Let me just start off saying that I don't think I will make breakfast in the crock pot anymore.
Why?
Because I can't sleep because it smells SOOO good!! I kept waking up last night, breathing in that heavenly scent, wanting to just go and eat it right then.
You can view the full recipe for Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole HERE.
Ingredients:
16 ounces hash browns, frozen
1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 medium bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
1. Place a layer of frozen hash browns on the bottom of the crock pot, followed by a layer of bacon, then onions, bell pepper and cheese.
2. Repeat the layering process two more times, ending with a layer of cheese.
3. Beat the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together.
4. Pour over the crock pot mixture.
5. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours.
It was really quite simple. Cook the bacon, cut up a few vegetables, throw it in.
Overall, I thought the recipe was good. I accidentally went a little heavy on the salt, so I didn't eat too much of it, but still thought it was good. My husband LOVED it.
Next time, I'll add sausage to the mix, to give it a little more meat and sustenance. I will also omit the bell peppers, as I am not a fan of cooked bell peppers. Other than that, it was pretty good!
I saw a recipe for Creme Brulee French Toast on Pinterest the other day and thought, "I HAVE to try this!" My mom makes an AMAZING Creme Brulee French Toast, to which you can find the recipe HERE. I thought to myself, "Heck. If I can make the same great tasting french toast, and just throw it in the crock pot before I go to bed, this will be AWESOME!"
I put all the ingredients for the recipe (seen here) in my crock pot the night before, and set it to low to cook for 8 hours. When I woke up, it smelled DELICIOUS! I was so excited to taste it! My husband was even MORE excited because this is his favorite breakfast, next to sourdough waffles. I have made this more times for him in the year that we have been together, than my mom has made in the time I lived at home (19 years).
I walk into the kitchen the next morning, open the crock pot lid, and my heart sunk. One thing I love about making my mom's recipe, was the crunchy top that you got from baking it. The french toast in the crock pot had an EXTREMELY soggy top. I thought, "Okay. Well it still has to taste good, right?"
Wrong.
Oh so very wrong.
When scooping out a spoonful, I was not impressed. I wanted to hurl, as it looked like soggy, rotten bread. I still wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt, hoping it tasted better than it looked.
The first bite went in.
As I was holding in the would-be barfing, I tried to take another bite.
Nope. It was not going to work.
I warned John as he took a bite. Being the loving and supportive husband he is, he replied after his first bite, "It's alright." After a few more bites, the plate landed on the counter and a loud "NOPE" being said shortly after. Poor John, he couldn't handle it.
Neither of us could.
I just don't understand. I followed the recipe to the T, and all the reviews I read on it said that it was delicious! Not to mention, it was a Better Homes and Gardens recipe...All I know, is to me, it tasted like vomit soaked bread, with warm-from-being-left-on-the-counter milk, doused in water. And to make matters worse, I forgot to use my crock pot liners. So we had baked-ongrossness that was very difficult to get off.
Sadly, doing this challenge of a crock pot meal a week, I'm bound to come across some less-than-desirable meals. And I get to blog about it! Hopefully, when I come across these horrible meals, I'll spare you the time and effort of making it.
Ingredients:
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (6.5 ounce) can canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
12 lasagna noodles
16 ounces ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, cook sausage, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, and pepper. Simmer, covered, for about 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine cheeses, leaving enough mozzarella to put on top.
3. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of crock pot dish. Arrange uncooked noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. I just broke my noodles to have them fit all over. Don't be afraid to overlap the noodles. Spread with one half of the cheese mixture. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over cheese mixture. Repeat layers, and top with extra mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cook on low for 4 hours, or until noodles are tender. Enjoy!
