Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Simple Lasagna Casserole (Instructions for Instant Pot or Crock Pot!)

by 14 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This Simple Lasagna Casserole makes it possible for me to offer this proclamation: If life gets any easier, we will all have to find new hobbies. 

lasagna casserole1

Just kidding. No doubt we all have plenty to fill our days. It’s just that all these Simple Meals take so little time and energy to prepare, we are all shocking ourselves with how quickly we can put a delicious, real food meal on the table!

Prep time for this Simple Lasagna Casserole recipe takes a tiny 5 minutes. Cook time in the Instant Pot takes another 5 minutes. Good grief, I barely have time to get out salad fixings, plates, and forks before my Instant Pot beeps to tell me that dinner is ready.

On the other hand, sometimes it’s nice to start dinner ahead of time, leave, and come back to it a few hours later. That’s where the Crock Pot comes in. I can start this casserole cooking in my crock pot (which also takes only 5 minutes of effort), walk away, do a load of laundry, answer a dozen emails, leave the house, scream for my boys at a soccer game, and come home to a ready-made dinner.

lasagna casserole2

NOTE: One of the tricks to making this meal so fast and easy to put together is having Cooked Hamburger Meat already prepared and ready to stir into this dish. If you have an Instant Pot, I highly recommend cooking it this way to get ahead on your hamburger. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, I still recommend cooking hamburger meat ahead of time on the stove-top, then freezing it in meal size portions to make dinner prep easier!

Cook Time Options for Simple Lasagna Casserole

Instant Pot: 5 minutes
Crock Pot: 3-4 hours

Simple Lasagna Casserole (Instructions for Instant Pot and Crock Pot!)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 16-ounces UNCOOKED whole grain pasta, any shape
  • 1 pound cooked hamburger meat
  • 50-ounces spaghetti sauce
  • 1 cup water
  • 16-ounces cottage cheese
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 2 cups shredded cheese (your favorite)
Instructions
  1. Stir uncooked pasta, spaghetti sauce, water, cooked meat, sea salt, and cottage cheese in a crock pot or instant pot. Cook as follows:
  2. Crock Pot: Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
  3. Instant Pot: Cook on Manual at high pressure for 5 minutes.
  4. Once time is up for either Crock Pot or Instant Pot, stir mixture and top with cheese, covering dish so the cheese will melt.
  5. Serve!

Simple Lasagna Casserole for Instant Pot or Crock Pot

More Simple Recipes

728x90

Join Simple Meals

Make life even simpler when you sign up to receive our weekly Menu Planning Packets. One tiny price, loads of weekly help. Read about this and sign up here!

Some of the links in this post are my affiliate links.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

It’s Not Too Late! Join our 30-Day Real Food Money Saving Challenge!

by 3 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

It’s time for the 30-Day Real Food Money Saving Challenge! It’s FREE. It’s fun. It’ll save you money. It’ll encourage you to eat right. (And by eat right, I mean spread butter on your bread and pour sweet cream on your peaches. This is the good kind of eatin’!)

We’ve got a whole slew of participants, but we still need more! For everyone who is interested in eating real food and saving money too, this is for you!

Take the 30 Day Challenge

Throughout the month of September, I’ll send out quick and easy real food money saving tips to everyone who signs up to take part in the fun. Should you choose to accept each challenge, you’ll be on your way to filling your table with simple real foods while keeping extra money in your wallet.

This 30-Day Challenge is FREE!

Yep. There’s no cost to join. The tips are fun and practical no matter where you live and what your grocery store options are!

This isn’t about couponing. This is simply about making the most of your grocery dollars while putting great, real food on the table.

Ready to join?!

All you have to do is:

Sign up to take the 30-Day Real~Food~Money~Saving Challenge here.


Throughout the month of September, I’ll send out quick and easy real food money saving tips. Should you choose to accept each challenge, you’ll be on your way to filling your table with simple real foods while keeping extra money in your wallet.

Let the 30-Day Real Food Money Saving Challenge begin!

