Pineapple Cheese Casserole

This is Dee.lish.is!  Ok.  So this might sound absolutely disgusting to those of you have not tasted it before, but I tell you...it is SO good.  I never had this before moving to the South.  It pops up at potluck dinners every-so-often now that I've been living here for five years.  If you like pineapple, I encourage you to give this dish a try!  It's sweet and sort of salty all in one.  

Pineapple Cheese Casserole

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons flour

2 (20) oz cans in its own juice pineapple chunks, drained (reserve 6 tablespoons of juice)

2 cups cheese, grated

1 cup crushed Ritz or Townhouse crackers (I just use a whole sleeve of crackers.)

1 stick melted butter

Combine sugar, flour and pineapple juice. Add pineapple and cheese. Mix well. Pour into a 2- qt. casserole dish. 

Use fork to combine crackers to melted butter together in a small bowl. Mix well.  Sprinkle cracker mixture on top of casserole. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Serves 8  

Tater Tot Casserole

Our friend Steven is home on furlough from his time in China this summer.  When he's home, we try to have him over for dinner and I try to make something that he can only get here in the States.  When he was over for dinner last week, I decided to make one of his favorites (from my menu)...a simple Tater Tot Casserole.  This is easy and delicious and a family favorite in our house!  (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture!)

Taco Tot Casserole

Ingredients

4 Cups Ore-Ida® Tater Tots®

1 Pound Ground Beef

1 packet Taco Seasoning (My favorite is the Taco Bell Brand taco seasoning.)

11 oz. can Corn with Peppers, drained

11 oz. can Soup Nacho Cheese (In the stores near me Campbell's is the brand that has the soup.  If you can't find the nacho cheese soup, you can also use the Fiesta Cheese Soup.)

Salsa, optional for topping

Sour Cream, optional for topping

Sriracha, optional for topping

Directions

1.  Heat oven to 375°.

2.  Cook ground beef with taco seasoning mix according to package directions. Spoon meat mixture into an ungreased or 2-quart casserole. 

3.  Spoon corn over meat mixture; spread soup over corn. Arrange frozen Tater Tots® in a single layer over soup. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned and mixture is bubbly. Serve with salsa and sour cream, if desired.  

Note:  I double this recipe all the time.  Just make sure to use a 9x13 baking pan if doing so.

Steven (pictured far left) and a group of our friends at a picnic this summer.
What a fun time to catch up with people from our old Thursday Night Bible Study.

Original recipe found here.

Easy Goulash

Ever looking for something that will cook all in one pot and be easy enough that you can have the meal finished in a half hour?  This is one of those meals.  Plus, it’s hearty and filling.  Pair it with some fresh cornbread and you’re good to go!

Easy Goulash

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 pound ground beef

1 cup uncooked pasta of your choice    I choose elbow macaroni.

1 can of Corn, drained

1 can of Lima beans, drained

1 can Diced tomatoes with Oregano and Basil

1 can Tomato Soup

Sauté onions and green pepper together.  Brown and cook meat.  Mix onions and green peppers together with meat.  Add corn, Lima beans, tomatoes, and tomato soup.  Cover, stirring occasionally until entire mixture is heated through.  While meat mixture is heating, make your pasta according to package directions.  Drain when finished.  Add pasta to meat mixture.  Stir and serve.  This one-pot dish is great served with fresh corn bread!

Wonderful One-Bowl Banana Bread

I ran across this recipe the other day, and it seemed simple enough to give it a try.  Plus, I had three bananas that were going to go bad soon, so why not try a new banana bread recipe?  This banana bread is easy and delicious!  All three of us have been enjoying it, and I think I’ll have to make another loaf this week!  If you want to cut the amount of sugar, I’m sure you could easily decrease it to a quarter to a half cup.  I dare you to try this recipe.  You might never try another banana bread recipe again! J

Wonderful One-Bowl Banana Bread

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed I used 3 this time.
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 4×8 loaf pan. With a mixer or wooden spoon, combine melted butter and mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, stirring just until combined. Pour mixture into pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the center doesn’t jiggle when you shake the pan lightly. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 1 loaf.

Variation:  You could add chocolate chips or nuts to the batch.

Original recipe found here.

