Cheeseburger Wrap

I love cheeseburgers. They're kind of addicting, so I try not to eat them frequently. I had hamburger meat in the refrigerator, but I didn't feel like making patties. I had tortillas, so I thought I'd whip up some cheeseburger wraps. They were the perfect solution.

Here's what you need:

• 1 lb. of hamburger meat
• 2 Tbs of Worcester sauce
• 1 Tbs of soy sauce
• 1/2 C of ketchup
• 5 medium tortillas
• The cheese and other toppings of your choice

Here's what you do:

• Brown and drain your hamburger meat.
• Put it back in the pan and add in the Worcester sauce, soy sauce, and ketchup.
• Stir on low until it's well mixed.
• Add a couple of spoon fulls of the meat to the tortilla.
• Sprinkle on your cheese and add your other toppings.
• Fold the wrap and place in a clean pan with the seam side down, with the stove on medium heat.
• Cook until the tortilla is lightly browned, flip, and cook the other side.

 
It was so easy and fast. And the soy sauce really adds a great flavor to the meat. I can easily see myself making these at least once a week. And, even though it's very difficult to eat only one, they're great for potion control. I hope these turn out great for you!

Pizza Cups

If there's anything CM and I love eating, it's pizza. We have it at least once a week, and we never get tired of it. Via Napoli at Epcot in Disney World, Big Daddy's in Gatlinburg, and NY Pie in Nashville (Your Pie in Athens gets an honorable mention) are our top 3 favorite pizza places. If we lived within 30 minutes of any of those places, it would be terrible for our wallets and waistlines. Fortunately, there aren't too many pizza places around where we live that are just so amazing that we just have to have it over all other places.... though one place did just open up a few blocks away, and it's very delicious, so we have to restrain ourselves.

But since pizza is one of our favorite things to eat, making it at home is the most economical way to get it! I wish this were a post where I handmade my own pizza dough, but we can't afford a Kitchenaid standmixer (the mint one, in case anyone wants to make a donation to a wonderful cause - my baking!), so I either buy pizza crusts at the store, or I use Pillsbury biscuits to make pizza cups.

They're basically mini deep dish pizzas, and they're perfect if you're trying to keep portions under control.

Here's what you need:

• 1 large tube of Pillsbury Grands biscuits
• 1 lb of hamburger meat, or whatever else you would like in your pizza cup
• 16 oz of pizza sauce
• The cheese of your choice (I used pizza and cheddar)

Here's what you do:

• Preheat the oven to the degree on the tube of biscuits
• Brown your hamburger meat, or cook whatever meats will be in your pizza cup.
• Drain, then put back in the pan and stir in your pizza sauce.
• Spray a cupcake pan with cooking spray.
• Place one biscuit in each of the spots and press them up and along the inside of the muffin tin.
• Put your meat into each cup, and top with cheese.
• If I'm doing pepperoni, I usually put one pepperoni on the bottom and one on top of the other meat in the cup. 
• You may have some meat leftover, I usually do.
• Place in the oven and cook for about 8-10 minutes.

Let them cool for a few minutes before trying to remove them from the tin. I'm usually able to use a fork to easily pry them out of the tin. I usually have leftovers, and they're just as good the next day as they are the night they're made. 

When my boys get a little older, I know that they'll easily be a family favorite. AB actually had his first taste tonight because I made a couple using his vegan cheese. He at a whole cup, which is a lot for him. I'm sure your family will love these too, especially if they're huge fans of pizza like us!

Let me know how they were and be sure to share this recipe!

Crock-Pot Beef Stew

It's the middle of April. I'm currently bundled up in my recliner, trying to stay warm. This weather is stupid. It was so pretty and warm this weekend, and now it's cold. There are several things that are just perfect for cold days, and one of those is beef stew. It just has a way of warming your entire body.

And what is the easiest way to make beef stew? In a Crock-Pot! I certainly have a love affair with my Crock-Pot, if you haven't noticed by now. It's one of the best things my husband ever got me, and he actually got away with giving it as a Valentine's Day gift! Screw perfume or jewelry or roses. I'll take my Crock-Pot and I'll love it forever. But back to the beef stew...

