Hamburger Pie

Yep...another ground beef recipe. This recipe was super easy and tasted really good too.

You will need:
1# ground beef
chopped onion, to taste
seasoned salt & pepper, to taste
1 bag frozen green beans, cooked (I used one of those microwaveable bags)
1 can of tomato soup
mashed potatoes (I made enough for the 5 of us)
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the ground beef with the onions. Drain off the grease. Add salt & pepper. Stir in tomato soup and green beans until mixed well. Pour into an 8x8 baking dish.

Spread the potatoes over the top and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

ENJOY!! :)

Mexican Casserole

I forgot to take a picture of our dinner tonight but it was really good just VERY spicy (according to the rest of my family). I didn't think it was too bad but I'm a little more tolerant of that sort of thing. ;) I used a "hot & spicy" taco seasoning packet so I think that was where the kick came from.

In efforts to use up some more ground beef, I made this recipe. I've made something similar to this dish with chicken here. Chicken or beef are both delicious!

You will need:
1# ground beef
1 can of Rotel
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 bag of Doritos or generic form, crushed
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
water

Brown & drain the ground beef. Over low heat, add Rotel, taco seasoning, cream of chicken soup and some water (I filled the empty soup can halfway). Heat this through and stir until well blended.

In a 9x13, layer half of the crushed chips, half of the meat mixture, and half of the cheese. Repeat the layers.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes.

**I was going to add some refried beans into the meat mixture but I realized I didn't have any. I thought black beans would be good...my family would not! I think corn would also be a good thing to add in but again, my family would not care for it. I did make corn on the side and added it in myself. I thought it was good!! :)

ENJOY!!

Pizza Casserole

I'm not a huge beef person...especially ground beef...but we went in with some family and bought 1/3 of a cow because my husband loves it. And now we have LOTS of ground beef crammed into our little freezer! So I'm on the hunt for recipes that use ground beef. I was searching on Pinterest for some ideas and put this together:



For an 8x8 dish, you will need:
1/2 bag of egg noodles
1 jar of Ragu traditional spaghetti sauce
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4# ground beef
pepperoni slices

Cook noodles and drain. Brown the ground beef and drain off grease.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Layer with the following:

Spread about 1/2 c. of spaghetti sauce into bottom of dish.
Half of the noodles
Half of the ground beef
Half of the cheese
Half of the noodles
Half of the remaining sauce
Remaining ground beef
Remaining sauce
Remaining cheese
Place pepperoni on top (as many as you'd like)

Bake for 30 minutes.

*If you have bigger eaters, you could double this and make it into a 9x13. If your family likes pepperoni, I think it would be good to layer it into the casserole, rather than just on top.

ENJOY!!! :)

What are your favorite recipes with ground beef?

Chicken on a Ritz

You may also know this recipe as Poppy Seed Chicken...SO GOOD!!!

My family has been making this recipe for a while now. We found it in a church cookbook a long time ago. It is a recipe from our pastor's wife at the time, my sweet friend Karen (Miss ya!). My mom uses it a lot when we have our whole family together because it is SUPER easy and everyone loves it!

You will need:
6 pieces of chicken (boneless, skinless)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. sour cream (light works just fine!)
1 sleeve of Ritz (or generic form of) crackers, crushed
1 stick of butter, melted
2 t. poppy seeds

Place chicken in a 9x13 baking dish.

Combine cream of chicken soup and sour cream; stir well (you can thin this mixture with a little milk if you'd like). Spread this mixture over the chicken pieces.

Stir crushed crackers and melted butter together and sprinkle over the chicken.

Sprinkle poppy seeds over the top.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

ENJOY!!

Candy Dish Cake!!

Have you made one of these cakes yet? I've seen them all over different recipe blogs, Facebook and Pinterest.

My son's Cub Scout Pack did a Cake Bake this week. They use this as a way to raise money for the pack by auctioning off the cakes. The goal is to do something fun and creative. J & I did a lot of searching for what we could make and this was the cake he decided on. It was super easy!! :)

You will need:
1 chocolate cake mix PLUS ingredients to make cake
1 1/2 - 2 containers of chocolate frosting
5 Giant Kit-Kat bars
1 medium sized bag of M&M's

Mix up the cake batter and pour into 2- 8 or 9" round cake pans and bake. Cool cakes and then remove from pans.

Place one round cake layer on a plate--frost the top and sides with frosting. Add the 2nd layer and frost the top and sides.

Break the Kit-Kat bars into sticks and place around the outside of the cake. Sprinkle the bag of M&M's over the top and YOU'RE DONE!!!

If you'd like you can tie a ribbon around it to spruce it up a bit.


ENJOY!!! :)

Burritos

I have made these several times now and we really like them!! I make a bunch of them ahead of time and freeze them. A very quick & easy meal!!

