Bean Casserole

Alright so I made this one up last week during my cooking spree.  We had it last night for dinner and really liked it.  I am already considering some variations, but I will post the basic recipe here. Give it a try and let me know what improvements you make!  I like that it all goes in one dish and that all the ingredients can be in your food storage cupboard!

1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn or mexicorn
1 can Campbell's nacho cheese soup
1/2 can milk
1 package Mexican or Spanish rice

I used a small casserole dish but this made enough for all for of us dinner last night and probably lunch today.  Mix soup and milk in casserole dish, leave fairly thick. Drain and rinse beans drain corn add too soup.  Prepare rice according to package and then spread over casserole. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until the soup is bubbly. Remove from oven let set for a few minutes and serve with corn chips. Enjoy!!

Taco Soup

I can't believe I have not already put this on here! We love this recipe! It is quick, easy, can be frozen, made for large or small groups, vegetarian or with meat, and can be completely kept in food storage.

2 cans kidney beans
2 cans black beans
2 cans mexicorn
1 can tomato sauce
1 can Mexican stewed tomatoes
1 packet taco seasoning
1 lbs ground beef or ground turkey

other nice additions:
1 small can chopped olives
1 small onion chopped and sauteed

Brown hamburger and season lightly as if for tacos.  Combine tomato sauce and taco seasoning in stew pan or crock pot add all other ingredients and warm through.  This is really good the second day because it gets thicker. We eat our with shredded cheese and corn chips.  For vegetarian just leave out the ground meat.

Note: This freezes really well and stays good for a couple months if well bagged or in tight tupperware.

Potato Corn Chowder

This little soup I first heard about from my mom. A friend brought it to her last fall when she was very very sick with shingles.  She used pre-made soups and it is very simple, convenient, and and delicious. 


Quick version:

One can Potato soup + one can Cream style corn

     Warm potato soup according to package and add cream corn and warm to preference.



From Scratch Version:

Six potatoes
4 cups water
6 strips of bacon (i used turkey)
1/4 cup of margarine or butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
Nature Seasoning to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cans cream style corn
(I also think celery would be a nice addition, but I didn't have any on hand.)


Peel and cube potatoes. Boil until soft in 4 cups of water.  Cook the bacon and cut into small strips.  Melt butter in a separate sauce pan and add flour creating a thick paste ( the thicker you want your soup the thicker and drier you should make this paste by adding more flour) add seasonings to the paste.  Add milk to paste stirring continuously once it has smoothed and thickened add to potatoes.  Add bacon and cream corn and stir steadily on medium low heat until it reaches desired thickness.  Serve and enjoy!!

Cooking for the week and making it up as I go.

So today, I woke up in the mood to cook!  Matt is going to be working extra hours for the next few weeks and I don't to get behind and start eating out. So I cooked all day!  I made two casseroles, 2 meals worth of potato/corn chowder, 2 meals worth of white chicken chili, two loaves of bread, and baked oatmeal for dinner tonight!  I froze one casserole and half of each soup and will freeze one loaf of bread.  Having 3 meals frozen and 3 in the fridge improves my outlook vastly!! 

The fun part of this was I made up a couple recipes as I went. Yup, I invented a Bean and Rice casserole and the potato/corn chowder I improvised from scratch rather than using premade soups.  I will post both the recipes for the potato/corn chowder.  I think I may hold off on posting the bean/rice casserole til after we eat it. It smelled really good but we are not eating it til tomorrow.

Last week we discovered that having frozen flat bread pizza crusts in the freezer is a kin to having premade frozen pizzas on hand and taste a whole lot better. So tomorrow I plan to make some more pizza crusts to freeze.  Keeping cheese, pepperoni, and pizza sauce on hand is easy and in expensive. 

Here's to planning ahead and hoping my latest inventions are edible!! LOL

Meal Board

Okay, So it has been FOREVER since I posted anything! Sorry!  This post is not actually a recipe but a little tip I recently found that I want to share.  I found an app for my Ipod touch that I am just figuring out but absolutely loving already! It is a meal/grocery planner. You can calendar meals for up to a month at a time and then it will generate a grocery list for you based on what you have in your plan! It will also estimate cost and has a coupon feature for those of you that coupon! You enter each recipe with full ingredients lists and instructions, makes it a nice little on the go recipe box too!  It is going to take a while to get all my recipes and usual side dishes in, but it does have an online recipe entering site that will make it faster. Once the are all in I will be able to create meal plans super fast!! It is called mealboard and was only $3.99 in the app store, I really think it is going to be worth it!!  Just wanted to share!  I don't know if this is available for Droid devices, sorry.

Easy Stir-Fry

We use to have these all the time. Our local grocer has stopped carrying them (for reasons unknown to me) which is a tragedy! They are tasty - and so quick and easy. I usually will cut up chicken or beef cubes to add to the mix. Then I serve it over steamed white rice.

I have found this is a great way to serve veggies to my kids. They don't even notice really - the sauce must mask that veggie taste or something!

Fast Breakfasts

My favorite breakfast lately is biscuits and sausage! You can't beat a warm biscuit from the oven smothered with butter and honey! From scratch? you say? Nope - just a pack of Jiffy! Why bother with scratch when these are so good and fast!

For a little variety, we sometimes mix it up with a box of Jiffy Chocolate Muffins. It's like having a cupcake for breakfast - only healthy because it says 'muffin' ! We usually don't do breakfast sausage with this option. But throw in a banana or some strawberries, and it isn't too bad!