Cheesy Tortellini & Meatball Casserole

This is a Pintest it! original recipe idea. I thought this one up all on my own, when I was scrounging around trying figure out what to make for dinner. This casserole was pretty simple to put together. Here's what you will need: 1 jar of Spaghetti Sauce, 1 bag of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, 1 large package of fresh Three Cheese Tortellini (such as Buitoni), about 20 frozen Italian Style Meatballs and I also used a cup of Ricotta Cheese (not pictured). 

 I started out by boiling the the tortellini for about 3-5 minutes, just to get them softened up. Drain the water from the tortellini. Then, I cooked the meatballs for about 5 minutes in the microwave. In a 9x13 baking dish combine the tortellini, meatballs, spaghetti sauce and about a half cup of the mozzarella cheese together. Then, I thought it would taste good with a little ricotta cheese. So, after I mixed all the other ingredients together, I took a spoon and dropped a few dollops of the ricotta cheese on top of the other ingredients.

 Finish by covering the top of the casserole with the shredded mozzarella cheese. 

 I baked this casserole in the oven for about 30 minutes on 375. 

This turned out to be quite delicious. It was so cheesy and wonderful. This casserole has some lasagna-like qualities. Only you don't have to go through all the trouble of layering the noodles, cheeses, etc.
In this recipe I used the Three Cheese Tortellini. However, you could use any flavor of tortellini that you like.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family did.

Bacon Cheeseburger & Fries Casserole Recipe

Above is the original pin that linked back to a recipe on the Betty Crocker website. The baking dish in their picture looked a little small to feed my crew so, I used a 9x13 glass baking dish. I tweaked the ingredients a little because I thought I could improve a little on this recipe.
I have seen some similar pins where they used cream of mushroom soup in the recipe. The thought of the creamy soap up in there kind of grossed me out. If you like mushrooms on your burgers then by all means chop up some fresh mushrooms and cook them in with the ground beef. But, the cream of whatever soup was a no go for me in this recipe. Anyway, let's get started!

I started by browning 2 pounds of ground beef with a small to medium chopped onion. Betty's recipe doesn't say anything about seasoning the meat. I added some seasoned salt and black pepper to meat while I was cooking it. Cook the meat until it is no longer pink and then drain the grease from the meat.

At this point, Betty suggested that you add a few tablespoons of flour. I didn't really see the point in that. So, I left it out. I added 1 can of diced tomatoes, drained, to the meat. The other recipe said undrained tomatoes. I'll leave it up to you how juicy you want your casserole to be.

Next, I spread out the ground beef mixture in the bottom of the baking dish.

On top of the meat, I layered on some shredded cheddar cheese. I probably used about 4-6 ounces of a shredded cheddar blend. Then, I added a layer of crispy cooked bacon. I used the microwave ready bacon, it takes like 30 seconds to cook. The original recipe does not call for bacon. So, you can leave it off if you like.

Next, you top the casserole with a layer of frozen crinkle cut french fries. Then, I baked this at 400 for about 25 minutes or until the french fries brown.

Well, it seemed like I cooked this thing forever trying to get the fries to brown. The french fries were cooked but, they never would turn brown. Maybe it was because I used the generic Walmart brand fries. Who knows?

Here is the finished product. It might not look as pretty as I wanted it to on this plate. However, this casserole tasted freaking awesome! Everyone in my family loved it. They were fighting over the last piece, right down to the last french fry. Overall, I would say the Burger N Fries Casserole is Pintest it! APPROVED!

DIY Laundry Detergent- Pintest it! FAIL

I think that almost everyone on Pinterest has thought about or tried making the Homemade Laundry Detergent. My poor sister did not have any luck on this one! Check out her experience with the DIY Detergent.
Sweet Tea and a Smoke: DIY Laundry Detergent- Failure?

Pizza Braid Recipe

For a my first pin test I decided to try a pizza braid. It looks relatively easy and inexpensive to make.

Here is one of the original pins the inspired me to make this. 

Sometimes I follow the recipe to the letter and sometimes I like to wing it! I add things or omit ingredients depending on what I have in the kitchen. In this case, I started with a bagged Fresh Pizza Dough that I found at the grocery store. The original recipe called for Rhode's Bread Dough. However, I don't really have hours to thaw and rise the bread dough. So, I used this because it was ready to go.

Next, you roll out the dough into a long rectangle. I did my best since I don't have a rolling pin in the house. I used a heavy drinking glass that I had. That really wasn't working all that great so I just started pounding it into shape with my hands. This is what it looked like once I got it onto the baking sheet.

After I got it on the baking sheet I used a pizza cutter to cut the strips on the side that make up the braid later. Here is how that looked....

Ok so, finally to the fun part. I started layering on the pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. I used Hormel Mini Pepperoni. Cause they are just funner!

On the original pin they also layer on some ground beef. I didn't do that because I didn't feel like going through the trouble of browning and draining the ground beef. But, I did have a light bulb moment and remembered that I have some Italian-style meatballs in the freezer. They only take about 2 minutes to cook in the microwave. When they were done I cut them in half and layered them on.

Then some more cheese and it was time for braiding.

This part was a little harder then it looked on Pinterest. My dough had gotten a little warm I guess and it was super stretchy and as you can see there are few gaps in between braids.I had a hard time getting it to fully cover the filling.

Here it is before I put it in the oven.

And here it is after it came out of the oven. As you can see some of the cheese cooked out of it.  At this point I thought it didn't really look all that great and I just hoped it was edible.

Once I finally removed it from the supposedly non-stick baking sheet. It actually didn't look that bad. The kids didn't care what it looked like. It was pizza and they were hungry! It wasn't perfect but it was delicious! Everyone loved it! I wish I could have gotten a second piece but it was GONE. Overall, I think this was a great Pintest it! experience. I think with a little practice I could make a pretty pizza braid just like the original.

Pintest it! Pizza Braid with Meatballs

Welcome to Pintest it!

I love going to Pinterest.com and seeing all the new craft ideas and recipes. I go back and forth with my sister, Roxanne, making recipes and crafts to see how they turn out. The photos on Pinterest always looks so wonderful. However, things are not always what they seem. Some of the crafts and recipes are not as easy to make as they look. We get such enjoyment out of trying out different pins. If I see something interesting or she does, we call each other and say "Hey, let's Pintest it!". We are so excited when they turn out great. And when they don't, it's still pretty funny. So, Welcome to Pintest it! Where you can laugh with or laugh at us!