Creamy Taco Soup

On cold days there isn't anything quite like a warm bowl of soup.  This recipe comes from reading several online and wanting to try something different than the taco soup we usually make.  I added crushed tortilla chips, cheese and green onions to the top of mine because I love toppings!  The green onions were a really good addition.  This recipe was a big hit with our family. 

Let's Get Crafty!
Toss this all in the slow cooker and combine together on low for 6 hours stirring a few times:
I want to try this on the stovetop too for days where I'll be gone all day and can't be stirring it.  I think the stirring is needed for the Velveeta and cream cheese.
1 pound cooked ground hamburger (the picture has one of my packets from the freezer)
1 can chili beans
2 cans rotel
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
2 cans beef broth
2 tablespoons ranch dressing mix
8 oz Velveeta (cut into small cubes)
8 oz cream cheese

Everything in the crockpot ready to roll

After stirring it for the first time

Before adding any toppings

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a great day.

Canning Salsa and Skipping the Water Bath

Hello everyone!  It's canning season and we're giving canning salsa another go this year.  We used the same recipe as last year.  https://craftypapercrafters.blogspot.com/search?q=salsa

I recently heard of some friends canning that didn't process their salsa in a water bath but that they filled the sterilized jars, tightened the lids and turned them upside down for the night to process and seal.

We gave it a try and every single one of our 19 jars sealed!  I love this!  It makes the canning process so much easier and saved us a lot of time!

We may just have to start canning more stuff now that it has become so much easier.  I did get nervous the night before and asked Mark if we should just go ahead and put one in the fridge overnight... just in case it doesn't work for us and we can at least have one jar of salsa.  He talked me into letting it be and he was right.  So easy!

This is a picture the next morning of getting them flipped

over and seeing that they all sealed.  I was up early checking. :D

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you all have a great start to your week.

Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese

I've been wanting to try IP mac and cheese for a while now.  Who doesn't love a good mac and cheese?  It was crazy easy and so darn delicious that I know this is something that we'll be making many times to come.

I was one of those people that doubted that the Instant Pot could cook a good pasta.  What I really like is that there is still texture to it and it's not all mushy and soft.

Let's Get Crafty!
Add each of the following to the Instant Pot and give it a good stir:
3 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
2 cans chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons butter

Set to manual setting for 4 minutes.

When the cook time is done - do a quick release.
There is still a little liquid in the pot with the pasta and ours was absorbed quickly.

Stir in the following until creamy and thick:
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup milk (whatever you have on hand)
1/3 cup 1/2 and 1/2

You might want to give it a quick taste before serving.  Ours needed extra salt.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!

Easy Cinnamon Roll Cake

Being pregnant sure gives me a sweet tooth and it seems like if I'm not eating something sweet then I'm thinking about something sweet that I would love to be eating.  This unusual for me sweet tooth was my first inkling that we would be welcoming another little girl to our family. 

On this particular day... cinnamon rolls sounded so good but I didn't have the time or energy to go through the whole process so I settled for something in the middle.  This is a cake that has the flavors of cinnamon rolls and takes much less time.  A couple months back I made something similar without the glaze on top and it was good... but the glaze really adds a lot.

The recipe for the cinnamon swirl and glaze come from Eating on a Dime.  They also give a recipe for the cake batter from scratch.  I took some help from the store and used a butter cake mix.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat oven to 350

Make according to the instructions (mine called for 1 cup water, 1/3 cup butter and 3 eggs)
1 box butter cake mix

Pour into a non-stick sprayed 9x13 pan.

Mix together for the Cinnamon Swirl:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Drop spoonfuls onto the top of the batter.

Use a knife to swirl it around into the cake batter without completely mixing it together.

Bake for 30 minutes

While the cake is baking - mix together the ingredients for the Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Drizzle the glaze over the cake and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a great day.

Sloppy Joes

This is one of Connor's favorite meals.  He's asked me to put it the blog so that he'll have it one day.  My hope is to put together a cookbook to share with my kids when they're older, so I'm wanting to be sure to post their favorite recipes.

Let's Get Crafty!
We like to have ours on toasted hamburger buns.  If you do too - Start the oven to preheating to a low broil as you start to brown the hamburger.

Brown and drain off any remaining fat:
1lb hamburger
1 small onion, diced

Add to the hamburger and stir to combine:
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/3 cup of ketchup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2-3 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
Add 1/2-3/4 cup of water

Simmer for 15-20 mins.  Taste before serving and add salt or more ketchup as needed.  

While this is simmering you can butter the hamburger buns and sprinkle them with garlic powder.  Then pop the on a baking tray and into the oven.  They generally take just a few minutes to lightly brown - so you'll want to keep an eye on them.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a great day.

