Pizza Tator Tot Casserole

Ok Ok I think I have redeemed myself with the family with this recipe! Another one taken from Pinterest. (Ok I am sheltered I take everything from pinterest) I took this recipe from pinterest but it came from the Kowboys home website http://4kowboys.blogspot.com/2011/10/pizza-tot-casserole.html

This is the recipe on their site

Pizza Tot Casserole

1lb. ground beef
1 jar pizza sauce
10-15 slices pepperoni, chopped
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 bag frozen tator tots
*additional toppings optional

I added Johnsonville Italian Sausage both links and in the roll

onion
mushrooms
also not in picture is a little red pepper flakes
I also doubled above recipe to fit my family

We browned the sausage roll and the ground beef together and cut up the links and browned them in a different pan then I mixed it all together with the onion and mushroom and one jar of pizza sauce

It fit the pyrex perfectly.. I poured the other jar of sauce over it in the pan...but after this morings issue with the breakfast casserole My husband just said.. That looks horrid. But it wasn't! Next I added some sauce and some cheese and some pepperoni..

 I then put more cheese on top of the pepperoni and added the tator tots!
And then topped the tator tots with the remaining cheese!

We cooked for about 40 minutes on 350 until the cheese was melted and the sauce was bubbling!

 I let it cool for about 5 minutes and dished it out.. It stayed together nicely and the kids ate it up like crazy!

It stayed together for the most part. But it was really really good!

What I don't like about this dish is it is 18 points plus per serving! That is a very high point value. Good thing is it is very filling, kid friendly and low cost. My picky husband LOVED it!  This is another pinterest do over and it didn't fail! I would just take my serving in half and add a low point salad to it to make it fit in my daily points.

I hope you enjoy!

Peace <3

Crock pot breakfast casserole

So this recipe is another from pinterest. It actually came from the Jimmy Dean website http://jimmydean.com/recipes/slow-cooker-sausage-breakfast-casserole.aspx

I have been wanting to make this for a long time.. I keep forgetting about it until I go to pinterest and see the pin I have of it.. a long with the gazillion other pins I dont use. You know the ones the split personality of  betty home maker comes out and you say ooooooh I am gonna make this.. yeah this one was among those lol.

I followed the recipe exactly except I added mushrooms, and instead of sun dried tomatoes, I added fresh tomatoes which the recipe says you can. I had a bad day yesterday and since I am just getting used to this blogging thing.. I almost forgot to start taking pictures.. My 11 year old daughter remembered lol. I also forgot to put in the weight watchers recipe tracker, So no points plus on this one but I might modify it IF I make it again.

The recipe calls for
1 pkg. (26-32 ounces) frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1 pkg. Jimmy Dean® Hearty Original Sausage Crumbles
2 cup (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup julienne cut sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
6 green onions, sliced
12 eggs
1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

I layered the ingredients first layer was the frozen ore ida hash brown potatoes. Now if I do this again I think I would brown them in a pan first to make them crispy..

Next layer was the sausage mixture which included the sausage tomatoes onion peppers and mushrooms and I put on a little of the parmesan cheese. Then I added some of the fiesta cheese I didn't use mozzerella mainly because I didn't have it lol. I didn't use the sausage crumbles, I actually used the sausage in the roll and browned it myself.

Then I did another layer of potatoes, sausage mixture and cheese and topped with half of the left over cheese. I then poured the 12 eggs that were whisked over it. Then I put the remaining amount of cheese on it.

I assembled this after dinner last night and put it in the fridge. Before bed I put it in the crock pot on low which was around 11:30 pm. the recipe says on low for 8 hours. My lovely kids are usually up at 7 so I was thinking PERFECT!

Side note, I got up around 4 am to use the bathroom and the house smelled amazing.. It smelled like someone was cooking a full breakfast in the kitchen.. It sure made me hungry.. But back to bed I went..

This is what I woke up to at 7:30 am. Now, I know most crock pots are different and maybe just maybe mine cooks hotter then the rest. So as you can see the top layer of cheese is a little over done.


