Cheeseburger Pie

I’ve finally got back into the swing of cooking more regularly again.   For those who don’t know, my sweet husband of 32 years passed last November.  I had spent the last year taking care of him best I could, and our meals surrounded what he could eat (which wasn’t much due to his esophageal cancer).   It’s still a huge adjustment doing life without my bestest friend, but the Lord has been good to me.    I was doing Trim Healthy Mama, Whole 30, and Paleo type recipes prior to his being ill, and have only been partly on this past year for above stated reasons.   I didn’t gain during the stressful year, but I need to get off the weight I accumulated post 8 babies and a year of cancer myself.   Okay, enough about me.  This is a recipe from Trim Healthy Mama called Cheeseburger Pie.  For you THMers, it’s an S meal.    If you are low carbing it or doing Atkins, etc, this is a low carb meal.    I tweaked it a bit for my little fella and I to eat for lunch today and share with his siblings tomorrow, because they are at home school camp this week.    It’s smells fantastic.

Ingredients:

• 2# ground beef
• sea salt
• an onion
• 12 oz grated cheese (I used 6 oz, and added 6 cheese slices for the top)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Ranch dressing (they use mayo in their recipe)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• pickles
• tomatoes
• Whatever burger seasonings you like.  I like Montreal steak seasoning

1.  I chopped up an onion and threw it in the pan with the beef.  Browned & drained the beef.
2.  Then I added Montreal steak seasoning, but use what you like in your burgers.
3.  I put mixture into my casserole dish and threw in 6 oz grated cheese ( okay, I’ll be honest, I don’t measure.  But that’s what their book, which I highly recommend, suggests.  I threw in a handful or so).
4.   I layered sliced tomatoes and pickles on top .
5.   In a bowl I beat the eggs, ranch, heavy cream, ,salt and pepper.
6.   I poured the eggs mixture over the beef, and then I added sliced cheddar cheese.
7.   Baked at 350 for 35 minutes.

Voila, enjoy!   (Tweaked from page 326 in Trim Healthy Mama)  By the way, the 9 year old thinks it’s pretty yummy!!

 

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January 20 – Meat Loaf, Cinnamon Buns

Breakfast

Cream of Wheat

Lunch

Tuna salad wraps

We make our usual tuna salad and then add grated cheese.  We place them in a tortilla and eat them warm or heated.  Yesterday we heated them until the cheese melted.   Quick & easy.

Dinner

Meat Loaf, Mashed Taters and Peas

My husband loves meat loaf.  When he works, he likes me to make meat loaf sandwiches for him to take on his night shift.  We made our bread yesterday so I sliced his 6 slices very thin.

For my meatloaf I used 2 packages of ground venison.  However, I have used ground turkey, ground beef and even a mixture of either beef/venison with ground pork.  I chopped onions & green peppers to put in the meat (probably about 1/2 cup each).  I then added an egg. This time I added bread crumbs but I have also used oatmeal in the past.  I save the crumbs from my homemade bread and add a bit of parsley and sometimes other seasonings.   I formed into a loaf and baked 350 for about an hour and 15 minutes.  I begin checking at an hour to see if it’s cooked all the way through.  I make a mixture of about 1/2 cup ketchup, teaspoon dry mustard and about 2 T brown sugar.  The last 5 minutes of baking I put this mixture on top.  It’s good without it but it’s great with the extra touch.

Cinnamon Buns

I had made dough for 3 loaves of bread today.  Two of the loaves I cooked as usual and the third the children and I made Cinnamon buns for tomorrow’s breakfast.  Details to come.  

 

January 2 – Biscuits and Tuna Burgers

Biscuits

Tonight, I am making biscuits and freezing them.  This may sound crazy but here’s the reasoning for the madness.  I work 2-3 mornings a week for a few hours.  In order to home school and have home life running smoothly and not eat junk cereals, I am going to make a few batches of biscuits.  After I cut them with the really cute biscuit cutters my mother gave me for Christmas (thanks Mom :D), I’m going to put them on a baking sheet in the freezer.   Once they are frozen solid, I’ll transfer them to freezer bags.  I have homemade jelly, homemade pear honey, honey, agave nectar or just good ole’ butter they can throw on them and get busy with our day.  Just an idea for other busy families out there.

Tuna Burgers

Tonight’s meal is tuna burgers.  I first had this at my friend Brenda’s house many years ago.  We make them by making tuna the way we like.  We add shredded cheese and then bake on buns until the cheese melts.  Voila dinner.  We’ll have a sliced carrots on the side.

We make tuna for our burgers with the following ingredients:  mayonnaise, pickle relish, tuna, boiled eggs (diced), and sneaky tiny celery pieces.

We also made our buns.  This was the first time I made this recipe.   I’ll let you know if it was yummy.

Homemade Buns

• 1 cup water
• 2 T butter
• 1 egg
• 3-1/4 c bread flour (I would also use our wheat)
• 1/8 c honey
• 1 t salt
• 1 T yeast
• 1 t onion powder

This takes nearly 2 hours so you’ll need to plan ahead.

First I combined all my ingredients in my kitchen aid and kneaded but you could also do by hand, until you have a soft, smooth dough.  I then let it rise in my bowl, covered, for about an hour.  Then divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each one into a ball, then flatten and place on a greased cookie sheet.  (Sprayed mine with olive oil spray).  Cover again and let rise for 30-40 minutes or until puffy looking.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Bake 12-15 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack.  Cut into halves and scoop your tuna with shredded cheese mixed in on your bun.  Bake again just until cheese melts.

 

January 1 – Chicken Chili

We made chicken chili for dinner tonight.  Not a very traditional New Year’s meal but we loved it.

• 1 T Olive Oil
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 2 T garlic, minced
• 1 7 oz can diced green chilis (mild or hot)
• 1 T Cumin
• 1 Pkg taco seasoning (I buy in bulk so put in the approx equivalent)
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 t red pepper (had from my summer garden)
• 2 t oregano
• 3 cans great northern beans (don’t drain)
• 3 cans sweet corn (drain)
• I used 3 chicken breasts and chopped into small pieces after I cooked
• 8 cups chicken broth

In large pan saute onion, garlic and seasonings in the olive oil.  Add the chicken and the chicken broth.  Cook to taste.  I like it to simmer for at least an hour.  This is great to throw in the crock pot for later.  We have enough left that I’m doing the crock pot with the leftovers for after church tomorrow.  Serve with tortilla chips and top with jack cheese.  Enjoy 😀

Update from 1/2:  BTW, this had quite a bit of broth left that I froze to use for another dish later.  Next time I make I’ll probably only use 4-5 cups of broth.