Crockpots Save Lives

March 15, 2016Leave a comment

I love the ease of using a crockpot to prepare meals. Talk about a time saver.

Just set it and forget it.

Yesterday morning I put a roast in the crockpot with baby carrots and chunks of onion. When I got home last night, the roast was so tender it fell apart, and the carrots and onion were caramelized.

So I whipped up a batch of mashed baby red potatoes with a little Kerrygold butter and a splash of heavy whipping cream.

Too much goodness in this bowl. And so easy.

What you need:

Roast
Onion soup mix
Red wine
Beef consume
Onion
Carrots
Baby red potatoes
Heavy whipping cream
Kerrygold butter
Salt and pepper

Start by seasoning the roast with salt and pepper. Seer it in a hot pan until a crust forms on all the sides. Deglaze the pan with red wine.

Put roast and all the wine from the pan in the crockpot. Add in the onion soup mix, carrots, onions and beef consume.

Turn crockpot on to low and cook for 8-10 hours.

For the mashed potatoes, cut up the baby red potatoes into chunks. Leave the skin on. Boil for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Drain off excess water. Return potatoes back to warm pan. Add in a generous pat of butter and a splash of whipping cream. Mash them up. Add salt and pepper to taste. I usually add a little more butter and cream to make the potatoes extra tasty.

Layer the potatoes with the roast, carrots and onion. Be sure to spoon over lots of the juice because it has all the flavor goodness.
So easy. Super delicious. Always a crowd pleaser.

This is Supper

February 25, 20161 Comment

I’ve been eating a ton of junk food. The more junk food I eat, the more I want junk food. They should call it funk food.

Let me just tell you about the past couple days. Chick-Fil-A. Chinese food. Tropical Smoothie…twice.

This has been going on for at least three weeks. And I can totally tell. I’m lethargic. And cranky. And all I want to do is stuff my face full of Oreos. It’s stupid.

In my defense, it’s been a really busy week. But that’s no excuse. I can do better. My priorities are out of whack.

So I tried to fix it with supper tonight. I channeled the mantra my mom preached to me while sitting at the dinner table when I was a little girl.

This. Is. Supper.

She’d say this because I had a tendency to not eat whatever she cooked for supper, and then I’d ask for cereal or scrambled eggs or little green peas at 10’o clock at night.

I made a turkey sandwich on a whole wheat English muffin. I topped it with cheese, greens and a bit of ranch dressing. There was also a side of baby carrots.

And that is supper.

Not fast food. Not junk food. Just a light meal to help get me on the right track.

The Ultimate Chicken Sandwich

January 31, 2016January 31, 2016Leave a comment

How do you master the art of the perfect chicken sandwich?

I’ll tell you the truth. I’ve never tried to make one. So many restaurants make delicious chicken sandwiches, I’ve never felt the need to make one of my own.

Until today.

The ultimate chicken sandwich was born. And you’ll never want another fast food substitute again.

What you’ll need:

Thin-cut chicken cutlets
Bacon
Pepper jack cheese
Buns
Lettuce
Tomato
Avocado
Ranch seasoning
Smidge of butter

Fry some slices of bacon. Get it crispy.

While the bacon cooks, prep your chicken and coat it in ranch seasoning. I used about half a packet, maybe less. But sure to give it a coat of black pepper, too.

Sauté the chicken in the bacon grease. Yep, in the bacon grease. You’ll like it. I promise.

Turn on the broiler, and butter the hamburger buns. Broil until butter is melted and buns are toasted.

Once the chicken is cooked completely, place a few slices of bacon on the chicken and top it with a slice of pepper jack cheese. Put a lid on your pan so the cheese can get melty.

Assemble the sandwich. I topped my chicken, bacon and pepper jack cheese sandwich with shredded lettuce, thinly sliced tomatoes and fresh avocado.

I made some fried potatoes to serve as my Southern “French fries.”

Nobody at the table complained.

It’s a messy, delicious sandwich. You won’t be sorry you made it.

Semi-Homemade Kind of Night

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016Leave a comment

Today is the first day I’ve felt inspired to write.

I have been cooking. Lots of good food. And sharing it with others. But for some reason I haven’t felt like writing about it. Or taking pictures.

I just wanted to be in the moment.

Creativity is just like any other muscle. If you work it too much, it gets sore and tired and cranky. So I just let it be that way for a little while.

But today after work, I found myself wandering the aisles of The Fresh Market. Picking up stuff and putting it back. Drinking the thimble of complimentary coffee. Hoping inspiration would strike me.

And then I saw it.

A box of frozen porcini mushroom raviolis with a hint of truffle oil.

My aimlessness was finally holstered. I had purpose.

So I grabbed a jar of marinara sauce and two white wine and garlic turkey sausage links from the butcher, and I got out of there.

While I’d much rather make my own pasta sauce from scratch, it’s a Thursday night. That just ain’t happening. But I took the sausage out of the casing and created little meat balls. I sauteed the meatballs in a skillet, and then added the jar of sauce. Plus a little more pepper and basil.

I cooked the noodles just a bit in a pot of water, and I let them finish cooking in the sauce to get some flavor-melding action.

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Then I did something crazy. I put the raviolis, tiny meatballs and sauce on a plate, topped it with Parmesan cheese and threw together a fresh side salad of greens, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, radishes and my favorite vinaigrette.

I give you the semi-homemade supper. A delicious creation in half the time. Now if today was Sunday I would have taken the time to create it all from scratch. But it’s Thursday so…I’m just being a real human.

P.S. Annie loves little turkey meatballs when they accidentally fall on the floor during the plating process.

Five Miles of Redemption

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015Leave a comment

I’ve been in a personal running rut lately. I’ve been running, but not at my normal pace and not with any regularity. Aside from the 10K mentoring I’ve been doing, I haven’t gotten any runs in purely for myself.

Until today.

I ran five glorious miles in the 90 degree heat and all by my lonesome. It was amazing.

Once I settled into the first mile, it was golden. My brain shut off. It was heaven.

Until the fourth mile. There is always one mile, usually in the middle, that plays mind games with you. And for me, it’s happens after my comfort zone of 3 and before I settle back in at 5. So mile 4 was a tough one.

But I finished strong, and under an 11 minute mile average pace. Not quite as good as my former race pace. But it felt good to push it today. There were times when I felt absolutely alive and aware of my body and my breathing.

Plus I’ve been doing a lot of running with other people, which is always nice. Sometimes I just need to go out alone and run. And today was one of those days. I craved the solidarity. So glorious.

And my dinner wasn’t too shabby either.

Apple chicken sausage with pepper and onions, a baked sweet potato and a huge side salad with avocado and tomatoes. Day one of meal planing was a huge success.

I just wish I had some chocolate milk for dessert.