Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

The family loooooved this one! I think my Instant Pot might be my favorite thing in my kitchen. I am not sure if I have mentioned that before. It probably won't be the last time! It's also a very cost-effective recipe that makes a large amount. The pictures of it make it look creamier than mine turned out. It had a light coating of the sauce which was fine with me. I think adding a little more broth and heavy cream would make it thicker if you wanted.

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
Original Source: Pinterest
Approximate Cost: $12

Ingredients:
- 1 lb cubed chicken
- 16 oz frozen mixed vegetables
- 16 oz egg noodles
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- Olive oil

1. Place the IP on saute' and add olive oil, chicken, and all spices.

2. Saute' chicken for 2-3 minutes until the outside is white.

3. Add noodles, broth, and veggies.

4. Cook on manual high pressure for 5 minutes.

5. Do a quick release then stir in heavy cream.

6. Place IP back on saute'.

7. Cook 2-3 minutes until sauce is thickened.

Grandma's Soft Sugar Cookies

This is one another one from my Mom. I am pretty sure this is the one my grandma used, too, but I am not 100% sure on that. I guess I could ask my mom....

Recipe: Grandma's Soft Sugar Cookies
Original Source: My Mamma
Approximate Cost: Unknown

Ingredients:
- 4 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 2/3 cups sugar
- 2 eggs unbeaten
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.

2. Lightly flour counter or cutting board.

3. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes.

4. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

5. Top with your favorite icing and sprinkles.

Sweet Potato Casserole

This is a Thanksgiving Day favorite in our families. This is the recipe my mom has always made and I could probably eat the whole pan myself! I never write it down and have to ask EVERY YEAR for the recipe from her. Not anymore!

Recipe: Sweet Potato Casserole
Original Source: My Mamma
Approximate Cost: Unknown

Ingredients:
- 3 lbs sweet potatoes (3 large cans)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 stick softened butter
- 1/3 cup of milk
- Cinnamon
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 1 cup chopped pecans

1. Beat together potatoes, sugar, butter, milk, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

2. Place in a 9x13 baking dish.

3. Mix brown sugar, pecans, flour, and melted butter in a small bowl. Spread over the sweet potato mixture.

4. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake

Oh. Em. Gee. This was AMAZING! This was my first cheesecake and I was very pleased with how it turned out. I was reading about water baths and that cheesecakes crack a lot of times without it. So I did it. It was pretty easy. I found a tutorial that said to use crockpot liners and others said tin foil. I did both. I wrapped the pan in foil and then tied the crockpot liner around it to keep the butter in and water out. It worked perfectly. I'd make it that way again. The original recipe I found gave instructions for both with and without the water bath. I am only going to include what to do with a water bath. I also removed it from the pan before I chilled it. I think probably that needs to be done just before serving. I'll try it that way next time and update.

Recipe: Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake
Original Source: Facebook
Approximate Cost: Unknown

Ingredients:
- 3 8 oz blocks of cream cheese
- 1 15oz can pumpkin puree
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cups of sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 24 whole Oreos
- 6 tbsp melted butter
- 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup caramel topping
- cool whip

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. In stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin, eggs, sugars, sour cream, vanilla, flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Beat until no clumps remain.

3. Crust: crush Oreos into fine crumbs and add melted butter.

4. Prepare 9" springform pan. Press Oreos into pan on bottom and 1/3 up the side. Add filling.

5. Wrap pain in foil and then slow cooker liner. Place in a baking dish. Fill baking dish with boiling water.

6. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until slightly jiggly in the middle (Idk WTF that even means but it took me more like 1 hour and 30 minutes until the jiggle was slight and not excessive.)

7. Turn off oven and prop door open for 1 hour. Remove from dish and unwrap. Chill for 4 hours or overnight. Drizzle with chocolate and caramel before serving.

Crockpot Pulled Pork

This is a pretty simple and common recipe. I mean, pulled pork isn't hard.

Recipe: Pulled Pork
Original Source: Pinterest
Approximate Cost: $17

Ingredients:
- 4-5 lb pork butt/shoulder roast
- Salt, pepper, garlic powder
- 1 onion sliced
- 1 can Dr. Pepper
- 3/4 cups BBQ sauce
- Rolls

1. Place onion in bottom of slow cooker. Rub roast with salt, pepper, and garlic powder then place in crockpot.

2. Pour Dr. Pepper over roast. Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 7-8 hours.

3. Shred pork and add back to juices.

4. Add BBQ sauce and cook another 30-60 minutes.

Taco Spaghetti

This recipe is life, yo. So freaking good!! If you make nothing else I post, make this. And you're welcome.

