Meatball Sliders w/ Butternut Squash Fries

Today I just could not decide what I wanted to make for supper, sometimes you just get tired of doing your same hand full of ground beef recipes. I took a look in the freezer, and stumbled across some home made buns that Shelby and my Mother in Law whipped up a bit ago. Solved. Meatballs....Yum.....Buns....Yum....Together.....Delicious!

We have attempted squash fries a few times before...the new trick I found out is to bake them on wire racks on a cookie sheet, rather then just on a cookie sheet. You get an even crisp and then a soft squash fry in the middle. Dead simple to do.

I peeled and sliced the butternut squash into "fry" shapes. Toss with some canola oil and a good season with Sea Salt. Lay on wire rack and bake for 40 mins @ 350 F. I failed to turn them once, and I don't think it would have made a difference. They were evenly crisp on all sides. Re season with Salt and serve!

For the sliders, I mixed lean ground beef with Salt and pepper, a bit of garlic powder, dash of soya sauce, and 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs. Mix and form into whatever sauce Meatball you want. I cooked on med high heat turning 3 or 4 times for 15 mins. You can add whatever you want for sauce, I used sweet basil marinara, and fixed my bun in jalapeno ranch dressing. Before I added the meatball to the bun, I dug out the bottom a bit so the Meat would sit in nice. Baked off until buns were brown,

Enjoy

Cory

Perogie Pie

The other night Shelby wanted perogies, I wanted Shepards Pie....So I came up with Perogie Pie.
Take 1lb ground beef, brown with onions and garlic. At the same time, bring to boil 4l of water, add a pinch of salt and frozen perogies. Once meat is browned, add your favorite flavoring for Shepards pie. We use mushroom soup mix often, today I used bbq sauce, more of a sloppy joe sauce. Drain perogies once they are done. Assemble and bake at 350f for 25 mins.

Beef with the onions and garlic in a bbq sauce. I used a fairly large casserole dish to assemble.

Add you favorite frozen or fresh veg. We have been using up the corn we froze like crazy. This corn was super sweet and is great in any meal!

I then layered my cooked perogies overlapping a bit.

Sprinkled med cheddar cheese, salt and pepper and baked off.

Delicious!

Scoop up ad serve!! The boys devoured this meal! And who would have thought that Perogies made a good substitute for mashed spuds!!!

Enjoy!

Cory

Beef Tortillas w/ Homemade Flour Tortillas

I am not sure why Shelby and I have never tried this before. But after last night, we have concluded that we will never buy flour tortillas again. EVER. This was dead simple, cheap and very tasty!!

Shelby is big into Pinterest, and found a recipe for flour tortillas from a website called "The Urban Spork" Pretty neat site! They use white flour in the recipe, and we used whole wheat. We also didn't have 5 tbsp of shortening...we had 3, so I used canola oil instead.

Our 12 tortillas cost us approx .75 cents. Compared to the $3.89 Superstore charges for 10 flour tortillas. Flour is approx 68 cups to 10kg bag, At 10 bucks, that's 14.7 cents a cup.

Here is what you need:

2 3/4 cups of flour plus extra for rolling
5 tbsp of shortening
3/4 tsp of salt
3/4 cup of very warm tap water.

Follow link here to follow directions. Super easy. http://theurbanspork.com/menu/

After the tortillas were made, we fried up some ground beef with garlic and chopped cilantro. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Toppings included Lettuce, cheese, Leeks, Sour Cream, Salsa and Green Peppers. Assemble and serve! Simple.

Tortillas once the dough is made and separated into 12 balls.

Frying the dough in a hot pan, no grease. 30-45 seconds a side.

These tortillas were nice and soft, but also held up to being packed full of meat and cheese! I never once ripped one.

I heated the oven a bit, then place cooked tortillas on a rack. Awesome!

Fill tortillas with whatever you want, use for egg wraps, replace the store bought ones with these ones!! You know exactly what is in them, no preservatives. So try them today! We are converted and will never buy them again!! Get some people together and have a tortilla making afternoon, freeze and store!

Enjoy

Cory

Man Size Beef Burger

Growing up, my mother would make huge beef burgers. There is nothing like it! There is something about holding a huge burger in your hands. It was a task to finish! And finish we did! Here is my take on a basic cheeseburger!

You will need the following: (add or take out whatever you wish! make it your own)

Makes 7 large patties or 14 smaller ones.

2.5lbs lean ground beef
1 red onion
2 eggs
2 cups bread crumbs
toppings (lettuce, cheese, tomatoes etc)
Buns
2 tbsp Whole grain Dijon Mustard
Salt and Pepper

For bread crumbs I found these delicious PC croutons. Seasoned whole grain variety. I crush them up or place in a food processor until fine. They are simply delicious. Great flavor, and not only does it help combine your burger but adds taste!

Combine beef, finely diced red onion, eggs, bread crumbs, mustard and salt and pepper. Don't be afraid to get in there with your hands. Mix but don't mix to much, your burger will stay tender and juicy if you don't overwork the ground beef. Form your patties. I bbq these burgers over med high heat, turning once. about 8 mins a side. These burgers are thick!! Alternatively place in oven at 425f.

Grab a tasty bun that can hold these big guys, add your favorite toppings and voila!! I used some home made zuchini relish...which is the best....some bbq sauce, lettuce and a pickle. I topped the burgers with some med cheddar cheese. When you bit into these burgers they were so juicy and tender. You could taste the bread crumbs and the mustard, just wonderful flavor.

