3-Family Fast Meal

3- Family Fast Meal

We needed dinner for three families and fast last night. My menu plan got all changed around when meat prices were even higher than the last time we shopped!

I have been planning out each night’s meal in the mornings and I much prefer having a printed plan. Going with the flow of things is also called for so we’ve been doing that around here!

Anyway, last night was loved by all three families so I thought I’d share. It isn’t often I set about my kitchen without a recipe close by to follow or use as a starting point!

I divided approximately 3 pounds of lean ground beef in two cast iron skillets and let them brown while I put on two pots of water. While the meat was browning and the water boiling (with a clove of garlic and sprinkle of Kosher salt in each pot) … some garlic was chopped and previously grated parmesan cheese came out of the fridge.

I :

· Kept breaking the meat up until it was done and added chopped garlic a few minutes before that
· Added the pasta to boiling water pots for about 8 minutes and drained it
· Added a jar of Paul Newman’s Marinara sauce to each skillet of browned beef and heated thoroughly
· Added noodles to meat mixtures and
· Topped with grated parmesan

The only seasonings I add was salt and ground pepper!
So good and EASY!

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd’s Pie (Making 2 at one time)

1 ½ lbs. ground beef, browned (I browned 3 lbs. together and then measured it evenly into the two pie pans)
15 – oz. can tomato sauce per pie
2 cups frozen peas per pie
6 serving batch of dried potato flakes per pie (made according to box directions and then added more potato flakes, more butter, and more milk until they looked just like homemade)
Butter
Paprika

Combine each pie’s worth of ground beef with a can of tomato sauce and pour each in the bottom of two pie pans.
Sprinkle frozen peas over the meat mixtures and cover with mashed potatoes. Press pats of butter into the top of the potatoes and sprinkle generously with paprika. Slide in the oven and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

These two generous pies fed three families and there wasn’t a bite left! Some of the kids were coming back for second and third servings!

Based on this lovely recipe from Gooseberry Patch’s “Recipes for Comfort”:

Shepherd’s Pie (one pan worth)

1 ½ lbs. ground beef, browned
15 oz. can tomato sauce
15 ¼ oz. can peas
4 c. potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed
2 T. butter, sliced
1 T. paprika

Combine ground beef with tomato sauce. Place in a 2-quart casserole dish. Layer on peas, then top with potatoes. Dot with butter and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 30 to 45 minutes or until heated through. Makes 4 servings.

Tuesday Night Dinner

[I looked up a recipe I could use left over mashed potatoes and gravy, green peas, and carrots. This one did it! Most of what went in this was taken from a previous meal and the carrots and cream cheese in the cake needed to be used from the fridge, too! ]

Shepherd’s Pie

½ recipe for Mashed Potatoes, p. 412 (I just used left over mashed potatoes from a previous night’s dinner and added some I made from instant potatoes)
2 cups cut-up, cooked roast beef, lamb, veal, or pork (I used a blend of cooked ground turkey meat and lean ground beef)
1 T. flour
2 T. fat or salad oil
Leftover gravy
6 small onions, cooked, drained (I sautéed three medium onions)
1 cup cooked, quartered carrots (I used sliced, steamed carrots)
1 cup of cooked or canned peas, drained
1 egg, beaten

Grease 1 ½ quart casserole. Prepare mashed potatoes. Start heating oven to 425 degrees F.
In bowl, lightly roll meat in flour until coated. In hot fat, in skillet, brown meat lightly on all sides. Add 2 ½ cups leftover gravy (or as much gravy as you have on hand, adding enough hot water to make 2 ½ cups in all; season to taste; thicken if necessary). Add onions, carrots, peas. Heat; then pour into casserole.

Fold egg into potatoes; arrange in ring on top of meat. Bake until gravy bubbles and potato rings I slight golden brown ---- about 10 to 15 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Pg. 255 from: The Good Housekeeping Cookbook

First recipe I made from this book since Mom gave it to me yesterday. It was her first (and only for awhile) cookbook. She used recipes from it to make pies and sell them to a local restaurant.

14-Carat Cake

This flavorful cake keeps 2 to 3 weeks in refrigerator if covered

2 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. sugar
1 ½ c. salad oil
4 eggs
2 c. finely grated raw carrots
1 (8 ½ oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
½ c. chopped nuts
1 (3 ½ oz.) can flaked coconut (optional)
Cream Cheese frosting

· Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add sugar, salad oil and eggs; mix well. Add carrots, pineapple, nuts and coconut; blend thoroughly.
· Pour into three 9” round layer cake pans that have been greased and floured.
· Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven, cool a few minutes in pans. Turn out on racks and cool thoroughly. Fill layers and frost top and sides of cake with cream cheese frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: Combine ½ c. butter or margarine, 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese and 1 tsp. vanilla; cream well. Gradually add 1 lb. confectioners sugar (sifted if too lumpy), beating well. If mixture is too thick to spread, add a small amount of milk.

Pg. 380 of: Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook