Mom's Ketchup Burgers

This is my mom's recipe that is super simple (no matter how many times I want to complicate it and not get it right). Photo to come.

Mom's Ketchup Burgers

• 1 lb hamburger
  
• 3/4 cup of ketchup
  
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp sugar

1. Make little meatballs out of hamburger and then squish them down to burger size. Cook through.
2. Mix remaining ingredients together.
3. Add mixture to burgers and simmer 15 minutes.

Lemon Crock Pot Chicken

I've been anxious to use the Crock Pot for meals, since that seems to be the "it" thing to do now. But even though it seems as easy as "Just throw all the ingredients in and cook for 4-8 hours," I find it difficult coming up with recipes that will work in the crock pot. Here's one that worked pretty well.

Lemon Crock Pot Chicken

• 2 chicken breasts
  
• 2 lemons (You'll use juice of both and the peel of 1)
  
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup water
  
• 1 tbsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
• 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tbsp dried thyme
  
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 med. onion, on a fairly fine dice
  
• 3 cloves garlic, fine dice
• 1 tsp salt
  

1. Preheat crockpot.

2. Put spices, salt and pepper on chicken and place in crock pot. Add onions, garlic, the juice of two lemons and the zest of one lemon.

3. Add 1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 water to coat chicken.

4. Heat on High for 3 hours. Check to make sure chicken is still covered by liquids. If not, add more liquid and continue on High for 2 hours or until chicken is fall apart tender.

5. Remove chicken and cover to keep warm. Add liquids from crock pot to sauce pan and reduce by half.

6. Serve chicken over rice with extra sauce.

Chicken, Mushroom and Green Bean Casserole

I've had this swimming around in my head for years. What if I took my favorite holiday side dish and added chicken to it to make it a complete meal. Well here it is and it's delicious!

Chicken, Mushroom and Green Bean Casserole

• 12 oz green beans, frozen and slightly thawed
• 4 oz white mushrooms, quartered
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
  
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 9 oz grilled chicken breast, frozen and cubed
• 2 oz onion, chopped
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 2 cups french fried onions
  

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Combine mushroom, bean, onion, 2 tbs fried onions, chicken, salt and pepper in 9x13 baking dish.

3. Whisk together milk and soup and pour over chicken and bean mixture.

4. Bake @ 375 for 30 minutes or until mixture is bubbly.

5. Remove from oven and top with remaining fried onions.

6. Bake another 10 minutes.

Wonton Soup

I got this from the Porktastic! episode of Quick Fix Meals with Robin Miller. We made all three dishes and though the original tenderloin was my favorite (so moist and delicious), this was very good as well. We served it with fried wontons filled with the left over pork mixture. Just going to copy her directions, since we followed them exactly.

Wonton Soup

• 6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1/2 cup shredded or diced cooked pork
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 16 wonton wrappers
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions

1. Place broth and cabbage in a large saucepan and set pan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer.

2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine pork, soy sauce and sesame oil. Pulse 3 or 4 times until the pork is finely minced but not a paste.

3. Arrange 16 wonton wrappers on a flat surface. Spoon filling onto the center of each wrapper, to within 1/4-inch of the edges (about 1 teaspoon per wrapper). Wet your fingers with water and pull up corners of the wontons to create individual "purses". Pinch the edges together (with wet fingers) to seal.

4. Place stuffed wontons in simmering broth. Cook 5 minutes, until wontons are tender and translucent. Remove from heat and stir in scallions.

Cheesy Garlic Potatoes

These are the potatoes that my cheese béchamel went into for my complete meal tonight. No photo cause the one I took just looked like a big splotch of white and they just look like regular mashed potatoes.

Cheesy Garlic Potatoes

• 1/2 c. cheese béchamel sauce
  
• 1 potato, peeled and cubed into large pieces
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
  

1. In large sauce pan, add water, potato, garlic and bring to boil.
2. Boil until potatoes are cooked through.
3. Mash potatoes/garlic with butter and fold in cheese sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste

Cheesy Broccoli

So I have this fascination with watching food challenge shows and I was watching, "Worst Cooks In America" and they were learning Béchamel sauces. They were talking about how versatile they are and how you can add anything to them to make them delicious and whatnot. So I decided to make one with cheese in it for two side dishes for my meatloaf, some cheesey garlic mashed potatoes, and this, cheesy broccoli.

Cheesy Broccoli

• 4 tbsp all purpose flour
  
• 4 tbsp butter
• Pinch of Ground Nutmeg
  
• 1 1/4 C. milk
  
• 1 1/2 C. cheese
  
• 3 broccoli stalks
  
• Salt and Pepper to taste
  

1. In medium sauce pan (I used a small one and wished I had more room), melt butter and wait for it to simmer.
2. Add flour and whisk constantly for 3 to 4 minutes until ingredients are incorporated and a roux forms. Remove from heat and let stand.
3. In a small sauce pan, scald milk.
4. Add milk to roux mixture and whisk to avoid lumps and simmer to a smooth sauce.
5. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and fold in cheese until smooth.
6. Blanche broccoli in salted water until bright green and tender-crisp. Drain.
7. Pour mixture over broccoli and fold together.

Quick and Easy Onion Meatloaf

Ground beef, onion soup packet onions and Mushrooms make this meaty concoction so delicious! This was the first time I've ever cooked a meatloaf in the microwave, but it was pretty good and super moist.

Quick and Easy Onion Meatloaf

• 1 lb. ground beef (I used 80/20)
• 1 medium onion with a medium dice
• 1/2 C. chopped mushrooms
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 packet Lipton Beefy Onion Soup Mix
• 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce (I was out of Worcestershire)
• 1 1/2 tbsp. ketchup
• 1 tbsp. dried parsley
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 1/4 C. breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 C. water

1. In a skillet over medium heat, saute onion, mushroom and garlic in olive oil until just tender. Remove from heat and cool.

2. In large mixing bowl, add meat, soup mix, soy sauce, egg, ketchup, parsley, basil, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and sauteed veggies and mix thoroughly.

3. Put mixture in loaf pan leaving a 1/2 inch of space around the sides of the pan. Add water around the sides. Top with ketchup and put in microwave 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Remove to serving platter and enjoy.