Peanut Butter & Jelly Puppy Chow

There are so many different kinds of puppy chow flavors now. Of course, I want to try them all, but I decided to try out this recipe for the pb&j kind first. It was pretty good. I don't think I used enough peanut butter, but it all got eaten so it must of been alright. 

1 cup peanut butter baking chips

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

16 cups Rice Chex cereal

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cup white chocolate melts

1 cup strawberry cake mix (just the powdered mix)

First start with the peanut butter chow. Melt peanut butter chips, peanut butter and vanilla extract together.
Place 8 cups of the cereal in a large bowl and pour the melted peanut butter over it and fold until coated.

Put powdered sugar into a large plastic bag and dump in peanut butter coated cereal. Shake until coated in powdered sugar then dump out on a cookie sheet to cool.

Next is the jelly chow.  Melt white chocolate until smooth. Place remaining 8 cups of cereal in a large bowl and pour the white chocolate over and stir until coated. Put the strawberry cake mix in a large plastic bag and dump chocolate coated cereal into it. Shake until coated and pink from the mix. Pour onto a cookie sheet to cool.  Final step is to mix the two together.

Crock Pot Parmesan Ranch Mushrooms

I don't like mushrooms at all, but I decided to be nice and make this recipe for Mike the other day. I imagine these would be good to bring to a pot luck or as an appetizer at a party.

1/2 cup butter

1 packet of ranch powder 

mushrooms

2 tsp parmesan cheese

Melt butter and mix in the ranch powder.  Place mushrooms in crock pot. Pour melted ranch butter over top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cook on low for 4 hours. 

Crock Pot Pork Chops, Potatoes & Corn

I love using my crock pot and since this recipe wasn't for chicken, which I make a lot, I knew I wanted to try it out asap!  It was also nice to have sides prepared at the same time without any extra dirty dishes or time.

Pork chops

potatoes

corn on the cob

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Place pork chops on bottom of crock pot and cover with mushroom soup.  

Wrap potatoes in aluminum foil and place on top of chops.  Wrap corn in foil and place on top of potatoes. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. 

Everything was cooked perfectly. I was quite amazed. 

And it's SOLD!

Exactly 6 months after listing our house for sale we accepted an offer on it!! Over the six months it was listed I would say we had maybe 10 showings and we dropped the price once but we finally got an offer. 

That was back in October, it took 2 months to complete all the FHA repairs, paperwork and everything else that was involved, but just 2 days after Christmas we closed on it. 

These are the final pictures just an hour before closing. It was a little emotional for me because we bought the house when Marley was just 4 months old and to me it was our first "family" home. Even though we lived somewhere else before it just wasn't the same when we moved out of there. 

FHA required us to put up a railing on the stairs along with a few other "required" fixes

You can see some of the before pictures from when we bought the house here if you want. 

We are currently living in our rental until until spring time (moving in the snow wasn't fun at all) While we're here we are doing some small upgrades so I will be posting those as we get to them. 

Mexican Casserole

I actually made this dish months ago, but am just finally getting around to posting. It was a very delicious meal and quick to prepare too.

1 1/2 lb ground beef

1 packet taco seasoning

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can tomatoes and green chilis

2 cans french fried onions

1 package corn muffin mix

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brown ground beef and drain. Stir in taco seasoning, corn, tomatoes, and 1 can fried onions. Pour into greased baking dish.

Prepare corn muffin mix according to package directions. Spoon batter around edges of dish.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Top with cheese and remaining can of onions. Bake for a few more minutes to brown onions.

Top 13 of 2013

With 2013 coming to an end I decided to make a little list of our top 13 moments from 2013. I'm also making a list of our top 13 favorite recipes from this past year too.

Top 13 Family Moments

Marley starting kindergarten

Disney vacation- here, here, here, here, here, here and here

Marley's 5th birthday

Mason's 1st birthday

Christmas (haven't posted about it yet)

Our Tennessee vacation

Marley's first dance recital 

Putting our house up for sale 

Selling our house after only 6 months

Our museum trips- here and here

Easter

County Fair

Marley graduating preschool

Top 13 Favorite Recipes

Garlic Cheddar Biscuits

Crockpot Honey Chicken

Pineapple Sweet & Sour Chicken

Penne Rosa

Crockpot Potatoes & Hot Dogs

Meatballs & Veggies

No Bake Nutella Cheesecake

M&M Cookie Bars

Taco Spaghetti

Baked Spaghetti Bread

Baked Chimichangas

Chili Dog Casserole

What were your favorites? Happy New Year!! 

Cheeseburger Casserole

This recipe turned out amazing!! It tasted just like burgers!

2 cups (6 ounces) uncooked rotini pasta (spiral pasta)

1 pound ground beef

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

2 tablespoons ketchup

4-5 large Roma tomatoes, deseeded and diced (I used canned)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 cups low fat cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cooking dish with nonstick spray. Boil the pasta al dente. Drain and set aside.  Brown ground beef until brown. Drain and return to stove.  Mix in the seasoned salt, ketchup, and mustard. Add in the tomatoes.  Simmer for a couple minutes.  Add the noodles to the mixture and stir.

Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle cheese on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

The week I made this I was on a pasta kick. There are so many pasta meals out there and I love them all.

8 oz uncooked rigatoni (any kind of pasta would be okay)

1 (10 oz) pack frozen spinach, thawed

3 c cubed, cooked chicken breasts

1 (14 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (8 oz) container Philadelphia chive & onion cream cheese

½ t salt, ½ t pepper

1½ c shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta al dente Drain and set aside. Drain chopped spinach well. Mix pasta, spinach, chicken, tomatoes, cream cheese, salt & pepper in bowl. Spoon mixture into dish & sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake covered at 375 for 30 minutes; uncover & bake 15 more minutes.

Homemade Mac & Cheese

I always have a hard time deciding what to make for lunch on the weekends since everyone is home. I had all these ingredients already in the cabinet so I searched for a recipe on Pinterest. This recipe caught my eye and it turned out pretty good.

1 8oz. pkg of elbow pasta

1 stick of butter

1 (14 oz.) can of evaporated milk

1 lb. block of Velveeta cheese, cut into 1″-2″ cubes

Cook the pasta until al dente.   Drain the water but keep ¼ cup in the bottom of the pot. Add the butter, the can of evaporated milk and the cheese.  Sprinkle some salt and pepper in there. Heat over medium flame until the cheese is completely melted and blended in.  Remove from heat and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Stir and serve.

Wet Burrito Casserole

One more recipe from my personal stash. It was pretty good, however, I might use cream of chicken soup next time just because I'm not a mushroom fan at all. 

1 1/2 cups sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 packet taco seasoning

16 oz can refried beans

1 package tortillas

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together sour cream and soup. Spread 1/2 of the mixture into bottom of baking dish. Brown ground beef & onions, Drain. Mix in taco seasoning and refried beans. Divide mixture into tortillas. Roll up and place in dish. Repeat for remaining tortillas and meat mix.

 Pour remaining sour cream soup mix on top. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Crock Pot In a Hurry Chicken Curry

Here's another recipe from my personal collection. This could probably be prepared ahead of time and frozen, then just dumped in the crock pot. It doesn't look for appealing, but it was pretty tasty.

16 oz bag frozen mixed veggies

4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can cream of potato soup

2 tbsp curry powder

Place veggies in crock pot.  Place chicken on top.

 In a bowl mix soup and curry powder. Pour in crock pot. Cover and cook on low 6-7 hours.