Another Post With Food.

Seriously, with all these recipes lately, it might seem as if I'm pregnant again...

I mean, at this time last year when I was 7 months pregnant, the common theme to all my blogging was not Ava or her pending arrival.  No, if you look back in my archives, you will notice that the biggest thing on my mind was apparently my next meal :)

Don't get any ideas, I am NOT pregnant again (although I'm not saying I wouldn't like to be!) but I am in fact hungry.  And willing to cook.  I think it must be the weather.  This time of year makes me want to hunker down and have a hot meal on the stove.  And a warm dessert to follow. And maybe a cup of decaf in my hand...I'm just saying, it's not diet-friendly, but it must be the weather, right??

Regardless of my excuse, here are two easy recipes to warm your bones...

This one is a creation of my Mom's friend Joan.  It's a great, hearty meal that is a one-dish wonder.  If I would have had any presence of mind to photograph it in the making, I would have.  But I was too hungry to worry about that.  So here is the finished product and here is the recipe below:

Meat and Potato Casserole

(Don't ya just love a title that's straightforward??)

Hamburger (1-2 lb., depending on your crowd)

Green Pepper (1-2)

Green Beans (I used one bag of frozen green beans)

Onion (1)

Celery (1 C)

Potatoes (1-2, washed and sliced)

1 8oz. can of Tomato Soup

1 pkg. of Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1 C of water

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Form meatballs from the hamburger, put on bottom of 9x13 pan.  Cut up fresh veggies and layer on top of meatballs, ending with the potatoes on top.

Mix tomato soup and onion soup mix together with water.  Pour over top of veggies and hamburger.  Cover with foil, bake for 1-1.5 hours (depends on your oven and how much hamburger you use).

This is a great, flavorful dish that is perfect on a cold winter night!  The soup mixture makes a thick sauce that gives everything a wonderful taste.  It's so simple and yummy and that's the beauty of it.  Plus, you can tweak it with the ingredients you have on hand or the ones you prefer.  I've made it several ways, depending on whether or not I feel like grocery shopping!

Now for the best part...

The world's easiest dessert.

A Dump Cake.

(I know, this one needs a much better name, doesn't it?)

The items pictured above are all you need.

Dump your can of pineapple (drained) in the bottom of a 9x13.

Dump the cherry pie filling on top of the pineapple.

Dump the package of yellow cake mix on top and melt a stick of butter.

Pour the melted butter on top and bake at 350 for an hour.

Be prepared for your house to smell like the most heavenly of smells.

Remove from the oven and serve while warm...

With a scoop (or 2) of vanilla ice-cream.

It's a wonderful, cobbler-esque dessert that is easy and oh so good!

I'm pretty sure I should be doing some stomach crunches right about now...