Spicy Crock Pot Jambalaya

I haven't tried making Jambalaya before but I really want to. This recipe looks simple enough and so tasty! I'll be sure to post when I give it a go!! Check out the recipe here.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Seriously? How much better does it get then these?! Can't wait to try them! Check out the recipe here!

Slow-Cooker Hearty Beef Stew

 Photo Source

This is a seriously tasty stew! Perfect for this cold weather!

 Ingredients 
1 Tbsp. oil
2 lb. (900 g) boneless stewing beef, cut into 1-1/2-inch cubes
5 carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, cut into chunks
6 small red potatoes, quartered
3/4 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
1 Tbsp. Instant Coffee
2 cups frozen peas


Directions:
HEAT oil in nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add meat, in batches; cook until evenly browned, stirring occasionally. Layer carrots, onions and potatoes in bottom of 5-qt. slow cooker; top with meat. Pour 1/2 cup barbecue sauce over meat; sprinkle with coffee granules. Cover with lid.

COOK on LOW 7 to 8 hours (or on HIGH 5 hours).

STIR in peas and remaining barbecue sauce; cover. Cook 15 min. or until heated through.

Adapted from here

Monte Cristo Bread Pudding

Yum right!? Sometimes it's nice to just have some comfort food. Check out the recipe here.

Sweet-n-Sour Meat Balls

I love meat balls! So tasty! My mom gave me this recipe for Marshall's birthday one year and I realized I hadn't shared it with you all! So here it is!

Meat Balls:
4 lb Hamburger Meat
½ lb Onion (grated)
1 head of Garlic (grated of crushed)
Salt
Pepper

2-3 eggs
And any other seasoning you want (to taste)
2 cups cooked oatmeal

(I like to add a little cinnamon for spice)

Sauce:
1 can Pineapple (crushed- with juice)
¼ cup White Vinegar (or to taste)
2 cans of Tomato Soup
1 can of Tomatoes (crushed)
1 can of Tomato Paste
2 cups Water
2 tbsp Brown Sugar (or to taste)


Sauce: In a crock pot (preferably) combine all ingredients, mix well, or until smooth. Cook on medium for 1 hour, or until flavors have blended.

Meat Balls: Combine all ingredients, roll into 1’’ meat balls. Add meat balls after sauce has been cooking for at least 30 minutes.

Honey Sauced Chicken

This recipe looks so tasty and easy! Can't wait to try it. Check it out here.

Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

So yummy! I can't wait to make this! It seems that every veggie is 150% better when we add bacon to it right? Check out the recipe here!

Chicken Pot Pie

Photo source

I love chicken pot pie. I hadn't made one before so I found the recipes I wanted, twisted them a little, and man, was it good!! I highly recommend this recipe! I want to make it again right now! So good for a chilly day!


Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup ice water

 In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball.

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

(Double the recipe to make a crust for the top and the bottom of the pie) 

Pie Filling
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
 1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery.

Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, drain and set aside. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent.

Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough.

Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipes adapted from here and here 

Link- Halloween Pizza

So cute right? I just thought I'd share this fun pizza with you.

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

Yum right? Check out the recipe here!

Cooking Goal: Sausage Pastry

I can't wait to make these! Don't they look amazing?! Check out the great (and easy!) recipe here!

Slow Cooker Ribs & Root Veggies

This is a great recipe and the best ribs recipe I have tried yet! Doesn't matter how expensive or "great quality" you buy. If you do this recipe you can get the cheapest ribs and it will make them tender and tasty!

Ingredients
4 pounds pork baby back ribs
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup chili sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 dash hot sauce
5 red potatoes (don't peal, all the good stuff is in the peel!)
5 carrots (don't peal, all the good stuff is in the peel!)
1 medium onion
Olive Oil


Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Season ribs with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan. Brown in oven 15 minutes. Turn over, and brown another 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, mix together the ketchup, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper.

Largely chop call veggies and put them in the bottom of the slow cooker. Drizzle a little olive oil on the veggies and season with a little salt and pepper. 

Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs, and turn to coat.

Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 8 hours, or until ribs are tender. (Or 3-4 hours on high)

Optional: If you want to have a little more crisp to your ribs put them back in the oven, at 400 degrees for 10-20 minutes. 

Alfredo Sauce

There aren’t a lot of options in the grocery store for Alfredo sauce, and the options that are out there are super expensive (to me at least). I’ve never really been good at sauces so I started to give up when I got a few wrong, but I had a lot of confidence I couldn’t screw this one up so I tried it the other night. It turned out great! It’s really easy, and sort of fun, and you can add whatever sort of spices you want and it seems to just make it better (sort of like a blank canvas for sauces). So give it a try and see if you like it!


