Grilled Beef & Cheese Sandwiches

Grilled Beef & Cheese Sandwiches:

2 tbsp butter OR olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced or sliced Fresh mushrooms(optional)

1/2 tsp minced garlic- I used the stuff in a jar

2-3 cups leftover roast beef or steak, cut into bite size pieces

1/4-1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce

Bread of choice-I like to use rye

additional butter or margarine

shredded cheese of choice-I like to use mozza or marble

Saute the onion, mushrooms and garlic in 2 tbsp of butter or oil until onion is tender. Add beef and BBQ sauce. Simmer on low-medium until it is heated through, stirring to mix all the ingredients together nicely. Remove from heat.

Put frying pan on a burner at medium temperature. Butter the outside of 2 slices of bread. Place the buttered side down of the first piece bread, sprinkle with about 1 or 2 tbsp of shredded cheese. Put about 4-5 tbsp of beef mixture on top of cheese, spreading it to cover the entire slice of bread. You may choose to add more or less depending on your method of measuring and also on the size of your bread slice. Sprinkle another 1-2 tbsp of cheese on top of the beef mixture. It is important to have both layers of cheese to ensure that the sandwich sticks together. Add the last slice of bread with the buttered side facing up. Fry each side until golden brown. There should be enough meat filling to make at least 5-6 sandwiches.

Sauce Baked Meatballs

Sauce Baked Meatballs:

Meatballs:

2 lbs ground beef

1 egg

1/2 milk

1 cup rolled oats OR bread crumbs

1/2 cup finely diced onion(optional)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

Put above ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly. Shape into meatballs. Brown in frying pan with a little splash of oil of your choice-I prefer olive oil. Place meatballs into a casserole dish.

Sauce:

3/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp soya sauce

Mix sauce ingredients together in a mixing bowl . Pour over meatballs. If you like a lot of sauce you can always double the sauce recipe. Cover and bake @ 350 for at least 30 minutes. Serve with rice and veggies or with mashed potatoes.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

Sweet & Sour Meatballs:

Meatballs:

2 lbs ground beef

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 cup rolled oats OR bread crumbs

1/2 cup finely diced onion (optional)

1  tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder

Put above ingredients into a bowl. Mix thoroughly. Shape into meatballs. Brown in a frying pan with a little splash of oil of your choice-I prefer olive oil. Meanwhile make your sauce.

Sweet & Sour Sauce:

2 cups brown sugar

2 tbsp flour

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup water

2 tbsp soya sauce

1/4 cup ketchup

Put brown sugar and flour into a saucepan. Stir well. Add remaining sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil, stirring over medium heat. 

Remove sauce from Heat. Place browned meatballs into a casserole dish. Pour sauce on top of meatballs. Bake @ 350 for at least 30 minutes. Serve with rice & veggies or mashed potatoes.

Italian Parmesan Bread

Italian Parmesan Bread:

2 cups warm water

2 tbsp yeast

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp onion flakes OR 2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

5 cups flour ( all white flour OR 4 cups white plus 1 cup whole wheat)

1 cup Parmesan cheese

Combine warm water and yeast in a mixing bowl, stirring until dissolved. Whisk in the next 7 ingredients plus 2 cups of flour. Add Parmesan cheese and mix well. Gradually add remaining flour to make a soft dough. If dough is still too sticky you may want to add another 1/2 cup flour or so. Knead until smooth and elastic. Place into a large greased bowl, turn to grease sides. Cover, and let rise for until dough is doubled-this could take up to an hour. Shape into 3 loaves. Let rise again until doubled. Bake @ 350 for 35 minutes or until golden brown.

My mom often made this bread when I was growing up. It smells incredible as it is baking. Tastes great fresh with any pasta dish or soup. Also makes a delicious cheese toast.

This dough also works great to make homemade sub buns.

Holiday Popcorn Mix

Holiday Popcorn Mix:

Popcorn

Pretzels

M&M's

white chocolate wafers

OK. So I don't have measurements for this recipe. But this is what we did. Pop a big bowl of popcorn. I used at least 15 cups. Add pretzel sticks. We broke them into bite sized pieces. Add desired amounts of M&M's. Any form of chocolate would work i.e. smartiesor Reese's pieces. We melted about 2 cups of white chocolate wafers in a double boiler. You could always add more if you like it sweeter. Drizzle melted white chocolate on top of your mixture stirring as you drizzle. Mix well. As you can see, I filled a red plastic cup and wrapped in cellophane. I love how festive it looks. Another great gift idea. 

Caramel Dip in a Jar

Caramel Dip in a Jar:

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 cup caramel sauce

skor bits

additional caramel sauce

Put softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl and whip it. Slowly add 1 cup caramel sauce as you keep whipping it. Put cream cheese mixture into a small jar; filling it as least half full. Drizzle additional caramel sauce on top and sprinkle with skor bits. I decorated my lid and placed an apple on top. I then wrapped it in cellophane and tied a ribbon around it. This makes a nice little gift.

I used a homemade caramel sauce using Kraft caramels. 

Caramel Sauce:

50 individually wrapped caramels

2 tbsp evaporated milk OR cream

Unwrap caramels. Place in a bowl. Add Milk or cream. Microwave until melted and smooth; stirring every minute or so.

Almond Kiss Cookies

Almond Kiss Cookies:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg 

1 tsp almond extract

2 tbsp Milk 

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

additional sugar

chocolate kisses( with or without almonds)

Glaze:

1 cup icing sugar

1 tbsp milk

4 tsp raspberry or strawberry jelly 

1/4 tsp almond extract

Cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg, extract and milk. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in additional sugar. Place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake@ 325°F for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Press a chocolate kiss into the centre of each cookie. Cool. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over cookies.