Baked Spaghetti

Baked Spaghetti is, well, awesome. Creamy, cheesy, delicious, and filling, this dish is both easy to prepare and easy to serve. And like any self respecting casserole, it also tastes great as leftovers. Anyway, we’re not dead. Suz started college recently and I’ve just been sidetracked and lazy. :] Sorry for no pictures on this one at time of posting. I am not sure where the pictures actually are so I can’t upload them! Speaking of pictures, we may switch the format to just have one or two pics rather than step-by-step pics because it will allow for more updates.

At a glance…

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 tbl butter or margarine
1 can (28 oz) tomatoes with stems, cut up
1 can (4 oz) mushroom stems and pieces (optional)
1 can (2-1/4 oz) sliced ripe olives, drained
2 tsp dried oregano
1 pound ground beef, browned & drained
12 oz spaghetti, cooked and drained
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, saute onion and green pepper in butter until tender. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, and oregano. Add beef. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Place half of the spaghetti in a greased 13×9x2 in dish. Top with half of veggie mix. Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheddar cheese. Repeat layers. Mix the soup and water until smooth; pour over casserole. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Makes about 12 servings.

Prep time: 60~ minutes
Making casserole mixture: 30~45 minutes
Cooking: 30~ minutes

Nutrition Information (for 1 serving)

Calories	Fat	Sat. Fat	Carbs	Sugars	Protein	Fiber	Sodium
182	10g	3.6g	25.6g	3.3g	13.3g	3g	400mg

Fudge Pie

This is a pie that has been passed down from our grandmother to our mom and now to us. We used to never be able to get it cooked all the way through–it was always too gooey in the middle–until I considered the amount of butter in the ingrediants. The original called for 1/2 cup melted margarine, so we reduced it to a 1/4 cup because the amount of water has increased in margarine these days. However, I use butter because I like it better. The other secret is to mix the ingrediants by hand. Yes, you shouldn’t use a mixer for this! The pie is still a little gooey in the middle, but it sets up well. Be careful if you want the middle done more since you don’t want the rest of the pie to get over done. Since it’s a traditional family recipe, I haven’t tried to make it “healthy.” If you have the time, making your own pie crust is probably one way to cut back on calories.

At a glance…

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c. melted butter, or margarine, cooled
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 pie crust

Melt the butter. Preheat oven to 350°F. Poke your pie crust and use a crust guard or put aluminum foil over the crust so it won’t burn. Combine sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir with a spoon until well mixed. Add flour and cocoa until the mixture is brown and there aren’t any cocoa lumps. Pour into the pie shell and bake for 30 minutes. Serves 8.
Total time: 35-40 minutes
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cooke time: 30 minutes

Nutrition Information (for 1 serving)

Calories	Fat	Sat. Fat	Carbs	Sugars	Protein	Fiber	Sodium
298	14g	7g	41.5g	26g	4g	<1g	171mg

Pictures & Walkthrough

Melt the butter. Preheat the oven to 350°. Here’s all the ingrediants that you’ll need.
Poke your pie crust with a fork so it won’t crack. Use a pie crust guard or put aluminum foil around the crust so it won’t burn.
Combine sugar, eggs, butter, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir with a spoon until well mixed.
Add flour and cocoa until the mixture is brown and there aren’t any cocoa lumps.
Pour into the pie shell and bake for 30 minutes.
I was making this pie for a girl at work because it was her last day, so I didn’t get a picture of a cut piece.

I prefer this pie cooled the next day or several hours later. Some of my family members like it warmed up with icecream on top, but I believe it’s fine without! Either way, enjoy!

~Suzuka

Lisa’s Triple Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake is, quite frankly, the best cake I’ve ever had. The recipe was given to me by a friend of my mother after she made this cake for me on my birthday, some fifteen-odd years ago. I have never decided on a good name for this cake–every time I give it to someone it gets a new name…so I’ll just go with what was told to me.

Edit: July 25 – Realized I had the wrong number for the ounces of pudding in the recipe.
Edit: August 6th – Found out the nutritional value! (You don’t have to look though, really, you don’t)

At a glance…

Cake:
1 Duncan Hines Deluxe Devil Food Cake Mix (be careful with substitutes–they will cook differently)
6 ounce chocolate pudding mix (just the dry mix–the box I use is a 5.7 oz box)
1 1/4 cups of water
1/2 cup of veggie oil
4 eggs
2 cups of chocolate chips

Glaze:
1 cup of chocolate chips
1/2 cup of whipping cream
1 handful of powdered sugar (optional)

Blend those first five ingredients. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour half of the batter into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan. Pour on 1 cup of chocolate chips, pour on the rest of the mix, and pour on another cup of chocolate chips. Lightly swirl with a spoon or spatula. Cook at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

Cool 35 minutes. Remove from pan and cool an additional 35 minutes; start on glaze. Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips with whipping cream in medium saucepan on low-medium heat, stirring slowly. Cool glaze for 5-10 minutes to thicken. Drizzle or spoon onto cake after cake has cooled for about an hour. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top if you want. Serves 16.

