made by Rachel

I don't know how to make this recipe sound as delicious as it is...so you are just going to have to take my word for it!  The super tender meat has a slightly smokey flavor and pretty much melts in your mouth and the polenta is creamy and full of flavor from the cheese and peppers.  I hope that description is enough to make you go try it yourself!  
For the meat, you will need:
2 Tbs canola oil
2 Tbs butter
Approx 2 cups of stew beef, cut into chunks (you can definitely used more, there will be enough liquid for about 4 cups of beef if needed)
2-3 tsp chiles in Adobo sauce (you can add more if you like but 3 tsp make sit pretty spicy!)
4 cups beef broth
3 small/med garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 Tbs cumin
1 Tbs chili powder

For the polenta, you will need:
1/2 of a large onion, diced
1/2 of a large red pepper, diced
1 Tbs butter
1 Tbs oil
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups milk (I used 1%)
2 tsp minced/pressed garlic
1 bay leaf
2 tsp thyme
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup polenta (I used cornmeal)
4 Tbs unsalted butter
1/2-1 cup sharp cheddar, grated
2 Tbs fresh Parmesan, grated

Start your meat about 4 hours before you want to eat...

Heat oil and  butter in a dutch oven/cast iron pot over high heat.  Throw in stew meat and brown for 1 minute, then add chiles in adobo, beef broth, garlic, cumin, and chili powder. Stir, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, then cover and simmer for 3-4 hours, or until the meat is fall-apart tender.  I did not have to add any extra water/broth, but you might need to.  Just keep an eye on the meat and if the liquid is getting low, add a little more to the pot. 
In the last hour of cooking time, make your polenta...

Heat the oil and butter in a large sauce pan.  Add onion and red pepper and cook  for a few minutes, or until onions start to get translucent.   Add the garlic and stir for another minute.  Then add the water, milk, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then slowly add the cornmeal/polenta, stirring constantly.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring often until the polenta thickens, about 25 minutes.
Add the butter to the polenta and stir until melted. Add the cheddar and Parmesan, stirring well.

To serve, scoop a generous helping of polenta and make a crater in the middle.  Add a few chunks of beef and a splash of the cooking liquid.  
Since this is a kind of "heavy" meal, I served it with mixed greens to make me feel better!  It was DELICIOUS and gave us lots of leftovers for lunch through the rest of the week!  
 

made by Rachel

Do you ever make a huge batch of meatballs and have them waiting for a recipe in your freezer?  Well, I feel like I always have meatballs in my freezer, so I made this lasagna recipe up to use some.  You could sub meatballs for plain old cooked ground beef, but I think this bulks up the flavor and consistency of a meat lasagna - try it out and let me know what you think! 
What you will need:
5 oz fresh spinach, chopped
16 oz ricotta
8-10 meatballs, chopped up or smashed with a potato masher
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
Marinara or meat sauce - 1 cup for filling, approx 4 cups sauce for assembly
1 egg
1 box lasagna noodles (if you want you can make your own!)
Fresh or shredded mozzarella (I use both, shredded for the layers and fresh on top.  You will need about one bag  of shredded, or one square hand shredded, and one baseball size ball of fresh)
Fresh or dried basil (for sprinkling on top)
Fresh or dried oregano (for sprinkling on top)
S&P

Directions:
Start a large pot of water boiling.  Add about a tablespoon of salt and a splash of olive oil.  

In a bowl, combine spinach, ricotta, meatballs, Italian seasoning, 1 cup of the sauce and egg.  Mix well so the eggs are spread evenly throughout the mixture.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Add your noodles to the boiling water and cook for 8-10 minutes - you want the noodles al dente so your lasagna is not mushy.  After 8 minutes take a noodle out and test it...it should be firm but not hard.  Pour your noodles over a colander to strain the water.

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.

Now assemble your lasagna:
Spread a  1/2 cup of your sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish.  Layer three noodles across horizontally.  Depending on your dish,  you might need to cut an extra noodle for the side so the dish is covered in a single layer of noodles.

