Beefy Potato Soup

This is my favorite soup and comfort food.  I can even eat it cold.  It is easy and great leftover.  Now I know the original recipe came from a newspaper or magazine from a long time ago.  I don't know exactly because it was just a clipping in my grandmother's recipe stash.  It seems like a strange recipe when you read it but give it a try.  Really!

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef
4 cups cubed, peeled potatoes (I always use a little more potato)
1 small onion, minced (I've also used dried minced onion)
3 cups tomato sauce (no cans for corn-free)
4 cups water
2 tsp. salt
1½ tsp. pepper

(Note:  The original recipe also included ½-1 tsp. hot pepper sauce.  We don't like hot stuff so we leave it out.)

Directions:
In a large soup/stew pot or dutch oven brown the ground beef with the minced onion.  Drain if needed.  Add the tomato sauce and water to the beef and onion and mix together.  Add salt and pepper.  Bring to boil then turn down to a simmer.  Simmer for 1 hour, stirring regularly, or until potatoes are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.

And again, I forgot to take a picture.  I made this while I was sick so I didn't have the blog on my mind at the time.  I will be making it again at some point during the winter.

Turkey or Beef and Asparagus Meatballs

Update Note:  We still love this recipe but I have had to make a few changes.  We have constantly kept learning about the corn issues and our daughter has still had tummy troubles off and on that we have had to work with and figure out.  We no longer do dairy since we did this recipe so those ingredients are now excluded for us.  Also, the brand of ground turkey we can get here includes "natural flavors" in the ingredients.  This often means some type of corn source.  So we no longer use that either and I have not found a source of clean turkey yet.  We have found a source for good, local, grass-fed beef though.  So we now use that instead.  It is VERY good.  I can't believe now, that we ever ate that beef from the grocery store.  This stuff tastes and cooks so much better!

These are very easy to make and very easy to sneak in some extra veggies.  The original recipe only had asparagus in the meatballs and garlic in the sauce.  Well I added spinach to the meatballs and sauce and onions to the sauce.  I will include my additions in this recipe.  You modify to your family's tastes.  This was a hit with the whole family.

Ingredients for meatballs:
1 lb. ground white turkey or beef
3 asparagus spears sliced thin
1 handful frozen, cooked spinach, chopped
1 egg
½ tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. dry oregano
½ cup Italian bread crumbs (Try my recipe HERE)/(crumbled cereal or crackers can be used as well)
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese (optional if dairy free is needed)
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil


Directions for meatballs:
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine ground turkey, asparagus, spinach, egg, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, bread crumbs, and parmesan in a bowl.  I used my hands to mix.  If it is too crumbly you can add one more egg.  Form into preferred sized meatballs.  I also made a few small flat patties similar to little sausage patties. This made it easier for the toddler to eat.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Add each meatball/patty to the hot pan and cook until just getting browned on each side.  Put meatballs in a baking dish or on a baking pan and bake for twenty minutes.  I cut a meatball in half to make sure it was finished before taking them out of the oven.



Ingredients for sauce:
1 Tbsp. onion powder/dried minced onion or 1 medium onion, minced
1 handful frozen, cooked spinach, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 cups crushed tomatoes (No cans for corn-free. The original recipe called for 16 oz. but we liked it better with a little more.)
2 oz. softened cream cheese (optional for dairy free; or maybe try coconut milk or coconut yogurt? I haven't tried yet)
salt and pepper to taste


First, start boiling preferred pasta noodles.  Saute onion and garlic in the same pan the meatballs were started.  Add in the spinach.  When the spinach is soft and warm, add in the crushed tomatoes, cream cheese and salt and pepper.  Stir until the cream cheese is melted and incorporated into the tomato sauce.  Now serve meatballs and sauce over pasta.


If you don't want noodles, you could easily just serve the meatballs alone with some more veggies or a gluten free option such as rice or quinoa.

Note:  This recipe was modified from another recipe which you can find HERE.

Mac & Beef

Here is a nice easy comfort meal which can be made in double so half can be frozen.  This is so good and I ate the leftovers for a few days.  If you want to make smaller batches for just one meal without leftovers, you could quarter this recipe and make 4 batches.  This was my first batch but I am going to play with it next time... add veggies, different noodles, different meats and cheeses...  The possibilities are endless!

