2-Point Weight Watcher Taco Soup

I literally "stole" this recipe from my neighbor, Mel a month or so ago when she was organizing her recipes!!! I have been dying to try it so yesterday, I finally got around to making it (with a few minor changes)! And it was YUMMY! The best part, it's only 2 points for ONE CUP of soup! And left overs can be frozen to zap in the microwave for a quick lunch or dinner later on! Woohoo!

What You Need:

1 lb ground turkey, ground sirloin, or lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 (1oz) envelope Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, dry
1 (1oz) envelope Taco Seasoning mix (hot or mild), dry
1 (16oz) can pinto beans
1 (16oz) can chili beans (hot or regular)
1 (16oz) can whole kernel corn
1 (8oz) can diced Mexican-style tomatoes
1 (8oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (4oz) diced green chillies (mild or hot)

**Note, I subbed a can of Hunts Tomato Sauce for the tomatoes since D wont eat the things**

1. Brown meat with onions and garlic and drain.
2. Mix ranch dressing and taco seasoning into meat.
3. Without draining, add all of the other ingredients
4. Simmer 1 hour or in crock pot on low as desired, stirring occasionally.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, chopped black olives, and crackers or Fritos!

Meal Plan Monday ~ October 27th

Okay ya'll, tryin' to get "back in the saddle"! =) Here's what's cookin' in my kitchen this week!

Monday - Taco Soup
Tuesday - Steaks, salad, and baked potato
Wednesday - Spaghetti
Thursday - Girls Night In! Drinks and Spooky Snacks will be served at my Cookie Lee Jewelry Party!
Friday - Halloween - I am makin' chili!

For more Meal Plan Monday ideas, click here

Meal Plan Monday November 5

Here's what we're having this week!

Monday - Papa Murphy's Pizza (late night, going to get Maddie's dresser so we need to eat quick!)

Tuesday - Ranch and Herb baked chicken, red potatos, and salad

Wednesday - Layered Meatball Bake

Thursday - Easy Stovetop Stuffing and Chicken Casserole

Friday - Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Saturday - Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

Sunday - Spaghetti and Meatballs at D's mom's house! Yum!

(For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit OrgJunkie!)

Recipe Favorite! Italian Stuffed Peppers

Last night I tried a new recipe! It was unplanned but both D and I had been craving them---and I'd never had them or tried to make them before but they've always sounded good! So between Trick or Treators, I made them and didn't get to eat 'til I actually turned the porch light off THREE HOURS LATER!! Guess that's what happens when you live in a neighborhood!

So here's my recipe! Hope those of you who try it, enjoy!!! And it was super easy to make! We had a bit of meat left over as we only did three peppers so I just baked it as meatloaf and D had leftovers for lunch today!! ;)

ITALIAN STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

1 lb+. ground meat (we used beef, but pork or turkey would work as well).
4 eggs
1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves fresh garlic (I used the minced garlic in a jar)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste---I used a generous amount
2 cans tomato sauce or 1 large jar of Spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup cooked white rice
4 large *green* peppers (can also use yellow, red, or orange---we used yellow), sliced in half or hollowed out if you prefer to use the whole pepper.
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Grease bottom of 13x9 baking pan with olive oil. Mix meat, eggs, bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, and all seasonings in large bowl. Cook rice and mix into meat mixture. Slice peppers so that you have 8 halves, and remove stems and seeds (you can also slice off the top of the pepper and use the whole pepper instead). Stuff peppers with meat mixture. Place in pan and pour tomato or spaghettic sauce over top and along bottom of pan. Bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour; sprinkle shredded mozzerella cheese over peppers when there's about 10-15 minutes left on timer. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

Menu Plan Monday: October 22, 2007

Here's what's cooking in my kitchen this week!

