Dorito Casserole

Well Peeps it's Monday again!!  Yeah buddy it sure was a Monday.  I've pretty much managed to be as unproductive as possible yet become fully knowledgeable on all Olympic happenings.  Yes sirreeee bob....if you have an Olympic question just ask me because I'm pretty much watching nonstop.  Well between the Olympics and Pinterest I might never do anything productive again!

Actually I might but that's because the dear Hubster will be leaving the house at about 3:45 in the morning (YES THAT'S A.M.) to go on his Grand Canyon hike.  NO I wasn't invited, we could talk about it but I'm a bit bitter.  I'm just consoling myself with the fact he is going to miss a WHOLE FREAKING WEEK of Olympic glory.  Really, what was the man thinking??!!  Besides I'm going to work on my craft room in complete peace this week.

Anyway, the cooking will be light around these parts this week as this girl is perfectly fine eating cereal, popcorn, poptarts and ice cream for dinner.  I know you are so jealous of the healthy diet!!!
In preparation for my week of not eating worth a ding dang darn I prepared a few dishes last week and we're going to start today with a good one.  Dorito Casserole!!!!

Yep, just go ahead and click right here and get that printable going while you read the rest of the post.

You're going to need this stuff:

Can of Crescent rolls

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 onion, diced   (not shown..sorry)

1 Tbsp. olive oil (also not shown)

1 package Taco Seasoning

8 oz container PLAIN greek yogurt

8 oz can Ro-Tel tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I like sharp)

3/4 bag of Doritos

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and get out a nice 9x13 pan and spray with cooking spray

(Try not to be jealous, I KNOW that pan is gorgeous isn't it??!!)   

In a large skillet put the olive oil in a pan and then toss in the diced onions.

Just heat them up a bit.

Now add the ground beef to the onions and get that ground beef all nice and brown.

Drain off the fat if you need to. I don't, we've covered this before.

I buy VERY lean beef.

Now add that can of tomato sauce

And that package of taco seasoning.

Stir that all around and let it all sit there on the stove just simmering away for about 5 minutes.

While you are doing that let's get those crescent rolls pressed into the bottom of the pan.

Press those seams together- you know so you don't lose the goodies out the bottom.

And grab the Dortitos and crush them up.

Yep, I use the handy dandy potato masher for this job.

I didn't crush mine too fine as I wanted some texture to them.

Now spread that ground beef mixture over the top of the crescent rolls.

Now try to add the yogurt/sour cream to this mixture on top.

I couldn't and I gave up and just swirled it into the meat mixture.

Eh, it's all going to the same place, MY BELLY!!!

Now add some Doritos to the top of that.

Then some cheese

Then decide to sprinkle on a few more Doritos and add some jalapeno slices.

Yep, just right from the jar baby and maybe a tad more cheese.

Now bake that in the oven for about 30 minutes

And serve with a nice salad.

You know the salad is topped with more of the Salsa Ranch dressing.

And eat up senorita because it's yummy!

I'll spare you the photo of my dear Hubsters plate....he ended up putting lots of the Salsa Ranch on his Dorito Casserole too.  It was good but not too appetizing to look at.  

Now I'm not gonna lie there are about a dozen ways to "skinny" up this dish but I like to make some compromises here and there.  First of all, I used plain greek yogurt and not sour cream.  1) It's healthier 2) I don't really care for sour cream 3) see number 2

I also used the reduced fat crescent rolls.  Honestly when you cook with them you cannot tell the difference. Save the calories and fat for more important things...... like cheese!!!! 

Yep I'm sure you could use the low fat cheese and you go right ahead but me I love cheese,  really I do!!

Some things just aren't going to change and my love of cheese is one of those.  Besides it's how I get my calcium intake!  Also I suppose you could use the Baked Doritos.  Personally I think this is a sin that the Vatican itself would investigate but you go right ahead and sub those in if you feel like it.

None of my business where you spend your afterlife.  Oh and they don't make the Spicy Taco Doritos in a baked version either, so there!

All in all this was pretty darn tasty and easy!  I think the last minute thought of cooking up the onions and adding it to the ground beef was an improvement.  Depth of flavor peeps.  We also have zero leftovers of this which means at least 3 of us thought it was scrumpdillyiscious. Verdict: we will make this again!!

Here you go, last chance at that printable without having to scroll back to the top of the post!

So what kind of new yummies is Pinterest inspiring you to make??  Please share as I may have missed a pin or two!!! 

Peace, Love and Orange Fingered Yummies!!

What to eat when you come home from vacation

Happy Turdsday!!!

Yeah yeah I know, I still find it funny. Some days my sense of humor rivals that of a 13 year old boy.

Anywho, we got back very late Sunday evening from a little jaunt to Las Vegas.  A long time friend of the Hubsters was getting married so we decided to tag along.  You know because they'll need a witness or two and all.  I know I know the sacrifice is amazing, right??!!   Actually since Courts wedding we really needed some adults having fun time alone. Besides we've had a lot of company (which I loved) but I kind of needed a break and let someone else take care of me.   I shall bore you with a few photos before we get to the dinner idea.  What do you expect?  It IS my blog after all and I'm home all day by myself so I gotta tell somebody about the trip.  If I get any lip from you I'll just bore you with the remaining photos. bwah ha ha

The picture above is the view in one direction from our room.  It was a lovely view.

This is where we stayed. It was HUGE.  Seriously take your walking shoes if you stay there.

It was a very nice hotel though just kinda big.

I swear if this isn't the cutest dessert you have ever seen??

