Squeaky’s Blog

This is one my family loves.  It is something that I learned from Pampered Chef so, I copied to share.     

¼ cup onion, chopped

¾ pound lean ground beef

¼ cup ketchup

2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard

9 slices (3/4 ounce each) American cheese, divided (cut in triangles)

2 packages (8 ounces) refrigerated crescent rolls

16 dill pickle slices

3 large plum tomatoes

2 cups lettuce, shredded

Preheat oven to 375.  Chop onion.  In frying pan cook ground beef with onion over medium heat until done and drain.  Add ketchup, mustard and 5 of the cheese slices, cut up; stir until cheese is melted. Remove pan from heat.

Unroll crescent dough; separate into 16 triangles.  Arrange triangles in a circle on 13’ round baking stone with wide ends of triangles in the center and points toward the outside.  (There should be a 5 inch diameter in the center of the baking stone.)  Using medium scoop, scoop meat mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle.  Top each scoop with pickle slice.  Bring points of triangles up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center of ring.  (Filling will not be completely covered.)  Bake 20-25 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Remove from oven.  Cut each of the remaining 4 cheese slices into 4 triangles.  Arrange cheese triangles over top of ring.  Slice tomatoes and arrange tomato slices around inside center or ring.  Slice lettuce into thin strands and place in center of ring.  Serve with additional ketchup and mustard, if desired.

1 box of Mac N Cheese

1 can of Tuna

Make the Mac N Cheese by the directions on the box.  Then add the can of tuna and place in a casserole dish.  Cook for about 30 minutes at 350. 

You can add a can of veggies or fried onions to spice it up. 

My husband’s favorite

1 package of boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 package of Monterey Jack and Colby Jack Cheese (2 cups)

1 can of spaghetti sauce a cheese flavored one (still red sauce)

½ package of manicotti shells (normally 7 shells)

Lemon juice

Lemon pepper seasoning

I take a package of chicken usually 3 breasts boneless and skinless and cut them into chunks, this all depends on if you have a food processor or a hand chopper for the size you cut it up into.  Because in the end you want the chicken to be in tiny pieces almost shredded like.  So once you have the chicken cut you boil it in a pan/skillet with some water, lemon juice and lemon pepper seasoning.  You want to have enough liquid in the pan that the bottom is covered and the chicken can cook and still have a little extra left so a few inches it should barely cover the top of the chicken.  Then you cook the chicken over medium heat until done.  While the chicken is cooking you also want to boil half a package which is one tray of Manicotti shells (the box I use has seven shells on one tray and has two trays to a box.)  Once the chicken is cooked you then want to chop it up finely weather it’s with the processor or a hand chopper you need it fine and to let it cool a little.  Then in a large bowl you add the chicken and a 2 cup package of Monterey and Colby Jack cheese and mix it well.  Once the shells are boiled you drain them and I usually leave them in the strainer under a small stream of cold water to keep them soft and to avoid sticking together, then you carefully stuff the shells with the chicken and cheese mixture and line them in a baking dish.  After all the shells are stuffed and in the dish you then cover them in spaghetti sauce I use a four cheese sauce and then bake them for about 20 minutes at 350 until the cheese is melted.   

I serve this with bread (Pillsbury French loaf) and it lasts for 2 nights in my house.  Let me know what you think.

2 cups of sugar

½ cup of milk

¼ cup of butter

4 tablespoons cocoa

2 ½ cups of oatmeal

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ cup of peanut butter

Mix sugar, milk, butter, cocoa, in pan and heat to a boiling.  Boil for 1 ½ minutes, start counting when rumbling boil begins.  Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients.  You can then drop on wax paper by the spoonfuls or spread it out and make a bar, I also use foil when I don’t have wax paper and I think it sticks less to the cookies.

When I was dating my husband he told me that his family all cooked from scratch.  Like a fool I believed him and learned how to cook from scratch.  It has taken a while but I can do it and almost everything turns out good.  The ones that don’t, I never make again.  This has led me to always be on the lookout for new recipes and cookbooks.  When I ask for any ideas for dinner from friends I get a lot of use the helper meals which are great in a pinch.  However I always have to explain that in my house they are not allowed since my husband doesn’t consider that cooking.  People then have a lot of names for him and things to say but I have learned that it is actually cheaper to not use the helper meals and sometimes easier.  I also am glad since it has forced me to be open to more things and we eat a wider variety of food now.  The one bad thing is that I always seem to make a big mess and the meals he loves are the ones that make the worst messes of all.  So anyway if anyone has any ideas for some simple meals and are willing to share let me know.  I will be posting some of my recipes as well to share.