Vacation!

If you aren't a fan of my Facebook page (which you really should be), you wouldn't have read this news: I'm taking a vacation from blogging. I need to get better about doing this on a regular basis and for that to happen, I need to stock up on recipes and pictures to go along with those. It was getting really hard for me to do that in a single week, hence the blogging vacation. I'm going to try and still update my menu for the week, but you'll have to wait for the recipes. I do have one more recipe to post before my hiatus (look for it this Wednesday) which works great when you don't have a lot of time or energy to cook in the summer.

My plan is to get back into blogging starting Wednesday, August 7th, 2013. From there on out, I'll be having a blog post up every Wednesday morning. So, in the meantime, look for me on my Facebook page. I'll still be posting bits and pieces here and there. Also, feel free to comment on any of my recipes which have already been posted with any questions or comments you may have.

Beef Pot Pie

Whenever I make pot roast, I always have too much leftovers. Dylan isn't a huge fan, and there's only so many days in a row in which I can eat pot roast. That's when I decided that I needed to figure out how to use up these leftovers so I wasn't throwing away food. My first idea was a recipe I remember eating as a kid, Beef and Noodles.

Then, one day, I got a brilliant idea. I love those cheap little beef pot pies that you buy in the frozen section, and I was craving one. Sadly, they aren't the greatest thing in the world for you. So I decided I was going to make my own. My first attempt was OK, though it was pretty bland as I didn't add any salt or other seasonings, assuming the gravy packets and the seasoning from the meat would take care of it. (Spoiler: They didn't.) So here is my improved recipe.

Beef Pot Pie
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

• 2 packages brown gravy mix
• 2 pre-made pie crusts
• 2 organic russet potatoes, skinned and diced
• 2-3 carrots, diced
• 1 cup leftover pot roast, diced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 1/2 cup frozen sweet peas, thawed
• Salt
• Pepper
• Onion powder

Directions

• Put bottom crust in a 9 inch pie pan. Either poke a few holes in the bottom with a fork, or use dried beans or pie weights to keep it from bubbling up. Bake in a preheated 450 F oven for 7-9 minutes or until slightly browned.
• Meanwhile, cook gravy according to packages. Add the potatoes and carrots and simmer for about 15 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add the roast, mushrooms, and sweet peas and mix well.
• Taste gravy and add salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste.

• Pour the gravy mixture into the baked pie crust. Cover with the second pie crust. Put a couple of vent slits on the top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown. Let sit for 15 minutes before serving. 

My Take 

I didn't measure how much salt, pepper, or onion powder I put in. For salt it was probably close to 1/4 teaspoon or more. The pepper and onion powder was only a dash. But take my advice, taste the gravy! Once you put it in the pie crust, you won't have a chance to season it, so make sure you get it right the first time, otherwise you're going to have a bland pot pie.

You also want to cut up your potatoes pretty small. The first time I made it, the potatoes were too big and took over the whole thing.

Because this is a leftover dish, you can use whatever veggies you want. For instance, even though the recipe calls for carrots, I usually use the cooked carrots leftover from my pot roast and add them in when I add in the peas. This time, though, I didn't have any, as my baby carrots went bad. So, I used the frozen pea and carrot combo, and it worked out great. I also didn't have any mushrooms on hand, so I just omitted them. Yet, it still tasted great.

And remember, you can always sub your own homemade crust for the pre-fab ones. I'm not very good at making crusts (a future project of mine) so I just always buy the pre-made ones for now. I'm sure this would taste even better with a homemade crust. :)

Simple Pot Roast with Vegetables

When I think of pot roast, I think of family dinner after church on Sundays. It was a special meal with mashed potatoes and gravy, delicious cooked carrots, and ketchup. (My brother and I apparently didn't have very good taste buds when we were kids). Sadly, my husband isn't a huge roast fan, but I love it, so I've been on the hunt for a good roast recipe. I found several while searching the internet, but all of them used packets of gravy or dressings and it just sounded too salty for me. I also didn't want that much salt, because I was planning on feeding Lucy some.

