Baked Ravioli (from the Kitchen of Ann K)

Baked Ravioli

What you need:
1         9x13 pan
1         package of rosetta ravioli (any flavor you like)
1         20 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
1         (medium size) tub of cottage cheese
1         4 cup bag of mozzarella shredded cheese

Cook the ravioli in as directed. drain
Spread 1/4 cup (or eyeball it) of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the pan
Spread a layer of ravioli
Then a layer of cottage cheese
Then the mozzarella
Then repeat until all ingredients are used.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350.  (isn't everything baked at 350?)

Serve with a Caesar salad and I pick up the Texas Toast with 4 cheeses.

Cream of Refridgerator Soup - From the Kitchen of Elaine Allen

Presuming that you have some vegetable stock sitting in your fridge  (sometimes I'll just add bullion to water if I don't have stock), start by warming it over medium heat in a LARGE pot.
make a roux: In a seperate sauce pan, cook flour in fat ( butter or olive oil), garlic, and as much as 1/4 cup diced
onion for each 2 cups of liquid you will be using. Add a little leftover white wine to a roux that has been cooking a few minutes;mind the steam.  add the roux mixture to the stock.This will thicken up the stock so that it looks and tastes creamy. ( IF by some chance the stock doesn't thicken up enough, I will look for left over cooked potatoes and blenderize with some stock to then add to thicken the soup.) Both methods will make the CREAM OF part of this soup.
check for seasoning: a little Tabasco and white pepper would be lovely;wait to add salt until close to serving. To finish this soup, open refrig and pull out  cut up chicken or sausage or ham, add some beans, any kind of vegies , noodles..whatever your family will tolerate in a soup.This is your moment to shine and experiment.
Keep the heat under control so the soup doesn't boil.  Taste and add salt.   This will go great with grilled cheese sandwiches, your refrig will have less things in it to spoil and you will have served a good meal that saved a few pennies.

From the Kitchen of Joanne Martinson

   PIZZA BURGERS

1 lb. hamburger

1 can tomato soup

1/2 can water

oregano to taste

4 cup bag pre-shredded mozzarella cheese 

hamburger buns (or choice)

~Brown hamberger in fry pan, drain excess grease. Add tomato soup, water, and

oregano. Mix together on low heat, and add a handful of the mozzarella cheese.

Open buns and place onto cookie sheet (for this amount, a bag of 8 is enough).

Spoon enough meat mixture on top of each 1/2, and top with cheese. I am very

generous with cheese, as I love them gooey!

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until just golden.

                                                      SLOPPY JOES

1 lb. hamburger

chopped onion

1 can tomato soup

ketchup

mustard

1 tsp. vinegar

hamburger buns

~Brown hamburger with onion, drain excess grease. Add tomato soup, squirt of 

ketchup and mustard to desires taste. Add vinegar, and serve.

                           ****These recipes can be doubled or tripled according to # of

         people eating.****

The Same Ol' Cracker...

Growing up I remember that the ladies in my family all really knew how to cook wonderful meals and I mean cook! I must preface the remainder of the story with the reality of my family. While growing up most all the women stayed home while the men worked outside of the home. The women were responsible for cooking, cleaning, making appointments, and the small people running around their homes. This is likely where I got my warped sense that my husband should manage all vehicle issues, outdoor work and I will handle the indoor work and appointments for children, etc. This also includes cooking for the family!

With all of that said I have absolutely NO idea how my mother or any of the other women in my family figured out how to make good meals that the kids enjoyed and kept up a good variety. I feel like I am making the same meals over and over and over again and soon the family is going to notice and there will be a mutany.

I work outside of the home, I have little to no energy when I return home...oh hell, even on days I don't work I don't have much energy to cook and do all the other stuff necessary. I really don't ever feel like cooking but child protective services would prefer I not starve my children! Recently I've started writing out a menu for a week and then grocery shopping specifcally for that menu. It not only saves my sanity when I know what I'm making and what I need to thaw while I am at work or the night before but it also saves us money to only get what is needed from the grocery store.

It wasn't until just a couple of days ago I e-mailed my childhood friend, Carrie and asked her what types of things she makes for her family for dinner. Carrie's mother and mine were dear friends for a very long time and very frequently cooked the same types of really yummy dinners. Eating at Carries was always just as good as Mom's cooking at home and even better during Lent (I used to be Catholic) when we didn't eat meat on Fridays and if you were lucky enough for an invite to dinner when they were serving waffles with ice cream! YUMMO!

So...Carrie makes a lot of similar meals but there has to be some different things that I just can't think of so I e-mailed her and then we talked about sharing our recipes through a weekly exchange. Then it dawned on me that I have this great recipe section on here where we can all share recipes! I would just ask that if you have a great recipe that your family loves that is easy enough to make after a long day of working or that can be cooked in a crock pot...PLEASE SHARE with me and the others who follow the blog. You can e-mail me your recipes at rachelperez01@comcast.net and I will share them if you would like. If you don't want me to share them on the blog but want to share with me...I'll be just as grateful!