Ingredients:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
salt, pepper, oregano, any herbs and seasonings you would like
1 bag of macaroni noodles
3 jars favorite pasta sauce or homemade pasta sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Note:  Cheese is not corn-free.  I'm working an edit to this recipe.  Make sure to season the beef mixture a little strong or it will be bland once the noodles are added.

Directions:
Cook the onions and garlic in the olive oil until clear in color.  Add the ground beef and brown.  Meanwhile, boil the noodles in salted water.  Cook the noodles until they are almost done but not quite as they will cook more in the oven.  Mix, beef, noodles and two jars of pasta sauce together.  Split into 2 batches.  Prepare one for freezing and pour the other into a 9x13 baking dish.  Top each with half of the last jar of pasta sauce.  Bake at 400° until noodles are done.  Top the one for baking with half of both shredded cheeses and put back in the oven until all of the cheese is melted.  Label the freezer batch with directions to add the other half of cheese when it is cooked.  Serve and enjoy!

Lasagna Roll Ups

This is another recipe from Pinterest.  The original blog is HERE.  I changed several things around to make it work for me though.  The original recipe (I believe) was more complicated than it needed to be.  I am all for short cuts when available since I cannot use convenience foods.  And again, in this recipe I used garlic and onion powders instead of the real thing.  I use the real thing sometimes but I save a lot of time when I use powders and I often don't have enough fresh on hand.  I also hate cutting fresh onions.  I rarely buy onions unless J will be there to cut it up for me.  I do use fresh garlic regularly since it is easier to chop up.

The lasagna roll ups are easy and versatile.  You could easily add chopped spinach to the cheese or omit the beef and make it a veggie lasagna.  And the rolls make it easy to portion and store leftovers.  My little picky family liked this meal.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb. lean ground beef (you could also use ground turkey here but I have yet to find a corn-free ground turkey)
2 small onions or powder equivalent
3½ cups crushed tomatoes (No cans for corn-free)
4 cloves garlic or powder equivalent
1 Tbsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil if you use fresh garlic/onions
1 cup water

1(15 oz.) container ricotta cheese
grated parmesan and/or Romano (I mix the two or buy the container that already contains both)
mozzarella cheese, shredded

NOTE:  The cheeses are not corn-free.  At least not that I have found yet.  Cheese cultures can be made from corn ingredients.  I am working on a new recipe here as well.

Directions:
Boil lasagna noodles in salted water until desired texture.  (Most recipes say to cook pasta to al dente but I like it more tender than that.)  While noodles boil, cook onion and garlic in olive oil. (Skip this step if using powder.)  Brown ground beef with 1 cup water.  Water helps break the beef down to a finely ground texture.  You could also grind the beef further in a food processor or blender.  Add powder now if that is what you use.  Stir basil and oregano into beef mix.  It should start smelling AMAZING now.  This is when I knew this was going to be a good meal.  Stir in crushed tomatoes and simmer.  Add salt and pepper now to taste.  (Always taste your sauce!) I added more onion and garlic here in mine so feel free to add to your preferred flavor.  Turn heat off of sauce.  Strain noodles and wait until cool enough to touch.  Lay noodles flat on some wax paper.  Your noodles may dry out a bit in the time it takes to get the rolls prepared.  Don't worry, they soften back up in the moisture of the sauce.  Preheat oven to 375°F.  Spread a heaping spoonful of ricotta onto each noodle.  Sprinkle parmesan and/or Romano on top of ricotta.  Spread sauce over cheese.  Use olive oil to grease a 9x13 baking pan. Spread a VERY thin layer of sauce across the bottom of the pan.  Roll up noodles.  I found it easier to roll from the top toward me.  Put rolls in baking pan.  Spread a good layer of sauce over the top so that the noodles won't dry out.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Take the pan out of the oven and sprinkle parmesan and/or Romano over the top.  Spread mozzarella over that.  Bake for 10-15 more minutes until cheese is melted and starting to brown.

I had pictures of this but I think my toddler erased them off of my phone.  She has figured out how to work the phone by herself and if I am not watching very close, she will delete pictures.  I will add pictures next time I make it.

UPDATE:  I found some of the pictures!  They were deleted from one place but I found them in another.  Good thing I back most of my stuff up!