I admit I love cookbooks. So its always hard for me to pass them up when I find one for sale. My MOMS Club has one and I bought it last year not long after I joined and I am just now starting to try recipes from it. I love using a cookbook that I know the recipes are tried and true! This recipe is fast and tastes great.

Source: Local MOMS Club Cookbook

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes

• 2lbs ground beef or turkey
• 1/2 onion or a dash of onion powder
• 2 cans tomato soup
• 8 oz plain cream cheese
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 6-8 oz pasta

Cook the pasta while you brown the meat and onion. Drain. Mix all ingredients. Enjoy. Freezes fine and reheats well.

Yields: 4-6 servings

Yeah its that easy and you all know I love easy!!

I have gotten bored with store spaghetti sauce. Even my kids have not been eating it as well the last few months. So after talking with people who make it themselves I started to get excited about giving it a try. I admit I am a recipe person I don’t do a lot of just throwing stuff together so I started looking through my cookbooks for one to try. So when I came across this one I was excited. If you don’t have a slow cooker you really should get one they are the best. I admit I am more of a winter slow cooker user but its great year round. Plus one of the many benefits is smelling your yummy food cooking all day long.  I will say I did play with this recipe a bit. I will share the original and then tell you what I did different at the end.

Source: Taste of Home Quick Cooking 2009 Cookbook

Prep: 15 min (um more like 30) Cook: 6-7hrs

• 1lb ground beef
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 2 cans (28 ounces each) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 to 1 cup water
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 1 medium onion, cut into wedges
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp pepper
• cooked pasta of your choosing

In a large skillet, cook beef and pork over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.

Transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker. Stir in tomatoes, water, tomato paste, vegetables, sugar, garlic and seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until vegetables are tender.

Serve with pasta

Yield: 8 servings

What I did different. I put less onion in (half), instead of 1 cup carrots I did a half of a cup and then added a cup of cut up fresh mushrooms as well as a half a cup cut up zucchini. I also added another 6oz can of tomato paste and more oregano(not sure how much more of this I added probably another tsp or so).  I also added another 1/2 cup of water which I may not have needed.

These kind of recipes are fun because you can ready make it your own with out a lot of work.

I also wanted to add that its..

This was a hit with my son. He loved it. He was shoving fists full of this into his mouth. He had it again for lunch today and same thing. Its the most meat and veggies I have gotten into his mouth in quite some time. This probably tickled me more then anything.

So this recipe was a hit all the way around. I might try to work with the spices a little the next time I make it but that is all part of the fun.

This is in my top 3 favorite recipes. My mom used to make this in the summer when I was a kid and I just loved it. I used to call it summer spaghetti because that was when my mom made it. When I got married it was the first recipe I asked her for.

Source: My mom but I do believe it came from a taste of home magazine many moons ago.

• 1 cup pepperoni slices
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup green pepper strips
• 7 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato
  
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

Fry the pepperoni in a large skillet until edges curl. Add onions and green pepper; Cook until tender.

Toss together cheese, tomato and oregano.

Add cooked spaghetti and pepperoni, onions and green peppers. Heat thoroughly.  Sprinkle with addition Parmesan cheese if you desire.

4-6 servings

I like to double this recipe and have left overs for a few days. It can be a bit tricky to mix everything all together so use a nice big bowl will help.