Category: ground beef

Instant Pot Tacos

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You may noticed I’ve been on a taco kick lately. Youngest and I enjoy our tacos. Now that I’ve figured out the yummiest taco meat, I make it at least once a week.

During my weekly meal prep, I made extra of the taco meat and froze it in my Souper cubes. Yes, I got some of them and absolutely love them. This way the taco meat is ready to go if I want to eat nachos or just don’t feel like cooking.

What do I need for the recipe?

  • ground beef – I know ground beef prices are expensive. Sometimes the family packs are cheaper. Get one of those, double or triple the recipe, and then freeze for later.
  • taco seasoning – Homemade or store bought – My favorite is from a local place.
  • onion, optional – You could also add some diced up bell peppers in the taco meat.
  • salsa or fire roasted salsa style tomatoes – I found fire roasted salsa style tomatoes at my local grocery store. They add a certain flavor to the taco meat. If your store doesn’t have that type of tomatoes substitute salsa.
  • Tortillas – Flour, corn, or hard taco shells – It doesn’t matter.
  • Your favorite toppings: Cilantro, sour cream, lettuce, shredded cabbage, black beans or re-fried beans, jalapenos, tomato, cheese

Other uses for the taco meat

  • Nachos – The meat would be delicious on nachos. Yum!
  • Taco salad – Add some French, Catalina, or ranch dressing on top. Or you could skip the dressing and use salsa instead.
  • Taco fries – Doesn’t that sound delicious? Or is it just me?
  • Walking tacos – Fritos, taco meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes.

The Recipe

As always, click on the image for a printable version of the recipe.

Taco Bake (Gluten-Free)

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Youngest and I love eating tacos. This recipe is a combination of tacos and nachos in a casserole. YUM!

You can use up those crushed tortilla chips in your cupboard/pantry for this recipe.

What you need for the recipe:
  • Ground beef
  • Onion
  • Salsa
  • Taco seasoning
  • Tortilla chips
  • Shredded cheese – Mexican blend or cheddar – You can certainly shred your own.
  • Your favorite toppings: jalepenos, cheese, cilantro, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, and tomato
Variations:

Vegetarian option: Instead of ground beef, you can either use meatless ground beef crumbles or black/ pinto beans.

In step 4: You can also add cilantro lime rice or black beans as a layer.

Recipe

Click on the photo to go to a printable recipe card.

Notes:

  • You use half of the taco seasoning in the 2 steps.
  • The layers for the taco bake are ground beef mixture, cheese, and then tortilla chips. In that order
  • It says you can feed 6. Youngest and I only got 4 servings out of the meal.

Bramble Beans in the Instant Pot

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SIMILAR Recipes

Last week, I put bramble beans on our menu but didn’t have time to meal prep. So when it came time to cook the recipe, I had to change up how I was going to cook the meal. I decided to make it in my Instant Pot instead of the crockpot. It was easy to do.

So what do you serve with the bramble beans?

A simple side dish would be either a salad or frozen/ canned veggies warmed up.

Roasted veggies

Cornbread, biscuits, or rolls – Simple and delicious

Applesauce or baked apples

Similar Recipes

Sloppy Joes (Crockpot)

Sloppy Joes

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes

Sloppy Joe French fries

Beenie Weenies

Bramble Beans

Stars of the recipe:

  • 2 – 15 oz. cans of pork and beans
  • 1 – 15 oz. can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 lb. hamburger, browned
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 c. ketchup
  • 2 Tbsp. mustard
  • 2 Tbsp. vinegar
  • 4 Tbsp. brown sugar

Steps:

  1. Turn on the Instant Pot to sauté.
  2. Place the hamburger and diced onion in the Instant Pot. Cook until the onion is transparent and the hamburger is no longer pink.
  3. Add the remaining ingredients.
  4. Manual set the Instant Pot to 15 minutes. (Make sure you have the vent is closed.)
  5. Quick release the vent once it is cooked.
  6. Enjoy!

