Wednesday night, super busy...mock lasagna

I have made this previously...declared it a hubby favorite and said that it is always my go to first cool day of Fall to make when I finally can turn on my oven after a long hot summer...

we have had 2 days of pretty nice weather, but they say the rest of the week through the weekend is going to be rough...yay...I cannot wait (being sarcastic here...)

I originally found this recipe in a very old magazine of my hubby's grandmothers...and the sauce always takes a little while to make and get ready...with all kinds of different tomatoes and sauces, etc.
so, I thought today I would try it with my regular spaghetti sauce and see if it turned out the same way...it did...

so here is what I did to cut some corners...I was super busy at school today and did not want to be in the kitchen forever...

so I took 2 tall cans of spaghetti sauce and added 1 tall can of tomato soup to it...I poured this over browned hamburger and some italian sausage and let it simmer for about 15 minutes...I think this is the key to the recipe, to have your sauce nice and hot...

I then put a single layer of meat mixture in the bottom of a baking pan, covered it pretty well and then added one layer of uncooked noodles over the top...I then completely covered the noodles with the rest of the sauce, till all the noodles had sauce on them...put mozzarella cheese on the top and cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes (too much longer and the noodle get soggy...)  let sit for about 10 minutes so it cuts up nice...

yummy

Monday night sleep over, impossible mini sausage muffins and pumpkin pancakes

so little boy was spending the night and I like to cook for him...he wants to be a chef and loves when I come up with new ideas, or old ideas he has not tried yet...
these are his favorites of mine:

1.  chicken mozzarella pasta
2.  chicken and wild rice
3.  these muffins from here
4.  hashbrown casserole

he says when he gets big, he is buying a bakery and I will be his cooker...haha...I will probably be too old by then...

this is the recipe used for the muffins (he called them cupcakes...) and he took them in his lunchbox for the next day too...

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/impossibly-easy-mini-breakfast-sausage-pies/daeffa4b-355d-466f-b712-86388de26b3f

and I made pumpkin pancakes from a box mix...

he pronounced dinner delicious...

Amish poor man's steak and homemade mashed potatoes and gravy

this has been on my favorite's list for awhile now and tonight seemed the right night for it and I happened to have all of the right ingredients...

this is the recipe I followed (somewhat)

http://www.sweetlittlebluebird.com/2016/08/amish-country-poor-mans-hamburger-steaks.html

and it was good...it reminds me of salisbury steak, except this has a white gravy...I followed this recipe to a T except for the gravy...instead of canned soup as the gravy, I kind of wanted a chicken fried type of gravy and so...

made a roux with 6 tbs flour and 6tbs butter and added 2 1/2 cups of milk till thickened...

Tim made the mashed potatoes and each time he does them, I swear that they get better...tonight he added a couple of tablespoons of onion soup mix to the potatoes along with some cream cheese and some shredded cheese...so yummy...

so in researching amish poor man's steak, I fould another recipe I would like to try next time...
she said to make up your meat mixture the night before, put into a log shape and refrigerate overnight and then when ready, slice into portion pieces and grill each side (as you would for a steak...) and then cover with the gravy...

so yummy

Saturday night appetizer dinner, catch up on DVR night

was only Tim and me home Saturday night...all week long, we DVR our favorite shows to watch when it is very quiet at the house...

decided to make an appetizer night, where I just put out different types of finger food...

tonight we had...
pizza rolls
popcorn chicken
cut up veggies and dip
tator tots
tacquitos

we got several shows watched that we had been waiting all summer for out of the way...
Elementary
Arrow

nice night with just the 2 of us

my hashbrown casserole with sausage...

not feeling 100% tonight, spent 3 1/2 hours in Urgent Care to find out that I have what I already googled...(hip bursitis) and that there is not too much that they can do about it...it hurts to stand, to sit, to cough, to sneeze, basically do just about anything...but since I was told today that I will have it for awhile, I had better learn quickly how to deal with life with pain...

I wanted comfort food for dinner tonight...I need something to make me feel better...

I have posted about this recipe many times, it is one of our family favorites...little boy when he comes over tomorrow, will be delighted to see that this is made...he will love to come home from school tomorrow to have this for a snack...LOL...I like to see him happy...

I am posting about this tonight cause it turned out so so so yummy, absolute perfection...so I am trying to remember exactly what I did with it tonight that made it so delicious...

ok...

here is what I did tonight...

I took one bag of frozen hash browns and I let them sit on the counter for about 40 minutes or so to take some of the frozen-ness out of it and then I lightly fried them in a very small amount of oil till a little browned...
mixed in one container of sour cream (16 oz) and it was just enough to coat the other ingredients (think other times I might have put too much sour cream?), also added cheddar cheese, some garlic salt and black pepper and I used already browned sausage crumbles...also added 6 lightly scrambled eggs...mixed together and put into baking pan and added a layer of cheddar cheese to the top...

baked at 350 for about 35 minutes or until bubbly...

so good tonight...

was going to make pumpkin pancakes to go with this, but was hurting too much to stand and make them...Tim agreed...

hot ham and cheese party rolls for dinner

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/hot-ham-cheese-party-rolls/

this is one of those recipes that has been on my favorite list, like forever and I keep meaning to make them...they look so good and I figured everyone would like them..
I like to know the night before what I am making for dinner the next night...I just like to plan it in my head so I have most of the night and the next day to plan for the ingredients...if I do not plan ahead, we tend to eat out more...so for a couple of days I told myself that one day this week, I would definitely make them...tonight was the night...

and now I wish I had made them a lot sooner...let me tell you, they are so delicious...and everyone in this family loved them, well except for hubby who even refused to try them...(I give up with him) he is the one that lost out...Tim even went back for seconds and when I was telling Sam on the phone how good they were, she made me promise to save some for her...

I was a little worried about the sauce that is poured over the top of them...I really do not care for mustard, but the little bit of it that is mixed in with the rest of the sauce ingredients was not over the top...
these were so good and so easy, very do-able for a quick lunch, dinner or snack...I am also thinking of the other possibilities with this idea...

we paired with tator tots and veggies and dip...

yummy, you much try this, you will not be disappointed...

very hot day here, hamburgers, steak and potato salad

guess the heat thought we did not have enough of it this summer and decided to pay us another visit before fall hits...OMGosh 105 here today...I am dying (but not quite like I have in previous years...yes, people central air is sooooooo nice...what the heck did I do for 15 years in an unair conditioned house?)  now I am spoiled...was planning to BBQ hamburgers and steak and then thought it much too hot to go outside to cook...
made the burgers in a George Foreman and the steak I cooked on a grill pan...

not feeling good today, the hip pain is quite bad...hurts to take even one step, I am thinking like a bursitis...so Sam and Zo came over today and she made the potato salad...she knows how I like it made and she does a very good job at it...Tim had bought some teeny tiny potatoes of all colours at Whole Foods and we used those for the salad and it was so good...

for our potato salad here is what we do...
to diced cooked potatoes we add...
diced celery, green onions, chopped kosher dill pickles, black olives, plenty of hard boiled eggs, chopped, mustard, seasonings (garlic powder, celery salt, black pepper and onion powder...) a splash of pickle juice and just enough mayo to combine it all together...

yum...