Italian Muffins

Because everything tastes better when it’s in a cute fun size.

Preheat oven to 375

Let's Get Crafty!
1lb italian sausage, cooked and drained
add in 1 teaspoon minced garlic and saute until is smells delicious (probably just a minute or so)

Add to the sausage and garlic and cook until heated through:
1/2 cup pizza sauce or whatever sauce you have handy
1/2 cup cheese (whatever strikes your fancy... I used a pizza blend)

Whisk together:
1 cup Bisquick
1 cup milk
4 eggs

This made 18 muffins for us.  Prepare the muffin tins with nonstick spray

1 Tablespoon bisquick mixture
1/8 cup meat and cheese mixture
1 Tablespoon bisquick mixture

Bake for 20 minutes... then check.  Might need a few more minutes.  Ours took 25 minutes.

Ham and Cheese Breakfast Muffins

This recipe is a blast from the past and comes from Closet Cooking.  It was a big hit when we made it last and I was looking to find something we haven't had in a while to make for breakfast.  I'm going to double the recipe so we can freeze some for busy mornings.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat the oven to 400

Mix everything together:
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces ham, diced
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Divide the mixture between 9 muffin tins that have been sprayed with pam.  The recipe said 12 muffins... but it felt like those muffins be too small.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown

Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Spaghetti in the Instant Pot

So... it was a weeknight that I knew I wanted to make chicken spaghetti but I didn't want to have to babysit it on the stove or have to wait for water to boil.  That's one of the things I so love about the instant pot!  You get it going and walk away.

Let's Get Crafty!
Saute setting for a few minutes:
1 onion, diced
2 teaspoons olive oil

Add and then saute another minute:
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Turn off saute and add in the other ingredients:
2 uncooked chicken breasts, diced
1 can low sodium chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 small jar pimentos
5 mushrooms, sliced
1/3 of a 1 lb box of spaghetti, broken in half

Set to the manual setting for 5 minutes.  Make sure the vent is set to sealing and walk away.

Then release the pressure and turn back to saute to simmer until the spaghetti is cooked.

This picture is right after opening the lid.  The chicken was cooked great and still tender (I did a smaller dice to make sure it would be cooked through.)  Ours just needed a couple more minutes of simmering for the spaghetti to be done.

Add in while on the saute setting once the spaghetti is done cooking:
(next time I think I'll drain off a little of extra liquid first)
12 oz velvetta

The kids ate around the mushrooms, but all in all, this was a tasty dinner that was on the table quickly with little fuss in the kitchen.  Hope you had a great day!

Asian Style Turkey Meatballs

We had some ground turkey that I found on sale and I've have been thinking about a fun way to use it.  I thought making meatballs would be a fun activity at the end of the day for the little lady and I.  She said "No thank you. You go ahead."  Maybe on another day...

Connor and I used to make them a lot when he was her age.  He loved rolling out the meatballs and getting to pick the ones he wanted for dinner.  His favorite part seemed to be plopping them into his spaghetti sauce.

These would be great with pasta or rice.  I made rice for the kids and tried to go lower carb for me.

I found a recipe on Pinterest from a website called Chef Savvy that I stayed pretty close to in ingredients.

Let's Get Crafty!

Preheat the oven to 400

For the Meatballs:

1 lb ground turkey

3/4 cup panko bread crumbs

2 teaspoons minced garlic from the jar

2 green onions, only the green tops

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

I forgot to add the egg before taking the picture but it was added in before I shaped the meatballs.  This recipe made 15 decent size meatballs.

Bake for 15 minutes then flip and bake another 10 minutes

For the sauce:

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1/8 low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Whisk together these ingredients in a dish that is large enough to also be able to hold all the meatballs. I didn't even warm this sauce and just tossed the meatballs in when they were done to warm the sauce and it helped to cool the meatballs just enough to be able to eat them.  It was perfect.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Sloppy Joes

This is Connor's favorite dinner.  Hands down.  If I ask what we should make for dinner - I can bet that 8 out of 10 times... this is what he'll say.

When he was small he called them Sloppy Jones.  It was so cute that we didn't correct him and adopted that name for them in our house for several years.  I'm not sure when they changed back to being called sloppy joes... but somewhere along the line they did.

Connor isn't a big tomato fan - so this recipe doesn't use a can of tomato sauce and instead uses just a some ketchup.  What I really like about throwing this together versus a sloppy joe can of the sauce is that it's less sweet and feels overall a little healthier.  There's less sodium unless you want to add more and worcestershire is one of those unsung kitchen heros that packs a lot of flavor with little sodium impact.

Let's Get Crafty!

Preheat the oven to low broil if you would like to toast the buns

I love to toast ours because it always feels like it gives the sandwich a little something special.  We just butter the buns and add some garlic powder to each side and cook them on low broil until nicely toasted.  When I start the preheat as I'm getting started with the meat - we usually end up being done pretty close to the same time.  

