Recipe: Sausage and Ground Beef Casserole

I've been wanting to share this recipe on Pinterest, so the other night when I cooked this, I finally remembered to take pictures as I went.  There's really no official name that I know of for this.  In our house it's known as the sausage and ground beef stuff, when talking to other people I call it the sausage and ground beef casserole.  I got this from my mom, but I'm not sure where she got it from.  But despite it's origins, this has now become a regular dish in my house.

So here's what you'll need:

1lb Ground Beef
1lb Sausage
Fettuccine (Or any noodle you choose, it might be good with spaghetti or egg noodle)
1 Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/4 block of Velveeta, more or less depending on how much you like cheese, we like cheese so I usually add a little more.

First, brown the ground beef and sausage in separate pans. You can season these however you like here.  I seasoned my ground beef with salt, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Then drain the sausage (the ground beef too if it seems really greasy) and add the sausage to the ground beef

(I don't why it looks like my ground beef is still red in this picture, but it was completely cooked before adding the sausage)

Next add the Velveeta and the Cream of Mushroom Soup

Mix it up as the Velveeta melts

While the Velveeta is melting, boil your noodles

Once the noodles are done, add them to the other pan, mix it up, and you're ready to eat!

You can save any left overs in the fridge, it heats up really well.  I've never tried freezing any for later, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.  I hope you enjoy this dish as well as we do.  It's a great one dish meal, easy to make, and doesn't take very long.  I'd love to hear how it went over if you do make this.

Key Chain Project

I got this idea from Pinterest, where most of my ideas are coming from these days.  The original pin is here on my 'I did it' board.  It features four small hand made key chains with pictures and names of the persons kids.  I loved the idea of carrying around pictures of my kids on my keys and couldn't wait to do this. So I finally got around to doing it.  


The original maker of these used Alex Hang Tags from the Bare Elements (Be) Collection from Creative Imaginations.  I did not have these handy, so I took some stiff cardboard and cut it about the length and size of my key.  Then I covered both sides with scrapbook paper. 


 Next came the hard part.  Picking out the pictures.  Understand I take lots of pictures of my kids, they're just so darn cute.  So when time comes to pick just one out for a project like this, well, it could take me a while.  


Once I had my pictures picked out, probably around an hour later, I printed them out in black and white.  The print program I have has the option of Contact Sheet size, which was the perfect size for this project.  Depending on how big you make your key chain will depend on how big you want to print your picture.  


I backed the pictures with a solid coordinating color paper and then glued it to my key chain.


After that, I wrote their names across the top.  If you have a Cricut machine, you could easily print out the names at the size you need.  Unfortunately I do not have one of those really neat machines.....yet.  Although I have got to play with one at my Aunt's house, it's really nice.  


On Kenny's I stamped a small design on the top in Tim Holtz's Distress Ink: Peeled Paint Green.  I love Tim Holtz, he has the neatest and prettiest stuff! I also inked the edges of both with Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Walnut Stain.


I went over the front and back with 2 coats of mod podge to seal it and protect it.  
After that, punch a hole in the top and run your chain through it.  Then all that's left is to attach them to you keys.  


Mine came out like this:

I was really happy with the outcome and I'm now proudly carrying them with me and showing them off whenever I get the chance.  

The Very First Post, Want To Get To Know Me?

(This picture is a little old, but it's the last one made with all four of us, I'm not sure if I should call it lazy or pass us off as being too busy!)

So, this is my first ever blog.  It's been one of those things I've been wanting to try and never getting around to, you know, like skydiving!
I guess I should get the usual stuff out of the way first, I am Erin King, I'm 27 years old.  I've been married to my husband Brad for seven and a half years.  I would say seven and a half wonderful years, but then any married woman reading this would know I was lying.  Most of it has been wonderful, but there are those days...... My husband definitely keeps me on my toes! I keep trying to convince him to try stand up comedy, I just know he'd be great at it, but again, that's one of those things he wants to try, but hasn't got around to yet.  It seems there's a lot of that in our house.

We have two precious boys.
Connor is 3 and a half.  He could very easily follow his daddy into the comedy profession.  He can usually have me in the floor laughing at something he's said several times a day.  Of course, being 3, if it gets even one laugh out of one of us, he's going to repeat it the rest of the day.  He seems to have my stubbornness, my mother's determination, and his daddy's looks and sense of humor.  He's also at that age where he thinks he can do everything himself.  It keeps my day full of surprises.

Kenny is our 7 month old.  His personality is still developing, although I have noticed that once he starts crying, I best be trying to figure out what his need is and get it taken care of quick.  He doesn't cry for a few minutes and then give up.  Nope.  He keeps going and gets louder.  He's not a fussy baby, in fact, he's very easy going, very calm, very easy to please.  He smiles at everything and everybody, and laughs at any face or noise we make.  But if he does start crying, it's easier just to give in then.

As for me, take all three of the people mentioned and smash them together.  Ta-da! Me! I can be stubborn, or easy going, I can dig my feet in the ground until I get what I want, or I can go with the flow.  It usually just depends on my mood.  I used to be one of those that liked to keep to a schedule.  But being married to my spontaneous husband has gotten me away from that.  I used to be quiet and shy, but my husband, being loud and out-going, and a very good people person has gotten me out of that too.  I'm still a nerd with my vast knowledge of movies, my love for all things Joss Whedon (Firefly, Buffy, Angel, Dollhouse) Doctor Who, and Harry Potter.  My boards on Pinterest will attest to that.  But apparently being a nerd is in now, so I guess that makes me cool.  I've never been cool before, not sure how to react....

What I'm hoping to do with my brand new shiny blog is share the many things that goes on in our day to day life, funny things that were said, and even some of my projects that I manage to get done. (Thank you Pinterest for giving me too many projects to ever complete in my life time!) I love to scrapbook and make different things, and I'm starting to try my hand at photography.  So you'll get to experience all of this in my upcoming posts! I'm sure you're all jumping up and down for joy at this wonderful news! Yay!