This was a yummy dinner from Friday night, even if I messed up cooking the burgers. My DD is starting to kindergarten this fall (actually at the end of this month, oh my!!), so I am trying to pack the freezer with little things she likes, because even if she doesn’t end up eating lunch at school (it’s only half-day), I still won’t want to be making big productions for her, or for Boogie and I. So here is a doubled up dinner, one half for the dinnertable, one half for the freezer. I’ll give you the recipe how it SHOULD have gone, not how I ended up doing it because that was messy and not as cute.

Mini Pizza Burgers
Prep 5 minutes, Cook 20 minutes, serves 4

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 c. mozzerella cheese, divided
• 1/2 c. pasta sauce
• 1 T. garlic powder (adjust to your family’s tastes, though, we like garlic)

Preheat oven to 400 degree F. Mix everything together well, leaving out 1/4 c. of the cheese. Roll into 12 balls. Place on a baking sheet WITH A LIP (cannot stress this enough!). These will drip grease like nobody’s business, so do yourself a favor and make sure none of it will drip on the inside of your oven or onto YOU. If you don’t have a baking sheet with a lip, use a baking dish. For 4 servings, you will need something in the 9″x13″ size range. Slightly flatten the balls into patties about 1/2″ thick. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Pull them out and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of each patty, and then return to the oven for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is nice a bubbly and a little browned. Yummmy. These can be flash frozen (individually on a baking sheet) and dropped into a labeled baggie. Cost per serving: $0.60

We also had this yummy squash recipe. I added some parmesan cheese to the topping, and cut the recipe in half (I only had one big honking squash, not 3 pounds). Boogie Boy couldn’t get enough. It turned out very sweet and tasted like there was a pound of butter in it, when I know there wasn’t. Excellent recipe I need to make more often. Cost per serving: $0.35

And I pulled out a frozen bag of Butter Baked Rice. After dumping it into a microwave safe bowl with a few tablespoons of water added, I thawed it in the microwave at half power for 5 minutes, then heated it through at full power for 5 minutes. Wonderful! I didn’t cover it while reheating it (that’s what the water is for, to make for any water lost to evaporation). Cost per serving: $0.07 (and I need to make more, my stash is gone!)

Total cost per serving: $1.02 very good night!

Last night I whipped up a quick meal (I had a full day, and really had wanted the boys to cook, but gues they were busy . . .):

Sausage Pasta
20 minutes, 8 servings

• 4 sausage links (one 13 oz. package)
• 1 lb fiori pasta (flower shaped, but use what you have)
• 20 oz. pasta sauce (3 c.)
• 2 c. shredded mozzerella

Start a big pot of water boiling for the pasta. Then heat a pan for the sausage. I like to kind of brown/black the outside a little, then add a cup of water and let them sit in boiling water for a while. Cook them however you like, though. While you are waiting, prep some garlic bread for the broiler (I used one bakery hoagie roll cut into 8 rounds, with a little butter and Mrs. Dahs Garlic and Herb). If you aren’t pulling this together after a long day and you are actually planning this for dinner, prep a salad, too . When the pot of water is boiling, add the pasta and cook according to the package directions (10 ish minutes). Once the sausages are heated all the way through, pull them and slice them into 1/2″ rounds. When the pasta is done, drain thoroughly and return to the pot. Do not return to the heat, though. Add the pasta sauce, sausage, and cheese. The heat in the pot will be enough to heat through the sauce and melt the cheese. Broil the garlic bread, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn. Cost per serving: $0.78 (pasta) $0.10 (garlic bread)

Total Cost per serving: $0.88 (though I would add a salad if I were planning this)