You will need:
2 cans of refried beans
1 c. salsa
3 c. cooked chicken, chopped (I have also used 1# ground beef, cooked and drained)
3 c. shredded cheddar or mexican blend cheese
flour tortillas (about 16 or so...depends on size of tortilla)

I combine the beans, 1/2 c. salsa, meat and 2 c. cheese in a large bowl and stir it all together until it is mixed well. Then I spread the meat/bean mixture into the center of the tortilla and roll it up. Place them in a pan, spread remaining salsa over the top and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or so.

When I freeze these, I just roll up the burritos and place in a ziploc freezer bag. When I am ready to bake, I pull out what I need and put in a baking dish and let them thaw in the refrigerator. When I am ready to bake, I spread 1/2 c. salsa and sprinkle with about 1 c. cheese over the top and put in the oven.

ENJOY!!!

*I adapted the recipe for these a little bit from Money Saving Mom.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Cake

We're not huge on cake around here so we always try to find something a little different to serve in place of cake at parties. The boys went on a search and found this to serve at their birthday party...



Delicious and so easy to make!!


You will need:
1 pkg. Chips Ahoy! (or generic form of) chocolate chip cookies
1/4 c. margarine, melted
1 c. hot fudge
1 1/2 quarts of vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup
caramel syrup
canned whipped cream
maraschino cherries

Freeze crust for 15 min.

Crush half of the cookies into crumbs. Mix the crumbs with the melted margarine. Press into the bottom of a pie plate. Stand the rest of the cookies up around the edges of the pie plate. Spread the fudge over bottom crust and freeze for 15 minutes.

While crust is freezing, pull out your ice cream so it can soften a bit. When the crust is ready, scoop ice cream over the crust (I saved 4 scoops for the top) and smooth it out with the back of a spoon. Then place the 4 scoops of ice cream on the top. Drizzle with chocolate and caramel syrups. Place a cherry on top of each scoop of ice cream and place whipped cream around the edges. Place in freezer until ready to serve.

(Makes 1 cake)

ENJOY!!

*adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com

Bada Bing Pork Chops

I made these as a freezer meal a little while back and we had them last night for dinner. I thought they were pretty good in the oven, but they would be much better on the grill!

You will need:
1 c. Italian salad dressing
1/2 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. applesauce
1/4 c. hot pepper sauce
1 lime, juiced (I used about 1/4 c. bottled lime juice)
6 pork chops

Mix all ingredients together (except pork) in a bowl. Pour over pork chops and let marinade for 6 hours or overnight.

Grill until no longer pink. (Or, remove pork chops from marinade and bake in pan at 400 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.)

*To freeze, I combined all of the ingredients in a freezer bag and froze. I pulled the pork chops out the day before I needed them and let them thaw in the refrigerator and they marinated as they thawed.


I found this recipe on allrecipes.com
. The author recommends using the leftover marinade for basting (after boiling it)...I did not do this. I thought they had a pretty good flavor without that step.

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Up until recently, I had a huge stockpile of taco seasoning...but with coupons not being as available as they once were, my stockpile dwindled and I had no more taco seasoning packets left. So, I gave the homemade version (found here) a try and I thought it tasted really close to store-bought! It is made with ingredients I already had on hand so I didn't need to buy a thing to do it! :)

You will need:
1/4 c. chili powder
1 1/2 t. onion powder
1 1/2 t. garlic powder
1 1/2 t. cumin
1 1/2 t. oregano
1/2 t. paprika
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper

Mix in a small bowl and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Use 2 rounded tablespoons in place of one taco seasoning packet.

*The author of this recipe also suggested if you like it a little spicier, then you could add 1 t. of red pepper flakes. I did not do this but will probably try it next time.

Resurrection Rolls

*I posted this last year...fun to do with the kids and a great way of teaching the kids about what Easter is REALLY about!!



Looking for something fun to do with your kids this weekend? I found this online last Easter and thought I'd give it a try. The kids had a lot of fun doing it. You can tell the Easter story while you make these...it is a great tool for keeping the kids thinking about the true meaning of Easter and have fun while doing it. It's not all about bunnies and such...it is about SO MUCH MORE!!

You will need:
1 package crescent rolls
melted butter
large marshmallows
cinnamon
sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Give each child a triangle from the cresent rolls.
The cresent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Give each child a marshmallow.
This represents Jesus and His purity.

Have child dip the marshmallow in melted butter.
This represents the oils of embalming.

Dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar.
This represents the spices used to annoint the body of Jesus.

Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the cresent roll
(not like you would normally roll a crescent rolls but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside)
This represents the wrapping of Jesus’ body after death.

NOTE: I would recommend covering your cookie sheet with waxed paper, parchment paper or foil because even though they were wrapped up pretty well, the marshmallow still did leak out and got the cookie sheet pretty messy. So if you want to opt for a quick clean up...try lining your cookie sheets with something!

Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
The oven represents the tomb.

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloths) and discover that Jesus is no longer there,

HE IS RISEN!

The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up,
but like the tomb - IT IS EMPTY!


You can read about the true meaning of Easter and some of the events that lead up to it in The Bible, Matthew 26 - 28. Also in Mark 15 & 16, Luke 23 & 24 and John 19 & 20.