Nutella Gooey Butter Cake ***

I'm a St. Louis native, and Gooey Butter Cake is kind of one of our "things."  Well, that and pork steaks, Provel cheese and toasted ravioli.  Basically all the good stuff in life, lol.  Anyway, I decided I wanted to introduce the kids to their first gooey butter cake.  When perusing Pinterest, I came across the Nutella one on accident.  I knew I had to make it.  It definitely did not disappoint.  Wow.  This thing is delicious!  It really doesn't taste much like gooey butter cake, but it's so good on its own.

NUTELLA GOOEY BUTTER CAKE
(luckymommyto2boys ~ Amy ~ via Little Kitchie)

for the cake, you'll need:
1 box chocolate cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix)
1 large egg
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for the filling, you'll need:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup Nutella
3 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray.
Add cake mix, egg, and butter to the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until completely incorporated. Use your fingers to press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Clean the bowl, then add cream cheese and Nutella and beat until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter. Beat on low until incorporated, then slowly add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add to the pan and evenly spread over cake batter.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar. If desired, top with fresh whipped cream. Aaaaaaand devour.

Cheesy Stuffed Pepper Casserole *

This was just one big mess.  First of all, the recipe doesn't even tell you where to add the beef or rice.  I just mixed it all together in the stock pot.  Second, there is way too much liquid in here.  Two sauce cans would be plenty.  Either that, or cut down on the tomatoes.  Maybe I'd do both.  I don't know.  It just didn't work at all.  It all bubbled out of my 9x13, so now I get to clean that up out of the bottom of my oven.  I most definitely will not be making this again.  It's not even worth fiddling with the recipe to try to fix it.  There's just too much wrong with it.  The flavor isn't too bad, but it's just so soupy.  Plus, the tomato flavor is extremely overwhelming.  

Photo from Mostly Homemade Mom

CHEESY STUFFED PEPPER CASSEROLE

(Mostly Homemade Mom from Five Minutes for Mommy - Pinterest)

2 cups cooked rice

1 lb ground beef

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large green peppers, diced

1/2 cup frozen diced onion

29 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

3 (14 oz) cans tomato sauce

2 (14 oz) cans corn, drained

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef in a large stock pot, drain, remove from pan and set aside. Heat oil in stock pot on medium high heat and add green peppers and onion. Saute 5-10 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally. To stock pot, add tomatoes, sauce, corn, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serves 10 - 12

Cheesy Crockpot Cowboy Casserole ***

We really enjoyed this.  It was nothing special, but we all liked it.  It's a very hearty dish.  Hubby and I added a little hot sauce to our servings, but the kids had it plain.  I didn't put the cheese on while it was in the crockpot, but I just sprinkled a little on each serving.  As usual, I used ground turkey in place of the beef, which worked out great in here.  I didn't have any Mrs, Dash, so I subbed Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.  I'll keep doing that, because it gave it some nice flavor.  I also replaced the kidney beans with pinto beans, since Hubby hates kidney beans with a passion.  Oh, and I used fire-roasted diced tomatoes, just because that's my preference. :-)

CHEESY CROCKPOT COWBOY CASSEROLE

(luckymommyto2boys ~ Amy ~ Family Fresh Meals via Pinterest)

1/4 cup diced onion

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Mrs. Dash

1 lbs small red potatoes, sliced thin (about 4-5 small red potatoes),

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 lb ground beef browned and drained

1 can of diced tomatoes with liquid

1 cup canned corn

1 can dark red kidney beans

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Place all of the ingredients except the cheese in a 4- 6 quart crockpot and stir well.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours. Uncover crock-pot and sprinkle shredded cheese over top and recover and let cook an additional 30 minutes.

*luckymommy's notes: I subbed ground turkey, fire-roasted tomatoes, Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, and pinto beans.

Slow Cooker Crumbled Beef Sandwiches ***

I don't have a real link for this one.  I got it from Pinterest, but when you click the link, it just takes you to the Tastefully Simple website.  I looked it up on there, but it didn't show any results.  This turned out really well, though.  I subbed ground turkey, but I don't think I'd do that again.  The turkey crumbles just a bit too much.  I'm going to try it again next week with beef, but overall, we really liked it.  My only complaint is that it's not very flavorful once it's on the sandwich.  It tastes great right out of the crockpot, but once it's on the bread, some of the flavor is masked.  I'm thinking I might try just a dash of liquid smoke next time.  We'll see. Either way, this is a keeper, since it has such a long cook time (which I love) and is so easy to throw together.

SLOW COOKER CRUMBLED BEEF SANDWICHES

(Tastefully Simple via Pinterest)

2 tsp seasoning salt

1 tsp garlic powder

2 lbs ground beef

2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp pepper

1-1/2 cups water

hamburger buns

Combine first six ingredients in slow cooker. Mix until ground beef is very moist and crumbly.

Cook on low 7-10 hours. Stir and drain. Spoon onto buns.  Garnish with mustard, ketchup, and cheese.

*Note: This meat mixture can be used for spaghetti, tacos, soups, etc.

Creole Pork Chops in Crockpot ***

This was another one from my older files, but it was still every bit as yummy as ever.  I doubled the entire recipe, so that dh would have leftovers for lunch.  This makes the pork chops so tender and flavorful.  The only change I might make next time is to add a bit more rice.  I used brown rice, so it didn't fluff up as well as white would have.  I like being able to use the brown rice with it, though.  I also used the fire roasted diced tomatoes, since that's our favorite.  Oh, and I cut down on the salt by about half.  The kids even ate every bite of the rice, which is unusual when something has green peppers.  Eight thumbs up on this one!

