There’s no way around it. Today is just a really gross day. The gray skies stretch on forever, it’s rainy, cold, and just blah. It’s like I’ve been transported to the Pacific Northwest, except we’re missing the beautiful green grass, gorgeous skylines, great music, excellent coffee, and the guys who throw fish.
Without all that, it’s just kind of gross.
This meal is a perfect fix for an icky day.
Continuing with this week’s theme of “I Just Don’t Have Enough Time in the Day, so Let’s Make Something Easy”, I offer you this crazy good, super simple Crock Pot meal. It’s another Pinterest find, and the original recipe is over at the blog Little Fellows. I’ve tweaked the recipe just a bit, but didn’t touch how simple it is. My family loved it, and I hope yours does too.
I started by browning up a pound of Italian turkey sausage. You could use whatever sausage sounds good to you. I went with turkey to try and lighten things up a bit.
This is one of those “It’s so Easy, it’s Almost Embarrassing” recipes. Since we all know that it takes a lot to embarrass me, I figured I’d go ahead and share it. A friend of mine passed this recipe on to me years ago, and it’s been in a pretty steady rotation at my house ever since. Crock Pot dinners don’t get much simpler, so it’s perfect for a crazy busy run-the-kids-everywhere kind of day.
All you need is a can of black beans, a can of corn, a block of cream cheese, a jar of salsa, and about 1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken.
It’s actually chilly here today in Georgia! It won’t be later on today, but right now, as the morning is just getting started, there is actually frost on my front lawn! I know this may not sound exciting to you, but I’ve had an awfully tough time getting in the Christmas spirit in the warm weather this time around. I’m not asking for a blizzard, just a chill in the air, and today, I have it.
This recipe is perfect for a chilly day, and even better, it’s super simple.
This recipe leaves me with mixed emotions. I’m thrilled I found it, because it’s delicious, but I’m irritated with myself because I’ve had the cookbook that it’s in for years and years, and never tried it until now. Shame on me!
This brisket was a huge hit with my family. It was the perfect thing on a night when we were running around until after 7 o’clock, and the fact that it was delicious just added to its awesomeness. The brisket cooks up amazingly tender and moist, and the gravy…oh, the gravy! I’m not a gravy person, and this one has me singing its praises. Such simple ingredients, but so tasty.
Despite washing my hands a kazillion times and always keeping hand sanitizer nearby, I’ve managed to catch my first official cold of cold and flu season. Either that or it’s allergies. It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes, and it seems like allergy season never ends down here!
Regardless of the cause, right now I’d love to just snuggle up in my PJ’s, grab a cup of tea, get cozy, and eventually, take a nap. Sadly, that’s not happening. As all of us know well, life must go on, even when we have a cold.
Well, it took a couple of weeks, but now our nights are busy again. After school activities have kicked off this week. We’re exhausted and very thankful it’s Friday. I don’t know how some families do it. We are only busy a couple of nights a week and it throws us for a loop. All of you out there with something going every night amaze me!
We often joke that Emily, my oldest, could easily be a vegetarian if it wasn’t for pork. That girl loves her bacon, her baby back ribs, her pork tenderloin and chops. Most recently, she’s discovered that her new favorite thing on the menu at a Mexican restaurant is pork carnitas. I can’t say I blame her. They are pretty good.
If you usually stick to the beef or chicken section of the Mexi menu, turn the page and try out the carnitas next time. Carnitas is slow-roasted, nicely spiced, usually shredded pork shoulder. It’s delicious and used in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, or even as a nacho topping. And, in many Mexican restaurants, you can order up a plate of just the carnitas on their own!
I use my slow cooker a lot on busy nights during the school year, but I’ve found that it can also be a life saver during the hot, summer months when the last thing you want to do is stand over a hot stove or heat up the whole house with a hot oven. That said, a lot of slow cooker meals are wintery…stews, soups, heavy, heavy, heavy. I’m always on the lookout for something different to try in my Crock Pot, and when I ran across this sandwich recipe, it seemed like it would be light enough make a great summer dinner.
Chili is a tricky dish. It’s not hard to make, but I’ve found that it’s a very personal, almost religious, experience depending on where you are in the country. If you’re in or around Texas, you may prefer your chili heavily spiced and heavy on the meat (not ground…God forbid) with no mention of beans, except possibly on the side. Other areas of the country will insist that chili just isn’t chili without beans and ground meat. Then, there’s chicken chili (which just truly offends chili purists) and even Southwestern Chili Verde.