This could be a great place to come to get those home cooked meal recipes that we all loved growing up or love because we've tried them in our own kitchens and they were a huge success. I have shared some of mine already and will add to that but I am excited to try other's recipes also. Please share so we can all make life a little easier (not having to really think to come up with something for dinner is such a nice little luxury).

Thanks all and happy cooking!

Puppy Chow - A Perez Party of Eight favorite!!

This is a treat that disappears very quickly in our home:

1 box (14oz) Crispex cereal
1 bag (12 oz) milk chocolate chips
2 C. peanut butter
3 C powdered sugar
1/2 C butter

In a medium saucepan melt butter and add peanut butter, melt together and then add chocolate chips. Make sure the mixture is completely melted together and pour over your cereal. Once you have coated your cereal you can either use a large bowl or brown paper bag to sprinkle powdered sugar over the cereal mixture and shake to coat well.

Serve and enjoy!

My husband actually puts his in a bowl with milk and eats it like cereal. I'm a little grossed out by that! :)

Beef Stroganoff

1-2lbs of beef stew meat
2 T. Olive Oil
2 lg. cans Cream of Mushroom Soup (I use the low fat/low sodium variety)
1 1/2 C Milk
2 packets of Onion Soup Mix
1-2 containers of sliced mushrooms
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1 container of Light Sour Cream

Brown stew meat on the stove top using the olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper
In crock pot add cream of mushroom soup, milk and onion soup mix stir well. Add mushrooms and browned beef and mix together so meat is all covered in soup mixture.
Cook in crock pot on low setting for up to eight hours. The longer you cook the more tender the meat becomes.

Shortly before you are ready to serve add sour cream and stir in well. Serve mixture over egg noodles, any pasta you prefer or mashed potatoes.

Great on a cool day!

Stuffed Peppers

1lb. Ground Turkey (or ground beef if you prefer)
2 C. Cooked Minute Brown Rice (white if you prefer)
2 cans of Tomato Sauce
1/2 C. Clamato Juice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 Bell or Green Peppers
1 T. Worcestire Sauce


Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Brown turkey and cook rice as directed. Add salt, pepper, rice to turkey. Mix tomato sauce, Clamato and worcestire sauce together (set aside about 1 C.) and pour over the hamburger/rice mixuture. Mix well. Boil a large pot of water. Cut tops off peppers and clean the pepper out well so it is free from seeds, etc. Submerge entire peppers into boiling water for about five minutes. Remove peppers from water and once cooled fill peppers with meat/rice mixture. Once peppers are full set them upright in a glass or non-stick baking pan. Pour remaining tomato sauce mixture over the tops of the stuffed peppers. Bake for 30 minutes and serve.

Chili Cheese Mac

Another recipe I tried this week that the kids (and hubby loved) that is SO easy and fast:

1 1/2 lbs. Ground Beef (I use a really lean ground beef)
1 lb. loaf of processed cheese (sm.velveeta loaf) cubed
12 oz. Elbow Macaroni
1 pkg. Chili Seasoning Mix (I use McCormicks Original)
2 T. Butter
1/2 C. Milk
1 can Diced Tomatos

Brown ground beef and add chili seasoning packet and diced tomatos. Mix well and set aside.
Cook macaroni according to the directions on the package (I used about 14 oz). Once noodles are cooked, drain and begin melting butter and velveeta, add milk and noodles back to the pan stirring until all ingredients are melted together and creamy. Add ground beef mixture to the noodles and mix well. Enjoy.

Chicken A-La-King

This is one that I made this week that the whole family loved:
(I tripled this recipe for my family of seven)

1pkg. boneless skinless chicken breast cooked and cubed (I cooked on the stove top with garlic infused EVOO, salt and pepper)

1/4 C. Butter
1/2 C. Chicken Broth
1 C. Milk
1/2 C. Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
Veggies as Desired but I used:
1 Red Bell Pepper cut into smaller pieces
1 pkg of sliced mushrooms
1 C. frozen peas

Melt butter in your pan, after butter is completely melted add flower slowly as you mix it in to make a rue.
Add salt, chicken broth and milk. Stir continuously over low heat until sauce is thickened.
Add your cooked chicken pieces and veggies, stir and serve over bisquits. I prefer the Grands flaky style.
There wasn't even a morsel left over other than the mushrooms my hubby picks out! :) Enjoy!

Mom Emerson's Lasagna

Please feel free to send me your recipes and I will be more than happy to add them to the Perez, Party of Eight Recipe collection!

1 Pkg. No Cook Lasagna Noodles (my mother would have been ecstatic had they come out with these while she was still living)
2 C. Shredded Parmesean Cheese
4 C. Shredded Mozarella
2 large cans Tomato Puree
1/4 C. Italian Seasoning (if you use the dried pre-mixed kind) OR basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion salt
1/8 C. Sugar
2 lbs. Ground Beef (lean)
1 small/medium yellow onion
1 T. minced garlic
1 container Ricotta (optional)

Brown ground beef adding onion at the end just until tender (rinse any excess fat/grease)
Add Tomato puree and then fill each can about 1/2 to 3/4 full and add water, add spices, garlic, sugar and mix well.