Join here. 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi

by 16 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I am often asked what groceries I buy and where I buy them. Obviously we do not all have the same grocery store options because we all live on different parts of the globe! (And how fun is it that we all connect here in one community!)

aldi1161

I decided to write a small series of posts to share what groceries I purchase from each of my favorite stores – either online, co-op, or from an brick and mortar grocery store where I actually have to wear clothes and shoes to do my shopping. Not that I shop online without clothes on. I think that might have come out wrong. Well, anyway…

First stop: Aldi

Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi

We live just over an hour away from the nearest Aldi. We live ten minutes from Aldi now!! It doesn’t make sense for me to drive there often, even though I love many of the groceries they offer! I make it there only once every three months now, and as you can imagine, I stock up on my favorites while I’m there!

groceries feb 172

I’ve definitely found that not all of the food Aldi offers is of the highest quality. But they do carry many real food items that I trust, so I skip their processed junk food aisles and grab their good food options for great prices!

Real Food Groceries I Buy At Aldi

  • Simply Nature Organic Salsa – We go through loads of salsa at our house!
  • Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies (knock off) – So I can always and forever make this Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip. :)
  • Simply Nature Pasta Sauce
  • Butter (I usually find it for less money at Costco)
  • Half and Half 
  • Salad Kits – so that we can have easy meals like this.
  • Full Fat Yogurt – I’ve been very happy to find Whole Milk Yogurt options at Aldi. We like to eat it with granola for breakfast, so I usually buy a few containers each time I’m there.
  • Whole Milk – Now that we don’t live close to the farm that used to supply our milk, I pick up several gallons at Aldi each time I go. I miss farm milk!
  • Granola – We like several of the granola options Aldi offers and have found that it tastes great on top of the Whole Milk Yogurt we buy there.
  • Meat Markdowns – I always, always check to see what meat is on sale when I go to Aldi. Sometimes I’ve been blessed with meat that needs to sell quickly and has therefore been marked down 50% off. Amazing!
  • Grass Fed Hamburger Meat – The price of their beef just went up, so it is now cheaper at Sam’s. But Aldi often runs sales (especially in the summer) so I always look to see if their grass fed beef is on sale. If so, I stock up!
  • Fruit/Veggie Pouches – These are in the baby food aisle, and for a long time, this is all Auggie could eat. He’s progressed so much and can chew and swallow food now, praise God! But I still get these for him so he can eat one/day for ease. I also like to keep these on hand for our grandbabies when they come over!
  • Ground Sausage – Aldi has the best price/pound on ground sausage so I like to keep this in my freezer for egg casseroles and pizza.
  • Sausage Patties – These are our favorite and most economical for making Breakfast Sandwiches.
  • 100% Fruit Cups – Aldi carries 4-packs of peach, pear, mandarins, and mixed fruit cups that include only 100% juice. These make good snacks for our kids so I try to keep them on hand.
  • Chocolate Cake Mixes – They cost $1.09 and I use them to make Spinach Cake. This is our kids’ favorite way to eat greens.
  • Sliced Cheese – I also get sliced cheese at Costco and Sam’s in bulk. But the cost breakdown is about the same at any of the three stores, and it’s nice to pick them up at Aldi while I’m there because I can get 12-packs in different varieties (Colby jack, pepper jack, cheddar, etc).
  • Produce on Sale – I’ve found that Sam’s and Costco produce is typically much better quality than Aldi. However, if Aldi is offering a big discount on in-season produce, I can usually pick around and find some good packs of it and take advantage of the sale prices!
  • Knock-off Fritos – Chip prices have gotten super expensive. The cost of name brand Fritos are kind of hard for me to swallow. But the off brand fritos at Aldi are reasonable and taste good! We get these to go with chili and other soups. Plus our girls sometimes use them to eat an avocado cup.

Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi…sometimes

  • Cheese Cubes – These are nice to have on hand for snacks and packed school lunches.
  • Crackers – The off brand of “Ritz” crackers at Aldi is my go-to because they are cheaper than any crackers at Costco or Sam’s.
  • Brown Sugar – I keep brown sugar on hand at home for baking (since it’s cheaper than sucanat and as far as our bodies are concerned, sugar is sugar!). Aldi almost always has the lowest price.

Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi

Do you shop at Aldi? What groceries do you frequently buy there?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Take the 30 Day Real Food Money Saving Challenge!

by 7 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Guess what we’re going to do together in September? We’re going to eat sweet, crisp apples and save money. We’re going to sprinkle cinnamon on everything and save money. We’re going to take a leap into the fall season together, and take on simple real food challenges that will help us all save some grocery cash!

Who’s with me?

Take the 30 Day Challenge

It’s simple, actually. Would you expect anything less? 

All you have to do is:

Sign up to take the 30-Day Real~Food~Money~Saving Challenge here.


