Sweet and Sour Something

This is great sauce for Sweet and Sour Meatballs which I often take in a slow cooker to parties, or Sweet and Sour Chicken which I like to make at home. I bet it even works well with Pork.

Serve it whichever way over rice, and you've got a meal that can't be beat.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup vinegar 1 green pepper, cut in strips
1 cup pineapple juice
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup soy sauce
8 ounce can of pineapple chunks, drained

Instructions
Combine all ingredients except the pineapple.
Cook, stirring, until thickened.
Add pineapple just before serving.

Greeny's Lasagna

Lasagna Noodles
3 quarts of water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
16 strips white or green lasagna noodles

Cheese and Egg Mixture
1 egg
1 (1-lb.) carton small curd cottage cheese
1/2 (1-lb.) carton ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Meat Sauce
1-1/2 lbs. lean ground beef (I have also mixed in ground sausage & shredded chicken)
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 (1-lb) cans stewed tomato
2 (16-oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1/3 cup dry red wine (optional)
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt to taste

1 lb. mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

Prepare Meat Sauce. Butter a 13" x 9" baking dish; set aside. Bring water to a rapid boil in a heavy 5-quart pot or Dutch oven. Add salt and oil. Gradually add lasagna noodles being sure the water continues to boil. Cook noodles uncovered until tender but firm, stirring occasionally. Drain.  In a medium bowl, beat egg, stir in cottage cheese, ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese; mix thoroughly.  Place a thin layer of Meat Sauce in the prepared dish.  Layer 4 lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Spread ¼ of the cheese mixture over noodles and cover the layer with ¼ of the meat sauce. Arrange mozzarella cheese slices over sauce. Repeat 3 times with remaining noodles, cheese mixture and meat mixture. Place in cold oven. Set temperature control at 375°F (190°C). Bake 20 minutes. Remove lasagna from oven. Cut remaining mozzarella cheese into thin strips and arrange on lasagna. Bake 10 minutes longer. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Sweet Tangy Burgers

Mix together:
1/4 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2  minced small onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Once well blended,  mix in with 2 pounds ground chuck. Make 8 burgers about 1/2 inch thick and grill 4-7 minutes on each side.

Freezer Meatballs

Yes, a recipe for meatballs. I know you probably throw them together like I often do - some ground beef, some seasoned breadcrumbs from the store and a tad bit of milk, and I've got enough to make dinner. There's a lot of things you can do with meatballs besides just spaghetti. So this recipe makes a whole lot of meatballs. Put them in the freezer and then you can just whip them out and make - Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Sorry. This ia starter recipe. To follow will be other recipes of things you can do with meatballs - these meatballs, which you make up and then freeze in packages of 24.

Freezer Meatballs:
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 cups soft breadcrumbs ( from 4 slices bread)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 pounds ground beef  The ground beef can be partially replaced with other ground meats such as chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, venison. Don't replace all of it, because its too lean the texture and flavor change.

In large bowl, beat eggs and then add alll but the meat. Once that has been throughly combined, mix in the ground meat.  Then chill it until cold, usually an hour is plenty of time.

With wet hands,  shape mixture into 6 dozen 1 inch meatballs. Bake meatballs in a couple of baking dishes at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or so. spread meatballs on a sheet pan, put into the freezer just til frozen. Then take frozen meatballs and package into three 24 meatball containers.

Now you 've got the beginnings of a few meals. Make Spaghetti and Meatballs. Make Sweet and Sour meatballs using my Something Sweet & Sour recipe over rice or hot chow mien noodles. Make...

Meatball Rolls
Take a container of Freezer meatballs, and add a jar of your favorite spagetti sauce. Simmer that until heated through.In a small skillet, take a whole green pepper, cut it in strips, and fry in butter with a medium onion until tender. For each roll, put four meatballs on the bottom, add some onions and pepper and then spoon more of the spaghetti sauce over the roll. Top off with a tad bit of Parmesan cheese and you're all set to eat.

Fondue Italiano

1/2 pound ground beef
2/3 jar of spaghetti sauce
12 ounces Cheddar cheese (about 3 cups)
4 ounces Mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup Chianti
Italian bread cut into bite sized pieces
.
Brown ground beef in a saucepan and drain off excess fat. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Add cheese gradually, stir over low heat until the cheeses are melted.  blend cornstarch and wine, add to cheese mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Transfer to fondue pot and transfer over heat source. Spear bread cube with fondue fork. Dip in mixture, swirling to coat.

If fondue becomes too thick, add a little warmed Chianti. Serves about 6.

Italian Meatloaf

Simple to put together, and fine for a family dinner. However, its showy enough to serve to company as well.

