crock pot ravioli

I'm a bit of a carb over-loader, so crock pot pasta was a no brainer.
Now this is my own recipe, but I've always just tossed the frozen ravioli on the stove and then poured sauce over the top, but that was a lot more work than I was willing to put into dinner today (dishes! I tell you! I hate dishes!).  So I decided to toss it all in the crock pot and finish my day at work!

Tips:
I put it in the crockpot for 4 hours, that was a bit long, a touch on the soggy side!
add your own seasonings- I used oregano and crushed red peppers- but I am sure there are a million seasonings I didn't even think to toss in there!

Crock Pot Ravioli 

1 bag frozen ravioli

1 can or jar of pasta sauce

1 c. shredded cheese (optional) 

Toss it all in the crockpot for 2-3 hours

ENJOY!

Life Changing Baked Chicken

Before we begin, let me tell you that this recipe is the reason I quit being a vegetarian after 5 years.

My dad always made "world famous chicken wings" so it was really the only way I knew how to make chicken, so when I was trying to surprise Eric with meat in his meal, I made it this way, only Eric never got that slice of chicken, because after I cooked it, it looked so good I just needed a bite, and that bite turned into two bites, and so on and so forth, and by the time I realized what I had done, I had eaten my first slice of chicken in years (and then felt HORRIBLY sick afterwards, but well worth it!).. I don't recommend vegetarians just diving head first back into the meat world like that.

anyways, ENJOY

P.s this recipe is a little hard for me to share with the world, it's kind of my baby.

Life Changing Chicken

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts (or 4 or 10 or however many you want)

pepper

Lawry's seasoned salt

1/2 Tbs butter (more for more chicken)

Side note: this is not an exact science, just do it to your own tastes!

Put the butter in the button of the pan, put in the chicken, sprinkle with LOTS of pepper and Lawry's.  

p.p.s I put tin foil around my pan so its less work to clean, its totally not necessary if you don't feel like doing it. 

so so so yummy!!! 

Crock Pot Fried Rice

 I know everyone thinks "ohh fried rice is so bad for you!!" blah blah blah… and my question is….why?? when did brown rice, eggs, chicken and veggies become unhealthy?? talk about protein! (although I'm no nutritionist so I could be totally be off on this, but I just think fried rice gets a bad rap)

Last night I decided for dinner I just needed some fried rice, but I hate using my oven so I thought "why not crock pot it?'. That being said, I just used what I had on hand, and now I ALWAYS use brown rice, but i only had like 1/4 cup left so I used some of Nike's white rice which lead to a handful of problems (i.e I kept thinking "wow its so light, theres hardly any soy sauce on here!!!" and like 2 cups of soy sauce later I had a lot of salt on my rice…so that was dumb)

anyways like I said, I used what I had on hand, which meant I was totally out of chicken so no chicken got put in here, but it would have been lovely with it in there!

Also side note: I love my rice eggy, super eggy. and I also use mostly egg whites, but I'm going to give you the regular egg amount (I used twice as many eggs, but only used the egg whites, so feel free to do that too)!

Crock Pot Fried Rice

2 cups cooked rice

2 cups veggies (peas and carrots??)

1 cup onion (or less if you aren't the onion type)

4 eggs- beat together

1 Tbs Butter

soy sauce to taste

toss everything into the crock pot and cook on high for about 4 hours, I kept it on a bit longer because I like my eggs over cooked!

ended up being some of the best fried rice I have ever had!!! 

Kick- Off Chicken Dip

So after I made this, Eric took his first bite and stand up and yells "IM IN LOVE, IM IN LOVE AND I DONT CARE WHO KNOWS!!!" (this coming from a man who won't hold my hand in public, and still gets all awkward and hardly says "I love you")  but no joke- this is probably the best food I have ever made. Hands down. BEST…

 I have made a  lot of foods in my lifetime- this is THE BEST


        and how perfect that its called Kick Off Chicken, when we were watching Sunday Football

         Kick Off Chicken Dip

1 1/2 c. cooked shredded chicken

1/2 c. franks wing sauce

1/2 c. ranch

1 package Cream Cheese

1 c. shredded cheese

*I forgot the cheese in this picture!