Dorito Taco Salad

My family first discovered this salad years ago.  My little cousin's grandmother brought it to a party.  She has since passed away, but we still remember her when we make this salad.  It's simple and good.  As stated in the actual recipe, do not mix the dressing until right before you plan to serve.  This is easy to take on-the-go, but it's best if you keep all the ingredients separate and just toss them together when at your destination.  The tastes all come together and the crunchiness of the Doritos really make this a great salad!  It's perfect for a summer BBQ, too!

Dorito Taco Salad

1 11.5 oz. bag Doritos (regular, red bag, Nacho cheese flavor)
1 can Black Olives, sliced or chopped
2 medium Tomatoes, diced
1 bag of pre-shredded lettuce (You can also shred a head of lettuce.)
16 oz. Green Goddess Dressing
1/2-1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese, if desired
Ground Beef (1 lb.)

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef. 
2. Mix beef, tomato, lettuce, black olives, Cheddar cheese in a large bowl.
3. When ready to serve*, crunch up Doritos and mix with beef mixture.  Mix thoroughly with dressing.
 
*It is very important not to pour dressing into the salad until ready to serve.  The dressing will make salad soggy if you aren't serving for a long time.

 Recipe Notes:

·         You can shred a head of lettuce if you don’t want the pre-shredded kind.

·         You can brown the meat with a packet of Taco Seasoning, if desired.

·         All ingredients can be adjusted to what you like.  You can add more/less/delete anything to your liking.

·         Mix ingredients in a LARGE bowl.  When combined, this makes a very large bowl of salad.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

For some time now I’ve wanted to try making Split Pea soup.  Yes, I know it’s not the typical thing to make nor do most people enjoy it, but I do.  So there! J  I ended up back in my Make It Fast, CookIt Slow cookbooks.  If you don’t know it already, I absolutely LOVE Stephanie O’Dea’s books, blog, and recipes.  They are a must-have for those who use their slow cooker often.  I pretty much followed her exact recipe with the exception of the bacon.  I used one of the bags of bacon pieces found in the salad dressing aisle.  It was much quicker for me on the morning I was making the soup. This was one of the EASIEST slow cooker recipes ever.

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

 The Ingredients

16 oz. package of dried split peas

1 onion, diced

1 potato, peeled and diced

1 cup diced carrot

4 cups vegetable broth

1 cup water (next time I would add 1 additional cup 5-10 minutes before serving.  It got quite thick!)

1 pkg. Real Bacon Bits (despite my link here, I used Kroger brand.)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

The Directions.

Add everything to the slow cooker.  Stir to mix well.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours or high for 4-6.

Use a potato masher to mash and mix the soup to get a combined, thick consistency.  This is when I would add an additional cup up water and blend together.  (If you have an immersible hand blender you can also use that to make your soup a bit more creamy and to have an even consistency.)

Serve.

Next time I will definitely double this recipe.  Other than it being quite thick, it was delicious and even the little squirt couldn't get enough of it.  It would be great with some fresh baked rolls or bread.

Adapted recipe from here.

Baking with Martha - Cream Cheese Pound Cake

A couple of weeks ago we happened to stop on a PBS channel that featured the Martha Bakes TV show.  We only meant to stop for a minute, but we ended up watching for quite a while.  She made several good looking desserts, but this is the one that my husband really liked.  We are both fans of pound cake.  Typically I make a Tastefully Simple Absolutely Almond pound cake, but I decided to give this “from scratch” recipe a shot.  We loved it!  It wasn’t too sweet and baked in just about an hour.  I also halved the recipe, since the original recipe makes two whole loaves and that would have been way too much.

Cream-Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients

1 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature

   1/2 bar (4 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature

   1 1/2 cups sugar

   3 large eggs

   1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

   1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

   1 teaspoons salt

   Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar; beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour and salt in two additions, beating until just combined.

Generously coat one 8 1/2-by-4 1/2- by-2 1/2-inch loaf pans (1 1/2 quarts) with cooking spray; immediately pour in batter (pan will seem full). Tap pan on work surface to eliminate any large air bubbles.

Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean, 60 to 75 minutes (if the tops begin to brown too quickly, tent with aluminum foil).

Cool 10 minutes in the pan. Turn out the cake; cool completely, with top sides up, on a wire rack.

Original recipe found here.