Beefy Pepper Noodle

Beefy Pepper Noodle has become a "go-to" dinner for our family, especially since I have been pregnant and craving beef like nobody's business.  This is another recipe that can be done either in the crock pot or dutch oven.  I almost always cook this in the dutch oven because I tend to forget about supper until about 2:00 and then I scramble for something to throw together and I can get it done faster in the dutch oven.  This cooks in the oven for about 4 hours and only requires about 10 minutes of hands-on time.

Vegetable Beef Soup

I have been playing around with Vegetable Beef Soup for a few years now and this is the first batch that I didn't find a single thing wrong with.  I should say up front that I believe Vegetable Beef Soup should have noodles in it.  I never knew there were two camps of vegetable beef soup folks--Noodles vs. No Noodles (Matt is in the no noodle camp).   Anyhow, this takes a few hours of simmering but very little hands-on work.

Pork Enchiladas

I am a big fan of cooking once and getting two or three meals out of it.  I would rather spend a little time a couple days a week cooking for real and then using what I have previously cooked (and frozen in my handy quart sized bags) in another dish or as a repeat of what I originally cooked.  These pork enchiladas are a twist on my chicken enchiladas.  They were very well received at a church activity and again the next week when I cooked them for us to have as a family.

Cheese Tortellini Soup

October is the beginning of soup season in the Lansing household and this soup is by far our favorite.  I first had a version of this soup many years ago at a Christmas dinner party and I thought it was so good that I never made it past the soup course.   As is typical for my cooking, I tweak and tweak until I get the dish to where I am finally happy with it and this soup is no exception.

Jambalaya

Jambalaya was always very intimidating to me. My husband Matt had spent quite a bit of time in New Orleans following the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, working on the return to flight investigation.  During his time there he became well versed in Cajun food.  I think hearing him talk so fondly of the delicious food down there was part of intimidated me.  I figured my jambalaya could never measure up.

I was wrong.

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich

Let me start with a disclaimer.  This is not an authentic Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich.  In my opinion it is better.  It tastes just as good but you don't have to take Tums chased with Pepto Bismol after eating it.

Pork Barbecue

Pork barbecue can be intimidating.  Trust me.  I will smoke just about anything to avoid smoking pork barbecue but I must say this has been my most successful attempt to date.  I am here to set your mind at ease by showing how you too can have a beauty like the one above in 16 hours and 32 easy steps.  I kid.  About the steps part at least.  It really does take 16 hours but the labor intensive parts only require about 30 minutes.  Not too bad if you ask me.

Egg Nog Bread Pudding

It happened again last week.  We were out as a family at the grocery store when suddenly Matt stopped at the dairy case and smiled.  He had something he wanted to show me.  Egg Nog was back in the dairy case for the holiday season, and that could mean only one thing: Egg Nog Bread Pudding.

Meatball Subs

Ever have one of those days where you get crazy ambitious and three hours later you have cleaned the bathroom like the Tazmanian Devil on performance enhancing drugs (surprising since I just ran to the bathroom to grab a hair clip, not turn cleaning into an Olympic sport), cooked enough meat for four dishes, a dinner, a dessert, and finished three loads of laundry?  I had one of those days this past week.  I returned home from a meeting at work and thought "maybe I should go ahead and cook this meat".  Next thing I knew, we were sitting down to tasty meatball subs (but not before random Extreme Sport cleaning).  And yes, it is as big as it looks.  I was only able to eat half.

Perhaps the easiest cake you will ever make

I am almost embarrassed to put this on the blog.  It really isn't a recipe.  It simply involves opening a box and a can.   But this "recipe" has been a go-to for me recently when I have needed a dessert in 30 minutes and I don't have the desire or time to really bake.