Leave It to Beaver Ground Beef Casserole

I didn't make up the name of this casserole but it did make me want to try it.  So Wally and Beav get washed up for dinner.  I really enjoyed the reruns of Leave It to Beaver.  Nothing seemed to difficult that it couldn't be solved in 30 minutes.  Life was simpler then.  Another name for this casserole is Homemade Hamburger Helper.  Call it want you want but do try this recipe soon.  And did I forget to tell you  it was a 30 minute meal?  You can't beat that.

I pulled out my pretty bowls for this dish tonight.

 You can use whatever kind of pasta you like.  I thought the shells were nice.  Same thing with the sauce.  Use whatever kind you like.

 Chop and sauce an onion and red pepper.

 Cook the pasta per package directions.

 Brown the ground beef.  Drain when it is browned.

 I placed the sauce in the pasta pot.  This sauce said it was spicy so I thought I would try it.  If you don't use a seasoned sauce make sure you add some seasoning to the sauce.  The spicy was good.

 Add the pasta back to the pot.

 Stir well.

 Then add the drained ground beef.

 Mix well.

 Add some grated cheese to the pot.  Whatever kind you like.

Dip up and add some more grated cheese to the top.

Leave It to Beaver Ground Beef Casserole Recipe

2-3 cups pasta
1 onion
1 lb ground beef
2-3 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
1 25ish oz jar of tomato/spaghetti sauce
cheese

Just Keep Swimming- Find Dory Snack Mix

The new Finding Dory movie comes out this weekend.  I'm excited about the new movie and have plans to see it this weekend.  It is amazing how many promotional things come out for a movie.  This snack mix is an example of what you can do with all this promotional things. 

Just keep swimming. 

 Pop your popcorn.  You can use microwave popcorn or you can use my recipe.  Here is my recipe for popcorn. Perfect popcorn every time.

 While you are popping the corn, have the kids separate the marshmallows from the cereal.

 Then melt the blue candy melts in the microwave.  Use the directions on the bag but it usually says microwave 30 seconds at a time and stir between times.

 Stir well.

 Pour the candy on top of the popcorn.  Stir and turn, stir and turn.

 Make sure it is coated well.

 It is a messy job.

 Pour out the popcorn on two cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or foil.

 Sprinkle the top with the marshmallows

 Do you see Nemo and Dory?

 Then place the graham crackers around.  If you press them into the popcorn the candy will help them stick. Then sprinkle some goldfish around.  There are lots of flavors to choose from.  I got the chocolate ones.  Pretzel flavored would be good too.

 This is a happy snack mix.  There's Nemo.

And Dory.  I think we have found her.

Just Keep Swimming- Finding Dory Snack Mix Recipe

8 cups popped popcorn
12 oz light blue candy melts
marshmallows from the Finding Dory cereal
Finding Dory graham crackers
goldfish

Black Forest Dump Cake

Well the banana split dump cake was such a hit I had to try another one.  Black Forest cake is one of my favorite cakes because it combines two flavors that I love chocolate and cherries.  The beauty of dump cakes are they are so easy to make and no dishes to wash.

If you want to take it up a notch you could add some ice cream while it is hot.

Any kind of chocolate cake mix will work.

Start by placing two cans of cherry pie filling in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish.

Sprinkle the cake mix on top.  Then measure out 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips.

Sprinkle on top of the cake mix.

Melt one stick of butter.

Drizzle on top.   Place in a preheated 350 oven.  Bake for 60-75 minutes.

It is nice and bubbly.  You can serve it warm or cold.

Look at all those pretty cherries.

Black Forest Dump Cake Recipe

2 can cherry pie filling
1 chocolate cake mix
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 stick butter

Preheat oven to 350.  Bake for 60-75 minutes.

Cranberry Pecan Tea Sandwiches

These little sandwiches I made to go with some chicken salad the other day.  There are a lot of options you can do with these as well. You can mix up the cream cheese mixture and use it on bagels as well. 

This is the Pepperidge Farms cinnamon swirl bread.  In the fall they make a pumpkin bread and a cranberry bread that would be so good with this spread. 

You only need 4 oz of the cream cheese.  So now you will need to find something else to use the other 4 oz of cream cheese.

I put 3 Tablespoons of dried cranberries in a food processor.  I actually used more than the recipe called for because I wanted lots of flavor in the cream cheese.

Then I put 2 Tablespoons pecans in the processor.  I didn't measure them I just put a handful in.

The pecans and cranberries are chopped into small pieces.

Then I added the softened cream cheese.

Mix it well.  You can further mix it when you put it into the bowl.  Look at all of those cranberry and pecan pieces chopped up.

I transferred it into a bowl.  Now I let my sit overnight so the flavors all blend well.  If you do put it in the fridge overnight then let it sit out for a few minutes so that it will be easier to spread.

Spread a lot on the bread to make a sandwich.  You can cut the crust off the bread if you want to make it even fancier.

Then enjoy your little sandwiches.

Another good use for the spread is on vanilla wafers.

This makes a really good afternoon snack.

Cranberry Pecan Tea Sandwiches Recipe
4 oz softened cream cheese
3 Tablespoons dried cranberries
2 Tablespoons pecans

The Neely's Frozen Lemonade Pie

This pie is perfect for a hot summer day.  If you want a pink pie use pink lemonade.

You only need 6 oz of frozen lemonade.  I could not find 6 oz so I had to get 12 oz and only use half.  Now if you want to make two pies then just add more of the other stuff.

One can of sweetened condensed milk.  I use the fat free.

To that add 12 oz of Cool Whip.  I used lite on this too.

Gently fold the two things together.

It isn't that hard but you don't want to beat it too much.

Then add the frozen 6 oz of lemonade.  Gently fold that too.  You don't want the lemonade to become watery.

It is about folded together.

Pour it into a graham cracker crust.  I bought my crust but if you want to you can make your own.  This one was also a larger crust.  I think it was two extra pieces.  Put it back in the freezer for at least two hours but overnight is better.

I forgot to take a picture of the single slice of pie so I will show you what the inside looks like here.

Neely's Frozen Lemonade Pie Recipe

1 can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz container of Cool Whip
6 oz frozen lemonade
Prepared pie crust.