Like many households with kids, we eat a fair amount of pasta. Even though it’s not always imaginative, it’s easy to get spaghetti on the table after a long day at work.

Baked spaghetti (sometimes called “spaghetti pie”) is a change of pace. It’s easy to make a big pan to last a couple of days. It’s been particularly handy to have around this week as we rush around before exams and the holidays:

Baked Spaghetti

1 (16 ounce) package spaghetti
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 (26 ounce) jars of spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups small curd cottage cheese (or ricotta, I sometimes mix both)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook beef and onion over medium heat until the meat is done; drain.

Make sure Santa Claus approves:

Stir in the spaghetti sauce and seasoned salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, Parmesan cheese and butter. Drain spaghetti; add to egg mixture and toss to coat.

Place half of the spaghetti in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Top with half of the cottage or ricotta cheese, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Ignore the fact that someone came along and cranked up the oven too high for some reason and the top got a little too dark, but it was still tasty!

Ground beef is on the dinner rotation here, mainly because I’m raising carnivores. However, it’s also because it’s kind of my default mode if I haven’t really planned anything for dinner and I’ve just walked in from work where these kids are expecting dinner again (even though they just had dinner last night…sheesh).

Please note, I don’t serve it every night or anything, but if you’re me, there’s only so many things in your ground beef repertoire, and it can get a little boring.

It may be a southern thing, but hamburger steak is a variation on the hamburger and some form of tomato sauce theme. Now, I know it’s not really steak, but ground beef and gravy, it’s just something a little different, and you know it beats turkey leftovers right now.

My mother-in-law makes it, and it’s really good. I can’t quite figure out how she does it, but I’ve tried, using a conglomeration of various recipes from around the Internet.

I made it this way the other night:

Hamburger Steak

1 pound lean ground beef
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon (or more, if you love it like I do) Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion (I use the frozen chopped onions, I wish I had invented that.)
2 tablespoons flour
1 can of french onion soup (I didn’t have any plain beef broth, but this was good.)
1 tablespoon red cooking wine

Directions:

- In a large bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients, divide into 6-8 patties
- Get an assistant (A hamburger helper? Sorry…) and fry the patties and onions until they are done:

- Drain and remove from skillet
- Gradually add the flour until and mix with drippings already in the skillet
- Add the beef broth (or, french onion soup in my case), wine and seasoned salt.
- Simmer and stir for about 5 minutes, until the gravy thickens.
- Add the patties back to the gravy, cover, and simmer for another 15 minutes.

They turned out quite well, but I somehow forgot to take a picture of the finished product, so you’ll have to use your imagination, but I think it’s a keeper!

Do you have any new or different ideas for ground beef recipes? Lay ‘em on me.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner for those of us here in the United States, and that usually means a whole lot of cooking. But, sometimes it means just bringing something to a large family gathering and choosing just the right dish for the occasion.

Or, if you’re like me, you are expected to bring something to a large family gathering where various matriarchs try to outdo each other with their Thanksgiving specialties. My assignment is usually, “Oh, anything”, so I bring some sort of appetizer since there’s always enough main course food to feed a city or three.

Sometimes, I bring pumpkin dip because I love it so, and because everything else you could imagine is already taken.

Pumpkin Dip

2 c. powdered sugar, sifted (sifted is import since this dip can get a little lumpy, sometimes I use a little less as this dip is pretty sweet)
2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
15 oz. pumpkin (I have made with pumpkin pie filling, too)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger

Cream together sugar and cream cheese:

Add remaining ingredients. Blend well.

Store in refrigerator in airtight container.

This isn’t something you can eat a lot of, and the recipe makes a lot, so if you have a small gathering, you might want to cut the recipe in half.

You can serve it with graham crackers, vanilla wafers, apples or whatever sounds good to you, but my favorite way to serve it is with ginger snaps. I use the fancy thin ones you can find in the deli area or with the other fancy cookies because I am all fancy like that:

Even though it’s sweet, pumpkin dip makes an interesting appetizer and it’s often the topic of conversation because it’s not usual potluck fare.

OK, some people are scared of it because it sounds “weird”. That does not compute with me, they should just eat it, it’s great!

What are your cooking responsibilities over the holidays? Do you have an unusual dish you make?

Tell us!

We try not to keep a lot of candy and chocolate in the house for several reasons, mostly because it’s expensive, and certain teenage boys are somewhat unclear on the concept of enjoying a single serving of most things.

Oh yeah, we try to be healthy-ish, too. I forgot about that part.

But, let’s face it. The problem with not keeping chocolate in the house is that there’s no chocolate in the house. It’s usually not a huge issue, but every now and then there may be a chocolate emergency and it may or may not be on my part.

Microwave cake in a coffee mug seems to be all the rage lately, so I thought I’d see if I could produce cake quickly and easily from things I already had around the kitchen to address a potential chocolate emergency.

As I examined the recipes out there, I noticed a couple of things: people are really passionate about their coffee mug cakes, and some coffee mug cakes turn out better than others.

I ruled out recipes with complicated stuff like “baking powder” because I don’t use it often, I either don’t have it, or if I do have it, it’s always 3,000 years old. I also ruled out recipes that called for a part of an egg, because, well, I’m not measuring egg and I wouldn’t be sure what to do with the rest, but that might just be me.

I finally landed on this recipe which is a conglomeration of a few I found out there.

Coffee Mug Chocolate Cake

1/4 cup flour

5 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

dash of vanilla extract and salt

Directions: mix all that together in a large coffee mug:

Microwave it for about 2 1/2 minutes, or until it puffs up.

Your microwave time may vary. I have no idea what kind of microwave I have. It’s square and white if that helps.

I was a little skeptical, but it turned out quite well:

Emergency averted quickly and easily using common household items.

I love fall.

I love the weather, the football and everything that goes with it. But, you know what else I love about fall? It heralds the beginning of “appetizer season”.

I consider appetizer season to begin on Halloween and end on Super Bowl Sunday. During this time, it’s acceptable to count things on toothpicks as dinner, and dip is a food group.

Sausage dip is a great hearty appetizer, and it couldn’t be easier to make with only 3 ingredients. You can keep the ingredients on hand for a reasonable amount of time in case you need a last-minute something to take to a party.

Sausage Dip:

1 lb. pork sausage
2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese (I actually use 1 1/2 packages)
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes

Brown sausage and drain. Add cream cheese:

Now, add the Rotel:

Serve with your favorite chips, but I think Fritos Scoops are the best:

Serve hot, or keep warm in a crockpot. Granted, it’s not much to look at and it will never be mistaken for health food or haute cuisine, but you won’t be sorry if you give it a try!

Warning: it’s very filling. Trust me. I may or may not have had it for dinner tonight.

I’ve been feeling fall-ish and craving muffins lately, but I wasn’t sure what sounded good. I’ve tried blueberry, apple cinnamon and have unenthusiastically gathered recipes for a couple of other kinds. I just wasn’t “feeling it” until I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Muffins from my friend, Miss Zoot.

It really couldn’t be easier, all you need is two ingredients: a 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree and a box of spice cake mix:

Just mix those two things together (you don’t have to make the cake mix, first):

Bake for about 20 minutes at 350, and you get these:

Seriously, that’s it! Once I recover from overdosing on them, I’m sure they’ll be good to keep around the house for cool fall mornings.

Helpful hints (this is what I did, anyway):

1. Make sure you have the oven actually up to 350 (trust me), otherwise, you will have pumpkin blobs and be very puzzled.

2. Fill the muffin cups pretty full, which goes against traditional muffin making wisdom.

3. The batter will be sticky and a little hard to work with, but it’s worth it!

4. It makes 12-16 muffins depending on how big you make them.

5. I hear they’re even better the next day, but I may not be able to find out since they’re going fast.

I love hearing about new, quick food ideas. Do you have any fun, absurdly simple recipes to share? Will you make it for me?

I was away most for of the weekend, and when I returned, I had to put the house back in order from a busy weekend here.

While cleaning out the refrigerator, I discovered the industrial sized can of baked beans my daughter got for her birthday (long story). Thanks to our friend Tropical Storm Lee, it was cold and rainy yesterday, so we didn’t have a cookout or anything to attend where I could get rid of them.

When dinnertime rolled around, I thought I’d at least try to make something sort of outdoorsy to make up for the fact we didn’t observe Labor Day in any of the all-American traditions. I had little time, lots of beans, some ground beef and no real dinner plan, so we had Cowboy Baked Beans.

There are lots of recipes out there for Cowboy Baked Beans, and I had some, but not all, of the recommended ingredients. Did that stop me? No, it did not.

