Lynn's Kitchen Adventures » Frugal Meals

Ground Beef Taco Rice Dinner

Lynn — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:01:08 +0000

With all the holiday posts that I have done lately, my ground beef recipes and Souper Monday series have not been as regular as I had hoped, but after the first of the year, they will both be back as weekly features. I am really excited to continue both of these series next year.

Today though I do have another ground beef recipe for you and it is perfect for the busy holiday season. Ground beef taco rice dinner is so quick and easy to make. It contains pantry ingredients, and is great leftover as a burrito or enchilada type filling.

Ground Beef Taco Rice Dinner

1 lb ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (like rotel)
1 ¾ cups water
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 package homemade taco seasoning (or use homemade)
½ teaspoon salt
optional ingredients for serving: sour cream, chips, cheese etc.

In a skillet cook ground beef, onions, and green pepper until meat is done and onions and peppers are tender.
Drain off any fat and add tomatoes with green chilies, water, rice, taco seasoning, and salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Uncover and cook 10 or so more minutes or until rice is done.
Serve and enjoy!

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A Few Ground Beef Recipes

Lynn — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:33:39 +0000

As I mentioned last week I love ground beef recipes because they are usually quick and easy recipes that contain everyday ingredients.

Today I thought I would highlight a few of our favorite ground beef recipes.

Enchilada Rice is a quick and easy kid friendly meal.

Chili Cornbread Bake is a fun way to change up a family favorite.

You cannot get much more simple than Beef and Bean Bake. So easy and yet so good!

Mexican Beef and Beans is another delicious take on beans and ground beef.

If you are looking for a crock pot ground beef meal this Chipotle Beef Tacos is really good.

If you are looking for an easy asian twist on ground beef, Ground Beef Stire Fry might be just what you are looking for.

And Quick and Easy Beef and Rice is probably one of the least expensive meals on my site and yet it is still very good.

What is your favorite way to serve ground beef?

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Oven Tacos

Lynn — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:08:59 +0000

I am so excited about the ground beef recipes series that I am starting on Thursdays. The response to this series from all of you has been more than I imagined. I had no idea you all loved ground beef so much.

All this time I thought ground beef was boring and too basic to share, but it turns out that you all are just like me. You are looking for quick and easy, family and budget friendly meals. And you all love ground beef recipes as much as I do.

So for our first ground beef recipe, we are starting with one of my new favorite, go to recipes.

Mexican type foods are one of my family’s favorite foods. They are usually quick and easy to make. Not only that many of them contain ground beef and beans, which are both inexpensive ingredients to serve.

A lot of times when people think of ground beef and beans, they think they are boring because they are often served in the same ways over and over again. The number one tip I have for making your family love basic meals is to change them up. Change the seasonings, change the cheeses, change how you make them. Serve the same foods in new ways.

That is exactly what I have done with these oven tacos. They are really just a basic taco served in a different and fun way.

My family loved these and thought that they reminded them of something we have had at a Mexican restaurant. They could not remember exactly what dish it reminded them of, but they remembered it being a dish they loved. And can I just say that I enjoy hearing that something I made tastes like something that was more expensive and came from a restaurant. I take comments like that as quite the compliment.

We eat a lot of tacos in our house and since we loved these so much, we all agreed that these tacos should be on the menu plan often. They were a nice change from regular tacos. And I think these would be perfect to serve at a kid’s party or to a bunch of teens. Quick and easy, budget friendly food always work well for serving large groups.

Oven Tacos

2 lbs ground beef
1 can refried beans
8 ounce tomato sauce
1 pkg taco seasoning or homemade taco seasoning
1 ½ cups shredded cheese
18-20 hard taco shells
lettuce, salsa, sour cream, etc for serving.

Brown ground beef. Drain off any fat and add refried beans, tomato sauce, and seasoning.
Spoon mixture into taco shells.
Place filled shells into a 9×13 pan, standing up. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes or until heated through.
Enjoy!

Note: For those of you with a smaller family you may want to half this recipe. You could also easily stretch this for a larger group and get a few more tacos out of it by adding extra beans.

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Crock Pot Shredded Beef Chili

Lynn — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:39:53 +0000

Today for Soup Day we are talking chili, which is not really soup, but it is soupish and definitely much more of a manly meal than many soups are.

My husband does not mind an occasional bowl of soup, in fact he loves soup, but he loves a hearty soup. He prefers something that really fills you up and sticks with you. So although chili is not officially soup, in our house we think of it as more of a man’s soup. But that does not mean that the girls in the house don’t enjoy it, we love it also.

One of the things I love about chili is that it is very filling and frugal to serve. It is also a great meal to make for a crowd or to make ahead and freeze.

It is a perfect cook once, eat twice type meal because it is so easy to make a large batch and use the leftovers for several days. One of my favorite ways to use leftover chili is on top of baked potatoes. In our house chili topped baked potatoes with cheese are always a hit.

And there are so many different kinds of chili. We love Cattle Drive Chili and Crock Pot Chicken Chili, which are both chili recipes that I have been making for years. For something a little different I often serve Pumpkin Chili, Crock Pot Beer Chili, or Chicken Fajita Chili.

I love to come up with different versions of chili and today I have another great chili recipe for you. It is a version of chili that I came up with last winter and it quickly became a favorite.

Crock Pot Shredded Beef Chili

3 – 4 lb chuck roast, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons oil
1 onion, diced
2 green peppers, diced
4 cloves of garlic
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 cup beef broth
2 – 28ounce cans diced tomatoes
1- 15 once can kidney beans
1- 15 once can black beans
¼ cup cornmeal (this helps thicken it)
shredded cheese (for serving)
tortilla chips (for serving.

Season roast with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in a pan and brown beef in pan. You are just browning here, not cooking it. You will have to do this in several batches.
Place meat and remaining ingredients (except cheese and chips) into a crock pot. Stir well.
Cook on low for about 7 hrs. Shred meat a little before serving.
Serve with cheese and chips.
Enjoy!

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Breakfast Fried Rice

Lynn — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:20:41 +0000

Fried rice may not be what you think of when you think of breakfast, but it is a very good and inexpensive meal. It is simple to fix and and so easy to make a large batch up for the week.

Breakfast fried rice is mainly rice and eggs, with a little big of meat added in. It is filling, healthy, and very good.

This freezes great and can easily be defrosted and reheated as you need it. It also makes a really good lunch or breakfast for dinner.

This breakfast fried rice is basically the same as my pork fried rice, but I add in a little extra egg and I use a kielbasa or breakfast type sausage as the meat. I also leave out the veggies in this, but like any fried rice, you can really make this your own and add whatever you like to it.

Pork Fried Rice

2 tablespoons oil
4 eggs
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 lb Kielbasa style sausage cut into chunks (I use the precooked kind)
2 cups cooked rice (cold leftover rice is best)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Mix together 2 tablespoons of soy sauce with the eggs and beat well.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet or wok.
Add egg to pan. Swirl and scrape egg to cook, basically you are scrambling this, but do not over cook it. You want this to error on the side of not done because you will be adding this back to the pan later on.
Remove egg from pan and set aside.
Return pan to stove.
Add a little more oil (I use bacon grease if I have it.)
Rice and cook for 4-5 minutes or until rice is starting to lightly brown.
Add the egg back to the pan along with the meat, remaining soy sauce and the rice vinegar. Let cook for 2-3 minutes more.
Add more soy sauce to taste.
Serve and enjoy!

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Cheesy Corn Dog Muffins

Lynn — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:03:10 +0000

My family loves these Cheesy Corn Dog Muffins. They are perfect to keep on hand in the freezer for a quick lunch or dinner.

I will say though that these are not like the deep fried, on the stick, type of corn dog. If that is what you are wanting, these probably are not for you. Just being honest here.

These are moist. These are not fried. And although they are not healthy, they are healthier than most corn dogs. And if you use a gluten free hot dog these are gluten free.

My kids loves these and I hope yours do too!

Cheesy Corn Dog Muffins

1 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1- 14 ¾ ounce cream style corn
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5 hot dogs cut into bite size pieces ( I like them cut small like this instead of in large pieces.)

Combine the first 7 ingredients. Stir just until combined well.
Stir in cheese and hot dogs.
Grease muffin pan.
Spoon into muffin tins. This makes about 15 muffins.
Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
I actually like the texture on these a little better after they have cooled down a little, but you can serve them either way.
These also freeze well.

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Creamy Cold Tomato Soup

Lynn — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:56:34 +0000

I know I recently confessed my dislike of soup during the summertime, but this Creamy Cold Tomato Soup is different. It is cold soup and cold soup is not really soup to me.

I know, I know, I am strange, but stay with me on this soup because it is really good.

Ironing is one of my least favorite jobs to do. I would rather clean a bathroom than iron and my ironing pile can vouch for this. So, I usually end up watching a cooking show while ironing. This is how I convince myself that I will not mind tackling the pile that is so often facing me.

So, I was recently watching an episode of Mad Hungry and saw a recipe for a cold buttermilk tomato soup. I instantly knew this was a soup my husband and girls would enjoy. They all love tomatoes and buttermilk, so I knew the combination would be one that they would enjoy.

In fact, my husband has been known to drink buttermilk by the glass full, but that is a subject for a different post.

I knew this was a soup that I needed to try. I recently had grilled tomato, bacon, and cheese sandwiches on the menu plan and I knew this soup would go well with them.

And it did. My family loved this soup. Now, I am not usually a fan of the taste of buttermilk. I love it for baking and for pancakes, but I do not like an overpowering buttermilk taste and I was a little worried that this would have that, but it didn’t. The buttermilk complimented the tomato nicely.

I love the fact that this soup is so simple. It only contains a few ingredients and it goes together in no time. I will definitely be keeping this soup on hand in the refrigerator for quick and easy summertime lunches and dinners.

This soup is the same basic soup that I saw on tv, although you know me, I did tweak it a little.