This is one of those meals where you go REALLY?!?! and you're very disappointed! The potatoes were all soggy and still white. I would have hoped for a little browning or something. IF I was going to do this again, I would definitely brown the potatoes first. It was also just the top layer of cheese that got a little over done, the rest was fine, the eggs cooked fine the veggies all went well. The only thing is this was very bland. I even used the Jimmy Dean HOT breakfast sausage. I definitely think I would have added more spices to this recipe and not cooked as long. Maybe more sausage or also added bacon.

The kids were all not impressed. My 7 year old daughter didn't even touch it. The rest were like mom this is weird. They ate it but when I asked if they wanted me to make it again, They were like..we wished we just had cereal this morning. When I asked why, The same reasons I thought. The potatoes were soggy and not crispy and it didn't really have any flavor to it. But every one of them said the house smelled sooo good this morning!

Would this be a do over? Eh?!?! Still thinking about it. If I do, I will really modify it or possibly find a different recipe. Like I said earlier. No weight watchers points plus calculated. I'm sorry I just didn't think about it. This to me is a pinterest FAIL, with hope of modification. It wasn't awful but it needs a lot of help!

Peace out!

Enchilada Casserole....Yum-0!

Ok first I want to say I saved over 200 dollars with all those coupons I clipped yesterday. Coupons are soo totally worth it.

Tonight for dinner I made enchilada casserole. I got the recipe from pinterest, which led me to the six sisters blog and this recipe here... http://pinterest.com/pin/24206916719576360/   I did however modify it a bit to make it my own. But the Six sisters recipe was definitely my guide line. And they have some good recipes over there. If you haven't checked them out you definitely should.

Now I have a Huge family.. Larger then most lol so I had to double this thing to fit us.

I used...

2 pounds of 90 percent lean ground beef
1 medium onion
1 package of taco seasoning
1/4 tsp of cumin
1/2 a jar of salsa (medium heat)
1 can of black beans (drained)
1 small can of corn (drained)
6 flour tortillas
2 cans of enchilada sauce (medium heat))
1 bag of fiesta shredded cheese
tomato
cilantro
sour cream

I think the cans of enchilada sauce are missing from the picture but oh well yes I used them lol.

I browned the beef with the onion until the meat was completely done, then I added the beans, corn, salsa, taco seasoning, and cumin and mixed it all together.
I preheated the oven to 400 degrees while I did the layering..

I used a rectangle 10x 15 inch pyrex dish
I put a layer of the meat mixture on the bottom of the dish covered with some cheese, then enchilada sauce, its a long dish so it took 2 tortillas side by side and them layer like you would a lasagna until you get to the top.

The top layer I just put two tortillas enchilada sauce and a heavy dose of cheese, then i baked for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

When it was finished I topped it with chopped tomato and cilantro make sure before you take it out of the oven the cheese is melted and kinda bubbling you want it cooked through.. the pan is heavy!!! let it sit for about 5 minutes before cutting.

This is what it looks like after it is cut.. it stays together pretty well and its not a big mess on your plate which is awesome!!!I topped mine with 2 tbsps of sour cream This was an awesome meal! My whole family loved it.. No one complained it was too spicy, even my picky husband ate it. HE picked out the black beans, but he ate it and said I needed to put this on our regular menu! All of my kids ate it and asked for seconds, BUT......

There are NO seconds! lol they ate everything.. every last scrape.. everything! With that being said I put the recipe into weight watchers points plus recipe builder and one serving (I made 8) was 14 points plus. Not bad for a dinner, It didn't taste like diet food and I ate with my family .. Total bonus!

You should definitely give this recipe a try there are TONS of variations on pinterest where I found this to begin with.. This recipe is a Pinterest do over, it is NOT a pinterest fail!

peace out.... I now have to make kids clean the kitchen!!

Coupons

First and foremost ignore the shadow of my taking a pic lol, I didn'd even notice that until I uploaded the pic.. pretty random..

Now for the meat of things...

Tomorrow is my The big monthly shopping trip my husband and I do. I just spent forever matching sales with ads and cutting my coupons out. I am by no means an extreme couponer, cuz if i was seriously my house would be stocked like mad. But all in all I save pretty good monthly! I do not understand how those people do that. How do they have the time? I also live in florida so We dont double coupons here, but we still do pretty good! I HATE paying full price for anything. Not when there is a good discount out there for anyone and anything!

