Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole with Venison

Here's a casserole I invented on a whim on my day off before a stretch of 3 work days, and I needed something so the rest of the fam wouldn't order pizza every. single. day. We were also slightly limited on ingredients on hand. So, I came up with bacon cheeseburger casserole!

Ingredients:

Boiled the pasta until tender (there was about 1/3 of a box left)

Fried 3 strips of bacon

I drained the juice from my canned tomatoes, and chopped them up, there was still a little juice, but it worked. Combined that with the pasta, 3/4 lb Venison and onion mix I had frozen a little while ago, can of Cheddar cheese soup, 2 T. ketchup, 1 T. mustard, and 1/2 cup milk.

Mixed all of that up, and plopped it in a greased Casserole dish....this was my big one because there were too many noodles for the small one that I usually use. Then, I topped it with Sharp cheddar cheese and the crumbled bacon.

Then, I put it in the refrigerator for my husband to cook while I was at work. I'm guessing he cooked it at 375° for about 30 minutes, but we'll really never know. He texted me that night and said "Best casserole ever. Awesome" So, that made me feel pretty good, and this is what the pan looked like when I got home.

Sorry, these are awful pics. Maybe I will make it some night when I am home and take some photos of it. But overall, I would say success. The Make-do tuna casserole that I tried, however, ....well, that was a fail. This was pretty good....a little like a cheesy goulash, will definitely make it again!

Abbott is 9 months!

I can't believe this little guy is already 9 months old! It seems like just yesterday we were going to the hospital to meet him! He is getting so much and has changed a lot this last month! He is starting to pull himself up, babbling a lot more sounds, growing a lot more hair, and developed a stronger love for only sleeping beside mommy.

He is definitely on the move! Here is little glimpse of how this photo shoot went...

He is just always moving! It is becoming impossible to change the child's diaper anymore. He has also started bear crawling. I don't really remember Elsie ever going through this stage. I feel like he is pulling himself up and will walk sooner than Elsie did. She walked when she was about 13-14 months....I'm sure have the exact date around here somewhere....

Still no teeth!

But still a handsome little guy! He has a bit of a cold today. We are ready for spring/summer!

 He is just such a sweet little baby. Very well behaved, super cuddly and cute, and I wouldn't change anything about him!

He's even starting to get some curly baby hair, and I just love it!

I am deciding I need a new camera. This is going to be made possible with tax return money I believe. The kids are only young once, and I wish I could capture better images of them. 

Venison Roast

So, today, I am supposed to be posting Abbott's 9 month pictures, but we didn't get those taken today, so that's going to have to wait until tomorrow. Instead, I will share another venison meal we had the other night. After seeing this sandwich served in the nursing home, I had been craving one for some reason, which is strange because I don't really like mashed potatoes, and this is not a normal meal at our house. I decided to go with it.

Ingredients:

Slice up the onion and throw it in the bottom of the Crock

Add in the Venison roast on top

(I don't usually buy seasoning packets, but I got this a while ago and we had it, so I figured, why no use it?) I mixed 1 packet with 1/2 c. water

I added about 1/2 the bag of carrots on top

Then, poured on the seasoning/water mixture

Then covered and cooked on low for 6 hours.

Took it out and sliced it up

We made it into these sandwiches (I'm sure there is some name for them, but I'm not sure what it is) with mashed potatoes and gravy over top of a piece of bread with roast slices.

This was pretty good, but really, I liked it better when I scooped the mashed potatoes off of there and added some kethup!

Chili with Venison and hidden veggies

It's been really cold here lately. I wanted to make some kind of hearty soup, and decided on chili! My mom used to make a super simple chili with tomato juice, ground beef, Mrs. Grimes chili beans with sauce, and sometimes a chili packet of seasoning. I used to think it was really good, even though it is so simple, so I decided to make a variation of it! I also wanted to hide some veggies in there, so I blended some cooked carrots.

Ingredients:

 

Boiling the carrots. I added the tomato for a couple minutes, then took it out and ran it under cold water to peel it.

Chopped up 1/2 of a red onion

Browned a package of ground venison and added the onion when it was almost done. 

I think it was about 1 1/2 lb.

Pureed the carrots in our Magic Bullet

I decided this was too much meat and I could get another meal from it, so I put half in a bag and popped it in the freezer...

Combined everything in the Crock and cooked on low for about 8 hours.

Add some cheese for garnish, and enjoy!

This was pretty good and I really couldn't even tell there was pureed carrots in there. 

Here's the recipe:

3 pieces of bacon

3/4 lb ground venison

1 quart of tomato juice

1 tomato

1/2 red onion

4 carrots

1 can Mrs Grimes chili beans with sauce

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp. chili powder

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. cumin powder

Shredded cheddar cheese for garnish.

Fry the bacon until almost crispy. Crumble and set aside. Brown the venison with chopped red onions. Cut up carrots and boil, then puree. Peel the tomato, then dice. Combine bacon, venison and onion, carrot puree, tomato chunks, tomato juice, can of beans, garlic powder, chili powder, pepper, and cumin in a Crock. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.