1/2 cup Cream Cheese (or sour cream)
1 cup Milk 0-2 %
3 tbsp. Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Clove Garlic
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
3 tbsp. Dry Parsley or 1/2 cup fresh

The best way to make this consistent is to use a blender. Put cream cheese, milk, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper in blender. Blend until there are no clumps, pour into saucepan on medium heat, cook for about 10 minutes (or longer to make the flavour really take!). While cooking add parsley (if fresh chop finely) and save some for garnish.

Have any good ideas, or substitutes for this....share them, leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!!

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes & Carrots

This is a seriously yummy recipe. I know, we're getting into summer but for those colder days this is a great option, and well, I think it's always a great option! 


6 large potatoes, sliced 
4 carrots, cut diagonally into thin slices
2 onions, sliced, separated into rings
3 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1-1/2 cups milk
1-1/2 cups shredded Old Cheddar Cheese



HEAT oven to 375°F.

COOK vegetables in boiling water in large saucepan 8 to 10 min. or until tender. Meanwhile, melt butter in medium saucepan on medium heat. Add flour and seasonings; mix well. Cook and stir 1 min. Gradually stir in milk until well blended. Bring to boil on medium heat; cook 5 min. or until thickened, stirring constantly. Stir in cheese; cook on low heat 1 min. or until melted, stirring constantly.

DRAIN vegetable mixture; spoon half into 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with half the cheese sauce. Repeat layers; cover.

BAKE 45 min. to 1 hour or until vegetable mixture is heated through, uncovering after 30 min.

Adapted from here

Cooking Goal: Slow Cooker French Dip Sammies

Doesn't this look wonderful? Oh man, I want it right now! Check out the recipe here!

Veggie Packed Meat Loaf

I know, a lot of you think it's gross (I know I for sure did growing up) but if you're not much for veggies, this is a great way to get them and not even notice!

3/4 cup Oats
1/2 cup Milk

1/2 cup Beef Broth

1 cup Carrots (graded)

1 cup Zucchini (graded)

1/4 cup Celery (graded)
2 1/2 lbs. Ground Beef
1/4 cup Onion (chopped)
1 eggs

Salt

Pepper

1/2 tsp Sage

1/2 tsp Thyme

Mix all the wet ingredients. Add veggies; mix. Add beef; mix well. Press into loaf pans, cover with tin foil and cook at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and put back in the oven for 10 minutes to brown.

Enjoy!

Quinoa Meatloaf

Source

This meatloaf is so tasty! It is really moist too and you feel really healthy eating it too which I always love!

For 2 servings:

1 pound minced beef

2 eggs
1/4 cup of uncooked quinoa

1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
2 chilies
1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil

1 teaspoon Thyme

1 teaspoon Rosemary
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt

Cook quinoa as directed. Preheat oven to 350 F. Add onion, chili, and cloves to a food processor and chop finely. Add cooked quinoa and all ingredients to a large bowl and mix together. Grease a loaf tray with coconut or olive oil, then add the mixture and bake for 1 hour.

Chicken Curry

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 I wanted to try a different recipe for chicken curry and I came across this one.  Don't get overwhelmed with how many ingredients there are, it really adds to the floavor and I think you'll really love this one. Beware though, it's really spicy!


Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon paprika
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
salt to taste
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into bite-size pieces
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper


Directions
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Saute onion until lightly browned.

Stir in garlic, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, bay leaf, ginger, sugar and salt.

Continue stirring for 2 minutes. Add chicken pieces, tomato paste, yogurt, and coconut milk.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove bay leaf, and stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

Simmer 5 more minutes.

Note: I put mine in a slow cooker with raw chicken drum sticks (after mixing it all together) and cooked it in there for 5 hours. It gets spicier the longer you cook it so keep that in mind. In the end I had to add a lot of plain yogurt to tame it down. 

Supper: Salmon Alfredo with Capers & Irish Soda Bread

Roxy's Birthday Dinner

My friend Roxy owns a restaurant and loves to cook. For her birthday she wanted to cook all her friends dinner. If that's what she wanted we weren't going to say no! She's a wonderful cook and the food was wonderful! It was great to be able to sit around and eat and drink together. We don't have dinner parties among our friends very often so this was a really nice treat.

He's really happy, as you can see!

This is Roxy, busy in the kitchen

Oreo ice cream cake with homemade sesame seed ice cream which was fantastic!