Tamale Pie

 My Mother-in-law and Father-in-law and I were looking through cookbooks and one had tamales in it.  Someone mentioned that it had been a long time since having a tamale pie.  When dinner rolled around - that seemed like the perfect thing to make.  Betty found this Betty Crocker recipe online that seemed just like the one she remembers making it the past.  It was really good. 

Let's Get Crafty!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef, browned

1 can corn

1 can rotel

1/2 can olives, sliced

2 tablespoons bisquick 

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup bisquick

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

Preheat oven to 400

Stir together and heat to boiling - then simmer for a couple minutes: 

1 lb ground beef, browned

1 can corn

1 can rotel

1/2 can olives, sliced

2 tablespoons bisquick 

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pour the mixture into a 9 inch square baking dish

Combine in a mixing bowl and spoon on top of the beef mixture using the back of a spoon to smooth it over the top:

1 cup bisquick

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

Bake uncovered for 25 minutes  - we checked after 20 minutes and ours needed the full 25

Hot and bubbly from the oven

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

Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole

I'm late posting this but I wanted to be sure to share the recipe because we loved it and I'm sure we'll be making it again.

We made this as a part of the brunch we had back at our house to celebrate after Haley's baptism.  It worked out nicely that it could fit different diets.  Some made breakfast tacos and some had it by itself.

Let's Get Crafty!

1 bag 30 oz frozen hashbrowns

1 1/2 sausage, browned 

1 cup diced peppers

2 cups cheese blend of your choice

18 eggs
1 cup milk

I used a crockpot liner to make cleanup a breeze.  

Layer it up:

Hashbrowns on the bottom 

Cooked sausage on top of that along with the diced peppers and cheese 

Then I set it aside to make sure the sausage completely cooled before adding the egg mixture

Whisk together the eggs and milk and pour it over the top

We put the lid on and kept it in the fridge until it was ready to start cooking.

Cook on low 7-8 hours.  

Haley usually wakes up to eat around 3 and that timing worked great to start the cooking and be in line with when we were going to be getting back from church.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope everyone has a great day!!

Jalapeno Popper Dip

We were going to make some jalapeno poppers to go with dinner but the store was out of jalapenos. I guess a lot of people are leaning on their vitamin C benefits during the corona-virus. So... we made this dip instead.  It was really good!  I would add extra green chilies to it next time to make it spicier.

Here it is hot out of the oven... in all its toasty glory. 

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat the oven to 400

Mix together until well combined:
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 cup bacon crumbles
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can diced jalapenos
5 diced fresh jalapenos

Bake at 400 for 20 mins until bubbly around the edges

Combine and add to the top:
3/4 cups panko (I did twice as much when I made it and it was way too much topping)
2 tablespoons of butter, melted

Bake on low broil 10 more minutes (I start the time when I change the temp to broil)

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

Instant Pot Taco Mac

This is a spin off the basics of the mac and cheese recipe I've been making in the instant pot for a while now.  I love throwing everything in and setting the timing and walking away.  On this day... my son switched the vent to sealing because I accidentally left it in release.  You can tell when you've done this because it doesn't make the happy sealing noise when it's warmed up but instead keeps steaming loudly.  It's a super quick fix because the knob can just be moved to sealing.

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 garlic powder
3 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 1/2 ground hamburger, cooked (I used frozen packets from my freezer and changed the manual setting from 4 minutes to 5 minutes.  If I was doing ground hamburger that I just cooked and wasn't frozen - then I would have continued to use 4 minutes like in the macaroni and cheese recipe.)

Set to manual setting for 5 minutes.

When the cook time is done - do a quick release.

Stir in the following until creamy and thick:
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Done and done

I think I might like to throw in a can of rotel next time.  I didn't today because I knew the kids would eat it better without it and they did.  Emily had little tomatoes on the side.  It's so funny to me that she goes back and forth on eating cooked, diced tomatoes but will eat fresh grape tomatoes like they're going out of style.