So I do what I've done recently when I haven't found exactly what I'm looking for: I made something up. And this turned out great. More to follow after the recipe.

Ingredients

• 3-5 pound bottom round roast
• 1 (14.5 oz) can low sodium beef broth
• 5-6 organic russet potatoes, skinned and quartered
• 10-15 baby carrots or 3-4 large carrots cut into bite-sized pieces
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder

Directions

You have to get inventive sometimes to get all the sides brown

• Season the roast with a pinch of salt and pepper. In a large non-stick skillet, brown all sides of the roast. 

• Place the potatoes and carrots in the bottom of your slow cooker. Place the roast on top. Pour the beef broth over the roast and vegetables. Season the roast with a sprinkling of the garlic and onion powders.
• Cook on Low for 8 hours, turning the roast over about halfway through. Roast is done when meat thermometer reads 160°F. Allow the roast to rest for 15-20 minutes before carving, allowing the juices to set.

My Take

I love how this yummy roast can be achieved by just a few simple ingredients. They aren't overpowering and really allows the meat to take center stage.

What I like to do is to take the potatoes out about 30 minutes before the slow cooker is done and use them to make mashed potatoes. I find that when I cook them with the meat, they get a wonderful flavor. And as an added bonus, pot roast makes wonderful leftovers! I also strain the liquid leftover, heat it up in a saucepan with some flour, and make a gravy which I use on the whole meal. Sometimes I do have to add some salt since there isn't a lot added in the cooking of the meat.

Root Beer BBQ Pulled Pork

I had heard about cooking pork in root beer and making pulled pork out of it, but I had never tried it. In fact, I had never even attempted to make pulled pork at home. When I go to a BBQ place, pulled pork is high on my list to order, so I figured I would try making it at home. I love the taste of root beer, so I figured I would do an Internet search and find a recipe I could easily do. The first one which caught my eye was this one. The first time I made it, I followed the recipe to the letter, but then I read the comments, so the next time I made it, I adapted it to what it is today.

Ingredients

• 1 pork butt (shoulder), trimmed of any excess fat
• 1/2 (2 liter) bottle of root beer (I personally prefer to use A&W. Has a sweeter taste than some others)
• 1/2 (28 oz.) bottle of BBQ sauce
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic salt
• Hamburger buns, lightly toasted

 Directions

 

• Rub the pork butt with a bit of salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Pierce the meat with a fork in several places, then place in a slow cooker.
• Pour the root beer into the slow cooker, making sure at least half of the meat is covered. 
• Cook on Low for 6 hours
• Drain the root beer. Shred the meat with two forks and place back into the slow cooker. Pour the BBQ sauce onto the meat and mix them together until the meat is well coated.
• Cook on Low for 1 hour.
• Serve on lightly toasted hamburger buns. 

My Take

This is a sweet BBQ recipe, but it's one that is loved in my household. I love being able to make pulled pork at home and not have to wait to go to a BBQ place to get it. The root beer and BBQ sauce measurements are just estimations. I typically have to eyeball them. For the BBQ sauce, make sure your meat is well coated, otherwise the meat will dry out. 

Tie-Dye Fruity Cupcakes

Just in time for the Easter season, here's a fun little cupcake which has a nice spring time twist. I originally found these on Pintrest from the Jell-O website. I originally posted about these last year on my Domestication blog, but since I don't have many desserts on here, and it's now officially springtime, I thought I would re-post them over here. :)


Ingredients

• 1 package (2-layer size) white cake mix
• 1/4 cup dry lemon Jell-O (about half a package)
• 1/4 cup dry lime Jell-O
• 1/4 cup dry strawberry Jell-O
• 1 container (16 oz) ready to spread vanilla frosting

Directions

• Prepare cake batter as directed on package; divide evenly into 3 bowls.
• Stir a different flavor of the Jell-O mix into each bowl.
• Alternatively spoon batters into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, adding about 2 tablespoon of each batter to each cup. Bake as directed on package for cupcakes. Cool completely.
• Frost cupcakes with frosting.

