Beefy Enchilada Stuffed Peppers

We made these on a warm day where I was looking for a tasty dinner that didn't heat up the house.  I love "choose your own adventure" type of dinners and that is what this is.  Fill your peppers with whatever you want.  We had some leftover, cooked ground beef so I added some enchilada sauce and let it simmer for a few minutes while I took the core out of each pepper.  These would be AWESOME philly style too with beef, peppers, green chiles and lots of cheese.

I took lots of pictures because I love to see progression of layers.

(The tortilla chip layer was my favorite!)

Instant Pot: Manual setting for 6 minutes and let the pressure naturally release for another 10 minutes

You can also do them in the crock pot.  I would do low for the afternoon.  Maybe put them in around lunchtime and then they'll be ready for dinner.

Hope everyone has a great day!  Thanks for stopping by.

Blueberry Muffins Trick

Hi there!  Do you love blueberry muffins but feel like there just aren't enough blueberries?  I do.  Emily is my little fruit eater and loves them too.  This isn't a recipe as much as a fun little trick to add some freshness to your muffins when you see blueberries on sale for 4 for $10.  Like right now!  :D

We buy extra and I freeze little 1 cup packets of them to use later.  

I make the muffins according to the package and then add in the extra blueberries being careful to fold them in extra carefully.

Here's our favorite muffin mix

The top left side are the blueberries that come in the little can

and look at all that extra blueberry amazing-ness!

Oh man!  So good!

Bake them according to the instructions on whatever mix you bought.  Ours were 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  The box said 18-20 but they were done at 15. 

These are perfect to make on a Sunday to have on hand for quick breakfasts throughout the workweek.  

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

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.