Susanne over at Hillbilly Housewife has been at it again. She just released a new eBook Homemade Convenience Foods. In all the busyness of our lives we’ve grown accustomed to eating on the go or throwing together something quick in the microwave for dinner. Both of those may be convenient but they’re not all that healthy.

What if you could make choices that were still quick, easy and convenient but healthier in the convenience of your own home?

With the Homemade Convenience Foods eBook you can. This eBook will teach you:

• What foods and mixes make great homemade convenience foods
• Learn about some great homemade convenience foods that will make mornings a breeze
• Plenty of Homemade Convenience Food Recipes – they cost less and you know EXACTLY what’s in them.
• and more!

For just $10, you get the ebook which has over 200 recipes. But that’s not all, you will also get these four bonuses as well:

• Bonus #1 – Homemade Bath And Body Products
• Bonus #2 – Homemade Cleaning Products
• Bonus #3 – Memory Lane Meals – Sweets
• Bonus #4 – A Year Of Snacks

Hurry! Grab your copy of Homemade Convenience Foods now.

I can’t take the credit for this recipe. It’s something my mom whipped up this weekend and I took advantage of it and snapped a pic and asked for the recipe!

To be honest, I can’t make meatballs for the life of me! I don’t know what it is but they just don’t turn out. These ones were delicious especially over noodles with cream of mushroom soup (yeah, not exactly on the healthy side!).

Meatballs with Noodles and Cream of Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

• Ground Beef (amount will depend on how many meatballs you need to feed your family. We used 3 lbs and it made a lot of meatballs!)
• Cream of Mushroom Soup (the amount will depend on how many meatballs you make. We used 2 family size cans.)
• Fresh Mushrooms (1 package)
• Fresh Garlic (1 or 2 cloves)
• 1 onion
• Frozen Noodles (again, amount will depend on family size. We used 2 bags)

Directions:

1. Form ground beef into meatballs.

2. Add meatballs to frying pan. Add fresh mushrooms and fresh garlic (diced). Cook until done.

3. While frying the meatballs cook noodles according to package directions.

4. Add cream of mushroom soup to the noodles and simmer for a few minutes to warm soup up.

5. Serve meatballs on top of cream of mushroom noodles.

I was a little frustrated with this recipe. Maybe it’s because I used thin cut pork chops instead of ‘heavy duty’ ones.

It was a mess and I ended up throwing 90% of it away!

The pork chops fell apart which meant there were bone pieces spread throughout the salsa (not exactly safe to eat!).

Do you know what it’s like trying to pick through salsa looking for bone pieces?Pretty impossible! However, once I did pick through the ‘slop’ enough to find some pork chop pieces, added a little cheese and sour cream to it and sat down to eat it, it did have a great flavor.

Slow Cooker Mexican Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• Pork Chops
• Salsa
• Rice
• Shredded Cheese
• Sour Cream

Directions:

1. Wash pork chops off, place in slow cooker and cover with salsa. (Make sure they are covered good so they don’t burn)

2. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6 hours. (I did low for 5 hours and that was too much – maybe because my pork chops were so little/thin).

3. Serve over rice if you wish with shredded cheese and sour cream on top. (I skipped the rice mainly because I forgot about it and did just the shredded cheese and sour cream)

Ok, one of the things I’m going to have to work on learning to deal with when it comes to cooking is that I’m not going to be able to please everyone all the time. Especially a picky 12 year old eater!

I thought my stuffed manicotti noodles were the bomb! The flavor was great, the noodles were cooked to perfection, there was extra Mozzarella cheese on it, the noodles were stuffed to the max – pure perfection I say! The kiddo on the other hand…he didn’t like it but he didn’t hate it either. He said it would have been better without the Parmesan cheese. He’s not a fan of it but I didn’t really think he’d be able to to notice because the recipe calls for such a small amount of it.

Stuffed Manicotti

Ingredients:

12 large manicotti shells
4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese (divided)
2 cups Ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce (divided)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13 x 9 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Cook manicotti shells according to directions on package. (I always add a little oil to the water when cooking to help keep the noodles from sticking together). Drain. Rinse with cool water. Let pasta dry on paper towels.

3. For filling, combine 3 cups of Mozzarella cheese with the ricotta cheese and basil. Using a teaspoon, stuff pasta shells with mixture.

4. Sppon 2 cups of spaghetti sauce into prepared baking dish. Put manicotti in dish. Use remaining sauce to cover manicotti. Sprinkle the left over mozarella cheese on top.

5. Bake for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for an extra 10 minutes.

The picture above makes it hard to see the individual noodles so here’s a picture of just one noodle that gives you a better idea of what the finished product looks like:

Recently I threw a statement out on Facebook that I was looking for something quick and easy to make for dinner. A lot of people suggested spaghetti. Unfortunately I’m not a huge spaghetti fan but one comment mentioned Capellini with Meat Sauce. It is similar to spaghetti but totally different so I decided to give it a shot.

Capellini with Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Ground Beef
• Fresh Garlic
• 1 jar Spaghetti Sauce
• Capellini (Angel Hair Pasta)
• Mushrooms
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Garlic Bread (optional)

Directions:

1. On medium heat in a large pan, cover and cook ground beef for about 10-15 minutes. Drain.

2. While ground beef is cooking cut 1-2 cloves of fresh garlic and mushrooms into small pieces.

3. Uncover the pan, stir, add little salt and black pepper , mushrooms and chopped garlic mixed with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

4. Leave pan uncovered, stirring occasionally. Cook for 5-10 minutes until garlic and mushrooms are browned.

5. Heat up the pasta sauce . Add the ground beef  and mix well. Simmer for 20 minutes on low

6. Boil pasta and a tiny bit of Olive oil till the pasta  is done. Drain, place in a separate bowl.

7. Place pasta on a plate and add meat sauce on top.You can add Parmesan cheese if you wish.

It was delicious and a huge hit with the family! It was pretty quick to make and super easy!

Recipe source: Tammy Munson