Cheesy Beef and Pasta

Do you ever try new recipes, save them and then completely forget about them? That is the case with this recipe. I was looking through recipe files on my computer and saw this one. I honestly cannot remember even making it, but because I took the effort to create a recipe card for it, it must have been tasty. Make it and let me know what you think!

K's Breakfast Casserole

I am a baker. That means I love following recipes...to a T. Cooking, where you make stuff up as you go along, is not my thing. However, I'm finding that the more I cook the more comfortable I am taking some liberties with recipes. Is that a sign of being a grown-up?

I recently hosted a Coffee & Coloring social for some friends. I wanted to offer a food item. At first I was thinking almond poppy seed bread or some other sweet item. But someone else offered to bring banana bread. Then I thought breakfast casserole! So many recipes included hash browns or potatoes which I didn't have in the house. I finally found one that was potato-less. I decided to alter it a little and it came out delicious!

K's Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup (ish) salsa
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
6 large eggs
Splash of milk (it was around 1-2 Tablespoons)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown meat in skillet with salsa. (I used a peach salsa which is yum, yum, yum! I also love salsa with pineapple in it.) Drain fat and let cool.

Mix cheese, eggs,  milk, salt and pepper. Stir in meat mixture. Pour into 9 inch baking dish or pie plate. Bake for 45-55 minutes.

Porcupines and other things...

I've been M.I.A. lately! Sorry about that.

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend away to visit my husband. Fredericksburg was a neat town. Our cabin was wonderful and like a little world away from everything. I think one day I would love to own a bed and breakfast. I just think it would be so rewarding. We ate some good food and saw some neat things.

It was unbelievably hard to leave. I just feel so good when I'm with him and it's like I'm incomplete without him. I know that sounds really sappy and maybe a little anti-feminist (not that I care about either), but it is true for me.

This past weekend was a good distraction because three of my college friends came all the way up to Ohio to visit me! It was nice to sit around and talk, show them around town and just have some company from people I feel truly comfortable around. It is so hard making new friends because I always feel an uneasiness until you really get to know the person and they get to know you. I've known these girls for close to ten years now (which blows my mind).

While they were here, I took the opportunity to make a recipe from my childhood. I asked my sister to email it to me a while back and had not made it yet. The recipe is for Porcupines (aka meatballs). Unfortunately we ate them all without taking any pictures, but they were delicious and super easy. I stole the picture below from Google. 

Ingredients

Quick tomato sauce (recipe below)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used brown rice)
1/4 cup minced onion
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Lightly grease a 2 1/2 qt. casserole dish. Prepare and set aside tomato sauce, adding 1/2 c water. Meanwhile combine beef, rice, onion, salt and pepper. Mix lightly and shape into 1 1/2 inch balls.
Put in casserole, cover with sauce. Cover with lid or foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour or until rice is tender.

Quick Tomato Sauce
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 c chopped celery
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion (I didn't actually have onion, so I didn't add this)
1 1/4 c (10 1/2-11 oz) condensed tomato soup
3/4 c water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard (I also didn't have this)
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Heat butter in small skillet, add veggies, cooking until soft, remove from heat and add everything else. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes or until warm. (I somehow missed the simmering direction, so my sauce came out really thin and watery...oops!)

My sister suggested that if you want to avoid the canned soup in case of MSG or other reasons, you can use canned tomato sauce with a couple tablespoons of tomato paste. I was lazy and just used canned tomato soup.