This Week's Plan 6-1-10

Can you believe it's JUNE already?!!!  Whoo hoo!  Bring on Summer Vacation!  We had an awesome Memorial Day weekend!  We ended up driving to Traverse City on Friday where I ran my first race (since Middle School) in the Bayshore Marathon.  I ran the 10K and am ready to move on to another race!  It was awesome!

Since this is a "short" school-week for us and my husband has some things after work, I'm only making 2 meals this week.  I'm going to make French Dip and Indian Lamb.  I'm super excited for both!

Here's this week's plan:

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Leftovers (hubby at a baseball game and me and my little one will have a playdate with the neighbor!)
Wednesday - French Dip
Thursday - Indian Lamb
Friday - Leftovers

I can't wait to get cooking this week!  Both recipes are INCREDIBLY easy!  Can't wait to share them with you!

Happy Crock-Potting!
Hope

Apricot Orange Chicken Leftovers!!!

Ok, my husband and I decided to use the Apricot Orange Chicken COLD and turn it into a delicious salad with the leftover lettuce.  We used a drizzle of Raspberry Dressing and VOILA!  A new meal was born!  LOL  It was very tasty cold, but a little less spicy!  Interesting!  So, put those leftovers to good use!

Apricot Orange Chicken Lettuce Wraps

After working outside in 85+ degree weather all day, and coming in to this AWESOME and healthy meal, we were in Heaven!!!  This meal was slightly spicy, citrusy, delicious and refreshing!  Best of all, it's not too bad for you!

I threw this dinner together while my 2-year-old ate her lunch and stuck it on High.  It looks SO pretty in the Slow Cooker (I know, I'm weird!).  It was ready 5 hours later!  This is definitely something I would make over and over again and even for company.

One small warning, they are VERY juicy and you will need plenty of napkins as you're eating them!!!  My husband ate his on tortillas instead of lettuce and it was less of a mess.  You can stick to the healthy version with the lettuce, or use the tortilla like he did!

On to the good stuff......

Apricot Orange Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

3 Frozen Chicken Breasts

1 Seedless Cucumber, skinned and chopped roughly

1/2 Red Onion, Chopped roughly

2 Whole Jalepeno Peppers

1/4 cup Low Sugar Apricot Preserves

1 Orange, juiced

3 Tbsp. Reduced Sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. red chili flakes

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Romaine Lettuce Leaves (or any you like for lettuce wraps)

1-2 limes, wedged

Pineapple Mango Salsa (or another fruity salsa you like!)

Directions:

Place your frozen chicken breasts in the bottom of you Slow Cooker.  Add cucumber, onion and jalepeno peppers (whole, do not chop).

Mix together Apricot Preserves, orange juice, soy sauce and sesame oil.  Pour over chicken.

Sprinkle garlic powder, ginger, red chili flakes, salt and pepper over everything else.  It looks SO pretty!

Cook  on LOW for 8-9 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

Serve on Lettuce Leaf with salsa drizzled over the top and a squeeze of fresh lime juice!

Enjoy!!!!!

Tips: If you want it less spicy, reduce amount of red pepper flakes and remove 1 Japepeno pepper.

Healthy Chicken Chow Mein with Rice Noodles

UPDATE:
I made this again this past weekend with a few minor changes.  It made it a lot more manageable!  Anything is possible if you have your "ducks in a row!"  This recipe was just as delicious as I remembered it! :)  We've eaten leftovers for 3 days!!  WOW!


I updated the changes in blue for you and added more pictures!  Enjoy!

Well, this recipe turned out good in the end, but it is DEFINITELY NOT a Slow Cooker meal for a busy mom!   Oh my goodness!  This recipe had WAY too many steps for this mom!  I would be more than happy to make this recipe again on the weekend when I have lots of time, but this recipe didn't save me any time tonight!  Too many dirty dishes to clean up and like I said, way too many steps!

If you have the time, this really is a great recipe!  It's nice and light and it's chock full of good for you things!  Let's just say my daughter ate Pizza for dinner tonight because it was past dinner time and she was hungry and this STILL wasn't ready to eat!

On a side note, we have so many leftovers this week I will not be making a third meal tomorrow.  I'll save those yummy lettuce wraps for the weekend!

