Smith Family Favorites: Meal Edition

The following recipes are all meals I grew up eating.  My mom was an amazing cook and definitely passed on her love of food to me.  Most of these recipes are of the comfort food variety, which is always a hit with me.  

Porcupine Meatballs

1 lb ground beef (I’ve been using ground turkey lately)

½ C long grain white rice

1 tsp salt

1 T minced onion (I use onion flakes)

1 can condensed tomato soup

2/3 soup can of water

Form first 4 ingredients into meatballs, not too big.  Mix soup & water; pour over meatballs.  Cover & bake at 325 degrees for 1 ½ hrs.  (Love served with garlic mashed potatoes!)

Sour Cream Enchiladas

½ C chopped onion

½ C sour cream

1 dozen tortillas

1 C diced cooked chicken

2 cans cream soup (chicken, mushroom, celery, etc)

4.5 oz can chopped green chiles

Combine soup, sour cream & chiles; stir til smooth.  Mix together chicken & onion.  Add spoonful of sour cream mixture down the middle of each tortilla, then add a spoonful of chicken filling.  Roll each tortilla & place side by side in baking dish.  Pour remaining sauce over all & bake at 350 degrees for 20 min.  (Can add cheese on top, but not in my house, of course.)

Mom’s Microwave Meatloaf

1 lb lean ground beef or turkey

8 oz tomato sauce

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 C quick oats

1 T minced onion (onion flakes)

1/8 tsp minced garlic or garlic powder, to taste

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients into a microwavable loaf pan (I have a Pyrex one); cook 8-10 min. 

Sauce:

1/3 C ketchup

1 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1 T brown sugar

1 T mustard

Blend well; pour over loaf.  Cook an additional 3-4 minutes.

Ham Balls / Loaf

2 lbs. ground ham or ham loaf mix

2 lbs. ground beef

2 C graham cracker crumbs

2 eggs

1 ½ C milk

Mix & spread into pan or shape into balls. 

Sauce:

1 can tomato soup

1 ½ C brown sugar

¼ - ½ C vinegar

Pour sauce over loaf/balls & bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.

Baked Pork Chops with Stuffing (from Grammy P.)

6-8 pork chops

2 C bread crumbs

1/3 C marg/butter, melted

1 C hot chicken broth or V-8

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 tsp poultry seasoning or sage

Brown pork chops in small amount of oil.  Season with salt & pepper; place in baking dish.  Combine remaining ingredients to make stuffing.  Spoon a mound of dressing on each pork chop.  Bake at 350 degrees  for about an hour.

Bacon Chicken

1 pkg dried beef

2-4 chicken breasts

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 C sour cream

4 pieces of bacon

Line 9x13 pan with dried beef (I break up into smaller pieces).  Wrap chicken with bacon and place on top of dried beef.  Mix soup & sour cream.  Pour over chicken.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Serve over long grain & wild rice mix.

5 Hour Oven Stew

2 lbs stew meat

2 tsp salt

1 onion

2 T tapioca (not pudding - just tapioca granules)

6 potatoes

3 stalks celery in large diagonal cuts

1 T sugar

6 carrots in large chunks or baby carrots, cut into chunks

1 large can V-8 juice

Put all ingredients in an oven dish or pan and cover tightly.  Bake at 325 degrees for 5 hours.  Uncover midway & stir.  Serve with biscuits or corn muffins. (This is a very thick stew.)

Baked Potato Soup from The Machine Shed

2 ½ lbs baby red potatoes, quartered

½ lb bacon, diced

1 jumbo yellow onion, diced

¼ bunch celery, diced

2 oz chicken soup base

1 qt milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 ½ sticks marg/butter

¾ C flour

1 C heavy whipping cream or ½ & ½

¼ bunch parsley, chopped or dried parsley

Boil potatoes in 1 qt water for 10 min.  Set aside.  Do not drain.  In a large pot, sauté bacon, onions & celery over medium-high heat until celery is tender.  Drain bacon grease & return bacon, onions & celery to pot.  Add milk, potato water, chicken base, salt & pepper.  Heat over medium-high heat until very hot.  Do not boil.  In large saucepan, melt marg/butter.  Add flour.  Mix well & allow to bubble, stirring for 1 min.  While stirring soup, constantly add the flour & marg mixture slowly.  Continue stirring until soup is thick & creamy.  Stir in potatoes, parsley & cream.  Serve while hot.  Garnish with shredded Cheddar, fried bacon bits & chopped green onions.  (We love Tastefully Simple’s Bacon Bacon for bacon bits.)

Savory Beef Skillet

1 lb ground beef

¾ C onion, chopped (or onion flakes)

1/8 tsp garlic powder

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp oregano

Dash of pepper

1 ½ C tomato juice

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 C Minute Rice

In large skillet, brown meat & onion; drain grease.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil; simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Mexican Chicken Casserole

3 C cooked chicken, diced

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can Rotel tomatoes or 12 oz salsa

1 medium onion, chopped

Broken up Doritos or tortilla chips

Shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)

Mix soups & salsa/tomatoes together.  In dish, layer ½ Doritos, chicken, onion, soup mixture & cheese.  Repeat, ending with cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Sunday Dinner (aka Pot Roast)

4-5 lb beef roast (arm roast preferred)

1 pkg Lipton’s beefy mushroom soup mix (or beefy onion or onion)

Peeled potatoes

Peeled carrots or baby carrots

Small peeled onions, if desired

Brown roast on both sides in Dutch oven or roasting pan.  Sprinkle dry soup mix over roast.  Cover tightly and put in oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  After an hour, put carrots, potatoes & onions around roast.  Cover tightly & return to oven at 275 degrees for 2 -2 ½ hours.  After removing meat & veggies, use drippings to make wonderful gravy. 

Hot Chicken Salad

3 C cooked chicken, cubed

1 C diced celery, optional

1 – 2 C cooked long grain rice

1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained

½ C milk

¾ C Miracle Whip

1 T lemon juice

2 T finely chopped onion (or onion flakes)

3 hard cooked eggs, diced

1 can cream of chicken soup

Mix all ingredients together & put in 9x13 dish.

Topping:

1 C cornflake crumbs

¼ C melted marg/butter

½ C slivered almonds

Spread on top & bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Seafood Pasta

4 T marg/butter

½ C flour

Milk, as desired

1 can chopped clams

Other seafood, such as shrimp or crab

Garlic

Salt & pepper, as desired

Melt marg/butter, add flour & garlic; stir over low heat until flour has been absorbed.  Add milk while stirring over low heat.  It will bubble and get thick so keep adding milk & let cook until it’s the thickness you like.  It’s good if it’s fairly thick before adding the clams because the juice will thin it down.  Don’t let it boil after you add the clams, to avoid the clams getting tough.  Add rest of seafood, salt & pepper, to taste.  Serve over cooked pasta. 

My family also grew up loving cooked broccoli with Hollandaise sauce (refer back to the previous Brunch post for the Hollandaise sauce recipe).  The creamy texture and crisp lemon acidity is a perfect accompaniment to the chewy green broccoli.  And, though I never loved it due to my abhorrence of sauerkraut, most of the rest of the gang loves Canadian bacon or bratwurst & sauerkraut pizza.  Just a few of our favorite things!