Hamburger Macaroni Soup

Here is a recipe I semi-made up loosely based on a soup that my Grandma made for us once, but I lost the recipe! I have no idea whether this is close or not, but my husband and I both enjoyed it! Feel free to substitute any vegetables that you like and to adjust the recipe as you desire. 

Ingredients

Ground beef

1 ½ cups elbow macaroni

1 can tomatoes

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 package or can mushrooms

1 cup chopped carrots

2 cups water

Spices (optional)
Grated cheese to top (optional)

Brown the ground beef in a large pot with a bit of oil. Add the chopped onions and other vegetables. Add the can of tomatoes, water, and macaroni. Simmer for about 20 minutes on medium-high heat or until the macaroni is cooked to your liking. Add salt, pepper, and spices if desired. Top with grated cheese and enjoy!

Pumpkin Crumble

Here is a nice yummy fall recipe, perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving. This is a case where it doesn't look too good, but it tastes delicious! It didn't turn out too crumbly this time, but that's OK! I find that this recipe tastes as good as pumpkin pie but is way less work. I have to give credit to Julie for passing along this recipe, thanks Julie!

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

28 oz (796 ml) canned pumpkin (not pie filling)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

½ tsp salt

3 cups skim milk

1 white cake mix

½ cup melted margarine

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9x13” baking dish with non-stick cooking oil. Combine the eggs, sugar, salt, pumpkin, and spices in a large bowl. Mix well. Add the milk and stir until smooth. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. 

Combine the cake mix with the melted margarine. Mix well to form a crumble. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the top of the pumpkin mixture. 

Bake for 1 – 1 ¼ hours. Serve hot or cold with cool whip or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Grilled Balsamic Vegetable Wraps (With Goat Cheese!)

Although I love both cooking and baking, one thing I really enjoy about cooking is that you can be creative and leave out (or add in) ingredients as you please for the most part. This recipe is inspired by grilled vegetable wraps I have had at various restaurants (notably August restaurant in Beamsville... if you are ever in Niagara definitely check it out!). I loosely based the recipe off of the one found at this link. I surprised myself at how delicious and easy this was! I also used our new Cuisinart Griddler to grill the wraps at the end, it's definitely a wedding gift that I am enjoying! If you don't have one or a similar item, then don't worry about it, they still taste good even if they aren't grilled at the end. Like I said, cooking is flexible! You could even add in some asparagus, red peppers, or anything else that you think you might like. Enjoy!

Grilled Balsamic Vegetable Wraps

Ingredients
1 zucchini
1 onion
1 package mushrooms
1 green or red pepper
1 package baby spinach
1 package Goat cheese
6 Tortilla wraps
Vegetable Oil
Balsamic Vinegar (or balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing)

Directions
1. Cut up the vegetables (aside from the baby spinach), and brush them with vegetable oil and balsamic vinegar.

2. Put the vegetables on a grilling tray or cookie sheet and broil for 5 minutes. Flip the vegetables and broil for another 5 minutes.

3. While the vegetables are cooking, spread some goat cheese on the wraps, and put some baby spinach in them.

4. Put the grilled vegetables inside the tortillas, wrap them up, and put them on your Griddler/Panini Press on high for approximately 5 minutes. Enjoy!