Here's how it all came together:

Healthy Chicken Chow Mein with Rice Noodles

 

Ingredients:

2-3 Large FROZEN Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

2 Cups Water

2 Onions, chopped into slivers

2-3 cups chopped celery

2 tsp. quick cooking tapioca

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 (16 oz) can baby corn, drained I used fresh this time!

1 (6.5 oz) can bamboo shoots, drained I used fresh this time!

1 cup bean sprouts

1 red bell pepper, chopped into slivers I left this out because I didn't have any.
1/4 carrots, chopped into nice thin matchsticks

kosher salt to taste

pepper to taste

Asian Rice Noodles

Directions:

Place frozen chicken breasts in the Slow Cooker with the water, onions and celery.  

Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

Mix the tapioca, soy sauce and brown sugar together. You can have this ready the night before!

While you shred the chicken, place the carrots, the red bell pepper, baby corn, bamboo shoots and the sauce you just mixed into the Slow Cooker.

Shred the chicken and add it to the Veggies.

Stir.

Let this cook on HIGH for another 1/2 hour to hour.

When about ready to serve, cook your rice noodles according to directions on the package.  Put Kosher Salt and olive oil in the water so the noodles don't stick and gain some flavor.

In a large skillet or wok, heat up about 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil.  Cook drained Rice Noodles in this pan until there is a little bit of a crust on them.  Skip this and make your life WAY easier!!!!  You don't need to do this!

Serve your Chicken Chow Mein over the noodles and Enjoy!

PHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOTS of steps, but it is good!

Tips:

I put the water, celery and onions in the crock pot the night before.  In the morning, I added the frozen chicken and then plugged it in.  When I got home, I took out the chicken and set it aside so I could get the vegetables cooking.  I placed the bamboo shoots, peppers and baby corn in the crock pot while I quickly mixed the sauce.  After I added the sauce, I stirred everything and let it start cooking while I shredded the chicken.  After the chicken was shredded I added it back to the crock pot with the veggis and sauce.  I stirred again.  THENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.........I worked on the noodles.  Ay  yay yay!   Seriously, it was good!  Just a lot of work!

Beef Chili

I would like to thank Tracy for passing her recipe on to me.  Of course, I made changes to the recipe, so I would like to rename this just Beef Chili....as I'm not sure what's Mexican about it!  It was very good, even on a day when it was 85 degrees outside!  My daughter actually ate the beans out of her Chili.  She's not very keen on ground beef!

I served this Beef Chili with Jiffy Corn Muffins (which cost me $0.44) and a little sprinkle of shredded cheese on top!  Enjoy!  It's super simple!

Mexican Chili

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

2 can Kidney Beans

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilis

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. garlic powsder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. marjoram

1 tsp. Olive Oil

1 beef bouillon cube

Directions:

In a skillet, heat olive oil then add onions.  When translucent, add ground beef.  

While the ground beef is cooking assemble all other ingredients in the slow cooker.

When Ground beef and onions are cooked, add them to the slow cooker.

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.  Serve with Corn Bread/Muffins.  Enjoy!

Tips:  Assemble everything the night before (or 2 nights before like I did!!  LOL) and just plug that puppy in the morning of!!  

Soooooooo......

Super Mom finally screwed up today!  I forgot to put the Chili in the Crock Pot this morning after a blender snaphooo!!!  So, Chili will be tomorrow, Wednesday will be the Chow Mein and Thursday will be the Sweet and Sour Chicken Lettuce Wraps!

Sorry everyone!

Take Care,
Hope

This Week's Plan 5-23-10

FINALLY!  Concert season is over for my husband and I both and there are only 3 more weeks of school before we are on Summer Break!  I can't wait!!!  Did I mention, I CAN'T WAIT?!!!!!??!!!

We need 8 more followers to reach my goal of 50 by the end of the week!  Can you help?!!!

This week I'm back to cooking 3 different recipes.  I decided to start the week off with a recipe a friend of mine, Tracy, gave me at a recipe exchange party we had!  It's a Beef Mexican Chili.  Even though the weather is warm, it sounds delicious.  As Tracy suggested, I will pair it with good ole' cheap and delicious corn muffins!

I'll then attempt a Sweet and Sour Chicken Lettuce Wrap.  My mouth just waters thinking of this one!!!!

I'll then get even healthier with a Chicken Chow Mein.  This one should make my trainer somewhat happy!  Right John?!!!

