One Pot Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

When I first started reading food blogs back in, dear God, 2008-ish, one of the blogs I read was Closet Cooking. Always good writing and fantastic photos and the recipes, well, I used one that I had saved on Pinterest for tonight's dinner. One-Pot Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole. One pot, yeah!!! Bacon, always a good thing. 

Easy to make and loved the flavors. Applause from the other side of the table.

I cut the recipe in half for Chris and me. Click here for the original recipe.

Ingredients-
4 strips bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (4-ounce) can tomato sauce (I had just enough marinara sauce in the fridge)
1 cups beef broth
2 tbsp ketchup
1/2 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 ounces pasta 
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Method- 
Cook the bacon in a large pan over medium heat, about 5-7 minutes, set aside on paper towels to drain and drain the grease from the pan.

Cook the ground beef and onion in the same pan over medium-high heat, about 5-7 minutes, and drain any excess grease.

Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, sauce, and pasta, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered until the pasta is al dente tender, about 15 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle on the cheese, and simmer, covered, until the cheese has melted, about 2-3 minutes, and serve garnished with the bacon.

Cornish Pasties

It has been a while since I have made a Mark Bittman recipe. This one came together perfectly. I had all the ingredients. Well almost all of them. Rutabaga in something I have never used. Not sure if I have seen one in person. I googled a substitution and the turnip was mentioned. So on my one shopping trip of the week, I bought a turnip. I decided not to use the turnip in this dish. I looked at it and decided it was not needed. The turnip will be used another time.

Back to the recipe. I found this in the Mark Bittman Book How to Bake Everything. The recipe received rave reviews!

This is my version of the recipe. I scaled it down for two servings.

Ingredients-
Pate Brise Dough, Click Here for Recipe
10 oz cups ground beef
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg, beaten


Method-
Make Pate Brise dough. Divide the dough into two pieces. Wrap in wax paper, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Mix together the ground beef, potatoes, onions, carrots, thyme, rosemary, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper in a large bowl. 
For each pasty, roll out a piece of dough into an 8-inch circle. On one half of the circle place half of the beef mixture.
Fold the dough over, forming a half-moon. Moisten the edges with some of the egg, and seal the edges, crimping them with a fork. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. On the top of each pasty, cut several small slashes with a sharp knife. Brush with egg.

Bake in a 375-degree oven for  45 minutes or until the pasties are nicely browned. Serve hot.

Cheeseburger Quesadillas

Kind of an important game on TV tonight. Go Yankees!

I wanted a simple dinner that came together fast but did not skimp on flavor. We have a winner! I found this recipe last night on RealSimple.com. It was a 30-minute meal that got rave reviews. I only made 1/2 the recipe and it was perfect for 2 Quesadillas.

Cheeseburger Quesadillas

Ingredients -
1¼ pounds ground sirloin
⅔ cup ketchup
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
⅓ cup mayonnaise 
24 dill pickle chips
4 10-in. flour tortillas
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
cooking spray


Method -
Cook sirloin in a large skillet over medium-high, stirring to crumble, until browned and cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and stir in ketchup and mustard.

Top half of each tortilla with ¼ cup cheese. Top with ⅔ cup meat mixture, 6 pickle chips, and another ¼ cup cheese. Fold tortilla in half to cover filling.

Heat a medium skillet over medium. Spray outside of tortillas with cooking spray and, working in batches, add to skillet. Cook until cheese is melted and tortillas are golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Taco Casserole

Thank you for this recipe Martha Stewart!

I got home at 6pm and had dinner on the table by 6:45pm. One frying pan and one baking dish. Taco Casserole from Martha Stewart recipe can be found here.

I did make a couple of changes the recipe. I sauteed the beef, peppers, and onions together. All at the same time. No harm is done.

And for the next time, do not use Nacho Chips. Use Fritos. Yes, Fritos.

Sunday Night Chili

I have never been a big chili fan. Not sure why. Tonight I have changed my opinion. This was a delicious dinner. Perfect for a crazy cold day.

My version of Sunday Night Chili recipe is from RealSimple.com

Ingredients -
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped, plus more for serving
2 red bell peppers, chopped
kosher salt and black pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 15.5-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed
1 15.5-ounce can black beans, rinsed

Directions -
Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, bell peppers and ¼ teaspoon each salt and black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 12 to 15 minutes.

Add the beef, increase heat to medium-high, and cook, breaking up the beef with a spoon, until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste, chili powder and cumin and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes (with their juices), beans, ½ cup water, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon black pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 25 to 30 minutes.

Meatballs with Quinoa

Once again the freezer is my friend. I made this meal on New Year's day and popped in the the freezer.
I found the recipe for Beef and Quinoa Meatballs on the Whole Foods site. I had all that fantastic sauce leftover from the Osso Bucco.  Meatballs were the perfect addition.
And this recipe seemed like a good way to stretch the meat ($$$) and also cut down on the amount of meat we are eating. And we both like Quinoa.
This got two thumbs up from both of us.

Shepherd's Pie

I knew I was going to be making this on Saturday when I made the mashed potatoes.
I thought ahead and made sure I had enough leftovers for this dinner. This is so simple to make. It's just browned ground meat and then add veggies. Usually I use frozen mixed vegetables but I did not have any! So I chopped up some carrots and those leftover green beans from Saturday night and the lonely zucchini.
Sauteed it, seasoned it and put it in a pie plate. Topped it with the mashed potatoes and baked. See I told you it was simple.
Today would have been my mom's 91st birthday. She often made Shepherd's Pie for me. When Chris and I were first married we ate her food at least twice a week. She would pack up "care packages" for us. She was too funny! And I do miss those "care packages".