Spread a thin layer of your spinach/meatball/ricotta mixture across the noodles, use a spatula or your fingers to spread the filling out evenly.  Sprinkle a thin layer of shredded mozzarella on top of the filling (meat/spinach/ricotta).

Drizzle a layer of sauce on top of the cheese, using a spatula to spread, if needed.  

Layer another 3-4 noodles, filling, cheese, and sauce, and another one....until you run out of room in the dish.  The top layer should be noodle, then sauce, then fresh mozzarella.  Sprinkle the top with basil, oregano and pepper.
Bake at 350F for an hour, or until the cheese on top is starting to bubble and turn golden. 

Enjoy! 
 

made by Emily

I've made Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon recipe a few times and wanted to experiment with another recipe (which evolved originally from Epicurious) since I had short ribs in the freezer.  Also, Julia's recipe has a lot of steps and I didn't want to be in the kitchen all day...but I found out, to my misfortune, that this recipe takes a while too.  I think that's just the deal with fall-off-the-bone meats (I would start it by noon if you want to eat around 6).  The prep doesn't take that long but it cooks about 5 hours and then you have to make the gravy.  Although a bit cumbersome, it's worth it because it is really, really SO tasty.  It's like a fancy comfort food beef stew where the meat falls apart and the broth is delicious.  I asked my husband how he liked it after a few bites and he replied, "this is my favorite kind of food".  I'm not a big stew person but this recipe won me over.... I almost hid the leftovers so he wouldn't take them to work. 
Makes 3-4 servings (for us it was 3 because I guess we eat a lot?)

You'll need for the short ribs:  
2 lbs short ribs w/o bone, or 4 pieces bone-in beef short ribs
1 Tbs vegetable oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
3 big carrots, chopped 
1 medium onion, chopped 
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or pressed 
1 14oz can whole tomatoes in juice, pureed in a blender with juice (you'll only end up using 1/2 the amount)
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
4 cups beef stock
2 sprigs fresh thyme (don't remove leaves, just use the whole sprig)
1 bay leaf
1 Tbs red-wine vinegar
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar

For the vegetables:
20 pearl onions (approx 5 oz) - you can use fresh or frozen.  Frozen is easier b/c the skin is off.  Fresh tastes better but you have to get the skin off which is a P.I.T.A. 
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs red-wine vinegar
2 cups chicken stock 
2 big carrots, cut diagonal into extra large bite-sized pieces
4-6 bacon slices (smoked bacon or applewood-smoked is great), cut into 1inch chunks
8oz pkg fresh white mushrooms (about 10 mushrooms), stems trimmed and diced
To Make:

Braise the short ribs:
Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 250°F.

Pat beef dry. Heat oil in a wide heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown beef on all sides, turning with tongs, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
Add chopped carrots, onion, and garlic to oil in pot and cook over moderate heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 cup puréed tomatoes (reserve remainder for something else, no more needed for this recipe) and bring to a boil over moderately high heat. Add wine and boil, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, about 8 minutes.

Add beef stock, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, vinegars, and sea salt and pepper to sauce (don't be shy with the S & P!), and bring to a simmer. Skim fat from surface if needed (I didn't), then add beef along with any juices accumulated on plate and cover pot with a tight-fitting lid. Transfer to oven and braise until beef is very tender, about 5 hours (the longer the more tender).
Cook vegetables while beef braises:
De-skin the pearl onions but try to keep them "whole" or intact as best as you can (luckily you skip this step if you are using frozen ones).

Heat butter in dried saucepan over moderate heat and then cook onions, stirring occasionally, until brown spots appear, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in vinegar, then add chicken stock and carrots and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.  You want the liquid to reduce by about half.  You can cover, if necessary.  It should look like the liquid glazes the veggies.