Smear about 1/2 C. of sauce on the bottom of a glass or metal lasagna pag (spray with Olive Oil PAM if you wish to prevent sticking).
Layer the no-cook lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of the pan, layer the noodles with 1. Sauce (thin layer), parmesean, mozarella (making sure you save enough of these to spread on at least two more layers).

Layer more noodles and follow the above steps for as many layers as you can fit. Save the majority of your mozarella for the top of the lasagna.

If you wish to add ricotta spread this on the noodles before the sauce for each layer.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for approximately 40 minutes, remove the foil and let the cheese get golden for approximately another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes before cutting/serving.

Serve with garlic bread (we love Cole's Texas Toast or Peppridge Farm mozarella garlic bread)
and a vegetable salad with non or low fat Italian dressing.

Makes about 10 servings

Grocery Shopping. Why do we do it to ourselves?

It's Sunday and we've picked this morning from our busy weekend to make our weekly trip to the grocery store. This is something that is normally considered a luxury for me because I get to go alone while all the kids stay home with Dan. Yay for me!

However, today we decided to take the boys and go together on the way home from running other errands. This would be a time saver right? Never mind that Daniel Jr. was really overdue for his nap and Nicholas has turned into the million question a day maniac! Are we going to the grocery store? How do we get there? Which grocery store? Do they have the blue race car cart? Do they have a bathroom? Do they have food there? Where is the grocery store? Are we going to the grocery store now? OMFG! I almost threw myself out of the truck on the freeway into oncoming traffic for goodness sake! It would have been less painful than enduring Nicholas' rant.

Once in the grocery store I have a list, I search the coupons because I work my ass off to save our money to the last penny. This drives Dan Sr. nuts since it takes me about five minutes or so to scan both ads and tear out needed coupons. The list, none-the-less saves time because I break it up by area of the store (i.e. produce, dairy, meat, frozen, etc). Did I mention my mild case of OCD?

So, off we go...running from this to that to get each item on the list to support my menu of family friendly, holy shit are we eating this again, meals. We then encounter the cereal/fruit snack aisle. This is where shit goes seriously down hill. First, they have a mountain of Spaghettios at the end of this isle, one type has a picture of Dora the Explorer on the front and Nick sees it. OMG, you would have thought it was the only food he would get to eat all week the way he clung to that can (at least when grabbing it he didn't knock the entire mountain to the floor). He whined and begged and we gave in. Why not let the kid eat some fake, crappy, canned concoction of who knows what preservatives and other shit at least once in a blue moon? So he carried his can of Dora spaghettios proudly down the aisle until he got sight of the endless shelves of fruit snacks. Now, here is where the "why do we do it to ourselves?" part comes in.

Nick proceeded to grab a box of fruit snacks at his level, off the shelf, knocking about four other boxes to the floor. By the time this scene occurred Dan and I were already heading out of the aisle to proceed to the next area of our list. Nick decided to scream for us to stop and wait while whining and fake crying. I do the normal thing I do when our kids aren't paying attention to our requests to follow along and walk with us...I told him "bye Nick" and started to walk away prompting Dan to do the same.  Nick had already picked the boxes up and was just staring at the shelves longingly.

This my friends is when the couple in their 40s, possibly 50s was walking by near Nick giving Dan and I the looks of "aren't you just a horrible couple of fucking parents to treat your child that way". I ignored them as I do most people who don't have any idea or have simply forgotten how difficult it is to bring your pre-school aged children to the grocery store UNTIL...wait for it...UNTIL...they bent down to console our screaming, tantrum throwing, whiny son and helped him pick up the two new boxes he had thrown off the shelf onto the floor.

I started back down the aisle, glaring at the couple and asked politely that Nick say "thank you" for their "help".  They looked at me as though I was the spawn of Satan himself and told me "he was trying so hard to pick them up and he just couldn't when you were walking away". OMFG?! What did you just say? Have you never seen a child throw a tantrum? Have you never experienced this snafu in the grocery store before? Every mother/father in that store with a child was gritting his/her teeth threatening their children under their breath this morning (as only another parent can hear and appreciate). Am I the only one who gets these morons that give me a guilt trip because I have some how screwed up my child's future completely by walking away from him while he was having a tantrum in a public place? Did they think I was actually going to leave him by himself in the middle of the grocery store while I went about my merry way? What in the heck do these people honestly have going through their head? Holy moly rocky did they piss me off!

Nick proceeded to whine his way through the grocery store, opening and slamming freezer case doors, grabbing and throwing products this way and that...he is the child my mother hoped for me to have. The one that would help me understand all she went through with me. God help us!

I am going to the grocery store alone from now on!