Roasted Potatoes

I may have mentioned before that I haven't met a potato I didn't like. This was no exception.

I modified the recipe from McCormick's website.

I didn't have any of the seasoning's they suggested, so I improvised.
I also didn't add onion like they suggest. 

Here's what I did: 

• Preheat oven to 425 and spray a baking pan w/cooking spray. (I used a 9x13 Glass Pyrex.)
• Cut six red potatoes into bite-size cubes and put them into a gallon sized zip lock. 
• Dump the following ingredients into the bag w/the potatoes:
•  3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1.5 teaspoons Garlic Powder 
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoning Salt
• Sprinkle in some pepper. (I use McCormick's Peppercorn Medley.)

• Shake it all up until the potatoes are nicely coated and dump it into the prepared pan.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until golden to your liking. Stir occasionally. (I stirred about every 10-15 minutes.)

Throw it together with some chicken and asparagus and you have a le gourmet meal!

Basil Chicken Orzo Soup

Looking for a healthy, easy, comfort soup? Look no further. This recipe that came from "gimme some oven" is scrumpdilicious! I made some slight modifications.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced (I used 3 cubes of Dorot frozen garlic.)
• 8 cups good-quality chicken stock or broth
• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 bay leaves
• 5-6 fresh basil leaves, chopped (I used 3 cubes of Dorot frozen basil.)
• 1 cup dried orzo pasta

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a large cooking pot over medium-high heat.
• Add carrots, celery and garlic then stir for 60 seconds. 
• Stir in chicken stock, chicken, and bay leaves. 
• Let simmer for an hour (or 30 minutes if you're rushed). 
• Bring soup back to a boil.
• Add basil and orzo - cooking according to package directions. 

Yum! I have made it twice now and it's a dish K and I both like. 

It's a bit on the salty side as is so be sure to taste test before you add any salt! 

Also, if you have leftovers, be forewarned that the Orzo seems to soak up all the broth making it less soupy. K eats it as is, but I add a little water to mine before heating it up and it's fine. 

P.S. This recipe is Weight Watchers friendly!

6 Points Per Serving: 

Calories:  259

Carbs:  32

Fat:  3

Protien:  23

Crescent Pizza Rolls

These guys were ... interesting. At the same time, they had potential.

K first saw this recipe on Facebook. When I went to make them, of course I couldn't find the recipe of Facebook again and I knew Pinterest would have it. They did. I didn't find one that linked back to a particular blog so I don't really know who the proper credit should go to.

The recipe on Facebook was for a large family. There are only two of us, so I scaled it down quite a bit.

Ingredients:

• 1 can Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits
• Pepperoni Slices
• Jack cheese
• Cheddar cheese
• 1 beaten egg
• Parmesan, Italian Seasoning, Garlic Powder
• Pizza Sauce

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425*F
• Cut 10 smallish pieces of each cheese
• Flatten biscuit
• Put a couple pepperoni, the cheese, and a couple more pepperoni
• Fold biscuit around pepperoni and cheese
• Place face down in a 9x9 pyrex dish (I'm sure a pan would work, but I would spray it first)
• Repeat 9 more times
• Once they're all in the baking dish, lightly brush them with the egg
• Sprinkle with Parmesan, Italian Seasoning, and Garlic Powder
• Bake for 18-20 minutes
• Use pizza sauce for dipping

Sooo, these were Oh-Kay. I'm not sure I was a huge fan of the Italian Seasoning. If I were to do these again, I wouldn't use it. I also would have used mozzarella cheese. (I used what I had on hand.) I also think we had the buttery buttermilk biscuits which I think gave it a weird sweet kind of flavoring.

At the same time, I think these had potential. With the small changes I mentioned above and maybe using other ingredients like olives, or Hawaiian style ingredients, they could be better. I might make them again if my nieces or nephews were in town, but I doubt I will make the for K and me again.

Loaded Potato Slices

I never met a potato I didn't like and these were no exception.