Enjoy friends!! Don't be afraid to lite that BBQ up!! Its January!!!

"Mennonite Style" Beef Enchiladas!

This is a delicious meal that my wife introduced me too when we got married. Her family was introduced to it by some family friends and have made a variation ever since! We add different stuff to ours, this time we used ground beef, peppers and spinach. We use tomatoes, peppers, ground pork, spinach, whatever you want as filling. So I will lay out step by step for you, and maybe this will be your supper one night!!!

We buy our wraps from Superstore, 10 in, 10 in a pack, usually 3.29-3.89. We use them for wraps and lunches all the time. These are Whole wheat ones.
To start off, you need 1 can of bacon and bean soup.
Take a spoon full of that, rub it all around the middle.

We fry ground beef with some onions and garlic, salt and pepper, add a spoon full of that mixture ontop of your bean spread.

This is where you can add extra flavor, you could use taco seasonings etc. We keep it pretty simple!

Next, we add our chopped peppers!!, You could use any kind of peppers you want!!! Tomatoes are excellent in here as well!!

We love spinach in our house!! We used to get tons of it from our weekly vegetable box from pilgrims produce! Check them out!!!  In the "off season" We usually buy big containers of fresh baby spinach for $3.50-$5.00. We throw it in everything!! Eggs, wraps, salads, these, etc!!Last many meals!! definitely worth it!

Wrap them up!!! Place tightly in a roasting pan or casserole dish!!

To top it off, mix one can of cream of mushroom soup with half of a cup of milk, pour over enchiladas, Grate some cheddar cheese and throw on, bake off at 350 for 45 mins. Not the healthiest!! But flippin delish! We serve it with sour cream and salsa, but tastes great all on its own too!!

Mmmm. Enjoy!!

Cory

Honey Garlic Meatballs w/ Bacon Ricotta Topped Spuds!

I love meatballs! It is definite comfort food! And they are so easy to do!! These meatballs took basic ingredients that we all have in our kitchen. And really, any meat will do!! A good meat ball has ground pork and beef, but these were just lean ground beef!

The flavor was amazing though, they melted in your mouth!

I started with 2 lbs of lean ground beef, made my own bread crumbs just using 2 slices of bread toasted, and then food processed to crumbs. Added in Salt and pepper, 1 large egg, 1 onion finely chopped, 1 bunch of spinach finely chopped, 1 dash of Soya Sauce, 2 tbsp of whole grain Dijon mustard, then combined!.

I made giant man size meatballs. That pan is fairly large and they barely fit in. I think I had 3 or 4 more that I squeezed in after the picture.

But dont be affraid to get your hands in there, make any size meatball you would like!

I just cooked these over medium heat with a lid turning once. Even with lean I had to drain out the liquid once, just so they would continue to get a nice crisp outside on them!

At this time, I combined 4 tbsp of creamed honey with some roasted whole garlic that I had stuck in the oven earlier, in a pot on low heat. (Roasted garlic is amazing...cut top off, leave whole bulb and drizzle with olive oil, bake in tinfoil for 20 mins at 350, once cool to handle, squeeze out garlic flesh, so good)

Once the honey was melted and boiling I added some flour that was mixed in with soya sauce and returned to a gentle boil. Once sauce was thick, I spread over the meatballs and left on low heat.

For the spuds, I washed and baked some potatoes in foil from our local vegetable box  at 350 for about 45 mins. Once done I cut in half and also cut a sliver off the bottoms so the potato would lie flat on a surface. I then scooped on a ricotta bacon mixture I had made earlier. (I took some bacon, diced it and fried it, then added to smooth ricotta). After spooning the mixture on, I threw them back in the oven on a cookie sheet, and baked for 15 mins more. Served with some Corn from the Hansons, this meal was delicious, We enjoyed  a nice meal with Marissa and her kids!!

Enjoy!!!

Mountain High Shepard's Pie!

Yum!! Shepard's pie and Garden Salad!!  The boys devoured it!! I grew up on meals like shepard's pie, it was cheap! And guess what? It still is!! Price breakdown!!
Shepards pie
Beef: $2.98                                                            
Potatoes: $1.50
Cauliflower: $1.25
Carrots: $.75
Leek: $1.00
Corn/Beans: FREE
Milk: $.25
Misc (spices) $.25
Total: $ 7.98

Salad:
Lettuce: $1.00
Peppers: $ 1.00
Cucumber: $.50
Tomatoes: $.50
Radish: $.25
Total: $ 3.25

Total Meal: $11.23
How awesome is that? For our family that's under 2.00 a person. If you break that down to Munk size servings!! Its 1.40! (8 servings)

And its healthy!! Everything in there is local except cauliflower! Salad from our vegetable box, corn from the Hansons and beans from Nici Carey! Spuds, leek, carrots all from Vegetable box. Calories for the whole Shepards pie was under 1500. Break that down for servings is 187 calories....thats unreal!!

Shepards pie is easy, cheap and healthy!! We skipped a gravy sauce for the meat, added 1 tbsp of Sour cream instead, and chopped leeks!
I boiled and mashed the potatoes, cauliflower and carrots for the top!, Corn and Beans in the middle!. Very simple. 1lb beef, 1lb potatoes, 1lb cauliflower, 6 carrots, 1 large leek, 1 cup corn, 2 cups green beens. 1/4 milk for the mashed veg, 1 tbsp butter and dash of salt and pepper for mashed veg. Put it all together in layers, (meat, veg, mashed veg), Bake off for 20 mins @ 350.

Simple. Yet delicious!! Enjoy!