Around the House Saturday - Casseroles and Ladybugs

Good Morning Friends,
From time to time I make casseroles. They are good for me to make when I want to disguise leftovers or clean out the refrigerator. I always have just a simple formula in my head that I follow:

• A cooked meat such as chicken or ground beef
• A cooked carbohydrate such as pasta or rice
• A vegetable
• Can of creamed soup
• Few spices such as salt, pepper and garlic powder
• Cheese

I combine ingredients and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. It is really just a mish-mash but I just make sure I make enough for our family of five.
Recently I got the book below and there is a really good casserole recipe in it. It is called "Spicy Pasta and Sausage Bake." I used a link Polish sausage that you can see above. It was a great hit with my family and it is giving me a new base formula. It uses my formula above plus a couple of different things.

• The pasta is cooked in chicken broth
• A can of Ro-Tel tomatoes (get the spicy you like) are used instead of a can of creamed soup
• 1/2 cup heaving cream is added

My casserole formula has changed! I can now hide leftovers more easily once again!
You all know I'm a test cook for America's Test Kitchen who published this book. Most times when I test recipes for them my kitchen is FULL of dirty dishes and it takes me some time to prepare them. This book is simple recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less and my kitchen has not been messy when I've finished. I've been cooking from it all week and have had a happy husband and kids. One plug I've got to put in for America's Test Kitchen. They test their recipes over and over and over a ridiculous amount of times to find the very best way to cook something. If we don't care for a recipe it is because we just don't care for the ingredients. The only food I really don't like to eat is sauerkraut. I can cook it the best possible way but no matter what, my taste buds don't like it. What I'm getting at is that 95% of the recipes here are a huge hit with my family.
Anyway, if you are a casserole maker, try my formula above and let me know what you think.

On another note. My cherry tree is LOADED with ladybugs. They're everywhere on it. I don't know where they've all come from. I'm happy to see them as I've read they can eat up to 1000 aphids in one day. I hope they stick around and keep my tomato plants healthy. Did I tell you that a week ago last Friday we had snow? I had to cover my tomato plants two nights in a row and lost one to the freeze. Crazy to have snow this late in the season.

This is Katie's thumb with an albino ladybug she found on the cherry tree. Very interesting. She's taking biology this year and took it into the teacher. Yes there is such a thing as an albino ladybug.

That's what's going on here. I have been weaving and am getting ready for another series of YouTube videos that will be up in the next few days.

Enjoy your Saturday,

Nancy

This Post Links to the following Super Fun Blogs:

I Am Only 1 Woman
Crazy Dazy