While vegetables are simmering, cook bacon in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until almost well done looking. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until mushrooms are tender and bacon is browned and crisp, about 4 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to vegetables in saucepan so you don't get the remaining grease.
Finishing touches:
Transfer a short rib to each of 4 soup plates and keep warm in oven. Pour sauce through a colander into a large bowl, discarding solids (or you can save for another use later b/c I feel like it's a little wasteful). Skim fat from top if you see a lot accumulated.  Boil sauce until thickened and reduced to about 3 cups.  Add about 2 cups sauce to vegetables (reserve remaining sauce for another use), then spoon mixture around each bowl of your short ribs. Taste to check if you need to add a little more salt & pepper. 
Enjoy!  We made salad to go on the side of this dish, but you can do egg noodles too or a crusty french loaf to soak up the broth would be good too.       
 

By Miranda

However, I do like it now, and even more so with a little gravy on top!  This makes a flavorful meatloaf that is (for lack of a better word) moist!  :)
My meatloaf:
1 lb ground beef
1 egg
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 Tbsp ketchup (couple squirts)
1 Tbsp water
1 tsp worsheshire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup onion, diced small
1/3 cup ground or shredded parmesean cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 garlic clove, minced
fresh parsley (1/2 tsp dried or a Tbsp chopped fresh)

Pre-heat your oven to 450F.

Mix all the ingredients together and form into a loaf.  Place the loaf in a roasting or baking pan and bake at 450F for 15 minutes, then 350F for about 35 minutes.  

If you have enough juices in your pan after baking, you can make a gravy.   In order to do this, remove the meatloaf from the pan.  Sprinkle a Tbsp of flour over the pan juices along with a splash of milk or water.  Whisk over medium-low heat until thickened and then season with s+p and parsley.


*This meatloaf was served with Caramelized Onion Mashies and Roasted Brussel Sprouts
 

By Rachel

I never knew there was anything better than taco meat seasoned with a Taco Bell or Old El Paso  seasoning packet....until I met my friend Laura, and she introduced me to the best taco meat EVER!  Now I don't think I will ever go back to plain old seasoning packets - unless I am in major pinch.  This recipe makes allllllll the difference when making a plate of nachos.  You will not regret the extra prep time!
Here is what you will need for the taco meat:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil or corn oil
1 small onion , chopped small (about 2/3 cup)
3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/ 2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt
1 pound 90% lean ground beef, or leaner
1 cup tomato sauce
1/ 2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons vinegar (preferably cider vinegar)
Ground black pepper

Optional other ingredients (if making nachos):
Tortilla chips
Cheese (good quality cheeses always taste better and produces less oil)
Pickled/preserved jalapenos
Sour cream
Onions (I used red and scallions)
Cilantro, chopped
Hot sauce

Directions:
Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat until hot and shimmering but not smoking, about 2 minutes; add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes.

Add garlic, spices, and 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. 
Add ground beef and cook, breaking meat up with wooden spoon and scraping pan bottom to prevent scorching, until beef is no longer pink, about 5 minutes. 

Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, brown sugar, and vinegar; bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring frequently and breaking meat up so that no chunks remain, until liquid has reduced and thickened (mixture should not be completely dry), about 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
After your taco meat is done cooking, let it sit while you prepare the rest of your nachos (or tacos, burritos, etc).  This time I made nachos, so I layered my favorite tortilla chips (Ann Arbor Tortilla Company chips are the BEST!) on a baking dish, shredded good quality sharp cheddar and Monterey jack cheese on top and cooked them until the cheese was melted (just a few minutes so you don't burn the chips).  Then I topped them with taco meat, jalapenos, sour cream, onions, cilantro, and hot sauce.

Enjoy!

Note: Using lean, higher percentage beef is important because you don't drain the meat after cooking it, which means all the fat that comes out from cooking goes in your mouth...I mean, this TASTES good, but is pretty nasty and unhealthy!
 

