Cheeseburger Mini Muffins

Serving toddlers all the time, I'm looking for kid-friendly items that I can freeze because I have more time to cook on the weekends rather in the middle of a busy week.

I make these to have on-hand. One of the parents of a toddler I care for came in the door as I was pulling a batch of these out of the oven. I offered her one. She LOVES them. When she recently had surgery, I knew exactly what I was going to send to her for her recovery when she got home. This is the batch I made for her. She was very happy! These would be great to stock up in the freezer for on-the-go meals or quick, reheat meals--just add some carrot sticks.

Cheeseburger Mini Muffins

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
• 
  

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. (I used leftover ground beef that I had in my freezer).
   
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In another bowl combine ketchup, milk, butter, eggs and mustard.
   

• Stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the beef mixture and shredded cheese.
• Fill greased miniature muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
• Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers.

I made a big double batch and used both my mini muffin tin and my regular muffin tin, adding a few minutes for the larger ones (I put a toothpick in the middle to test to see when it was done.) I put most in Ziploc gallon baggie to send to my friend. The leftovers, I put in quart-sized baggies in toddler meal-sized portions and put in my freezer, oh, except for the ones we had for lunch.

• This post is being linked to:
• 
  
• Food On Fridays at Ann Kroeker’s
• Family Recipe Fridays at Vanderbilt Wife
• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge
• Friday Feasts at Mom Trends
• Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum
• Freezer Food Friday at What A Crock!
• Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As A Mom
• Healthy Helpings at tHe KrAzy kItChEn

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Basic spaghetti and meatballs--yummy comfort food. I remember my mom spending hours making spaghetti sauce. I'm not sure she saw the cans of ready-made stuff at the store? I think she must have tried some one time and didn't like it? I don't remember any pre-made sauce coming into our house--ever!

After I got married and started cooking things on my own, I decided to try making some spaghetti. I was surprised at how easy boiling the spaghetti was and heating up a can of sauce! If I wanted to get fancy, I would cook some ground beef and add it to the sauce or make meatballs. It didn't take hours at all and it was so easy.

As I learned more about cooking and getting better at it, I now make a semi-homemade version of spaghetti sauce that is great! With us being empty nesters, we don't use all that sauce on the first day, but it freezes well and it's amazing how many uses spaghetti sauce has.

This last time, I made a lot of spaghetti, my big batch of sauce and a lot of meatballs so I would have lots of leftovers.

Pamm's Spaghetti Sauce
1 can or jar of your favorite commercial spaghetti sauce
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 to 2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 to 2 tablespoons minced onion
to taste: garlic powder, onion powder, and celery salt
optional: 1/2 to 1 pound cooked ground beef

Combine all ingredients in a pot or it just fits in my 1 1/2 quart mini crock pot. I let it simmer for for up to an hour on the stove or 1 to 2 hours on low in the crock pot.

Meanwhile, cook your pasta according package directions and/or make meatballs to add to your meal.


Pamm's Meatballs

2 pounds ground beef
1 sleeve saltines, crushed
1 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 envelope onion soup mix

Mix all ingredients (your hands work best for this). I used my cookie scoop to make uniform balls. I like them small, Hubby likes them big. I made small ones this time. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

When everything was all done, we had a grand spaghetti and meatballs meal.

With the leftover spaghetti, I made Spaghetti Eggs.

I packaged up the meatballs in meal-sized baggies and put them in the freezer. They make great lunches for me, tossing them in my mini-crock pot in the morning, and they're thawed and heated through by lunch time. The meatballs also make great add-ins to lots of other meals.

I put the leftover spaghetti sauce in a few Ziploc containers and put in my freezer. I will use it for homemade pizza, spaghetti bake, or to add into meatloaf.

• This post is being linked to:
• 
  
• Food On Fridays at Ann Kroeker’s
• Family Recipe Fridays at Vanderbilt Wife
• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge
• Friday Feasts at Mom Trends
• Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum
• Freezer Food Friday at What A Crock!
• Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As A Mom
• Healthy Helpings at tHe KrAzy kItChEn

More, Please! (Pamm's Brown Bag Burritos Toddler Verdict)

Today was the first day I served Pamm's Brown Bag Burritos to the toddlers.

This morning, first thing, I grabbed two burritos straight out of the freezer and put them in my mini crock pot on high. They were 'frozen together' so about an hour into it, I separated them and rearranged them in the crock pot. At lunchtime, I pulled them out and they were defrosted and heated through and to my surprise the tortillas had a slight crispiness. They were in the crock pot for almost three hours.

So, at lunchtime I used my pizza cutter to cut them into toddler-sized pieces. I was delighted at how little mess they made (the picture looks messier than it was). They held together quite well. Each burrito piece was like a toddler-sized burrito.

I put them on the toddler plates and served them with frozen mixed veggies and banana slices.

The banana slices are always the first to be eaten--I didn't get my camera ready quick enough to capture that. And when I say "frozen veggies" I mean I served the frozen. My little guys gobble them up as a summer treat and they are great for teething!!!

Anyway, I was very pleased at how the burritos held together even when they were cut into toddler pieces. There was little mess to it all with a normal amount of wiping faces and hands (I was preparing for the worst). All the toddlers ate it and when I looked at them most were saying "more, please" in sign language so I knew they loved it.

It's definitely a hit and will be served often.

Pamm's Brown Bag Burritos Makeover

I have been wanting to learn how to make my own burritos for a while now, I just needed the right recipe. I recently read this Brown Bag Burritos post and knew I could make something like that. So with excitement, I made my grocery list of the stuff to make them -- I just had a question: is that the big can or the smaller can of refried beans? So, I just guessed and tweaked the recipe a bit.

Here's Pamm's Brown Bag Burrito Makeover

2 pounds ground beef

1 large can refried beans

1 large can enchilada sauce

1 small can black beans

1 - 4 cup package shredded cheese

1/3 cup dried minced onions

1 Tbs. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. dried oregano

20 burrito-sized flour tortillas

Brown the ground beef and drain. Add all other ingredients (except tortillas), bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray baking pan(s) (I used two pans) with cooking spray. Fill the tortillas with about 1/3 cup of the meat and bean mixture. Roll tortillas, folding in the sides, into burrito. Place in baking pan (I was able to fit 8 in each 9x13 pan). Spray the tops of the rolled burritos with cooking spray. Place in oven for 15-20 minutes to crisp and beginning to brown.

After they cooled, I put them in the reusable bag the tortillas came in, then in the freezer.

My taste tester LOVED them! He said they're not very spicy and toddler-friendly. He loved the crispness of them, too--that's the part I added to the original recipe besides a few ingredient tweaks. He had them right out of the oven.

Stay tuned for the reheat and toddler review.........