Mom Hack: One skillet of ground beef=4 meals!

I've long been trying to figure out how to get the most bang from the least amount of effort, so...I was pretty impressed with myself from this week's easy meals and I thought I'd share!

It started with 2 1/4 pounds of ground beef.  I cooked it all at once and divided it up this way:

Tacos (1 pound)

Spaghetti with meat sauce (1/2 pound)

Chili (1/2 pound) 

Cheesy Pasta Casserole (1/4 pound) 

Ingredients for all 4 meals:

2 1/4 pounds ground beef

Cheddar cheese shredded

Mozzerella cheese shredded

1 pack spaghetti noodles

1 pack shell or elbow noodles

Corn tortillas (bulk from Costco)

3 jars of spaghetti sauce (Aldi $1 each)

Taco seasoning

Chili seasoning

Shredded lettuce

Salsa

Uncooked pinto or red beans

Sour cream

Avocado

Sides:

Salad to serve with spaghetti and casserole

French bread for spaghetti and casserole

Cornbread or crackers for chili

Day 1: 

Tacos

1. Brown all the meat and remove 1 1/4 pounds (a bit more than half) of the meat to store in the fridge for later use.

2. Heat corn tortillas in the microwave with a wet paper towel over them to restore the moisture while heating.

3. Add taco seasoning to the meat.

4. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, salsa, sour cream and avocado.

Day 2:

Spaghetti with meat sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions.

3. Slice half a loaf of French bread and lay slices on a baking sheet.  Cover slices with butter slices and sprinkle lightly with garlic powder and a tiny bit of salt. Bake until golden on edges.

4. Heat 2 jars of spaghetti sauce and 1/2 pound ground beef.

5. Serve spaghetti with garlic bread and a side salad.

Day 3:

Chili

1. See my crockpot beans recipe on this blog, add a cup of spaghetti sauce, 1/2 pound of ground beef, chili seasoning and top with cheddar cheese, sour cream and salsa.

2. Serve with corn bread or crackers.

Day 4:

Cheesy Pasta Casserole

1. Cook 1 package of elbow or shell pasta According to package directions. Drain.

2. Heat oven to 350F.

3. In a rectangular casserole dish, place cooked pasta and top with remaining ground beef, 1 and a half jars of spaghetti sauce, and sprinkle with cheddar and mozzarella cheeses on the top.  Cover and bake until cheese is melted.  20-25 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, prepare garlic bread and place in the oven until golden on the edges.

5. Serve with a crisp salad.

English Tea Cookies "biscuits"

English Tea Cookies:

4 Ingredients!!!!

These are a melt-in-your-mouth butter cookie with crisp edges.

I was in search of the fastest cookie I could make when I stumbled upon this recipe that I converted to metric for us folks in the U.S.  

Heat oven to 425'F.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup self rising flour

1/2 cup sugar (3/4 cup for sweeter)

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter 

1 egg

Mix, form into patties and bake at 425 for 8 minutes.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing from baking sheet.

Girls Turtle Cake

My sweet girl loves turtles, so I bravely started to decorate her cake when I suddenly remembered the cute wooden turtle we picked up at the craft store. 

 I hot glued the turtle to two wooden skewers and cut them to the depth of my cake.  I poked two green straws into the cake and cut to size, so no splinters got in the cake.  Then I poked the wooden skewers into the straws!

The cake was one box of Betty Crocker baked in two pie pans.  I layered the cakes with a coating of white frosting between the layers.

Then I coated the entire cake with pink frosting.  I piped some green tinted frosting (white frosting+green food coloring) along the edges.  Voilà!

I plan on making some of these:

Easy Cheesecake!!!

I'm not even going to take credit for this recipe, but it was easy and decadent! Found at Kraftrecipes.com

Easy Chicken Enchilladas (crock pot)

So easy!!!!  My friend Shelley makes these every Christmas Eve!  :-D

1. Throw frozen chicken breasts and green salsa in the crockpot for 6-8 hours on low. 

2. Add a package of cream cheese.

3. Stir chicken mixture until chicken shreds and cream cheese is mixed in.

4. Roll chicken mixture into corn tortillas and place in baking dish.

5. Cover with cheese and cover dish with foil or oven safe lid.

6. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

This was what was left of it, I will get a better pic of it next time, as I'm sure we will be eating this at least bi-weekly.

Sugar cookies with Icing

These are a holiday tradition since I was a child and now I do it with my children. 

It's an inexpensive way to do something fun together.  

These can be given as gifts, served at parties or simply enjoyed as a family.

The no chill cookie recipe I used is here

(I added an extra egg because my dough was too crumbly):

http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2011/12/best-sugar-cookie-recipe-and-kitchenaid_28.html

Here is the easy icing recipe:

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-decorate-cookies-with-icing-the-easiest-simplest-method-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-198240

This was pretty simple:  just mix, bake, and decorate!  

Fun memories to last a lifetime :-)

Easy Ham Salad

I bought a spiral sliced ham and it was Soooo much meat!  I've been thinking of ways to use it up!

I'm very glad I remembered to make ham salad.  

The first time I tried it, was at a park play date many years ago...another mom had simply brought a container of ham salad and crackers.  She and her children shared some with me and it was delightful!

You won't believe how simple it is to make.

I used to use a food processor, but I had to use a cutting board and knife this time, which wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be.

Then I put all of the finely chopped ham in a bowl and mixed in enough mayo to moisten the meat and added a few tablespoons of sweet pickle relish to add a bit of crunch, color, and tang to the salad.  Keep chilled.

Serve with crackers or on bread as a sandwich.

Ingredients:

Finely diced ham

Mayo

Pickle relish

Serve on Bread or crackers