Ingredients (or, what I did, anyway):

* Approximately 1 pound of ground beef
* chopped onion
* 1/4 c. ketchup
* 1/4 c. barbecue sauce
* 1/4 c. brown sugar
* yellow mustard (I didn’t measure, just used a big squirt)
* big can of baked beans (or whatever quantity you’d like)
* chopped bell pepper (if my family liked it, that is. I like it, but they don’t)
* misc. things from the spice cabinet and fridge including Worcestershire sauce, rib seasoning, Lawrys Seasoned Salt
* bacon crumbles

Preheat the oven to 350.
Cook ground beef until browned, add onion and cook, drain excess grease.
Mix the remaining ingredients in a casserole dish
Add the ground beef and onions and mix well
Top with bacon crumbles
Cook for 40-50 minutes

While not my most scientific recipe, it used the ingredients I had on hand, was easy to prepare, and it was a hit! That’s a winner in my book.

What recipe have you improvised lately? How’d it turn out?

I was in the store the other day and a recipe I hadn’t thought of in ages popped into my head, so I collected the ingredients (OK, OK, I was craving something sweet) for dump cake.

While it’s not particularly fancy, and the name may leave a little to be desired, I really like it. The ingredients are something you can keep on hand (and, y’all all know how I like to have things on hand to create something for the imaginary, spontaneous party I’m going to be invited to), and it might be good for something a little different for a Labor Day cookout, or party.

Ingredients:

1 can (16 oz.) crushed pineapple
1 can (20 oz.) cherry pie filling
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1/2 c. butter

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
Spread the pineapple and juice evenly on the bottom of the pan
Pour the cherry pie filling over the pineapple (spread evenly).

Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the fruit.
Slice butter and place slices over cake mix layer
Sprinkle nuts on top if desired.

Do not mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

And, the finished product:

It’s sort of a cross between a cake and a cobbler, and is good served with whipped topping.

It’s really easy, and is something you can do with the kids. Also, I think you can make it with chocolate cake mix and double the cherries, but I’ve never done that. Can anyone confirm that?

What are you taking to the Labor Day cookout?

My kids have been in school for a week, and we’re still working on getting our routine down.

Fall is an especially busy time around here since two of my kids have sports practices and game multiple evenings a week, and getting home at various wreaks havoc with our already tenuous dinner schedule.

More times than I care to admit, I’ve stood in the kitchen at 6pm wondering what to make for dinner because planning ahead doesn’t always work out this time of year (though things usually get better in the late fall) and no one else has had time to start dinner, either.

I call it “pulling dinner out of thin air” (OK, I may reference pulling it out of somewhere else on occasion, but only when I’m a little worked up) and, though it doesn’t require a lot of imagination, I nearly always turn to the old standby boneless chicken breasts.

I have no idea if it’s standard cooking procedure or not, but in a dinner “emergency”, I poach boneless, skinless breasts until they’re just shy of cooked, and then transfer them to a casserole dish and top them with something before they go in the oven.

One of the easiest ways, and a quick favorite around here is to top them with barbecue sauce and some cheese and scallions and bake them and finish them under the broiler for a better “barbecue-ish” taste.

The chicken with some broccoli florets on the side, and a bagged salad makes a pretty good dinner in a pinch. It’s even easier with already cooked, frozen chicken breasts such as Grilled N’ Ready from Tyson (not an ad, just a product I like that makes things easier) and I try to keep them stocked in the freezer for moments such as these.

What is your “thin air” dinner?

What do you fix when people are waiting, sandwiches won’t cut it, and you’re out of frozen pizza?

Please tell me, I would really like some fresh ideas!

If you have school-aged kids, chances are you’ve heard the words, “Oh, yeah. Mom? I gotta take stuff to school for the bake sale tomorrow.” Chances are also you’ve heard this words in the middle of the night on a weeknight, or at least right before bed.

Assuming that the words “bake sale” imply some sort of use of the oven, these are the brownies I go to when I’m ambushed with that type of declaration.

1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup of vegetable oil
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.

Mix cake mix, eggs and oil by hand (it’s kind of sticky for a mixer, but your results may vary) until blended.

Mix in the chocolate chips

Press into pan (I think cake mixes are smaller in volume these days because the batter barely covers the pan, but it will work) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned. Cool; cut into bars.

I was going to make some for you guys and have you all over to eat them, but when I went to get the things out, we were sadly lacking in cake mix and chocolate chips as someone has obviously broken into my emergency stash (I have teenagers), so that’s why I didn’t say above that I, “always keep the ingredients on hand”.

I guess I could say that I always think I have the ingredients on hand.

Regardless, I call this one “Eggs and Oil without cake mix”:

Do as I say, not as I do, as I’m obviously not finished ordering my disorder.

What is your emergency bake sale recipe? Share it with us!

School is just around the corner, we need to know.