Throughout the month of September, I’ll send out quick and easy real food money saving tips. Should you choose to accept each challenge, you’ll be on your way to filling your table with simple real foods while keeping extra money in your wallet.

It’s a win-win!

Take the 30 Day Real Food Money Saving Challenge

As we settle into a new school year, I can’t think of a better time to focus on eating real food and saving money.

We’ll share some of the most basic, family friendly ways to save grocery money. And we’ll take the fear out of switching to a real food diet. Not only that, we’ll find out why eating real food actually tastes incredible and hmmm…is it possible that we can do all of this without increasing our grocery budget?

As a mom of four teenage sons who has made the switch from processed to whole foods, I can attest to the fact that eating real food has saved us grocery money. Tip #9 will actually share one simple way we save $1,000 every year by eating real food. True story!

I can’t wait to share all these fun tips and to extend challenges for your family to enjoy with me.

Are you ready?

Sign up to take our 30-Day Real~Food~Money~Saving Challenge!

As a thank you for joining us, we’ll give you a free copy of Heavenly Homemaker’s Top 10 Money Saving Recipes.

Top 10 Money Saving Recipes

 

Let the 30-Day Real~Food~Money~Saving Challenge begin!

Bonus points if you tell your friends about it. Friends don’t let friends pay too much money for groceries (or eat margarine), am I right? :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

by 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe has become a favorite at our house, especially as we’ve kicked off a new school year!

oatmeal chocolate chip muffins

Our kids are forever on the run this year as two of the three boys still at home are taking a variety of music lessons, college classes, and even a couple classes at our local high school.

Oh hey, I haven’t told you yet! Nebraska has changed their home school laws which had been very limiting as to the extracurricular activities our kids could participate in at the public school. As of this year, the only eligibility requirement for participation in public school activities is that home school students take two classes at the public school. Boom. We’re in. Our boys are incredibly excited to play high school soccer this spring!!

This means our high school senior and sophomore guys have quite a crazy schedule to juggle. They are back and forth and forth and back…and it’s a good thing they are responsible and that God made coffee.

Gone are the days of starting our day leisurely at the breakfast table together. We’ve moved our family Bible reading up to a much earlier start time so that we can still make it a priority. And instead of rolling out of bed just in time to head down for breakfast and Bible time together, the older boys have to be actually ready to walk out the door wearing actual clothes and actual shoes.

It’s working, and it’s working beautifully. God knows what we need and He continually provides. While our two high schoolers are running to and fro and doing all their home or college studies in between their public school classes, our 7th grader and I have a little extra quiet time to read his History and Science lessons together.

So now you know a little about our new adventures this year. But what you really wanted to read about today is this Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe. Am I right?

This recipe makes a big tray full of hearty muffins that are filling, but also delicious (because…chocolate chips and butter). They taste fabulous with a cup of coffee and of course, there’s some great fresh fruit available this time of year and we are taking full advantage! So without further ado…

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 16-18
Ingredients
  • 2½ cups whole wheat flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
  • 1½ cups rolled oats
  • ⅓-1/2 cup sucanat, honey, or brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1½ cups milk
  • ½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats, sucanat, baking powder, and salt.
  2. Add eggs, milk, and butter, stirring until just combined.
  3. Fold in chocolate chips.
  4. Scoop batter into 16-18 prepared muffin tins.
  5. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Make them Dairy Free: Use coconut oil instead of butter and coconut milk instead of regular.
Make them Gluten Free: Use your favorite gluten free flour instead of whole wheat and gluten free oats instead of regular.

Need some protein with your muffin and fruit? So do we! Eggs are always great. And check out this great method for cooking bacon and freezing it for fast breakfast protein!

Tell me about your school year. Are you off to a good start?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How to Cook 5 Pounds of Frozen Hamburger Meat in an Instant Pot in 30 Minutes (and what to do with it)

by 30 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This is, hands down, my favorite Instant Pot trick so far! I will forevermore cook frozen hamburger meat an Instant Pot as it saves loads of time and I don’t have to thaw, babysit, or stir my meat to get it ready to add to dishes. Wait till you see how easy this is!

instant pot hamburger8

How to Cook Frozen Hamburger Meat in an Instant Pot

Step One: Get hamburger meat out of the freezer.

(But whatever you do, don’t plan ahead. No way, no how! Don’t thaw your meat because life is too short to spend time thinking about details like this.)