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

Eclair Cake

This was a huge hit with the kids!  This recipe came my way by Passionate Penny Pincher's newly released meal set that includes 5 meals and a weekly dessert.  They put together the grocery list and everything.  You should stop by their site, if you're interested.  They'll also be releasing a summer meal set in the next month or so (it would have been sooner but production got slowed down with COVID-19.)  I did a Pinterest search and noticed there are many similar recipes - if you wanted to take a look at trying it some different ways too. 

Let's Get Crafty!

Ingredients:

2 5.1 oz packages instant vanilla pudding

8 oz container whipped topping

3 cups milk

1 package graham crackers

1 tub chocolate frosting

Whisk together until completely combined:

2 5.1 oz packages instant vanilla pudding

8 oz container whipped topping

3 cups milk

Layer it up:

Single layer of graham crackers

1/2 pudding mixture

Another layer of graham crackers

1/2 pudding mixture

One more layer of graham crackers 

We didn't have a full box of graham crackers so we needed to pull in some Super Woman 

Honeymaid grahams for the win.  (Emily claimed that piece.)

For the grand finale layer: Chocolate frosting

To help soften it up, I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Then it poured across the top easily and I used the back of a spoon to even it out.  (We only used around 3/4 of the tub, so... I took a spoonful.  Not the most healthy choice - BUT!  No regrets.  It was amazing and I already plan to do it again when we make it next time.

Let it chill out in the fridge for 4 hours

Connor was too excited to wait and had some around an hour.  He liked it and said the graham crackers still had a crunch to them.  When we had some with lunch the next day - it was perfectly softened.

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Ravioli with Meat Sauce - NO BOIL (Whoohoo!)

I'm always on the hunt for quick and easy dinners and this one definitely fits the bill.  We don't eat ravioli often here and I bought some because I wanted to try it in the air fryer.  Well... I haven't done that and came home last Friday night tired and wanting to make dinner fast with little effort.

I know this is something we'll definitely have again because not needing to boil the ravioli by itself  makes this ridiculously easy.

Let's Get Crafty!

Start out by warming your sauce (or in my case - defrosting and then warming):

2 cups pasta sauce (we used a frozen packet I had of meat sauce but I'm thinking a full jar of premade sauce would be the perfect amount)

Add the ravioli (being sure to break up the pieces as needed so they are separated to help for even cooking and making sure it all finishes at the same time):

1 20 oz bag of cheese ravioli (or whatever flavor fits your fancy)

Once the ravioli and sauce are mixed together well - turn the temp to low/simmer and let the cooking happen for you.  We started with 10 minutes and then added another 5 minutes to help it finish.  It'll depend on how high you have your temperature but you'll want to be careful it isn't too high or you may need to add some water.

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

Breakfast Casserole Strata

I'm sure it's hard to believe that there's a breakfast casserole that I haven't tried or made - but then this little recipe popped up on my radar.  

This recipe comes from the back of a Kroger brand pork stuffing mix.  I cut the recipe out of the box and have had it sitting on the counter for a while.  It always makes me happy when the day comes where I use it.  It's tweaked and adjusted for what I had on hand or what I didn't want to include.

Let's Get Crafty!

Preheat oven to 350 

1 box Kroger pork flavored stuffing mix

1 cup diced ham

1 cup diced peppers (we used red)

1/2 cup green onions

1/3 cup (pablano pepper - we didn't have any but I wish we had!)

1 tablespoon diced garlic (I used a list bit of garlic powder)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

10 eggs, beaten

2 cup milk (the recipe called for heavy cream but we used 2% and it was great)

In a large bowl, combine the eggs and milk and whisk until well combined.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well distributed.

Pour into a 8 x 12 casserole dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray and bake for 40 minutes.  (We needed to do some extra time.)

Remove from oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Happy Sunday Funday!  Our little Haley Bug is taking a snoozer and I was excited to steal a few minutes to type this out while Emily played in the sandbox as breakfast was cooking.