Ok, here's how my week will go:

Monday: Beef Mexican Chili with Corn Muffins

Tuesday: Sweet and sour Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Wednesday: Chicken Chow Mein

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Leftovers

I can't wait to get this week started!  :)

Happy Crock-Potting!
Hope

Shredded Pork Wraps

This was SO incredibly easy and really good!  Again tonight, we had my step-dad over for dinner and between the 4 of us, we had no leftovers again!  This made a really quick and tasty meal tonight!  I would like to thank my friend Maja for giving me the recipe and for sharing the bag of broccoli slaw with me!

I know you're thinking to yourself....."She has NO leftovers!  What will she eat the rest of the week?!"  Great question!  I have leftovers in the freezer from a couple of weeks ago.  I will grab whatever I see first from my freezer tomorrow morning, put it in my Crock Pot and let it cook on low all day!  How cool is that?!

Are you ready for this easy peasy recipe?!

Here it is:

Shredded Pork Wraps

Ingredients:

1 cup salsa (use whatever flavor you like!)

2 Tbsp. quick cooking tapioca

1 2 lb. boneless pork loin roast

8" flour tortillas

Broccoli slaw (I think I prefer without this!)

shredded cheese

Directions:

Combine your salsa with the quick cooking tapioca.  Pour mixture over your Pork Loin Roast in the Crock Pot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

When ready to eat, shred the pork on a cutting board with two forks.  Place shredded pork back into crock pot and stir with the salsa juices.

Lay a tortilla flat.  Spoon in some of the pork mixture.  Top it with shredded cheese, salsa and a tiny bit of broccoli slaw for crunch if you wish.  Roll it however you like and eat!

Tips:

I adapted this from the original recipe to suit me.  Personally, I did not care for the broccoli slaw, so I made one without.  If I were to use the broccoli slaw again, I would mix it with some coleslaw dressing or something.  I used a mango pineapple salsa to top my wraps with and it was really delicious!  The quick cooking tapioca I used for this recipe, I used for the Apricot Chicken as well.  It's great for thickening up any crock pot dish.  

Enjoy!

Apricot Chicken

Oh my GOODNESS was this yummy!!!!  It was SOOO yummy that there were NO leftovers today!  We had an unexpected guest tonight and how cool was it that I had a delicious meal ready in my Slow Cooker!  It was impressive, I'm not gonna lie!  My guest was my step-dad who will be babysitting our daughter the next two nights as my husband and I attend all of our crazy concert-season obligations!  He LOVED the Apricot chicken, as did my husband and daughter!

This chicken was SO easy to make!  I put the sauce together the night before and then in the morning, I put my frozen chicken in the Slow Cooker and covered it with the sauce.  Voila!!

I adapted the recipe from the original recipe I found and I think I made the right choice!  I used my trusty cheap-thighs and the skin was crispy even though I didn't brown it first.  The meat was juicy and incredibly flavorful.  I served it with some rice and beets!  The sweetness of the beats really complimented the sweetness of the chicken and the rice soaked up that yummy sauce!

I need to give a shout-out (Holla!) to all of our new followers!  We've gained 15 new followers in the last 9 days!  How awesome is that?!  Pretty soon the whole world will be Slow-Cooking again!  We're making it happen, one kitchen at a time!  LOL

Ok, now to the good stuff!  Here is the INCREDIBLY easy Apricot Chicken:

Apricot Chicken

Ingredients:

6 FROZEN Chicken Thighs/legs bone-in (any combination of chicken will work!)

1 package Onion Soup mix

1 cup Apricot Preserves/Jam

1/2 Cup Chicken broth

2 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp. quick cooking tapioca (this thickens the sauce.....it's great in the crock pot to thicken any sauce, but can omit it if you don't have it)

1 tsp. basil

1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:

Place frozen chicken in the Slow Cooker.

Mix together remaining ingredients.  Pour over chicken, then turn chicken to coat.  

Cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Enjoy!

Tips:  As I mentioned above, I made the sauce the night before, then in the morning, I assembled.  Took 1 minute at the most.  If you decide to use boneless-skinless chicken, cut the cook time down to about 6 hours. 

This Week's Plan 5-16-10

Wow!  First of all, thank you to all of my friends for helping me reach my goal this week!  I gained 10 new followers since last Sunday!  That's amazing!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I'm officially going for 50!  So, I need 13 new followers to help me reach my goal!  Spread the word!!!!  I need your help!

