Mostaccioli/ Mrs. Taylors Goulash

Let me start saying it was hard for me to make this dish.  First, I normally make it for a crowd. I've never made it for just the 4 of us.  My normal shopping consists of Sams club where I get the peppers, onions, meat, cheese, spaghetti sauce and sour cream in big portions so bare with me as I make this in smaller portions.


I got this recipe from my moms neighbor.  She calls it Goulash but its what I consider mostaccoili. I love her goulash and the mostaccioli at Billy’s Tip ‘n Inn. So, I combined the two.

Ingredients

1lb Ground Turkey or Beef
1lb Bulk Ground Italian Sausage
1 lb sour cream
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 box of penne or ziti noodles
a few small baby carrots chopped (adds sweetness)
1 chopped onion
1 piece of celery chopped
1 pepper chopped- red or green
Mozzarella cheese ( I like the big bag of stuff at Sams)

Brown together the Turkey, Italian Sausage, peppers, carrots, celery and onions.  Drain the grease then add the Spaghetti sauce.  In a separate pot- boil the water and cook the noodles. Keep the noodles and meat SEPARATE!


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Layer in a 9x13 pan with some of the noodles, then meat sauce then a few dollops of sour cream all over. Repeat with the noodles, meat sauce and sour cream until you have used everything up.  Then top it with that delicious Mozzarella Cheese and Parmesan if you have it.  Cover with foil then bake for 45 min to 1 hour. At the end remove the foil and bake till the cheese gets a little "kissed" on the top from from the heat about 15min.

Enjoy! Serve with garlic bread and a salad.

Meatball Sliders

This dish is a great recipe to make double the meat part so you can freeze it. Then for those nights that you just don't have time to cook, all you have to do is pull out some of the already cooked meatballs, thaw them, then you have half the work already done.

This recipe was adapted from Annie's eats: Mini Meatball sliders with basil pesto

Meatball Sliders

yields 20 sliders

For the sauce:

2 jars spaghetti sauce (approximately 56 oz)

   Optional: If your spaghetti sauce is on the *plain* side you will want to spruce it up with some onion, garlic, basil, oregano, parsley, and some sugar.

Water

For the meatballs:

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup milk

1lb. ground beef pr ground turkey

1 egg

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp dried basil

For the pesto:

1 jar of Classico-Traditional Basil Pesto

or Annies's eats recipe for pesto

For the sliders:

24 dinner rolls

Olive oil spray

12 slices provolone cheese

Directions:

1)To make meatballs, combine 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs and milk in a medium bowl and let rest 10 min. Then add remaining breadcrumbs, ground meat, egg, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and basil into bowl. Roll meatballs into 1 1/4 in diameter. 

2) Bake meatballs at 375 degrees for 25min or until cooked through. 

3) In a large deep saute pan, saute onion and garlic in butter or live oil until onions are translucent. Add in spices.Pour in jar sauce and add water to thin down sauce to your liking. Bring to a boil then simmer.

4) Add meatballs to sauce and let simmer 30 min.
    *If making enough to freeze some for later then this is where you will remove that amount and let cool down on jelly roll pan and then freeze.

5) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To assemble sliders, lay rolls open and spray lightly with olive oil. Bake in oven for 5 min or until lightly toasted. Slice a cooked meatball in half and lay both halves down on bottom roll.  Spoon small amount of sauce over meatballs. Top with cheese. (leave the top of the roll off) Bake another 5 min. Then spoon pesto on top of cheese and some spaghetti sauce. Top with top of roll. 

Meat Pies

The meat mixture in these pies have endless possibilities. The seasoning is just WOW.SO.GOOD.

Adapted Natchitoches meat pies- From Our Best Bites.

Meat Pies
1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
5 mushrooms, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
2+ tsp. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
Tabasco sauce to taste
2 cans beef broth
Puff Pastry, Thawed or pie crust dough
Egg wash- 1 egg and 1/4 cup water whisked 




Directions:
1) In a large skillet, brown ground beef and ground pork, breaking the meat into small pieces. When it’s about halfway cooked, drain excess fat (if necessary) and then add green and red peppers, mushrooms, onion, celery, and garlic. Cook until vegetables are tender and onions are translucent. 
2) Add 2 tsp. Tony’s and 1/4 tsp. Tabasco. 
3) Add beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Cook for about 20 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated. Season with additional Tony’s and Tabasco if necessary, keeping in mind that the seasonings will mellow in the pie. 
*You can refrigerate this mixture for 3-4 days before baking the pies.
4) Take puff pastry and lay out on a lightly floured surface. You can make these into any size you want. I made One BIG one for two of us to share and a few smaller ones. Place meat mixture into middle of puff pastry, leaving a 1/2inch border. Fold over puff pastry and crimp edges with fork or twist edges shut. Brush with an egg wash.
5) Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min or until golden on top.