Easy Cheeseburger Casserole

Whenever I grow tired of our usual go-to meals, I browse my Pinterest boards. Usually, I try to stick with healthy options; however, every now and then I indulge in cheesy deliciousness. While this is certainly not a healthy meal, it's not the worst thing for you either.

This meal has the added bonus of being a one-pot recipe. I personally think that is the best part. Less mess means faster clean up, which makes for one happy momma.

As always, nutrition info is included. I adapted it from this recipe here.

Ingredients

You will need the following:

• 3/4lb ground beef (90/10)
• 3 cups of pasta shells
• 1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes 
• 1 cup chicken broth (I used one chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup water)
• 1/4 of a large onion
• 2 tbsp Ketchup
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 and 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup of water

Instructions

1. Dice your onion. Brown your ground beef and add the diced onion. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
2. Add your diced tomatoes, chicken broth, ketchup, mustard, pasta shells, and water. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the noodles are cooked (around 15 minutes).
3. Add your cheese and allow it to melt, then stir thoroughly.

You should now be the proud owner of something that looks like this: 

Nutrition Information

This recipe makes approximately 5.25 cups, which makes 3.5 servings at 1.5 cups per serving.

	Calories	Fat	Sat. Fat	Sodium	Carbs	Fiber	Sugar	Protein
Ground beef	600	38	13.5	225	0	0	0	69
Pasta shells	800	4	0	00	164	8	8	28
Petite diced tomatoes	88	0	0	630	14	3.5	10.5	3.5
Chicken broth	5	0	0	840	1	0	0	0
Onion	11	0	0	1	2.6	0.5	1.2	0.3
Ketchup	40	0	0	320	10	0	8	0
Mustard	0	0	0	60	0	0	0	0
Shredded cheddar	412	33.8	18.8	675	3.8	0	0	26.2
Total	1956	75.8	32.3	2751	195.4	12	27.7	127
Total per serving	558.9	21.7	9.2	786	55.8	3.4	7.9	36.3

Like I said before, not the healthiest meal in the world. However, if you compare it to a Whopper, this still comes out on top. A Whopper comes in at 600 calories, 37g of fat, 11g of saturated fat, 910mg of sodium, 50g of carbs, 2g of fiber, 12g of sugar, and only 22g of protein.

So overall, this meal has fewer calories, way less fat, less sodium, and way more protein. If you're craving a burger, this is a pretty solid alternative. Plus, it only takes about 30 minutes—less if your ground beef isn't frozen.

Spicy Chicken Fajitas

I found this recipe on Pinterest (of course), and it was too delicious not to share. I changed up the spices a bit  and added the nutrition info at the bottom of this post.

I love spicy food, so this was an excellent recipe. The hubs was also pleased. I also doubly like this recipe because it's not terrible for you. It has less than 3 grams of fat and has 28 gram of protein. Here is what you need:

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken breast sliced
• 1 medium onion
• 1 bell pepper (any color)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 small can of green chiles
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• 2 tsp cayenne
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, mix your olive oil and spices then set it aside. Slice up your onion, bell pepper, and chicken into thin strips. 

Spray a 13x9 baking dish with pam or lightly grease it. Add your chicken and coat with the spice mixture. Make sure it is thoroughly coated. 

Drain your diced tomatoes, then add them and the diced chiles to the bowl you mixed your spices in (fewer dishes, less mess to clean up later). The reci[e I went off of did not say to drain the tomatoes; however, I found the end result to be way too juicy for a fajita. It still tasted delicious, but it was super sloppy. Draining the tomatoes should help with this. 

Add the tomatoes, chiles, pepper, and onion to the chicken and mix. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes and serve on a tortilla. 

Instructions sans pictures

For those of you who hate scrolling through pictures trying to follow instructions, I've truncated them here. 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Mix your olive oil and spices and set them aside. Slice up your pepper, onion, and chicken. 

Coat a 13x9 baking dish with Pam or grease. Add your chicken and spice mixture, coating the chicken thoroughly. 

Drain your diced tomatoes and add them as well as the chiles to the bowl you used for the spice mix. Add this mix along with the peppers and onion to the chicken and stir. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes and serve on tortillas (I use Mayas). 

Nutrition Facts

This recipe yields 7 tortillas. Below is the nutrition facts for two. 

	Calories	Fat	Sat. Fat	Sodium	Carbs	Fiber	Sugar	Protein
Chicken	100	0.5	0	180	0	0	0	23
Onion	6	0	0	0.6	1.5	0.3	0.7	0.2
Bell pepper	9	0	0	1.1	1.7	0.3	0.8	0.3
Petite diced tomatoes	12	0	0	90	2	0.5	1.5	0.5
Chopped green chiles	3	0	0	54.2	0.6	0	0	0
White tortilla (2)	180	2	0	420	42	6	0	4
Total	310	2.5	0	745.9	47.8	7.1	3	28

10 Months Old: Baby's First Christmas, Baptism, and Walking

It is official. E is walking. She can clear a room at a run before atomic butt plopping (as my dad calls it). We took off her helmet for Christmas day. I figured one day out of the months she will have to wear it is not going to ruin everything ever.

E had so many Christmases: one with hubs and me, one with my dad's side of the family, one with my parents, one with my mom's side of the family, one with family friends, and one with hubs' family. In total, we shipped 68 lbs of gifts back home. E is not a spoiled baby at all, nope.

Here is her 10-month side by side comparison. As you can see, she is super not cooperative anymore when it comes to lying flat on her back.

Here is my favorite outtake.

She had a blast at all her various Christmases. Here are some of her outfits.

Reading books with daddy.

Santa baby!

Christmas baby with her GG!

She had another pretty green dress, but she didn't want to stay in any of the dresses for long (they impeded her crawling). Someone else got a picture of her in it though, so I'm sure I'll see it eventually.

Here is Christmas day!

E loves baby dolls.

E also had her first taste of chocolate at a family friend's Christmas party.

E's great aunt Bonnie knitted her a Santa hat. Super cute.

Baby selfie.

Hubs and I got quite a few gifts ourselves. I think this is one of my favorites. My mom ordered it for me from China.

After Christmas, E was baptized in the chapel off of the church where hubs and I got married. She had the sweetest baptismal gown the hubs' mom bought.

She fell asleep shortly before the baptism and woke up briefly to frown at us for letting someone pour water on her head. She promptly went back to sleep.

Hubs and I got to go out on a baby-free date (thanks mom and dad!), which was awesome. We also went out for New Year's with hubs' brothers and their wives. We went to a winery where there was a photo booth, a food truck, and dancing. Here is one of the photobooth strips.

Unfortunately, I awoke the next morning to a severe sore throat and a fever. The fever broke that day, but the sore throat persists. I went to the doctor yesterday and apparently I have the flu. Oh yay. Otherwise, I've had a very pleasant holiday :)