Christmas Entertaining? Try This Easy Christmas Eve Beef Pie Recipe

With all the rich food coming on Christmas day, this easy Christmas Eve Beef Pie is hearty, filling, and so tasty!  Share this recipe with your family and friends…and add your own variations!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 cup tomato sauce with mushrooms
• 1 cup green beans, drained
• dash cumin seed
• dash garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp salt to taste
• 1 cn Refrigerated Quick Crescent Dinner Rolls
• 1 egg, beaten slightly
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar Cheese
• dash Paprika

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 375. 
2. In large fry pan, brown ground geef onion, and green pepper; drain off fat.
3. Stir in tomato sauce, beans, cumin, garlic salt and salt; simmer while preparing crust.
4. Separate crescent dough into 8 triangles.  Place traingles in an ungreased 9 inch pie pn; press over bottm  and up the sides to form the crust. 
5. Combine egg nd 1 cup of cheese.  Spread over crust.
6. Spoon hot meat mixture into crust.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese and paprika. 
7. Bake 20 minutes.  For easier serving, let it stand 5 minutes before cutting into pie wedges.

Serve with a green salad, and your favorite rolls or french bread.  Christmas Eve meal is done!  Coffee?

Polenta! Thank the Italians!

Polenta, which is both the name of Italy’s popular cornmeal and the robust porridge made from it, is usually eaten as a savory side dish.  This recipe illustrates how good it can be as a hot breakfast cereal.  If you like grits, or cornbread, you’ll love polenta, which, to me, tastes like “corny grits.”

This makes enough for 4 – 6 people, so it’s great for company or sharing with the neighbors.

Ingredients

• 1/4 c walnuts, pecans, or pine nuts
• 5 c low-fat milk
• 1/2 tsp salt, don’t scrimp, it needs it and maybe a dash more
• 1 c polenta
• 6 tbsp pure maple syrup, sugarless if needed
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 c seedless raisins, optional
• 3/4 milk, or half-and-half, or heavy cream, your choice

Procedure

1. Over medium heat, combine the milk and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Stir constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent lumps from forming. 
2. Pour in the polenta in a thin, steady stream.  Reduce the heat to low and cook, sirring often.  Polenta should be very thick, which will take about 20 minutes.
3. Stir in the mapy syrup and transfer to warmed individual bowls.  Eat the polenta as it is, or top with additional butter, rasins, nuts or milk. 

Pretty healthy, so enjoy!

Asian Noodles and Ground Beef

Do you have those little packets of Ramen noodles in your pantry?  Men and teens love this dish!  The secret is the ground ginger!

Yield: 4 servings, or 2 large servings. Suggestion for leftovers:  Putting the leftovers in a soupy b

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 2 cups of frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetable blend
• 2 packages or 6 oz Oriental ramen noodles, crumbled, uncooked
• 2 tbsp sliced green onion, for garnish

Procedure:

1. Brown ground beef until no longer pink; drain.
2. Add the contents of one ramen noodle flavoring packet, stir until dissolved.  Remove beef and set aside.  Keep warm.
3. In same skillet you browned the beef, add water, vegetables, ginger, noodles, and contents of 2nd flavoring packet from the ramen noodles.  Bring noodle mixture to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Noodles should be tender.  Return beef to the pan, cook for 3 minutes more, and stir in onions.  Serve.

Since the flavoring packet contains salt, it is best not to add salt to the ground beef as it is cooking.  Pepper to taste, but remember the ginger is a hot/spicy seasoning.

Meals For More Than Two

When cooking for two, you will often find many recipes or dishes are too big for a single meal.  However, the recipe is wonderful, so you want to cook it anyway.  Many of the recipes on this site, do actually yield enough food for 3 – 4 people or two who are really hungry.

It goes without saying, that freezing leftovers is just part of the meal.  Anything left over can help you with the next day’s food preparation, or you can take the food to a neighbor, or freeze the meal for the next time you want it or are in a hurry.

Labeling your freezer container is very important.  If you purchase clear containers, and keep the marker handy in a drawer near the freezer, you’ll be more likely to organize your frozen entree for the next use. 

A little organization keeps food ready when you need it, and prevents waste.  Go ahead and cook those higher yield recipes, you’ll be glad you did when you need your next quick, low-cost meal.