Cheese Burger Mac n Tot Casserole

Thats right folks as you might imagine another of my divine obsessions is creating new family favorite meals.

Tonights creation is no exception.  Having rummaged through the pantry and fridge I decided I wanted to make something different for my peeps.  Cheese Burger Mac n Cheese is one of our go to quick and easy meals and for me I was getting a tat board with it.  So, I ventured out into the interwebs to get inspired.  Low and behold I found what I was looking for over on Buzz Feeds "27 Tater Tots Recipes that will change your life" I chose #3 based on the ingredients I had in the house.

Mine differs in that I used a lb of hamburger browned up and mixed with two boxes of Mac n Cheese.  So what you will need:

2 boxes Mac n Cheese
1 Lb of Ground Hamburger
A bag of frozen tator tots
1 -2 Cups shredded cheddar or your favorite cheese.

Parbake Tater tots (basically cook until ALMOST done).
Prepare Mac n Cheese according to package instructions (with a little extra milk).
Brown the hamburger until done.
Combine Hamburger in Mac n Cheese and spread evenly across the bottom of a casserole dish, Top with layer of tater tots and then cover with shredded cheese. Bake at  until bubbly and golden brown.

Enjoy!

Cottage Pie Burgers

Ever wonder what you are going to do with that hamburger meat you defrosted for dinner?  I am faced with this regularly.  So I received input from the peanut gallery.  Half wanted hamburgers (boring) and the other half wanted shepherd's pie (well technically cottage pie). After a long debate with the household as to what to do with the three lb log of hamburger meat it was decided... BOTH.

The light bulb had switched on.  I would make Shepherd's pie burgers!!!

WHAT??? RIGHT??? GET IN MY BELLY!!!

So I set out to get it done!!! I seasoned and prepared the hamburgers (I baked them this time).  Then prepared garlic butter mashed potatoes, steamed the mixed vegetables and made brown gravy.  All the elements of shepherd's pie without the casserole dish. I also toasted the hamburger buns.

Then I loaded up the burger,  A slice of cheese, Hamburger patty, Mixed Vegies, Gravy, Mashed potatoes and whalla!

The results were AMAZING

Refashioned Skirt

So this Refashioned Maxi Skirt was made almost two years ago.  I was digging through my documents and found this write up so I thought I'd post it.  

Inspired by a morning of surfing pinterest, I could not help but jump up and make this wonderful dress:

The inspiration was found here: http://www.ourlifeisbeautiful.com/2010/09/diy-pleated-dress.html 

As you can see I’m a little larger than the sweetie who inspired me so I had to perform a little extra modification since the skirt didn’t fit my bust and bottom as well as I would have liked it to.  So I modified her instructions and this is what I did.

The skirt I chose I loved but the waist band was just a little to tight for my liking and I could not bare to let it go on the “just in case” thing… You know what I’m talking about… 

The skirt had a lining already in it so in order to keep from losing that extra layer of protection I cut the skirt in the following manner:

First, on the lining cut up the seem as to not lose the material right away.  I cut it all the way up to the waist band (don’t cut the waist band).

Then I put the skirt on over my head to find the length of the sleeve.  Like the original I set it to an inch or two above my elbow. 

Next, I cut up the fold line of the outer skirt.  This allowed me to make the proper adjustments to fit my body. 

Be careful during the seam ripping process as to not make blood sweat and tears real…. I know… I bled

If you have a body double that’s awesome… if not you may need a friend to help you mark the places to cut. 

I put the dress on and marked the end of the sleeve with a safety pin.  

Then put the skirt on Betty… my body double.  To mark the waist.  (I padded it to match my measurements a few months ago).  This is her first garment!  This is really exciting for me J

I put the underskirt over Betty and pinned together where the fabric would meet comfortably under my arm.  Then I folded it in half and marked both sides

After getting things marked up I laid the skirt out folded it in half lining up the pin for the sleeve and cut the arm hole.  My arm measures 13 inches in circumference so I added an inch and divided in half to make the arm hole.

After the armhole was cut I trimmed off the seam of the outer skirt and put it back on Betty.  I then pinned the insides of the dress where I felt it would fit the best.

As I suspected I only needed to cut a little to make it fit properly.  

Now for the fun part!!! We Sew

First the lining.  I stitched up the side from the bottom to the marked arm hole spot then folded over the seam and stitched up both sides to close off.  Since this was the lining I didn’t bother with doing the stitching inside.  It was easier. 

Next I lined up the outer skirt at the starting point.  I did a taper affect so I stitched in a diagonal to the end.  Repeated on both sides. 

Finally, I hemmed up the arm hole to finish it off… and Whalla!!!

I did not have enough extra fabric to craft a belt but I had the perfect one on hand!  You cannot go wrong with brown and pink J