Family Goulash (I call it "Deliciousness on a Plate")

Family Goulash

So, I'm having a little trouble with the word "goulash." It sounds disgusting to me. And this dish is far from that. I tried to come up with a better name for it, and all that kept coming into my head was the word "delicious," so that explains the title up there. You can call this meal whatever you like, but you MUST make it. It's too easy and yummy not to.

Ingredients: 

1 lb. Lean ground beef

1/2 cup sliced onion

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 cup water

1/2 cup ketchup

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

2 t. brown sugar

2 t. paprika

1 t. salt

1/2 t. dry mustard

dash ground black pepper

1 T. cornstarch or flour blended with 2 T. water

6 cups American Beauty Extra Wide Egg Noodles, uncooked (can you tell where this recipe came from?)

Directions:

In large skillet, brown beef; drain. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until onion is tender.

Combine water, ketchup, Worcestershire, brown sugar, paprika, salt, mustard, and pepper; stir into meat mixture. 

Cover; simmer 15 minutes.

Add cornstarch and water to meat mixture. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until sauce thickens and begins to boil.

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. 

Serve goulash (shudder at the word) over hot cooked noodles. Makes 4 servings.

Husband's reaction: This is very good. Thanks, honey. (He sounds way more polite in writing than he is in real life sometimes).

I was surprised  by how much I enjoyed this. I substituted a little onion powder for the onion (I didn't have one on hand) and some barbecue sauce for the Worcestershire sauce. I used cornstarch in the second to last ingredient. And I can see how this recipe could work with many other substitutions: different noodles, no mustard, more salt and pepper to taste, different spices if you're feeling adventurous, etc. I love recipes like that, and this one is a keeper!

Halloween Pizza

 We tried making a jack-o-lantern pizza like Papa Murphey's does. It ended up looking more like a hippie man once we added the olives, but that's ok. He was delicious!

Happy Halloween!

Roasted Halloween Pumpkin Seeds

*from a recipe at Food.com

Ingredients:

• 
  1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons melted butter (olive oil or vegetable oil work well) or 2teaspoons melted oil (olive oil or vegetable oil work well)
• salt (This is all I used)
• garlic powder (optional)
• cayenne pepper (optional)
• seasoning salt (optional)
• cajun seasoning (optional)

Directions:

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. 2
   While it's OK to leave some strings and pulp on your seeds (it adds flavor) clean off any major chunks.
3. 3
   Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the melted butter or oil and seasonings of your choice.
4. 4
   Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on baking sheet.
5. 5
   Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.
   
   
   YUM!!!!!
   
   Also, check out those pumpkins that these seeds came from. Can you guess which one I carved and which one was Danny's?

I Forgot to Mention . . .

My wonderful husband took me to Tucanos for my birthday! (Erica, we did sign up for the free birthday meal). We also had a gift certificate to use there, so it ended up costing us nothing! The waiters were a little awkward this time since there were few people in the restaurant, but we had lots of fun anyway. My Tucanos dream has come true!

Toffee Crunch Grahams

*From a recipe on allrecipes.com*
Toffee Crunch Grahams:

Ingredients

• 12 whole graham crackers
• 1 1/2 cups butter (no substitutes)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups sliced almonds (optional---because I am poor and can not afford such luxuries at this time)

Directions

1. Line a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with heavy-duty foil. Place graham crackers in pan. In a saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Carefully pour over graham crackers. Sprinkle with almonds.
2. Bake at 400 degrees F for 4-6 minutes or until bubbly (watch them so they don't burn). Cool in pan for 4 minutes. Cut each cracker into four sections; transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I cut this recipe in fourths (which means I used 3/4 of a cube of butter and 1/4 cup of brown sugar and about 3/4 pack of graham crackers), because it is completely unhealthy and two people do not need to have that much butter and sugar in one sitting. :) I was happy this recipe worked out so well. Just make sure the butter and sugar combine together when it is boiling. You don't want a layer of melted butter on top of the sugar (this is how it is before it begins boiling). 

Also, make sure you take the grahams out of the pan while they are still warm and malleable. I can just imagine trying to get hardened toffee grahams out of the pan later...impossible! 

These are addicting and terrible for you, so of course I'm putting this recipe on my blog! 

It was that kind of day today. :)

Husband's Reaction: "This is really sugary. They are really good!"

P.S. the little extra toffee pieces are so good. I didn't share many of those.

FHE and No-Bake Cookies

If you know me and Danny really well, you know we made probably a hundred or so no-bake cookies while we were dating/engaged. And we haven't stopped there!

Danny loves making these from his "ancient" recipe that he used as a teenager. He has it memorized. I think in the last month alone we have made them at least every week. They are easy and we both love them! (sometimes it's not always easy to find a treat we both LOVE). 

We made them for Family Home Evening a little while ago, and I took pictures. You can also see us enjoying our new *old* video game thing (I don't know what it's called. I don't know how to play most of the games) that Danny's brother shipped to us. Danny was very excited to play NBA Jam? Or something like that. Anyway, it's fun!

 See those wrinkles on my forehead? I used to worry a ton in 6th grade, and my teacher told me I was going to have permanent lines on my forehead when I was older because I would scrunch up my forehead when I worried. Don't worry (haha), they aren't permanent yet, but this will give you a visual of what I'll look like when I'm older. . . .you can even imagine I'm missing my teeth the way my mouth looks in this picture.

 We were playing MarioKart. It says "congratulations" on the screen, so Danny must have just beat me again. I never even make it to third place.

And here is Danny's memorized recipe for his favorite no-bake cookies: (I often cut this recipe in half for just us. Half makes about 14 small/medium cookies).

2 cups sugar

1 stick butter

4 Tbs cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

Stir these ingredients in a heavy saucepan until mixed. Bring to a rolling boil. Let it boil without stirring for 1.5 minutes. 

Remove pan from heat and add:

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 1/2 cups oats

2 tsp vanilla

Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper, waxed paper, or we just use saran wrap over a cookie sheet.

Let cool so they harden and enjoy!

Tucanos. . . A Place Only In My Dreams

I wish I had something to post here. Sadly, I am now a student again and I barely have time to put pasta with canned sauce on the table. I would post a picture of that, but would it even be worth seeing? No.

So, I'll dream about going out to eat instead! I've been wanting to go to Tucanos since April. It's overpriced, it's not like amazing, but it has special memories for me. Danny took me to Tucanos when I graduated. He didn't have the money for it, and I protested, but he still did. And I secretly loved that he took me.

(Except, now he knows cuz he just came up and sat by me while I am typing this...oops. :)

Anyway, since I have no pictures of real food, here:

Come to Tucanos with me in my mind and eat whatever is on that huge skewer held by a college-aged man. It'll be fun! :)