Creamy Cold Tomato Soup

4 cups tomato juice
2 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
couple of dashes of Tabasco ( my husband added more to his as he ate it)
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
ground pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients together and refrigerate several hours before serving.
I like to keep this in a large jar in the fridge and take out as needed for lunches and dinner.

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Easy Cheese Taquitos

Lynn — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:31:55 +0000

We love taquitos in our house, especially the cheese ones.

I will admit that I have been known to buy those boxes of taquitos in the freezer section of the grocery store. I know they are expensive and not very healthy, but they make a quick and easy, kid friendly meal.

Over the years I have tried to make them at home, but I have had mixed results and have had trouble coming up with a recipe that my family liked.

A few months ago though I came across a recipe on the Martha Stewart site for flautas. The recipe contained a technique that I had not tried before. It had you baking the tortillas and cheese first, than adding the rest of the toppings. You then rolled them and put them back in the oven to crisp up.

I instantly knew that this technique would work well for homemade taquitos.

I do need to research the difference between taquitos and fluatas, because they sound very familiar, if not the same thing. What I am calling a taquito may not be an actual taquito, but we will leave that for another post. For now let’s call these taquitos.

I gave this technique a try with just cheese and it worked perfectly. They rolled up great with out splitting and were much healthier than the fried taquitos that I have tried in the past.

Today’s recipe is just a basic cheese taquito, but I have been playing around with this recipe a lot lately and have several other versions that I will share soon.

If you are looking for a quick and easy, but also inexpensive lunch or dinner to try, these taquitos are perfect.

Easy Cheese Taquitos

12 corn tortillas ( I used white corn)
1 cup shredded cheese ( We like to use cheddar or colby jack)
salsa for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. (Let the oven preheat all the way. A high heat is what makes these work so well.)
Lay tortillas on two baking sheets in a single layer. Depending on your size of baking sheet, you may need to use 3 sheets.
Sprinkle cheese on tortillas.

Bake for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is starting to melt and tortillas are softened.
Remove from oven and carefully roll each tortilla up. These are hot so be careful.
Return to oven and bake for 6-8 minutes or until crisp.
Serve with salsa.

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Corn and Ham Frittata

Lynn — Mon, 23 May 2011 16:07:33 +0000

Frittatas are a one of my favorite quick and easy go to meals. You can vary them so much. From pasta frittata, to potato frittata, to the corn and ham frittata I have for you to today, they are all a perfect meal for any night of the week.

It is so easy to add meat, take away the meat, or change the meat in almost any frittata recipe. If you don’t have ham you can use sausage or bacon.

If you are cutting back on meat than add more vegetables. It is all about experimenting and having fun with basic frittata recipes. And if you have never tried making a frittata you really should give it a try.

Corn and Ham Frittata

8 eggs
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup frozen corn
1- 4.5 ounce can green chilies
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ cup diced ham
1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a bowl beat the eggs. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
Place into a greased oven safe pan or a greased pie pan.
Bake for 25- 30 minutes or until center is done.

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Broccoli Beef Stir Fry

Lynn — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:44:04 +0000

I love Chinese food and other Asian type dishes. Stir fry, fried rice, beef and broccoli, lettuce wraps, and many other things that are so popular in Chinese food restaurants in American are some of my favorite foods to eat.

However, a child with a tree nut, peanut, and sesame allergy has severely limited our ability to eat out at all, let alone a place that serves Chinese food.

So, my solution has been to recreate some of our favorite foods at home. Now, I know they are not quite the same, but I make a pretty good fried rice and I recently made one of the best broccoli beef dishes that I have ever made at home.

When I posted on Facebook recently about eating homemade Chinese food and how much we enjoyed it, several of you asked for the recipe. So, today I finally have the broccoli beef recipe for you. And it is really good.

It really is possible to recreate your favorite meals at home. It takes some time and some trial and error, but it can be done. And it is a lot cheaper to make your favorite meals at home.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

6 tablespoons soy sauce ( I used a gluten free soy sauce)
6 tablespoons of apple juice
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
3 cloves garlic
1 ¼ lb flank steak or other similar cut of steak, sliced into thin strips 2-3 inches long ( I used sirloin because it is what I had.)
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 head of broccoli, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
salt
rice noodles or rice for serving ( We like to use rice noodles for something a little different. You can find them in the Asian section at the grocery store.)

In a shallow bowl or pyrex dish combine the first five ingredients.
Add sliced beef and let sit for about 15 minutes. Turning once to coat meat.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan. Add meat in two batches, reserving marinade. Cook until lightly browned and almost done.
Add ½ cup water to the pan to scraping up browned bits. Whisk cornstarch into the reserved marinade and add to pan.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until slightly thickened.
In a separate pan heat remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Add broccoli and cook until bright green, but still crisp. This takes 3-4 minutes.
Add cooked broccoli to meat and sauce.
Cook rice or rice noodles according to package directions.
Serve beef and broccoli over cooked rice or rice noodles.
Enjoy!

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