Mexican Tater Tot Casserole

Hi! Tonight I did not plan for dinner ahead of time, which led me to look in the freezer and pantry and make something up! I saw the hamburger meat and tater tots and thought, tater tot casserole. I had no velveeta and we just had green beans last night....so....I went with the concept and ran with it. Here is what I used:

1lb ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning
2 cans cream of mushroom
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can fiesta cheese
1/2 cup grated cheese
Tater tots

I browned meat and drained.
Next I added seasoning, sour cream, soups, and nacho cheese to the meat and heated through.
I then poured in casserole dish, topped with tater tots then sprinkled cheese on top.
I baked this on 425 for 20 mins.

**this turned out great but I think I will add a can of corn and a can of black beans to this next time!

Thanks for reading!

Seafood Alfredo

Tonight I made Seafood Alfredo, yum! This recipe fed four adults and we had a lot left over!

Here is what I use:

Minced Garlic
Sliced Mushrooms
Immitation Crab Meat
Shrimp
Alfredo Sauce
Pasta Noodles

This is VERY easy!

I started by getting everying prepped. I make things easy on myself.

I bought peeled and devained shrimp, and minced garlic in a jar.

 

Next I get the noodles going. I use a Pasta Boat.

I have made this with all kinds of different pasta, tonignt I used bowtie.

 

While the noodles are cooking, I heat a pan and saute the garlic and mushrooms.

 We love mushrooms so I use an entire small container.

We also like garlic I use about 2tbs.

I cook this in a large pan then use the pan to serve out of, less dishes to clean!!

 

Once the garlic begins to darken, I add the meat in.

The immitation crab and the shrimp are both precooked so

it does not take long to heat through.

Once warm, it should only take approx. 5 mins, I added two jars of Alfredo Sauce.

(You can make a smaller amount using less pasta and 1 jar of sauce.)

 

This just needs to heat through. The noodles cook in the pasta boat for approx. 25 mins, so they finished right as this was all heating through.

I just add the noodles to the pan and stir.

 

Finished!! 

I know this is not a great pic, but I got busy eating and forgot to take a pic! lol

This pic was of the leftovers.

 

Thank you for reading this! Please feel free to share by posting my link :)

-Beth

 

 

 



Chicken Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce

Hi! So I have been wanting enchiladas but did not want to go out to eat, so I decided to make my own. I make chicken enchilada casserole all the time, so I thought how hard can this be?! 

I love my crockpot so I cooked the chicken all day while I was at work, this made things very easy!

Here is what I used:

4 chicken breast tenderloins
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can cream of chicken
1/2 cup monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup pepper jack cheese
1 cup salsa
1 cup sour cream
1 tbs fajita seasoning
1/2 onion
corn tortillas
flour tortillas (my husband will not eat corn tortillias)
1 cup chicken broth OR chicken bullion
green chillis
cilantro

First start layering in the crockpot!

 

 

 

This is the seasoning I used, we love it! Got it at a mexican meat market!

 

 

I worked a full day yesterday, so this cooked for 8 hours.

Let me tell you, when I got home, this house smelled AMAZING!

Next I added the cheese, onions, and cilantro to taste.

 

 

Once I added the onion and cheese, I let heat on warm for 15 mins.

Next I began to fill the tortilas and roll into a casserole dish.

I used both corn and flour, but that is because Jon will not eat corn tortillas.

 

Now onto the sauce! I will say that this was very difficult to get pics of!

This cooked and thickened very fast!

 

First I melted 2 tbs of butter in a skillet.

Next I added 2 tbs flour and let simmer together.

Next I added 1cup water with 1 bullion cube dissolved.

 (I was out of chicken broth)

I used a wisk and smooth the mixture.

This thickened VERY quickly.

 

Once it thickened, I added the green chillis and 1 cup sour cream

 

 

Once this thickened and mixed together, I poured over the tortillas.

Then I topped with 1/2 cup grated pepperjack cheese and cilantro for color.

 

I cooked this in the oven on 425 for 15-20mins.

 

The last part was my FAVORITE!

 

 

Thank you for reading this recipe, I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to share! :)

-Beth



serving: Fruit and Cheese

This weekend was my grandparents 60 year Anniversary! Amazing, right?

