Whats your favorite "Go to" recipe lifesave?

Happy New Year! At this reading we are three or four days into 2019. School and work schedules have resumed and meals must be prepared to fuel day to day activities.

Some folks have made New Years resolutions, and many of those include diet and exercise, eating healthy or eating less processed foods. Adapting recipes to accommodate all the families desires, and the need for easy and quick to fix meals takes a bit on ingenuity.

In bygone days grandmothers handed down cooking tips, and mothers passed them on to daughters. These days, cooking falls to men and women, or the family member first home for the day. Easy, quick and satisfying are of first importance in most households.

New for “Welcome to My Kitchen”, is a Facebook page. A place for me to share recipe pictures, plus tips and ideas that space prevents printing in the column. Also, it is a place for you, the readers, to ask cooking related questions and share cooking tips you have discovered.

Enter https://www.facebook.com/odessaiscooking/ in your search box to get to the page on Facebook. Or, if already on Facebook, type Welcome to My Kitchen in the search box.

Over the next couple of weeks we will get all linked to The Odessa Record Page and website. Currently, you can find out what I prepared from the Christmas turkey carcass and ham bones and a tip for storing rolls of gift wrapping paper.

“Go To” recipes are a lifesaver for anyone in charge of meals. Life gets crazy with no time to start a slow-cooker meal or thaw meat. I keep five such recipes at the front of my Casserole and One Dish Meal section. Aunt Florence’s Casserole comes from my late Aunt Florence Callaby.

Aunt Florence’s Casserole

1 pound ground beef

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed tomato soup

1 can (15 ounces) kernel corn, well drained

1 can (6 ounces) sliced mushrooms, well drained

1 Tbsp dried chopped onion

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet, brown beef until all pink is gone. Drain well and place in a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Add well drained vegetables and the tomato soup. Stir well to combine. Stir in seasonings. Place in oven and bake 30 minutes, until mixture bubbles vigorously. Yield: 4 servings.

Notes: If beef is frozen, start to thaw in your microwave while you preheat the oven and gather up the rest of the ingredients. Also, this mixture is good in tortillas, and adding a packet of taco seasoning appeals to kids.

Easy Burrito Casserole is about as easy as it gets. Keep frozen burritos, canned enchilada sauce and grated cheese on hand for this one. Topped with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, green onions, and sliced olives, family and friends will think you spent hours in the kitchen. Double the recipe for potluck meals or large families.

Easy Burrito Casserole

6 frozen burritos

1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce

1 cup grated cheese

Place unwrapped burritos in a greased 7x11 inch baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Pour enchilada sauce evenly over burritos and bake 10 minutes more, top with cheese and bake until cheese is melted.

If desired top with any or all of the following: shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, green onions and sliced olives. Yield: 6 servings.

Tuna Burgers are quick to prepare, less than 30 minutes start to finish. Preheat the oven while you prepare the filling and assemble the burgers. Wrapped in foil that doubles as a serving dish, meal clean up is snap. Tuna Burgers

1 can ( 7 ounces) tuna, well drained

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup cubed cheddar cheese

1/2 cup diced sweet or green onion

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3 or 4 hamburger buns

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tear off 3 or 4 sheets of foil, 12 inches square and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except hamburger buns, and mix until well combined.

Fill buns with tuna mixture and wrap each in a piece of the foil, sealing tightly. Place wrapped sandwiches on a baking sheet and place in oven. Bake 15 minutes. Yield: 3 to 4 sandwiches, depending on the size of the hamburger buns.

Note: You may substitute canned salmon in this recipe.

Favorite Spoon Burgers is a Dorothy Dean recipe, the homemade version of Sloppy Joes. The recipe makes a big batch, but is easy to cut in half, or, freeze the extra for a fast, thaw and heat meal, later on.

Favorite Spoon Burgers

2 pounds ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup minced celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/2 cup catsup

1 3/4 cups water

2 Tbsp salt (I use less)

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp prepared mustard

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chili powder

12 hamburger buns

In a large skillet, brown beef, onion, celery and green pepper. Combine remaining ingredients (except buns) and stir into meat mixture. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve over, toasted, split hamburger buns. Yield: 12 servings.

What are your “Go To” meals for those times you just arrived home, the kids are hanging of your leg, moaning “I’m hungry”, teens and adults are lifting kettle lids and opening doors sniffing for signs of dinner? Share those recipes with your fellow readers by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159 email therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen, mail tin in The Odessa Record office. Seed catalogs are arriving in the mail. Plan to grow some of your own food this year, at the very least, a pot of fresh herbs. Many vegetable plants make a lovely addition to flower beds. Sweet and hot peppers, potatoes, egg plant and okra have pretty flowers. So do squash if you have room. Your taste buds and even your pocket book will thank you.