Friday, October 09, 2009

Beef Casserole

Yummy yummy yummy!

1 1/2 pounds ground beef, browned.
1 pkg wheat pasta (we used rotini), cooked
1 can corn
1 can green beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
salt and pepper to taste
Shredded cheese

Mix everything but the shredded cheese in a casserole. Spread cheese over the top. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes, uncovered.

The boys liked it!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Making Dyed Eggs

Need a quick and fun activity for kids in the spring? Dying eggs is easy and fun, and doesn't need to be a complete mess. Here is how you do it!

You need:

eggs. You have almost unlimited dye, so go for it. I'll load up some hard-boiled egg recipes soon.
Food dye. You can get those little sets of 4 colors. They've gotten expensive in the grocery; if you are paying more than 2 bucks, you are overpaying for them.
1 tablespoon of vinegar for each color you want.
1/2 cup water per color.
a cup or mug for each color. I find corningware mugs work perfectly. If you use white, you get a better view of the color.
newspaper to cover the work area. You don't want the dye on your kitchen table or floor.

For each color you want, put 1/2 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and eight drops of dye in a cup or mug. For purple, use 4 red and 4 blue; for orange, use 4 yellow and 4 red.

Put egg in the mug. Leave for at least a few seconds; the longer you leave the egg in, the darker and brighter the hue will be. Purple tends to be the muddiest color, we often leave that one off.

Want shiny eggs? Rub them with a little veggie oil.

Voila! Beautifully dyed eggs! Now you can add stickers and stuff!

Also, you can draw on them with a white crayon before dying them, and make designs!

The set-up usually takes longer than the dying, but the kids like it.

How to hard-boil an egg:
Believe it or not, there are a variety of ways to hard-boil eggs. My favorite method:

Buy eggs about a week before. Older eggs peel easier.

Take the eggs out of the fridge. If you do this about half an hour before you cook them, you'll have less crackage.

Get out a large pot.

Place a layer of eggs in the bottom. get out some paper towels and set them on these eggs, and put another layer on top. Don't do more than two layers at a time. The towels prevent cracking.

Cover the eggs with cool-to-cold water. Remember, those eggs are still cold, and we don't want crackage.

Place on stove and heat to a boil.

Once the eggs come to a boil, turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 20 minutes.

Now you can cool your eggs and dye them. Cooling quickly with cold water will prevent green yolk.

If you want a fancy, full explanation of hardboiled eggs, I recommend The Egg Gourmet.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Quick Chili

Ah, the joys of new foods... Joey will actually eat this chili, despite the bit of tomato. Ready?

You need:

1 package ground turkey
1 can kidney beans, undrained
2 cans tomato sauce (small cans)
1/4 cup chili powder
dash of garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 container sour cream
1 pkg grated cheese
2 pieces of bread or some crunched-up corn chips


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place bread or corn chip in bottom of casserole dish (whole grain bread works better than chips if you are watching carbs, and works the same).

Brown turkey.
Add the beans (undrained!), tomato sauce, and seasonings. Stir over medium heat and bring to a bubble. (If you are feeling lazy, you can skip the casserole part and just let this simmer for about 10 minutes. However, the meat will be tenderer if you do the casserole part.)

Pour over bread/chips. Carefully spread the sour cream over the chili mixture, then spread cheese over the top. I use most of the package, but some folks like less cheese.

Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until it bubbles a little and the cheese is melted.

Voila! Yummy chili even Joey will eat. Heck, even Andy will take a couple of bites!