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Tasty Tuesday: Cheeseburger Casserole

May 14, 2013 at 8:16 am , by

This casserole, with all the tastes of a cheeseburger rolled into one dish, is an old favorite of ours.  I started making it soon after we were married 6 1/2 years ago but had sort of forgotten about it until last week when I happened across the recipe and decided to make it for dinner.  The whole family confirmed again that yes, this is a dish that I need to keep making, and making often.

Reminiscent of a breakfast casserole because of the egg/milk mixture, the cheeseburger part smacks of a hearty meal.  And if you keep cooked ground beef in the freezer, this dish is a cinch to throw together.

Cheeseburger Casserole
8 slices of bread, toasted and buttered (I use my homemade whole wheat)
1 to 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 c. onion
1/4 c. celery (optional)
1/2 c. ketchup
4 tsp. mustard
3/4 tsp. salt
1 c. cheese
1 c. milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. pepper

Fry ground beef, onion and celery.  Add ketchup, mustard and salt.  Layer 4 slices of toast, half of beef mixture and half cup of cheese in greased baking dish (an 8×8 works well).  Repeat toast and beef layers.  Mix milk, egg, mustard and pepper and pour over everything.  Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and let sit for 5 minutes to melt cheese.

For other recipe ideas, check out Balancing Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green’s Tasty Tuesday, Mostly Homemade Mom’s Show and Share Wednesday and Blessed with Grace’s Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Free eBook: The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book (retails for $19.99!)

May 13, 2013 at 11:08 am , by

Right now Amazon has The Food Allergy Mama’s Baking Book: Great Dairy-, Egg-, and Nut-Free Treats for the Whole Family ebook available for free!  If you are interested, I’d hurry and download it now.  I’m sure it will be popular and go fast!

If you don’t have a Kindle but still would like to read e-books use one of these applications to read them on your PC, Smartphone or Tablet.

You also might like these 2 free ebooks:

* Clever Household Tricks

* 110 Ideas to Keep Kids Busy Without Technology

Weekly Tip: Make Your Own Foaming Hand Soap

May 11, 2013 at 8:00 am , by

Tip:
Make your own Foaming Hand Soap from regular soap.

Why I recommend it:
It is an incredibly easy way to save money plus it literally takes a couple of minutes.

You might wonder, why use foaming soap instead of regular soap in the first place?  I like it for a number of reasons.  It lasts longer, so it saves money.  Personally, I prefer the way it feels and washes.  And I have little kids.  If you have kids you know that even when they try not too, they tend to use way too much soap.  With foaming soap even if they get too much, it’s at least wasting less soap than if they were using regular hand soap.

How much will it save me?:
One small bottle of hand soap will usually make me 4 to 5 bottles of foaming hand soap.  A small bottle of hand soap often costs around $1 for the generic brand.  If you use one small bottle of hand soap a month, you’ll save at least $9 a year!  That’s enough to get almost 3 gallons of gas, 3 small lattes, 2 1/2 gallons of milk….well, you get the picture.  Obviously if you use more soap or use a more expensive brand of soap you’ll be saving even more money!

How to:
Making your own hand soap is so simple your child could probably do it.  Here’s the steps:

1. Pour 3/4 to 1 inch of hand soap into a foaming hand soap dispenser.

2. Slowly fill almost to top with warm water.  Filling it slowly is important so that you don’t get all sorts of suds.

3. Put on the soap dispenser top.

4. Gently shake until soap is mixed into water.

5. Use and enjoy saving money every time you wash your hands!

Misc. Info:
* Wondering where to get a foaming hand soap dispenser?  I just bought some Foaming Hand Soap at the store and used that dispenser when it was empty.  Many of them you can easily remove the label to just have a plain bottle.  You can also buy dispensers at places like Walmart or Target.

* Almost every kind of hand soap that I have used has worked for this, although I have discovered that some seem to mix up better than others.  I typically use the Softsoap brand but have also used Melaluca, Mrs. Meyers and Bath and Body Works.  The Melaluca and Mrs. Myers worked the best but I don’t usually feel like spending the extra money for that kind of soap.

I’ve linked up this post to Mostly Homemade Mom’s Show and Share Wednesday post.

Earn Free Book with Barnes & Noble’s Summer Reading Program

May 10, 2013 at 10:21 am , by

Want to help motivate your children to read this summer?  Check out Barnes & Noble’s Summer Reading Program.

Your child can earn a free book from Barnes & Noble’s by simply reading 8 books, recording them on the Barnes & Noble reading journal and then taking the completed journal to a Barnes and Noble store between May 21 and September 3.

The free book can be chosen from a pre-selected Barnes & Noble list.

Sunday Coupon Preview

May 10, 2013 at 9:13 am , by

Looks like a good week for coupons!  Most areas should get three coupon inserts in this week’s Sunday newspaper. Want to know what specific coupons to expect? Go here.

Categories: Coupons | Tags: ,