Creamy Meat Sauce

The other night, I realized that I had a partial carton of cream left in the fridge from making whipped cream. I wasn't exactly sure what I could do with it, but I did not want it to go to waste.

Looking around in my freezer and pantry, I was able to come up with some ingredients for a creamy meaty pasta sauce. The end result was delectable....even if it wasn't very healthy.....but I won't tell anyone if you won't!

First, I started off by boiling an entire box of pasta. Then, I cooked 2 small onions that had been chopped and 4 minced garlic cloves in some olive oil in a large skillet. Next, I added in a pound of ground beef and cooked it thoroughly, until it was no longer pink.

Next, I added a large can on crushed tomatoes to the meat mixture. I allowed the mixture to come up to a boil and then reduced the heat as low as it could go.  By this time, the pasta was finished, so I drained the water and returned the pasta to the pot. I went back to the sauce and with the heat still on very low, I slowly stirred in a cup of cream. I then poured the sauce on top of the pasta and stirred in about a cup of mozzarella cheese.

This easy and quick meal comes together in less than 30 minutes and makes a rich and tasty meal!

Recipe Recap

1 Tsp olive oil

2 small onions/1 medium onion chopped

4 cloves of garlic minced

1 pound ground beef

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 cup cream

1 pound pasta cooked

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook the onions and garlic in the oil until translucent. Then add the beef to the pan and cook until no longer pink. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to its lowest setting and stir in the cream. Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta, stir in the cheese and serve.

Perfect Pot Roast

Looking for an easy and simple pot roast recipe?? To start, you will need any sort of beef roast and some simple root vegetables.

Start off by browning the meat on all sides in some vegetable oil until it is brown. Use a large, heavy bottomed pot. While you are doing this, chop up your veggies. I used carrots, celery and onions, but you could add potatoes, turnips, anything that can stand up to a long cook time.

When the meat is browned, take it out of the pot at brown the onions for a few minutes by themselves. Once the onions have a little color, add in the rest of the veggies and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir the veggies a few times, allowing them to pick up some of the bits and pieces of brown form the bottom of the pot. 

Put the meat on top of the veggies and then add 4-6 cups of water (enough to cover veggies and come up to the sides of the beef) and some beef stock base/bullion cubes. If you want you can also add some herbs, I added 1 bay leaf and some oregano. Allow the water to come up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover the pot and allow the meat to cook for 3-4 hours, turning the meat every 30 minutes.

I like to serve the pot roast with crusty bread. Ymmmm!!! 

Recipe Recap:

3-4 lb beef roast

3 medium onions

4 carrots

5 stalks celery

4 cups water

2 tsp beef base

1 bay leaf

1 Tsp  oregano

Brown the meat in 2 Tsp of oil, then remove the meat and brown the onions and other veggies. Put the meat back in the pan, add the water, herbs and beef base and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 3-4 hours, turning the meat every 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Quick Cheesy Grits

These grits make a great side dish for any meaty/saucy meal, but also taste great on their own. I made these grits to go along with my BBQ Chipotle Ribs and they were the perfect side!

First, cook a cup of grits according to the package directions. In this case it was 3 1/2 cups of water for one cup of grits. Once the water was boiling, I slowly stirred in the grits. The the entire mixture cooked in a covered pot for 20 minutes on a low heat.

When the grits are done, mix in 1 cup of cheddar cheese (I used fat free cheese and it turned out great!) and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Recover the grits and let it sit off the heat for an additional 10 minutes and then serve!!

Recpie Recap
1 cup of grits cooked according to the package directions
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook the grits and stir in the cheese. Let sit off the heat for 10 minutes and serve.

3 Ingredient Chipotle BBQ Ribs

These ribs are delicious and so easy to make! You will need a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce, a rack of ribs and 2-3 chipotle peppers. You can find these peppers in a can in the ethnic aisle of your grocery store.

To make this recipe, I used my pressure cooker, but you could just as easily make these in your crock pot or in the oven after marinating in the sauce.

First, cut up the ribs into 2-3 bone sections.

Second put the ribs into your pressure cooker, pour the BBQ sauce on top and top it all with the peppers. Then you will need to add a cup of water, I used the BBQ sauce bottle in order to get all the last drops of the sauce out at the same time.

Then just set your pressure cooker to high and cook for 25 minutes.

Serve on top of some Easy Cheesy Grits and enjoy! The sauce from the ribs goes great with the grits!

Recipe Recap
1 bottle BBQ sauce
2-3 chipolte peppers (depending on your heat tolerance)
1 rack of ribs cut into smaller sections
1 cup of water

Save $$, Buy a Rotisserie Chicken

I have a friend who says that she won't buy the precooked rotisserie chickens at the grocery stores because they cost too much money. I disagree, I think that they actually help me save money!

After the hubby and I eat a meal from the chicken, I then pick the rest of the chicken for meat. Do people pick chicken anymore? My mom would always do this growing up to make sure that all of the meat was used.....people just aren't frugal anymore!

To prove my point, while picking this particular chicken I got out my 1 cup measuring cup to see how much extra meat I was able to get. This time I was able to get 4 cups!!!!!!!! of extra meat. I sectioned this off into plastic bags and stuck them in the freezer, perfect for adding to salads, chicken quesadillas and other meals at a later time.

For $5.99, I would say we got our money's worth!!