Maxine's Tater tot Casserole

Growing up, our church put out a cookbook every couple years.
Maxine, an elderly lady in the church made some AMAZING dishes, One that was most common and loved at all the potlucks was "Maxine's Noodles". 

But today I am going to give you this yummy Tater tot Casserole recipe, I'll have to dig up the noodle recipe and post that as well!

                                                      Brown the hamburger

                                   All of the ingredient's you will need aside from hamburger

                                                                   Boil the noodles

                                                     Place hamburger in bottom of pan

                                                                   Cover with noodles

                                                                   Sprinkle with Cheese

                                                                     Cover with tater tots

                                                        Pour soup & water mixture over

   And...of course I was so hungry by the time I got done I forget to get a picture of it finished in the pan....

 
Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger (I think I'm going to use 2 lbs next time) 
(I also added onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, dill and Lawry season salt to the hamburger)
1 box of fettuccine noodles
4-6 oz of shredded cheese (any kind will do, I used colby jack)
1/2 a large bag of tater tots
3 cans cream of chicken soup + 3 cans water

Directions:
Brown hamburger and place in the bottom of a 9x13 pan
Boil noodles as directed on the box (I drained slightly before finished)Cover hamburger with noodles
Sprinkle with cheese
Cover with tater tots
Pour soup and water over everything
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or so
And that's it! super easy and yummy recipe

Now because it's just my husband and I, a 9x13 pan is WAY to much, so I split everything and froze the other pan, I would recommend thawing out in the fridge overnight and cooking at the same temperature and time

Stylebook

Ok…so I have a serious obsession with organization, I love everything about it and the way I feel when everything has a perfect spot!

Well I read about this amazing app in a magazine and decided I had to try it out.

It’s called Stylebook and cost $3-$5 I do believe, I know most people hate paying for apps but after reading the reviews I decided it was definitely worth it!

After downloading the app I went to exploring, you can upload pictures of your clothes, organize them in your “closet” under categories such as tops, bottoms, shoes, dresses, ect.

Then, you can create “looks” by putting a top, bottom, and shoes together.

And then…you can put them into our “calendar”! seriously most amazing thing EVER

I plan out my months worth of outfits, when I wake up check the calendar to see what I’m wearing that day, grab the outfit and I’m good to go! No more deciding what I’m going to have to wear that day and trying on multiple outfits.

Toolbox Redo

      

Toolbox Redo:

I picked both of these toolboxes up from a local swap shop on Facebook for $8! Major score in my book ;).

I’m going to start with what I did on the left and move into the right one.

For the left tool box it was in pretty good condition and I wanted to keep it as authentic as possible so I took a blue scrubbing pad like what you use for washing dishes, I scrubbed the whole thing to get all of the dirt and grime off and used 2 coats of a spray clear coat, BAM done! That was all I had to do! Quick and easy and so cute!

The box on the right was not in the greatest shape so I took both of the long ends off and replaced them with new boards, so clearly I couldn’t leave it originalL, I started out by using fine grit sand paper with a hand sander and went over the whole thing to smooth it out so it matched the new boards.  then  using a can of spray paint in the same color s as what’s on it now I put on a few coats but the wood was so absorbent it kept soaking it up, so I switched to a can of paint and brushed it on, worked like a charm! After putting two coats of paint I clear coated it and was done!

I was horrible and did not take any pictures of the process…I’m going to have to work on that! I matched up the new board for the right one and cut it down to size and nailed it into the ends.

For any question’s or input feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks

Chloe

A belated Christmas post...better late than never:)

                                                                 Grandma's tree

                                                                      Our tree

                                                                   Grandma's dog

                                                                 Other Grandma's tree

                                                                         My Baby

                                                                  My parents dog

All about Christmas!

This post is a little late…Oops! But I couldn’t help but post.

Clearly I have a love of Christmas, or at least Christmas trees! I’m sorry the 3^rd picture is not the greatest quality, the first two pictures are both of my grandmother’s. and of course I had to throw in the pictures of the doggies ;). The first one is my grandma’s beagle, second is my parents golden retriever jealous that I was giving the tree attention and not her! And the third picture is of my little baby sporting the adorable antlers we got from pet smart!

I will have to post some pictures of the process of decorating this year!

My husband and I just relocated from Iowa to Florida and sadly all of my decorations are still in Iowa…hopefully I will get to bring home a few when we go back for thanksgiving!  Otherwise  I will be doing  major shopping spree for new decorations ;).

Christmas Ornaments

How many of you are so excited for Christmas this year??
I know I am, it is by far my favorite time of the year.
I love doing homemade gifts for all of my family so I decided to make ornaments for my mom this year.

What you'll need:
Clear ornaments (I got mine from Hobby Lobby for 1/2 off!)
Acrylic Paint
Water
Acrylic paint in a squeeze bottle

Directions:
I put probably 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of paint in and 1/3 of water.
Hold a a paper towel over the opening and shake it until its covering everything
Put the lid back on
Use the squeeze bottle and write the persons name and date of the year
Let dry and your good to go!

The other ones in the picture are easy too!

The snowman ones I put the snow that you use for the Christmas villages in them, drew a eyes, carrot, and mouth on with sharpies and I was done!

The snowflake one I put the snow in and drew on snowflakes with a silver sharpie.

The 3rd in the top right corner of ornament holder I took our wedding program (only two years late) cut it in thin strips, use scissors to make spirals like you do with ribbon, put them in the ornament and that's it.