This week is another busy week in my household.  My husband is directing two concerts this week, I'm directing one and performing at a benefit in Saginaw.  Of course, when I'm busy, my Crock Pot is my lifesaver!!!

We had a wonderful weekend filled with family, so we have some leftovers to eat up at the beginning of the week.  You know I don't like to waste!  So, this week, I have only 2 recipes for you, but I think you'll like them!

I'm going to make Apricot Chicken on Tuesday.  Doesn't that just sound yummy and delicious?!!  Wednesday I will make Shredded Pork Wraps alongside my good friend Maja.  These wraps include a broccoli slaw and our two families are going to share the bag so we don't have any waste!  Thanks Maja for the great suggestion! 

Here's what the week looks like for us:

Monday - Leftovers from our family-filled weekend

Tuesday - Apricot Chicken

Wednesday - Shredded Pork Wraps (Concert Nights for Hubby and I)

Thursday - Leftovers for our little girl and her Papa while my husband and I have performances

Friday - Leftovers

I hope this week brings you lots of warm weather and most importantly, lots of good food with your families!

Happy Crock-Potting!
Hope

Szechwan Chicken with Green Beans

I made this again this week and was not as impressed with it as the first time.  It was good and all, but maybe my almost burning it the first time was a good thing!  I also overcooked my green beans BIG time, so they didn't taste nice and crispy and fresh! (We were outside playing in the 80 degree weather!  I'll take it!)  That being said, it was still a very yummy and healthy meal for my family.  We all ate it and had plenty of leftovers for a few days!

This was truly an experiment!  I took a regular recipe and tried to turn it into a Slow Cooker recipe instead!  Spicy Chicken with String Beans is one of my most favorite dishes to order at a Chinese Restaurant, so when I came across this recipe, I knew I had to try it!

The aroma I came home to today, was one of "burned" food!  LOL  There were some onions that became "blackened" and were creating that lovely aroma!  Luckily, MOST of the chicken was fine!  All I need to do is add more liquid next time and this should be a REALLY good recipe!  I've adjusted the recipe below so you don't get "blackened" anything when you make yours!

All in all, I was pretty proud that I actually made a healthy, Chinese dinner that actually tasted like Chinese!  Whoo hoo!  And I did it in a Crock Pot Slow Cooker!  Even more amazing!

Szechwan Chicken with Green Beans

served over Rice

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken, cubed into 1" pieces

1 onion, sliced into thin wedges

2 carrots, sliced into matchsticks

1 cup chicken broth

2 tsp. sesame oil

1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce

1 Tbsp. dry sherry

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 lb. fresh green beans, cleaned, ends snapped off

2 tsp. sesame seeds

Serve with Rice

Directions:

In a skillet, heat sesame oil.  Add chicken, onion, carrots, ginger and garlic to the oil.  Cook for a few minutes, just allowing the flavors to mix together and then chicken to barely cook.

In the Slow Cooker, add everything from the skillet, chicken broth, soy sauce, dry sherry and red pepper flakes.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  

When ready to serve, start your rice.  Add Green Beans, salt, pepper and sesame seeds to the Slow Cooker.  Stir and allow Green Beans to steam in the Slow Cooker until your rice is ready.

Serve your Szechwan Chicken with Green Beans over rice.  Enjoy!

Tips: I prepped everything the night before.  I washed the green beans, snapped the ends off and bagged them.  I also had the chicken and vegetables ready and once I cooked them for a few minutes in the skillet, I put them in the crock pot with the broth and other spices.  In the morning I just took it out of the fridge and plugged the Slow Cooker in!  When I got home, (well, I added more liquid to salvage my meal!)  I started the rice and added the green beans and remaining spices to the Slow Cooker while my rice cooked.  Super easy!

Greek Chicken with Lemon Orzo

YUMMMMM-OH!!!  I LOVE the aroma of lemon and as I walked in the house today, it smelled lemony and delicious!  This Greek Chicken was SO easy to make and it packs lots of flavor.  I served my Greek Chicken with my very own Lemon Orzo.  I'll post my super easy Lemon Orzo recipe below too!

