Yummy Meat & Potato Casserole

I just wanted to share one of our favorite dinners!  (A recipe I found on cooks.com a year or two ago.)We haven't had it in awhile so I decided to make it last night for dinner.  I had forgotten how good it really was!  =0)

The original recipe says to use lamb stew meat, which I've tried since lamb is DaddyGoose's favorite, but since I'm not a fan of lamb I've also tried making it with beef stew meat and chicken, and it's just as tasy!  Also, the recipe says to use a large casserole dish, which to me means 9x13, but I've found that it fits best in either a glass 8x8 or a 2.5qt round dish (as pictured). And I wanted to mention that it says 4 servings, but DaddyGoose and I can easily eat the whole thing in one dinner.  So if you are feeding more than 2, I would reccommend doubling the recipe!

And now the moment you've been waiting for... the recipe!

Meat & Potato Casserole

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 30min (give or take a few)
Cook Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
• 1 1/2 lbs. Stew Meat (lamb, beef, chicken, other?)
• 1 Onion, sliced or chopped
• 2 Carrots, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. Flour, all-purpose
• 1/2 c. White Wine (sub w/ White Grape Juice, Apple Juice or Chicken Broth)
• 1 c. Beef Stock
• 1 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
• 1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tsp. Dill Weed
• 4 c. Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (about 1/2 a med potato)
• 1 Tbsp. Butter, melted

Directions:
~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease casserole dish.
~ Heat oil in skillet over med heat.  Add meat and saute until browned.  With slotted spoon transfer meat to casserole dish.
~ Add onions and carrots to fat remaining in skillet, and saute 2 min.  Stir in flour and cook 1 min.  Gradually stir in wine and stock.  Bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat.
~ Stir in tomato paste and sugar.  Season with salt and pepper.  Spoon mixture over meat in dish, then stir in dill weed.
~ Arrange sliced potatoes over contents of casserole (in single layer).  Brush with melted butter, then cover with foil or lid.
~ Bake for 1 1/2 hours.
~ Increase ove heat to 400 degrees, remove lid, and bake 30 more minutes until potatoes are tender and golden.

It is a VERY time consuming dish, so it's best for the weekend or a day when you don't have plans, but it is worth the wait!  I promise!

A Pillow for My Kindle

 

 

Just wanted to share the Kindle Pillow I made myself!  I got the idea from Kim at A Sewing Bloggery.  Her tutorial is for an iPod, but I really wanted one for my Kindle so I just made her pattern bigger!  Instead of using 5", I used 9"... which by the way means a LOT more rice!  It turned out great though and works great for when my Kindle is charging (no pic but the pillow is the same width as the Kindle so it fits on its side or upright), or when I'm reading in bed!  Daddy Goose was even impressed and asked if I could make one for his iPad!

BabyGoose

Well, for those who haven't noticed my new ticker, we are expecting baby #2!  We are very excited by this unexpected surprise and are anxiously awaited his/her on December 18, 2012!

So our first BabyGoose has officially graduated to the name Goose, and #2 is now known as BabyGoose!  Goose still gets confused, but the other day when I called a monkey she turned and looked at me and said, "No Mama, I Goose!"  lol So I think she's accepted the name!

Here's a pic of our BabyGoose at 10weeks!

Make Mine Meatless!

We had such an yummy dinner tonight that I wanted to share!
So this month we've started the famous Dave Ramsey's Envelope System, and to get a hold on our grocery spending we've also started dinner meal planning as well.  We are on our third week and are doing very well!  It's been a much easier change than we thought it would be

Anyway, back to meal planning... So I was reseaching meal ideas and came across the idea of "Meatless Mondays."  I liked the idea, so I added it to the calendar.  The first week I found a recipe for Black Bean Burgers, and although they were good, they weren't something we wanted to add to our favorite recipes list.  Then last week was way boring with baked potatoes and baked beans.  I was about ready to dump the "Meatless Mondays" idea but tonight I decided to give it one more go, and it was a very simple but very yummy meal that we are looking forward to having again in the future!  So I guess we'll keep you around for now "Meatless Mondays"!

Bean, Cheese, Lettuce, Salsa and Avacado Tostadas & Grilled Mexican Corn

Laundry on Vacation

We just got back from an awesome 2 week vaction!  We drove to San Diego for a few days.  The time inbetween was either spend driving (total of 4 days) or pit stops to visit the in-laws (we stopped and stayed with them both on the way to and on the way back).  It was a great vacation!

Anyway, weeks before we went I started planning stuff that needed to be packed.  I wanted to pack lighter than we normally pack because I knew we would have access to laundry at both the in-law's and the hotel, so I searched online for some ideas on how to minimize our bulk.

In the midst of my packing search I found some other great DIY (do-it-yourself) travel ideas that I took advantage of and wanted to share!

The first one I'd like to share was super easy to make and turned out to be very convienent... Reusable Dirty Laundry Bags!  I got the idea from HERE, but she did way more work than I wanted to so I ran with the idea and did my own thing!  It was so easy and I finished all three in less than 10min.

My Dirty Laundry Pillowcase Bags -- I went to ARC and purchased 3 pillowcases (at $1 a piece) so we could each have one in our suitcase.  I hate the smell of thrift stores, so I washed mine first before doing anything, but you don't have to!  I flipped the cases inside out, took my seam ripper and undid the stitching at the top of the pillow where the fabric is folded over.  This will be your casing.  Flip it right side out, grab a string or shoe lace (I bought some at Dollar Tree for another project, so I had extra on-hand) and feed it through the casing and tie the string together at the end.  And you're done!  Super easy, right?!  And best part is I made 3 for $5 and we can use them over and over!

The next one is one that I'd like to think I came up with myself, since I haven't seen the idea anywhere before.... Reusable Laundry Detergent Sheets! 

As I've mentioned in other posts... at least I think I have... I have been interested in the whole DIY homemade cleaning supplies amongst other things.  I've made homemade laundry detergent and love it!  One of the things I've been wanting to make is the homemade fabric softener.. the kind where you dip your rag in the liquid then throw it in the dryer with your wet laundry.  My problem is that right before finding the idea I had just purchased a huge box of dryer sheets so I've been waiting to use them up.

Anyway when I was getting ready to pack toiletries, one thing I knew I needed was laundry soap.  And that's when the thought came to me!  Why not use the rags for laundry detergent instead of fabric softener?   So I went and grabbed one of the many baby washcloths I had in the closet to test my idea out.  First I poured my 1/4 cup detergent in a bowl and stuck my washcloth in to see if it was big enough to soak it all up... it was!  I had a load in the washer ready to be started, so I threw it in and waited.  The rsults were just as good as if I had just thrown in my cup of detergent.

So when I packed I dipped my washcloths in the detergent, put them a ziplock bag, then to make sure they wouldn't leak, I threw them in my mini-wet bag.  This made doing laundry on our trip so much easier!  No more worrying about a container of laundry detergent spilling on our trips, because we will be doing this every trip from now on!

*If you try this, I'd love to hear how it goes for you!