Mennonite Monday - Potato Nugget Casserole

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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This week I made Potato Nugget Casserole (pg 144W), which was voted for during the previous poll.  This was a great meal for harvest because it is some what of a dump and pour recipe that can be made ahead of time and cooked right before it is served.  

Potato Nugget Casserole

1 lb ground beef

1/2 pkg dry onion soup mix

16 oz pkg frozen mixed vegetables

1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup

1 lb Tator Tots or Potato Nuggets

Press ground beef into and 8x8 casserole or pan.  Sprinkle with dry onion soup mix.  Top with vegetables.  Spread on can of soup over vegetables.  Top with frozen potato nuggets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.  Cover with foil the first half.  Remove foil for browning during second half.  

Variation: add layer of sliced Velveeta cheese on top of vegetables or vegetables may be left out and onions added instead of the dry onion soup mix.

 Press down the uncooked hamburger.

 Pour on the dry soup mix. 

 Pour on the vegetables. 

 Add the cream soup. 

 Top with Tator Tots. 

I did notice that my hamburger was a little burnt at the bottom of the dish. I'm not sure if it was because I cooked it to long or for another reason, but otherwise this was a good recipe. 

Mennonite Monday - Easy Runza Squares

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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This week I have a large amount of garden produce especially cabbage, so I decided to make Easy Runza Squares (pg 145W).

Easy Runza Squares

 Dough: 

1 cup warm water

1 pkg dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 Tbl margarine

3 1/4 cup flour

Dissolve yeast in water and add sugar and salt.  Mix.  Add egg, margarine and stir in flour.  Refrigerate 4 hours.  Divide dough in half and press half into greased 9 x 13" pan. 

Filling: 

1 1/2 lbs hamburger

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 cups shredded cabbage

1 1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp pepper

Dash of Tabasco sauce

1/2 cup water

Brown hamburger and onion.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer covered 15-20 minutes.  Cool before putting on dough.  Pat remaining half of dough on lightly floured surface into a 9x13" rectangle and place on filling.  Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees on low oven rack.  Remove and brush with melted butter. 

 My camera battery was almost dead, so my pictures are a lacking, but I browned my hamburger with minced onion and natures seasoning instead of salt and pepper. 

 The dough mixed together in my kitchen aid mixer pretty easily, and the dough did rise slightly in the refrigerator.

 The hamburger cabbage mixture.  I cooked the hamburger and cabbage at the same time as I mixed up my dough, so the meat had a few hours to cool, while the dough set in the refrigerator. 

 I tried to roll out the top half of the dough, but it was easier to pat it into the right size.

 I'm still not the best with working with dough, but it is getting better. 

 My top layer of dough was no the perfect size, but I made it fit. 

 Butter on the top. 

I skimped a little bit on the meat, only using 1 lb instead of 1.5 lbs of meat.  I wish I would have used the full amount of meat, because the dough was a little overpowering.  The red glob is ketchup, which is always good with runzas.

Be sure to vote for next weeks recipe. 

Mennonite Monday - Hobo Dinner

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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After a break from Mennonite Monday last week, we are back with the Hobo Dinner found on page 143 of the white church cookbook.  This was a really good easy meal and it received the "make again" approval from Mike.  Since I don't have much time after work to make a meal, I put all of the ingredients together the night before and put it in the refrigerator, so I just had to put it in the oven when I got home. 

 

 Hobo Dinner
1 lb. hamburger
6 potatoes
1 large onion
1/2 lb sharp cheese
1/3 cup half & half
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Press hamburger in bottom of 2.5 quart casserole.  Sprinkle with half & half, salt and pepper.  Slice potatoes on meat and slice onion onto potatoes.  Cube the cheese onto the onion. Cover with the soup.  Bake in covered dish for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until potatoes are done.  Serves 6.

 I did not have any half & half, so I just used milk, which was fine in my opinion. 

 I only made one layer of potatoes, so I used far less than 6 potatoes, since I was only cooking for two. 

 Onions. 

 I used some cheese that I had on hand instead of sharp. 

Cream of mushroom soup on top. 

As I said, Mike and I really liked this meal and it was easy.  My potatoes weren't completely cooked after 1 hour, so I will slice them thinner next time, or I will allow more time for it to cook.

Mennonite Monday - Salisbury Steak

Mennonite Monday started because I wanted to make recipes from the Bethesda Mennonite Church Cookbooks (both the yellow and the white cookbook for those of you who own them). I also wanted to take pictures of each recipe that I made, so I would know for future reference what the recipe should look like. I am by no means a great cook, but I think it will be fun to try new and different recipes each week. Not all of these recipes are for ethnic Mennonite food, but the women from Henderson know how to cook, so I can safely say that these recipes will be good. Check back each Monday for a new recipe and feel free to leave a comment if you have a favorite recipe from these cookbooks, or if you have some tips on what I should make and how I should make it.

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Today you are getting a special treat with two for the price of one Mennonite Monday recipes. The two recipes that I chose for today work great together for a meal, so I thought I should post both of them.

Last Sunday Mike and I had the following conversation...

Mike: So, what are you making for supper tomorrow. I need to mentally prepare.
Me: Umm (flipping to page 145) it's called Salisbury Steak.
Mike: (wrinkled nose) Salisbury Steak is one of my least favorite meals ever
Me: That would have been good to know 20 minutes ago before I started making it
Mike: I had to eat Salisbury Steak all the time in school and the fraternity. It is gross.
Me: You have never had my Salisbury Steak I bet you will like it
Mike: I bet not
Me: But this has a white sauce not the pre-pressed patty with dark thick gravy that we had at school and it is my dad's all time favorite homemade meal
Mike: I still don't like Salisbury Steak
Me: I guess we will see tomorrow

In hindsight, I should not have told Mike that we were eating Salisbury Steak because he wouldn't have thought it would be bad before he had even tried it. I took the meal to the field anyway and it was so good I even saw one of the guys lick his plate. I paired the Salisbury Steak recipe on page 145 of the white cookbook with the Gourmet Rice on page 180 of the same cookbook.


Salisbury Steak
3 slices bread, broken
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1.5 lbs hamburger
onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 can mushroom soup
pepper to taste
1/2 cup milk

Combine bread, eggs

and 3/4 cup milk.

I will say it does look gross in this stage.

Add hamburger, onion (I used minced onion. Don't tell my father-in-law he ate onions.), salt and pepper.

Mix together.

Form into patties. This made about 8 good sized patties.

Brown in Skillet.

I let them get pretty brown on both sides because I wanted them to be cooked through.

Stir 1/2 cup milk into the soup and pour over patties. Simmer 30 minutes. Use sauce as gravy on potatoes. At my mom's suggestions, I served it with rice and we put the gravy over the rice.

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