Pot Roast version #2

1 Pot Roast
4 Potatoes, cut into fourths
1/4 bag baby carrots
1 pkg Ranch dressing mix

Place pot roast in the bottom of the crock pot. Place potatoes and carrots around the edge. Sprinkle everything with Ranch dressing mix. Place a couple pepperocini's on top and poke them with a fork or knife to let the juice run out. Cook for 8 hours on low.

Zucchini Boats

I did a photo journey to making these which I normally dont do, mostly because when making supper I dont have alot of time to take photos because Im chasing my toddler around trying to beat the clock! Lol.

Zucchini Boats
2 Zucchini, I used medium sized ones
1# ground turkey meat
1 T. Oregano
1 T. Basil
1 T. Worchestershire sauce
1 Cup tomato sauce

Fry turkey meat with a little garlic and a little onion, cook until no longer pink. Drain. Meanwhile cut the zucchini down the middle lengthwise. Scoop out the center so you have a "boat" to put the meat in.
In a bowl combine the oregano, basil, worchestershire sauce, tomato sauce and meat. Stir together. Spoon into empty zucchini boats. Spoon some extra tomato sauce over the whole boat and sprinkle the boats good with some parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.

Make your own Creamer

*Recipe adapted from "BACON IN MY POCKET" blog.

Another effort to not buy so much processed stuff. This was really easy too and probably cheaper in the long run.

1- 14oz can Sweet condensed milk
14oz milk, your choice of kind, I used skim
flavorings of your choice

I used a old creamer bottle to mix mine and store. Pour the can of sweet milk in the bottle, fill the can with milk and pour in. I did add about 1/4 of the can of milk again because the sweet condensed milk is really thick and I dont think it was any too much milk. Next add flavorings. We made Cinnamon bun flavored and added 1 tsp. Vanilla, 1 tsp. almond extract and 1 T Cinnamon. Shake well. Store in fridge. .

*I used pure almond, not imitation and the recipe I think was for imitation. So the almond flavor is a bit more then I like. Its ok, just next time when I use pure almond I will cut back a bit on the amount. *

You can use any flavor you want. .
Vanilla
Cocoa powder & Raspberry syrup
Cocoa powder & peppermint extract
Hazelnut syrup
Cinnamon

You can buy coffee flavor syrups in the coffee isle at walmart.

Oatmeal Mix

In a effort to not buy so much processed foods I made my own oatmeal mix. Super easy. Hubby said its thicker then the instant packets.

In a blender blend 2 Cups oatmeal to a powder. In a large bowl combine the 2 cups blended oatmeal (make sure its quick oats) and add 6 more cups oats. (NOT blended) . Add 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup Cinnamon, 1/2 cup Sugar. Blend well. At this point you can bag it up and use or you can add mix ins. I added dried blueberries to some of mine. You can add cranberries, dried banana slices. . .etc. whatever!
Place in ziploc bags 1/4 cup of mix . Seal.Can store up to 1 month.

Lemon Shake up

My pregnant lady version :-)

In a container that you can shake (I used a gatorade bottle) add the juice of 2 lemons, 2 lemon slices, 8 ice cubes, 5 Tablespoons sugar and 1 Cup water. Shake well. Taste. You can add more lemon, more water, more sugar at this point if its not to your taste.

Homemade Frappes!

A few post back you remember the tip I posted about freezing leftover coffee from the bottom of the pot instead of throwing it away, freeze it in ice cube trays. . Well now here is what you can do with those!!

In a blender place 6 cubes of the Coffee. Add about 1 Cup milk and 1/4 Cup Creamer of your choice. We used french vanilla so I added 1 T. Caramel sauce for Ice cream in for flavor. Blend well. Pour into 2 glasses. . . This made 2- 8oz glasses almost full. SOOOO Good!
You can make them different flavors depending what flavor creamer you use or by adding anything to it such as cocoa for a mocha taste or raspberry syrup, peppermint extract. . ..

