Beef Noodle Bake

This isn't the best picture, but hopefully it does the trick. Noodle bake was a dish that my step-grandmother used to make all the time and we grandkids went CRAZY for it. I don't know exactly what she put in hers, but from a quick google search it seems like this is a pretty popular recipe. All of a sudden I had a HUGE craving for this dish this weekend, so this is what I threw together with the ingredients I have. I have a feeling this is the kind of dish where any combination of ingredients thrown together in any amount will result in something amazing. I also think this is supposed to have cottage cheese, which I didn't have tonight, but I'm definitely going to try and add it to the recipe some time in the future.

1/2 box pasta, any kind
1 lb. ground meat (usually beef)
1 sweet onion
1 can petite diced tomatoes
7.5 oz. tomato sauce
garlic salt
pepper
1 cup Macaroni blend shredded cheese (or 3 cheese blend shredded cheese)
1 oz. ranch dressing
sour cream
1 or 2 green onions, chopped.
I also seasoned this with some smoked paprika and ancho chili powder, but I don't know if I used enough to really make a difference. I think it's the ranch dressing that really makes it.

Cook pasta according to instructions on the box. While the pasta is cooking, brown meat in a large pan, sprinkling very liberally with pepper and garlic salt. Drain pasta when done, rinse, and let sit.

Finely chop onion. Mix onion, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce into the pan with the beef. Cook until the onion is translucent and most of the liquid as evaporated.

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, mix together pasta and beef mixture. Add shredded cheese and ranch dressing.

Pour mixture into a 13x9 baking pan. Top with a thin layer of sour cream, and mix into the noodle mixture a little bit (as if you were mixing batters for a swirl cake). Top with green onions.

Toss in the oven and bake until bubbling a little bit, about 10 minutes.

Rainbow Stew (Hobo Stew, but I hate that name)

Ingredients:

optional- broth of any kind
3/4 lb beef (732)
1/2 -1 cup frozen peas (60-120)
2 carrots (80)
1 small onion (44)
2 ribs celery
corn (133)
1 can petit diced tomatoes 105
2 cans tomato sauce 220
1 russet potato (170)
optional- 1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheese
garlic salt
black pepper
smoked paprika
optional- chili flakes

Pre-note: You want all the vegetables to be about the same size. So chop the carrots, celery, onion, and potato to about the size of corn kernels.

1) If you're using broth, set in a soup pot to boil. Water works just fine though, and if you're using that, add 3ish cups to the pot to boil and add a couple shakes of garlic salt.

2) Finely chop the carrots and celery. Add them, the can of petit diced tomatoes, and the 2 cans of tomato sauce and bring to a boil.

3) While the soup is boiling, brown the meat in a separate pan. Sprinkle liberally with pepper and garlic salt. Set aside once cooked.

4) Finely chop the onion and add to the soup. Let boil for five-ish minutes.

5) Chop the potato and add to the soup. Add the peas and corn.

6) Once the soup comes back to a boil, add about 6 good shakes of the smoked paprika, and add lots of black pepper. Let boil until the potatoes are soft (you can easily cut them with your soup spoon).

7) Once the potatoes are done cooking, add the meat and cheese. Add the chili flakes if you want it spicier. Let boil for a couple more minutes to allow everything to cook together.

8) Taste test! This soup should be smokey and spicy. If you want more of either of those, add the paprika, pepper, or chili a couple shakes at a time. Add garlic salt to taste.

easy pot roast dinner, plus calories

Ingredients:
Hormel beef roast au jus (630)
1 Onion (45)
4 mushrooms (it could use more mushrooms) (30)
Most of a bag of baby spinach (it could use a whole bag of baby spinach) (20)
At least three tablespoons of sour cream (75)

I love Hormel beef entrees. It's really quality beef and it tastes delicious, and you can mix it with literally anything. I use it in my beef stroganov and it makes fucking fantastic stroganov in like 10 minutes. Last night I wanted something a little different, so here we are:

Heat the pot roast in a deep pan according to the package instructions. While that's heating, thinly slice the onion. Add the onion to the pan. Slice the mushrooms, and a couple minutes before the beef should be done, add it and the spinach to the pan and stir. Once the meat finishes its cooking time, turn off the heat and add the sour cream. Stir everything together and let cool for a couple minutes.

