Loose Meat Burgers

Don't these look delish?? These are a family favorite. We have never lived in the mid-west and tasted one of these at an "authentic" loose meat burger joint. However, we did see a Food Network special on the best burgers and a burger similar to this one was featured. I sought out many recipes and found one our family liked and have tweeked it more to our family's tastes.

Loose Meat Burgers

2-2.5 lbs. Lean Ground Beef (90% lean or better)

1 Cup Water

Place the meat and the water in a large deep pot. Cook of medium high heat and stir constantly. You want to have a nice crumble on your meat. Once the meat is cooked and is about 1/2 done you want to add:

2 Yellow Onions (minced in the food processor or finely chopped)

1 Tablespoon Garlic (fresh - I use the jarred stuff)

Continue to stir and cook until all the meat is browned. (If you did not use super lean meat, you will need to drain your beef. I prefer using the lean meat so I skip this step.) Now you are going to add:

2 Tablespoons Yellow Mustard

2 Tablespoons White Vinegar

3 Packets Splenda (2 Tablespoons granular Splenda)

Mix into your meat and continue to boil until moisture is cooked out 15-20 minutes. (If you had to drain your meat, you want to cover your meat with water and simmer it off. Don't skip this step.) Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over toasted buns with pickle slices and lots of mustard. Enjoy!

This can be gluten free if you serve them naked without the bun! Super delish in a bowl as left-overs the next day.

Let it Snow

Picture Credit

Lots happening around here. Well, it seems like a lot but it really isn't.

Monday evening, we had a cold front move into our little Patch of Heaven. We had a temperature swing of about 60 degrees. Chilly I must say! The cold front brought with it winds -- high winds. High winds lifted some of our shingles and even blew some of them off our wonderful house. Now I don't know about you guys but we often say in our prayers we are thankful for the shelter our home provides us - and yes, we are still thankful but a little bummed. We had Mr. K's (Diva's boyfriend) dad - isn't it great to have connections - come and do the temporary fix on the roof. He is thinking the whole roof will need replacing. Yikes! So, the insurance adjuster is coming today to give us his opinion. Please pray for us!!!! Having the insurance cover the necessary fixes will be a huge blessing.

And the praying continues. . . all my girls are praying for snow. The weather man hinted at it about a week ago and since then, that's all we hear about. Miss Priss informed us she needs snow boots! Yep, for the freak once every 5 years snow storm. I told her we would get her some new rain boots and that would have to work. The weather man is still predicting snow for later today. Cowgirl said she would build the biggest snowman our family has ever built. I hate to be the one to inform her we will likely only see a dusting. I hope for her we get enough to create at least a mini snowman.

There have already been some alterations to the menu for this week. We didn't do beef stroganoff last night because of the rolling black-outs. I wasn't sure if we would have power and sure enough during the time we were gone for supper, we had another outage. I'm hoping we don't have those outages all day again today. We ended up getting burgers from a super yummy burger joint up in the big city. Yes, a little bit of a drive but SO worth it last night. Oh, and tonights supper plans have changed too - it still needs to be somewhat soft since the three older girls are all getting there braces tightened this afternoon - so, we will be having beef stew and some homemade yummy bread. With the temps outside not planning on getting very warm today, I figured the stew would be super yummy.

Oh, and in exciting news, we are planning our summer vacation! Guess where we are going! No matter what happens with the roof we are going - we haven't gone on a vacay for over a year and I'm going stir crazy!

Easy Corn Chowder

Gather your ingredients:

• 4 medium sized potatoes peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• water
• 2 cans creamed corn
• 1 can mexicorn, drained
• 2 cans evaporated milk
  Dice potatoes and onion and place in pot. Cover with water, just enough to fully cover. Bring to a boil and boil about 10-15 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Add drained mexicorn, creamed corn and evaporated milk. Turn down the heat because the sugars in the creamed corn with burn on the bottom. Heat through & serve.

Enjoy in a yummy bread bowl and serve with some fresh veggies.

Bread Bowls

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 tablespoon yeast (or 1 packet)

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

3 cups white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten

Dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast and stir to dissolve. Let rest until creamy - about 10 minutes. Measure dry ingredients into kitchenaid mixer bowl. Add creamy yeast mixture and set on 2. Once all the dough comes together, allow to continue mixing (kneading) for about 5 minutes. You can add up to 1/2 cup more flour if needed. Form dough into a large circle. Cut into 6 wedges and form each wedge into a ball. Place on greased baking sheet. Let rise 30 minutes (I do this in my dryer). Bake at 425*F for 20-25 minutes. You can use a basic egg wash or spritz the bread bowls with water several times during the baking process for a crispier crust.

Ravioli Chicken Not-sagna

The ingredients (there's only 4):

• Your Favorite Pasta Sauce
• Your Favorite Frozen Ravioli
• Frozen Chicken Strips
• 8 oz. Shredded Mozzarella

Grab a 9x13 baking dish. Start with the sauce put about 1/2 into the bottom. Place a layer of chicken strips and then a layer of ravioli. Top with the remaining sauce. Cover and bake at 400*F for 40 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with cheese. Return to oven for 10 minutes to melt the cheese. I always broil mine for the last few minutes. As you can see, I got distracted and my cheese got a little too browned. :o)
See, super simple quick fix! Yum and kid friendly to boot!