American Chop Suey

This recipe is a great standby for me because I always have all of the ingredients on hand and it always goes over really well with my boys.

Here is what you need:

• 1lb ground turkey (or beef)
• Small chopped onion
• Chopped medium bell pepper
• Sprinkle garlic powder
• Sprinkle paprika 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup of cheese
• 1 can tomato poaste
• 1 can diced or crushed tomatoes (15oz)
• 2 cups cooked macaroni

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf in the Crockpot

It's been a long time since I've had a post but this turned out SO WONDERFUL that I just had to share it with everyone.... I've tried meatloaf again, and I've finally found success!! So exciting, this is only the 3rd meatloaf recipe I've ever tried and it's a keeper. It's also probably very bad for you, even with my edits. :)

For this recipe I basically combined the crockpot meatloaf and potatoes recipe I found over at Melissa's blog way back at the beginning of December and a Paula Dean recipe I had been dying to try.

Here is what you'll need:

Crockpot Potato Chowder

It's Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining With Debbie! I am going to be using my Crockpot all this week to test out some new recipes. School starts back again in a few weeks and I'll have night class 3 nights in a row - so my crockpot is going to be working hard!! Very thankful for the recipes I know I can find over on Debbie's website!

The weather has finally turned cold around here and I was in the mood for something to warm us up, and what better than a steaming hot, creamy bowl of potato chowder?? I don’t know why this popped into my head, I’ve never made it before and I thought the recipe looked a little boring… so I decided to make a few changes!! And now we have a new meal in the regular rotation (well, at least the winter rotation)!

Here is what you need:

Bean and Sausage Soup

It's Crockpot Wednesday again over at Dining with Debbie!!

I wasn't planning on posting this one, but after my boys ate it on day 2, I changed my mind. You see I really wasn't very impressed with it at all the night we had it, this is largely due to a few mishaps of my own. But, the leftovers, according to both boys, were absolutely delicious. So, it's on the keeper list, but we'll definitely be changing it up a bit!!

Here is what I used:

Mexican Penne

You know what works for me? Making meals ahead when I know life will be crazy!

For those of you who read my blog on a semi-regular basis, you may have noticed I've been MIA for awhile now... I'm in the midst of finals (law school) and haven't found much time to sleep let alone blog, but I am taking a break tonight from the insanity to introduce you all to my favorite make-ahead (or make right now!) meal!

I made this about a week and a half ago, I knew I'd be too busy to cook (I haven't cooked since last Wednesday!) and I knew my boys would be hungry, so I made a few easy to throw together meals and threw them in the freezer, this is their second favorite - Shepherd's Pie being their first!

This recipe is for one casserole, but I made it into two because otherwise there are too many leftovers.

So here is what you need:

Shepherd's Pie

I first started making this about 4 months ago and it quickly became a regular! This is easily my stepson's favorite meal that I cook! The great thing about it is I can make it earlier in the morning and stick it in the fridge for later, or in this case, double it and freeze one for next week (finals are looming, I will not be cooking!)

So here is what you need, keep in mind I doubled this, so if you are only making one - cut it in half:

Alfredo Sauce with Penne & Chicken

This meal makes me think of my best friend because it was something we often cooked together whenever we wanted to stay in and hang out instead of dress up and go out, it was simple, delicious, and fun to make together.

Of course, we always used jarred Alfredo sauce, back when I didn't care about calories (oh how I miss those days).

But then I stumbled across a fellow blogger after seeing one of her comments on a post of mine, I was browsing through her recipes and found a recipe for Weight Watchers Alfredo Sauce - I nearly jumped off my seat! I decided to make it as soon as I could to see if it was really as good as she said it was!

It was delicious!! In case you are wondering, the recipe comes from Arlene at The Food of Love, go check her blog out, she has tons of amazing recipes!

I doubled Arlene's recipe so here is what I used:

Curry From a Packet

The first meal hubby ever cooked for me was a curry stew, I had never had curry before and it was so wonderful that it became a regular meal on the menu plan! I normally use a packet called Vermont Curry- Mild... I actually have 3 of them in my pantry, but I've had a Hawaiian Curry packet in my pantry for a long time and I figured it was time to try it.

Here it is:

 Can you tell by how wrinkly it is that it's been rolling around in my packet bag for quite some time?

Crockpot Beef Stew

It's Crock Pot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie, and Slow Cooking Thursday over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom!

I didn't have any crockpot meals planned, but I did have beef stew on the menu... I've never made it in the crockpot, but I figured why not give it a try?

It turned out great, better than usual!! Click here for the printable version.

Here is what I used:

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplins

I just recently discovered Crockpot Wednesday's over at Dining with Debbie! I love to use my Crock Pot and since I have class at night on Mon and Wed it is pretty much the only way my family gets a home cooked dinner. Yesterday I made this delicious meal and you can read how to make it for yourself below or you can click here to skip my rambling and go to the printable version.

This meal does not use a packet, but it does use cans! Cans are kind of similar to packets right? Just open them, dump them in, and toss them (into your recycling bin - unless you are trying to hide the cream of mushroom evidence from a very picky 13 year old who HATES mushrooms, in which case you wrap it in dirty paper towels and put it at the bottom of the trash can - the Earth will forgive me).

So here's what you need for this meal...

Chili Made EASY!

For the first recipe, one of my favorite meals... Chili!!!

This is so easy and so good you will smack yourself for not making it sooner. You can print this out minus my comments and pictures here.

Here is our friend the packet: