Cowboy Casserole (A Despain Family Favorite!)

I should give you some back story on this delicious meal:

Back when J.J. and I were dating, he told me about Cowboy Casserole and how it was one of his favorite meals growing up. When he was getting ready to come home from his mission from Argentina, he was hoping to have Cowboy Casserole as his first meal home. That ended up not happening and since he left for BYU almost immediately, didn't get to have Cowboy Casserole at all.

Once he told me that story, I decided to be sneaky, but extremely thoughtful, girlfriend and surprise him by making this for dinner. I emailed his sister Kandis (who I still hadn't met) for the recipe. While he was at work, I slaved all day making this for him. (Just kidding...it's really easy to make.)

And he was so surprised! He loved it. :) And he still brings up this story as one of the reasons why I'm the perfect girl for him. :) :) :) (This is the part where all of you "aww..." at how sweet this story is.)

Anyway, now for the recipe!

2 lbs ground beef (I've only ever used 1 lb of beef, but I think if I was making this for more than 2 or 3 people, I'd do more beef.)

1/4 cup chopped onion

1- 10 oz can refrigerated biscuits (The biscuits are our favorite part, so I usually use a little more than one can of biscuits.)

1 cup BBQ sauce

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1- 16 oz can baked beans (I will sometimes use more baked beans just because we like them.)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Like I've said before, we're big cheese fans, so I use more than a 1/2 cup of cheese.)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In skillet, brown ground beef and onion. Drain. Stir in BBQ sauce, brown sugar and beans. Heat until bubbly. Pour into 2-1/2 qt casserole. Separate dough into biscuits. Cut each biscuit in half crosswise. Place biscuits cut-side down over hot meat mixture in spoke fashion around the edge of casserole. Sprinkle cheese over biscuits. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.

Note: If you want to double the recipe, use a 5-qt casserole. Don't double the amount of ground beef and more than double the baked beans.

And this is what the finished product looks like- so yummy!

Texas Casserole

The other day, for some reason I really wanted to eat rice and potatoes. But I didn't know what to make with both ingredients since usually I only use one or the other. So I turned to google for help! And I found two recipes that both looked good, so I decided to combine them. Here's what the recipe:

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 large potatoes (I might have used more than that because I really like potatoes)

1 cup uncooked rice

2 cups boiling water

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 can diced Rotel tomatoes (I used the store brand version of the original Rotel, but I think it might have still been too spicy. Next time I'll try using the mild Rotel to see if that helps.)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Lightly grease a 2-quart casserole dish. Brown beef, onions, garlic and green pepper in a large skillet until green pepper is softened. Slice potatoes in thin round pieces and place in casserole dish. Put beef mixture on top of the potatoes, then sprinkle the uncooked rice over beef. Boil 2 cups of water and add bouillon cubes. Once bouillon is dissolved, add Rotel tomatoes and mushroom soup. Stir until blended, then pour over rice. Cover and bake in oven at 375 degrees until rice is done, about 1 hour.

Add potatoes to casserole dish first

Then the beef

Uncooked rice

Chicken broth, Rotel, and mushroom soup mixture- stir til blended

Add the soup mixture to the top

Cover and bake!

J.J. and I really liked this casserole, but like I said, it ended up being pretty spicy. Almost too spicy for me, and I really like spicy food. So I think I'll do some tweaking on this recipe to figure out how to make it less spicy. Stay tuned!

Quesadilla Casserole

I've made this recipe twice and both times it's turned out great! Most recently, I made it last week for a bunch of family- my mom and brothers, my mom-in-law, and my youngest brother-in-law. Almost everyone really liked it and took second (and third) helpings. And that's saying a lot, because my brothers and brother-in-law are fairly picky eaters. The only one who didn't like it a lot was my youngest brother, and his only complaint was that it was too spicy. So if you're not a fan of spicy food, you can just decrease the amount of spices.

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic (I probably used a little more garlic because I like garlic.)
2 cans (8 oz each) tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8-3/4 oz) whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can (4-1/2 oz) chopped green chilies, undrained
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional) (This is what you can leave out or decrease in order to make the casserole less spicy)
6 flour tortillas (8-inch)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I probably used more cheese because we really like cheese)


Brown beef, onion and garlic in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chilies; mix well. Stir in all of the spices except red pepper. Bring to boil Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add red pepper to taste, if desired.

Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Beef Stroganoff

The recipe I have of beef stroganoff is super easy to make and very yummy! And to make it even better, even Alli likes it!

Recipe:

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 lb ground beef or round steak (I've only ever used ground beef)

1/4 cup butter

2 Tbsp flour

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 small can mushrooms (I omit this- J.J. doesn't like mushrooms that much)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 tsp parsley

1 cup sour cream

Brown onion, garlic and beef in butter. Add flour, salt, pepper and mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes. Add soups. Simmer for awhile. Add sour cream; heat thoroughly. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve over rice or noodles.

Note: If meat has enough grease, do not add any butter. (I've never added butter to this recipe, even when I use lean ground beef.)