By Miranda

I have half of a cow in my freezer, (literally- well it IS butchered) but I've been slowly chipping away at it and one of my favorite meals so far is this beef stew.  I guess it's kinda like a stroganoff, but whatever it is, it's real good.  Yes, it does take a while to cook, but if you plan ahead, it can be a delicious end to your day.
4 servings

1.5 lbs stew beef
1 Tbs oil
1 med-lg onion chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
1 cup red wine
2-3 cups stock
3 carrots, chopped (1 inch chunks)
8 oz. mushrooms
s+p
2 Tbs butter
2-3 Tbs flour (depending on how thick you prefer the broth)
1 Tbs fresh thyme or 1.5 tsp dried
Serve over pasta or mashed potatoes (look at my pasta recipe if
interested in making it from scratch)

Heat oil in large oven-safe heavy bottom pot over medium high heat.  I use my cast iron stock pot. (If you dont have something like this you can transfer it into a crock pot and cook on low).  Brown the stew beef pieces in small batches so you don't crowd the pan, so they are nicely browned on all sides (dont move them or stir them- just let them brown then turn them over). 
Transfer the cooked pieces to a bowl until all pieces are done.  This might take roughly 15 minutes.
After all meat is browned and in a separate bowl, add onion and celery to the pot and turn heat down to medium (if your stew beef is very lean, you may need to add another Tbsp oil prior to adding onion/celery).  Cook onion and celery until softened and starting to brown, then add garlic and cook for additional minute or so.  
Add red wine to this and stir to de-glaze the pot.  Then add the beef back into pot along with stock (I used chicken stock because this was all I had, but I figure you should use beef stock :) - water would probably do fine as well, but it will not be as flavorful).  Next, add the thyme and bring to a simmer.  

Cover the pot and place in the oven at 225 degrees for about 5 hours.  Again, if you do not have an oven-safe pot you can put this in a crock pot on low for the same amount of time.  This gets the beef super tender and delicious!  

After 5 hours, add in the carrots and mushrooms (really any combination of vegetables would work- butternut squash or green beans would be good too) and continue to cook for 1 hour, covered.  

10 minutes prior to eating, melt the butter in the microwave and whisk in the flour until smooth.  Stir this into your stew to thicken, and season with salt and pepper.  Put it back into the oven to cook for the remaining 10 minutes.  Serve stew over noodles or mashed potatoes.  Yum!
 

Recipe by our Mother, made & photographed by Rachel

This recipe comes from our one and only Chachi Momma (as we lovingly call her).  I have put it into my own words, because she knows this recipe so well she can make it with her eyes closed!  Her version still always come out better than mine, but mine is pretty darn good.  This recipe makes a lot of sauce, so you will need a very large pot, or you can do what I do and use two different ones.  

I made this for our 1st Anniversary dinner and it was fabulous - Ed even said that the meatballs were the best he'd ever tasted...sorry Mom, I took all the credit that night!  

I served this with regular old spaghetti since the sauce is pretty much a one-man-show, and this great semolina bread recipe that Miranda sent me a while back, that I broiled for a couple minutes with olive oil and fresh grated Parmesan.  And of course, we had to have dessert, so we followed this dinner with insane three layer brownies....
Shopping List:

Fat Back or Salt Pork: about four 1/8 inch thick slices.  If your butcher or grocery store does not carry this you can substitute olive oil for it.

Two cloves of garlic; cut up the garlic in thin slices, pour a teaspoon of salt on it and smash it up with a fork and set aside.

Two pounds of ground beef: You can use less meat if you want fewer meatballs, the thing to remember is for each pound of beef you need 1 egg to make the meatballs

Italin flavored bread crumbs: you will only need enough to soak up the egg, if you are using 1 pound of meat it's about 1/2-3/4 cups and if you use 2 pounds of meat you will need about a cup of bread crumbs.