 My Take

These were wonderful. I think when I originally made them, I had a bit too much strawberry, so that was the main flavor that came through. This gave me great ideas as how to flavor cupcakes with other Jell-O flavors. I want to try a triple berry one sometime, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

A suggestion they had on the original post was to use Cool Whip as the frosting and sprinkle a little bit of the dry Jell-O mix on top. I didn't do that. I used whipped vanilla frosting and then colored a little bit of unsweetened dried coconut green and added that on top. I thought they turned out pretty well, so I'm looking forward to making them again this year.

"Bay Creek Camp" Lasagna

This title may seem a bit strange to you. "What is 'Bay Creek Camp'? Why are they making lasagna?" Well, Bay Creek is the name of a church camp that my parents worked at for a week each summer when I was growing up. This is the recipe which they used to feed all those hungry kids and teenagers. This is a huge recipe designed to feed 20 (though you may be able to squeeze more out of it, depending on how big you cut the pieces). I've cut it down in half before, but it still made waaaay too much for just my husband and I. So now I make it designed to feed about 5 people. Enough for us and enough for leftovers. I'm going to give you the original recipe. That way you can use it for all those big family reunions, pot lucks, and for when company comes over.

"Bay Creek Camp" Lasagna
(Printable Version)

Ingredients

Forgot the Parmesan...oops....

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 6 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
• 2 pounds shredded mozzarella cheese
• 6 cups cottage cheese (I tend to use small curds)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 tablespoons parsley
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds lasagna noodles (uncooked)

Directions

• In a large sauce pan, brown the beef. Drain. Add the spaghetti sauce and mix together.

 

• Combine the cottage cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper together in a seperate bowl. Mix until well blended.
• Spray a 12" x 20" pan. Layer the ingredients in this order, twice:
• Noodles
• Cottage cheese filling
• Mozzarella cheese (1 pound per layer)
• Meat sauce

Forgot to take a picture of the cottage cheese layer

• Cover and chill overnight. 
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Set lasagna out to warm.
• Bake for 45 minutes, covered.
• Let stand for 25-30 minutes to set up.

 My Take

It's hard for me to say anything bad about this lasagna, as it's the one I grew up with. Not only was it the one they made for us at camp, but it's also the one my mom always makes. You can substitute ground turkey instead of beef which is usually what I do, but I had some ground beef that needed to be used up this time around. I'm thinking next time I may use Italian sausage and see how that adds to the flavor.

Please note that you need to let it chill overnight if you are using regular uncooked lasagna noodles. When this recipe was made, they didn't have those fancy oven ready noodles. I did use the oven ready kind, but I still chilled it over night. I'm not 100% sure if I needed to do that, but better safe than sorry.

Do you have a family recipe that you love and use on a regular basis? If so, what is it? Share with us in the comments. :)

Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken

I found this recipe while perusing Pintrest one day. I was very doubtful of its flavor, as it only has 3 ingredients, but since I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided to try it. Honestly, I will never make chicken for tacos another way! I didn't realize that I hadn't put it on this blog (had actually posted it on my Domestication blog) so here it is for your enjoyment.

Ingredients

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 (16 oz) jar salsa
• 1 package taco seasoning OR 3-4 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning

Directions

Everybody into the pool!

•  Dump chicken, salsa, and taco seasoning into your slow cooker. Stir a bit so the taco seasoning and salsa blend together.
• Cook on low for 5 hours. Shred chicken and stir until well mixed.
• Cook on Low for one more hour.

Shredded chicken

My Take

That's it! It's that simple. You can even let it cook a bit longer (6-8 hours) before shredding it, but I highly recommend letting it cook after you shred it for a bit. That way, the shredded chicken will soak up all that flavor. I love to eat these on flour tortillas with tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sour cream, and black olives. I've also used the leftovers to make a taco casserole, which turned out wonderful.

Usually when I make this, I only use 2-3 breasts, as I'm the only one in the house that eats it. I could make more and freeze it, but we don't have a lot of freezer space. So, when I make it, I cut everything in half. And, honestly, I just eyeball how much salsa and taco seasoning to use.