Ain't Nothin' Like Home Cookin'

I'm pretty sure M hasn't ate since I left. When Little Man and I arrived in NC, M's fridge was empty except for cheese and rancid meat (ewwww it smelled). The freezer was filled with ice cream, Popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, french fries, and Texas toast. I don't know what kind of meals he's been eating with those ingredients. I'm here to help though!

Since I am so nice and he kept talking about wanting a pot roast I made just that and it should be ready when he gets back.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast adapted from 365 Days of Slow Cooking Blog

Ingredients
Rump Roast
Seasoned Salt
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Carrots
Celery
Yellow Onion
Red Potatoes
Red Wine ( I use whatever's cheap to cook with)
Worcestershire sauce
Bag filled with flour
Olive Oil

1) Season roast with season salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Place in ziploc bag filled with flour and shake to coat.

2) Shake off excess flour and brown in a pan with about a TBS of olive oil.
3) Cook each side until golden brown.
4) Wash and chop your veggies and add to crockpot.


5) Add roast and then pour in 3 TBS of Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 cup red wine (I used yellow tail Merlot)



6) Set it and forget it! Cook on low for 8 hours. Sometimes I cook on high for 5-6 hours.

Now I'm going to relax and hopefully end up at a basketball game at my Alma mater with one of my friends tonight!
<3 Kim



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Oooey Gooey Burgers

For the past few days I have been craving a big juicy burger. I can't even remember the last time I ate one and it makes me sad. I miss the ooey gooey cheese, smokey bacon, and buttery bun. Super Yum! Like Yo Gabba Gabba party in my tummy yum!

Since I'm trying to eat better and have cut out bread, sugar, and cheese I decided to make this All American Meal healthier. Instead of my ooey gooey bacon burger I made a black bean burger and sweet potato fries. It was super tasty and it definitely hit the spot. I didn't use a bun, although if you want you could use something like an Arnold Sandwich Thin.Oh, and then I topped it with organic mustard, tomato, spinach, and homemade guacamole. YUM! YUM! YUM!

.

<3 Kim

Chicken Noodle Soup

Last year my mom made a chicken and biscuit casserole using a leftover whole chicken. M and I really enjoyed it and Little Man enjoys it now. Since then I decided to figure out how far could I stretch one chicken and how many different meals could I come up with. We usually have a whole chicken leftover from Sunday dinner or we use a grocery store rotisserie chicken we bought when we're too lazy to cook. (In college I learned if you go late at night the chickens are only a dollar since they can't sell them the next day.) This worked really well for us being on a budget.

The Ingredients 
Leftover whole chicken carcass
Water
Olive Oil
3 Cloves Garlic chopped finely
1/4 Onion coarsely chopped
3 Carrots cut into disc
3 Celery stalks chopped
Spinach
1 TBS Oregano
1 TBS Thyme
1 TBS Whole Black Pepper Corn (didn't have a pepper mil so I crushed it using a can)
3 Bay Leaves
1 Pack Egg Noodles
2 cube Chicken Boullion
(this is just a rough guide I added a bit more of the ingredients here and there)

Directions
1) Put the leftover chicken carcass in a large stock pot and fill up with water until the carcass is covered. Boil for an hour to and hour and a half. Strain broth into a bowl and then pull apart the remaining chicken to set aside.
2) Saute the garlic and onions in olive and then add the cut up carrot and celery if you want. When the veggies start to get soft add them to your pot along with the broth and bring to a simmer.3) Add your chicken bouillon, bay leaves, oregano, pepper, thyme (any seasonings you see fit) and continue to let simmer. I let it simmer for 2 hours because I didn't cook my carrots or celery before hand.
4) When veggies are soft bring soup to a boil and add your noodles. The noodles will be cooked in about 5 minutes and your soup will be done.

I tried the soup right after the noodles finished and it tasted alright but something was missing. I didn't know what I wanted to add so I ran a few errands came back and tasted it again 3 hours later. It was soo good. I think the soup just needed to sit so the flavors could come together more. I bet it will taste even better the next day.

Also it would be so easy to throw all the ingredients in the crock pot/slow cooker and not worry about it. Just put the noodles in 15-20 minutes before you plan on serving. Our crock pot burns everything now so I decided to use the stove.

Do You Know The Muffin Man?

As of late I have been on a real baking kick. I seriously feel the need almost every day to bake something and or tinker around with recipes I already have. It's weird because I never was the baker in my family that was my sister's title. She bakes everything from scratch and has all sorts of gadgets she's pretty awesome!

Today I would do her proud because I baked some pretty awesome banana muffins that may rival her banana bread. Little Man loves bananas so I bought him some but then my parents had also bought some so we had way too many and they were starting to turn. Perfect opportunity to bake. I used this recipe from All Recipes and added a few extra ingredients.

Ingredients
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 large bananas, mashed
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup butter, melted
Added Ingredients
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* pinch of all spice


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.


I used a normal size muffin pan and ended up cooking them for 18 minutes



These are obviously approved by the hungry baby toddler ehhh whatever he may be!

<3 Kim