Cinnamon Roll Pancake (2/28/2017)

Crock pot meal #20
Cinnamon Roll Pancake
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-cinnamon-roll-pancake/b72f7f2d-61b7-448a-908c-3704128ae9c4?nicam4=SocialMedia&nichn4=Facebook&niseg4=Bisquick&nicreatID4=Post%3Fnicam4%3DSocialMedia&nichn4=Pinterest&niseg4=Bisquick&nicreatID4=Post&crlt.pid=camp.sQDpAjXARPM9
☆☆☆☆
11 wwp+

As today is Shrove Tuesday and pancakes for dinner is common, I decided to try a crockpot pancake. This was one of those recipes that was either going to be great or really bad.  Luckily, it was great. I cooked the pancake for 1.5 hours on high.  It was fluffy like a cinnamon roll with some pancake flavor.  B said it was really good.  I enjoyed it as well.

C ate all of hers without prompting and even said "this is delicious. I wasn't so sure by how it looks" followed by "we should eat this again"

This would be a really easy Sunday morning meal in our house, or when we have guests. I'd definitely recommend it.

Recipe is in the description.

This was the final day of crock pot February. To follow along during Cluck Cluck March, join me on the blog.  Link in comments.

See you at dinner!
Moose

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork (2/27/17)

Crock pot meal #19
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
http://www.laurengreutman.com/crockpot-pulled-pork/
☆☆☆
7 wwp+

This is a meal we've eaten before so I knew we'd like it, well at least B and I. I only made a 1.3 pound pork loin since we don't need a lot for the two of us.  I cooked this for 8.5 hours on low. We enjoyed dinner tonight.

I was hungry so I forgot to take a picture of my food assembled,  so here's the left overs 😉

C refused to eat it and finally took 1 bite begrudgingly.  E didn't try any.

Recipe is in the description today.

See you at dinner!
Moose

Apple Cherry Glazed Pork Chop (2/24/2017)

Crock pot meal #18
Apple Cherry Glazed Pork Chop
Slow cooker recipes
☆☆☆
16 wwp+

I only used 2 pork chops instead of 4, since only two adults are eating and I knew Cait wouldn't eat very much.  The flavors were very good and the pork was super tender.  The pork didn't absorb much of the apple/cherry flavors, and I think if I made this again, I'd marinate my pork for 24 hours in the apple juice and then use that Apple juice for the juice in the recipe.  I think that would give the pork some more of a flavor profile. 

I didn't have green onions so I used dried chopped onions and it worked fine.

C ate her 2 pieces and E tried it, but it ended up on the floor. B said it was good and he'd eat it again. Pork is not a favorite in our house,  we prefer our pig in the bacon/sausage/ham variety,  but overall this was a good dish.

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Sweet Chicken Curry (2/23/2017)

Crock pot meal #17
Sweet Chicken Curry
Slow Cooker Recipes
☆☆☆.5
8 wwp+

I grew up eating Chicken Curry and Rice at family gatherings and it's one of my favorite meals. I saw this in the recipe book and thought it looked like an interesting take on CC&R.

I didn't get any mango chutney when I went grocery shopping, so I used .5 cup of Marina's Cranberry Chutney instead. I also used the remaining frozen Fajita onion and pepper mix I had from when I made meatballs.  Turns out I bought chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts (I don't know what happened when I went shopping), so I used 2 thighs for our dinner which ended up being the perfect amount of chicken. I also didn't cut them up before cooking them, to prevent drying out. I was bummed there were no leftovers though (which is rare for me). I cooked this for around 4.5-5 hours and it was perfect. I cooked the rice in another crock pot for about 2.5 hours and it was also perfect.

Because I grew up eating CC&R, I know that toppings are everything in this dish. So, after I cut up my chicken and put it on top of my rice I doused my plate in a fair amount of sauce from the crock pot including lots of vegetables and added pineapple chunks and coconut flakes. Typically raisins are another topping for this dish,  but I didn't add any because the chutney blend already had some.

I thought the flavor was amazing and it was exactly what I was wanting when I picked this for my birthday dinner.  B thought it was bland,  but he had less sauce/veggies and no toppings. I would absolutely eat this again.

C ate her required 2 bites and a lot of rice.  E enjoyed the little bit she ate.

