Awesome-ness in a bowl...or on a plate

I know I said I would post next about some DIY artwork, but I HAVE to share these two AMAZING recipes I found by way of Pinterest.  I just recently started  trying to complete things I've been pinning and the first two attempts were food related...my tummy is thanking me for doing, not just pinning.  Anyway, the two recipes I found: Beef Quesadilla Casserole and One Pot Creamy Mac and Cheese.  Both = awesome.

I'm not picking favorites with recipes, but this one is by far the easiest and quickest mac and cheese I've ever whipped up from scratch.  So we'll start with the mac and cheese first.

One Pot, Stove Top, Creamy Mac and Cheese:

I tracked the recipe to this lovely little blog: White On Rice Couple by Todd Porter and Diane Cu - PLEASE check them out for the original recipe and take a peek at all of their wonderful creations and beautiful photography!  Follow the link for directions to heaven!

Time: 35 minutes-ish

Ingredients you will need:

large elbow macaroni *or any small pasta of your choice - I only had mini penne pasta for the trial*

milk

butter

salt, pepper, ground mustard, nutmeg and *added cayenne pepper to the mix*

shredded cheeses of your choice

I also added bacon crumbles and crushed saltine crackers to the mix for an extra luxurious mini penne and cheese dinner.

I thought I died when I took a bite last night. Really, truly.

Beef Quesadilla Casserole:

This recipe is from a McCormick Spice inspiration packet, but I used a taco seasoning packet instead of the spices - feel free to choose which one you'd like to use!

Time: about half an hour

You Will Need:

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, drained and rinsed
Half a bag of frozen whole kernel corn, cook in the microwave
1 can (4-1/2 oz.) chopped green chiles, undrained**I also omitted the green chiles from my recipe, but again feel free to put into the mix what YOU like :)**
6 flour tortillas (8-inch)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese.
1 packet McCormick Recipe Inspirations Quesadilla Casserole
or your choice of Taco Seasoning packet (I used Old El Paso Mild Taco Seasoning)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 while cooking the beef!

1. Brown beef and onion in large skillet on Medium-High heat; drain. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well. Stir in all of the Spices (or your choice of taco seasoning packet!) except red pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to Low; simmer 5 minutes. Add red pepper to taste, if desired.

2. Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish sprayed with no-stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

3. Bake in preheated 350 degrees F oven 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

4. Enjoy!

Cheesy Beef Quesdilla Casserole + Corn bread = so good!

Hope some of you get to try out this comfort food (especially the to.die.for/super.easy mac and cheese!) and that you checked out a deliciously creative new blog.  For all my s'mores readers in the mitten at the moment, I hope you're bundled up and enjoying this pretty snow we're having...make sure you make some snow angels or a snowman :)  Thanks for stopping by and happy cooking!

S'mores,