For this celebration, the family threw a party for them. For the party I asked if I could set up the food. I LOVE to cater for those who do not know. If I had the choice to do anything, it would be to cater.

I wanted to show you how I chose to arrange the food on the table. I am showing this to help give you ideas when you have the need to serve, not to brag about this spread. :) 

 

 

 

Thank you for looking!

-Beth

Baked Mozzarella

Ok so I LOVE Mozzarella Sticks! lol  

Do I need fried mozzarella sticks? Nope! :)

SO...Tonight I made baked mozzarella sticks. I have heard of these but have never thought that they would be good at all. The best part of the cheese stick is the FRIED outside right?!

Well let me tell ya, these were actually pretty good. Not the same, but very close, and definetly healthier than the alternative.

Here is what I used:  String cheese, milk, bread crumbs, and italian seasoning.  (I wanted to use italian bread crumbs but all I had was original so I just seasoned them. )

The first thing I did was place the string cheese in a bowl of milk

Next, I put them in a Gallon Ziplock bag with the breadcrumbs and seasoning.

I did not measure this, but I used close to 1/2 cup of the

 breadcrumbs and 1tbs italian seasoning.

Now shake!

This did not coat very well so I repeated the steps and dipped them

back into the milk and then back into the breadcrumbs.

Perfect!

 

I put these in the oven at 375 for 10 mins and turned at 5 mins.

I pulled these out when the breadcrumbs were toasted

Now the final step was my favorite!!

Yum!

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this simple yet great alternative to fried mozzarella sticks!

Feel free to share!

-Beth



DIY Banner

Here is what the banner looked like on the wall. It turned out exactly how I wanted it! See previous blog for DIY instructions!

DIY Banner

Hi! Hope you are having a great day! It has gone from very cold, thunderstorm, warm, and back to cold all in one day here. Gotta love this Texas weather!

So this weekend my family will be celebrating my grandparents 60 wedding anniversary. I helping with this party and made a banner tonight that I wanted to share. These are super easy and look great! I love making these. The last one I made was for a wedding shower and I was asked by several how I made it. Now everything I make is done a little different, on this one tonight I made pendants.

So the theme for the 60 wedding anniversary is Diamonds! So I had to use something with sparkle. I also had to match the colors of the other decor already purchased. I simply took a napkin that was already purchased and took it to the store with me to match the right colors.

First thing I did for this one was make sure that I had enough paper for the pendents. I used one 12X12 piece of paper per pendent. This can get pricy so watch for sales on scrapbook paper. I bought a pack that was a cream color that had 10 different patterns. I drew my pendants free hand and cut them all by hand. You may choose to measure and use a paper cutter, I did not.

Next, I used a stencil to trace the letters onto a different color paper.

These letters are 4in. so I could trace out four letters per 12X12 sheet. 

 

Next thing I did was attach the letters to the pendents, I used hot glue.

Oh and we cant forget about the sparkle!

So here is what I had once I attached the letters and the "diamonds"

Now I am going to use ribbon and tulle to hang these.

The ribbon I chose had a pattern on it which made it very easy to line up but left me short by one pendent! Yes I will now go to the store to buy an entire new spool for one pendent! lol 

I cut the ribbon in sections of 4 patterns, if that makes sence.

I then folded the ribbon in half to attach to the back of the pendent.

 Again, I used hot glue.

 

 

SO here is what I had when I finished attaching the ribbon:

Yes that is the "A" out to the side Ribbon-less! lol 

 

Now when I hang these at the party I will run tulle through the ribbon. I do not have a picture of that here because the tulle I chose has glitter in it and I did not want it all over my house :) 

 

I will post a picture of the banner on here once I have it hanging so that you can see how it looks on the wall.

 

 

Thank you for reading this post. Please feel free to share it by posting my link.

 

-Beth



Respect

Ok so where I live, a shooting took place last night. A woman was shot and man who shot her was gunned down as in the hospital.

I am not writing this to talk about this tragic though...

I follow a Facebook page that is a scanner for my county. Last night this page was posting updates on this event. As they were posting updates, they were also having to monitor and delete post that ppl were posting that were disrespectful and providing info that they were asking not be shared.

SO tonight they post that they have been deleting comments and "ask that out of respect for the family, no one else comment or post on their page anything surrounding this event."