This is definitely a dinner that would make my Grams Georgie proud.

See you at Dinner! 

Moose 

Ham and Cheese Pasta Bake (2/22/2017)

Crock pot meal #16
Ham and Cheese Pasta Bake
Slow Cooker Recipes
☆
14 wwp+

I did not enjoy eating this and subsequently did not take a picture of the end result.  Nobody enjoyed it, as C said it "was gross". I'm not even sure what could be done to fix it. The noodles were mushy and the flavor was just not enjoyable.  Needless to say we'll be finding alternate food options.

E didn't like it either, she spit it back out.

Recipe is included in case you're brave

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Mile High Enchilada Pie (2/21/2017)

Crock Pot meal #15
Mile High Enchilada Pie 
Slow Cooker Recipes 
☆☆.5
6 wwp+

The flavors of this meal were pretty good. However, the corn tortillas kind of disintegrated, which was a bummer. The edges got dry too. If I did this again I'd use the flour tortillas and I'd cook it for 6 hours instead of 8 to see if it turned out better. I'd recommend this, I just don't think we'd make it again.

(Picture of finished product is a slice, not the entire finished pie)

C had to work hard to eat her 4 required bites and E didn't eat any of it, but did enjoy her dinner. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Crock Pot Pizza Casserole (2/20/2017)

Crock pot meal #14
Crock Pot Pizza Casserole 
Slow Cooker Recipes 
13 wwp+
☆☆☆

This recipe has a tiny post it flag on it from when I went through and marked recipes is like to try once upon a time. I didn't make this near as big as the recipe suggests. I used a pound of ground meat total, 1/2 beef and 1/2 sausage. I used one can of mushrooms, one jar of pizza sauce, 2 tsps minced garlic and some dried chopped onions, guessed on the parmesan, probably 1/4 cup bell pepper, and it turned out we didn't have shredded mozzarella so I sliced 5 sticks of string cheese. We didn't have pepperoni either (oops) so B picked some up on the way home. I made garlic bread using garlic infused olive oil and Italian bread to go with it. I also used whole wheat rotini.

For the most part it turned out pretty good. We still had way too much left over, but we'll have it again this weekend. I'd probably make this again but use shredded mozzarella and tiny pepperoni.

C ate her 4 required bites with much effort and E couldn't get enough of it. The bread was a hit all the way around. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Greek Gyros (2/17/2017)

Crock pot meal #13
Greek Gyros {crock pot recipe}
Chindeep.com/2014/09/29/greek-gyros-crock-pot-recipe/#
☆☆☆.5
6 wwp+ (meat only)

This was pretty simple to make, and I actually froze half the meat because it wouldn't all fit in my small crock pot (thank goodness, that would have been too much food). I'm not a big fan of touching raw meat so the hand mixing the meat was interesting, but I'm learning to do new things in cooking.

We would eat this again. We gave it a 3.5 because while the flavor was really good the ground meat texture was a little weird for a gyro. I cut up cucumbers, green bell pepper, and had a cucumber geek yogurt dressing for assembly. I added some Drunken Goat goat cheese gouda to mine, but it probably didn't need it.

C ate quite a bit of hers and E enjoyed the pita bread.

The recipe is in the description today as this is the only new from the Internet recipe on my list.

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Hoppin' John (2/16/2017)

Crock pot meal #12
Hoppin' John 
Slow Cooker Recipes 
☆☆☆.5
15 wwp+

This was really good. I used andouille sausage, but I think next time I'll used smoked. This dish definitely had some kick to it. B enjoyed it as well. I didn't change much, just made half the amount in the recipe, which was the perfect amount for us.