I want to thank all of you for all the wonderful comments that you've been telling me, posting here, or posting on facebook.  It makes me feel so good that you're having so much success with these recipes and it's brought many of you back to the kitchen and eating a delicious meal with your families!  The best part, you're saving yourself time and hopefully a bit of money from not eating out so much, or buying expensive prepared meals like I was.

We've gained 5 new followers since Sunday and I'm super excited!  Halfway to my goal!  Keep telling your friends about this blog!  Let's spread the good food!!!

Now, what you've been waiting for....

Greek Chicken with Lemon Orzo

Greek Chicken Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 lemon, thinly sliced
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. dried oregano

Lemon Orzo Ingredients;

4 servings of Orzo, cooked to directions on box

Dressing for the orzo:

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

Directions:
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown chicken on all sides. Place in Slow Cooker.

Add broth, lemon, olives, garlic and oregano to crock pot.

Cover; cook on low 8 hours or until chicken is tender. 

Cook your Orzo to directions on box.  Whisk together all ingredients for the Orzo dressing and mix into orzo.

Serve your Greek Chicken on top of the Orzo.

Enjoy!

White Chicken Chili....AGAIN!

This was JUST as good as the first time we had it.  I know Cinco de Mayo was last week, but this put me in the mood!  My daughter gobbled hers up and my husband had seconds of course!  I've posted the picture and recipe again for you below!

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 block pepper jack cheese, cut into chunks

1 block Monterey Jack cheese, cut into chunks

1 large onion, chopped

1 16 oz. jar Salsa

1 cup Navy beans

4 cups water

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 Tbsp. Cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Directions:

Soak your Navy beans in a large bowl or pot overnight.  Make sure to cover them with about 4 inches of water.

In the morning, drain/rinse your beans.  Pour into your slow cooker with the 4 cups of water.

Add chicken broth, salsa, onions, cumin, salt and pepper to the slow cooker.  Stir and then add chicken breasts.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Take chicken out and shred it with two forks.  Put back into the slow cooker and add Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack cheese.  Turn on High for 1/2 hour to 1 hour.  

Stir and serve with crushed tortilla chips on top or on the side.

Tips:  I put all ingredients except beans and the chicken in the slow cooker insert the night before.  In the morning, all I did was pour out half of the liquid from the beans, put the rest in the crock pot and add the chicken.  Super easy!

Enjoy!

This week's Plan 5-9-10

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's Out there!  This past week was a CRAZY week for me, so I'm looking forward to things calming down, at least for the week, and getting back to my crock pot.

I'm going to start off the week with a recipe I've already made and pictured on the blog because my wonderful husband cannot stop thinking about it and has asked for it!  What is it?  White Chicken Chili folks!  I can't wait to eat it again!  The beans are soaking as I type and you read!

I'm also going to make Greek Style Chicken this week.  It's a recipe I posted when I first started the blog, but haven't posted a picture of it.  It was one of our favorites here and I can't wait to show you how good it looks and tell you how good it tastes!

The third and final recipe I'm making this week is Szechwan Chicken with Green Beans.  There was a Chinese Restaurant I used to go to all the time in Saginaw just for the Chicken with String Beans, so I'm going to somewhat try and recreate that.  We'll see how it turns out.  It's truly an experiment! 

I hope this blog finds you well and I can't wait to Crock-Pot again with you this week!  Spread the word of this site to your friends and let's see if we can get 10 new followers by the end of the week!  We're at 27, so we're going for 37....although an even 40 wouldn't be so bad! ;)

Here's my plan this week:

Monday: White Chicken Chili....per hubby's polite request

Tuesday: Greek Style Chicken

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Szechwan Chicken with Green Beans

Friday: Leftovers

Happy Crock-Potting!
Hope

Jambalya

Even though it's Cinco de Mayo, it felt like Mardi Gras inside my house today!  This Jambalya was Deeelicious!!!  The greatest part about this recipe, besides being super easy, is that I was able to use up the rest of my sausage from my Egg Casserole recipe 2 days ago!  I just LOVE when that happens.  It's so cost effective!

I'm getting right to the good stuff today....

Jambalaya

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless skinless Chicken, chopped into 1" pieces

1 lb. frozen peeled and cooked shrimp, thawed

1/2 lb.turkey sausage (you can use any sausage you like, andouille is suggested in most Jambalaya recipes)
 1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cups Okra, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup Chicken Broth
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. Cajon seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. hot sauce
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. thyme
Cooked Rice

Directions:
Put all ingredients into the Slow Cooker, EXCEPT the shrimp and rice, and stir.  Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

Right before you are ready to serve, add shrimp and let cook an additional 5 minutes.

