Santa Fe Soup

Ingredients: 1 can pinto beans 1 can black beans 1 can kidney beans in tomato sauce 1 can white corn 1 can petite diced tomatoes 1 can tomato and chilis - mild, medium, or hot 1 package taco seasoning 1 package ranch dressing mix, dry 1 pound ground beef, lean (or Shredded Chicken Breast or ground turkey can be used in place) Directions: Brown ground beef and drain fat. Drain black beans and rinse with cold water to remove black sauce. Combine all ingredients in Crock-Pot slow cooker and stir. Cook on Low setting for 6-7 hours, or on High for 2-3 hours. Garnish with sour cream and shredded cheese. For extra fun, eat with scoops tortilla chips in the place of a spoon. Enjoy! NOTE: If using this recipe for OAMC, I cook up the meat (beef, chicken or ground turkey) and freeze it in individual quart sized bags. When I make the soup I just dump it in along with all the canned goods. EASY! EASY! EASY!

French Dip Sandwiches

1 Roast
2 Cans Beef Consommé
Hoagie Buns

Put Roast in Crock-pot. Pour consommé’ over top of roast. Cover and cook on low heat 8-10 hours. Remove Roast and save juice. Shred meat with a fork. Put in Hoagie Buns and use excess juice for dipping.

Sunday Roast

1 3-5 lb. Roast
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can water
1 packet Onion Soup Mix

Stir soup, water and soup mix and pour over roast in a greased crock pot. Cook until Roast is done. Use Soup mixture as gravy. (You may want to add potatoes and carrots to crock pot as well).

Beef Stew

2 lb. Stew Meat floured and browned
Potatoes
Carrots
1 Medium Onion, chopped
Celery (if desired)
McCormick Beef Stew Mix

Mix in a Crock-Pot and cook on Low for 4-6 hours.

Taco Soup

1 lb. Ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 can diced stewed tomatoes
1 can corn
2 cans tomato sauce
1 pkg. Taco seasoning
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Fritos


Brown beef and onion. Drain grease. Combine rest of ingredients in a pot (crock pot works well). Add water if it is too thick. Serve with Sour Cream, Shredded Cheddar Cheese, and Fritos.

Tater Tot Casserole

This was not the most beautiful dish when it came out of the oven so I thought my kids would not touch it. To my amazement, my pickiest eater REQUESTS this dish if he gets to choose!

2 lbs. Hamburger

1 Envelope dry onion soup mix

2 lbs. tator tots

2 cans mushroom soup

1 Pint sour cream

Brown hamburger and place in a 10" x 14" baking dish. Sprinkle soup mix over meat, then place one layer of tater tots on top of that. Freeze. Thaw (it doesn't have to be completely thawed). Mix soup and sour cream together, pour over tater tots. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour, stirring after 30 minutes. Serves 6 - 8 people.

Note: I like to bag up the sauce (Basically, I mix up all the ingredients except for the tots), and then add the tater tots to the bag and lay flat to freeze. After it thaws, I then separate the tots from the meat mix and layer in the pan. It saves space, and I have my 9 X 13 pan for other dishes. This is officially a new OAMC “staple” in our house!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

SAUCE:
4 – 6 oz. Cans tomato paste
6 cups water
1 clove garlic (she used 1/8 tsp. Garlic powder)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. Sweet basil

In a 3 quart pan, blend tomato paste and water until smooth. Stir in garlic. Cook, uncovered, until sauce begins to boil. Stir and lower heat. Simmer with lid on, stirring occasionally. After 3 hours, add sugar and basil. Stir and simmer 1 more hour. Pan will be about ½ full.

MEATBALLS:
1 lb. Ground beef
½ lb. Sausage
2 eggs
½ cup stale bread crumbs
2 stalks celery, chopped fine (optional)
1 clove garlic (she used 1/8 tsp. Garlic powder)
½ cup grated Romano cheese (2 oz. Package)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix ground beef, sausage and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add eggs and mix well. In another bowl, blend remaining ingredients and add a little at a time to meat mixture. Blend well, and form into meatballs. Fry, turning as needed.

Simmer meatballs in sauce 15 minutes before serving with spaghetti.

To freeze: Divide meatballs and sauce into two 1 gallon Ziploc freezer bags. Lay flat to freeze.

NOTE: I have found it easier to lay all of the formed meatballs on cookie sheets and bake them at 350 rather than fry them. Often, I am doubling this recipe (like I said, life wouldn’t go on without it!), and would rather skip the splatter cleanup afterwards.

Pizza Kit

In separate bags, place the following:

3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 c. pizza or spaghetti sauce
Toppings of your choice – Pepperoni, sausage (browned), ham and canned pineapple work well.
½ of Garlic Pizza Dough Recipe (See OAMC or Breads)

Place all four bags into a one-gallon freezer bag, and put a slip of paper with the instructions inside. Lay flat to freeze.

PIZZA KIT INSTRUCTIONS:

Remove dough from bag, and place in greased bowl. Allow cheese, sauce and pepperoni to thaw in fridge. Cover dough with towel or plastic wrap. Allow to rise twice in the bowl (This will take most of the day. You can also thaw the dough overnight in the fridge, then set it out to rise the next afternoon.). Punch down. Oil cookie sheet and use fingers to press the dough out to edges. Prick the dough with a fork in various places to keep it from bubbling up. Top with sauce, cheese and toppings. You can allow it to rise a little bit before placing in the oven. Bake at 425° for 20 min.

Makes 1 cookie sheet size pizza.

Shredded Beef Tacos

1 pot roast
1 package taco seasoning

Place pot roast in crockpot. Cover with taco seasoning. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until tender.

Shred beef, and cool. Place beef in 1 quart freezer bag.

In separate 1 quart freezer bags, place the following:

1 - 2 c. shredded cheese of your choice
picante or taco sauce (if desired)

Assemble meat, cheese, sauce and 1 package flour tortillas in 1 gallon freezer bag. Lay flat to freeze.

To serve: Thaw all ingredients. Reheat meat and place some in the center of each tortilla. Add cheese, and any other fresh toppings you want (onions, olives, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.) and fold in half. Enjoy!

Crockpot Lasagna

Lasagne noodles
Spaghetti sauce
Browned ground beef (optional)
Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
Ricotta or small curd cottage cheese
Grated Parmesan cheese
Eggs

You’ll also need:
1 – 1 gallon ice cream tub (for family of 4-6) or ½ gallon tub (for family of 2 – 4)
2 gallon freezer bags

Cook noodles ½ the time indicated on the box. Drain and rinse with cold water. Combine spaghetti sauce and meat (if desired) in bowl. Combine cheeses and 1 – 2 eggs in another bowl, reserving about 1/2 -1 cup of Mozzarella for the top. Place freezer bag in the tub, and press into bottom and sides, removing air bubbles. (I found it helpful to fold the opening of the bag over the sides of the tub.) Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Place small amount of sauce in bottom. Cutting or tearing noodles as you go to make them fit, layer noodles, then cheese mixture, then sauce. I usually fill the tub about ½ way (using the gallon tub), and it makes about a 5 – 6 layer lasagne. Finish off with noodles, sauce and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella.

Freeze in the container until solid, then remove bag and seal, pressing out the air.

To serve, remove FROZEN lasagne from bag. Place in crock pot and cook on high for 3 – 3 ½ hours (1/2 gallon container) or 4 – 5 hours (1 gallon container).

This is the BEST lasagne! ;o)