Baked Spaghetti

I originally found this recipe from This Mommy Cooks. I made it last night and my family loved it! This actually makes a lot so we had plenty of left overs...they are now gone.  :)
It was nice to have an alternative to plain spaghetti! I did "tweak" it a little bit.

What you will need:

1pound ground beef OR ground turkey
2 cans tomato sauce
1/2 box spaghetti noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup water
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

These are the dry ingredients you will need:

1/2 tsp dried basil
3/4 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch

Mix all dry ingredients in a small bowl + minced garlic

I wanted to share this little guy with you. My mom got it for me and it comes in handy a lot. It has 1/8tsp on one end and 1/16tsp on other end. It comes in really handy when you use pepper flakes or cayenne pepper.

Brown meat, drain excess fat and return to pan.
Add tomato sauce and water to pan with meat, and then dry ingredients.

Stir until combined well. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
 Place cooked spaghetti noodles in baking dish.
 Top with spaghetti mixture.
Next, top with shredded cheese, and then sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 10 minutes, until cheese is melted.

 

Yum Yum!! So very good! Y'all try this, you will love it! :)

When Big Daddy Cooks

Big Daddy

When Big Daddy cooks he likes to prep before he turns anything on....Always. He has a way of doing things and I better not step foot in the kitchen when he is in there...

He pats the burgers out

Fixes the fixings

And preps the side item

Then he will turn stove and oven on...NOT before!

When Big Daddy cooks I get to chase a little boy around trying to get him to slow down for a picture

He puts what we need on the table

And he makes my plate for me

When Big Daddy cooks...we don't use utensils   

I should plan this more often...     :)

Toast

I use to buy this really expensive toast in the freezer section. It rhymes with Lexus. Sometimes it comes with cheese, sometimes it's butter etc... And there are only maybe 8-10 slices in a box. Then I got smart...or listened to my Momma however you want to say it.   :)

I buy a loaf of Italian bread from the bakery at $1.99

Cut into thick slices- I can usually get about 20 slices out of one loaf!

If I am making toast that night I put a little butter and garlic powder on it and bake 8-10 minutes.

All the left over toast goes on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer for about 20 minutes

This prevents the toast from freezing together in the bag.

Once it is set and semi-frozen I put it in a freezer bag. Then I always have some toast on hand with out paying out the wazoo!  :)

Lunch 2-8-11

Sissy was home sick again today so she ate this bento here. We had chicken and stuffing for dinner and she wanted the left overs for lunch.

Here is what she had from top left corner:

Marshmallow Heart
Peanut Butter
Apples
Stuffing
Chicken
With a bottle of water

Some people have asked me about her bento boxes so I took a few pictures of this one.
This one I guess you could say, is a more "traditional" bento box.

All stacked up

All the components + the band to hold everything together.

This is just one of the MANY boxes that we have   :)

Meatloaf

This recipe is a combination of recipes. I took my moms recipe + my bosses recipe and threw in some stuff of my own. It's kinda one of those where you just put in what you want. :) I will try to give you measurements but really folks I just throw things in! :)

What you will need:

1lb ground beef
1 Tbsp Heinz 57
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 small can corn, drained
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup onions, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1/3 cup old fashioned oats
6-10 crackers (You can also use bread crumbs or pieces of bread)
1/3 cup ketchup (some people use tomato soup instead)
Salt and pepper to your liking

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl ( I use my hands)

Put in loaf pans. It just so happens that I have a "fancy shmancy" meatloaf pan. Made my Wilton. And I love it b/c it has the holes so the grease goes in the bottom pan!

Separate out a small one for the child that refuses to eat onion! Ugh!

Bake at 415 for 45 minutes.
In the last 10 minutes I spread about 2 Tbsp of Ketchup on the top. ( My mom does a glaze of Ketchup and Brown sugar cooked on stove for a few minutes then pour on top. Not everyone here likes that so I don't do it anymore)

When you take this out of the oven it is BEST if you let it sit for 10 minutes with a foil tent over it.

Hubby likes brown gravy with his meatloaf....sometimes I remember that....

Mondays Lunch and Sick Kids

Both kids are sick so we spent the morning at the doctors office. Got some antibiotics and hopefully they will feel better soon. Sissy ate her bento at home.

Today she had:

Mini cookies
Trail mix
Cheese stick
Salami
Dinner roll
Peaches
Fruit Leather

Menu 2/7/11

Sissy spent the weekend with Papa and YaYa so, I spent the weekend with Brother. We had FUN! I think we played with ALL of his toys, crawled through the tunnel 27 times, went shopping, watched Cars and Ratatouille 3 times each, he also dropped his bottle 999 times and every time said "Uh Ah" instead of "Uh Oh". I got some laundry done, cleaned the kitchen and made a menu for this week! :)  All of the breakfasts are the same as last week b/c Sissy didn't eat here before school(we are still working on this).

Here is what we are having:

Monday:
Cereal
Bento
Baked Chicken w/ Stuffing and Greenbeans

Tuesday:
Oatmeal
Bento
Hamburgers w/ Sweet potatoes

Wednesday:
Yogurt
Bento
Baked Spaghetti w/ Toast

Thursday:
Cereal
Eating @ School (Turkey dinner)
Breakfast for Dinner- Biscuits and Gravy w/ eggs and sausage

Friday:
Banana w/ Peanut Butter
Bento
Beef Nacho Bake

Saturday:
Breakfast Burritos
Salad
Chicken Curry

Sunday:
French Toast w/ Turkey Bacon and Eggs
L.O.s
Baked Ham w/ Mashed Potatoes and Peas