These are some of my families favorite one-dish meals. I also think of a pot homemade chicken noodle soup for lunches, and a breakfast casserole of some sort, both divided into small portions.
When I was breast-feeding, we were given strict dietary limitations, like no garlic or onions, as they supposedly made the milk "taste bad", but my daughter was allowed to eat whatever she wanted, and she didn't have any problems at all.
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Sausage and noodles
This is one of the meals my kids grew up on. I have made adjustments to pare down the calories, but it's still just as good...and still cheap to make. It's a huge recipe, because I usually freeze some in a ziplock, and send my daughter and her family a bowl. You can easily cut it in half.
2 lb. bulk pork sausage (or turkey sausage)
1 lb wide egg noodles
2 cans low-fat cream of mushroom soup+ milk called for on can
1 can mushrooms
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley (opt)
salt & pepper to taste, easy on the salt
1/2 lb Velveeta Lite cheese cut into 1/4" slices
paprika
Cook meat till done in skillet or micro-wave. Cook the noodles in boiling water to al dente. (do not overcook, as they will continue to cook in mixture.)
Drain cooked meat in colander. Pour pasta and mushrooms over the top and drain well...I think doing it this way helps wash off part of the greaase.
Dump into large bowl and mix with soups and seasonings. Spread out into baking dish, cover generously with sliced Velveeta, sprinkle with paprika, and bake, covered, in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or more as needed. When hot and bubbly, take off the cover and let the top brown a few minutes.
I usually serve this with braised broccoli, then mix it all together the next night. You can cook the broccoli in with the pasta, and do it that way from the start.
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Texas More
Another thrifty and family friendly recipe...
And another huge batch for sharing and freezing.
Ingredients:
1-1/2 lb ground chuck (could be half Italian Sausage)
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 can whole kernal corn
1 can mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes + Juice
2 cups jarred spaghetti sauce (save your homemade for something more elegant)
1 tsp granulated garlic, (jarred or fresh is great...to your taste)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 lb Velveeta cheese, sliced 1/4" thick
Directions"
Crumble meat and cook in skillet or microwave until pink is gone.
In the meantime, cook pasta in boiling water till al dente.
Drain meat in colander, mashing with spoon to get out grease. Dump corn and mushroooms over the top, then drain the pasta on top of that.
Combine in large bowl (washtub?) and combine with remaining ingredients except cheese. Mixture should be juicey...add a small can of tomato sauce if needed.
Turn into sprayed casserole, top generously with cheese, and sprinkle with paprika. (sliced green or black olives are also good on top.)
Bake in oven, covered, at 350 until warm and bubbly. Remove cover to let brown a few minutes, then remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes.
*Notes and variations*
Make it Mexican by deleting the mushrooms and adding a can of Bush's Chili Beans with juice. Add 1 tsp cumin and a substitue Rotel tomatoes for the plain ones.
Substitute any firm pasta for the elbows. Rotini and Penne are great like this.
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C's Rice-a-Roni Casserole
In a large deep skillet, saute the rice vermicelli mix, replacing butter
with olive oil, until lightly browned. Add seasoning mix and liquid called
for. Add Add 1-1/2 to 2 cups cooked chicken, beef, turkey or pork. Let cook
according to directions until about half done. Add fresh, frozen or canned
vegetables, cover, and continue to cook until all is tender.
Examples:
chicken flavored Rice-a-roni
cooked chicken, chopped into bite size pieces
1 can mushrooms, drained (use liquid as part of water called for)
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
OR 1 cup frozen peas
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chicken flavored Rice mix
cooked pork, chopped into bite size pieces
1 can mushrooms, drained
1 16 oz package frozen stir-fry vegetables
soy sauce to taste
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Beef flavored Rice mix
cooked beef, sliced thin
1 can mushrooms, sliced
1 can green beans, drained
baby carrots
The combinations are only limited by your imagination. If you don't have any pre-cooked meat, quickly brown lightly seasoned boneless chicken breasts , cubed boneless pork loin, or thin sliced beef sirloin in a couple of tbls olive oil before you add the rice/vermicelli mixture. It will finish cooking and get very tender by the time rice is done.
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