Eggs; 1 egg per pound of meat that you are using for the meatballs

1 16 oz can of tomato sauce

Two 46oz cans of tomato juice

One 46oz can of whole or crushed tomatoes

One cup of water

Italian seasoning; my mother uses about 3 teaspoons, I use about 5 teaspoons

Parmesan cheese; anywhere from a 1/2-2 cups, depending on your taste, I use about a cup

One carrot, peeled and uncut

Two big onions, chopped/diced

1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions:

Heat the fat back in a deep fry pan until the fat begin turning to liquid.  Remember, if you couldn't find fat back/salt pork or you don't want to use it, you can use about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  

In a large bowl, mix the smashed garlic clove/salt mixture with the egg (s) and just enough breadcrumbs to create a wet looking, mushy consistency.  Add the ground beef to the egg/breadcrumb mixture and mix together well (I use my hands to mash it all up - it's gross but it works the best!).  Form small, golf ball sized balls, with your hands, being careful to not pack them too densely, otherwise the sauce will not be able to cook through them.

Add the meatballs to the pan of fat back/salt pork or olive oil, whichever you are using, and brown them on all sides.  Once they are browned on all sides, take them out of the pan and set aside.  
After all of your meatballs are browned, scrape the pan to loosen up the brown bits left from the meatballs.  Add the chopped onions to the meatball pan and cook until onions are tender, stirring often.

While the onions are cooking, fill a large, deep pot with the tomato sauce, tomato juice, whole/crushed tomatoes, water, Italian seasoning, parsley, and carrot.  Bring this mixture to a boil.
Picture
*I had to split mine up in 2 pots since my largest pot wouldn't fit everything...it spits and spatters a lot, so try to resist cleaning until it's done cooking!
Once the onions are cooked and the sauce mixture is boiling, add the onions and meatballs to the boiling sauce.  Simmer for about three hours, uncovered.  The sauce will cook down/thicken over time.  Stir every once in a while to ensure the sauce it not sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Towards the end of the three hours, add the Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.  Remove the carrot and serve.  

Notes: 
The carrot is added to cut down on acidity, remove it when you are finished cooking the sauce.  When my mother learned how to make this sauce, the Italian woman named Stella who taught her would brown a few pork chops along with the meatballs, and cook them in the sauce as well, which also adds a lot of good flavor.  Another meat my mother has often added it sweet and hot Italian sausages. If you want to use sausage, simply brown them as you would the meatballs, and add to the sauce when the instructions have you add the meatballs.  

The real Italian way to serve this is to take out all the lumps before serving, by either pureeing or pouring the sauce through a mesh strainer after cooking.  Our family usually keeps the lumps and pieces in the sauce for a thicker, heartier sauce.

Have fun and make it your own, after, of course you try it our mother's way!
 

By Emily

My husband, like many men, could eat red meat every day of his life. One of his favorites to order is a Flank Steak which I never had tried at home until now. This recipe I found in a grilling book but altered a little and it turned out really really flavorful. My husband didn't say a word through dinner, and then finally with a mouthful I get a "Wow, you are an amazing chef". (blush) However, a warning to you, our breath was on fire afterwards from the garlic! I did have some really fresh garlic so maybe that made the difference, but if you don't like garlic, you can eliminate it in your preparation or just tone it down to one or two cloves. All night I was popping Tums (but I am 7 months pregnant and it doesn't take much to get heartburn these days). So it's a potent sauce, not for the weak at heart, but we both loved it and I'll make it exactly the same next time.
You'll Need:

Flank Steak or Strip Steak for grilling (enough to feed 2-3 people)
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
3/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 cloves garlic
1/3 c. minced onion
1/2 tsp dry marjoram
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
13/4 tsp sea salt (you can add more to taste later)
1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix all ingredients above (I used a food processor for these pics, but I have done by hand too) and marinate steak in 1/2 the amount of the sauce, while saving the other 1/2 in a bowl set aside.
Marinate for a couple minutes, hours if possible, before grilling steak. I had no time tonight so I made without marinating for long and it was fine.

Grill steak on a high temp setting on the grill and throw away the used marinade (usually grill flank steak about 5-10 minutes each side, depending on thickness and desired temp). Let the steak sit for 5 minutes before cutting and checking it. Then slice it up and when serving, use small individual dipping bowls on the side of everyone's plate for the Chimichurri sauce, if you have them. Enjoy! (If the sauce is a little dry/lumpy, add some more olive oil to the bowls).
 

