15 January 2012

There's Something in My Oven... and it Smells GOOD!

Today I decided to get a bit creative in the kitchen. On the menu was suppose to be mac & cheese with ground meat. *yawn* I knew I had to use the ground meat because I had taken it out the the freezer Saturday morning and it was already thawed.

How to get creative with about 1 cup of "meat mix"...  Meat mix is what I call my OAMC mix. It's not always beef, actually, it's usually never beef - I start out with about 10 pounds of whatever ground meat is $1.99/lb or less. After I have taken the plain meat I need for burgers or specialty dinners, I use the remaining 5 pounds or so and add a bag of diced onions, green peppers, a large can of tomatoes, garlic, whatever spices catch my eye and whatever filler I am using (breadcrumbs, crushed corn flakes, oatmeal, etc). I bag the meat in 1 and 2 cup batches and toss it in the freezer. This batch came from some I made in the early fall. I use it to "beef up" whatever I am making.

Tonight's invention had to use what I had on hand since I don't have a car right now (well, I do have a car, but Elvis has it until his is back from the shop). I also had to make sure that whatever it was, it could be heated in the microwave since Elvis doesn't have a set workday and in really hectic days, dinner is long overdue because he doesn't even stop for lunch. Kissing him hello and telling him dinner will take "about an hour" is not the words he wants to hear. I also wanted to use the dutch oven. I love my dutch oven.

"Tonights Stuff"
1 cup of meat mix (whatever meat you choose, I think mine is turkey)
1 container of cottage cheese
1 cup of rice - uncooked
breadcrumbs
usual suspects of spices (I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and parsley)

~ Don't use the rice uncooked, so, if you haven't already boiled or steamed it, make sure you do that first.
~ Brown the ground meat, drain. Add cottage cheese to pan and stir it around a few times to get it mixed around and it will be somewhat "melted". Toss in the cooked rice. (This is where using a dutch oven comes in handy, only 1 pan needed). Cover with breadcrumbs.

Bake at 350 for 30 mins