My food-filled week has begun!
I started with a beet smoothie for lunch, courtesy of my new smoothie cookbook (belated post coming soon, perhaps tomorrow), then a trip to Wegmans. Glorious Wegmans.
I shopped for about four different meals, plus staples like plain lowfat yogurt and milk. I stocked up on veggies like yellow bell pepper, celery, cucumber, zucchini, a Granny Smith apple and tons of fresh herbs. Kudos to me for passing on CoffeeMate’s Coconut Creme creamer… I’ve been DYING to have some, but it only came in the large size and I still have three bottles in the fridge. Boo.
For dinner tonight? SLIDERS! I came across the recipe in Barefoot Contessa’s newest cookbook, How Easy is That?, and happened to have a pound of ground beef in my freezer.
(Photos courtesy of Andrew, who actually saved the day when he asked/reminded me to photo dinner as we were about to dig in! The lighting is HORRIBLE.)
Ina’s recipe called for a garlic, olive oil, dijon mustard and thyme mixture for the meat. YUM. I served them on hawaiian sweet rolls because they’re already tiny and I love them and it was the perfect excuse to have them. For next time, I would go easier on the olive oil. My beef is pretty lean, but I’m not sure it needed the amount specified in the recipe. If you don’t mark all over your cookbooks yet, do it! I can’t tell you how helpful some of my comments are to me the next time I make a recipe, like “use LARGE dutch oven,” or “less salt,” or “this takes more time to cook.”
Needless to say, Andrew was a HUGE fan and said that I should “star” this recipe in the book. I admit, I don’t really gravitate to burgers (at restaurants or at home), but what else do I do with ground beef? Other than a good meatloaf every once in awhile, I don’t make casseroles or anything else you’d make with ground beef. I’ve made more homemade burgers in the last couple years than ever before since we’ve been buying quarters of cows to store in the freezer.
Anyone have good ideas for ground beef, other than spaghetti and meat sauce, meatloaf or burgers? I have one more pound in our freezer here and about TEN in Andrew’s parents’ freezer!
What will tomorrow bring? Probably another beet smoothie for lunch and Ina’s herb-roasted salmon with a special orzo dish. I feel like it’s Christmas around here!
thehealthypineapple 
Pound ground beef
i pkg 16 oz egg noodles
1 8 oz can tomato sauce, more if desired
i1 pkg Phil. cream cheese softened-room temp
1 8 oz sm curd cottage cheese
1 8 oz sour cream
1 onion if desired
green olived
black olives if preferred
box fresh sliced mushrooms
Brown a pound of hambg. drain set aside. cook a pkg of wide egg noodles, De-seed and chop up a bell pepper. Mix softened 8oz philly cream cheese and 8 oz of sour cream and 8 oz of sm curd cottage cheese, then mix in the chopped bell pepper.Take the hamburg, mix in a can of tomato sauce, slice mushrooms as desired and onions if desired. In an oiled baking dish start with a layer of noodles, then the cheese mixture, a small amount of meat mixture, repeat with the majority of meat on top. Then cover the meat mixture with green olives or black if you prefer or both. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes. This is a great to make, freeze and serve as an emergency dish that is really tasty! Especially in cooler weather…all you need is some good garlic bread! Sometimes I push the olives in the meat mixture so they don’t burn. I also pour about a tablespoon of olive juice on the whole casserole-gives it as extra bite! LOL
❤
Aunt Mary