recipe myself and it's good stuff! We eat a lot of avocados down in Texas and there are lots of versions, but we prefer the K.I.S.S. method (keep it simple, Stupid!). The more avocado flavor you let through the better, and if you overdo the lemon juice the only way to save the batch is to add more avocado, so be light-handed there.

Guacamole

Mash 4 avocados with a fork or potato masher.
Add 2-4 T of lemon juice.
Garlic salt to taste.
A few dashes of Tabasco sauce.
You can add chopped tomatoes and onion (white or green) if you want.
If you want smoother guacamole add 2T of mayo or sour cream.

Goulash

I have no idea how to spell it, and I know there are lots of versions of this one, but this is how my Mom made it and how I still make it today. We loved it so much as kids we'd eat a bowl in the morning for breakfast before school the whole week after we'd had it for dinner. It helped to face the cold Illinois winter with a hot bowl of this in your stomach!!

Goulash

In a soup pot over medium high heat sautee the following while you cook ½ box of macaroni noodles (al dente) in a separate pot:

1 lb. hamburger
1 med. Onion
Celery (3 stalks at the most)

Drain grease and rinse.

Add 1 BIG can of V8 juice and ~4-5 cups of cooked macaroni.
Add garlic salt, chili powder, or red pepper flakes to taste. Simmer about 30 minutes.

Fancy Cornbread

If you're cooking for a man, whip up a side of this with the meal and he'll think you're a genius (worked for me!!). I found this on the back of a box or in a magazine somewhere and wrote it down later from memory. So good.

Fancy cornbread

1 8.5 oz. box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 can cream style corn
1 can whole corn (undrained)
1 stick melted butter

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 30-35 mins.

Cowboy Food

I sometimes describe this dish as "baked beans on crack." It is definitely the main course of the meal! This recipe came from a friend of my mother's. I have no idea what it was originally called because we re-named it as soon as we tried it as a family...we could just see cowboys out on the range scraping it up off tin plates with biscuits (and we'll tell ya right now, it tastes better when you use a biscuit as a spoon!).

Cowboy Food

1/2 lb. browned bacon (8 slices) crumbled, set aside

1 1/2 - 2 lbs. hamburger
1 med. onion
Cook together, rinse and drain, set aside.

1/3 C. brown sugar
1/3 C. white sugar
½ C. catsup
1 T. prepared mustard
2 T. molasses
2 cans pork and beans
1 can (16 oz.) butter beans or lima beans
1 can (16 oz.) Northern beans

Mix all ingredients together and bake in 3 quart dish at 350 for 45 mins. (I sometimes make it on the stove like chili, just keep an eye on it while the sauce thickens so you don't get scorched beans on the bottom of the pot)