Recipe: Taco Spaghetti
Original Source: Pinterest 
Approximate Cost: $15

Ingredients:
- 8 oz spaghetti noodles
- 1 1/4 lb ground beef
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 2/3 cups water
- 1 can cream of chicken soup
- 1 10oz can of Rotel
- 8oz velveeta
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar

1. Cook pasta and drain.

2. Brown beef and drain grease. Add taco season and water. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add soup, velveeta, and Rotel. Cook until cheese melts.

4. Stir in noodles and place in 9x9 baking dish. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Baked Ziti

I couldn't eat this one. I took a bite and the Alfredo wasn't liking me. I have a dairy allergy and some thins I can eat and some things I can't. I can't figure it all out. Anyway. Cody and McKenna really liked it. I am thinking next time, so I can eat it, that instead of using Alfredo sauce I'll just use more marinara. It'll cook the same but it won't be as creamy I guess. But I want to eat it.

Recipe: Baked Ziti
Original Source: Pinterest
Approximate Cost: $11

Ingredients:
- 1lb ground beef
- 1 32 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
- 1 16oz jar of Alfredo
- 1 16oz box penne pasta
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cups shredded mozarella

1. Set oven to 350

2. Spray 9x13 with non-stick spray

3. Prepare pasta according to package

4. Brown beef and onion until cooked through. Drain grease.

5. Add spaghetti sauce to beef.

6. Add Alfredo sauce to drained, dried pasta

7. Put pasta/Alfredo mixture into 9x13 pan and cover with meat/sauce mixture

8. Top with mozzarella cheese

9. Cover with foil and bake 15 minutes. Remove foil and cook another 15 minutes.

Texas Crockpot Chili

I messed this one up. I didn't have notated that it was a crockpot recipe so I ended up doing it on the stove top. That seemed to not really make a difference, though, so I think it can be done either way. THEN I didn't get enough tomato sauce so I added a little more water. It was kind of bland so when I make it again I am going to have a thing of Tony's close by to add some flavor. Cody thought the flavor was fine as is, but it just wasn't spicy like I like my chili. I also used a can of diced tomatoes instead of doing my own. I buy my ingredients 2 weeks at a time and with the timing of this recipe on my schedule the tomato wouldn't have kept. Guess what else I didn't add? The onion.

Recipe: Texas Crockpot Chili
Original Source: Pinterest
Approximate Cost: $16

Ingredients:
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 small Roma tomato, diced
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 30 oz can of tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp salt and pepper
- 1/2 cube beef bullion
- 1 cup water
- 1 4 oz can green chilies
- 1 16 oz can pinto beans, drained
- 1 16 oz can chili beans in sauce
- 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper

1. In a skillet, brown beef and onions until cooked through. Drain grease.

2. Add remaining ingredients to the crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours.

Slow Cooker French Dip

I love me some French Dip. This is an easy and great recipe for it. It's one of the more expensive meals I make since the roast is kind of pricey. It does make a lot, though, so it's kinda worth it. I didn't get the cheese and put it in the oven and all that. I just put the beef straight onto the bread and dipped it.

Recipe: Slow Cooker French Dip
Original Source: Pinterest
Approximate Cost: $21

Ingredients:
- 2 cans condensed French Onion soup
- 1 can beef consommé (I couldn't find this last time so I substituted beef broth. Worked perfectly.)
- 3-4 lb beef chuck roast
- 8 sandwich rolls
- 8 slices provolone

1. Place roast in slow cooker and pour all 3 cans of soup on top.

2. Cover and cook low 8 hours or high 4 hours.

3. Remove 3 cups of juice and add to small sauce pan. Heat on medium to a boil. Reduce to hard simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Shred beef on plate.

5. Please rolls in a 9x13 baking dish and spoon meat onto each roll. Top with cheese and cover with tin foil. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes.

Stovetop Stuffing Meatloaf

I am iffy about adding this one, to be honest. It's got a great flavor and the first one I made turned out amazing. However, I have made it 2-3 times since then and it's just been ok. It will not come out of the pan easily, no matter how much I spray it before. I guess that's my real problem with it. So it doesn't look pretty at all. But the flavor is so good, so I guess I'll throw it in here.

Recipe: Stovetop Stuffing Meatloaf
Original Source: Pinterest
Approximate Cost: $11

Ingredients:
- 1 package Stovetop, any flavor (I get cornbread. It feels weird to put chicken stuffing in a meatloaf.)
- 1 cup hot water
- 2 packages brown gravy mix, divided use
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 large eggs, beaten

1. In a medium size bowl add stuffing and 1 cup hot water. Let sit for 5 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl combine 1 package brown gravy mix, meat, and eggs.

