An Italian Bowtie dinner substitute to Spaghetti

I'm not a lover of Spaghetti myself, and since it was on the request list for this weeks grocery list I mixed things up a bit since I was the one doing the shopping. All with a change of noodle did this dish come to life for me!

Italian Bow tie Dish:
One pound ground beef
one hillshire sausage
Jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
Bow tie pasta
Parmesan cheese
seasoning to flavor-- I used garlic salt/powder

Directions:

Boil bow tie pasta until tender.

cut sausage in bite size pieces and brown up in skillet. set aside in a mid-large size bowl.

brown ground beef in skillet. Drain, set aside in the bowl with sausage.

mix sauce and bow tie pasta in large bowl in addition to your Parmesan cheese and seasoning.

in a 9x13 dish add mixture from bowl, place in oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted.

And it's as simple as that, you're done and enjoy a simple and delicious meal!

Cash for Clunkers Extension

Labor day! The program "Cash for Clunkers" has now been extended to Labor day. What a great little progom to trade in your crappy clunker to be recylced--which would other wise not be worth anything at trade-in--for up to $4500 towards a new vehicle.

I believe there were two main goals to this program:

#1-- boost the car makers economy by an incentive to purchase a NEW car by trading in your old one.

#2-- permanently take gas guzzlers off the road by scrapping and recycling them.

Any Catches?

Well-- you have to buy or lease a new car.
And-- the new car has to get atleast 22 miles per gallon... what? 22 miles per gallon... that's it? The Gov't doesn't seem to be pushing the car makers to go green very hard... 22 miles per gallon doesn't really seem like much a challenge for the auto industry.

So, I think the program was more focused on saving the car industry rather than re-innovating its standards!

A Chrystal's Original Recipe: A Roast Dinner For Gary

Gary says he'll eat S%#t if it's made right but I completey disagree. He tends to be way more picky than he says he is. But this roast dinner sends his approval meter through the roof. I always know when he is full and happy when he says, " I'm not gonna lie, this is really good!"

So I guess that means he lies about the other dishes he says were good only after I asked if he liked them huh? Well hey, ya can't score on every meal, but I sure do enjoy watching him fill his belly with this one...

A Roast Dinner for Gary:
1 round bottom roast
Carrots
Potatoes
1 red onion
32+ oz. of chicken broth (Swanson’s)
1 tablespoon Accent
1 Tablespoon ground mustard
2 Tablespoon garlic salt
1 Tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon salt
Dash of paprika
Directions:
In a crock-pot, add potatoes, and onion quartered, peeled and chopped carrots, chicken broth, dry ingredients and roast. Cook for about 2-3 hours and remove the tender potatoes. Continue cooking until roast is tender approx. a total of 5-6 hours.

Mash and blend potatoes, adding milk and butter to taste. Set aside.

Once roast is finished cooking strain broth from vegetables and roast. in a sauce pan or skillet over medium heat whisk flour into broth until it reaches a gravy thickness consistency.

Serve roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, veggies, and a side salad to top it off! Yum Yum!

Tid-bit: by cooking potatoes with meat/broth, gives your mashed potatoes an incredible kick to the flavor.

A Chrystal's Original Recipe: Isaiah's Favorite Enchilada's

Every week when I make my trip to the grocery store my oldest son Isaiah always asks if I'll be making enchilada's. Without fail, I end up making them atleast once a month... I'm surprised we aren't sick of them yet. But the dish always yields about two days worth of left overs and there are never any complaints! I've been making this dish for about 5 years now and it is delicious! Isiah claims that they are 10 times better than any restaurant enchilada's and 20 times more filling. What a compliment to the cook!

Isaiah’s Favorite Enchilada’s
1 bag of skinless boneless chicken breats (about 6 pieces)
Garlic salt
Ground pepper
Salt
Lemon pepper
1 can of olives diced
One small onion minced or chopped to preference
1 4 oz. can of El Pato salsa
1 4 oz. can of El pato green chili
1 16 oz. can of red enchilada sauce
2 8 oz. bags of grated cheddar cheese
Bag of 20+ corn tortillas
Vegetable oil

Directions:
Boil chicken until cooked through. Let chicken stand to room temperature and shred. Mix chicken with all ingredients in large bowl excluding the red enchilada sauce and cheese, these two items will be saved for last.

In skillet, add oil to 375 degrees, add corn tortillas, do not fry to crisp, just to soften, set aside.

When done, take out 1 bag of 8 oz. grated cheese. Roll cheese and chicken mixture into each tortilla and place in 9X13 pan.

Once filled tightly with enchilada rolls cover with red enchilada sauce and second bag of 8 oz. grated cheese. Cover with foil and place dish in oven for 30 minutes at 375.

Tip, if there is left over chicken mixture it can be saved for chicken tacos or you can make a smaller second dish of enchiladas, if making one dish you do not need to use entire can of red sauce for topping, add to preference.