Meatball Bake

Okay. I haven't been writing. Mostly this is because I haven't been cooking. Jeff has been laid off for awhile and has been home. This means that I come home to a running washing machine and dinner on the table. I do not apologize.

I cleaned out the pantry the other day. It was scary. I had an unbelievable amount of barbecue sauce, enough to last us through next summer I dare say. My freezer is also starting to burst at the seams, so that is next on my list.

In an effort to actually use some of the food I have on hand, I have been making stuff up. I have had a bit of success with this, as this Meatball Bake proves.

Add 2 cups of frozen hashbrowns to the bottom of a baking pan and top with 1 cup of frozen corn. You could use canned corn if you had it on hand, just be sure to drain it.
Top with your leftover meatballs (about half a package) and a can of (undrained) diced tomatoes. These come in a variety of seasonings. I really like the Italian flavored.
Stir this all up.
And top with mozzarella cheese. Actually, I think this is an Italian blend. Go with what works for you. You really can't go wrong with cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

This was yummy. I think it would be pretty good with Rotel tomatoes and cheddar cheese, too.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Meatball Bake
2 Cups Frozen Hashbrowns
1 Cup Frozen Corn
2 Cups Frozen Meatballs
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Shredded Cheese
Mix all ingredients into a baking dish, cover and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Chess Bars

So I cleaned out my pantry over Christmas break. Took everything out and set it on the dining room table. Some of it is still there. I did a pretty good job of organizing the stuff I put back in there. Baking supplies on one shelf. Soups on another. Apparently it does not register in my mind that I have chopped olives at home, because I have four cans of them. I can't even remember the last time I even used chopped olives in anything. Oh well, they will keep.

I also dug out three bags of powdered sugar. Three. Two of them were open. I think I must have used about a quarter of a cup out of each of them.

So I have been waiting for a recipe that uses an obscene amount of powdered sugar to fall into my lap. And lo and behold, one did.

Grace over at Southern Grace posted this one. It is really simple to make and smells divine while cooking. And, it got rid of one of those poor packages of powdered sugar.

Take a yellow cake mix (I didn't have one, but I used the extra marble mix I had from the Wonder Pets cake) and add one egg and one stick of melted butter. Mix this well. It will form more of a dough than a cake batter.

Press this into a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan.

Cream together one package cream cheese with 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar.
Spread this over the dough and bake for about 45 minutes.
Cut into (small, these are REALLY rich) squares.
I'm on the fence with these. I honest to goodness cannot decide whether or not I like them. They are extremely sweet (huh, must be the powdered sugar). The top came out almost like a meringue. I liked the edges better than the middle. I was thinking they would come out something like the Cream Cheese Squares, but they didn't even come close.

Hmmm...I really don't know. They aren't bad. And they are really easy to make. If I were to print off the recipe card, I can see myself skipping over it in favor of something else. Probably the Cream Cheese Squares.

So try them if you think they look good. They are. I just have things I like better.
Click here for Printable Recipe

Chess Bars
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened (I used low-fat, for what it's worth)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 3/4 cups (1 16-ounce box) powdered sugar

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Spread the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13x9-inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat together. Carefully add the powdered sugar and mix well. Spread this evenly over the cake batter and bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes.