Bow Tie Lasagna

Here's a good, easy, cheap and quick recipe for your repertoire. I always have pasta on hand and I'm always looking for new ways to use it besides boiling it and adding meat and jarred sauce. This is like lasagna, just de-constructed and you can make it all in your skillet! I also love the idea that you can use fun pasta shapes like bow ties! Use whatever you have! Sounds good, right? Add garlic bread and a salad and you've got a meal to be proud of! Just don't freeze this because it has sour cream in it!

Bowtie Lasagna (from TastyKitchen.com)

1 pound Ground Chuck

5 cups Bow Tie Noodles

3 cups Spaghetti Sauce (or Pizza Sauce, Whatever You Prefer)

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoons Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (or More, Make It To Your Taste)

½ cups Mozzarella Cheese

½ cups Sour Cream

Fry ground chuck in small pan. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.

After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce.

Add your fried hamburger, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow it all to combine and melt together, over low heat, for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve to your family and be prepared to have it disappear before your very eyes.

Braised Roast Beef

Hello all, good to be back in the blogging world. A few months ago I discovered the wonderful world of Pinterest and I've never looked back! I've gotten so many great ideas, not just recipes, but ideas for my home, decorating, kids, and tons more. I love it. It's my go-to site for almost everything now!

Yesterday I had a roast beef dilemma. I wanted to make one with a recipe I had but it was for the crock pot and mine just broke (it cracked!) so I couldn't do that. So, of course I looked on Pinterest for a roast beef recipe. Found this one almost immediately and loved how it sounded and amazingly I had all of the ingredients in my pantry! I used a chuck roast, like the recipe says, but mine was boneless...either way is fine. I served it with scalloped potatoes, green beans and corn. It was gobbled up! And I might add, it made my house smell DIVINE.

Braised Roast Beef -- from "The Bake-Off Flunkie" (the site has pictures, too!)

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 6-oz can tomato paste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 small onion, diced (about 1 cup)

6 cloves garlic, pressed
1 2-1/2 to 3 lb bone-in chuck roast

1. In a medium bowl (I used a 4-cup glass measuring cup), combine everything except the roast; mix well.

2. Make the foil packet: Tear a large sheet of heavy-duty foil (mine was about 18x18) and put the roast in the center. Bring up the top and bottom edges. ...and fold them over 3 or 4 times. Fold up both sides 3 or 4 times.

Very carefully unfold the top (you will have to unfold all of the folds a few times) and pour in the vinegar-tomato paste mixture. Refold everything and put the packet in a baking dish to catch any leaks (and there will be some leaks).

3. Heat your oven to 325. Bake the roast for 4 hours. Let it rest for 10 minutes before you open the packet.

4. Use tongs to take the meat out of the packet, transferring it to a cutting board or plate, and cover it with foil. The meat will come apart in large pieces when you try to pick it up....oh, yeah...

5. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine sieve (you might have to press it through) to make a sauce. Slightly pull the meat apart with a fork and serve it with the sauce.

Serves 4-6 people.