Corn Casserole

Corn Casserole
12oz. Egg Noodles- perpared according to pkg directions
(cook while you’re mixing up the rest of the casserole)
2 pounds ground beef- browned and drained
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 cans Corn
1 can Cream Style Corn
Mix soup and corn with ground beef and add in cooked noodles.
Pour into casserole dish (I use the BIG Pampered Chef Stoneware Bowl)
Melt one stick of butter and stir in one sleeve of crumbled crackers.
Spread on top of casserole and bake at 350* for about 30 minutes until
hot and bubbly. Enjoy!

My mom was the queen of the "one pound of hamburger to feed an entire family" meals when I was growing up. I've added an additional pound of ground beef to it since I need protein and an additional can of corn so there's enough liquid for the extra meat. It's a good basic meal. Nothing fancy but it's comfort food for me.

Sorry about the icky perspective on the photo. I was playing with the white balance and I should've also been paying attention to the composition of the shot. Oops!

Beer Can Chicken

So chicken's were on sale this week at Baker's (99 cents a pound!) so I decided I'd try to make the "Beer Can Chicken" my friend Mary was talking about. I'd also heard it called "Beer In The Butt Chicken", because...well...you put a can of beer in the cavity of a whole chicken and stand it up on the grill or in the smoker to cook. After a quick search online, I discovered that it's pretty easy to make in the oven, too. It's very moist and uses NO oil so it's pretty healthy for you too. Oh, and btw...HyVee has chickens on sale for 59 cents a pound this weekend so I guess my good bargain wasn't such a good bargain afterall. I'm going to stock up at HyVee after trying this recipe!

Beer Can Chicken
1 Whole Chicken (5-6 lbs)
1 Can of Beer
Seasoning of your choice

Rinse chicken, removing all the pieces and parts. Throw those nasty things away. : ) Pat the chicken dry and season to your liking--I used a poultry rub that I found in the pantry. Be sure to not only season the outside of the bird, but also underneath the skin. Reserve a little of the rub to mix into the beer.
Remove the top of the beer can with a can opener (stand back because it really squirts at you when it's punctured) and get rid of about 1/2 of the beer. Stir in the remaining rub mixture into the beer--it will really foam up so do this over the sink. Sit the bird right down on top of the can; put the beer-butted chicken in a baking pan to catch all the drippings.
Bake at 350 for 2 hours or until the juices run clear.
Carefully remove the can. Let stand ten minutes before carving. You can use the drippings to make gravy, if you know how to do that. I don't, so I just made stuffing and steamed some veggies instead. : )

Jody Ferlaak's Baked Caramel French Toast

The beauty of this yummy french toast, besides being totally easy, is that you make it the night before! : ) I got the recipe from Jody recently and while it says to bake it in a 9 x 13, next time I'll try it in a jelly roll pan--there was plenty of caramel sauce and not enough toast to feed a family.

Baked Caramel French Toast

Ingredients:

***Topping*** (which actually goes in the pan and is the bottom at first)

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup whipping cream or milk or whatever you have on hand

6 tablespoons butter or marg.

1 tablespoon corn syrup

Mix these ingredients in a saucepan over med/low heat until melted. DO NOT BRING TO A BOIL. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

***French Toast*** (I would have needed to make double of the egg mixture to cover an entire loaf of french bread)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 loaf of french bread- sliced into 1/2" pieces

Mix eggs, vanilla, milk and salt in a bowl. Dip slices of french bread into egg mixture, coating them well. Place them onto the mixture in your 9x13 pan- squeeze in as many slices as you can fit.

Cover pan and refrigerate overnight or at least 3 hours.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Don't overbake!

Serve the french toast with the caramel side up. Sift a little powdered sugar over the top.

Drizzle syrup on top if you like. (We did not add syrup...it was sweet enough!)

Add fruit if desired. Jody told me that in the fall she makes what I would call fried apples to go on top. I peel, core & slice apples and throw them in a skillet with butter and brown sugar. Cook on medium heat until the apples are soft. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon. If you're doing the apples on top of this french toast, I'd probably just cook them with a little butter and that's it...seriously, it's sweet enough!

Super easy and yummmmmmmMy!

: )

Grown Up Mac-n-Cheese

I love this stuff. I seriously do. I hope you do too. I found "non french" gruyere cheese at the store the other day and was able to keep this "reasonable" for cheese cost. :)

Grown-Up MacNcheese

16oz of corkscrew pasta cooked and drained
2Tbsp Butter
2Tbsp FLour
1 1/2 c. Milk (I use skim but you can use what ya got!)
1/2 c. half n half
1/2 c. (4 oz.) shredded white cheddar cheese
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 c. (8 oz.) Gruyere Cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 stick of butter
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers

Preheat oven to 350*
Prepare pasta and set aside

Melt butter over medium heat.
Whisk in flour and whisk constantly for 1 minute
Gradually whisk in milk and half n half- continue to whisk constantly till slightly thickened (about 4-5 minutes)
Stir in Cheeses and salt and pepper until melted and smooth
Stir cheese into pasta and place in a baking dish (9x13 should work fine but I use a round baking dish from Pampered Chef)
Melt butter and stir in smashed up ritz crackers
Spread over the top of your Mac n Cheese and bake at 350 for 15 minutes until golden and bubbly.

Sometimes I serve this as the main dish and add a chicken breast or bits of ham to it or beside pork chops.
It's equally good all on it's own and it's got enough protein to be the "main dish" in my opinion! :)
Enjoy! :) And don't blame your spreading hips on me. This is probably not WW approved... but dang, it's good! :)

taco soup

1-2 lbs of ground beef
1 onion (diced)
1 can of ro-tel
1-4oz jar of taco sauce or packet of taco seasoning
a small can tomato sauce
1/2 pkg hidden valley reanch dressing
1 can pinto beans
1 can ranch style beans
water - as needed (i tend to add about 4 cups)

brown meat and onions, drain and put in crockpot. add remaining ingredients. simmer for an hour or more. garnish with cheddar cheese, tortilla chips (crushed a little) and/or sour cream.