Weddings and Food

My cousin Mickey on my Dad's side of the family is getting married tonight. It's going to be the first wedding since I got married. How nice to attend and not plan or set up.
I love how our society focuses around food. Dates, meetings, reunions, holidays and weddings are all times we feed each other. We like to get together and watch each other eat, show off our culinary skills. We pass recipes on to the new bride, imparting bits of our cooking knowledge to her so she can feed her new husband, and hopefully a growing new family. Food is the facilitator, it brings us together, it relates us to each other.
I also love to put together gift baskets! It's so fun! Mindi and Steph and I went shopping yesterday and purchased little bits here and there to fill our gift basket. We went to Mindi's to assemble, and the electricity went out. We were quite put out. But we packed up our stuff and went to Mom and Dad's. They still had electricity.
We spread out our equipment and I set to the task of arraigning the items in the basket in a visually appealing manner. Mindi used her awesome tag making equipment and cut portions out of Mickey's invitation and made beautiful tags out of them. (I'll post pics as soon as I take them)
Dad saw what she was doing, and sat down to give it a try. He was so cute, cutting out little pieces of the invitations and asking questions, trying to figure out how it worked, and what he could do with it. He made two very nice tags.
Mindi, Steph, and I got some nice picture frames and a cookbook and I wrapped them up. We have to make up for missing Mickey's bridal shower (it was a week after my wedding, we were all so happy to be relaxing after my wedding that we forgot to go. Bad girls!)
I decided this morning to type up my favorite recipes and just got finished with that. Since I went through the trouble of typing them, I'll post them here.

Almost Hamburger Helper
I’ve had this recipe for almost 2 years and I use it often. I found in at CDKitchen.Com, one of my favorite recipe websites. All you need is a 1 quart wide mouth Ball jar to hold the mix.
Once you are comfortable with them, feel free to play with all the recipes. I like to add chopped onions and bell peppers to all of the recipes as I see fit or have on hand. Don’t have frozen mixed veggies? Used a can of green beans, or any other veggie you like, frozen or canned. With any addition you just need watch the amount of water in the skillet to make sure the noodles or potatoes have liquid to cook in. That’s why this is one of my favorites, it’s easy to substitute. I have even been known to substitute elbow macaroni with egg noodles or vice versa.

2 Cups Nonfat Dry Milk
1 Cup Cornstarch
¼ Cup Beef Bouillon powder
2 Tablespoons dried Onion flakes
1 Teaspoon dried Basil
1 Teaspoon dried Thyme
1 Teaspoon dried Parsley
1 Tablespoon Garlic powder

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar. Enough mix for 4-6 meals. Each recipe can serve up to 6 (with side dishes) or feed 2 twice, and can be prepared in less than 60 minutes.

Chili Mac

1 lb Ground Beef, browned and drained
1 Cup Water
½ Cup Mix
½ Cup Elbow Macaroni Noodles (uncooked)
2 Cans Chopped Tomatoes
1 Tablespoon Chili powder

Combine all ingredients in a large skillet and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until macaroni is cooked, stirring occasionally.

Stroganoff

1 lb Ground Beef, browned and drained
2 Cups Water
½ Cup Mix
2 Cups Egg Noodles (uncooked)
½ Cup Sour Cream

Combine all ingredients except Sour Cream in a large skillet and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until noodles are cooked, stirring occasionally.

Potato Beef Casserole

1 lb Ground Beef, browned and drained
¾ Cup Water
½ Cup Mix
6 Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Cup Frozen Mixed Veggies

Combine all ingredients in a large skillet and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove cover and cook until excess water is evaporated.

Quick Lasagna

1 lb Ground Beef, browned and drained
2 Cups Water
½ Cup Mix
3 Cups Lasagna Noodles, broken into bits (uncooked)
1 onion, chopped
16 oz Tomato Sauce
¼ Cup Parmesan Cheese
2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Combine all ingredients except Mozzarella in a large skillet and bring to a boil. Let simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, or until noodles are cooked, stirring occasionally. Top with mozzarella. Turn off heat and let cheese melt.

Mix and Match Casserole
I just got this recipe about a month ago and I already love it. Again, I found it at CDKitchen.com and it’s great because of its versatility.

This serves up to 6, and takes about 15 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 20 minutess in the oven.

