Recipe Friday: Slow Cooker Sausage Breakfast Casserole

As soon as the cooler weather hits the Midwest, my crockpot comes out of the pantry and back into its familiar spot of my counter.  When I saw this recipe on the Jimmy Dean website, I knew it would be great for a large family gathering (such as Christmas morning), breakfast for a sleep over party, or a weekend scrapbooking retreat.

Slow Cooker Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (26 ounces) frozen shredding hash brown potatoes
1 pkg. Jimmy Dean® Hearty Original Sausage Crumbles
1 cup (4 ounces) shredding mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredding parmesan cheese
1/2 cup julienne cut sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
6 green onions, sliced
12 eggs
1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 ground black pepper  

Directions:

1. Spray a 6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Layer 1/2 of the potatoes on the bottom of slow cooker. 

2. Top with half of the sausage, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, sun dried tomatoes and green onion. Repeat layering.

3. Beat eggs, milk and pepper in large bowl with a wire whisk until well blended. 

4. Pour evenly over potato-sausage mixture.

5. Cook on low setting for 6-8 hours or on high setting for 3-4 hours or until eggs are set. 

Yield:

12 servings (about 1 cup each)

Mmm.. now that is good eats!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Featured Freebies for the Week of August 22nd

Hello and Happy Monday to Everyone!

Only a small handful again this week, but here are this week’s fabulous digital stamp and image freebies found on website and blogs or sent to us from friends and followers:

Beccy’s Place shares a little hobo, a birdhouse with vines, and a bouquet of flannel flowers

Paper Makeup Stamps shares a fairy with heart and a monster with teddy bear

Whoopsi Daisy Designs shares a little girl with her poodle

Making Your Mark shares a circus elephant, smiling snail, and busy bee hive

Happy Crafting!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Back to School Ideas

This week the kids in Illinios are going back to school and I can say there are a lot of moms rejoicing. I thought I would share a few back to school ideas that I have found all over the web and have bookmarked to try to make myself this year.

Personalized sanitizer bottle wraps by Less than Perfect Life of Bliss

Back to School Magnets by Kerry’s Craft Blog

Ruler Wreath by the Polkadot Chair

Crayon Wreath by Simply Made with Love

Teacher Oreo Pops by Shindig Parties to Go

Zippered Pencil Pouch by Sew4Home

Happy Crafting!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Recipe Friday: Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

School is starting which means many moms are busier more than ever shuttling the kids to practice and other activities. Who wants to spend time in the kitchen, when there are other things to do? Instead, get out that slow cooker/crockpot and let it do the work for you.

Betty Crocker has done it again with a yummy slow cooker beef stroganoff dish that is easy to make (just dump the ingredients and leave it for 8 hours) with very little time to prepare.

Ingredients:

2 lbs beef stew meat

1 cup chopped onion

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 can condensed cream of onion soup

1 can or jar (6 ounces) sliced mushrooms (I love mushrooms so I add 2 cans)

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese cubed

1 container (8 ounces) sour cream

Salt and pepper to taste

6 cups cooked noodles

Directions:

•  In a 3 ½ - 4 1/2 quart crockpot, mix beef, onion, condensed soups, mushrooms and pepper.
• Cover and cook on low setting for 8-10 hours, or until beef is tender.
• Stir cream cheese into beef mixture and stir until melted.
• Add sour cream and mix well.
• Serve hot over noodles.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

Recipe Friday: Taco Pie

I could not pass up on sharing this yummy recipe from Skip to My Lou. She calls it an interactive dinner as the taco pie is placed in the center of the table and everyone gets to make their own nachos, tacos, or burritos with chips, shells, and tortillas.

Taco Pie

Main Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 - 12 oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 - 7 oz can diced green chilies
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder

Sauce:

1 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Toppings:

3 cups chopped lettuce
2 or more cups chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (or Mexican Blend)
small can of chopped or sliced olives

Directions:

• In a large skillet, cook beef, onion and green pepper over medium heat until beef is cooked.
• Drain off fat.
• Add beans, green chilies, garlic powder, cumin and chili powder and heat through.
• Spread meat mixture over a large platter.
• Combine sour cream, cumin and chili powder and spread over meat.
• Top with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and olives.
• Serve with tortilla chips, taco shells and or flour tortillas and salsa.

Ole! Pass me the Margaritas!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue

BESTeam Weekly Feature - UpcycleRecycleReuse

This week’s BESTeam featured Etsy shop is UpcycleRecylceReuse.

UpcycleRecylceReuse is “where old products are given more value not less”. The goal of the shop is to “prevent wasting potentially useful materials by making use of existing ones”.  This reduces the consumption of new raw materials when creating new products.

Reducing the use of new raw materials can result in a reduction of energy usage, air pollution, water pollution and even greenhouse gas emissions. The UpscycleRecysleReuse shop embraces reuse and upcycling converting waste materials into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value.

Here are a few items in the collection:

Classic Cat Journal or Notebook, Hand Sewn

This Classic Cat Journal or Notebook is a Hand Sewn upcycled gem. The Journal consists of 76 pages and has an ivory ribbon to tie it closed. (4.5" x 6")

Purple Floral Gift Tags, Set of 5

These Purple Floral handmade gift tags are perfect for gifts, favor bags, or use as mini invitations, decor or scrapbook embellishments.

Red, Orange, & Gold Star Punches, Paperboard

These red, orange, & gold stars are hand punched out of paperboard from post-consumer waste. 

These are just a few of the wonderful items in the collection. Come see the rest of the UpcycleRecycleReuse Etsy shop and don’t forget to check out the Upcycle, Recyle, Reuse blog.

The Creativity Bugs love the opportunity to promote other artisans including the fellow Estians but especially the BESTeam group. These friendly, talented, and very hardworking individuals work together to promote their shops and help others with marketing, advertising, and tips and tricks for running an online business. If you are a seller on Etsy, have a blog, and either FB or twitter, then you might be interested in joinging the BESTeam. You can find information about the team, as well as apply for membership HERE!

Happy Shopping!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue  

Mexican Rice Skillet

I was doing a bit of blog hopping today and stopped by one of my favorites Skip to My Lou. If you aren’t a follower of this blog, then you really have to check it out! She makes posts about crafty goodness, recipes, tutorials, handmade gift ideas, free downloads,  and so much more.

Earlier in the week she mention how it was too hot to use the oven and whipped up a dinner using her skillet called Mexican Rice Skillet. It looked so yummy that I had to pull out my skillet to make it for dinner and boy was I impressed!

So, straight from Skip to My Lou and onto the Creativity Bug blog is this week’s recipe for Mexican Rice Skillet.

Ingredients:

1 pound extra lean ground beef
1 cup onion (about 1 medium onion), chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups cooked brown rice ( 1 1/2 cups dry uncooked rice)
1 can (16 oz. size) pinto beans, drained
1 can (about 7 ounce size) diced green chiles
1 can (14 oz.) diced tomatoes, un-drained
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 medium tomato, chopped
fresh chopped cilantro for garnish
grated cheddar cheese for garnish

Directions:

• Cook meat and onion in large skillet over medium-high heat until brown, stirring to crumble; drain.
• Return meat to skillet. Add chili powder, cumin and salt.
• Stir in rice, canned tomatoes, corn, pinto beans and green chiles; thoroughly heat.
• Garnish with chopped fresh tomato, cilantro and cheddar cheese. Serve immediately.

Delicious!

Creativity Bug ~ Sue