Italian Meatball Soup

Ok I'm really on a roll with Our Best Bites!  I am loving their recipe book!  This recipe comes from them again!  It was awesome!  It's actually 2 recipes in one since you make your own meatballs to go in the soup.  My kids kept asking for more meatballs and more noodles.  Well at least they ate it!  I was looking for a recipe to use up the spinach from our co-op and this worked wonders!  I give both recipes a 5!









Here's the meatball recipe first:

Italian Meatballs:
1/2 lb. lean ground beef (I actually used ground turkey instead)
1/2 lb. Italian sausage
1/4 c. dry bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. dehydrated onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. parsley
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. salt*
*If you want, you could substitute all the Italicized ingredients with 3 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning found here.

Gently combine meatball ingredients in a medium bowl. Shape into balls, whatever size you like, but I prefer using my standard cookie scoop (about 1 Tbsp.) to shape meat into balls and then rolling it between my hands to make them even more round. Place on a broiler pan and broil until the meatballs start to brown–I actually use my toaster oven. Just because I can. Remove from oven and set aside until ready to use (or freeze for later use).

And now the soup recipe:

Italian Meatball Soup

Ingredients:

1 recipe of Italian Meatballs
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
5 (14 oz) cans chicken broth
1 cup water
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 Tbsp italian seasoning
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup small pasta uncooked
2 cups spinach, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. When preparing the meatballs, make them small and bite-sized.  Broil the meatballs according to the recipe directions until they are just brown and can maintain their shape.

2. While the meatballs are cooking, heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a large stockpot.  Saute the onions and garlic until translucent.  Add broth, water, tomatoes, and Italian seasoning.  Heat to boiling.  Gently add the meatballs, carrots, pasta and spinach.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through, the carrots are tender, and the pasta is al dente.

Easy Beef Stroganoff

I got this recipe when I printed out a coupon for Tyson chicken strips. I never actually bought the Tyson chicken because it wasn't sold where I grocery shop. But of course this recipe calls for the pre-seasoned steak strips so it wasn't as easy as the recipe says it was. The only difference, I had to cook and season the steak myself and cut it into pieces. Not too hard. It actually turned out to be pretty good. I give this recipe a 4.

Ingredients

1 package (6 oz) Tyson Seasoned Steak Strips
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 oz. cream cheese
2 cups cooked egg noodles

1. Combine steak strips, soup, water and Worcestershire in skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir about 10 minutes or until bubbly. Reduce heat to medium low.

2. Stir in cream cheese until melted.

3. Serve over hot noodles. Refrigerate leftovers.

Now the funny thing about this recipe is that it says it serves 2. So why would you need to refrigerate leftovers? Well I made it and I had leftovers so does it really serve 2 or 3?

Beef Rice Skillet

Last night I made a recipe out of the Kraft Food and Family magazine. Check out the link to sign up for this free magazine. There are tons of recipes and they're all easy! The best part is the magazine is FREE and it's not just a one issue type FREE. Anyway there's my plug for Food and Family. So this meal was really easy to make and I didn't have to cook anything ahead of time. I just put it all into the skillet and cooked it together. Here's the recipe:

1lb. beef steak, cut into strips
1 1/2 cups minute rice
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) beef broth
1/4 cup water
1 can (7oz.) sliced mushrooms, drained
2 cups thinly sliced carrots
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1. Spray large skillet with cooking spray. Add meat; cover. Cook on medium-high heat for 10 min. or until cooked through, turning meat over after 5 min.

2. Add liquids and rice; mix well. Bring to boil.

3. Stir in mushrooms, carrots and seasonings; cover. Bring to boil once more then turn off and let stand for 5 min.

Makes 4 servings.

Family Favorite Brisket

Last night I made brisket for the first time. The recipe is found on page 61*. This was also the first time I did a rub into meat of any kind. Let me tell you cutting off all that fat and then rubbing spices into meat isn't my favorite past time but, man it really did taste good. My sister even liked it and ate 3 pieces when she doesn't really eat a ton of meat. So I give this recipe a 5!

