Crockpot Beans and Bacon

Ingredients:
1 lb dry pinto beans
1 lb bacon
seasoning salt
garlic powder
chopped onions

Serves: 4

Directions:
Sort and soak beans in plenty of cold water overnight. After soaking, drain and rinse beans. Place in crock pot with 2 cups water and about one tablespoon or so of each, seasoning salt and garlic powder. Layer the raw bacon on top of the beans. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours. Top with chopped onions on individual servings.

**This is how I have been making pinto beans lately. It is really good. Even my picky son likes this. I usually serve this with corn bread or biscuits. It is just enough for my family of four. Made a double batch the last time I made this and had a lot of leftovers. Enough to even make a chili with afterwards.

Beef and Noodle Casserole

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of cream of celery soup
1/2 cup milk
8 oz egg noodles
seasoned salt

Serves: 4-6

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef, drain. Add onion, garlic, and seasoned salt to taste and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Then add and mix both cans of soup and 1/2 cup milk to the meat mixture. Meanwhile, cook egg noodles according to package, drain. Combine noodles and beef mixture. Put into a greased casserole dish and cook uncovered for 20-25 minutes.

**I made this recipe up myself. It tasted pretty good. Worth a try if you have the ingredients on hand.

Tuna Cakes

Ingredients:
2 cans (6 1/2 ounces each) tuna in water - undrained
1 sleeve saltine crackers- crushed
2 egg whites or 1 egg
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons each finely diced red, yellow and green pepper

Serves: 4

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a baking sheet.
Place crushed saltines in a bowl and add tuna with water, egg whites, soy sauce and garlic powder. Mix until well blended.
Add peppers and stir until well distributed.
Form mixture into 8 evenly sized patties and place on greased baking sheet.
Bake for 8 minutes and turn over. Bake for another 8 minutes.

**You can also fry these. I've made these twice now and they are really good. I changed up the ingredients though and it turned out great. I have a family of 4 but we eat more food for dinner than recipes that usually serve 4 people do, so I end up having to double a lot of recipes. I doubled everything but the saltine crackers.  I used onions instead of the peppers. And I drained all the tuna and only added about 1/4 cup of the tuna water to the mixture. Any more than that and it would not have stuck together as well. I baked them at 12 minutes per side instead. They turned out really good and not too fishy either. I still made 8 patties so they were pretty thick. As for a side, I made macaroni salad and frozen mixed vegetables. Kids had no complaints and ate it all. My boyfriend complimented on how well they tasted. Definitely a keeper. If you can think of anything better to add or have a recipe of your own, please comment below!!

Iowa Corn Salad

Ingredients:

1 package of frozen corn

1 package of frozen green beans

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

1/2 red pepper, finely chopped

1 small sweet onion, finely chopped

Directions:

In large saucepan, boil 3 cups water. Add frozen corn and green beans. Reheat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 6-8 minutes. Drain. Rinse with cold running water. Prepare dressing in a large bowl with wire whisk; mix vinegar, olive oil, parsley, salt, and black pepper until blended. Add corn and green beans, red pepper, and onion to dressing in bowl; toss to coat. Serve, or cover and refrigerate.

**This is a pretty good side dish. I have made this once. I thought it tasted pretty good, but the kids didn't particularly like it though. 

Tater Tot Taco Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (1 ounce) packet taco seasoning mix
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen Mexican-style corn or regular corn
1 (12 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (12 ounce) bag shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 (16 ounce) package frozen tater tots
1 (12 fluid ounce) can enchilada sauce

Servings: 6
Directions:

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Prepare a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Cook the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat until completely browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, taco seasoning mix, frozen Mexican-style corn, and black beans to the ground beef; cook and stir another 10 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
Combine the ground beef mixture in a large bowl with about 3/4 of the Mexican cheese blend and the tater tots; stir to combine.
Pour about 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Add the tater tot mixture to the baking dish; lightly pat the mixture down into a solid, even layer. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tater tot layer.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining Mexican cheese over the casserole and return to oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 5 minutes more.

