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Thursday, December 5, 2013

Super Easy Casserole and New Mixer

Yesterday, I needed to use up our refrigerated biscuits because I kind of forgot we had them so they were past their expiration date (we don't really freak out about expiration dates unless it smells bad or looks weird). I, of course, turned to the internet for ideas. I knew you could do pot pies with them or tuna melts but I wanted something new. I came across two options that I liked. One was to flatten them and make little pizzas out of them and the other was a baked beans and hot dog casserole. Since we had pizza for dinner the night before (good deal at Domino's this week--50% off all pizzas if you order online), I decided on the casserole.

I know it doesn't sound that healthy but people serve baked beans and hot dogs all the time anyway. Plus, since we knew we were having this for dinner, we were able to choose healthier options for breakfast and lunch to try to balance it out.

The recipe is from Pillsbury but we made a few changes. We used country style baked beans instead of pork and beans. We also left out the onion and the brown sugar because we hate chopping onions and in the reviews on the website, a lot of people thought the brown sugar was too much.

We brought everything to a boil but only simmered for like, two minutes because we thought that step seemed like overkill. You already boiled everything and then you put it in the oven but you still need to simmer it? Well, apparently they know what they're talking about because we had some colder spots at the end.

For once, I agree with the servings. I believe you could pretty easily get 6 servings out of that so obviously, we had leftovers. We both liked it (me a little more so than David) but it wasn't spectacular. However, it was all things we had on hand (we don't actually usually have beans or hot dogs on hand but lately we have because of all the protein I need with Teeny). It was super quick and easy though so I would make it again on a day I don't know what else to make.

On a new topic, David and I decided to buy ourselves something big for Christmas rather than doing individual presents. We found a GREAT deal on a stand mixer (up until this point, we've only had a hand mixer) that does the mixing itself (you don't have to move the bowl around). It is a Kitchen-Aid and we are SO impressed with it. Of course, we had to try it out. So yesterday, we made a boxed cake mix (again, not something we normally have on hand but they were on sale) with homemade cream cheese frosting. We used the mixer for both. The mixer over-mixed our cake mix since it was supposed to stay lumpy but our mixer is just too good for that (or we were too enthralled with it to turn it off sooner). But the frosting came out superb!

I'm sorry I don't have the link for the recipe we used but you beat 1 stick of butter with 8oz of cream cheese (both at room temp) on medium speed until creamy (about 3 minutes). Then mix in 1 tsp of vanilla. Then gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Taste and add up to another cup to get desired taste and texture. The end! So simple. So delicious. We added 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.

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