CREOLE PORK CHOPS IN CROCKPOT
(luckymommyto2boys ~ Amy ~ Recipezaar)

1 tbsp. oil
4 loin pork chops
2 tbsp. flour
1 can (19 oz.) tomatoes
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 med. onion, chopped
1-1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup rice

Dredge the chops in the flour and brown on both sides in oil. Add 1 cup water to 1/2 cup rice in bottom of crock pot. Add browned chops and other ingredients. Cook 8 hours on low.
*luckymommy's notes: I double the recipe, add a bit more rice, use fire-roasted tomatoes, and half the salt.

Pepperoni Lasagna in the Crockpot ****

I've been making this one for years, but this time around, I had an extra can of spinach that I needed to use up.  I stirred it into the cottage cheese mixture, and it was so good.  I'm going to keep doing it that way, so I'm updating the recipe with the addition.  It seems like a lot of water in the sauce, but it will be soaked up by the noodles.  Dh made me promise to make this again soon.  :)  Sorry for the bad picture.  I'll take a better one next time, lol.

PEPPERONI LASAGNA IN THE CROCKPOT
(luckymommyto2boys ~ Amy)

2 lbs ground beef or ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
4 cups water
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
1 (7 ounce) can mushrooms
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
4 teaspoons Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 eggs
1 (12 ounce) carton small curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can chopped spinach, drained
9 no boil lasagna noodles
1 (3 1/2 ounce) package sliced pepperoni
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 oz.)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

In a skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Add water, tomato sauce, tomato paste, bouillon, mushrooms, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
Break noodles in half.
In a bowl, combine eggs, cottage cheese, spinach and sour cream.
Spread 1/4 of meat sauce into a greased crockpot. Layer with three noodles, 1/3 of the cottage cheese mixture, and 1/3 of the pepperoni. Repeat layers twice more (3 total layers, beginning with the noodles), and top with remaining noodles and meat sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours. (We like our noodles kind of soft, so I go for at least 5 hours. For firmer noodles, stop at 4 hours.)

Previous posts:
3/30/10
This was my first attempt at turning an oven lasagna recipe into a crockpot recipe. I changed up quite a few things, but the recipe below is written with my changes. Overall, the flavors were wonderful. The only problem was that it cooked a little too quickly, which was simply due to the crockpot not being full enough. I think that next time, I'm going to up the meat amt to 2 lbs and double the sauce mixture. I'll probably keep the cheese layer the same, since I don't want it to be too overpowering. I also want to start adding mushrooms, to give it a little extra veggie boost. This was SO perfect, though. Even the 6-year-old lasagna conoisseur gave it his seal of approval. :)

Cowboy Lasagna ***

This isn't anything all that special, but it was actually pretty good.  The kids kept asking why it was called Cowboy Lasagna, but I couldn't come up with a good answer for them.  It just is, lol.  I love anything with tater tots (as I've mentioned once or twice before - ha!), so that gave it a good shot from the beginning.  We all loved it, and I'll definitely make it again.  The only difference is that I'll probably use less cheese next time.  I think you could easily get by with just 2 cups.  The 4 cups makes it just a little bit too cheesy for me (and that's coming from a cheese lover).

COWBOY LASAGNA

(luckymommyto2boys ~ Amy ~ Peppermint Mocha Mama)

1 lb of ground beef

4 tbsp minced onions

Worcestershire sauce, generous sprinkling

3 tbsp parsley, divided

1 (10.75oz) can of tomato soup

1 (15.25oz) can of corn

3 tbsp dried ground mustard

1 (32oz) package of tater tots

Salt and Pepper to taste

4 cups mozzarella cheese

Brown ground beef with spices - drain.  Add can of soup and can of corn, simmer for about 10 minutes.

In a greased 9x13 baking dish, arrange tater tots in single layer.  Cover with 2 cups of cheese.  Pour ground beef mixture over top and cover with remaining cheese and 1 tbsp of parsley.

Place in a 350F oven for 30 minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Simple Supper Tuesday 8/13/13 (Blog Hop)!

Check out Hun... What's for Dinner? Cindy's doing her Super Simple Tuesday blog hop, and there are some really great recipes for quick weeknight recipes. My "to try" file is growing bigger with each link that's added!  :-)

Cabbage Lasagna ***

I just love this recipe, and we don't have it nearly often enough.  It's so easy and so good.  I love that we get the pasta taste without the actual pasta.  That means I can make garlic bread on the side without feeling guilty for the carb overload, lol.

CABBAGE LASAGNA
(luckymommyto2boys ~ Amy)

1 head cabbage
1-1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
32 oz spaghetti sauce
1 cup uncooked brown rice
2-1/4 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Cut cabbage into quarters. Peel, boil for 3 minutes, and drain.
Brown turkey with onion and drain. Mix with garlic powder, oregano, and basil.
Put 1/3 of cabbage leaves into bottom of crockpot. Cover with 1/3 of meat mixture, 1/3 cup of rice, 1/3 of spaghetti sauce, and 3/4 cup of cheese.
Repeat layers two more times.
Cook on low for 6-7 hours.
*Make sure to drain and dry all cabbage leaves.

Simple Supper Tuesday 8/6/13 (Blog Hop)!

Check out Hun... What's for Dinner? Cindy's doing her Super Simple Tuesday blog hop, and there are some really great recipes for quick weeknight recipes. My "to try" file is growing bigger with each link that's added!  :-)