Kale Chips

These are my new favorite snack!! I thought at first how can greens taste like chips?? but they really are very good!! And I dont feel so guilty about eating chips..ha ha. .

Tear kale leaves into small pieces and make sure you dont use the center stem. Wash and dry well. In a bowl place the leaves and drizzle with olive oil and some salt (make SURE you dont use too much salt. . I found out the hard way) shake to coat. Lay on a baking sheet and bake at 400 for 12 minutes or until they are crispy. .
Cool. Yum!!

Bacon wrapped asparagus & Soy Honey Chicken

My husband said both of these are definitely on his make again list. . Lol. The Soy honey chicken let me just tell you the marinade will smell really strong and I thought when I mixed it that oh this isnt going to come out well, but man it is the best chicken I have had!! Really good!

Soy Honey chicken
Equal parts of
Soy sauce
Honey
Olive oil
1 tsp. Garlic (i used diced garlic cloves)
Mix all together in a ziploc bag and knead til combined. Put your chicken breast in the bag and shake til covered. I let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes to marinade then grilled it for 45 minutes. Seriously REALLY good!!

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
enough asparagus for how ever many servings you want. Like I did 3 stalks of asparagus per "clump" and did 3 clumps per person. So for Chadd and I, I made 6 clumps.
Divide asparagus into clumps of 3 in each. Wrap a piece of bacon around each clump. You may have to hold the bacon to the asparagus with toothpicks. I sprinkled pepper and salt on them then grilled them for 40 minutes. These were REALLY good too!

Food Tip of the day

My cousin gave us this tip and I cant believe I never thought of it!!

*** When your done with your morning coffee and there is just a little coffee in the pot left dont throw it out, pour it into a ice try and freeze. Pop them out and store in ziploc bags in the freezer. When you want to make a iced coffee or frappe just put the ice in a blender with some milk and whatever else and you have a frappe!***

Crockpot Gulosh

I appologize but I didnt take a photo, to be honest it didnt look appealing, lol. But this is really good and super simple. Even my daughter who is a very picky eater and wont eat meat ate this!!

4 Chicken breast
1/4 Pkg Frozen Peas
1/4 Pkg Frozen Green beans
1/4 Pkg Frozen Broccoli
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 cup Chicken broth
1 teas. Onion flakes

Place chicken breast on the bottom of crock pot and throw the veggies on top. You can add other veggies if you like, these are just what I had on hand. Mix together chicken soup and chicken broth and onion flakes. You may have to add a little water to make it runny. Pour over everything. Cook on low for 6 hours. The last hour I added instant brown rice to it and it was done by the time we were ready for supper and it helped soak up the extra liquid.

Grilled Fish

Im not a big fish eater but I try to have fish every so often because it really is a good meat for you and has lots of Omega vitamins which is awesome for pregnant women. This is the first time for this recipe and it was really good.

3 Fish fillets (I used tilapia because thats what I always use but the recipe called for halibut)
1/2 Cup melted butter
2 T. Lemon juice
1 T. Garlic Salt
1 teaspoon minced onion flakes
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1/2 teas Dill weed
1/4 teas pepper

Combine the butter and seasonings. Let sit 10 minutes. Brush the mixture on the fish and let sit for 20 minutes. Grill on low for 5 minutes then flip over and brush the butter mixture on the other side. Grill another 5 minutes. Repeat until the fish is flaky.

Crockpot Roast

This is my version of "BEEF STEW". . . You could always add more veggies if you like.

1 Rump Roast or 1 package of beef stew meat (its already chunked)
1/2 package Baby carrots
5 Potatoes, cut into chunks
1 pkg. Onion soup mix
3/4 can Coke

Place roast on bottom of crockpot. Arrange carrots and potatoes around the roast or if you use the beef chunks you can mix them in with the chunks. Rub onion soup mix into the roast or sprinkle over everything. Pour the can of coke over everything. Cook 8 hours on low.
Its always REALLY tender and awesome flavor!
Like I said you could add more veggies like celery or even cabbage would be good!