Step Two: Pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of the pot under the trivet. (Very important detail!)

Step Three: Put chunks of frozen meat onto the metal trivet inside the pot. Stand them up like soldiers so they’ll cook more evenly.

instant pot hamburger6

Step Four: Put the lid on your Instant Pot. Close the venting valve so it will seal.

Step Five: Set the Instant Pot to 30 minutes on high pressure on Manual Mode.

Step Six: Come back when the machine beeps as if to say, “Your hard work is done. I hope you enjoyed your nap.”

Step Seven: Carefully release the pressure and use a meat thermometer to be sure the internal temp is at least 160 degrees.

Step Eight: Transfer the cooked meat to a big bowl and use a sturdy utensil to break it apart. (I have this “Meat Masher” and love it for this job!)

Now you’ve got five pounds of cooked hamburger to use any way you need! See my big list below of great options!

instant pot hamburger7

Note: What to do with the water and grease at the bottom of your Instant Pot?

If I had one complaint about this meat-cooking method, it would be that all the grease drips to the bottom, leaving the meat a bit dry. What can I say? I may be the only one on the planet who wants to keep a little fat in my meat! So I use a ladle to drizzle some of the water/grease back into the meat after I’ve broken it apart.

How to Cook 5 Pounds of Frozen Hamburger in an Instant Pot

Now I’ve got some great recipes and ideas to share for using your cooked hamburger meat!

33 Recipes for your Cooked Hamburger Meat

Divide your cooked meat into 1-pound portions in freezer bags, freeze, then pull them out to use as needed for quick and Simple Meals! Or divide your meat into separate bowls and start building some of these great meals to make your meal time ridiculously easy!

Have you tried cooking frozen hamburger in an Instant Pot? What are your favorite meals that include hamburger meat?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Master List of Simple Lunch Box Ideas

by 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Here it is! The Master List of Simple Lunch Box Ideas!

I know many of you send lunches with your kids for school and/or pack lunches for yourself or your spouse for work. Here’s hoping this list offers you some fun variety and nourishment that goes far beyond a sandwich! :)

todays lunch

Hopefully you already grabbed the Master Lists of Simple Lunch, Breakfast, and Snack Ideas. I’m covering my fridge with these lists to make our transition from summer break to a school schedule a little bit easier. If you haven’t already, be sure to download all these handy lists here!

Now for today’s list:

The Master List of Simple Lunch Box Ideas

Simple Lunch Box Ideas

Your Real Food Master Simple Lunch Box Ideas List

You can download this entire list here. But I’ll share it all on this post for reference also. I also recommend that you pin it so you can find it quickly as needed!

strawberry

 

Meaty Recipes for your Lunchbox

If at home, we eat many of these hot. But in a packed lunch, we don’t mind eating them cold!

Food You Can Heat and Pack in a Thermos

LgTHermos

NOTE: Here’s a fantastic thermos option that comes in all kinds of fun varieties and patterns. It’s stainless steel inside and out. It keeps cold food cold for 7 hours and hot food hot for 5 hours! Check out your options here. 

Hearty Dips for Chips

wide mouth jars

Pack these dips in small wide-mouth jars with a bag of tortilla chips to go with them!

Hearty Salads

SaladCOntainer

Fun Ideas to Add to Your Lunchbox

granola cups2

Now let’s look at good fruit and veggie add-ons. I listed apples and carrots first, because those are a given. But wait till you see all the other fun options to give your lunch box some life!

COntainers

  • Apples
  • Carrots
  • Bananas
  • Clementines
  • Oranges
  • Applesauce
  • Peach Cups (100% juice)
  • Grapes
  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Side Salad
  • Blueberries
  • Sliced Strawberries
  • Raspberries
  • Blackberries
  • Sliced cucumbers
  • Celery
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Pears

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Psssst! I LOVE silicone cups like this to make Fat Bombs  and Muffins. But how about also using them in lunchboxes to separate food items from one another! This 28-pack is deeply discounted right now!

SiliconCups28

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Master List of Simple Lunch Box Ideas

Free Printable Lunchbox Cards for you

Find FREE printable Lunch Box Cards HERE and HERE.

HHM-Encouragement-Cards-preview1

Awesome Lunchboxes and Containers

Here are some really cool lunchbox options, as well as containers that work great to send food to work and school!

This Rubbermaid Salad Container comes with a blue ice freezer pack that snaps directly onto the food containers to keep your lunch cold. They are BPA free and very versitile!