Ingredients:

• Potato 
• Shredded cheese
• Bacon
• Green Onions
• Butter
• Olive oil

 Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375
• Rub the outside of the potato with a little olive oil
• Slice potatoes (try and get them all the same thickness - about 1/4 inch thick.)
• Brush both sides with melted butter
• Bake in for 30-40 minutes - flipping once (I did 40 minutes, 20 on each side.)
• Take potatoes out of the oven and add the toppings.
• Throw back in the oven for another 3 minutes or until cheese is melted

This recipe was modified from keyingredient.

I like options, so I served them with both sour cream and ranch dressing. The ranch dressing was definitely my preference. I threw in a little broccoli for a side so it felt more healthy than it really was.

The only thing I'd do different next time is spray the cookie sheet w/cooking spray because when I went to go flip the taters, they kind of stuck.

I LOVED these. I asked K what she thought and her response was, "They're ok... they're... different." Different?! They were delicious. I'm not sure where here taste buds grew up, but this is coming from a person that doesn't really like bacon. Who doesn't like bacon!!! LOL

Oven Bacon

Oops! Apparently I let this blog post without actually posting anything. Ha! Well, here's the content:

I LOVE bacon. Grew up loving bacon. I don't think anyone made bacon as perfect and delicious as my Dad made bacon!

As an adult, I have often longed for bacon, but have been to uuuhhh scared to make it. I always remember my Dad swearing when the bacon would pop and hot grease would splash on him. Not only that, but the weird disposal process of the bacon grease afterwards is just gross. Therefore, those two hang ups always prevented me from attempting to make bacon.

And then there was Pinterest. Pinterest told me I could make bacon in the oven. No hot grease splashing me and an easy clean up? I'm in!!

I tried this version first. Pretty simple - line baking sheet with foil - put bacon in oven and turn oven on to 400 (do not preheat) - bake for 16-20 minutes.
I checked it at 16 minutes and didn't think it was crispy enough so I put it in for another two. This is what happened:

Uuuhh - that's a little more crispy than I like. Thankfully, I had only used half the package of bacon so I had another batch to try this with. I searched Pinterest for a different "recipe" and found one on "Dinner by Pinterest".

I knew right away I would like this one better because it told me to flip the bacon half way through cooking it. Don't ask me why that made me feel better, but it did.

Again, really easy: Preheat oven to 350 - Lay bacon of a foil lined baking sheet - Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes (turning half way through) until desired crispiness achieved.

Muuuuuch better!!! It wasn't as good as my Dad's bacon was, but it was good enough! As a result, I made my first ever BLT!

It was freaking delicious! Although, next time I would definitely add more bacon and not toast the bread. I love the toasted bread, but it always tears up the roof of my mouth. Someone told me to try putting both pieces of bread in the same toaster slot so it only toasts one side of the bread. Pretty clever. I might give that a try next time.

Honey Chicken

This is a dish I have actually made a couple times before, but it had been a while. A while as in, I think this was one of the first recipes I tried out from Pinterest.

The original recipe came from "MMM...CAFE". She offers a crock pot and an oven version on her website. I have always done the oven version so that is what I am sharing with you here.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound chicken (of your choice) A pound works just fine.
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp chopped onion (or 1/2 Tbsp onion flakes)
• 1 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes I skip this part.

Directions:

• Dice chicken and season both sides with salt and pepper
• Place in 8x8 dish
• Pour sauce over chicken and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes.

I served mine over brown rice with a side of Edamame, which is like crack for me. It's a good mix of savory and sweet and good for leftovers.

Note: I didn't get this recipe from a Fibro cookbook, but I am tagging it as a Fibro recipe because it has a lot of the same ingredients that most of the Fibro recipes use. 

Chicken N Broccoli Stir Fry

I'm not sure I have shared with you that K has Fibromyalgia. It's a crappy disease to have and one of the things that is supposed to help it is the things you eat. K recently had a pretty gnarly flare up so we have been trying to do things a little different. This recipe is one of those things. I got it out of a book called, "The Fibromyalgia Cookbook." Clever name, I know.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast - cut into strips
• 1 head broccoli - cut into bite size pieces
• 2 carrots - cut into strips
• 1 large onion - cut into large slices
• 1  teaspoon sesame oil (optional because I didn't use it.)

