Pasta Recipes Your Family Will Love
I’m still teaching how to cook from scratch, and today I have pasta recipes your family will love. It’s all about saving money, cooking at home, and eating around the kitchen table as a family. I have talked about this before, let’s bring back cooking with the family in the kitchen rather than going through the drive-in window. And let’s teach manners we learned as a child while we’re at it
Is it just me or do you love a little pasta once in a while? I don’t fix it often, but I think it’s critical we teach our kids and grandkids how to cook pasta and a wide variety of other meals. Anyone can barbecue a piece of meat or two and make a salad. I’m talking about cooking by reading a recipe, does that make sense? This is why I’m trying to teach people to cook from scratch by following recipes or cooking from memory.
Here’s the deal, I’m not a doomsday prepper, but I’m concerned that groceries are going to go way up in price. The weather this year will incur extremely expensive food prices coming up very soon. Guess what? Not everyone can afford a piece of meat every night. My budget doesn’t warrant a chunk of meat for each meal. I’m fine with that, I can cook any meal and feel satisfied as long as I know it was from healthy ingredients.
Simple Recipes
This is why I keep sharing a few simple recipes to make and prepare meals that are not expensive. One thing about making some of these meals, you can prepare them, cook or bake them, then divide them into portions to freeze and reheat. Bingo, it saves us money and time. You just place the container you’ll serve tomorrow in the refrigerator the night before. Then all you have to do is add a few side dishes. Easy enough for almost everyone to do. If you have a single man or woman on your street, I can almost guarantee you that they would love to have a home-cooked meal delivered to them.
In my neighborhood, a few years ago we had an “Empty Nesters” potluck. Do you remember me telling you that when I walked in with a homemade casserole I see about 20 dishes of “Lean Cuisine” entrees heated with the lids peeled back? I still get the giggles when I think about it. I get it, some people just don’t want to prepare meals anymore.
Pasta Recipes
1. Swedish Meatballs with Noodles
Did you grow up eating Swedish Meatballs? I did and I loved it! This is my mom’s recipe!!
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound pork sausage
- 1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
- 3/4 cups bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 cups of boiling water
- 3/4 cup sour cream
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Mix the ingredients and form into balls. Brown. Remove the meatballs from the pan and set aside.
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Stir the Swedish Meatball ingredients into meatball drippings. Add the meatballs and simmer 15-20 minutes and serve over cooked noodles.
2. Hamburger Stroganoff
This is one of the standby recipes that I can make quickly if I hear friends are stopping by to visit. It’s one of my favorite recipes and it’s easy to make.
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sauteed or 8-oz. can of mushrooms, drained
- 1 can cream of mushroom condensed soup
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley (for garnish)
- 8 ounces of cooked noodles, drained
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Saute the onion and garlic in the butter over low heat. Add the meat, and brown it with the onion mixture. Add the flour, seasonings, and mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the undiluted soup, simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the sour cream and heat thoroughly. Serve over hot noodles of choice and sprinkle with parsley, if desired.
3. Sunday Dinner Casserole
This dish is easy to make and most of us have the ingredients in our pantry and refrigerator. It’s all about saving money and cooking at home.
- 1/2 pound noodles, cooked and drained
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
- 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup minced onion
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
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Grab a frying pan, cook the ground beef in one tablespoon butter, and drain the liquid, if any. Stir in the tomato sauce and set the pan aside. Combine the remaining ingredients except for the 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Grease a 9-inch baking pan. Place half of the noodles in the pan and cover with cheese mixture. Drizzle the 2 tablespoons of butter over this layer. The next step, pour on the meat mixture. Chill at least one hour, then preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes or until heated through.
4. Mexican Skillet
This Mexican Skillet dish is one of my favorite dishes because most of the ingredients are in our pantry, refrigerator, or freezer. I can make it at the last minute and serve it for dinner.
- 1-1/2 pound sausage (bulk or sausage)
- 1/4 cup onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
- 2 cups uncooked macaroni
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 2 8-ounce cans of water
- salt and pepper to taste
- garlic powder to taste
- chili powder to taste
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Brown the sausage and drain the grease, if any. Add the chopped onions and bell peppers. Brown lightly. Add the seasoning to taste. Add the uncooked macaroni, the tomato sauce, and the water. Stir in the seasonings. Place the lid on the pan, and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the pasta is tender to taste.
5. Hamburger Noodle Bake
Here again, this recipe has ingredients we typically have in our home grocery store, right? Life is good when I can fix a recipe and freeze a few containers for a future meal.
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
- 2 10-3/4 ounce cans of condensed tomato soup
- 2 cups grated cheese (save 1/2 cup to put on top of the casserole)
- 5 ounces bottled chili sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped pimento
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 ounce package of noodles, cooked, and drained
- 2 cups bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup melted butter
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Grab a large skillet, brown the beef, onion, and bell pepper. Drain grease, if any. Combine the noodles, meat mixture, soup, 1-3/4 cup cheese, chili sauce, pimento, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, and 1 cup water. Grease a 9 by 13-inch pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop the mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese. Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes or until cooked through.
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Toss bread crumbs with the melted butter. Sprinkle on casserole before baking
6. Mom’s Goulash With Noodles
My mom used to make this when I was growing up and it was one of my favorite recipes she made for the family. I realize now why we didn’t have it very often. As a single mom, I’m guessing 2 pounds of meat would have blown her budget. Anyway, I have got to share it today! I hope you like it as much as I do.
- 2 pounds stew meat or ground beef
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons Paprika
- 1 pint sour cream
- 16-24 ounces beef broth (this will depend on whether you want a soup or gravy mixture)
- 8 ounces pasta, cooked as directed on the box
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Grab a frying pan, brown the beef in the butter. Add the onions with the spices (except the Paprika) and continue cooking them with the meat. Add the beef broth as needed, cooking until the meat is tender. Thicken with cornstarch if you like the gravy thicker. Cook until the meat and gravy are heated completely. Add the sour cream and serve over hot noodles.
Final Word
I hope that you enjoyed learning about these pasta recipes you can print out and save to make later. Hopefully, they will save you some money if and when grocery prices escalate once again. It’s all about saving money where we can and still eating a healthy meal or two. Thank you for being prepared for the unexpected. May God bless this world, Linda
Linda ~ Great recipes. In my past life as a mother with a kid at home and a husband by her side, I made all of these or variations on them!
Speaking of cooking from scratch – every Thanksgiving and Christmas I cooked a turkey for my family (and guests). I could get so many meals from one small turkey!! Something that I NEVER did when making soup from the carcass was use store bought noodles! I certainly was not going to go to all the trouble of making a soup from scratch then use store bought noodles!
So, in an emergency situation or truly cooking from scratch is the knowledge of how to make pasta. I do not have a pasta machine so my noodles tend to be a bit on the thick side! More like dumplings?? because it is a challenge to get them truly thin without a pasta machine. Anyway, knowing how to make them gives me an edge if an emergency situation occurs. And they are about the easiest thing in the world to make given some flour, salt and egg!
Hi Leanne, you are so right about the need to know how to make homemade noodles. I buy some frozen ones called, Grandmas Noodles and they are as close to my homemade noodles as I have tasted. When I had kids at home, I made them. Now with just the two of us, I buy them. I love turkey soup made from the carcass!!! Linda
Cooking from scratch is a very important skill. For those who want to know how to make the noodles, if for some reason, you can’t get out to buy them, there are many good videos on Youtube.
Hi Janet, It’s so true, great videos on making pasta. It’s so easy and tastes so good! Linda