It's really easy to make. The majority of my prep work was just cutting vegetables. Unless you're just ridiculously slow with cutting veggies, it should take you less than 15 minutes to get it all together.

Here's what you need:

• 1 1/2 - 2 lb of beef tips (It saves you the trouble of having to cut any meat.)
• 1 1/2 C of beef stock (You can use beef broth too, but stock is preferable.)
• 1 can of tomato paste
• 1 Tbs of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbs of soy sauce
• 1 Tbs of balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbs of all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbs of salt
• 1 Tbs of pepper
• Carrots (as many as you want)
• Potatoes (as many as you want, and red or russet both work)
• 1 medium onion (I usually only use half of the onion)
• An additional 4 Tbs of flour (for later)
• An additional 3/4 C of beef stock (for later)

Here's what you do:

• Put the beef tips, beef stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, flour, salt, and pepper into the crock pot. 
• Mix together with a wooden spoon.
• Top with the carrots, potatoes, and onion.
• Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or on high for 5 hours.
• About 30 minutes before serving, add in your additional 4 Tbs of flour and 3/4 C of beef stock and stir. This is to help it thicken.
• Let the stew cook for the last 30 minutes, then serve. 

 
CM loves a thick stew, so if you prefer something thinner, I suggest not adding the additional flour and stock, or just adding 2 Tbs of flour and 1/4 C of stock.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think! Be sure to share this with your family and friends!

Easy Homemade French Dip Sandwiches

Well, for dinner on Monday night, I was a tad unprepared and had no idea of what to make. This hasn't happened in recent times because I've been trying to organize my life, which means actually planning for meals! It's kind of hard to organize with a toddler and a newborn, but I think I get an A for effort.

I only had one piece of meat in our kitchen that wasn't frozen, a sirloin tip roast, so I worked with that. And what I ended up deciding on was the very easy French dip sandwich. Now, Andi, you ask... how can something that sounds so fancy be so easy? Well, Crock-Pot. Again with the Crock-Pot. I've mentioned it before how much I love it. I love it so much that I actually asked my husband to get me this piece of kitchen equipment for Valentine's day... and typically getting a woman any kind of kitchen appliance or cleaning appliance is a no-no. But, it has served my family beautifully, and I kind of like new appliances. 

Anyway, French dip sandwiches are one of CM's favorite foods. I feel like I say that a lot. He does like to eat... and yet he's so skinny. I could strangle him. And as it turns out, these sandwiches are also one of my mother-in-law's favorites as well, so I can impress her by making them one day... or I can make amends for when CM does something to make her mad (it's only a matter of time).

Here's what you need:

• 3-4 lb of any type of beef roast
• 1 packet of onion soup mix
• 1 packet of au jus gravy mix
• 30 oz of beef stock
• 2 C water
• Hoagie rolls
• Enough cheese for each sandwich
• Provolone, Swiss or White American are the typical cheeses used

Here's what you do:

• Put the roast into the Crock-Pot.
• Stir the onion soup mix, the au jus mix, the beef stock, and the water in a bowl.
• Using a wisk is preferable.
• Pour the mix over the roast in the Crock-Pot.
• Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for about 5.
• If your Hoagie rolls aren't already as crusty as you would like, stick them in the oven for a few minutes to toast them.
• Pull the roast from the Crock-Pot and shred it, place it on your rolls, then place the cheese on top.

My delicious roast, fresh from the Crock-Pot, and CM's Epic Meal Time knife.

•    Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet and put them in the oven on broil to get the cheese all nice and melty, and it will toast your rolls a little more.
• Do not leave the oven. If you don't keep a watch on them while they're in the oven on broil, they will burn, and it will happen quickly.
• Ladle the au jus into a dish, dip, and enjoy!

My sandwiches with swiss cheese.

Cliff's sandwich with provolone cheese.

