Mish Mash....casserole

My very good friend Randi, her family and mine get together every couple of weeks for dinner and fun. This last Friday night was kind of a last minute thing and neither of us had anything planned for dinner. So after two short phone calls back and forth, I through some groceries into a bag, loaded my family in the van, and headed to her house. Then we got creative...
The final recipe:
1 - 16 oz box of spaghetti
2 - 10.5 oz cream of mushroom soup
1 - 12.5 oz canned chicken
1 - 15 oz canned peas
8 oz velveeta
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:
First, prepare spaghetti as instructed on the box and preheat the oven to 350. After you have cooked and drained the pasta, return it to the pot and stir in the velveeta, mushroom soup, sour cream, canned chicken and peas. Next, stir in the seasonings (garlic, onion, salt and pepper). Cook on med-low heat for 5-10 minutes or until the velveeta is melted. Now transfer the contents of the pot to a 9x13 casserole dish. Spread the pasta evenly in the pan. Now, sprinkle the bread crumbs generously on the pasta, followed by the Parmesan. Bake uncovered for 20-25 mins. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 min before serving.

Yum!!! This was awesome. Randi named it Mish-mash which truly fits. This recipe I would consider as a medium effort recipe because of the time to prepare and bake ( about an hour from start to finish), but it is fairly simple.

Thanks for reading.

Pudding

Today, after school we made homemade vanilla pudding. I realize that this isn't such an amazing feat but to my daughters (and myself) this was huge. We didn't need the fancy little box of instant stuff from the store we just needed a recipe. I did a google search and came up with thousands of results. Being a fan of allrecipes.com, I chose their link to the Homemade Vanilla Pudding.

The Homemade Vanilla Pudding recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups milk

1/2 cup white sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. In medium saucepan over medium heat, heat milk until bubbles form at edges. In a bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Pour into hot milk, a little at a time, stirring to dissolve. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Do not boil! Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and butter. Pour into serving dishes and chill for an a hour. Serves 4.

Amazing!! This was so quick and easy, not instant like the packet but by far more budget friendly.
Thanks for reading.