Directions:

• Combine the soy sauce, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of chicken broth in a medium bowl. Add chicken to the broth mixture. I let this kind of marinate while I cut my veggies.
• Cook the chicken in a large nonstick skillet with the broth mixture for 5 minutes.
• Remove chicken with slotted spoon, leaving the liquid in the skillet.
• Add the broccoli, carrots, onion, and remaining broth. Cover and cook for 4 minutes.
• Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with oil and serve.

I served mine over brown rice. The flavor was good, but I would have liked more sauce and the sauce to coat the chicken and veggies more. The only other thing I would do different is more broccoli! Otherwise it was a tasty dish, and healthy!

 

Ravioli Bake

I got this recipe from a pin on Pinterest, of course. It comes from Tasty Kitchen.

This recipe is - by far - the most delicious easy recipe I have come across!!

Ingredients

• 1 bag (25 Oz. Bag) Frozen Ravioli
• 1 jar (26 Oz. Jar) Marinara Sauce (I used a 24oz and it was fine, but you can supplement the two missing ounces with tomato sauce if you wish.)
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese, For Sprinkling

   

Directions

• Heat oven to 400°F. Spray bottom and sides of a 9×13 rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.  
• Spread 3/4 cup of the pasta sauce in baking dish. Arrange half of the frozen ravioli in a single layer over the sauce; top with half of the remaining pasta sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese.
• Repeat layers once, starting with ravioli. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes longer or until bubbly and hot in the center. 
• Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.   
   

 For having such limited ingredients, it really was good! And not having to boil the ravioli first is an added bonus! Yum, people. Just yum.

Comfort Food Casserole

I have actually made this dish several times, but was nervous to blog it before now. Why would I be nervous to blog something? Well, because this dish is delicious. K loves it, I love it, the sister-in-law even loves it. But you see, there's this one ingredient in it that I thought if K found out about it, she wouldn't eat it anymore. LOL Assuming she reads my blog, I didn't want to share the recipe. I finally had to come clean the other day because she offered to make the dish. I wasn't about to turn down an offer for her to cook, so I came clean. We wont mention that she never got around to cooking it. Haha!

I got the recipe from Food.com

Ingredients:

• 3 cups idaho potatoes, peeled, boiled and cut into cubes when cool, approx. 1 lb
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 lb Velveeta cheese, diced <~ This is the ingredient I didn't want K to find out about. LOL
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 lb skinless smoked sausage (Eckrich is my favorite brand)
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika <~ I skip this part.

Directions:

1. Cut skinless smoked sausage in half, lengthwise, and then chop into 1/2 inch "half moon" cuts. Cook in a frying pan for about 15 minutes, turning frequently to SLIGHTLY brown.
2. Meanwhile, put cooked & diced potatoes in 2 quart casserole. Add cooked meat and give it a gentle 
3. Mix all remaining ingredients (except for shredded cheddar cheese & the paprika) in a saucepan over medium heat until warm, melted and smooth. (Use a whisk and stir constantly.).
4. Pour white/cheese sauce over potatoes and meat. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese on top, and then sprinkle paprika evenly over the top.
5. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 35-45 minutes (watch, until golden brown on top).

NOTE: You can substitute: 1/2 lb. hot dogs, sliced into 1/2-inch slices OR 1/2 lb. ham diced into 1/2-inch dices OR 12 oz. can of Spam diced into 1/2-inch dices, instead of the smoked sausage.

Healthy? Not so much. Delicious? Abso-freaking-lutely! Good as leftovers and freezes well if you're into that sort of thing. 

Chicken N Dumplin Soup

I absolutely LOVE Chicken N Dumplins. Our friends makes some that are to die for simply because they remind me of home. I don't really know why they remind me of home because I am not sure that I really recall my mom ever making them, but I guess they remind me of home in that they're just good ol' comfort food.

Anywho, K doesn't really like Chicken N Dumplins - she says because there's no veggies. So when I saw this recipe that had veggies in it, I thought I would give it a try.

There was no real adventure in this cooking. It went off without a hitch. Shocking, I know.

