Happy St. Patrick's Day

I couldn't pass up a chance to make a Irish themed dinner! I love Ruben Sandwiches, so I had already put that on this week's menu, and thought why not make my own corned beef the day before. I found this very highly rated recipe and loved that it used a crock pot.

Corned Beef & Cabbage

1 medium onion, cut into wedges
4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 pound baby carrots
3 cups water
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 pounds corned beef brisket with spice packet, cut in half
1 small head cabbage, cut into wedges

Place the onion, potatoes and carrots in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Combine water, garlic, bay leaf, sugar, vinegar, pepper and contents of spice packet; pour over the vegetables. Top with brisket and cabbage. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until the meat and vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Source: allrecipes.com

Jinxed Meatloaf

I hadn't done a crock pot recipe for a while, so we picked this one to try. Sunday night I mixed it together, gingerly placed it in my crock pot liner, and put it in the fridge. Scott is in charge of starting the crock pot the next morning. Well as fate would have it, somehow the temperature setting was turned to "Keep Warm" instead of "Low." I'm fairly sure it would have taken a good 25 hours to cook the loaf at that rate. As luck would have it, I happened to run home at lunch, which I don't normally do, and popped the setting up to low. I figured it wouldn't matter much since we normally eat dinner late. Everything was cooking happily until sometime in the afternoon during a thunderstorm, our power went out. When the power finally came back on around 6:30pm, I finally said to hell with it and threw the meat loaf in the oven. Surprisingly it turned out very moist and tasty, considering its rocky cooking time.

Crock Pot Meatloaf

2 lbs lean ground beef
2 eggs
2/3 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup ketchup

Reserve 2 T. ketchup. Combine ground beef, eggs, oats, soup mix and remaining ketchup. Shape into loaf and put into crock pot. Top with remaining ketchup. Cover, cook on low 8 - 10 hours.

Source: Rival

Crock Pot Carnitas!

I love using my crock pot on Mondays. After what always seems like a long day, it is nice to open the front door and smell dinner waiting for me! Today I modified a few recipes to create these tacos, and they were delicious! The fresh salsa on top is delicious and was inspired by my friend Ali Dill who is always cooking wonderfully healthy things.



Crock Pot Carnitas Tacos

1 1/2 lbs pork shoulder roast or pork butt
1 Cup water
Pinches of salt and pepper
1 small onion thinly sliced
1 can Rotel tomatoes with chilies
¼ Cup finely chopped white onion
½ fresh lime juice
Corn tortillas

Place roast in crock pot, pour water in the crock pot, season roast with salt, pepper and add onion slices. Cook on low for 8 hours. Drain pork & onions, and shred. Return to crock pot and add tomatoes w/chilies, onion, salt and lime juice. Serve on tortillas with salsa recipe below.

Source: altered from http://pickypalate.blogspot.com




Ali Style Salsa

8 oz. can of Corn
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 avocado chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice of 1/2 a lime
pinch of salt

Mix everything together. Delicious!

Cheatin' Slow Cooker Cacciatore

Another long Monday for both of us was wrapped up with a hot bowl of a cacciatore-like slow cooked chicken stew. Scott even brought home and heated up some crusty, roasted garlic-stuffed artisan bread, which was great to soak up the left over broth and juice.

Super Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cut in half)
2 14.5 oz cans of Italian style stewed tomatoes (w/garlic, onion, & oregano)
1 lb mushrooms, trimmed and quartered

Toss everything in the crock pot and cook on low heat for 8 hours. Voila!

Verly Loosely Adapted from Martha Stewart

Slowly but surely, I'm getting him trained.

My boyfriend Scott is a great guy, no questioning that. However he isn't a big planner. I'm a total planner, and on a personality trait test our HR department had us take, my #1 trait out of 34 was "Futuristic," meaning I like to (and most importantly) have to plan ahead.

On Sundays, I plan out our menu for the week and hit the grocery. I always involve Scott when planning so I know what nights we'll be home and what nights he has a wrestling meet, ect. This week we discussed how we would both be home late on Monday night and he said, and I quote:

"Since we are both going to be home late on Monday, we should do something in the crock pot."

I could not have been prouder...and dinner couldn't have been tastier.





Saucy Swiss Steak in the Slow Cooker

(4 Servings)
1/4 cup Italian Dressing
1 boneless chuck blade or shoulder steak (1 lb.), cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup beef broth
1 cup chopped green peppers (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup shredded Swiss Cheese

Heat the dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Meanwhile, coat steaks evenly with flour; gently shake off excess flour. Add to skillet; cook 2 to 3 min. on each side or until each steak is browned on both sides. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.
Combine the tomato paste, tomatoes and broth in slow cooker. Add steaks and peppers; cover with lid. Cook on high 3 to 4 hours. (I did low for 8.)
Sprinkle with cheese just before serving.

Nutrition per serving: Calories 270 Total fat 12 g Saturated fat 4.5 g Cholesterol 60 mg Sodium 700 mg Carbohydrate 17 g Dietary fiber 3 g Sugars 5 g Protein 23 g Vitamin A 20 %DV Vitamin C 40 %DV Calcium 15 %DV Iron 20 %DV

recipe adapted from Kraftfoods.com