Now the trick to all this is to see how good me and my husband do on saving tomorrow...I'm kinda excited! LOL

Mans best friend

Well, had a very bad day yesterday which put me in a horrific homicidal mood that rolled over to today. Trying to be positive but it is like everything is pissing me off.

I have a Great Dane, he is my buddy! He is also high strung with separation anxiety,  you bring out his leash, or for that matter my husband puts on his socks and my dog goes absolutely mental. This dog always lays on me but usually at night, or when I just get home or whatever....Today, I think he knows im in this mood. He has been following me around, sitting on me, leaning on me, and hugging me...if you know anything about danes,  you know what this is. Its like he is trying to make it better which is awesome! He has cheered me up, he is someone to hug and lean back on! Maybe just maybe this day will get better after all!

Easter Dinner

This is our dinner..easy peasy no mess easter dinner Ribs, potato salad, macaroni salad, green beans. Ok I wont lie I cheated on the salads .. they are from walmart. I can make it and will show recipes later but I worked 12 hours yesterday and 8 hours today. No time to be a princess homemaker lol. The ribs however are awesome!  I made a dry rub with equal parts...

Old bay
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Cumin
Then just a pinch of red pepper flakes

Rubbed the ribs last night, they marinated over night..

We were going to bbq today but it was raining this morning,  so we cooked them low and slow in the oven on 250° for 4 hours. The last 30 minutes of cook time, we added sweet baby rays sweet vidalia bbq sauce...yum oh! The smell is awesome!

These were fall off the bone tender awesome ribs!

Happy Easter!!!

Oh It has been a morning.. before daylight my 6 year old was tapping me on the shoulder... "Can we please start Easter?" ... Me..Looking at the darkness coming in my bedroom window.. "Heck No, go back to bed its not even daylight!"  ..fast forward 30 minutes..."MOM can we please have Easter now?" With a crack of my eyelid, I look up..."Wake up your brother please." In walks my 19 year old in my room all groggy and stumbling staring at me with hate ... LOL .. Me.."Tell the kids to go......." Interrupts the 19 year old...."You want ME to be the Easter Bunny.. YOU SUCK LOL" Now before anyone says anything we cannot hide eggs at night, The great dane gets hard boiled eggs as treats, so he would have had his own easter egg hunt while we were sleeping.  Who ever came up with hiding food that needs to be refrigerated and candy baskets first thing in the morning.. Seriously? I now have 5 kids who are on a sugar high, a 19 year old that went back to bed..and my 22 year old (who is autistic) pacing the house.. in search of what I dont know yet. The best comment of the morning.. "Let's do Fun Dip Shots!" That is where I had to intervene, "Baskets up until after dinner!" out cam the "AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" in unison.. but I won.. so yay me!

On Another Note.. The dogs.. was so not as bad as I thought! my sons dog is a very sweet loving girl and I am very glad she adopted my son. We have a little friction with them but, she can care less that there is other dogs in the house and did not come in as a threat to them so its ok.. No fights just a little growling and barking. Totally handleable! (i dont even know if thats a word, but its a word in my vocabulary so .. yeah!)  What I am going to say about this dog though, My son rescued her..she was on craigslist. he went to a home who claimed to be a rescue, had tons of dogs in there and this one stood out to him, was jumping all over him and so that is why he picked her. I have raised Rottweilers, been around breeding and so forth A LOT. This poor dog.. has been bred to death, and she is young, Her nipples look like someone put a sucking machine on them... and her vagina area is just over stretched. Looks like she was in a puppy mill. And her behavior, she pays no attention to other dogs, and love love loves humans. It seriously breaks my heart. I hate people sometimes.. there is no reason this dog should have gone through this. But on the bright side she now owns my son, and she totally owns him too. She follows him everywhere, even the bathroom, she sleeps upside down on his lap.. she is an awesome dog, and I am very glad she adopted my son! Perfect match and she will at least live the rest of her life as a happy dog,no more puppies for her, just lots of spoiling, and loving.

Easter is usually my first BBQ of the year, SO we are having Ribs today that we marinated over night, Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad and corn on the cob.  We are having easter bbq lunch because I have to work this afternoon. Thats all good, My hubby can deal with the sugar highs! Muahahahaha!

Peace Out, and Happy Easter!