Dinner Archives - Yearning to Create

Spaghetti Dogs

Can this really be me doing a post about food? Well, this one intrigued me. I saw a picture of this in blogworld (before Pinterest so I don’t remember who to give the credit to – sorry) and wondered how in the world they got the noodles through the wiener. I was so eager to find out how they did it that I didn’t really stop to think about it – just sped read the blog to figure it out. And then I must admit that I felt a little silly!!!

Do you have it figured out?

Looks kinda scary eh?

Okay, I know you’re all smarter than I was! Here we have the wieners and noodles cooking together in the pot. And here’s the way they looked just before going in the pot.

I broke my noodles in half, but if you want them to look more like squid, leave them whole. I shoved four noodles through each wiener.

Here’s another tip: don’t get distracted while you’re cooking them. I over cooked mine a bit which made the noodles pretty soft, so some of them were breaking off at the point where they came out of the wiener.

So since the wieners are already meat (yeah, right!), I just made up some meatless spaghetti sauce to serve with our spaghetti dogs.

So, go ahead and cook it for your family and see if they can figure it out!

Western Surprise (Rice and Wiener Dish)

I invented a recipe!!! Well, sort of. It’s a combination of something my mom used to make called Western Surprise, and something I found online. And it actually turned out pretty good. Probably still need to tweak the recipe a bit so don’t blame me if you make it and it doesn’t work!

My family loves to eat rice. After spending two years in Korea and eating rice every day, you’d think my guy would be tired of it, but no. And with a gluten free daughter, rice dishes work well for us.

Hope you can read my writing – I just didn’t feel like retyping it!

I guess the first line should say “1 package wieners – thinly sliced” – I don’t think you can find a package of thinly sliced wieners!

The part I like best about this is the “throw it in a pot and let it do it’s thing”. I’m so lazy in the kitchen!

And they all liked it!!! (That orange thing looks like a piece of carrot – don’t think I put any carrots in, but you could throw in anything else you wish. Just remember, if it’s dried, you may need to add a little more water to allow for reconstitution.)

There’s my Mac in pony tails for the first time – kicking back enjoying her lunch, dog waiting for crumbs to fall and sick sister on the couch in the background. A typical day!

Corn Chowder

This is seriously one of the best soups ever!!! Our family loves it so much that it is even requested for birthday dinners sometimes, along with the best ever corn bread that you can read about here.

Corn Chowder

4 slices of diced bacon

1 medium chopped onion

1 can of corn

1 1/2 cups diced raw potato

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

3 cups milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Saute bacon and onion together in a large pot until cooked. Drain excess bacon grease.

Add everything else and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until potato is cooked, but stir it once in a while!

That is the basic recipe, but I usually quadruple it. For example, we use a whole package of bacon, and way more potatoes. We go through so much milk so if I can use something else in cooking, I do. So I usually cook it all in water and then add some cream at the end to make it creamy. I like it even better with the cream than with the milk.

I hear it’s supposed to rain and snow again this week. This will be the perfect meal for that day – and I hope it’s just one day! I always love to hear the happy sounds my kids make when they read Corn Chowder on the menu board (read about that here).

Hamburger Casserole

Here’s a casserole that our family enjoys. This dish is called Hamburger Casserole – very original name I must say!

I know you’re wondering why I’m making two.

Well, the smaller dish contains gluten free noodles for my Jo.

And the larger dish contains the cheaper noodles for the rest of the family.

I’ll give you the exact recipe – which I never follow. I just throw things in and hope for the best. I think I used too many noodles this time – not that the little kids would complain. They’d be happy with only noodles to eat!

Hamburger Casserole

2 cups cooked small egg noodles – spread in bottom of casserole dish

1 lb. ground beef – scramble fry until brown, drain grease

– add the following five ingredients and simmer gently for 15 minutes

1 cup chopped onion

1/4 tsp. garlic powder (or minced garlic clove)

2 – 7 1/2 oz. cans of Tomato sauce

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

– pour meat mixture over noodles in casserole dish

1 cup sour cream – spread over meat, smoothing level

1 cup cottage cheese – spread over sour cream layer

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese – layer over top to cover completely

– bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

From this picture you’ll notice three things:

1) Cheddar cheese works just fine too!

2) I cook it for more than 30 minutes – we like the cheese crusty!

3) I actually have a set of matching dishes! (and they even have lids)

okay, and bonus item . . .

4) I need to clean my stove!

Hamburger Casserole has a mild lasagna flavour.

Darn – it doesn’t look like there are going to be any leftovers! Jo’s the lucky one – she gets another meal from her dish.

It passed the two-year-old test – she likes it!

And there’s the faithful Lacie, waiting and hoping for a crumb to fall to the floor. Sorry Lace – we like it too much!

Broiled Ham Buns

Broiled Ham Buns are one of our family favourites – just so tasty and easy and usually all the ingredients are on hand.

(Please just ignore my stained cookie sheet – it was a wedding gift so it’s almost 23 years old and still going strong!)

Just look at this instead!

So tasty, crisp yet soft, and warm!!!

All you need is:

1 can flaked ham

3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

2 Tbsp relish (I use less – my kids don’t like the green stuff!)

2 Tbsp mayonnaise (I use a little more – I like it creamy!)

1 tsp. mustard

Mix it all together and spread on your open buns.

I usually pop it in the oven for a few minutes at 350 to get it all warm, and then I turn on the broil. The broil only takes a minute or two – I just watch it until the cheese starts bubbling a little. This way the only crisp part is the edges – the rest of the buns are soft and chewy.

Oh, and I doubled the recipe to make this many buns.

These would be perfect for any meal – breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Bev’s Chicken Casserole

Well, I’m not sure who Bev is, but we sure love her Chicken Casserole!

