Frosty Pumpkin Squares

Ingredients:

1 quart of vanilla ice cream

1 pkg of graham crackers, smashed into crumbs

1/4 cup of butter (or more, based on how you like your crust)

1 cup of canned pumpkin

1/2 cup of brown sugar

3/4 tsp of salt

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of ginger

1/2 tsp of nutmeg

Instructions:

1. Let ice cream stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes until it's soft. (I recommend putting a plate underneath it... or you'll have a mess)

2. Mix graham cracker crumbs and butter.  Press into ungreased 8 or 9" pan (I used 9").  You can save some to garnish the top if you like. 

3. In large bowl, beat pumpkin, brown sugar and spices with wire whisk. Stir in ice cream with spoon.  I actually ended up using the wire whisk at the end because I still had a few lumps that weren't all the way melted.  Spread over crumb crust. 

4. Freeze uncovered for at least 4 hours.  Serve, or cover and keep in freezer until ready to serve. Wait 10 minute to soften before serving. 

Review: 

Really nice twist on a pumkin pie or cheesecake. It's got a good pumpkin pie flavor without being so heavy and no need to serve ice cream with it! 

Pros:  Really easy to make. Again, not alot of dishes to clean up.  It's easy to make before hand and serve later, especially if you are cooking a whole big meal. Easy subsitute for pumpkin pie without having to bake it.   

Cons: It does take a whole quart of vanilla ice cream (which is Michael's favorite and he hated to part with it)

Approximate Cost: $4.75  (I bought the ice cream, pumpkin and graham crackers on sale, so it maye be closer to $6 without the sale.) 

Green Bean Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground beef

3/4 cup chopped onion (I used a small one)

1/2 cup chopped celery (about 1 to 1 1/2 staulks)

1 clove of garlic grated (you could subsitute 1/4 tsp of garlic powder)

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 cups of frozen green beans, thawed

4 cups of tater tots.

Instructions:

1. Brown ground beef, onion, celery and garlic.  I did mine until the beef was barely browned and the celery and onion had just started to get soft.  Since you bake this for an hour, you don't want it too done or it will fall apart in the casserole. 

2. Mix ground beef mixture, soups and green beans in 2 quart casserole dish. (I used a 9 x 13 pan)  Top with tater-tots.  I actually didn't measure the tater-tot, I just poured them on until it was covered and then pushed them in a little bit.

3. Bake at 375 for 40 to 50 minutes or until the tater-tots are done and everything is warm. 

Review:

As far as green bean tater-tot casseroles, this one was really good.

Pros: Vegetables, meat and your grain all in one dish.  Very Easy to whip up and I had everything but the tater-tots on hand.  It also only dirtied a fry pan and casserole dish, which was great for clean up.

Cons:  It was a little bland and could use something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I might subsitute the tater-tots with southern hashbrowns for some flavor. (I don't like tater tots though.)  

Overall cost to make was about:  $6.50 

Introduction

My sister requested that I share some of my recipes and cooking ideas with her. She told me just to publish them on our blog. Other have mentioned that I need to start sharing some of my recipes and my modifications.  When someone asks for a recipe it usually sounds like, "Here's the recipe, but I don't use this, I subsitute that and add some of this. AndI usually cook it for this long instead of like this." 

And then I got to thinking that it might be fun to just start a blog full of all things I end up cooking or baking at our house.  I'm going to post recipes as I make them with all my modification included in the recipe, so you get orginal Angela work.  Also, I'm going to try and give a ball park cost of the meal so those of us on budgets can plan accordingly.

So here it... What's Cooking at the Busselbergs'!