SaladCOntainer

Here’s another one that can be used for all kinds of foods!

COntainers

If you prefer Stainless Steel, this one is a little pricier but super durable.

MetalContainer

As for lunchboxes, this one is Double Decker so you can keep cold food cold and hot food hot! (P.S. I love this pink one!)

DOubleDeckerLunchbox

This simple insulated lunch bag has all kinds of fun print patterns for kids to pick from. The price is great too!

Pattern lunchbox

Or let your kids choose from these fun varieties of insulated zip up bags!

IceCreamLunchbox

PlanesLunchbox

Would you like to make this Master List of Simple Lunchbox Ideas even simpler?

Sign up here* to receive the entire Master List of Simple Lunchbox Ideas in a free downloadable document! Then you can keep it handy on your computer or print it and put it on your fridge as a super handy reference! You’ll also receive our free Master Lunch, Breakfast, and Snack lists!

*If you’re already on our email list, go ahead and sign up with your email list anyway. This makes it easier for me to get the list to you and you won’t receive double email. You’ll be automatically redirected to a page with the free lists to download!

What are your favorite foods to add to a lunchbox?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

All the Groceries I Bought for the Beginning of the School Year (Brace Yourself)

by 10 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Stocking up is one thing. This time I think I might have gone just a tiny bit crazy. Are you ready to see all the groceries I thought I surely must have to help us survive the beginning of the school year?

groceries august2

Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

I have decided that I got into this crazy BUY ALL THE FOOD mode for three reasons:

  1. My boys had been at church camps or mission trips a good part of the summer and I had not purchased many groceries for the past three months. I was making up for lost time, perhaps? Or maybe I had gone through withdrawal and needed a bulk grocery fix.
  2. I had a chance to go to Lincoln where there is an Aldi. I had to stock up on all my Aldi favorites to help get me through until the next time I have a chance to go there.
  3. I seem to think that if I can have every single food item in stock at my house, I can more easily get through the first couple of weeks of school. Apparently Geometry is more fun when there is plenty of spaghetti sauce in the house.

groceries august4

Most of my thinking is logical, I believe. I have been doing this Fall Semester thing for how many years now? Sixteen? The fall doesn’t just bring the start of school. It also brings soccer season in which my husband is gone much of the time because he is assistant coach of our local college team. The older boys ref games, and our youngest plays on two teams. The fall is simply BUSY and if I can just have enough tuna on hand, then all of life will be easier.

Sure, I live five minutes from a grocery store. But I live three seconds from my storage room that houses all the tuna, so I’d rather go there on a busy day.

Well, speaking of tuna, I bought 24 cans. But after all the buying and loading and unloading, I found myself not particularly excited about setting up a tuna photo-shoot. I think we can all agree that tuna stacked on a table is not terribly thrilling to see. So I left them in the bags under the bagels. Be amazed.

groceries august5

If you think 24 cans of tuna is excessive (it’s not), you might be even more impressed that I got 24 packages of cream cheese. Dude, I was at Aldi and they were only $0.79 each. I will likely not make it back to Aldi for a couple of months, so I filled a cooler. With cream cheese. Who wants to be my best friend now?

groceries august3

The most fun grocery event of this month was definitely the day my Amazon Subscribe and Save order arrived. The bill for this order was not pretty, though I did get good deals on each case I ordered.

groceries august8

groceries august9

Pasta for days. And also Kleenex.

Here’s what I got this time around:

  • Bearitos Organic Tortilla Chips
  • Individual Nut Pouches
  • Muir Glen Pizza Sauce
  • Stubbs BBQ Sauce
  • Delallo Whole Wheat Pasta – Gemelli, Spaghetti noodles, and Elbows
  • Walnut Acres Baked Beans
  • Nature’s Gate Natural Toothpaste
  • 2 Cases of Kleenex (there’s a coupon!)
  • Case of Quilted Northern TP

TIP! If you want to be kept up to date on great Amazon deals I find, sign up to be a member of our Savings Club. It’s free!

groceries august17

If you’re hungry and you know it, clap your hands. I think it is clear that no one will starve at our house during the next few weeks, though you can be sure that we will go through this food faster than one thinks should be reasonable.