Mix together a couple of pounds of ground beef (this could be in combo with ground turkey or ground pork) with just enough milk to make it squishy.  once all of the ground beef is wet, Then add italian bread crumbs and a little garlic powder until everything will clump together.

Instead of forming a loaf, create a 3/4 inch thick, 8 inch wide rectangle on waxed paper. The length will vary based on how much meat you used.  Sprinkle on the rectangle some parmesan cheese, staying away from the edges. Then add a layer of mozzerella cheese. This can be slices or shredded cheese. now, the tricky part - roll up the rectangle. make sure you seal the ends well.  Grease your loaf pan with non-stick baking spray, then put the rolled up bundle into the loaf pan. Bake as you would any meatloaf in the oven at 375. About 15 minutes or so into the baking, pour about a cup of spagetti sauce over the top.

Make pasta ( I use fetticini but spagetti or angel hair is great too), spagetti sauce, and garlic bread to go with the meatloaf. Cut 1 inch slices of the loaf when cooked, serve over the pasta. The cheese spiral baked into the meat looks good and tastes great too.
.

Ginger's Spagetti Pie

Ingredients:
12 ounces spagetti
4 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 well beaten eggs
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
2 8ounce cans tomatoes
2 6 ounce cans of tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons dried oregano
4 teaspoons garlic salt
2 cups (16 ounces) cottage cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) mozzarella cheese

Cook spagetti and drain. Stir in butter, parmesan, and eggs. Form this mixture into a crust in 2 buttered 10 inch pie plates. Cook beef, onion and pepper until browned. Drain excess fat. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, oregano and garlic salt. Heat through. Spread cottage cheese over bottom of spagetti crust. Fie pie with tomato mixture.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top. Bake 5 minutes or longer until cheese melts.

Homemade Tacos

Recipe 1 is a bulk recipe and recipe 2 is something much simplier for a single meal.

Recipe 1:
Taco Mix:
1/4 cup Chili Powder
1/4 cup Flour
3 Tablespoons dried Minced Onion
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
2 & 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoon dried Oregano
2 Teaspoon ground Cumin
1 & 1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Teaspoon ground Coriander

Combine the above ingredients. Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to one year.

Tacos:
1 pound lean ground beef
3/4 cup water
tortillas or taco shells
1/4 cup taco seasoning

In Large skillet cook beef over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. drain meat. Add seasoning and water. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Heat Tortillas or taco shells. Fill shells or tortillas with taco meat. Add toppings and eat.

Toppings:

Salsa or Taco sauce
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Cheese
Sour Cream
Or whatever else suits your fancy

Recipe 2:
Brown 1 pound of ground beef and drain off fat.. Add 1 medium chopped onion, 1 clove minced garlic,  3/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon chili powder,  1 cup of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup water. Simmer this together for 15-25 minutes while you warm the shells in a  350 oven and ready the toppings.  Then eat.

Carol's Crock Pot Chili

This is a highly adjustable recipe.
Pour 1 jar of chunky ragu or prego spagetti sauce in a pot. Add one container of Jack Daniels BBQ sauce (i think i used the spicy or the smokehouse kind, depends on what flavor you're shooting for). add 2 cans (20 oz each) of red kidney beans buy a couple of the make your own chili packets in the grocery store in the spice & packet aisle - add them to the pot. add two cans of tomato paste (less if you don't like it thick). add a couple of pounds of slightly browned lean meat. I used venison, turkey or chicken, but beef is fine too. I used to set it up at night say 9 at night, and cook on low til the next morning. Take a serving or two for lunch. The rest I would freeze in lunchsize bowls for some other time. This makes a lot, you could probably half the recipe and still have a lot to eat.

Cocktail Party Meatballs

Ingredients

SAUCE
3 cups catsup
2 cups water
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup onion, chopped
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. salt (or to taste)
4 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
12 drops Tabasco sauce

MEATBALLS
3 pounds ground pork*
3 c. fine dried bread crumbs
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. horseradish
8 eggs, beaten
12 drops tabasco sauce
6 Tbsp. minced onion

Instructions
To make the sauce, bring all the ingredients to a boil in a sauce pan, then simmer for 1/2 hr.

To make the meat balls, combine beef, bread crumbs, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. In a small bowl combine horseradish, eggs, tabasco and onion and mix well. Add to the meat mixture and blend well. Roll the mixture into bite size balls, approx. 250 of them. Brown the meatballs in a large fry pan, drain and transfer to 2 large baking dishes and pour the sauce over them. Simmer in the oven for 2-2 1/2 hours. Serve hot on chafing dish. These may be made the day before and reheated or frozen with the sauce on.

Notes
* other ground meats may be used, turkey or beef, or a mixture.