Total time: 2 1/2 hours
Prep & Mixing: ~10 minutes
Cooking Time: ~1 hour
Cooling: 35 minutes
Glaze & Additional Cooling: 35 minutes

Nutrition Information (for 1 serving)

Calories	Fat	Sat. Fat	Carbs	Sugars	Protein	Fiber	Sodium
420	21.4g	9.3g	57.5g	39g	<5g	<3g	454mg

I do not recommend substituting a different brand for the Duncan Hines box. I have tried it before and it just doesn’t turn out the same way.
Grease and flower the cake pan. I use a paper towel to grease the pan with and then toss in some flour and spin the pan around to make it stick to the sides. Lightly shake excess flour out of the pan when you’ve covered most of the inside surface.
Mix up the cake mix and other goodies.
Pour half of the batter into the pan. Spread one cup of chocolate chips around on top of the mixture. Spread the remaining cake mix.
Sprinkle one more cup of chocolate chips onto the cake mix. Pictured here is the highly nontechnical spatula technique where the goal is just to put a thin layer of batter over the chocolate chips. This is to make removal from the pan less messy and to make the glaze go on a bit more evenly.
After baking and cooling for 35 minutes, remove the cake from the pan. The easiest way to do this that I know of is to use a plate to dump the cake into and then (since it will be upside down) put it onto the dish you want to store it in or serve it on.
The glaze can be made either with direct heat or by heating water. Either way, heat and stir slowly until the glaze has a consistent look to it.
You can add some powdered sugar as decoration on top if you want. I rarely add any as I prefer the pure chocolate look.
Makes about sixteen good sized servings. Best served at 75 degrees or higher; any cooler and its consistency changes for the worse (due to the cooked chocolate chips). Goes great with a glass of cold milk. Also goes good with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

~Veers

Castleberry Barbecue Baked Beans

This bean casserole—perfect for 4th of July, potlucks, and family dinners with grilled hamburgers—was passed down to us by mother and grandmother. The name Castleberry comes from the brand of canned beef we use, which isn’t available where we live in Texas. Every trip we make to Tennessee we make sure to stock up on Castleberry Beef. If you can’t find the brand, use whatever kind of barbecue chopped beef you’d like. Lots of stores have a barbecue chopped beef available; you just may have to look around in the refrigerated section, too. The recipe says you can also used pulled pork, which we have never tried but probably would be good! There is really no way to make these healthier. I’ve tried. Rinsing off the beans makes them a little less salty and using organic ketchup will cut back on the high fructose corn syrup. Just enjoy this casserole, as the flavors are excellent. If you’re adventurous, leftovers are good for bean sandwiches!

At a glance…

1 large can of pork and beans (32 oz), rinsed and drained
1 10 oz can of Castleberry Beef or Pork (about 2-2½ cups of compacted chopped beef, or a little over half a pound)
3 tbl pickle relish
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. brown sugar (not packed)
1 tbl mustard
1/4-1/2 c. water

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 2 1/12 quart casserole dish. Rinse beans in colander, drain, and put in dish. Add beef, relish, ketchup, sugar, and mustard. Add enough water to thin to desired consistency. Bake for 1 hour. Makes 8 1/2 cup servings.

Total time: 1:10 hours
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

Nutrition Information (for 1 serving)

Calories	Fat	Sat. Fat	Carbs	Sugars	Protein	Fiber	Sodium
221	5.8g	1.7g	36g	22g	11g	5.8g	765mg

Pictures & Walkthrough

The name Castleberry comes from the kind of canned beef we use, which isn’t available where we live in Texas. If you can’t find the brand, use whatever kind of barbecue chopped beef or pulled pork you’d like, about 10 oz (a little over half a pound).
Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a large casserole dish with non-stick spray (I use a 2 ½ quart one). Open beans and place in a colander. Rinse off with water and shake to drain. Pick out that nasty piece of pork fat, too.
Place everything in the casserole dish and stir to combine.
Place in oven and bake for 1 hour. To prevent the top from burning, stir after thirty minutes and watch the dish closely when it’s almost done. Or, after thirty minutes you can stir the beans and then cover for the last thirty minutes. Your choice!

