Tag Archives: cooker

Food, Frugal Finds

Kids Eat Free

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Tonight Holden ate FREE at Casa Aspiras.

Our Target recently underwent the {fresh food upgrade} and we’ve gotten a couple free coupons to come and check it out. I’m in there at LEAST once a week so why not grab some free eggs and a free box of Kraft mac n cheese, right? Those two are staples in our house.

Holden chose the Perry The Platypus mac n cheese and that was his dinner ~ almost the whole box. Done.

Elliott had leftover Thai food and leftover jasmine rice. Done.

Jay and I sampled some Pasta Fagioli {recipe coming soon} that I made and polished off the baby backs from last night!

For our anniversary dinner I made Mel’s slow cooker baby back ribs.

The best baby backs I ever had were in OKC while there on business about 8 or 9 years ago. I’ll never forget them. Because of those ribs I have to ask at every restaurant, “Do your baby backs fall off the bone? I mean really, literally FALL off the bone? If not, I will send them back!” If I sense any hesitation from the waiter, I will order something else. That is how serious I am about my ribs. I have never made them in a slow cooker, but figured if I did them on low for 8 hours they couldn’t help but separate from the bone….and that is exactly what they did! The sauce is a cherry dijon BBQ sauce and it couldn’t be easier to prepare. We will be making these LOTS more ~ thanks, Mel!

We paired these up with some blue cheese mashed potatoes {3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed and boiled until fork tender. Melt some butter [4 tsp] and a small carton of whipping cream [1 cup? the teeny tiny one] in a sauce pan and add that to the potatoes after draining. Pour in about half to 3/4 container blue cheese with some salt & pepper and mix with a hand mixer or low on your Kitchenaid until blended and creamy} and some boring steamed broccoli.

For dessert, I made one of Jay’s and my all-time favorites, tiramisu. This was a first for me to actually make and I was petrified because there are all kinds of raw eggs going on in this dish, but we lived to tell about it.

I followed this recipe.

It was magnificent. Don’t let the raw eggs scare you…I would not feed it to the kiddos or anyone that has an compromised immune system just to be on the safe side.

We may have had some tonight, too, and it is better the longer it sits….so I’ve heard. 😉

*****

This is a fancy dinner {the ribs not the Perry the Platypus mac n cheese} that you can literally enjoy on a weeknight. Stick the ribs in the crock pot in the morning and they’ll be ready by din din. The mashed potatoes can be made a day ahead or over the weekend and keep well in the ‘fridge for a couple days. They reheat really well. And the broccoli, that’s just there so you don’t feel too guilty about the tiramisu, but you could substitute any veggie or a green salad for that if you’re not a fan.

Happy Monday, friends. I hope your weekend was fabulous.

Tomorrow I will be announcing a little giveaway which is a bundle of some of my favorite things…stay tuned!

Nighty night.

Food, Friends, Fun

Darlings, Driving, Daydreaming & Dips

Our Sunday was filled with all things {d}ivine…

A sweet shower to welcome Baby Halle.

How {d}arling is this pic of the new peanut and her beautiful mommy, Jennene:

Watching E & H tear up and down the street in the neighbor kids’ Escalade:

{D}riving

Holdy decided to take a break from behind the wheel and {d}aydream:

Finally, I made my first ever French {D}ips:

Like my old school Crock Pot from 1926?

A stainless steel upgrade is on my wish list…..

I did little mini slider-type ‘wiches:

The au jus turned out flavorful enough, but we decided to add a little heat:

This recipe couldn’t be easier…

Slow Cooker French Dips

It was another {d}elicious weekend ~ in more ways than one.

Food

Oops!

It was 2:50 this afternoon and it dawned on me that I had NO idea what I was serving for dinner tonight! I’ve been trying to cut back and eat early so I can go running and do my evening workouts, but, ahem, I still need to feed my husband and children, right? Oops!

Hmmm, what do I have on-hand that I can whip up? I’ve been overloading Jay with ground turkey for the past several nights so I pulled out the frozen chicken tenders, found a small can of corn, some black beans and a jar of Trader Joe’s pineapple salsa in the pantry! Throw all this in a crock pot, put on low for about 3 hours and you have a yummy filling for some soft flour tortillas!

I don’t even know what to call this recipe other than GOOD & EASY….maybe I’ll just call it “Good & Easy Southwestern Crock Pot Chicken”. Jay jokingly says that anything with black beans and corn is “southwestern”, so there you have it!

I do need to run to the store and get the tortillas and shredded cheese. I like to use the small fajita size flour tortillas for these tacos, but of course you could make burritos out of the filling or use crispy corn shells. I prefer mine topped with a little shredded cheese, light sour cream, an avocado slice, cilantro and a squeeze of lime!

So…..if you’re ever in a bind, keep this stuff in your cupboards and you can whip up dinner in a jiffy:

I used about 6 little tenderloins…after about 3 hours on low, you’ll be able to shred the chicken with 2 forks, mix it up and let it warm through for a bit. Then you’re ready to load up your tortillas and GRUB!

This is what the mixture looks like after you shred the chicken:

This is what your taco/burrito looks like all assembled:

And this is what it looks like after you’ve taken a couple bites and are in love:

One more thing…I suggest draining the corn and draining and rinsing the beans. It turns out too runny otherwise.