Let's Try This One More Time!! Easy Crock Pot Meal...

Well hello. Shall we try this blog thing again?? Every time I (think) am home for good and ready to start cooking again....BAM! Just like that something else happens and I am back in the hospital.

 Last year was AMAZING and I was hardly ever sick and so far this year I have lost count with the amount of times I was admitted to the hospital. If I wasn't admitted I was sick as a dog at home not wanting to cook anything and BARELY wanting to eat anything! Not a good combo I can assure you! 

So I get home on Sunday night with stuff that I have already planned on making once I got home I just needed to go food shopping (I was in the hospital 3 weeks I had A LOT of time to look up recipes!) 

I was REALLY craving some Shepards Pie that my one good friend Amanda was telling me she makes for her son but unfortunately when I went to cook dinner Monday night my feet where the size of watermelons and there was no way I was gonna be able to stand in the kitchen and make dinner so I called the hubby and told him my dilemma. When he got home from work he quickly showered while I made him a list (a very short list he isn't the best grocery shopper when I am not with him!) of things to grab from the store. On that list was Publix Fried Chicken that we could just eat that night without having to cook anything since it was already so late (and Publix fried chicken is to DIE for!) plus I had decided that since my feet swelling was a problem that was worse in the afternoons I planned to do a crock pot meal that I could throw in the pot in the morning while the feet where relatively "normal" size and not very painful and by dinner time when they were gi-normus (yes that is a word) all I had to do was some last minute touches so I wasn't on my feet very long! Am I genius or what? 

Well, let me just say that the meal I picked which I found on the Crockin' Girls Facebook page (it was one of their Crockin' Monday Videos) was I think the easiest crock pot meal I have ever made. You know how sometimes with crock pot meats they make you sear the meat or cook the chicken first or whatever, well you don't have to do that with this recipe which saves a step and another pot you don't have to clean! Also, everything just gets mixed right in the crock pot I seriously had no clean up except what I was throwing away in the trash. Amazing I tell ya..

So here is the recipe for what I put in the Crock and then I will tell you what I made to go along with it! 

Little Meats and Gravy

Ingredients

• 2 Pounds of chuck or stew beef, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 Package of onion soup mix
• 2 Cans of low sodium cream of chicken soup
• 2 soup Cans of water
• 1 Package of cooked noodles, rice or potatoes for serving

**I served ours over rice cause thats what we had!!**

Directions

1. Step One

   Combine all ingredients into 6 quart slow cooker; stir.

2. Step Two

   Cover and cook on LOW for 8–12 hours or on HIGH for 5–6 hours. If you've frozen this recipe you can cook it for 10-12 hours on LOW.

3. Step Three

   Thicken, if desired, and serve over noodles, rice, or potatoes.
   **I think all said and done mine was in the crock for about 9 hours on low and it was perfect!**

(This was when I was just putting it in and stirring all the ingredients together)

Then as I said before I chose to serve this over rice cause that's what we had available in the pantry and then for the veggie part of the plate I decided on fresh green beans (cause quite frankly I LOVE green beans and could eat them every night) but have kind of gotten in a rut with just throwing them in the oven with some garlic, olive oil, some S&P and roasting them so I wanted to try something new that I made once before when I was in NY on vaca but haven't made here at home yet. So I gave it a whirl tonight to see what the Dear Hubby would think...and luckily he approved! :) 

Green Beans w/ Mushroom and Shallots

Ingredients

• Fresh green beans, ends trimmed
• 2 tsp olive oil
• Button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 a small shallot, sliced into thin rings
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Directions

Add the green beans to a pot of boiling water and cook for 3-4 minutes. 

Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and to retain the bright green color. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and let them cook (without stirring) for 3-4 minutes; stir and add the shallots to the skillet. 

Cook the shallots and mushrooms for 2 minutes before adding the minced garlic and green beans. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute or until the green beans are nice and hot. Season with sea salt and pepper, to taste.

(YUMMY....these where very tasty!)

Then, of course you know me I had to take a picture of my final plate along with my (don't judge) Pillsbury Grand Buttermilk Biscuits from a can which I slathered in honey before eating! :) 

Quick, easy, delicious, and everyone was happy when dinner was finished and the best part is I have lunch for tomorrow that I am VERY excited about! WIn, WIn! 

  

That is all I got for you tonight. I hope you try this meal and if you do try it let me know what you think! I haven't decided if I am going to use the crock pot again tomorrow or if I am going to make that Shepards Pie finally. Either way I am sure to take some pictures and hopefully I can crank out another blog to you guys so you can see what I am cooking up! Good Night!! :) 

Sweet N Sour Sirloin Stir-Fry!

Well, its taken me a few days to get Thursday's dinner up but here it is!! :)

I had watched an Episode of 30 Minute Meals where Rachael Ray makes this recipe but on the show she puts the stir-fry ontop of ranch mashed potatoes. Now call me crazy but a sweet n sour stir-fry over mashed potatoes just doesn't cry out "MAKE ME" in my mind so I decided to go the more traditional route and poured it over brown rice instead!

The sweet n sour sauce that I made was great and I was a little shocked because all it is, is ketchup, mustard, brown sugar and soy sauce! YUM!

This is a VERY quick and easy meal...once you have all the meat/vegetables chopped the actual cooking time is like 10 minutes for the whole meal~including the rice! I do suggest that you prep everything before you start cooking cause it does go so fast once you start you will want everything ready to dump in the pot.

Sweet N Sour Sirloin Stir-Fry

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pound piece sirloin, 1-inch thick
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable, peanut or canola oil
• 2 large red bell peppers, seeded and sliced
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and sliced
• 1 bunch scallions, cut into 2 to 3-inch pieces on bias, greens and whites
• 2 cups shelled frozen edamame
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 
  

Directions

Pop the meat in the freezer for a few minutes to stiffen it up for slicing.

Halve the steak lengthwise then very thinly slice the meat. Heat the oil in a very large skillet over high heat. When oil wafts smoke and ripples, add the meat and stir-fry until caramelized 3 minutes. Add peppers and stir-fry 2 minutes then add in scallions and edamame for 2 minutes more. Stir together the sugar, soy, mustard and ketchup and pour over stir-fry the last minute of cooking. Season, to taste, if necessary.

Here is my final plate! :)

I couldn't find frozen Edamame when I went grocery shopping (dumb neighborhood walmart!) so I just substituted frozen snap peas and it worked out fine! All in all it was a good meal and a nice change from the usual chicken or pasta dishes that Danny loves and ALWAYS wants to have! :)

Have a great week ya'll!!

XoxoX