How easy is that??

 add your chicken, franks, ranch and cream cheese, to a pan. cook until cream cheese is melted (mine took about 5 minutes at 450) make sure mixture is mixed. top with cheese. put back in the oven for 2-5 minutes (until cheese is melted) and ENJOY. 

we served it with chips but it would be awesome with bread-  we also thought adding extra chicken and putting it into a tortilla would be AWESOME. so you have lots of choices with this.  it is SO SO SO GOOD…

don't mind my pictures, most of my dishes were dirty so I had to use a dish that was much too big for the serving size. 

P.S this is a bit on the hot side, so feel free to go light on the Franks, and heavy on the ranch- although I like when my eyes burn when I eat food, so I went heavy on the Franks and light on the ranch

PARTY POTATOES

now Ive said this before. but I LOVE potatoes, and so today I was hard core craving some of my dads Tater Tot hot dish (I'm so Minnesotan calling it Hot dish!) but, one big problem- I don't eat beef, and chicken just didn't sound like it would be a good substitute (although let me know if you have ever tried it with chicken and it was yummy)
    So anyways here I am, wishing and praying I ate beef so i could have myself a little tater tot hot dish and I thought to myself "I always just skip the meat when i cook meals, why not skip the meat on this one?" and that's what I did. and then came PARTY POTATOES, named this, 1 because they are the bomb.com and a party in your mouth, but 2 because I feel like it could be a unique and interesting food to bring to this years holiday gatherings. so ENJOY

Party Potatoes

1 bag of tater tots

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1-2 cups of cheese (more if you'd like, less if you'd rather not)

salt and pepper to taste

could it get any easier??

toss the taters in the soup and then lay on a cookie sheet. cook at 425 for 25-30 minutes. add the cheese and toss back in the oven until melted. and ENJOY :)

would probably be good with like a sour cream sort of dip!!

random Nike photo- enjoying her new "christmas gift"

boom SO SO SO good!

1095016

slow cooker enchilada

so I Love Mexican food (if you haven't noticed) but I super LOVE enchiladas, that being said I'm OBSESSED with this new crock pot meal! OBSESSED-  this recipe is probably for like 4-6 people, and Eric and I ( mostly Eric) finished the WHOLE CROCK POT!!!

Crock Pot Enchiladas

1 package tortillas

1 can corn with peppers- drained

1 teaspoon chili powder

salt and pepper- to taste

1 can green chile peppers

2 cups shredded cheese

2 cans * or 1 big can of enchilada sauce

1 can (i used 2 because I'm a bean lady) black beans- rinsed and drained

2 skinless boneless chicken breasts- diced

layer the tortilla than corn, than chicken, chili peppers, cheese, beans, enchilada sauce and seasonings- and then do a second layer - think lasagna style. 

 put in the slow cooker for 4-6 hours. 

I topped mine with sour cream- although if i had guac i would have added that instead.

Now if I were to do this again, I'd add even more enchilada sauce, but it was a bit "soupy" as it was, so I guess that's a personal preference!

P.S since I'm a weirdo about meat I had to precook my chicken. so when I opened my stove (which I almost never use) I found last weeks dinner still in there!! I guess I need to stop cooking with wine (or stop putting it back in the oven to "keep it warm")  luckily I turned the stove off!

Don't Peak Chicken

I stole this recipe off of Pinterest, and then added a bit of a twist on to it!  now I should admit, before I tell y'all before you make it, that i actually wasn't able to take more than like 2 bites of it. not that it wasn't delicious- because it was, but I was watching the walking dead, and the chicken tasted a little fleshy, but this is just me, and my crazy views on thinking meat is fairly gross. either way the rice was great and the bite i had was actually really good

* second side note- i used regular rice, and it took like an additional hour to cook. so use minute rice. or something similar!