Ingredients

4 lbs fresh beef brisket
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp paprika
1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder
pepper to taste

Directions

Trim all excess fat from meat. Combine seasonings until well blended;
rub into brisket. Place meat in greased slow cooker, with the side that
had more fat on top, cutting to fit if necessary. Cover and cook on low
heat for 10-12 hours. Remove meat from liquid and cut across grain into
thin slices. Makes 4-6 servings.

*see first post for recipe citation information.

Easy Flank Steak

Well tonight we had Flank Steak on pg 58*. It actually turned out really good! You could probably use this same recipe with chicken too. I just used a regular round cut steak (even though she call for flank steak). I don't really even know what that is. The other thing is I shortened the time for cooking. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs of the steak and I think mine was only 1lb. But the recipe called for cooking it on low for 8-10 hours.....so I put it on low and at 2 1/2 hours it was basically done so I put it on warm for another 30 minutes and then we ate it..... It was completely done and very tender! I give this recipe a 4!

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs flank steak, cut to fit in
slow cooker
1/3 cup water
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chiles, with liquid
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 1/4 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

Place meat in greased slow cooker. Combine other
ingredients and sprinkle over the top of meat. Cover and cook on low heat
8-10 hours. Makes 4-6 servings.

*see first post for cookbook name

Sweet and sour beef

Tonight's meal was Sweet and Sour Beef. Let's just say I won't be making this recipe again. It's just beef, carrots and sweet and sour sauce. Not much to it. And to quote Tim "It's not disgusting or anything but it's not my favorite" now there's a first from his mouth. I have to admit it wasn't my favorite meal either.....I give this recipe 1/2 a star.

Ingredients

2lbs stew meat, cubed
1 bottle (10 oz) sweet and sour sauce
1 cup shredded carrots
4-6 cups hot cooked rice

Directions

Combine all ingredients except rice in greased slow cooker. Cover and
cook on low heat 6-8 hours. Ladle over hot cooked rice. Makes 4-6
servings.

Simple Beef Stroganoff

So last night was Beef Stroganoff on pg 54. It turned out pretty good. I did have to watch it closely so it didn't burn. The recipe says cook on low for 6-10 hours, so I figured 4 hours on high was just as good. Well at 2 hours on high I had to turn it to low and after another hour and after adding the sour cream it only cooked for another 30 minutes. There isn't much liquid in this one, so watch this one carefully. I give this recipe a 3 1/2 it was good but it wasn't my favorite thing from this book. I will make it again though.

Ingredients

1lb stew meat, cubed
1/2 cup dried minced onion
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup, condensed
1 can (4 oz) mushrooms, drained
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 cup sour cream or 1 package (8oz) cream cheese

Directions

Combine all ingredients except for sour cream in greased slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours. Add sour cream the last hour of
cooking. Makes 4-6 servings.

Spoon over hot noodles.

Tri Tip Roast

I had to use this recipe (found on page 62) for Tri Tip roast because that cut of meat is my favorite. If you've ever had a tri tip steak, it's one of the juciest and most tender steaks you'll have. That is, if you don't over cook it. So the tri tip roast is just a bigger cut of that meat. This was a great recipe, the only thing I changed was I only cooked it for 3 1/2 hours instead of 4-5 since I'm using a 5 qt. crock pot and most of her recipes call for too much time cooking. Great recipe! I just added mashed potatoes and some vegetables on the side and there you have it. Oh and of course I dipped it in some Famous Dave's barbeque sauce. Now that's good barbeque sauce. If you've never been to a Famous Dave's steak house, you really need to go! The best!

I give this recipe a 5 I just love this cut of meat!

Ingredients

3-4 lb Tri-Tip Roast
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of celery soup, condensed
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup, condensed
1 can (14 oz) beef broth
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Salt and pepper the roast. Place in greased slow cooker. Mix
soups and broth and pour over roast. Cover and cook on high heat 4-6 hours
or low heat 8-10 hours. Makes 4-6 servings.