3. Add stuffing to meat mixture.

4. Grease bundt pan and add meat and stuffing mixture to it. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes.

5. Serve with mashed potatoes and the other package of gravy.

Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Chicken and Vegetables

This one is really good! Very buttery, so that's probably why. Hey, I never said anywhere that my recipes I share are healthy. They are far from it. Far. This one is easy to double, although doubled it filled my 8 qt crockpot. So if you want to do that, then make sure you have the room for it in your cooker. It didn't take the full 4 hours to cook. Doubled, it only took 3 1/2 so keep an eye on it. Addison, loved this one, too! Again, butter.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Garlic Butter Chicken and Vegetables
Original Source: Pinterest
Approximate Cost: $9

Ingredients:
- 1 to 1 1/2 lb chicken tenders
- 1 lb bag baby carrots
- 1 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, cut into wedges
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 tbs minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried parsley

1. Add chicken down the middle of the crockpot. Add potatoes and carrots on either side of the chicken.

2. In a small bowl mix the melted butter, salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, and parsley.

3. Pour butter mixture over chicken and vegetables.

4. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.

Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

This one was fun. I love my Instant Pot. I honestly haven't used it much, yet, but what I've made has worked really well. I have a lot of IP recipes on the docket this month, so hopefully I can add to my IP repertoire. When I made this the first time, I put wayyy too many noodles in. Like 4x the amount you're supposed to. #oops I didn't even notice until I was copying the recipe over. Makes a lot of sense now, though. It seemed really noodley. Again, I didn't put onions in because ew.

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Original Source: Pinterest
Approximate Cost: $16

Ingredients:
- 1 whole 5lb chicken
- 5 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 small onion
- 2 tbs soy sauce
- 4 oz extra wide egg noodles
- 1 tbs olive oil
- koser salt and pepper to taste

1. Set Instant Pot to saute'

2. Heat olive oil & onions until onions start to soften & become translucent. 2-3 minutes.

3. Add garlic, carrots, & celery. Sauce' another minute.

4. Add chicken, soy sauce, water, 2 tsp salt, & pepper.

5. Take off saute', place lid, set pressure valve to seal, set Instant Pot to high pressure for 20 minutes via manual mode.

6. It will take about 15-20 minutes to come to pressure, then cook for 20 minutes.

7. Turen pressure valve to quick release.

8. Remove chicken & set aside to shred.

9. Turn Instant Pot back to saute' & bring broth to a boil.

10. Cook noodles for 5 minutes.

11. Add shredded chicken back to the Instant Pot.

12. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enchiladas

This is a recipe I know by heart. It's one I have been making for almost a decade. I got it from my mamma. 😂😂😂 It's one of those, though, that has some ish because I don't measure. Like the amount of sauce and cheese that goes into the filling. That part of this recipe is only a guesstimate. The consistency of isn't super thick. Like it would make a really good chip dip. Does that help? Next time I make it I'll try to measure and take pictures so you can see the consistency.

Recipe: Enchiladas
Original Source: My Mamma
Approximate cost: $18

Ingredients:
- 1lb ground beef
- 1 can refried beans
- 1 can red enchilada sauce
- 2 cups taco cheese
- 20 flour tortillas

1. Brown beef and drain the grease.

2. Add beans, maybe like 1/4 cup enchilada sauce, and a handful of cheese. Cook until cheese and
beans are melted and it's all mixed well.

3. Spoon a spoonful of mixture into flour tortillas, roll them up, and put them in a 9x13 baking dish.

4. Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas until all of them are covered.

5. Put a layer of cheese covering the top.

6. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until cheese melted.

Hamburger Soup

This one made a lot, so next time I'll freeze half. We got tired of the leftovers and ended up tossing a bunch of it. I hate going through the trouble of cooking just to throw away leftovers. I detest it. This was a good one for Addison. I pulled out the meat and veggies, made sure it was all in sizes she could bite, and she went to town! I didn't put the onion in. I typically leave it out of recipes because I don't like it.

Recipe: Hamburger Soup
Original Source: Facebook
Approximate Cost: $11

Ingredients:
- 1lb lean ground beef
- 1 onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
- 3 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1 28oz can of diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 can condensed tomato soup
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 cups mixed vegetable, fresh or frozen

1. Brown onion, ground beef and garlic. Drain grease.

2. Add the remaining ingredients except mixed vegetables and simmer covered for 10 minutes.

3. Stir in mixed vegetables. Simmer 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Crockpot Lasagna

This recipe was the first one I made that my family LOVED. McKenna and Cody both requested this one to be made again. I thought it was just ok but they both thought it was amazing. I think my problem was the Italian seasoning. I'm not a huge fan of that flavor. Next time I make it, I'll make it with a little more garlic salt and less Italian seasoning.