  Don't Peak Chicken

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

1 cup brown rice

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup cold water

1 clove garlic- chopped

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 onion chopped

1 package onion soup

salt 

pepper

paprika

mix the rice, soups, water, garlic, Worcestershire, and onion, pour into a baking pan- add the chicken, season with salt pepper and paprika. 

cover with tin foil- and place in the oven for 1 hour.  

I let mine sit in the fridge for a few hours (mostly because I felt like cooking, way before dinner time, but also because I love to let my chicken sort of marinate for a little bit) 

I sure do love a 1 pan meal. nothing beats having so few dishes at the end of the day!

also has anyone realized yet that i ONLY cook skinless boneless chicken breasts as my meat?? haha I'm to scare to venture into other sorts of chicken, but I'm coming around to this whole meat eating world!

Stuffed Baked Tacos

So I had no idea what to name these, because I sort of invented them- sorta. see I found this recipe for them but then when i went to click on it, the website had been taken down. so I knew what was inside of it (but i added MUCH more because cream cheese and chicken just didn't cut it for me), just didn't know how much, or how to cook them or what. so here's what I did.


Stuffed Baked Tacos
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts (shredded)
1 package of cream cheese
2 cups shredded cheese
green chilies (to taste)
1 package Taco Seasoning
1/2 onion chopped



1 package tortillas






- i also recommend added bell peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, what ever you have lying around- my fridge just happens to be pretty empty right now, and I was really lazy at the grocery store today.

mix all the ingredients and then put on the tortilla, fold the tortilla and place on a baking sheet, spray the tops of the tortillas with cooking spray and bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes. serve with sour cream or guacamole or salsa.

- i found that 20 minutes in the oven, they weren't as crispy as i would have liked , but by 30 minutes they had sort of "popped". so just keep your eyes on them

slow cooker chicken cacciatore

so i made this when i did my last "freezer to crock pot" extravaganza- and then i was a bit, mmmmm, nervous? to try it. and boy oh boy was i happily surprised when i finally cooked it! (and by cooked it, i mean i put it in the crock pot, remember the old Set it and Forget it??) Eric ate his half before i got home from work, so i couldn't tell him that it was suppose to go over noodles, but he said it was WONDERFUL on its own, so imagine how much better it is over lovely noodles (I'm a bit of a carb girl!)

 Chicken Cacciatore

-1 lbs chicken breasts- cut into chunks

 -1 jar of chunky vegetable style spaghetti sauce (or make your own!)

 -1 zucchini (chopped) *feel free to do some yellow squash 

-1 green pepper (chopped) *add red and yellow peppers too if you'd like!

-1 sweet onion (chopped) 

 mix together- cook on low for 6-8 hours- serve with noodles

MMM MMM MM. dinner is served!

Ritz Cracker Chicken and Broccoli

This is a super good recipe. not one of my easiest meals I've ever made, but by no means tricky (2 pans are needed, which means half my dish washer is full right now!…wow I'm lazy)

Ritz Cracker Chicken and Broccoli 

2 -4 chicken breasts- cut up

1 lb broccoli (i used frozen but fresh would be fine)

1 -1 1/2 tubes Ritz crackers- crushed

1/3 c butter

1/4 c corn starch dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water

1/3 c chicken broth

2 c milk

1 c cheddar cheese- shredded 

salt

pepper

fill a 11x 8 (that's what i used, what ever size you have will be fine) with broccoli and chicken chunks. 

In a pan, over med/high heat, combine butter, corn starch chicken broth and milk- stir until thick add cheese, continue string until fully melted, salt and pepper to taste.  pour this over the chicken and broccoli. 

top with crushed Ritz crackers and bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes

i could have done with out, or with a lot less sauce, Eric loved the sauce, i think he actually picked around the chicken for the sauce- so too each his own- i guess.  either way it was really good! i also wish i used more salt and pepper than i did use, so don't go light on that. 

ENJOY! 

mashed cauliflower??

