Cheese and Tamale Pie

This is another new recipe that has been added to our family favorites.  The Lil' Chef actually made it for us, she has become quite the little helper in the kitchen.  She has really been a blessing!

The great thing about this little recipe is that you can make it and eat it right away or you can freezer it for another day.  Better yet, I say make two - eat one and freeze one.

Sorry that I don't have a picture of this to post.  It got plated and eaten so fast that I didn't even get a change to take one. 

Here it is...

Cheese and Tamale Pie
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees

1lb of ground
1 large onion, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup salsa
1 can of pinto beans, drained
1 large can of diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Cornbread Topping
1 1/3 cup self rising yellow cornmeal mix
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1.) Cook first 3 ingredients in a large skillet, stirring until beef crumbles and is no longer pink.  Drain thoroughly.Return meat to the pan and add salsa, beans, tomatoes, and salt.  Simmer 5 minutes.  Stir in cilantro.Spoon mixture into a greased 11x7 inch baking dish.  Sprinkle with 1 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese.

2.) Whisk together cornmeal, milk and egg in a medium sized bowl.  Stir in remaining 1 cup of cheese. Spread batter over the meat mixture.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until the cornbread is lightly browned. 

3.) Serve immediately or completely cool, completely cover and then freeze.

If have frozen your dish to serve it take it out of the freezer, uncover and cook at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until thoroughly heated.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Homeschool Magazine...

I love the The Old School Magazine (TOS)!  It is always full of wonderful articles to encourage me.  There is great wisdom in this magazine each and every month from many popular homeschool veterans. 

Topics include homeschool burn out, co-ops, wrangling toddlers, multi-level teaching, and many more.  These topics are covered my moms and dads that have dealt with, and experienced these things themselves.  They speak from experience! 

TOS has just posted their February 2013 edition.  Did I mention that it is FREE!  You can freely view it online or through an iPad/iPhone App.

Here is a link to get ya started...TOS February 2013

Satisfied

by Clara T. Williams & Ralph E. Hudson

All my life long, I had thirsted,
For a drink from some cool spring,
That I hoped would quench the burning,
Of the thirst I felt within.

Hallelujah! He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings
Through His blood I now am saved.

Feeding on the filth around me,
Till my strength was almost gone,
Longed my soul for something better,
Only still to hunger on.

Hallelujah! He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings
Through His blood I now am saved.

Poor I was, and sought for riches,
Something that would satisfy,
But the dust I gathered round me
Only mocked my soul’s sad cry.

Hallelujah! He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings
Through His blood I now am saved.

Well of water, ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free,
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me.

Hallelujah! He has found me
The One my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies all my longings
Through His blood I now am saved.
 

This song was sung at my church today.  As it was sung I prayed that the Lord would truly satisfy me.  I asked God for the grace that no matter the trials or circumstances, that I would just be completely satisfied in Christ.  In all that He is, has done and promised. 

I am so very thankful that He has found me!

 

T is for Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for.  The other day I was struggling in my mind with some current trials in my life.  The Lord put it on my heart to start thanking Him for the things that I am thankful for.  Wow!  Giving thanks to the Lord for the many blessings in my life really changed my whole attitude.  It took my eyes off of me and back on to him, where they belong.

Recently, my washing machine stopped draining.  I am not sure about you, but having mounds of laundry and not being able to wash them can put a damper on my week pretty fast.  Thankfully, we managed to survive, in other words no one ran out of clean undies.  Although my littlest almost did, but that is another story about not giving your 4 year brother a whole bowl full of prunes. {smile}

Anyhow, I pushed the laundry aside until my husband was able to take a look at the washer.  I am so thankful that it was quick and easy fix and we were able to be back in business with our laundry.

At the same time that washer went on strike, we found out that our furnace was not working properly.  To be more accurate it started emitting unsafe amounts of carbon monoxide into our home, which was totally unknown to us.  It was not at lethal levels,praise the Lord, but if it continued to go undetected it could have been.  The furnace had to be shut off.  In the month of January! 

We have an infrared heater that we were able to use, and the company that was working with us loaned us several heaters of theirs.  It was a challenge to use the heaters because they keep blowing our breakers.  We had to spread them out on our main level to not over load the breakers as much.  Even though we had some heat it was still pretty cold in here since the heaters were so spread out.  

During this time of not having our home as warm and cozy as usually, I was getting a little fussy.  The Lord brought to my mind the a group of homeless men and women that my church had been ministering to that week.  I suddenly became very thankful.  Thankful that I did have a home, and walls to keep the cold out. 

After about two weeks of having the heat turned off, to our amazement, the Lord blessed us with a whole new heating and cooling system.  I am also thankful to have heat again.

Psalm 100:4
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

 

 

Tasty Tuesday - Slow Cooker Swiss Steak {Recipe}

While I do have several tried and true recipes that have become family favorites, I still love to try new recipes.  Don't you?? 

Sometimes when life is crazy and busy it is much easier for me to just stick to what I know.  While I do plan on doing that, to some degree, I am also looking for new recipes.  My goal is to try at least one new recipe a week.  The recipes that I am leaning towards are family friendly, fast and frugal. 

We have tried several new recipes lately that have gone into our favorites box.  The Honey Mustard and Bacon Smothered Chicken is definitely my new favorite, well one of them anyway. 

Have you ever had Swiss Steak before?  When I told a friend of mine, the same friend that I got that awesome meatloaf recipe from, she said her mom used to make that all the time.  I told her I could not believe she had not given me this recipe before!

I made Swiss Steak last week, by accident really.  I had set out to make Beef Stew, but realized I didn't have any potatoes.  Beings that there was snow on the ground, it was cold and I was to lazy to run to the store I improvised.  I grabbed my trusty crock pot cook book and set out on a mission.  I came across Swiss Steak and the rest is history.  The WHOLE family loved it, SCORE!

Slow Cooker Swiss Steak
Serves 6

1 cup of chopped onions
1/2 cup of chopped celery
2lbs. 1/2 inch think round steak (I used 1lb. of stew meat and 1lb. of venison -that is what I had on hand)
1/4 cup flour
3 Tsp. oil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 pepper
16 oz can of diced tomatoes


1.) Place onions and celery in the bottom of your slow cooker.
2.) Cut steak into serving size pieces.  Dredge in 1/4 cup of flour.  Brown on both sides in oil.  Add to slow cooker.
3.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4.) Cover and cook on low for 9 hours (I cheated and cooked mine for 5 hrs on High).

I served this over brown rice, one because brown rice is good for you {smile,} and two because it helps to stretch a meal.  It would also be delicious over noodles or mashed potatoes. 

Have you tried any new family friendly, frugal recipes lately?