Brown until cooked through:

1 lb hamburger

1 small onion, diced

Add to the pot and stir in:

1/3 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon mustard

2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup water (if you do the tomato sauce instead of the ketchup then you might not need this)

Brown sugar - just a touch - maybe 1 tablespoon (I use more like a teaspoon.  You could start with that and add more to your taste to see what's just right for your family.)

I like to mix everything together except the brown sugar and give it a taste before adding it in.  This always makes me think of the Sandwich King.  He says that if you aren't tasting then you aren't cooking.  The idea is that you should be adapting as the recipe moves along and not just one time right before serving.  

Simmer for 5-10 minutes 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Tuna Salad

When I was a little girl, I didn't like tuna salad.  I didn't like pickle relish or mustard and I can't ever remember being a big fan of fish.  It's funny to me how taste buds change as we get older.  I now love pickle relish and tuna salad is one of my go-to comfort foods during the lent season.

To make a perfect tuna salad sandwich you need to make sure you are using the large can of tun and not the smaller cans.  That is how you get the nice sized tuna chunks like in the picture below.  It's also important to me that I have some hard-boiled egg and dice up some celery.  Last - but definitely not least - be sure to allow the proper amount of chill time.  You want that tuna salad to be nice and cold between a couple of perfectly toasted slices of bread.

Let's Get Crafty!
For the creamy part:  
3/4 light mayo
2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
1/2 cup chopped celery 
Salt and pepper to taste (I generally just add pepper since the pickle relish is bringing a good deal of sodium to the party already)

Add in the tuna and eggs:  I like to add these at the end to help them hold their texture.
3 hard boiled eggs, diced up
1 large can albacore tuna

It's good to have a couple hours to chill out in the fridge to be nice and cold when you're top it on some toasty bread.  Sometimes I'll make it ahead on Thursday night so it's ready for dinner on Friday night.

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Brussel Sprouts in the Air Fryer

These were awesome!  My family doesn't like brussel sprouts, but I really do and wanted to give them a try in the air fryer.  It was super easy and I used the same cooking idea as french fries.

This felt quicker than making them in the oven because we didn't have to wait for the oven to preheat and I also loved that most of them had the super crispy texture.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat the air fryer to 400

Toss together until the oil is equally distributed
About one pound of brussel sprouts that have be cleaned and cut in half
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Garlic powder

Air fry about 15 minutes shaking the pan every 5 minutes or so.  I like mine extra crispy so I went on the longer side.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Every Plate

Well... I drank the cool-aid and gave Every Plate a try.  This is a meal service kit where ingredients and recipes for a few meals are sent to you each week.  This one seemed fun because we could switch up meals with a couple different options and a few people I know had tried it.  We used a friend's coupon for $20 off so we got 3 meals for a family size of 2 including shipping for less than $20.  I think family size 4 would have been around $40 with the coupon.  If you're looking to try it - I encourage you to use a link from one of your friends because you get $20 off your first box and they get $20 off their next box. 

This felt like worth a try while Mark was working out of town so we could do the family of 2 menu and give it a try for a pretty cheap price.  Other friends that had tried it said the portions were pretty good and that if we needed more we could add a side to go with it to be enough for the kids and I.

Here goes: 

Night 1 - Sausage and Pepper Orzotto with Cheesy Panko Crust
This made a full small casserole dish and was definitely more than enough for the three of us. 

Night 2 - Southwest Beef Bowl with Chipotle Crema, Pico de Gallo and Lime Rice

Night 3 - Spicy Honey Butter Chicken with Zucchini and Roasted Sweet Potatoes
So... I didn't really follow the recipe on this one and did my own thing.  I still roasted the zucchini and sweet potatoes but I also diced up the chicken to cook it in the oven. 

Overall, it was fun to try a few new meals but I don't think we'll do another meal kit.  I felt tied down to a plan because we had ingredients that I didn't want to go bad and the kids were a fan of the night 1 menu but not so excited about night 2 and 3.  These meals also had more hands on time than I've gotten used to with the convenience of our Instant Pot and various frozen meals we keep on hand for busy weeknight meals.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you have a great day.

Hard Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot

We've been eating more hard boiled eggs lately. I used to boil them on the stove top and then tried the oven method (take a look at that here), but I think the IP method will be the way that we use going forward.  Someone at work recommended them this way as a way that makes them super easy to peel.  Man oh man - she was right!  They are ridiculously easy to peel! 

Let's Get Crafty!
Put about a cup of water at the bottom of the IP and put your steaming rack in.  (Our little metal steaming rack came with the instant pot.)  Then arrange your eggs.  We have the 6 quart IP and 10 eggs fit perfectly.