Note: You may need to add about a quarter cup of water since you are using the Instant Pot.

Johnny Marzetti – Updated

One of my mom’s favorite meals was Johnny Marzetti. When I was Googling the history of the name of Johnny Marzetti, I noticed a lot of the recipes bake it. The difference with my recipe is that I don’t. My recipe is more of an American goulash.

It was named after a restaurant in Columbus that shut down in 1972 when the owner died.

When I made it this week, I modernized or added some depth to the spaghetti sauce that I used in the dish. I added a splash of dry red wine while the sauce was simmering. So delicious!

It’s a simple pantry item dish. Here’s what you need to make the dish.

  1. ground beef – I know the price for ground beef has increased. I get the frozen ground beef at this current time because it is cheaper.
  2. spaghetti sauce – I used a simple spaghetti sauce from Aldi. Less than a dollar for the jar.
  3. dry red wine – Doesn’t need to be expensive. Or use beef broth for a deeper flavor.
  4. onions
  5. elbow macaroni – Aldi has 3 pound boxes for less than $1.50
  6. shredded cheddar cheese
  7. Spices: Dried oregano and Italian seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste
  8. optional: mushrooms and green peppers

Johnny Marzetti

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • 1 small onion, chopped or 1/2 of a medium or large onion, chopped
  • 1 (24 to 26 oz) jar of spaghetti sauce
  • 2 Tbsp. dry red wine or beef broth
  • 1 lb or 2 c. dry elbow macaroni
  • 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
  • Optional: 1/4 c. white or Bella mushroom, chopped
  • Optional: 1/2 green pepper chopped

Steps:

  1. Cook the elbow macaroni according to directions. Drain and set aside.
  2. Brown the ground beef in a medium sized pot on medium heat. Drain and remove from pan. Set aside.
  3. Add the onions, mushroom (if using), and green pepper (if using) to the pan. Add some oil to the pan if needed. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent.
  4. Add the cooked ground beef, spaghetti sauce, and red wine to the onions. Simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes.
  5. Add the pasta and shredded cheddar cheese to the pot. Stir to combine.
  6. Enjoy with garlic bread and a salad.

You can leave the wine out if don’t want to use wine. I just used it to add some depth to the dish.

Printable Recipe

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

Sloppy Joes (Day 6)

sloppy-joes

Welcome to Day 6 of the 31 Days of Slow Cooking.  Today I’m featuring sloppy Joes.

The Imaginative One is a Boy Scout.  For the past year, he’s tried to get all of the requirements done so that he can move up to first class.  On Tuesday night, he met up with an Eagle Scout who helps with the troop to assure he has all the requirements done.  Then once he got home from the meeting, he called the advisor who holds the Board of Review so that he could set up an appointment.  Next Tuesday, he’s going to meet with the advisors so that they could determine if he’s ready to move up to first class.  I’m so proud of him.

We also had his parent teacher conference.  One thing about the Imaginative One is that he is a big reader.  When he crossed over to Boy Scouts in February of 2015, he would read during the majority of the meetings instead of paying attention.  As time passed, he has become more and more social.  Anywho, Hubby was told that the teacher didn’t know if the Imaginative One was paying attention in class because he will socialize at times.  It turns out the class is the English Language Arts class.  One of his Boy Scouts buddies is in that class.  I never thought I would hear that about the Imaginative One.

This is an easy recipe to put together in the slow cooker.  Sloppy Joes are great for lunch or even dinner.

Once you make up a batch, freeze smaller portions so you can have sloppy Joes whenever you don’t feel like cooking.  I did this before the Fourth of July. Then I ended up getting sick on the Fourth.  Luckily I had the sloppy Joes in the freezer so the family still had a delicious meal on the Fourth of July.