My Review: First, I'd like to say that I LOVE using the crock pot liners. I decided to try them out due to the fact that we don't have a dishwasher and my husband does the dishes a lot. I figured, if I am going to bake something in the crock pot and have tomato sauce stick to the sides like glue, I might as well try them out and save my husband, (and potentially myself) a headache. They only leaked a little and I think that's from when I cut the lasagna. I used a knife at first, then realized that there was plastic underneath and cutting it would defeat the purpose of it. Some people might be concerned about cooking in plastic, but I did extensive reviews because I didn't want to "poison" my food. Everything I read was just fine! But if you choose to forgo the liners, be prepared for caked on tomato sauce. So when cooking the meat mixture, I opted to skip adding the tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. BAD idea. The reason why I skipped it was because I thought that the can of crushed tomatoes looked like it gave it enough tomato sauce. Even if you think while cooking this that it will be really running, or that there isn't enough meat, WHATEVER you might think, just add all the tomato products. Also, I didn't think that the uncooked noodles would be cooked in just 4 hours on low. But they were! Odd how that happened. I ended up making about 3 or 4 layers. When the lasagna was done, it tasted really good! Aside from the lack of sauce due to me being stupid and deciding to not add all of the tomato sauce. I thought that after I cut one piece, that it would just fall apart. But it held together pretty well! I will say, that the only benefit of cooking it in the oven would be that the cheese on the top did not get all brown and crispy. So if you can't stand lasagna that doesn't have the golden brown top, then this will not be the way for you to go. Other than that, this will definitely be made again :)
Cooking doesn't always have to be difficult or tedious. It can be fun sometimes! Well, when you are dealing with hot oil, I'd suggest that you take things a little calmer than you would when cooking rice. Don't get too excited when turning over a burrito who is in the process of blossoming into a chimichanga. After all, a chimichanga is just a fried burrito. And you can take that to the bank.
As promised, here is the recipe for some deliciously awesome chimi's :)
Ingredients
1 pound Ground Beef
1 Onion, chopped
1 can corn, drained
2 cups Taco Sauce (store bought is fine, but below is a recipe for some homemade taco sauce that is delish!)
2 teaspoons Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Garlic Salt
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 (16 ounce) can Refried Beans
Flour Tortillas (12 inch)
Cheese, grated
Taco Sauce
(Double this recipe for the chimichangas)
8 ounce tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon chili powder (more if you want this hotter)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon of onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
Mix all ingredients and pour sauce into pan and cook over med-low heat for 15-20 minutes. Don’t skip the cooking part of this. You need to heat the sauce up to really blend the flavors together.
Directions
Start heating up about 2 inches of oil in a pan.
In another pan, brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat. Drain the excess grease, and add the onion, and corn. Cook for about 5 more minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Stir in the taco sauce, and season with chili powder, garlic salt and cumin, stirring until blended. Cook until heated through, then remove from heat, and set aside.
Heat a tortilla in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds so that it will be pliable for folding. Open the can of beans, and spread a layer of beans onto the center of the tortilla. Spoon the beef mixture down the center, and then top with as much shredded cheese as you like. Roll up the tortilla, and place them seam-side down into your hot oil once it reaches 350 degrees. Once it turns golden brown, flip it to the other side. When all sides become golden brown, take it out of the oil and top with your favorite toppings. Suggestions are sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cheese, etc.
This was a HUGE hit in our house. John even turned to me and said, "I wouldn't mind this being a staple dinner." It might look a little scary, but it isn't at all. But like I said before, be careful with the oil. I didn't turn my burrito over as gently as I had intended and almost splashed hot oil all over my hand. Dodged that one!
I know I'm two weeks late, but I decided to TRY and stick to a New Years' Resolution.
First off, let me just say that I'm not the best at actually accomplishing these. There is only one year when I went the whole year doing something. And that was not eating chocolate. Some people called me crazy. Others called me, well, crazy.
Yes, I went the entire year, 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days without a lick of chocolate. And I felt good about myself! I actually finished something!! To this day, I don't crave chocolate like I used to. I can easily pass it up at the store. I don't like hot chocolate. I don't like chocolate cake. I don't even really like chocolate ice cream (I'm vanilla bean all the way). After that year, I don't really even like sweets anymore! Yeah, I like to have the occasional candy bar, or cup of ice cream. But every time that I eat sweets, I regret it immediately.
Another year, my resolution was to go to the gym. Just like everyone else, I ended up just paying the gym monthly for me sitting at home.