**This is how I found this recipe but I changed it. I made it more like the original tater tot casserole I posted before. I used a 2-quart casserole dish instead. I did not combine the tater tots in with the meat mixture. What I did was put a little sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish, then the meat and cheese mixture, then more sauce, next the tater tots, then more sauce with cheese on top. It turned out really good. We liked this a lot. It was a really good recipe find for me. Will be making it again soon.

Simply Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella Cheese, divided
1 (15 ounce) container Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 egg, beaten
1 (24 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Brown meat in large skillet on medium-high heat. Meanwhile, mix 1 1/4 cups mozzarella, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan, parsley and egg until well blended; set aside.
Drain meat; return to skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Add 1 cup water to empty sauce jar; cover with lid and shake well. Add to meat mixture; stir until well blended. Spread 1 cup meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; top with layers of 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup meat sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining noodles, meat sauce and cheeses. Cover with greased foil.
Bake 1 hour or until heated through, removing foil after 45 min. Let stand 15 min. before cutting to serve.

**This is a very good lasagna recipe. The cheeses are the most expensive ingredients. The recipe is a little time consuming though. I only recommend it if you are able to give yourself plenty of time to make it. You can prep this the night before, so you can just throw it in the oven the next evening.

Sunshine Chicken

Ingredients:

3 pounds chicken thighs
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 pinch garlic powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Rinse the chicken pieces and place them, single layer and skin side up, in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Mix the soy sauce, ketchup, corn syrup and garlic powder in a small bowl. Baste the chicken with the sauce, reserving some sauce for basting during baking. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven, basting approximately every 15 minutes, for 1 hour (or until chicken is done and juices run clear).
Servings 6-8.

**I have made this recipe twice so far. My son who is a very picky eater loves this. You don't have to use chicken thighs but thighs seem to be the cheapest cuts of chicken. The second time I made it, I didn't have enough ketchup so used half ketchup and half barbecue sauce. I think it was actually better the second time around. I highly recommend this recipe! You could make this with white rice or mashed potatoes and a vegetable of your choice.

Cheeseburger Pie

1 can crescent rolls
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup finely chopped onion, OR 1 teaspoon onion powder
1/3 cup chopped dill pickle slices
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons dill pickle juice
2 tablespoons milk
2 cups shredded American cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 375°.
Unroll crescent rolls and press into the bottom and up the sides of an 8 inch pie pan.
Cook ground beef in a skillet until browned. Drain well.
Stir in onion, chopped pickle, ketchup and mustard.
Sprinkle with flour and add pickle juice and milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.
Remove from heat and add 1 cup of shredded cheese.
Pour into the prepared crust and bake for 15 minutes, or until edges of crust are golden brown.

Top with 1 cup of cheese and place back into oven for a few minutes longer until cheese is melted.
Serves 4-6

**This recipe was surprisingly good. I didn't think it would turn out at first. My kids didn't mind eating it even with the much hated onions in it...lol. I didn't have shredded cheese so I just used a few slices of cheese. I also used a can of biscuits instead of crescent rolls.  I will definitely make this again and again. It really tasted like a cheeseburger. This is good served with french fries and a vegetable of your choice.
      ~I have made this several times now and we have loved it every time.

Easy Tuna Casserole

2 cans tuna, drained
2 boxes of Macaroni and Cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 small onion
6 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 cup crushed potato chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook macaroni and cheese as directed but do NOT add milk. Add tuna, both soups, and onion to the macaroni and cheese. Put in a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle with crushed potato chips. Bake uncovered for 20 mins.
Serves 6-8

**There are several ways to make this recipe your own. You can add spices; like chopped garlic, powered garlic, parsley, seasoned salt, paprika, salt and/or pepper. You can use any combination of cream soups. You can even add chopped peppers and use different flavors of chips. If you don't want to use tuna, you could use canned chicken instead or even chopped up spam. One large can of salmon, de-boned, would work too. Please comment, I would love to hear your ideas on making this recipe better!