Recipe: Crockpot Lasagna

Original source: Facebook 

Approximate Cost: $14

Ingredients:

- 1 25oz bag of frozen cheese ravioli

- 1lb ground beef

- 3 15oz cans crushed tomatoes

- 1 tbs Italian seasoning

- 1 tbs garlic salt

- 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Brown beef and drain the grease.

2. Stir in tomatoes and seasoning.

3. Cover the bottom of the crockpot with a thin layer of sauce.

4. Layer ravioli on the bottom of the crockpot.

5. Add a layer of cheese.

6. Continue layering in that order until all the ravioli and sauce is used.

7. End with a layer of cheese on top.

8. Cook on Low 4 hours. 

9. Turn off and let sit for 15 minutes. Cut and serve. 

Well Hey There!

I'd like to welcome you to the 87th blog I've started! Welcome! 😂

So. At the time of this post I have been married for 9 years and 4 months. My husband is a smart guy and super hard worker. He is in the car industry so he is gone pretty often. The large bulk of house things like cooking, cleaning and laundry all fall on me. That's ok. This is my full-time job. When The Hubs and I got married I was working in a medical office, a career I'd had since I was 17. It wasn't until July 1, 2015 that I became a stay-at-home mom. Well, I take that back. I started photography in 2010 and was still doing that at the time. But I quit my 9-5 and was home a hell of a lot more than I'd been. That was a pretty big adjustment. It wasn't THAT bad, though. McKenna was pretty independent and self-sufficient at that age. We were also in an 1100 square foot apartment then so cleaning wasn't bad. My daily/weekly/monthly upkeep was minimal. I was rocking it, if I may say so myself.

Let's jump ahead a bit to July 5, 2017. We closed on our house. Woo! I more than tripled the square footage of cleaning space. Ok, I can handle this. No big. Well, yeah. About a week before we closed, I found out I was pregnant with numero 2. YAY! We were super excited. We'd waited a long time for her. However, when your kids are 6 years apart, you forget things. Like the exhaustion of being pregnant and having a newborn. Slooooowly things started to slip. I mean, let's be honest. I got lazy. Obviously it wasn't entirely my fault, but it is what it is. Not that I was a gourmet chef to begin with or anything. I had a recipe repertoire of like 5-7 recipes and cooked MAYBE once a week if my family was lucky. But even that started to wane. As did my cleaning. Y'all I was tired!! My sweet, patient husband. He loved me through my funk and gently encouraged me to improve. He was nice about it, but I still balked for a while. I offended. How dare HE tell me what I should do.!

When the baby, Addison, was 8 months old I decided (all on my own) that things really needed to change. We were wasting so much money on fast food it was ridiculous. Addy was on a much more settled schedule so I had a better idea of what my days were going to look like on a more permanent basis. So after all my balking I decided to implement some of the measures The Hubs suggested. I love him, but I hate to admit when he's right. I know what I'm doing. I don't need HIS advice. Or so I thought. Now I have a manageable cleaning schedule and my house gets cleaned WAY more often which also means it gets cleaned better. Yay me!

I also have been cooking more. The request was that I cook every other day. If I cook every day, we throw away too many leftovers. Every other day means leftovers and hot lunch for The Hubs! He appreciates that.

The point of this blog at it's very base is recipe storage. Over the years I have just "pinned" recipes I've liked. Problem with that is some of those blogs have shut down. Like the cinnamon roll casserole we loved? Gone forever. So just accessing them digitally sucks. When I started meal planning in November, I started writing them down in a notebook. I still plan on doing that. I love seeing recipes written by my mom and grandma so I think it's just fun to pass down handwritten recipes. However, I do love the convenience of having it all digitally, too. It's just so easy to pull it up on my phone or tablet. Plus if you get gunk on it, you can just wipe it off. Paper? Not so much. It's also easier to pass recipes along to people. Oh you liked my Taco Spaghetti? Here, let me send you a link to the recipe. My plan is to play catch up at first. I have about 15-20 recipes I've made already that I need to enter. Then after that, if a recipe is good, it'll get added. If it isn't, then it will never be spoken of! I'll go back and add pictures once things are made just for kicks. I may share other random things along the way, but the majority of the content here will be food. Yummy, delicious food.

That was much longer than I anticipated. Especially for a blog likely only I will ever see. But there it is!