I only wish I had half the talent it takes to make these...AND in bulk.  We really meant to go back to get one to see if it tasted as good as it looked but we forgot.  Oh well, more reasons to go back!

Here is me and my lovely Hubster. We were about to see the Cirque Du Soleil KA show.

It was excellent!!!  Oh and in case you wonder if anyone actually wears anything they find and pin on Pinterest then the answer is YES.  Thanks Pinterest and whoever put that outfit together!

I know I know....the shoes are tooooooo cute!!!

Okie doke enough boring you peeps with my travel tales.  

If you are like me when you get ready to go out of town for a few days you make everyone eat everything that might possibly spoil while you are gone.  The up side of this is your refrigerator gets cleaned out and you don't have to grocery shop that week. The down side, when you get home there is nothing to eat.  Also if you go to Vegas the next day you are just bleary eyed and can't figure out what time it is, or where your bloody mary went and why hasn't someone come to make the bed and pick up the wet towels off the floor.  I'm very tidy at home but quite messy of a hotel guest.

Monday I managed to fumble my way to the freezer to see what I could dig out and lo' and behold I found some Mexican Chicken that I had put away.   You can find the ole' recipe by clicking right here. Now I've told you peeps time and time again to use that freezer to your advantage.   If you don't want to take the time to batch cook for the freezer that's ok  just take the leftovers you have and put them in the freezer after dinner.  Most of the time it's just Hubster and I so we have lots of leftovers.  He's a leftover fan so I have to sneak them away if I want to freeze any.  That's exactly where this Mexican Chicken came from.   It was frozen solid so I just let it unthaw all day in the container in the sink.

You know that way I could wash the 52nd load of laundry!!!

See it's all unthawed and I just dumped it into a pot on the stove.

(yes, you could use the microwave but I am personally anti-microwave. Gasp I know!!)

Now just heat that up nice and warm and while it is heating up you can go dig around in the refrigerator and find that you managed to leave some lettuce and it's still good!! Woohoo!!

Just put that nice warm meat on top of the lettuce.

Now I'm not really a ranch dressing fan. GASP yet again, huh??

I decided to take that ranch dressing and mix it with salsa.

Salsa Ranch dressing now. 

Now add some cheese and jalapenos (or not I mean it's your salad) to that meat.

Now pour that lovely Salsa Ranch dressing over the top.

It needs some more salsa now.  Hey salsa is free calories so no lip from the peanut gallery!

To make it really zip just squeeze a kind of dried up lime over the top of it and sit down, flip on the DVR and attempt to start watching the stuff that taped while you were gone.

Do you empty the refrigerator of everything before you leave town?  What does your family have to eat when you get back home and no one wants to make a trip to the grocery?

Come on leave me comments on this because I'm gonna need some new ideas!!

Peace, Love and Leftover Yummies!!!

Banana Split Pie

Hey there my peeps!!  I'm back from a quick trip to Vegas to see some friends get married. We had a blast and I'm having a hard time adjusting to "real life" again.  Tomorrow I'm going to show you how to make dinner from nothing when you get back from vacation but in the meantime I'm going to share with you the dessert that I begged my mama to make me for my birthday every year.

Banana Split Pie....it's just amazing!!  I've tweaked my mama's recipe a bit...sorry Mama!!  I think it's just the best thing for the hot summer and February birthdays!!


This is going to seem long and complicated but it's not...really it's not, I totally promise!

Here's the the printable for the ingredient list and directions but follow along with the photos.

You should be rushing to the store by the end to whip up one for your family.

Pulse in food processor vanilla wafers to make crumbs.

Or you can be old fashioned and use graham crackers.

I personally have no preference....I like both equally, it's a non discriminatory blog you know.

To your vanilla wafer crumbs add the stick of softened butter and  1/2 cup , powdered sugar

Pulse until combined then press into a 9x13 dish

In your mixer combine the 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 stick softened butter.

Whip these together for about 10 minutes...yeah, you'll probably want a stand mixer for this one but you know what....My Mama used her hand mixer for many years.  Hers turned out just fine and she probably didn't have jiggly arms back then either.  

Pour that mixture over the top of the vanilla wafer crumb crust

Now add the sliced bananas.

I slice mine lengthwise then chop into bite size pieces.

After having drained your canned pineapple VERY well....add that over the bananas.

Really peeps, don't skimp on that step.  As a matter of fact when you get ready to start pour that pineapple into a colander and let it drain while you are doing the other layers.

No one likes soggy banana splits!

Now very carefully spread the layer of Cool Whip over all the over layers.

You know cause you don't want the pineapple getting all mixed in the Cool Whip.

Well that's just delightful looking but not quite finished.

I mean banana splits have toppings!!

Grab some cherries, nut topping and some chocolate syrup.

Sprinkle the nuts all over that Cool Whip

Now dice up the cherries and sprinkle those over the nuts

And give it a good healthy squirt of chocolate syrup

Now it needs to be popped in the freezer for about 15 minutes and then chilled in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. Or as long as you can stand it.   

You need to let the layers have time to firm up and stay all nice and layered and not runny.

It'll be much prettier if you can wait.

I don't know about you guys but sometimes pretty is highly over rated!!

Especially in the dessert world.  Some of the best desserts aren't eeeevvenn pretty!

Also note, this did not photograph well for me, sorry about that.

In case you wondered....

this is how food arrives to your house when you let the food blogger bring a dish.

Hey...a girls gotta do a taste taste after all, right??!!!

Just in case you forgot, here's the link to the printable again.

What's your favorite non traditional "birthday cake" request??

Peace, Love & Banana Split yummies!!!