Your Turn! Tell me about the crazy things you do before a school year starts!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Hashbrown Casserole (Instructions for Instant Pot, Crock Pot, or Oven!)

by 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Hooray! Simple Hashbrown Casserole is my first (of many?!) Instant Pot recipes to share. But guess what else?

instant pot hashbrown casserole2

I’m well aware that not everyone has an Instant Pot, so I’m also providing instructions for baking this in an oven. Not only that, because there are times we might need a slower cooking option (like, if we need to get dinner started, then head out to ball games, then come home to a cooked meal) – so I’m also including Crock Pot cooking instructions!

As best I can, I will provide all these options each (or most of the) time I share an Instant Pot recipe. Here’s a quick glance at cooking times for this Simple Hashbrown Casserole so you can make your best plan on the day you make this.

Cook Time Options for Simple Hashbrown Casserole

Instant Pot: 15 minutes
Oven: 1 hour
Crock Pot: 3-6 hours, depending on low or hi setting

instant pot hashbrown casserole

You need just five ingredients to make this recipe! One of the ingredients is this Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix, which I love to have on hand at all times. Another ingredient is cooked meat. This time I made hamburger meat in my Instant Pot and I can’t wait to tell you about it! This is the easiest meat-cooking method there is – and possibly my “if you get an Instant Pot for no other reason, this is it!” shout out. I’ll share about this meat-cooking method soon!

You might remember a variation of this new simple recipe: Bacon Ranch Hashbrown Casserole. You can most certainly make that recipe in your Instant Pot or Crock Pot following these instructions! And if you don’t love the “ranch” flavor this calls for, simply sub it out for any spices you like! Truly this recipe is most forgiving, and allows you to make it with any meat you prefer or have on hand, so you can create it to your family’s taste!

And then there’s the variety of cooking methods that allow you to make this no matter how busy your day, so I think we can all agree that this recipe wins the “Cooks Choice Award!”

Simple Hashbrown Casserole

Simple Hashbrown Casserole (Instructions for Instant Pot, Crock Pot, or Oven!)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 pound cooked meat (hamburger, ham, bacon, sausage, or any of your choosing!)
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar or Colby jack cheese
  • 3 cups sour cream
  • 3 Tablespoons Ranch Dressing Mix
  • 1 bag of frozen shredded hashbrowns
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together cooked meat, shredded cheese, sour cream, and ranch dressing mix.
  2. Fold in frozen hashbrowns until all ingredients are well combined.
  3. Instant Pot Method: Add ½ cup water to the bottom of the Instant Pot before adding remaining ingredients. Cook for 15 minutes on manual mode, hi pressure.
  4. Oven Baking: Bake uncovered in a 350° oven for 45-60 minutes or until casserole is lightly browned and bubbly.
  5. Crock Pot Method: Cook on low for 6 hours or on hi for 3 hours.

Simple Hashbrown Casserole (for Instant Pot, Crock Pot, or Oven)

More Simple Recipes

728x90

Join Simple Meals

Make life even simpler when you sign up to receive our weekly Menu Planning Packets. One tiny price, loads of weekly help. Read about this and sign up here!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe for FREE to Heavenly Homemakers so you won’t miss all the new Simple Recipes and ideas we share to save you money!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

6 Unexpected Blessings I’ve Experienced Thanks to Javita Drinks

by 12 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I’ve been drinking Javita drinks (coffee and flavored waters) for well over a month now and I’d like to share the unexpected results I’ve noticed! It took about one week of drinking some of these every single day for me to experience this…

javita products snapshot2

1) I don’t have to eat every two hours anymore.

For my entire life, as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with feeling crummy and light headed if my stomach starts to get empty. I’ve never, ever been able to eat breakfast then feel fine until lunch time. But since I started drinking Javita (and I give the credit to the Fiber drink for this), I have shocked myself by not even thinking about food for several hours after breakfast! Who even am I? It’s like I’m finally…normal? Nah, that’s probably taking it too far. ;)

javita

2) I don’t turn into a zombie at 9:00 at night.

I thought it was a fluke the first night we had people at our house until 10:30 pm and I was still enjoying the conversation and completing my sentences! Before, my energy always ran out by 7:00 pm and after 9:00 I was pretty much worthless. But after a week of drinking the Burn + Control coffee every morning and the Energy + Mind coffee every afternoon (what can I say, I love their coffee!) I’ve found that I’m actually a functioning human well past my normal hour of passing out. It’s sooo nice!

3) I’ve lost some weight around my gut.