By Rachel

As soon as it started getting chilly outside I started craving warm things for dinner like chili!  Thankfully Real Simple (yes, I know, you all realize this is my favorite magazine now) had a fun new recipe for me to try.  It turned out extremely spicy and meaty, so I altered it a bit and here is what I came up with.  It's delicious!

Here is what you'll need:
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large white onion (I used half a white and half a yellow) chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 pound ground chuck beef (I used a 90% beef for less fat/oil)
2 Tbs chili powder
1 Tbs chopped chilies in adobo sauce (you can usually find this in the ethnic food aisle...VERY spicy, so if you are sensitive to spice, add a tsp at a time - 3 tsp=1 tablespoon)
1 bottle/can of beer (preferably a dark Mexican beer, I used a local brew's pale ale since it was that or miller lite in our fridge!)
3 pint jars of canned tomatoes (I have these from my own canning, so if you buy tomatoes, I would do a 28 oz jar of whole peeled tomatoes with their juices)
2 15oz jars of kidney beans, rinsed and drained (dark or light, doesn't matter)
2 15 oz jars of black beans, rinsed and drained
Corn Bread, canned jalepenos, shredded cheddar and sour cream for serving (all optional)

Directions:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, garlic and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until softened, about 6-8 minutes.  Add the beef and cook, breaking up with a spoon or potato masher, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. 

Add the chili powder and chipotles in adobo sauce (the chilies in adobo sauce may need to be diced, depending on what brand you got...take one large chili out of the can and dice up, measuring out a tablespoon before adding to the pot - they are very spicy so be careful to add and taste if you are sensitive to spicy things!).  If you are crazy, you can add more than a tablespoon! 

Add the beer and cook until slightly reduced, about 8 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and their juices, beans, 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper.  Simmer, breaking up the tomatoes as needed, until thickened, about 20 minutes longer.  Serve with corn bread, sour cream (which tones down the spice if necessary), shredded sharp cheddar cheese and jalapenos.
 

By Rachel

The latest Real Simple magazine I received had 5 easy weeknight meals, so I decided to make all 5 for this week's dinners.  Here is one of the easier ones that I altered a bit to accommodate what I had and what I could use from our garden.  I realize this supports the stereotype of Midwest cooking to be primarily in one dish and topped with cheese, but it is NOT a casserole and is pretty delicious! 
What you'll need:

A cast iron skillet, or a stoneware cooking dish (I only have a small cast iron pan, so I used a stoneware pie pan)
2 Tbls olive oil
1 medium sized onion
1/2 tsp salt
1 pound ground beef (the leaner the better since you do not drain the meat after cooking)
1-3 peppers.  I used 3 long and skinny hybrid hot peppers from our garden, similar in size and spiciness to a banana pepper.  If you don't have or want to buy fresh peppers, you can buy a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies in it (usually in the ethnic good aisle).
1 15oz can of diced tomatoes, or about 4 roma sized fresh tomatoes chopped up
2 Tbls chopped fresh parsley
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I always add more cheese so I used 2 cups!)
Package of ready to cook biscuits (I used Pillsbury Grands)

What you need to do:

Heat the oven to 400F.  Heat olive oil over medium high heat and add the onion, stirring and cooking until lightly browned.  Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink, chopping apart into smaller pieces while cooking, about 6-8 minutes.  Add tomatoes, peppers and parsley and cook for a few more minutes, until the mixture thickens a bit.  Pour into skillet or stoneware pan.
Open the package of biscuits and separate out the biscuits on top of the meat/tomato mixture.  If using extra cheese, put half of the grated cheese down before spreading the biscuits on top.
 Then sprinkle the rest of the grated cheese on top of the biscuits and bake until the biscuits are cooked through and golden brown, about 20 minutes.  

I know it's not the healthiest of meals, but it was so good!