I am not really sure how this "soup" differs from the real other than the veggies, but the "soup" was surprisingly delish. (I am often surprised when something I make turns out good. LOL - will that ever go away?) And it was filling!

I was super skeptical with the biscuits... I didn't think they were going to be cooked right, but if I have learned one thing in cooking, it is to trust the process. So, I did and it paid off!

My only complaint? It's not as good as left overs. (Which I also think about real Chicken N Dumplins.) And if there's a next time, I would rather do a fresh veggie medley than used canned.

Chicken and Dumplin’ Soup
10 3⁄4-oz. can cream of chicken soup
4 c. chicken broth
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (I poached mine)
2 (15-oz.) cans mixed vegetables
12-oz. tube refrigerated biscuits, quartered (I halved the quarters and still cut them down when I was eating it)
Optional: pepper to taste

Combine soup and broth in a 6-quart stockpot; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking until smooth. Stir in chicken and vegetables; bring to a boil. 
Drop biscuit quarters into soup; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Let soup sit 10 minutes before serving.
Sprinkle each serving with pepper, if desired. Serves 6 to 8.

Recipe compliments of this blog.

Waffle Adventure

As you may or may not know, I got K a waffle iron for Christmas. I have been experimenting with waffle recipes - and by experimenting, I mean throwing a little cinnamon in or adding a little vanilla extract to the recipe on the side of the Bisquick box.

I found a couple different pins on Pinterest and when I pinned this pin claiming to be "The Best Waffles", my friend responded telling me that a recipe called "A Great Make-the-Morning-of Waffle" from Orangette blog were the best.

I am hesitant to make a waffle (or a pancake) with a recipe that doesn't use Bisquick because it is often my excuse to get out of having to make them. "Sorry, love, we're fresh out of Bisquick... How about and egg sandwich?" LOL

Anywho, I was feeling chipper and rather generous this morning so I thought, what they heck... why not? I check the cupboard for ingredients and we have everything except Corn Starch. Off to the store I go.

I get home and this is where the adventure begins. I start pulling the ingredients out of the cabinet and putting them on the counter... Sugar - check. Vanilla - check. Baking soda and powder - check, check. Flour - Check. Damnit! Hidden behind the flour was a box of corn starch. I didn't have to go to the store after all. (When I pulled it off the shelf, I discovered it had expired so it wasn't a totally wasted trip.)

I start measuring and throwing the ingredients in the bowl. I get to the buttermilk part, check the date on the carton - expired. Ugh! It's only a couple days past the expiration, maybe its OK. I open it up and sniff it out. *GAG* Definitely ripe smelling and visibly chunky. Gross.

Welp, I hope it works with a whole cup of whole milk instead of the 1/2 cup of buttermilk the recipe called for. :o\

Pour in the last ingredient, and check the recipe to see what's next. Well, obviously, I was to whisk the ingredients together. However, apparently I was supposed to whisk the powdered stuff together first and then whisk again after I added the liquid stuff. *Sigh* Guess I should have read the directions first.

So, I figure I better read the rest of the directions just in case there's any surprises in the rest of the process and low and behold - there was. "Set aside to rest for 30 minutes." What?! Rest? Why does waffle batter need to rest?!

"Well," I say, "How bout a granola bar to hold over your hunger for 30 minutes while the batter rests?!"

I thought I had learned my lesson in reading the recipe/instructions all the way through. Apparently not. Either way, they turned out pretty amazing. I am not a huge waffle fan so I don't know that I am the best candidate to deem them the "best" waffle.

They were most definitely better than the Bisquick waffles. I really liked the crispy quality of them. The recipe doesn't yield much. It made about 3.5 for us which is perfect for just the two of us, but if you want some to freeze or to snack on later, I recommend doubling the batch. Like I said, I am not a huge fan of waffles so I usually only have one. This time, I kind of wanted two.

A Great Make-the-Morning-of Waffle
Adapted slightly from the “Waffle of Insane Greatness” recipe

This waffle works in any kind of waffle maker.

¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. table salt
1 ½ tsp. sugar
½ cup whole milk
½ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil, such as canola
1 large egg, lightly beaten
¾ tsp. vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Whisk well. Add the milk, buttermilk, vegetable oil, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk to blend well, so that few (if any) lumps remain. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat a waffle iron. Follow your waffle maker’s instruction manual for this, but my guess is that you’ll want to heat it on whatever setting is approximately medium-high. My waffle maker has a heat dial that runs from 1 to 7, and I turned it to 5. There’s no need to grease the waffle maker.

Pour an appropriate amount of batter into your hot waffle maker: this amount will vary from machine to machine, and you should plan to use your first waffle as a test specimen. Cook until golden and crisp.

Yield: depends on the size and configuration of your waffle iron

Crock Pot Taco Chili

Well, hello strangers! Have you missed me? I have missed you. 

I am still adjusting to my new job. I am used to having a lax work environment where I could just blog from work (on my breaks, of course. Psh.) and my new job is literally no internet, no email, no phones, etc while on the floor. I mean, I get it... we need our attention to be on saving lives, not surfing the net, but it's tough to find time to blog from home. And really, by "finding time" I mean finding the desire to want to take the time to turn on the computer, format pictures, down load pics and all the other fun stuff it takes to post a blog. Not to mention that I work from 9:45am to 8:00pm. I feel like my entire day is at work. I wake up, come home, eat dinner, unwind a bit by watching bad TV (since baseball is over GO GIANTS!!!!!!), and go to bed. Where is the time for blogging in there? ;o) 

Whatever, I am here now and that's what really matters. Just because I haven't been blogging, doesn't mean the projects have been lacking. One of the things I have been up to is making some chili. Taco Chili to be exact. It's a recipe I used to make all the time, but I haven't made it for a few years. 

Ingredients

• 1lb ground beef (or turkey or fake meat/crumble) - browned and drained
• 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can corn - undrained
• 1 can black beans - undrained
• 1 can kidney beans - undrained
• 1 packet Ranch dressing mix
• 1 packet taco seasoning (I used the less sodium)
• 1 small onion - chopped
• Fritos (or any tortilla chip)
• Shredded cheese
• Sour cream

Directions

• Combine all ingredients except shredded cheese, sour cream, and Fritos in slow cooker and give it a stir.
• Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. 
• Garnish individual servings with chips, cheese, and sour cream.

This is yummolicious! :o) Now if we could just convince the beautiful So Cal weather to take some time off so we can enjoy some cooler fall temps, we'll be perfect! :o)

That's all I have for you this round. I have other recipes and projects to share, but not today... probably not tomorrow... maybe this weekend. We'll see. Just be patient with me. Hopefully, I will get my groove back soon.

Not So Skinny Poolside Dip

This recipe is effing YUM-MY!

I originally found the recipe on Pinterest, of course. The pin said it was called "Skinny Poolside Dip" because they used fat free cream cheese. Ummmm... NO WAY! I love cream cheese waaayyyy too much to do it fat free if I don't have to.

Here's my version of the recipe:

• 18 oz cream cheese (softened)
• 1 can diced chiles, drained
• 1 red bell pepper (I didn't use the entire bell pepper)
• Diced black olives, drained
• 1 can of corn, drained
• 1 packet Ranch Dip Dressing

Mix all the ingredients together. The end.

As if. This is me we're talking about. It wouldn't be me if I didn't have some cheffing disaster.

OK, so I got home from the store about 7:30pm with the cream cheese. Since I needed it soft, I didn't put the cream cheese in the fridge. It was about 10:30pm when I finally got around to making the dip. 3 hours should be long enough to "soften", in fact, I was kind of wondering if the cream cheese would still be OK to eat. I was wrong... at least about the cream cheese being soft.

I put the cream cheese in the bowl, added the Ranch packet and attempted to stir. It wasn't going well... Hmmm... what can I do?A potato masher? I don't think so. A fork? No, that wont work either. I know! The mixer! Well, loyal readers... let me just tell you, the mixer was NOT the way to go. As you can see from the picture, all it really did was cake all the cream cheese in the mixing sticks. :o|

Once I scraped the cream cheese from the mixers and decided to add the rest of the ingredients... maybe they will somehow make it easier to mix... and it did. :o) (Either that or the mixers actually softened it up.)