Ive been seeing all these posts on Pinterest saying how mashed cauliflower taste a whole lot like mashed potatoes, I've even heard that it is BETTER than mashed potatoes (but NOTHING could be better than mashed potatoes, could it??)

now i love potatoes, i mean i LOVE them… i like them mashed, i like them fried, i like them baked once or twice, and if i was creative i might bake them 3 times, i like them as tots, or scalloped, hashed, for breakfast, or even flakes and if i was hungry enough, who knows, i might like them raw… now that being said, i may be a bit biases on these so called mashed cauliflower. so keep that in mind as i tell you that this was….


….halfway decent. would i want it every day of my life? no. i would put it at about even on my list of foods i like,with raw cauliflower with ranch (which is actually pretty high on my list).


i had to combine a few recipes i found already, because some of them were a little to blah for me, and others had ingredients i didn't just have on hand so… here you go

Mashed Cauliflower

1 head cooked cauliflower- in pieces 

3 cloves of garlic- minced

1 tbs butter

drop olive oil

drop milk

salt 

pepper

 in a mixer or food processor add all the ingredients - and mash. mine got a bit runny so i added a pinch of flower to fluff it back up. 

miracle foot cream

Ok so this is kind of a gross post. but seriously i can not be the only person with terribly cracked feet…

this problem got especially bad when i started living with my husband… i have never really been the "girly type" but living with girls all through college, pushed me to do things i wouldn't normally do, like use lotion… so now that I live with a guy, all that self-help type things, kind of get forgotten about.

Anyways once we got married we bought these stupid ridiculously expensive bed sheets, and my stupid cracked feet got caught on them, and tore a small hole, which grew, and grew, and grew. and now we probably need some new sheets!


so when i went home last week i showed my mom (thinking i might need to go to the doctor they had gotten so bad) and she gave me some Aveda product and told me it would "help"… help? seriously, THIS IS MAGIC CREAM!!! so in about 3 days of actually putting it on i have seen a MAJOR change.

so invest in this stuff ladies. its MAGIC!!!!

 3 days… can you believe that. twice a day for 3 days!!!

 i don't own this picture, but since i just stole a small portion of the lotion from my mom, in a tupperware container, i don't have the actual product to take a picture of. 

Artichoke Heart Dip

I was one of those lucky ducks, who had like a billion and 10 bridal showers before i got married.  at one of my showers, all the guests were told to bring a recipe for yours truly, and i could not be more excited about some of them i received… so this recipe comes from the kitchen of Mary Markfelder, although artichoke heart dip pretty much is the same across the board, i like this one the best!

Artichoke Heart Dip

1 can artichokes- chopped

1 1/2 c fresh shredded Parmesan cheese

1 c mayo

1/2 c green onion- chopped

1 tsp Garlic powder

I'm not real keen on garlic powder so i use 2 garlic cloves, chopped

mix ingredients

bake 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes- until it gets brown around the edges. 

Nancy's Salsa

They always say "it takes a village to raise a child." i may have grown up in the best village know to man kind. and from that village i left with many recipes that are unknown to the rest of the world (maybe eggs in the middle and big pancakes will have to make an appearance to this blog soon!)

You probably don't know the lady who lived in the house next door to me while i grew up, but, i bet you, after you make this salsa, you will be madly in love with Nancy. and that's a fact, Jack.

This is world famous salsa, well, maybe not WORLD famous, but at least Minnesota state wide famous salsa.  but the other thing about this recipe is that i makes a TON, I'm talking, a TON.  so i give you this recipe with a challenge…. share it, make the batch and bring some to your neighbors, share it with someone at work, bring it to a family function… its ALMOST the holidays, get in that giving season with the gift of deliciousness.

world famous salsa

3 cans black beans- rinsed- drained

2 cans shoepeg corn- drained

2 16oz cans diced tomatoes with peppers and onion (i could only find 14 oz cans so good luck)

1 bunch green onions- diced

2 cups fresh tomatoes- chopped

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

2 tbs minced garlic

juice from 1 lemon

mix together, season to taste with salt, garlic powder and salt. 

** don't mind the Parmesan cheese in the picture- I'm just an idiot, that's for dinner tonight!

Don't forget to GIVE some salsa! share the love!! 

boom! you just made the best salsa known to man kind!