Last year, I wanted to go the whole year without eating sugar. THAT was quite a challenge. I lasted a few months. And then I started dating my husband. After going to a few of his family get-togethers, I couldn't resist anymore. Like before, I don't go all hog-wild. But I'll eat the occasional treat.
This year, I actually wanted to make a resolution to do something that I could actually finish and somewhat enjoy.
What do I do almost every night? Make dinner.
What do I not feel like doing most nights? Make dinner.
What do I love? My crockpot.
So, I have decided to do at LEAST one crock pot meal a week and blog about it! Brace yourself, readers. It's going to be a delicious year!!
I drive a chevy malibu. She's nothing special, but she gets the job done and has done it well for the past 2 and a half years. She certainly loves eating up my paychecks, but it's worth it.
Ever since I got my car, my key fob (keyless entry) has had issues. It has sometimes worked, and other times not so much. It wouldn't do its job even when I was right next to the car. I changed the battery multiple times, but with no such luck. So, I just forgot about it and settled with using my key to unlock my car.
When John and I started dating, he liked to open my door, and still does. But it was becoming a hassle when we would lock the car doors. See, the driver's door is the only door with a key entry. So he would have to go unlock the door from the driver's side, then walk around and open my door, then walk back around and start driving. After a while, it was becoming TOO much of a hassle, and so we would either leave the doors unlocked so he can open my door, or I just get in once he unlocks it from the driver's side. The latter happens more often seeing as it is 5 degrees outside.
ALL.
THE.
TIME.
Granted, sometimes he will get in the car, lean over and open my door from the inside. Anywho, I knew it was time to get a knew key fob.
Another thing that has decided to stop working, was my power steering. Sometimes when I would turn my car on, my power steering would just randomly not turn on. If I turn it off and wait a few seconds to restart, it would be completely normal. I knew there was something wrong, and that it would cost an arm and a leg to fix.
Lastly, my stick to turn my blinker on broke. I went to turn right one day and I heard a bunch of clicking, like something had broke. I bought a part to replace it. However, two years later, it is still sitting in my middle console. If I want to turn left, I have to hold the stick down until I turn. If I want to turn right, I can flip it up and it will stay, but after I turn, it won't turn off. I have to push the stick back down. Again, an arm and a leg would be lost to fix this because they would have to take apart my whole steering console to replace it.
Okay. Now that you have a little background, back to this morning. A few day ago I had bought a key fob online and went into the dealership to have it programmed. I asked him about my power steering and how much to just look at it and possibly fix it. "$75-$100 to just look at it. If you decide to repair it, that would go towards the repairs. If not, you would just pay that." Well no thank you. I'll just stick with my shotty power steering. So off he goes to program my key fob. 20 minutes later, he comes back in and I go up to pay for the service. The total came to around $40.
"I ran your car number and there is actually a special warranty on your car. Up to 150,000 miles and expires August of 2015. You are well under that."
"What exactly is covered under this warranty?" I asked.
"Well, it covers your power steering issue. There have been some technical issue with your car model and some Cobalts. We have the part in stock and will fix it for you for free."
SWEET!!!
Curiously, I asked, "How much would that cost otherwise?"
"Around $500"
I think my heart skipped a beat...
"Well, I have another question for you." I proceeded, "My blinker stick is broken. I have the part for it. How much would you charge to put it in?"
"If you provide us with the part, we can install it while we are fixing your power steering for free."
SCORE!!
So to sum it up, I got $500+ of work done for only $40. And three major issues that John and I have been dealing with will be fixed!! What a great way to start a day :)
On a completely different note, **SPOILER**
If you have not seen Les Miserables and want to go see it, you might want to stop reading here.
Below are two of my favorite songs from the movie that I have listened to over and over again and still manage to shed a few tears. I hope you enjoy listening to them again and have a wonderfully awesome weekend :)
First off, I Dreamed a Dream. If Anne Hathaway does not receive an award, I will be completely shocked.
Lastly, the Epilogue. I personally was not a fan of Amanda Seyfried as Cosette. But it is what it is.
