Hits and Misses (Dinner Style)

I'll be honest, most of our dinners around here become frequent repeats of our favorites (or items that  certainly aren't instagram or blog worthy, like how many lunchables my son can eat in one week) but I did try a new one the other night that was a great meal and one we will make again.

(I don't know why pinterest has to make things so complicated. Remember back in the easy days when you could just embed a pin on your blog? Sigh.)     

         Follow Abby Neinast's board Recipes on Pinterest.    

I tried this Hamburger Soup  (seen above in the top left hand corner) and it was delicious! Here's the recipe from her site:

Ingredients

• 1 Tbls Olive Oil
• 1/2 a med sized onion, chopped
• 2 Tbls minced garlic
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can condensed tomato soup, plus 1 can water
• 2-14 oz. cans beef broth
• 1 cup of corn or other canned/frozen veggies
• 1 cup uncooked small pasta

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet.
2. Add onion and garlic and stir until the onions are just soft.
3. Add ground beef, season with salt and pepper and cook until meat is longer pink. Drain.
4. Meanwhile, in a five quart soup pot, pour in beef broth, tomato soup and water. Bring to a boil, turn down heat to medium and add the ground beef and corn.
5. Add the pasta and veggies and cook pasta to al dente.

The only changes I made were to add 2 cups of pasta (instead of one to make it a little more hearty) and to also add a can of green beans.  Griff loves green beans, so he had no problems with adding them in.  Cody claimed this was like a healthier hamburger helper (and he meant it as a compliment!) It made quite a bit and I was able to break it up into leftovers and 2 containers to freeze. I think this will be a staple for the fall and winter!

Now on to the miss... One big adjustment we made when we first moved to our small town was that it only had United for a grocery store. It took me a while to get used to not having as much available to us and paying more for it all. Eventually our Super Walmart opened up and now I do most of my shopping there, but I do still return to United because you can't beat their meat sales. They frequently do buy one get one free on chicken, ground turkey and pork chops so I like to stock us up on those. (see above: frequent repeats!) I happened to notice that country style ribs were on sale a few weeks ago and decided to pick some up to have for dinners. Of course, they were cheap, so I bought a lot to freeze, not considering that I don't actually know how to cook them. 

Yep. Turns out its a different type of rib that I was picturing. Most of the recipes I found on pinterest were all for bbq ribs, but I wasn't in the mood for that. I ended up seasoning them and cooking them for a few hours in the crockpot and serving bbq on the side for the boys. The house smelled good, but sadly they were just meh. I totally think it had to do more with my cooking that with the actual meat, but Cody and I finished that night saying, "Well, that was a dinner." Because there wasn't much else good to say about it.  I've learned my lesson about buying in bulk items you haven't actually cooked before!

Anyone have any tips on cooking country style ribs for me? I've got a lot to practice on!