Serve over Rice.

Tips:  I chopped all my ingredients the night before and put them into the Slow Cooker.  I also took the shrimp out of the freezer to allow them time to thaw.  When I came home, I quickly took the tails of the shrimp I purchased, threw them in and gave it a stir.  I made 5-minute rice, and by the time my rice was ready, so was my Jambalaya!


1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes

Egg Casserole

I was going through a little bit of Slow Cooker withdrawal, so I'm happy to bring you another recipe tonight!  This meaty egg casserole was pretty darn good!  My husband really liked it and added syrup to his second helping!  I made the "healthy" version of this recipe, but personally, I think it would have been WAY better if I had not made it healthy!  Oh well, my hips and butt are thanking me right now!  I still enjoyed my meal and will definitely make this again when we have company or a staff breakfast!

I cooked my Egg Casserole for quite a while tonight....10 hours, but I would suggest a max of 8.  It got a little dry because I cooked it so long.  We were running late getting home tonight!  If you let it go as long as I did, no big deal, it will still taste yummy!

Also, if you are vegetarian, you do not have to add the meat!  Put in more veggies than I did to fill it out.  This can be made with ANY or ALL of your favorite omelet ingredients!

Ok, let's get to the good stuff!  Here's the recipe:

Egg Casserole

Ingredients:

1 32 oz. bag hashbrowns

1/2 lb. turkey bacon (use real for more greasy goodness and flavor!)

1/2 lb. turkey sausage (use regular for more greasy goodness and flavor!)

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped (I used orange because I had some left from a meatloaf I made)

12 oz. mushrooms, chopped (I found and bought pre-chopped!)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese of your liking (I used Gruyere...mmmmm)

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

12 Eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp, pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

5-6 dashes hot sauce

Directions:

In a skillet, heat olive oil.  Add bacon, sausage, onions, bell pepper and mushrooms.  Cook until tender and meat a bit brown.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and hot sauce.  

Spray Slow cooker with non-stick spray.  Lay 1/3 of the hashbrowns on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Lay 1/3 of your meat/veggie mixture on top of that.  Lay 1/3 of your cheese on top of that.  Continue this process for 2 more times ending with your cheese on top.  

Pour your egg mixture over the top.  

Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

TIP:  I browned my meat and veggies the night before and put them in the fridge overnight.  I also mixed my egg mixture and stuck that in the fridge.  I also grated my cheese and had that in the fridge, but since I'm crazy, using pre-shredded cheese is so much easier and a time saver!  In the morning, I layered everything, gave the eggs another whisk and poured it in the crock pot.  It took me about 5 minutes to get this going this morning!  You can do it too!

This week's Plan 5-2-10

First of all, can you believe we're into May already?!  Yay!  Bring on the sunshine, that's what I say!

Last week's Crock Pot Meals were Deeeeeeelicious, so I'm hoping this week's will be too!  You'll notice I only chose to make 2 recipes again this week because we still have so much leftover Tomato Bean and Vegetable Soup!  It's even better reheated by the way! 

I have an extremely busy week ahead of me.  As an Elementary Music Teacher, I have to give concerts twice a year and this week, I have one for each school I teach at.  Thank GOODNESS for my Crock Pot this week!!

I'm actually really excited about this week's recipes.  My husband and I used to go to Ann Arbor every January for a Music Conference (it has since been moved to Grand Rapids) and the last year we went we ate at a New Orleans Restaurant.  We both ordered the Jambalaya and fell in LOVE with it!  The closest we could get Jambalaya after that was Zatarans in the box, but hey, we tried! 

You know how sometimes it's fun to have breakfast for dinner?  Well, this is your lucky week!  I'm going to try an Egg Casserole in the crock pot!

Here's this week's plan:

Monday - Egg Casserole with Turkey Sausage, Turkey Bacon and lots of veggis

Tuesday - Leftovers (Concert day!)

Wednesday - Jambalaya

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Leftovers or Out to Eat (Concert Day)

I can't wait to bring this week's recipes to you!

Happy Crock-Potting!
Hope