Don't put potatoes in the crock pot

...And other words of advice.
Well I started using my crock pot a whole lot more when I moved to Texas. I'm a fan of lazy cooking.
I did learn one thing... potatoes don't work in the crock pot. Every time I used a recipe with potatoes, even after 8 hours of cooking, they were hard and not appetizing. It sort of ruined the meals I made. However I will share with you a few recipes that made the cut. Since I've lived in Texas, we have experimented a ton with food. We ate vegetarian for a week, we went meat heavy for a week, I did freezer cooking to the crock pot for a week, and I think there was a week in there when we just made strange meals from whatever was in the pantry...aka pay day week. We of course ate out a bunch...you gathered that from my weight gain I wrote about in my last post.

So far, I'd like to share with you the recipes that made the cut! They are not all crock pot recipes...sorry! I promise you they pleased an 8 year old, a 3 year old, and a husband...so they are tried and true! I threw in a dessert here and there too.

Sigrid's Carrot Cake
I'll start with this amazing carrot cake I got from the Pioneer Woman. I made it on Easter and it was amazing. René doesn't even like cake and raved about it. So all credit goes to The Pioneer Woman. The homemade cream cheese frosting really makes it!

Vegan Zucchini Bread

Vegan Cupcakes
Even if you aren't vegan or think its weird, whatever...just try this. In my opinion these were the best cupcakes I ever made.

Oatmeal Lemon Creme Bars

Vegetarian Meals
I only did Week 1 so far. Every recipe was delicious, apart from maybe the General's Tofu. I wasn't a huge fan.
*Salsa Fry-Up needed some tortillas to wrap up that deliciousness, add that to your grocery list if you make this. This was the kids favorite
*Rice Greens and Egg-I used Kale and it was yummy
*The Pad Thai was a family favorite. We used Hoisin sauce, not the traditional peanut sauce. You can find it at Walmart
*Lentil Herder's Pie was delicious. Mashed potatoes are good always, duh.


Slow Cooker Kielbasa with Apples, Onions, and Sauerkraut
This was really good, it was enough for 3 kids and 4 adults and super easy to put together.

Chuck Roast in the crock pot-my concoction
I bought a chili coffee meat rub from the store. They have rubs in bulk at Central Market. If you don't have that, you can just use salt and pepper or you can buy a couple packets at the store. One won't do it. So I rubbed the spices all over the 3 lb chuck roast, then I browned it on all sides in a pan. Boil some beef broth, about 2 cups. I used organic, low sodium, low fat-all that jazz. Cut up some big onions, stick them in the bottom of the crock pot. Cut them into big chunks. After the meat is all browned up stick it on top of the onions. Pour some water into the pan your meat came out of, get all the flavor up and put it into the beef broth you're boiling. Let it cook for a minute then pour it into the crock pot. Then just put the lid on and let it go for 8 hours on Low. It was super easy, took me 10 minutes. Later on in the day I threw some salt and pepper and more meat rub in there, just to amp it up. For some reason I find the slow cooker makes things bland after cooking it all day. I served the meat over brown rice with gravy and a side of green beans.  Mashed potatoes would work too.

Several weeks ago I also made this: Roasted Grape, Goat Cheese, and Honey Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Mine never made it back into the potato skins, I am not that fancy. It was very good though. This one definitely depends on your tastes. If you don't like goat cheese, you obviously won't like this!


So far, that's all I got. I made vegetarian chili in the crock pot once too, I don't know what I did with the recipe but it was good. Just google it and I promise you'll get a million and 1 recipes to suit you for veg chili.

I have lots planned for next week-pulled pork AND homemade bbq sauce in the crock pot, carnitas, santa fe chicken, etc. It's a Tex Mex sort of week coming up, we'll be all porked out.

Full Disclosure

The road trip from Delaware/Maryland to Texas was insanely long. 6-8 hour road trips are ok...24 hrs are not. I do not want to ever do that again.

I've gained 7 pounds. My sister calls it "love chub". I call it...wow Texas has super good, fattening, greasy, awesome food and I spent a month putting it in my belly. Today I finally put my foot down and say NO MORE junk.



Yes, I'm officially or unofficially a Texan now. I have a Texas license and Texas plates and a Texas address so I fulfilled all the legalities other than being born here. Really I get the feeling not many people are actually born in Texas. My neighbors came from Idaho and New Jersey, friends from church hail from Wisconsin via Chicago and also Alabama. Really, who was actually born in Texas?

I do love my new house, its bigger and better and the floor plan is open and nice. The kids have their own rooms. René and I actually have a bathroom IN our bedroom. Welcome to grown up land where you don't have to share your bathroom with children. We have all new furniture, for the most part, which is pretty cool. Our bedroom MATCHES. More grown up stuff for you.

My in laws are great, and no they don't read this so I'm not just saying that...they really are fantastic and my mother in law is my friend! She tried to teach me how to make enchiladas last week. I think I need to make them about 75 more times to be good at it. Its a ton of work for one dish. Some day I hope to be the crazy white lady making amazing Mexican food for my family.

René and I went on a date this past weekend and it was great! I love our alone time so much, I cherish it.
We also took our daughter to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and the Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth on Saturday. She loved the gardens and about 10 minutes of the museum. I mean, shes 8...modern art isn't her thing.






My daughter joined the children's choir at church and just came back from her second sign language class. She went as a tag along, but shes really good at it...so why not? 

My mom came for a visit last week and it was so nice to have her. It was fun showing someone where I live and all my surroundings. We took her to Hico, Texas for some awesome pie and a drive through the countryside. She had my mother in laws awesome enchiladas and just spent some good time with us!







Our neighbors are super nice, I only wish I had more time to hang out with them! Their children are our children's age and I'm pretty sure Jasper is in love with their dog..so much so that hes burrowed a hole from our yard to there's...I think we need a doggie door between our fences.

OH and my adventures in cooking for the past month or so have been fun. I made Easter dinner, I cooked vegan/vegetarian for a week and now I'm doing freeze ahead crock pot meals. I just need to find what suits us/me best! The most raved about dessert was by far the homemade carrot cake I made with homemade cream cheese icing. It was seriously delicious, just saying.

Ok thats enough update for now...I'm sorry its been so long, but obviously I've had a lot going on :)