Preheat oven to 350° F, and start with:

8 oz Sour Cream
1 Cup Milk
Omit Sour Cream and Milk when using Tomatoes as Sauce Choice
1 Cup water
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Pepper

Sauce (Choose One)
1 10 ¾ oz can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 10 ¾ oz can Cream of Celery Soup
1 10 ¾ oz can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 10 ¾ oz can Cheddar Cheese Soup
2 14 ½ oz can Diced Tomatoes with 1 Tsp each: Basil, Garlic powder, and Oregano

Veggie (Choose One)
1 14 ½ oz can Cut Green Italian Beans - drained
1 15 ¼ oz can Sweet Peas - drained
1 10 ½ oz can Asparagus Cuts and Tips - drained
1 15 ¼ oz can Whole Kernel Corn - drained
2 13 ½ oz can Chopped Spinach – drained

Starch (Choose One)
2 Cups Elbow Macaroni - uncooked
1 Cup Regular Rice - uncooked
4 Cups Wide Egg Noodles – uncooked
3 Cups Small Pasta Shells – uncooked

Meat (Choose One)
12 oz Solid White Tuna in Water – drained and flaked
2 Cups Cooked Chicken
2 Cups Cooked Turkey
2 Cups Cooked Ham
1 lb Ground Beef, browned and drained
Optional Extras (Choose None, One, or More)
1 3 oz can Sliced Mushrooms –drained
1 4 ½ oz can Green Chiles
¼ Cup Sliced Black Olives
¼ Cup Chopped Bell Peppers (any color)
¼ Cup Chopped Celery
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 packet Taco Mix

Toppings (Choose One or Two)
½ Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
½ Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
½ Cup Shredded Swiss Cheese
½ Cup Fine Dry Breadcrumbs
1 Cup Round Buttery Crackers (like Ritz), Crushed
1 Cup Herb-Seasoned Stuffing Mix

Directions
Combine Sour Cream, Milk, Water, Salt and Pepper with Sauce (Omit Sour Cream and Milk when using Tomatoes). Stir in veggie choice, starch choice, meat choice, and if so desired, optional extra choice. Spoon mix into a lightly greased 13 x 9 baking dish and bake, covered, at 350° F for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Uncover and sprinkle with toppings choice; bake an additional 10 minutes.

Be creative and have fun with this recipe. There are so many choices, the variety is awesome. The length of cooking eliminates the need to pre cook the noodles and saves you a pan to wash. Gotta love the one dish meal.





Here are a few tried and true combinations:

Chicken Casserole: Cream of Chicken, asparagus, rice, chicken, Parmesan chesse, breadcrumbs.

Ham Casserole: Cream of Celery, Green Beans, wide egg noodles, ham, garlic, 2 portions Swiss cheese.

Turkey Casserole: 3 cans diced tomatoes, sweet peas, small pasta shells, turkey, onion, garlic, 2 portions Mozzarella cheese, herb-seasoned stuffing mix or round buttery crackers.

Ground Beef Casserole: Cheddar cheese soup, corn, elbow macaroni, ground beef, sliced mushrooms, green chiles, taco seasoning mix, 2 portions Mozzarella cheese.

Tuna Casserole: Cream of Mushroom, sweet peas, elbow macaroni, tuna, sliced mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, breadcrumbs.

Vegetarian Casserole: Diced tomatoes, corn, rice, ripe olives, 4 portions bell pepper, 4 portions celery, garlic, Parmesan cheese.




Onion Chopped Steak with Easy Gravy
aka
Swiss Steak or Salisbury Steak

Another favorite of mine from CDKitchen.com, there’s nothing you can’t find on that web site… This recipe is easy and fast and tastes great. I find better results with the lower fat ground sirloin, a 90/10 mix of ground beef and fat, but it works fine with less expensive 80/20 or 70/30 mixes (regular ground beef). I also usually use a brown gravy mix with great results.

This serves up to 4 and is ready is about 30 minutes.

1 lb Ground Beef
½ Cup Unseasoned Dry Bread Crumbs
¼ Cup Milk
½ Envelope (about 3 Tablespoons) Dry Onion Soup Mix
1 Package Demi-Glace mix, or Au Jus mix, or Brown Gravy mix. (choose one)
1 ¼ Cup Water

Directions:
Combine the beef, bread crumbs, milk and dry onion-soup mix in a 2-quart or larger bowl; mix thoroughly with your hands.
Heat a large skillet (that has a lid) over medium heat.
Shape the meat mixture into 6 small patties of even size and shape. Cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes on one side, reduce heat if meat begins to brown too quickly.
Meanwhile, empty the demi-glace mixture into a 2 Cup or larger measure to make gravy mix. Add water and whisk until well blended. Set aside.
Turn patties over, cover skillet and cook for 5 minutes.
Uncover skillet, reduce heat to medium-low, and add the gravy mix. Cook for 5 minutes, flip patties, and cook an additional 5 minutes or until gravy reaches desired consistency and the patties are no longer pink in the center.

Serve at once or simmer until ready to serve.
Goes great with Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes. Yum