I refrigerated it over night and served it up poolside the next afternoon with some Wheat Thins. It was quite a hit. We kept having to put the lid back on it so we could control ourselves and not gobble it up in 5 minutes. It was delicious and I absolutely recommend this recipe!!!!

Peach Treat

This was a tasty, refreshing little treat but waaaay too much for my family of two. Next time I will definitely half the recipe.

Of course I screwed up the recipe. SMH, I really don't know how I manage sometimes! LOL Check out A Little Tipsy for the original recipe. Below is how mine turned out. It went a little something like this:

Photo borrowed from A Little Tipsy

Ingredients

•  2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 pkg graham crackers, crushed
• 1/3 cups oats
• 7-8 large peaches 
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice 
•  Cool Whip 

Directions

• Mix graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, oats, and butter together. Put a layer in the bottom of your pan, saving some to sprinkle on top. 
• Mix the lemon juice with the can of sweetened condensed milk. Pour over the peaches and mix until peaches are coated. 
• Pour peach mixture into pan over crust. 
• Top with Cool Whip
• Sprinkle with left over crust mixture. 

Mine looked more like this one.
Photo borrowed from A Little Tipsy

So the original recipe called for whipping cream, I am assuming to make your own whipped topping. My oversight of that ingredient and getting Cool Whip instead is sort of comical. It was probably a Freudian slip. See, I love Cool Whip. I have ever since I was a kid. If we have it, I will sneak a spoon full from time to time and have even been known to have a bowl of it like ice cream. I LOVE it.

Anyway, it turned out fine. I assume not much different than the original recipe. The lemon was a little overbearing on the first day, but seemed to have not been as bad the second day. It doesn't have a very long shelf life so either eat it fast or prepare it for when you are planning to have company.

CrockPot Pot Roast Success!

I originally saw this recipe over at my good friend's blog, Teenah's Projects.

I have not had the most success with these CrockPot recipes. Most of the time they're too salty or the chicken has a weird texture - it's always something. I had kind of sworn off the Crock unless it was a soup recipe. Not really sure what made me try this recipe, especially since it wasn't really a hit at Teenah's house, but I am glad I tried it.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbsp EVOO
• Pot Roast (2-5 lbs)
• 1 Envelope Brown Gravy
• 1 Envelope Ranch Dressing (I used about half a packet)
• 1 Envelope Italian Dressing (I used about half a packet)
• Potatoes (I used red potatoes)
• Baby Carrots
• 1.5 cups water

I have never cooked a roast before and don't really do much with red meat so as I stood in the meat aisle of the store, I realized I had no clue what to buy, so I phoned a friend - or rather, my mom. We decided on a chuck roast. While talking to my mom, she said it would be better to coat the meat in flour and brown it. The original recipe doesn't say to do that, so I suppose that step is optional. 

Directions

• Heat EVOO on medium heat.
• Mix the flour and pepper and coat meat.
• Brown meat on both sides. 
• While browning the meat, put enough baby carrots to cover the bottom of the Crock. Cut up potatoes and throw them on top of the carrots. I just eyeballed the amount.
• Mix together the enveloped seasonings and sprinkle a small layer over the carrots and potatoes. 
• Place the meat on top of the carrots and potatoes and sprinkle the rest of the seasonings over the meat. 
• Pour water over meat.
• Cook on high for the 1st two hours, turning the meat over after an hour. 
• Cook on low for another 5 hours. (The original recipe says to cook on low for 6-10 hours, but I had a think chunk of meat so I turned it up a bit to ensure we weren't eating dinner at 10pm.)

I  immediately doubted that this was going to turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a little bland, so perhaps I withheld too much of the Ranch and Italian seasonings, but I have had this combo before and it ended up super salty so I was hesitant to use the full amounts as suggested.