First step is to find a little cutie who is working on a YW Personal Progress goal who is willing to help you in the kitchen!

She’s chopping the tomatoes, onions and green onions. (I was going to do the onion but she insisted she wanted to – because she wanted to cry! She claimed she’s never cried cutting an onion before and wanted another chance to experience it. Well, she experienced it!!! I think I’ll be cutting the onion next time!)

Here’s what to do:

– put your chicken pieces in a casserole dish and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

– Mix together one can of Tomato soup and one can of Cream of Mushroom soup

– then you add in your chopped veggies (tomato, onion and green onion)

– stir that all together and spoon over your chicken.

– Cover and bake at 350 degrees for two hours or until tender.Serve over rice or mashed potatoes.

You will be amazed at how easy and delicious it is!

Beef and Corn Bake

This is probably our very favourite casserole – think I’ve made this one more in our 22+ years of marriage than anything else. I love it because

1) it’s really delicious and

2) it’s really simple to assemble (which means more time for crafting!).

I’ll share the exact recipe, but I never measure anymore!

Beef Corn Bake

2 lbs Ground Beef

1 medium chopped Onion

1/4 cup cooking oil (I’ve never used the oil)

– Cook all together in fry pan until meat is brown. Put in large casserole dish. Add:

12 ounce can Kernel Corn (drained)

2 – 10 ounce cans Tomato Soup

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Pepper

1 Tbsp Ketchup (I use more – like 1/4 cup!)

2 cups cooked Noodles (I’ve used Egg Noodles and Chow Mein Noodles)

Mix it all up together and then sprinkle grated Cheddar Cheese on top.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and cook some more until the cheese is done the way you like it.

We like our cheese crusty!

This is a wonderful casserole for transporting too – it’s solid and won’t spill in your car, unless you’re a really crazy driver!!!

My two-year old even loves it! I kept trying to snap a picture of her eating it, but every time I missed the actual food-entering-mouth moment. And she just kept glaring at me for flashing lights in her face over and over and over!

Finally, I got excited because I got a picture of food entering her mouth. But alas, when I did an actual preview of the shot,

it was . . .

. . . a large slice of cucumber that was going in, and not the casserole!

But you can see that her plate is getting emptier.

Here’s a good tip I’ve learned over the years: when your young’un decides they’re too old for bibs and keeps ripping them off, dress them in clothes that co-ordinate with the colour of your meals. Camouflage those spills – it makes laundry so much easier!!!

So . . . back to the Beef Corn Bake – I know your meals are already planned for this week, but make it next week! Your family will thank you!!!

Taco Soup – Food Storage Version

This is the easiest Taco Soup ever – and it can be made completely from items you have in your food storage.

You just throw it all in the pot and let it simmer for a few hours – until those dehydrated vegetables are soft!

These are the basic ingredients – and of course you can use the real thing, but throwing in the dried and canned stuff is so much easier than actually chopping an onion!!!

My picture of ingredients doesn’t show meat. I usually throw in ground beef (sometimes even stretching my ground beef by adding whole cooked wheat kernels), or wieners, or chicken, or no meat at all.

The basic ingredients are onions, carrots, tomatoes, beans, corn and whatever else you need to clean out of your fridge. I’ve even thrown in dried zucchini from time to time just to bug my family (did you know a large zucchini will shrink down small enough to fit in a small ziploc baggie when it’s dehydrated?). Whenever they see an unidentified green thing in anything, someone will always ask, “Is there zucchini in this?”

The only seasoning I add is Taco seasoning – as much or as little as you choose. Add water to get your desired consistency and there you have it. Quick, easy and delicious!

I prefer my tacos on the side rather than getting soggy under the soup! Sour cream, cheese and cilantro or green onions or chives top it off perfectly (I know I don’t have any green stuff on it – just imagine it!).

And even if you don’t have the garnishes, the soup is great on it’s own. We call it Chili!

Chicken, Rice and Broccoli Casserole

I made up a recipe – shocking, I know!!! My family loves it – and I can prove it: Kat, my seven-year-old picky eater, just looked over my shoulder to see what I was blogging about and said, “That stuff? Make it again!!!”

We often have leftover cooked chicken (ya know, from those barbecued chickens at the grocery store) and I was looking for a new way to use it up. I wanted some sort of rice recipe that I could toss everything in a pot and let the oven work its magic. So I started searching online for recipes, but all I could find were recipes where the rice was precooked – and I didn’t want that. So I kind of copied some ingredients from a few different recipes, and then got inventing.

Chicken, Rice and Broccoli Casserole

2 cups rice

2 cups water

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup milk

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Combine all this in your casserole dish and mix it up well. You can adjust your rice/water amount as desired – just use equal portions of both.

For this version, I tossed in:

1 bundle of broccoli

1 onion

Cubed cooked chicken.

(I know I don’t need to mention that everything should be chopped up, and no precooking is required – except the chicken!)

Mix everything up together. Cook it covered at 350 for 45-60 minutes. Check the rice after about 45 minutes to see if it’s cooked. If your rice is done and the mixture is too runny, cook it for a bit longer without the lid. Sprinkle cheese on at the end if you desire and cook until it’s melted.

In my clean-out-the-fridge version, I threw in leftover cooked vegetables, raw cauliflower, and even leftover smoked pork picnic instead of chicken – that was good! Can’t wait til I have zucchini around to throw in, just to annoy my family!

I’ve made it a few times now and it’s always good. The first time I put it on the table, it got more than a few skeptical, curious, turned-up-noses looks from my youngest kids. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear Kat exclaim in a shocked voice, “This doesn’t taste bad at all!”