A small collection of recipes. I will be slowly adding my favourites.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Spaghetti sauce

1/2 pound ground beef
1 cup frozen, chopped onions (or one small onion, chopped)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 zucchini or green pepper, diced
1/2 or 1/4 jar of marinara sauce (I like the ones loaded with vegetables such as Ragu Chunky Garden style Combination which has mushrooms, diced tomatoes, green peppers, onions, carrots, and zucchini).
1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
8 oz. can of tomato sauce
small can of tomato paste
15 oz. can of diced tomatoes

1. Brown the ground beef and add onions and garlic. Drain well.
2. While the beef is cooking, chop the green vegetable of choice. Add to the beef mixture. Cook until the vegetable is softened.
3. Add the seasoning, sauce, paste and tomatoes.
4. Simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Serve over your favourite pasta and add some parmesan cheese on top.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Crock pot Black Forest Cake

From Fix it and Forget it 5 ingredient favorites

Ingredients:
20 oz can cherry filling (Lite or regular)
18.25 Box Chocolate cake mix, butter style


1. Preheat slow cooker on High for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, spray interior of baking insert, designed to fit into your slow cooker with non stick cooking spray.

3. In a bowl, stir together pie filling and cake mix until mix is throughly moistened. Spoon into insert.

4. Place insert into slow cooker. Cover insert with 8 paper towels. Cover slow cooker.

5. Cook on High for 1 3/4 hours. Remove paper towels and cooking lid. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

6. Remove baking insert from cooker. Serve cake warm directly from the insert.

Thanks to Jen in WA for this recipe.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Beef with Rice and Spinach

Prep time: 5 min.
Cook time: 40 min.

- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4 cups canned crushed tomatoes
- 10 ounces spinach, thawed
- 3/4 cup white rice
- 1 tsp. dill weed
- 1/4 tsp. pepper

In a large skillet, saute beef, onion and garlic over medium high heat about 5 minutes, stirring frequently until beef is browned and crumbly. Drain off excess fat and stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 30 to 35 minutes or until rice is tender.

NOTE: the beef will appear pink after simmering even though you have cooked it thoroughly. It is just a weird thing that happens. Don't worry. :)