Low and behold, there are instantly over 25 posts that are disrespectful, rude, and of course all about this event.

I just don't understand!?!

If you don't like a page that YOU CHOOSE to follow, quit following. Simple right? I guess not.

These comments were so nasty toward the individual who did the shooting, the family in mourning not understanding what caused him to do this, and toward the Admins of the page.

The comments went something like this : -respect! How dare u ask us to respect this guy and his family- what kind of page asks us to respect a murderer- just delete me because I have no respect for this fool- they deserve to rot in a morgue-

You get the picture.

Ok so I was raised that EVERYONE deserves respect. I was taught that you treat your neighbor as yourself and you love everyone. Is it easy, no. Is it necessary, yes.

I guess what really got to me were the comments coming in seconds and minutes later, after asking to be respectful, were do far from what was being asked.

There are so many Facebook pages and blogs out there. We all have the choice whether or not we choose to follow them. Makes no sense to me to post hate instead of just leaving?

Ok so rant over, would love your opinions on this..

-Beth

Tilapia with Mushroom Shrimp Sauce

I have been a busy bee today!

This will be my first of many post of recipes and I hope you will enjoy them :) 

Tonight I made Talapia with a Mushroom Shrimp Sauce. Very Easy! I do make some things from scratch, but this is one of my easy meals! There is not always time to make things from scratch, right?!  This meal takes about 10 minutes of prep time and 30 minutes to cook .

I did not take a picture of the tilapia package, but we buy our tilapia at many places. I have purchased it at Walmart, Costco, and recently Aldi.  I will say that I will only buy the fish that is in individual packages or fresh.   I also use small peeled and devained shrimp. I purchase these at walmart, as they so far have been the lowest price.

I always lay the fish and the shrimp out on my counter about an hour before I begin cooking, just to make sure they are thawed. If I make this on a weeknight, I place them in the fridge in the morning. Note, I only use about a handful of shrimp so if you buy a large bag, you can put what you need in a ziplock and leave the rest in the freezer. I buy the small bags and use close to half of it for this dish.

So here is how I get started:

I start by dicing a small package of mushrooms, half of a small white onion, and I grate approx. 1/4 -1/2 cup of cheese. I have uses a lot of different cheeses in this. I typically stick to white cheeses, so choose the one you enjoy. Tonight I used pepperjack, which was what I had on hand. 

 

Once I get these diced, I add all of the onion and 1 tbs garlic to a skillet to saute. I use butter or olive oil, tonight I used butter.  Once I get the onions in, I prep the baking dish I will cook the fish in. I put 2 tbs butter in a baking dish and place in the oven on 375. Once the onions begin to cook,

 I pull the baking sheet out of the oven and place the fish in it. I only season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. The sauce will be where the flavor and seasonings are.

 

Next, I put the fish in the oven. After doing this,

I add the mushrooms to the skillet and continue to cook.

Once the onions are browning, you are ready to add the shrimp.

This will only need to cook for a couple of minutes before you add one to two cans of Cream of Shrimp. To feed four ppl I would use two cans.

Now add the cheese

Stir this on medium heat until it begins to simmer, reduce to low and let thicken.

The fish has been in the oven close to 15 minutes now. It should be time to pull it out and see if it is finished. I learned from my mom to test fish with a fork. If it is flaky it is finished. If it is real soft, put it back in for an additional 5 minutes.

Finished! Now to plate it and eat it!

 

 

Recap:

*I used Tilapia, Small shrimp, 1/2 cup of pepperjack cheese, mushrooms, half of an onion, cream of shrimp soup, minced garlic

*Make this to YOUR taste. We love mushrooms so I put quite a bit in ours. I am not a huge fan of onions and choose to only put half of a small onion.

*We love tilapia, but this will go well with any white fish.

*I have only found the cream of shrimp at Tom Thumb and Walmart on occasion. When I see it, I always purchase at least 3 cans.

*you may note that I did not salt any of this. The canned soups typically have a lot of sodium already in them. You will not need the added salt.

 

Thank you for reading this and I hope that you will be making this in your kitchen, I know that it is a regular in mine!  If you do make this or have any questions please comment below. I would love to hear from you!

 

As always I would love if you chose to share this recipe, just please include a link to my blog if you do.

 

Have a great evening!

 

-Beth