Life Happens

As I sit here on January 31st, I realize I have not made anything in my crock pot for one week. The hubby has been gone for two weeks. Had I known that he would be gone half of January when I started 30 Days of Fun I would not have chosen Crock Pot for the first 30 days. With him gone I find myself not cooking and to be honest I have only gone to the grocery store once in the last couple weeks. I typically go about two times a week when he is home and I cook a lot! I found myself skipping the crock pot as I was not wanting to make the large portions of food for myself and most the time the kids won't eat it. I make them but the fight was not worth it! So now that I have made all the excuses in the book!! It is time to rave on the dishes I did get a chance to make this month. My top three in no particular order were the Bacon Potato Soup, Chicken Tortilla Soup and Blueberry Dump Cake. I will be making these again many times over.

So I am so excited for the crock pot fun to be OVER! I want to put the crock pot away and hide it in my cupboard for a bit. I apologize I have not been motivated these past couple weeks. Life took over! So this next month I am not going to promise to blog daily or do something daily. For me this is likely impossible! Because life will take over! I am going to have a general theme throughout each month. So stay tuned for tomorrow when I reveal February's 30 Days of Fun. Again I am thrilled to say good-bye to the crock pot. If you want to continue the fun check out A Year of Slow Cooking, http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ More power to this blogger who has the motivation to use her crock pot all year long!!

Crock Pot Spaghetti

We love spaghetti in our house and I wanted to do an easy quick meal today for the kids and me. So I added a jar of pre-maid sauce to my crock pot (make sure to rinse the jar with a little water to get all the sauce out), a can of corn, about 3/4 cup water and spaghetti noodles. Before I added the noodles I poured boiling water over them and let them sit for 5 minutes. I didn't want the noodles to be done because they will get mushy in the crock pot. So they were just flexible enough and cooked very well in the crock pot. I cooked on low about 3 hours. The last 15 minutes I added shredded cheese. This was easy and fabulous! YUMMY!

Egg and Cheese Bake

I didn't sleep well last night. This is one of the downfalls with having hubby away. I worry more and sleep less. So this morning I got up at 6:30, I could not toss and turn anymore. I put together this Egg and Cheese Bake, another recipe from Fix-it and Forget-It, and was excited to have brunch with the kids.

3 cups toasted bread crumbs 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese fried, crumbled bacon or ham chunks (optional: I left it out) 6 eggs beaten 3 cups milk 3/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper

Combine bread, cheese and meat in greased slow cooker. Mix together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour over bread. Cook on low 4-6 hours (NOTE I COOKED ONLY 3.5 HOURS AND IT WAS STARTING TO BURN)

OK, so here is my input, I am not a huge egg fan. I wouldn't even eat eggs until I was about 24 and now I prefer scrambled so this may not have been a very good dish to make with out my husband here. I think he would have liked this. I compare it to a quiche, which I am not fond of. I didn't even attempt to feed this to the kids I knew they wouldn't eat it. So if you like eggs and quiche this is an easy crock pot breakfast but if you don't, then skip this one. Have a great Saturday everyone and happy crock potting!

Blueberry Dump Cake

I have been a crock pot slacker. My husband is gone and to be honest I have no motivation to cook in my crock pot. First most of the recipes make so much food that there is no way the kids and I would be able to eat it all. Well today I decided to pull myself out of my slump and cook some yummy dessert. I was craving blueberries so I used Google and came accross this yummy recipe. Ok now that you have scrolled down and seen the recipe, yes I know it is pretty much Cherry Delight....I know I can't trick you all. Oh well this is just as good as the Cherry Delight. I do have to admit I ate a little and passed the rest off to my friend. I hope her and her family loved it as much as me.

1 21 oz. can blueberry pie filling 1 package yellow cake mix 1/2 C. butter 1/2 C. chopped walnuts (optional: I left this off)

DIRECTIONS: Place pie filling in the slow cooker. Combine dry cake mix and butter, sprinkle over filling. Sprinkle the walnuts on top of that. Cover and cook on low for 2 - 3 hours. Serve warm in bowls. Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

UGH Another Disaster!

With my hubby leaving tomorrow at 3am for 3 weeks making dinner was the last thing on my mind. Our family enjoyed a day of fun: video games, errands and we ventured out to see The Spy Next Door. But before we left I put some frozen chicken in the crock pot and added a bottle of Sweet and Sour sauce. We got home and I decided to add rice and some water. I thought if this works it will be brilliant and tasty! Anyways at about 3:30 the Terminex guy calls and wants to do a termite inspection. It is free so I said sure come on over. With the spiders around here Terminex sprays every few months so I do trust them. With a strange little man walking around my home (thank God hubby is still here), I was also making phone calls to have our heater fixed, roof fixed and an electrician to repair a couple outlets. Oh the joy of home ownership...everything seems to break at once! A long story short, I forgot about the crock pot....the rice burned and the chicken was DRY. I don't have much luck doing poultry in the crock pot. Is there something wrong with my poultry skills? Hmmm something to ponder as I wait an hour and a half for the pizza guy to get here. Others must also have had issues with their dinner tonight!

McCormick Crock Pot Spices

I am really opening up this blog for opinions on these spices. Tonight I tried the Beef Stroganoff. My husband said he prefers the way I make my non crock pot stroganoff. I am not fond of stroganoff but make it for my husband. This was a meal my mom made quite often when I was growing up and I think I got tired of it. But I actually liked the McCormick spice better than my own recipe. So yes I did enjoy it. The recipe called for beef tip but I used ground beef. My daughter actually ate it too so it is kid friendly because she is VERY picky! Have you tried any of the other McCormich Crock Pot Spices? If so which ones and where they any good?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls...REMIXED

One of my favorite Christmas treats are Peanut Butter Balls. After making dozens over the holidays I didn't quite feel like making them the traditional way. I called on my crock pot for a remix of one of my favorites! So tasty!

1/2 stick butter (1/4cup), 1 cup peanut butter, 1 t. vanilla, 2 cup powdered sugar, Chocolate almond bark

Turn Crock pot on low. Put butter, peanut butter and chocolate almond bark in crock pot. Cover and cook on low 30-60 minutes stirring occasionally. When mixture is completely melted add vanilla and powdered sugar. Mixture will be lumpy and you will see some powdered sugar. Remove pot from cooking element. The mixture will be warm and keeping it in the pot will keep the mixture from hardening. Roll into balls and dust with powdered sugar. Let cool on wax paper. Enjoy!