Overall it was delish and the only thing it was missing was warm French bread slathered with butter to sop up the extra sauce. I will definitely make this again when the weather gets colder. :o)

Fake Mac n Cheese

I had the night off from my other job yesterday and even though I was tired and wanted to take the evening to relax, I also wanted to cook something new. Cooking new things make me happy. I learn something new and there's always an excitement of sorts to see how the recipe will come out. I think that it's important to still push myself to do these kind of things despite my exhaustion because all work and no play makes me a dull girl - and a grumpy one.

When I polled Facebook for recipe suggestions, I got some great ideas. I wanted to make them all, but one in particular stood out for me, simply because it had only 4 ingredients. Easy! Not to mention less to pick up from the store.

The lucky winner came from Ms. Domezio and it was Baked Tortellini, which I am going to call Fake Mac n Cheese. There's nothing fake in it, but it was super easy and reminded me of homemade Mac n Cheese, so I am going with that. The directions from the link above is for some fancy TurboChef oven where it cooks stuff faster, so my cooking directions have been modified for a regular oven. 

Ingredients:

• 20 oz of Cheese Tortellini
• 15 oz Alfredo Sauce (My jar was like 16.8 oz - I used the whole jar.)
• 8 oz Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
• Prosciutto (I don't trust this kind of meat so I used about a cup of Rotisserie Chicken because I am lazy.)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Prepare Tortellini according to the instructions on the package.
• Prep meat to put into dish.
• Pour 1/4 cup of Alfredo sauce in the bottom of your dish to coat the bottom. (I used an 8 x 8 Pyrex, the original recipe says to use a 1" deep ceramic or Pyrex dish.)
• Drain pasta and return to pot (removed from heat). 
• Pour remainder of Alfredo sauce over the pasta. 
• Add the meat of your choice. 
• Stir it all together. 
• Pour into baking dish.
• Top with 8oz of Mozzarella making sure Tortellini is fully covered with Cheese.
• Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes; or until cheese is golden to your liking. 

Review:
This dish was AWESOME! Pair it with a green veggie of some sort, or a salad, and garlic bread and you have a gourmet meal that was fast, easy and fairly cheap! The only thing I will change next time is I might layer the cheese. I think the cheese is what made this dish so good and there were bites of pasta without the cheese so next time, I might layer the cheese, possibly even use more.

Sketti Saturday

So what that I made this recipe Wednesday night, ate it Thursday night for dinner, and am calling it Sketti Saturday. I'm scheduling this blog to post on Saturday, so it works.

So what that I am writing this blog when I only had one bite to taste test so that I could write the blog.

So what that maybe I should have called the blog "So What" instead of Sketti Saturday.

So what.

Moving on...

I posted earlier about how I am making lots of casseroles and one of my loyal readers, aka good friend LisaBella, gave me lots of links to recipes. One of them being Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole from the blog "Plain Chicken". Then my friend Ms. Rink from Bows and Leopard pinned it. I felt like the food gods were giving me a sign that it should be my next cheffing adventure. And so it was.

Ingredients:

•  12 oz spaghetti - I used linguini because it's what we had... which is odd because I have never even cooked linguini in my life!
• 1 (28 ounce) jar prepared spaghetti sauce - Seriously? This annoyed me to no end. Pasta comes in 16 oz packages, recipes always call for 12 oz. Pasta sauce? The most I found in a jar was 24 oz. It's a conspiracy, I tell you. I ended up buying the mondo jar of Ragu and literally measured 28 oz.
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 clove garlic, minced - I use frozen garlic cubes (see photo on right) and I used 3 of them. I like garlic. A lot.
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated - I eyeballed. Is 1/2 a cup really enough cheese to cover a 9x13 dish? I think not. 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

In a skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through; drain fat and stir in spaghetti sauce.  Set aside.

Cook spaghetti according to directions on packet.  Drain and place cooked spaghetti in bowl.  Add cream cheese, Italian Seasoning and minced garlic.  Stir until cream cheese is melted and the spaghetti is thoroughly coated.

Lightly grease a 9x13" pan.  Spread a small amount of meat sauce in the bottom of the dish.  Put spaghetti on top of sauce and top with remaining meat sauce.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

Review:  From the one bite I had, this bad boy is delicious! I will definitely have this be a regular in our recipe rotation!