• Monday: Baked Lemon Pepper Chicken Breasts, Parmesan noodles, and string green beans
• Tuesday: Hamburger Stuffed Pita Rolls
  
• Wednesday: Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf (*new recipe from my Aunt Candy!!*)
• Thursday: Biscuits and Gravy with corn
• Friday: Pizza
• Saturday: Out to eat
  
• Sunday: Pot Roast with carrots and potatoes

Be sure to go visit the other Menu Planners over at OrgJunkie!

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf Recipe

My aunt was over visiting from Spokane this weekend for my baby shower and brought along a few tasty recipes with her that she left behind for me to try!! This one caught my eye and I decided to share it with you all!

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

What you need:

• 1lb ground beef
• 10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 8oz grated cheddar cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
  
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 3 Tbsp. mustard
• 3oz can French Fried Onions

What you do:

Preheat oven to 350.

In large bowl, combine hamburger, bacon, cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Mix well.

In small bowl, combine ketchup and mustard. Stir 1/4 of mixture into meat mixture. Reserve remaining ketchup mixture.

Press meat mixture into greased 9x5 loaf pan.

Spread remaining ketchup mixture over loaf.

Bake 40 minutes.

Top with French Friend Onions and bake additional 10-15 minutes, or until done.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

**NOTE: You can also add barbecue sauce to taste to give it a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger taste!

Meal Plan Monday

Wow, it's been a while since I've checked in! Such is the life of a full-time-working-first-time-mommy-to be, I guess! So perhaps I need to get used to that?!

Anyways, so we'll ease back into this with a Menu Plan for the week!!

Monday - Chicken Alfredo Fettuccini (with garlic bread and salad, of course!)
Tuesday - Pork chops, red potatos, and green bean casserole
Wednesday - Biscuits and sausage gravy (served with corn)
Thursday - Grilled lemon pepper chicken, parmesan noodles, and salad
Friday - Papa Murphy's Pizza night!!
Saturday - SURPRISE!!! We'll be finishing up the Maddie's room so who knows where the day will take us!
Sunday - Lasagna (with garlic bread, salad, and brownies!!). We're having our families over for the "Nursery Unveiling" and dinner!

Quick and Simple Meal Idea

Monday night we made the infamous Wal*Mart trip to our new local Super Wal*Mart. Yippee...now rather than cruising aisles for an hour stocking up on household necessities and "must haves" and weeding out the "want to haves", you can spend TWO HOURS doing the same thing, now that the grocery department is open. Oh joy. LOL No, but really. The bargains are great, as always with Wal*Mart. They carry a HUGE selection. However, by the time we'd strolled from the back of the grocery department (where, idiotically enough) the frozen foods are located (ie, ice cream) through the meats and produce section, our guilty pleasure (said ice cream) was more like melted mush cream....ugh.

So, arriving home two hours later, stocked up on all kinds of goodies from a rice cooker to cat litter we decided that we were way too tired to attempt to cook dinner. Even after planning out 4-5 meals and purchasing the goods for them.

Finally, about 8:30pm (2030, Mel time!) we sucked it up and decided to cook. We were tired, cranky, and HUNGRY! We settled on Biscuits and Gravy---something that I'd been craving for a couple of days now. Funny, considering that the first time I'd ever even HAD biscuits and gravy was some two months ago.

15 minutes later, we were eating!! I am not kidding you, this was one of the easiest, most filling, delicious, and easy to clean up meals I'd made in a while...

So if you get home from work (or Wal*Mart) late, in a hurry to get the kids off to baseball or soccer practice, or just want something satisfying yet simple, here ya go!

Quick and Simple Biscuits and Gravy

1 roll refrigerated Pillsbury Country Style biscuits - (makes 8 biscuits)
1 - package Country Style Gravy mix
1 - package Jimmy Dean sausage

Doyle browned the sausage while I baked the biscuits (14-17 minutes, but they were done at 15) and made the gravy, which took about 5 minutes, max. We garnished it with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light, salt and pepper (hot sauce for Doyle), and served it with corn. =) YUMMY!!!

Oh and the cost of the whole meal? $6.98. And we had two leftover biscuits. Beat that, Denny's!!!