Crock Potin'

It's been stormy here in AZ this week. Soup has been sounding heavenly! Here's one of our family favs that warms the belly and comforts the soul.

Cheesy Potato Soup- Crock Pot style
1 bag frozen hashbrowns thawed-don't use the shredded kind
1 small block Velveeta cheese- cubed
1 small onion- I like to saute mine in a little butter first
1 16oz tub sour cream
1 pouch Ocsar Mayer real bacon bits
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 stick butter
1/2c. to 1c. milk-optional
Place everything in a crock pot and mix well. It will be thick, but as everything melts it will thin out. Cook on high for 5 to 6 hours.  If the soup is too thick for your liking, add 1/2c. of milk or more till desired consistancy.  Serve with dinner rolls.

Italian Baked Chicken

"Mom! I just can't stop eating this!"

Needless to say, this one is a keeper!

Italian Baked Chicken
5 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix
1/2c. water
1 8oz cube cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 box chicken stuffing
1c. Mozzarella cheese
2c. bowtie pasta noodles
Mix Italian dressing with water.  Place chicken in a crock pot. Pour dressing over chicken and cook for 3 hours.  Shred with a fork.  With a hand mixer, blend cream cheese and cream of chicken soup. Pour over chicken and cook for 1 more hour.  Boil noodles and prepare stuffing the last 15 minutes of the hour. Drain noodles and place back in the pan.  Pour chicken sauce over the noodles and then pour into a 9x9 baking dish.  Sprinkle with cheese and spread stuffing on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Banana Caramel Tiramisu

Ingredients:

1 (4 oz) pkg instant Banana Pudding
1 C cold milk
1 1/3 C Caramel Dipping Sauce (your favorite)
1/2 C sour cream
2 C whipped topping
30 Ladyfinger cookies
1 C orange juice
2 ripe bananas-peeled and sliced

Topping:
1 1/2 C whipped topping
1/4 C caramel dipping sauce
ground cinnamon

Directions:

Combine pudding mix and cold milk in a large bowl and whisk to thicken. Add 1/3 C Caramel dip and sour cream. Whisk to combine. Fold in whipped topping.

Dip 15 Ladyfingers in orange juice and arrange on one layer of a 9"x11" pan. Spread 1/2 C of caramel dip over soaked Ladyfingers. Spoon half of cream mixture over caramel and spread into an even layer. Top with half of banana slices. Repeat process with remaining ingredients. For topping, spread whipped topping over all, drizzle with caramel and sprinkle with cinnamon. Store covered in fridge until ready to serve.

Stuffed Peppers

Oh my heavens this is a goodie!
I found this recipe while cutting coupons. I knew coupon cutting was worth it! And this recipe is!

Stuffed Red Peppers
4 lg red bell peppers (I'm sure green would work too)
1 c. minute rice, uncooked
2 Tbs Mrs Dash Tomato Basil Garlic seasoning
1 pound browned ground beef
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c. bread crumbs (Italian style is delish!)
1 jar marinara sauce
1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Remove tops and seeds from peppers. Place in a 9x9 baking dish.
Combine uncooked rice, seasoning, beef, egg, and bread crumbs. Mix well. Stuff mixture into peppers.
Pour sauce over peppers and sprinkle with cheese. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or till peppers are tender.

What's for dinner

We'll be having this.

You can get the recipe here.

I LOVE Picky-Palate.

I'll probably put my own spin on it, cuz that's what I do.

I'll let you know how it all turns out.

I'm already drooling!

Cooking Tricks

I love to cook and make new things, but I hate spending a lot of time in the kitchen doing so. This last year my life was crazy, but I didn't want my family to suffer and my wallet was too thin for take out and fast food each night. I found a few little tricks that helped me do what a love, feed my family a home cooked meal each night so I thought I'd share some of my cooking tricks.

1. Buy hamburger meat in bulk and cook it up.
It does take a little time to cook up so much meat, but when you have 8 bags of meat cooked and ready to go it cuts cooking time in half! You can do chicken as well. Dice it, shred it or leave it alone.

2. Make a weekly menu
Write out everything you need and add what you don't have to your shopping list. This helps you not spend too much money at the store as well as finding out later that you don't have something for the meal you are cooking.

3. Create a meal list
I was getting stuck in a food rut. Spaghetti or enchiladas. It seemed I was making the same meals over and over again. As soon as I made a meal list I remembered meals I had forgotten about, added new favorites to the list, and was no longer stuck in a rut.

4. Crock pot
I forgot how much I loved my crock pot! Set it, forget it, and when you get home it's ready. You can even put them outside so your house doesn't heat up. That's the last thing we need in AZ!

5. Rhodes Rolls
These bad boys are so yummy! I'm not a baker at all. When I try nothing works out for me. I am so banned from yeast! You buy these in the freezer section and they taste like homemade. I set mine outside for faster rising. They have turned out perfect every time. I like to bake mine in a muffin pan. They end up being pull apart rolls.

So, these are a few little tricks I've found. What are some of yours?

Tamale Pie

1 1/2 lbs browned hamburger meat

1 small can tomato sauce

1 cup corn-frozen or canned, drained

1 small can sliced or chopped olives-drain if needed

1 small can green chili's

2 cups shredded cheese

1 pgk taco seasoning

2 pkgs crescent rolls

In a greased 9x13 pan, place 1 can of rolls. They roll out like a square, so you just need to spread to the sides. They may come apart a bit, but that's okay. Mix together meat, tomato sauce, corn, olives, green chili and taco seasoning. Spread on top of rolls. Top with cheese. Place the other can of rolls on top of meat mixture. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Top with sour cream.