White Chili

Ingredients

• 3 15 oz cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1 15 oz jar alfredo sauce1 cup shredded
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1-2 4 oz cans chopped green chilies
• 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 small sweet yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1 to  1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. In a 5-6 quart slow cooker combine all ingredients
2. Cover and cook on low for 3/4 hours or until heated through, stirring once.

Yields 12 1 cup servings

Tuna & Noodles

Such a simple dish but so tasty! this is an easy meal to throw together on late nights.

Ingredients

• 1 large bag egg noodles (Gluten Free)
• 2 cans tuna (drained)
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup (I used a homemade substitute)

Directions:

1. Cook noodles as directed
2. Drain tuna 
3. Add tuna and cream of chicken soup to noodles and cook on low until its warm throughout

Chili

We just got a larger crockpot so I adjusted how much we used this last time and it still tasted fine

Ingredients

• 2 lbs hamburger
• 2 cans chili beans
• 1 large can tomato juice 
• 2 cans tomato sauce
• 2 cans tomato paste
•  1 onion chopped
• 1/2 cup jalapenos out of a jar
• 1/2 cup banana peppers out of a jar
•  1 TB chili powder
• 1 TB Garlic
• 1/2 TB Pepper
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp dried minced oregano
• 1/4 cup salsa

Directions

1. Brown hamburger in skillet
2. Add the minced garlic, dried oregano, and salsa to the skillet and mix with the hamburger while it cooks.
3. While the hamburger is browning add the chili beans, tomato juice, tomato sauce, tomato paste, onion, jalapenos, banana pepper, chili powder, garlic, and pepper in crockpot. 
4. Add hamburger and stir all of the ingredients together.
5. Cook on low for 6-8 hours

Roast in the Crockpot

I'm sure everyone has their own way of cooking a roast, so here is mine!

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lb roast (it's generally just my husband and I so I just pick what size I want not by lbs!)
• 6 organic russet potatoes
• 2-3 carrots
• 1/2 tsp galic
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp dill

Put everything in and fill with water
We usually leave it for 8 hours 

I would to hear some of your idea's on way's to season the roast! feel free to leave a comment.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

• 1-2 lbs cube steak, cut into one inch pieces; or 1-2 lbs stew beef cut into 1/2 inch pieces.
• 2 cans condensed golden mushroom soup (No substitutes)
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
• 1 14 oz can beef broth
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room tempurature
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

1. In the crockpot, combine the meat, soup, onion, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and beef broth.
2. Cook on low for 5-6 hours (or high for 3).
3. Stir in cream cheese and sour cream about a half hour before serving, stir every 10 minutes or so.
4. Serve over cooked egg noodles or rice.

Crockpot Ham

Cook Time: 6-8 Hours
Temp: Low

Recommended for a 6 quart or larger

Ingredients

• 1 Ham, precooked, bone in, spiral cut
• 3 cups brown sugar
• 1 can pineapple tidbits, undrained

Directions

1. Cover the bottom of the crockpot with brown sugar
2. Place ham on top of the brown sugar and add the pineapple tidbits with the juice
3. Cover on low for 6-8 hour

Baked Chicken Alfredo

A friend of mine gave me this recipe and we just love it! It usually makes it into the rotation every month and makes great leftovers also.

Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken Breast
• 1 block cream cheese (you could use two or substitute with greek yogurt but I haven't tried the yogurt)
• 2 block or a 2 cup bag pepper jack cheese
• 1/2 cup onion sauteed  in butter
• 2 jars Alfredo sauce (I use Ragu. I am trying out some homemade recipes also.)
• 1 box of linguine noodles or two depending on how many people you are cooking for, I've found the chicken is filling enough you don't need as many noodles.

  Directions:

1. Pound out the chicken breast to a bout 1/2 inch to 1 inch thickness.
2. Divide the cream cheese into 4 pieces.
3. Mix the cheese and onion together.
4. Add cream cheese, cheese & onion mixture to the chicken breast wrap up the chicken breast and pin with toothpick.
5. Pour both jars of Alfredo sauce over chicken breast.
6. Bake at 375 for 1 to 1 1/2 hour.

Yumm:) after the chicken is baked! 

I am also going to experiment with making this a crockpot dish.

This brand seems to work the best for all of the gluten free noodles I have bought. 

October Meal Planning

I have jumped on the meal planning band wagon!
I started in May but have been perfecting it since then, October is the first month that I will shop for everything at the beginning of the month.

Meals

1. Homemade Pizza
2. Parmesan Chicken Manicotti
3. Cheese Chicken & Rice Casserole
4. Mediterranean Chicken
5. Chicken Fingers
6. Crock pot Lasagna
7. Cheeseburger Soup
8. Beef Stroganoff
9. Oven Baked Tacos
10. Roast
11. BBQ Pulled pork with leftover roast
12. Chili
13. White Chili
14. Crock pot Ham
15. Scalloped potatoes and Ham
16. BBQ Chicken Taquitos
17. Chicken Wings in BBQ Sauce
18. Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
19. Mexican Lasagna
20. Ribs
21. Chicken Fried Steak
22. Cheeseburger Pie
23. Cheesy Beef Spirals
24. Tuna & Noodle
25. Baked Chicken Alfredo
26. Stuffed Chicken Breast

There will be a few days out of the month that we won't be home or will eat out so I didn't plan 31 meals

We don't get home until at least 6 most day's so I have put quite a few crock pot meals on the menu and am going to work on more freezer meals for November! 

I will also work on making up a shopping list for all of these ingredients with prices.
It is generally just my husband and I so we make enough to have leftovers everyday also to cut down on buying lunch foods.