Can we say yum! I’ve been looking for meals that include beans in addition to meat, or in place of, to make our food budget go a bit further. This uses half less meat than we normally use (for a mainly meat meal, our family of 6 will go through 2 lbs of ground beef in a meal), and also uses beans for added nutrients and bulk.

Grease a 9×13 dish and preheat your oven to 350(F)

Peel and slice 4 small/medium potatoes. Slice ‘em thin
1 medium onion, sliced
1lb soaked, rinsed kidney beans
1/2c rice, uncooked
1.5 cups celery, diced
10.5 oz tomato soup (1 can, or of course homemade)
1lb ground beef, cooked or uncooked (whatever you have on hand)
1/2-3/4 cup water
dash of chili powder, basil and oregano

Layer the above ingredients in the order listed above. Cover and bake for 1 1/4 hours. May be frozen.

2-4 potatoes, sliced thin

Lasagna seems to be one of the most popular meals around. Seems everyone like it, and it can be changed in so many ways. This month I’ll share with you a “traditional” lasagna recipe with a homemade sauce and homemade noodles. This is excellent frozen, and bakes up in an hour at 350 degrees (F). To cook it thawed or fresh, bake for 30 minutes.

The sauce:
36 oz. plain spaghetti sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
2 tsp sweet basil
1.5 tb sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1.5 tsp onion powder
3 garlic loves, minced
1 tsp. Italian seasoning

The filling:
2 cups Ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (or Parmigiano-Reggiano)
1 tbsp parsley
1.5 tsp dried oregano

Everything else:
1lb ground chuck
Seasonings to taste: garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and salt. I typically sprinkle it lightly over the top of the meat as it’s browning.

1 pkg of lasagna noodles, or one batch of dough (recipe following)

Mozzarella cheese, enough to coat the top of the lasagna

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F)

Combine sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer, and let the pot simmer until you need it, or at least 20 minutes.

Brown and season your ground beef and cook your noodles. You will have to decide in what order to do these steps as cooking homemade noodles should only take about three minutes, or 10 minutes for storebought.

Add the beef to your sauce once browned.

Combine the ingredients for your filling and set aside.

At the bottom of a rectangle casserole dish, spread a thin layer of sauce. On top of that spread enough noodles to cover the bottom of the pan. This is usually three.

Alternate layers of sauce or filling between layers of noodles, until all have been used up or you’ve reached near the top of your casserole dish.

End with a last layer of sauce then top the sauce with mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.

Pasta Dough
2 cups flour (semolina gets great results)
2 eggs
3 tb water
4 tb extra virgin olive oil

Mix well until a dough ball forms. Knead it for about 10 minutes, then let it rest for 30 minutes. Return and handle it lightly—roll it through your pasta roller to thin or roll it out with a rolling pin. You can use a pasta machine to cut out lasagna or roll it out and use a knife. To cook, boil in salted water about 3 minutes or so.

Italian Seasoning
2 tablespoons dried basil
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried sage

Combine and store in an airtight container.

This sauce tastes just like the prego sauce from the store, especially if it’s allowed to sit in the fridge for a day before eating it. Prego used to be my favorite storebought sauce but I haven’t had to buy it in years!

I don’t like my sauce clumpy, so I’ve made a few changes from the recipe to enhance the texture and the taste.

1/2-1lb ground chuck
36 oz. plain tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
2 tsp sweet basil
1.5 tb sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1.5 tsp onion powder
3 garlic loves, minced
1 tsp. Italian seasoning

Combine ingredients and bring to a simmer, simmer for a minimum of 20 minutes. Brown your beef and add to the sauce to simmer. When you brown the beef you can add some seasonings to the meat - we like garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper.

This is a great crust!!

2.5 cups of all purpose flour
2 tb. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1.5 cups butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup coconut oil, chilled and solid. or you could use any solid shortening but we loved coconut.
6 tb buttermilk

Combine the dry ingredients then add the butter and shortening. Using two knives or a pastry blender, cut the solid fats into the flour until the mix resembles oatmeal. Add the buttermilk and mix it with a fork until it begins sticking to its self, then lightly knead it with your hands long enough to form a ball. split it in half and wrap each half separately, then stick them in the fridge for anywhere from an hour to a day. Remove from the fridge and let stand at room temperature until workable, then knead a bit, roll out on a floured surface, and use in your pie.

* 2 tablespoons dried basil
* 2 tablespoons dried oregano
* 2 tablespoons dried thyme
* 2 tablespoons dried marjoram
* 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
* 1 tablespoon dried sage

combine and blend the above ingredients in a food processor or blender until a fine powder is achieved - then store in an airtight container with your other spices.

1′5 cups all purpose flour
1′5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 stick plus 3 tbs melted unsalted butter
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup walnuts, chopped

for the topping (if desired)
2 tb sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg

preheat oven to 400. grease a muffin tin or line it with paper cups.

combine ingredients adding flour little by little at the end.

pour batter into muffin tins filling 2/3 high

combine topping ingredients. sprinkle on top of each muffin.

bake 20 minutes.

this is a favorite around here. they freeze well though I omit the topping to reduce the unnecessary sugar. next time I make this I might reduce sugar or try honey as the swetener.

2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 c onion, finely diced
1 TB butter
1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz. tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
2 TB parmesan cheese
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp salt

Melt butter and oil, cook vegetables and garlic until translucent. Add sauce and paste to the pot, plus rest of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer and simmer 30-60 minutes for best taste (or you could just heat and use on your pizza, but more flavor comes out of a longer simmer). Remove bay leaf and use.

1 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 tsp. salt
1.2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil

I start by drying a loaf or two of homemade bread in the dehydrator, or you could use an oven. I add slices of dry bread to the food processor and process until turned into crumbs. Then I add my seasoning and process until they are well combined.

Store in the pantry, fridge, or freezer in an airtight container.

3/4 tsp. sage
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. pepper
dash cloves
dash marjoram

Combine and store in an old spice container. Use as directed in recipes.

This soup is often called for in recipes, and for good reason - it adds a nice taste and creamy texture to meals. But have you taken a second to read the list of ingredients? Just like any other canned creation, it has many ingredients that are not great for us. Making this from scratch, and freezing extra batches, will save you money and make a healthier soup for your meals.

This recipe makes 1 can of soup.

1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning (see recipe on this site to make your own)
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. parsley
dash paprika
1 1/2 cup milk
3/4 c flour

Combine chicken broth, 1/2 cup of milk and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile whisk remaining milk and flour (add the flour to the milk as you’re whisking to prevent clumps). When the broth is boiling, add this milk/flour mixture and whisk. Cook until mixture is bubbly and thick.