Egg Muffins

I’m usually not brave enough to invent new recipes. I don’t feel that I have a complete grasp of foods and the science of cooking yet. I still consider myself a student, even though I am my own teacher. However, I take pride in these egg muffins I created! I’ve noticed that recipes for egg muffins, or mini-quiches, are becoming popular because they’re considered a good “to-go” food or one that can be frozen and re-heated later. While they are, and can be, that doesn’t mean you should rush to eat these. Please try the recipe as-is first, but then I highly encourage you to put your own twist on these. Just start with the base—an egg—and add whatever else you want to! What I like about these is they’re low in calories and fat, but certainly not in taste! If you’re looking to make the calories even less, they work well with egg whites only or with fake eggs, but they won’t look nearly as pretty or as big.

At a glance…

2 eggs
1 tbl crumbled feta cheese (I usually use reduced fat, but regular works fine, too)
1 tbl frozen corn
1 tbl corn and black bean salsa (I think this really adds to the flavor of the muffins because of the spices in the salsa. I use Ariba’s, but you can use whatever salsa you have on hand)
1 piece cooked turkey bacon, crumbled (I use Butterball brand, because it crumbles easily)
Optional: 1 mushroom, diced

Preheat the oven to 350° and grease muffin tins. Combine all except bacon. Cook bacon until crips and crumble into egg mixture. Pour into muffin tins and bake for 20-24 minutes or until set. Makes 2 servings.

Total time: 30 minutes
Prep time: 5~ minutes
Cooking time: 20-24 minutes

Nutrition Information (for 1 egg muffin)

Calories	Fat	Sat. Fat	Carbs	Sugars	Protein	Fiber	Sodium
105	6.5g	2.5g	2g	0g	7.7g	0.5g	226mg

Pictures & Walkthrough

Preheat oven to 350° and spray muffin tins (one muffin per egg, so two in this case) with cooking spray.
Place eggs into a bowl with cheese, corn, salsa, and muffin, if using. Whisk together. Cook the bacon until crisp enough to crumble (I microwave it for a minute and fifteen seconds) and add to egg mixture. Whisk again.
Pour egg mixture into muffin tins. You should get one muffin per egg you used and the mixture should come to the top of the muffin tin, but this depends on your muffin pan. As you can see, we made a double recipe this morning; two for each of us.
Bake for 20-24 minutes, until egg is not longer “wet.” Use a butter knife to remove the muffins from the pan by sliding it around the edge. If you’re in a hurry like Veers was when we made these and need to rush, microwaving them for a few seconds will complete the cooking.

Who doesn’t love food you can eat with your hands??

~Suzuka

King Ranch Chicken

King Ranch chicken is a favorite casserole of mine. Chicken and corn tortillas together in a cheesy, creamy mix. It goes great with a salad, is easy to prepare, and makes six to eight generous servings.

At a glance…

1/8-1/4 cup butter, oil. or margarine (to saute onions and peppers)
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can (10 oz) RO*TEL tomatoes diced Hot or Mild, drained
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
12 corn tortillas
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 325°F. In large saucepan, cook pepper and onion in melted margarine until tender (about 5 minutes). Add (into saucepan) soups, RO*TEL, and chicken, stirring until well blended. In a 13×9x2in. baking pan, alternate layers of tortillas, mixture, and cheese, repeat for three layers. Bake 40 minutes. Serves 8.

Total time: 2 hours
Cooking chicken ~1 hour
Making casserole mixture ~20 minutes
Cooking ~40 minutes

Nutrition Information (for 1 serving)

Calories	Fat	Sat. Fat	Carbs	Sugars	Protein	Fiber	Sodium
340	16g	7.5g	25g	1.2g	20g	2.7g	783mg

Pictures & Walkthrough

Here’s a shot of what you’ll need, minus the butter.
Start off by chopping up a bell pepper and a medium onion. I used only half a pepper this time as I’m not a huge fan of them.
Saute the onions and pepper in a large saucepan/skillet. A high-walled one is best since you’ll be putting a lot of stuff in there in a few minutes.
After the onion and pepper have simmered for about five minutes, pour in the chicken and RO*TEL and and the two cans of soup. I’m a pansy when it comes to hot foods so we went with the mild version of the RO*TEL, but if you like spicy stuff, try a hotter variety! The goal here is just mixing it all up, so just let it simmer on medium heat while you mix it together. While it’s simmering, take your tortillas and rip them into pieces aproximately 1 square inch in size (larger is fine, or you can leave them whole, but it is much easier to serve with smaller pieces).
Pam up your baking pan and toss in four tortillas. Spread on one third of the mixture.
Spread on a layer of cheese.
Repeat this layer of tortilla, mixture, and cheese two more times for a total of three layers.
Bake at 325 for 40 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.

Enjoy!

~Veers