GIRL'S CROCK*POT DAY #1 - CROCK*POT CAFE 10

Hello readers!

After a crazy last year of planning and having a wedding, I am finally getting back to normal. I have included pictures from the wedding (just a couple!) Now that I'm back in realty, that will mean more food blog posts, hooray! One of my first missions of 2017 was to organize a slow cooker day with 2 of my girlfriends who are interested in learning to make more delicious and healthy meals in their slow cookers. We all know how much I love a good crockpot dinner! For our first day of slow cooking, we made 3 recipes, one pork, one beef, one chicken.  These were all recipes that I have made prior, and I will provide the links at the end of this post. I wanted my girls to feel comfortable and I wanted to have us cook something I knew would taste delicious. The upcoming days we slow cook will be of mostly all new recipes, so I'll be trying new things along with them, and will be able to share the recipes with you, my dear readers! I hope you enjoy the pictures, we had such a fun day!!!

Cooking with Tanya and Kimmie!

Beef and Broccoli

Bourbon Chicken

Pork Carnitas

Find the recipe for Pork Carnitas HERE
Find the recipe for Beef and Broccoli HERE
Find the recipe for Bourbon Chicken HERE

Beef and Broccoli - Crock*Pot Cafe 7

Yum yum yum! One of my favorite Chinese dishes is beef and broccoli.  To make the recipe even easier, I dumped all the ingredients into the slow cooker while I went to work.  Then I only had to use my little rice cooker when I got home to make some white rice to go with my meat and veggies.  Easy and delicious!

Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli

Ingredients: 

• 10oz frozen broccoli florets
• 1 lb beef stew meat
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 beef bullion cubes
• 1 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbs honey

Directions:
Mix all ingredients except broccoli in slow cooker. Put on low for 8 hours.  Place broccoli in the last 30 minutes and cook on high. Serve with white rice.  ***To make a thicker sauce, when dish is 30 minutes shy of being done, reserve 2 tablespoons liquid from dish.  Mix that liquid with 1 tbs cornstarch.  Pour back into slow cooker and cook on high for last 30 minutes.
Enjoy!

SPECIAL POST - Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving Spread

Ahhhh.  Another Thanksgiving is now behind us.  I do adore Thanksgiving, because it is a big food holiday!  This year, I made a couple of dishes to bring to the house we went to.  One of them is new (for me), and the other one my family has made every Thanksgiving and Christmas for 20+ years.  Now I am going to share them with you!!!  What could be better than 2 recipes in one post?  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and continue to have an amazing holiday season!

Dish #1 - Cornbread Pudding

Ingedients:

• 1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
• 4 oz sour cream
• 4 oz shredded cheddar
• 1 can creamed corn
• 1 10 oz package frozen corn
• 1/2 stick melted butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all ingredients together.  Grease 9x13 baking dish,  Pour batter into dish.  Bake for 1 hour.
Enjoy!

Dish #2 - Cheesy Ritz and Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 10 oz packages of frozen broccoli florets, thawed
• 2 8 oz packages shredded cheddar
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers, crushed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Mix crushed crackers with melted butter.  Make sure crackers are completely coated in butter.  Mix together broccoli and cheddar.  Fold in 1/2 of cracker mixture and spread in greased baking dish.  Top with remaining cracker mixture (spread evenly over top).  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Enjoy!

Simply Sides 1 - Roasted Broccoli

I realized the other day when perusing this blog for improvements I can make, that I could make another section just dedicated to side dish recipes.  I love side dishes, sometimes better than the main course.  And I have eaten side dishes as main meals.  Plus I'm always looking for new ways to dress up veggies to make them more palatable, or new healthier sides (such as quinoa instead of rice etc). 
And so a new section on this food blog is born, and every post will start with the heading "Simply Sides". 

Today's side dish started as a way to dress up broccoli because I am bored with frozen broccoli microwaved, or fresh broccoli steamed.  I saw a couple posts about roasting broccoli, and then I thought I would jazz it up further by adding my own additions such as onions and garlic cloves.  We both enjoyed it as a side with our meal the other night, and will be making it much more often, especially if fresh broccoli is on sale!

Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients:

1 head of fresh broccoli cut into florets

4 (or more) cloves of garlic

1/2 large onion, diced
1tbs lemon juice
2 tbs oil (veg or olive, you choose!)

1-2 tbs parmesan
salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.  Line a sheet pan with foil.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Spread evenly onto lined sheet pan. (It may help to spray the foil with cooking spray before spreading mixture over it, some of my onions stuck to my foil.)  Roast at 425 for 20-25 minutes.  Serve with your favorite meal.
Enjoy!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup - Home Cooked Recipe 29

I recently had some dental issues and needed to have food that was easy to eat.  Instead of just going and buying cans of soup, I thought I would try my hand at making my own.  One of my favorite soups is the broccoli cheddar soup they serve at Panera, so I decided to make my own version.  Here is the recipe!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients:

1 package frozen broccoli

2 cups sharp cheddar, grated

1 stick of butter

1 small onion, finely diced

1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup cream

3 cups chicken broth

1 carrot, shredded

1 bay leaf

dash of cayenne

salt and pepper

Directions:

Melt butter in large pot over low heat.  Add onions and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender.  Whisk in flour and cook an additional 4 minutes.  Whisk in milk, then cream, then chicken broth, and bring it to a boil.
Add cayenne, then season with salt and pepper.  Toss in bay leaf.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes. 
Microwave broccoli for 3 minutes, then add to soup.  Stir in grated carrot.  Cook for 10 minutes, then remove bay leaf and puree until smooth (either with and immersion blender or in an actual blender in batches). 
Add cheese to soup and whisk over medium heat until smooth. 
Enjoy!
***Some fun ideas are to garnish soup with more cheese and homemade croutons, or serve the soup in breadbowls.  You can also add a dash of smoked paprika when you add the cayenne, it gives the soup a nice sweet smokiness.  Another way to impart even more cheesy goodness is to add in a can of cheddar cheese soup, I use Campbell's.