Sloppy Joes

Stars of the Recipe:

  • 1 & ½ lbs. Ground beef, browned and drained
  • 1 envelope onion soup mix or ¼ c. homemade onion soup mix
  • 1 c. ketchup
  • 1 c. water
  • 2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
  • Hamburger buns

Steps:

  1. Combine all ingredients except for buns in the slow cooker.
  2. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours or 2 to 3 on high.
  3. Serve on buns.
  4. Enjoy!
happy-slow-cooking-1

Taco Hamburger Helper – Secret Recipe Club (July 2016)

Today’s my monthly Secret Recipe Club Reveal.  Before I reveal who I was assigned this month, I’m going to have a quick commercial break because it’s a special day at our house.  I don’t want the person whose blog I’m featuring to feel slighted so I’m going to try to keep it quick. Continue reading “Taco Hamburger Helper – Secret Recipe Club (July 2016)”

Porcupine Balls with Gravy (Pressure Cooking)

Happy 6 year anniversary of this blog!

Hubby’s Favorite

My mother-in-law used to make Hubby porcupine balls when he was growing up.  So these are his favorite meal.  Continue reading “Porcupine Balls with Gravy (Pressure Cooking)”

Meaty Spaghetti Sauce (Wee One’s Sauce)

The other day I had to change our menu because we changed our plans for the week.  I had gone through our pantry and noticed we had a lot of spaghetti noodles.  So instead of barbecue chicken legs, I decided to have spaghetti.

Continue reading “Meaty Spaghetti Sauce (Wee One’s Sauce)”

Lawnmower Tacos

The Wee One loves tacos so when I saw this recipe, I decided we needed to try this recipe.  Hubby loved it which is a great thing because he typically only likes Fritos and I used tortilla chips.

It’s called lawnmower tacos because it basically looks like a lawnmower ran over the meal.  It might not look pretty but it tastes delicious.

IMG_0276

Lawnmower Taco

adapted from Life as Mom

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • 2 Tbsp.Taco Seasoning Mix
  • 1/4 c. flour
  • 1.5 c. beef or chicken broth
  • 1 to 2 c. crushed tortilla chips
  • 2 c. cheddar cheese
  • taco toppings:  lettuce, tomato, sour cream, avocado, salsa, etc. . .

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Brown the ground beef over medium high heat.
  3. Sprinkle taco seasoning over the browned ground beef.  Stir until combined.
  4. Sprinkle flour over the ground beef.  Stir until combined.
  5. Add the beef or chicken broth.  Turn heat to high.  Allow to boil.
  6. Turn heat down to medium.  Simmer until sauce is thickened.
  7. Grease a 9 by 13 baking dish.
  8. Layer in this order:  (I did 3 layers.)
    1. Crushed Tortilla chips
    2. Ground beef mixture
    3. Cheese
  9. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.
  10. Enjoy with your favorite taco toppings.

Happy eating,
Traci

Meatloaf Muffins with Meatloaf Glaze

IMG_0724 (1)This is one of the Imaginative One’s favorite meals.

IMG_0724 (1)

Meatloaf Muffins

Stars of the recipe:

  • 1 lb. of ground beef
  • ¼ c. rolled oats
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ c. diced onion or minced dried onion
  • spices – salt, pepper

Steps:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Place ground beef in a mixing bowl.  Add the remaining ingredients to the ground beef.
  3. Mix to incorporate all ingredients but don’t mix too much.
  4. Form into muffins. (about ¼ c. to ½ c.)
  5. Place the meatloaf muffins into a muffin tin sprayed with cooking spray.
  6. Top each muffin with meatloaf glaze (recipe below).
  7. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until completely cooked through.  (Internal temp of 155 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.)
  8. Enjoy with your favorite side dish!

 

Meatloaf Glaze

Stars of the recipe:

  • ¼ c. ketchup
  • 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsp. brown sugar

Steps:

  1. Combine the ingredients together.
  2. Use to top your meatloaf or meatloaf muffins.

For a Printable Version of the recipe

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