Select the Egg setting and adjust the time to 10 minutes.  Make sure the vent is set to sealing and then you are good to go. 

After the 10 minutes have finished, release the pressure and put them in ice water.  I started peeling them after just a couple minutes and they were so easy to peel.

Happy Monday Friends!  I hope everyone has a wonderful start to their week.

Chili Bubble Bake

These pictures aren't awesome, but I couldn't not share it because it had three of my goals achieved on a weeknight. (1) Find a way to use the leftover chili in a way that isn't having chili again (2) Get it in the oven quick with limited dishes (3) Chili is also something our kids love, so I knew they would eat it up.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat oven to 350

3 cups leftover chili
I put ours in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes to warm it up so the baking didn't need to include extra time to warm the cold chili.

Get the biscuits ready:
1 can refrigerated biscuits
Cut each biscuit into eight parts

You'll also need:
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Layer it up:
Spray pam in a 9x13 casserole dish
Distribute the biscuits evenly in the dish
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Evenly distribute the chili over the top

Bake for 30-35 minutes

This is so easy for a weeknight dinner and the kids did really like it.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day.

Steaming Broccoli in the Instant Pot

One of the things I was excited about with the Instant Pot was the steamer and I haven't used it nearly as much as I thought I would.  On this particular day we were having Mongolian Beef from my freezer meal stash and I thought some steamed broccoli for me instead of rice would be perfect.  The kids each took their obligatory bite - but they weren't super excited for it.  I was shocked!  :D

This is so darn easy that it's barely even a recipe.  Sometimes I put things on my blog for a reference for me to look back at for things that I tried and really liked.

What makes this a keeper to me is that the broccoli stayed tender-crisp.  It wasn't mushy and had a vibrant beautiful color after being steamed.  

Let's Get Crafty!

Cut the fresh broccoli crowns off leaving some of the stem.  I ended up with around 1 1/2 cups

In the instant pot - put in your steamer base (mine came with the IP) and add at least a cup of water.

Put your steaming basket on top of the steamer base.  There are special steaming baskets you can buy but I use the cheesecake tin Mark got me and the size works perfectly.  I also put just a touch of water in that tin.

Put the broccoli in the cheesecake tin.  Done and done.  Nothing else.

For the Instant Pot - set the knob at the top to sealing and close the lid.

Select the steam button and hit the minus sign to reduce the time to -0-.  This is telling your IP to build the pressure and then be done without actually cooking it once the pressure builds.

So good!  Have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by.

French Fries in the Air Fryer

This was our second go at the air fryer and I think this may just be my favorite.  Because - hello! - French Fries!

We used smaller russet potatoes and only about 2 cups so there would be plenty of room to grove while frying.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat the air fryer to 400

Toss together until the oil is equally distributed
4 small russet potatoes, cut lengthwise in as even sized fries as you can
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
seasoning salt

Air fry for 20 minutes (shaking the fries every five minutes or so)

Mark and I were laughing that the air fryer helps with healthier cooking/eating in two ways.  You are definitely using less oil but you are also eating less because the batches are smaller.  So after eating the first batch - you realize you are full before the next batch is ready. 

Now for the Sriracha Mayo:
We made it 2 parts mayo to 1 part sriracha for a little extra kick.  If you want it less spicy - 3 parts mayo to 1 part sriracha would also be awesome!  I tossed this together and put it in the fridge while the fries were cooking.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!

Taco Egg Rolls in the Air Fryer

We got my husband an air fryer for Christmas.  I thought he would be super excited about it... but he didn't seem to be.  He loves fried food and we rarely make it at home.  I thought this could be the gateway to healthier "fried" food.  It uses such a small amount of oil and still gets the egg rolls super crispy.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat the air fryer to 370

Stir Together:
1 1/2 cups thawed taco meat (I used a freezer packet from my October 10, 2018 freezer session)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 can black eyed peas, rinsed (I would have used black beans but we didn't have any and these worked great in a pinch)
1/2 can corn, drained
(next time we'll add some avocado)

1 package egg roll wrappers (the brand we buy has 15 in one package)

Wrap up the egg rolls.  Our air fryer fit 4 at a time without over crowding it so I made 4 at a time as the others were coming out.

Brush vegetable oil on all sides of the wrapped egg roll and place in the air fryer

"Fry" for 10 minutes turning over around the halfway point.

For a quick and easy dipping sauce - I used equal parts of light sour cream and salsa.

The verdict:  These were really good and super crispy.  They were crunchier and crispier than we usually get from the oven versions we make.  I anticipate we'll go back and forth between using the air fryer and putting them in the oven.  These were really good but took more time overall because of needing to do smaller batches rather than one big batch.

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by.