I like to eat it over a baked potato. 1/3rd of the meat dish is a serving, and funnily enough it goes perfectly over 1/3rd a baked potato. Bake the potato in the microwave. Once it's done cut it into three pieces, then roughly chop the piece you're going to eat. Top with 1/3 of the roast and veggie dish.

Calories
Meat and Veggies - 800 / 3 =  267
1/3 potato = 57
Per meal = 324

Boeuf Bourguignon / Beef Burgundy with Mashed Potatoes

Not quick, not cheap, but ridiculously delicious and fun to make if you've got an extra 5-10 hours (seriously. this dish takes forever). And despite the length of the directions, it's really not hard to make. You can shorten your cooking time by using regular onions instead of pearled, and already chopped mushrooms. You can save yourself some work by serving the beef over noodles (which is more traditional), but I prefer it over potatoes.

You'll need:
3 lbs stew beef
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 bottle red wine, preferably burgundy or chianti
1 32 oz. container of beef broth
1 small sweet onion
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
4 leaves fresh sage
2 bay leaves
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
3 large carrots
1 container mushrooms
2 bags fresh pearl onions (or one large sweet onion)
olive oil
flour
butter
salt and pepper
See below for mashed potato recipe

1) Marinate the beef with half the bottle of wine. Cover and place in the fridge for at least three hours, but preferably overnight.
2) While the beef is marinating, cut the bacon into matchstick-size pieces
3) Once the beef is done marinating remove from the marinade, reserving the liquid. Pat the beef dry (this is important, to get it to brown properly). Season the beef with salt and pepper, and coat with flour.
4) Fry the bacon in a deep pan. Once cooked, remove the bacon into the crockpot, keeping the bacon fat in the pan.
5) Fry the beef in batches in the bacon fat, making sure not to crowd the beef in the pan. Fry just enough to brown, about 3 minutes, and remove to crockpot. If you start running out of fat to cook the beef in, add a little bit of olive oil.
6) Once all the beef is browned and in the crockpot, add the marinade to the pan (while the heat is still on) to deglaze. Boil the marinade for five minutes, then add it to the crockpot.
7) Peel, root, and quarter the small sweet onion, and add it to the crockpot. Add the thyme, sage, and bay leaves. Add enough beef broth to cover the beef, stir, and cover the pot. Set the crockpot for four hours on high.
8) While the beef's cooking, peel and chop your potatoes (chop into fours or sixes) and boil. Chop your mushrooms and carrots and set aside, then prep your pearl onions.
9) To peel pearl onions: Set a pot of water (large enough to hold all the onions) to boil. While the water boils, pull off the initial flaky skin of the onion and cut off the root end. Once the water reaches boiling, dump the onions in and boil for about 2-3 minutes. While the onions are boiling, prepare a bowl of ice water. Drain the onions and immediately put in ice water bath. Once the onions are cooled, drain again, and the tough outer skin should pop right off! (Note: it'll look like you're losing a lot of onion once you peel them, but that's okay, cause two bags is a lot of onions to begin with)
10) An hour before the timer on your crockpot is done, add the carrots and crushed garlic and cover.
11) Saute the mushrooms in 2-3 tablespoons of butter until the mushrooms begin to give off a lot of their liquid. Remove from heat and set aside, with liquid.
12) Saute pearl onions in 2-3 tablespoons of butter until they start to turn golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside with butter/juices.
13) A half hour before the timer on your crockpot is done, melt six tablespoons of butter in a pan, and stir in six tablespoons of flour to make a roux. Continue cooking roux until it starts to turn brown, then add the roux, onions, and mushrooms to the crockpot. Cover and cook for the remaining half hour.
14) While the stew is cooking for the last half hour, make your mashed potatoes according to the recipe below.
15) Serve stew over potatoes and enjoy!


Mashed Potatoes
You'll need:
6 gold yukon potatoes
1.5 sticks of butter
1 small container sour cream
Milk to consistency
salt and pepper

Peel and chop the potatoes. Boil in water (I recommend adding a couple pinches of salt to the water) until very soft. Once done, drain off water and return to pot. Mash butter into potatoes with a potato masher then mash in sour cream. Continue mashing and add milk to desired smoothness and consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.