Even though Javita products brag that they help people lose weight, I didn’t start drinking them for that purpose and was instead excited to enjoy all the life-giving herbs infused into each drink! But then I started noticing that my pants were looser and let me see if I can explain this right…

My insides just feel lighter.

The thing about the detoxing herbs found in Javita coffee and tea is that they help cleanse the fatty cells that surround our organs. I am quite convinced that this has been happening and while I don’t carry around a lot of excess fat, I definitely knew I had some detoxing to do around my gut. This has been the most gentle detox I’ve ever experienced! And if my stomach is a little flatter too? Well, that’s pretty cool!

By the way, every single one of my friends that I’ve talked to here in and around my hometown who are drinking Javita have also been losing weight simply by drinking these healthy drinks. We are all kind of amazed! My weight loss leveled out after 3-5 pounds; those who have had more to lose continue to lose. I think at this point my body will continue to benefit by continually cleansing because of the healing herbs I’m feeding it through these drinks.

fiber

4) The Fiber+ drink has become my favorite.

I started out with this Javita business most excited to start drinking and sharing healthy coffee. But then I started drinking Fiber+ every morning (which tastes amazing, by the way!) and it’s been so incredible to help keep me regular (ehem) and keep my blood sugar regulated. I don’t want to ever be without Fiber for the great cleansing and leveling effects it’s had on me!

flex

5) Flex is incredible to help take away pain and stiffness.

I have been amazed at how well Flex works. I started drinking it after I’d been cooking at camp for 140 kids, 3 meals a day, standing on hard cement, lifting heavy boxes, etc. I was so sore by the middle of the week I could hardly move, yet I had to keep cooking for two more days! Matt had to run home from camp mid-week and found that our Javita box had been delivered. So he threw it in the van and hauled it back to camp. Thursday morning I made myself a Flex, drank it down, and was absolutely shocked that within 30-minutes I was able to move around normally and had no pain the entire day.

Like Fiber, I don’t want to ever be without Flex. Matt’s been drinking it every day to help with shoulder pain and the kids and I drink it any time our bodies are calling for a pain killer. This is going to come in so handy during soccer and basketball seasons!

defend

6) Defend works almost immediately.

Every time any one of us has the tiniest bit of a cough or a tickle in our throats, we drink a Defend. Elias (my 15-year old) said yesterday, “I just drank that and I already feel better. Weird.” It blows my mind how good these are, though it shouldn’t because the ingredients in every single one of these drinks is the best of the best, so of course they work!

I’m planning to give my oldest son a stash of Defend to keep in his dorm room because I’m very sure it will help keep his normally terrible fall allergies to a minimum. Can’t wait to see!

Are these Javita drinks organic?

I’ve been asked this quite a bit lately so I wanted to answer in full to all of you: All of the Javita drinks are better than organic. They are Kosher certified, fair trade, and GMO free. Even the “natural flavors” you’ll see listed in the sweet drink ingredients are pure fruit powders. Nothing is hidden in these. They are completely pure and good.

Too good to be true? I have been drinking them long enough to learn that they are everything they say they are. The are effective, healing, and as an added bonus…they are delicious. :)

Here are many more Frequently Asked Questions you might want to read through.

How to purchase Javita drinks

There are other ways of going about trying these and enjoying the perks of all Javita offers, but this is what we did at first and what I recommend so you can enjoy these and see what you think. Simply become a part of our Dollar Coffee Club:

  1. Click here to head over to our Dollar Coffee Club site.
  2. Click on the orange “Get Started” button.
  3. Click on the country where you live.
  4. Decide if you want to become a Member of the club, or simply a Customer —>

I highly recommend becoming a Club Member so that you can get your drinks for just $1 each (member price) and so that you can share the products with friends and family and make a little side money on boxes of drinks that they order.

You’ll get 2 boxes of coffee or tea to get you started as a Club Member. Then you can order boxes of all the drinks to your heart’s content and share them with others too!

HINT: When signing up to become a member, you’ll see that you can opt into a Club Connect App. Keep it if you like, but it comes with a $4.95/month fee and for that, I don’t feel it is worth it! I opted out of that one. :)

Become a Dollar Coffee Club Member or Customer!!

Give me a holler if you want more details about owning your own Javita Dollar Club. Or you can read more about it here.

Also let me know if you have any other questions or if you want help deciding which drinks might be best for your family’s needs!

Explore my Javita Dollar Coffee Club here.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!