C ate some of her meat but didn't like the rice, E didn't like any of it. I'd make it again though. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Macaroni and Cheese (2/15/2017)

Crock pot meal #11
Macaroni and Cheese 
Rival Crock Pot cook book 
☆☆☆.5
14 wwp+

B went out with the boys tonight, so it's just me with a rating. I made a half size and subbed olive oil for butter. I also added gouda. I used 8 oz of evaporated milk and ended up adding 2 C of whole milk. I liked this, it wasn't super creamy though, and I prefer creamy. Both C & E ate the macaroni and cheese which is nice. I'd make this again though, especially as an easy dinner when it's just us girls. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Barbecue Ribs (2/14/207)

Crock pot meal #10
Barbecue Ribs
Slow Cooker Recipes
☆☆☆☆
14 wwp+ (approximately)

Never, have I ever, made ribs. In fact, I never even considered making ribs, but today is Valentine's Day, and dinner needed some pizazz. This recipe uses bbq sauce made from scratch, which was way easier than it appeared. I only cooked one rack of ribs since there is only 2 of us. I also used 2 tbsp minced garlic instead of cloves and I don't like cutting onions so I keep dried chopped onion on hand, which I used. I didn't have cider vinegar amazingly enough, and a quick Google search told me I could sub white wine at a 2-1 ratio.

The meat was super flavorful and fell right off the bone. B said they were delicious and we both agreed we'd definitely eat this again. I cooked them for 8 hours.

C gave it her best effort, but was not a fan, and E was not interested. I served up the ribs with a side of steam fresh rice with broccoli and carrots and the from scratch chocolate pudding hasn't set yet, so I guess we'll eat that tomorrow. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Classic Spaghetti (2/13/2017)

Crock pot meal #9
Classic Spaghetti 
Rival Crock Pot cook book 
☆☆☆☆
(I didn't calculate the wwp+, I can if requested)

Sorry, no finished picture, I was hungry.

I modified this recipe, and used left over meatballs from Friday, which included the tomato sauce they were cooked in. I am not entirely sure how much was in there, so I added two 8oz cans of tomato sauce, mushrooms, garlic, celery, carrots, and seasoning from the recipe. We had just a little but left over.

I enjoyed this recipe and rated it a 4 wile B rated it a 2. But, he's biased and has a favorite spaghetti sauce, so it's hard to compete. I am not too particular on my spaghetti sauce.

C and E both ate lots of it and were pleased with dinner tonight. They both enjoyed some ambrosia salad made with Nana's recipe for dessert. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Italian Meatballs and Pepper Strips (2/10/2017)

Crock pot meal #8
Italian Meatballs and pepper strips 
Rival Crock Pot cook book 
☆☆☆☆

I ate mine as a sandwich on some French bread and B ate his as is. I made about half what the recipe called for and we have leftovers. These were delicious.

C ate hers as a sandwich also and didn't complain. E loved them and kept asking for more. We'll definitely make these again! 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

McCormick Weeknight Chili (2/9/2017)

Crock pot meal #7
McCormick Weeknight Chili 
Rival Crock Pot cook book 
☆☆☆

I use a half a pound of meat instead of a pound and I use both black beans and red kidney beans. This recipe is one of 3 on my list for February that we eat regularly, so I already knew we would like it.

C didn't like it, and usual. E wasn't fond of it either. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew (2/8/2017)

Crock pot meal #6
Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew 
Rival Crock Pot cook book 
☆☆☆
7 wwp+

I didn't make the full size of this recipe and still had more than enough food. I added another cup of chicken broth as well as some Mrs. Dash to prevent a flavor disaster like yesterday. We didn't have any paprika, so I used cayenne pepper, so it was spicier than it was probably meant to be.
We kept some of the left overs for this weekend.

C tried one tiny bite and did not like it. E liked some of it.

There's a possibility we'd make it again. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose

Herbed Artichoke Chicken (2/7/2017)

Crock pot meal #5
Herbed Artichoke Chicken
Rival Crock Pot cook book
Brett: ☆
Sam: ☆☆☆
5 WWP+

***life was a bit chaotic at dinner, so no finished picture today***

So, as you probably noticed, I liked this much more than B did. It is supposed to be served with the chicken cut up on your plate and some of the veggies on the side, but because it created such a hearty broth I decided to serve it up in bowls like a soup. B thought it was bland. I thought it was perfect, which is saying something, because chicken is not my favorite. I only used one chicken breast because I knew the odds were good C wouldn't eat it and I didn't want to waste chicken. I didn't have fresh basil or Kalamata olives, so I skipped them.

C tasted it, said it was good, tried a second bite and changed her mind. E did not really care for any of it.

I would make this again if I was feeding myself and needed meals for the rest of the week. 

See you at Dinner!
Moose