These may take all day to cook, but they're that perfect meal for when you have a long day of work and don't want to do much cooking when you get home. I like to add additional vegetables to the mix while it cooks, such as carrots and potatoes. Those are really my go-to veggies when it comes to Crock-Pot cooking. And I love carrots!

Anyway, if you use a 3 lb roast, the recipe should render about 9 sandwiches, and a 4 lb roast should make about 12 sandwiches. Sooooo... 1 lb = 3 sandwiches, essentially. Of course, it depends on how much meat you stuff on the sandwich. If you put a ton, it will obviously make fewer ones. 

So leave me a comment and let me know what you thought about it, and be sure to share this with everyone! Also, if you haven't already, be sure to like my new Facebook page for Mint Kitchen Love! Just click the little yellow Facebook circle below and it will take you right to my page! Feel free to connect with me on all the other social media sites as well!

Cheesy, Beefy Crock-Pot Ravioli

Oh, Crock-Pot. How I love you. I can literally just pile food up in it, let it cook for a little while, then take it out and have something delicious. I don't have to stir it, I don't even have to look at it! So if I'm able to make something in it, I will. 

Combine that with my love of ravioli, and I have a very good, very easy meal. It was one of my favorite things the cafeteria would make in high school. Of course, it came from a Chef Boyardee can, straight into a pan for the oven, topped with cheese. It isn't something they could mess up.

I, personally, don't mind Chef Boyardee brand. But CM loves to remind me of how he's Italian (he's like 1/8 Italian or something- he says he's "Olive Garden Italian"), and being the slightest fraction of Italian makes him despise Chef Boyardee. So I'm not allowed to take an industrial-sized can of ravioli, dump it in a dish and bake it with cheese. He would know. That's why I have this recipe for Crock-Pot ravioli.

Now, I didn't make my own pasta dough and whip up my own batch of ravioli. I used frozen cheese ravioli, which is just about as easy as making it from a can... only it tastes better (in my opinion). And this recipe is very flexible, as far as what you use in it.

Here's what you need:

• 40 oz of frozen unbreaded ravioli (I got the 4 cheese kind, but there are many varieties)
• Also, the kind I use says, "Ready in 5 Minutes." Don't let that confuse you! Putting it in the Crock-Pot will not make it ready in 5 minutes, even if you've got it on high. I promise.
• 16 oz of your favorite pasta sauce (I used Classico 4 cheese sauce because we love cheese)
• 1 lb. of ground beef
• 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

Here's what you do:

• Toss your frozen ravioli into the Crock-Pot.
• Mix in your pasta sauce
• Let your pasta cook on high for 2 1/2 hours. 
• But some Crock-Pots are faster, and some slower. So it could be done as soon as 2 hours, or as late as 3 hours.
• About 30 minutes before you're ready to serve it, begin to brown your hamburger.
• Stir in your hamburger, then add your cheese on top.
• Let it continue to cook for another 20 minutes to let the cheese melt.

If you want to leave this cooking for the day while at work, or out and about, you can cook it on low for about 6 hours or so. As well, I love having leftovers for the next day, so if you don't want to make enough for a family of 4+, or you don't want leftovers, simply cut the amount of ravioli, sauce, and cheese in half.

It's really that easy. It takes about 2 1/2 hours (at the least) to whip it up. And, as I said earlier, there is a ton of flexibility for how you can make this dish. Instead of the 4 cheese pasta, you can use meat-filled pasta, or seasoned pasta, or any other kind of frozen pasta you find. You can use different meats, such as ground turkey, or chop up pieces of chicken or sausage, or no meat at all! You don't have to use mozzarella, either. Mozzarella is just the standard cheese that is used for ravioli, so that's why I used it. And if you want to add SOMETHING healthy, you can always throw in some veggies. I might stick some broccoli in there next time because CM positively loves broccoli. That may or may not be a lie. The number of variations for this dish means you can have it pretty frequently and (probably) won't get sick of it quickly.

So, let me know how you liked it, and how you made it your own! If you loved it, be sure to share it with your family and friends.

And as an added bonus for my readers, here's a photo of my sweet CD: