Crock Pot Meatballs

After taking a hiatus from this blog, I'm back!

I actually made this recipe for the first time a few months ago. I made a Super Bowl-themed meal, complete with Buffalo Chicken Dip & Taco Dip (vegetarian). I make homemade Italian meatballs almost every time we have spaghetti.  But after my husband tried these Crock Pot Meatballs he told requested that I make them at least once a week! No complaints here.. these things are incredibly easy to make!

Crock Pot Meatballs

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp oregano 
• pinch of salt & pepper
• 1 jar grape jelly
• 1 jar chili sauce

Mix together all of the ingredients except the jelly & chili sauce. I ended up using a little more than 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs, just add until the desired consistency is reached. The mixture for meatballs should be moist, but still be able to ball up easily without falling apart.

This recipe calls for one pound of meat -- more than enough for my husband who is the only one eating them, obviously. But if you're making these for a party, my suggestion would be to double the recipe. Next, spray cooking spray on a couple baking sheets & start shaping the mixture into 1" meatballs. Bake for 20-25 minutes in an oven, preheated at 350 degrees.

While they are baking, get out your trusty Crock Pot. I have recently fallen in love with Crock Pot liners. My first thought when I saw them was "how lazy" -- but then I gave them a shot. Less dishes to wash equals a happy Emily! No more soaking my Crock Pot overnight, no more scrubbing -- it's a beautiful thing.

After the meatballs are done, go ahead and just stick them in the Crock Pot. Cover with the entire bottle of chili sauce & entire jar of grape jelly. Mix together so the meatballs are completely covered in the sauce.

Cook on low for 4-6 hours, stirring occasionally. Even though I can't taste test the meatballs, I did sneak a taste of the sauce it was cooking in - so good! If it was me, I'd like this over some white rice. But my husband just stuck some in a bowl and went to town. Definitely a hit in our household!

Inside Out Chicken Pot Pie

I think this blog serves multiple purposes for me. Recently I've learned that it is the perfect place to store my recipes. There's no risk of losing them this way! Both of my grandmothers had their signature dishes handwritten on those recipe index cards and those were passed down to the next generation. Maybe this is my way to pass my recipes down to Caroline, when she's ready to start helping me out in the kitchen. Just some food for thought.. literally.

This recipe is insanely easy. I just realized that a good chunk of my recipes involve chicken, probably because it's a a meat I'm getting more and more comfortable with. I think I need to venture out of my comfort zone for my next recipe... hmm...

Inside Out Chicken Pot Pie

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
•   1 can of condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 packaged refrigerated biscuits (I used buttered, flaky Grands)
• 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables, whatever you like

 With a preheated oven for the biscuits, start by cutting up the chicken and cook in skillet until browned.

 Start baking your biscuits, per the instructions on the package. Most varieties will take less than 15 minutes.

After your chicken is starting to brown, go ahead and add the soup and frozen vegetables. Since this meal was for my picky husband, I limited the veggies to carrots and peas. I knew that would go over well? Here are some other options for a more adventurous household: broccoli, corn, potatoes, mushrooms, onions. You know what else would be good? Using cream of broccoli soup instead of cream of chicken. Hmm, this is definitely a recipe that can be customized and improved!

 Cook all of the ingredients together for another 8-10 minutes and allow the flavors to "marry" together - thank you for that term, Buddy Valastro. Then, take out your biscuits and pour your mixture on top of them. That's all there is to it!

Note: One improvement I would've made is opening up the biscuits before pouring the chicken-y vegetable goodness on top of them. 

Creamy Chicken Rice Casserole

My husband is a pretty tough guy. He'll kill giant crickets and spiders for me without batting an eye. His list of fears is pretty short and most of them are rational; public speaking, clowns, etc. But he has another fear that he'd probably never admit to. Mycrophobia.

 *insert Jaws theme song here*

Mycrophobia is the fear or aversion to mushrooms. It's actually amazing that we're married given the fact that I absolutely love mushrooms. He admitted to me once that the only time he's tried mushrooms was on a pizza.. Now, I wasn't with him, but I'm assuming it was those slimy canned mushrooms that a lot of places use. Not the best impression for someone that's a mushroom virgin. And he has refused to eat them every since.

I understand that they aren't the most appealing food in the world. They are technically a fungus, which might trigger images such as a fungus between toes in a person's mind. Fungus and fungi are gross words, that's hard to deny.

I, on the other hand, associate wonderful things with mushrooms. My mom and I always used to go "moreling" every spring when I was little. For anyone that doesn't know what that is, it's hunting down morel mushrooms in wooded areas. There are certain techniques for finding the most and the biggest morels. And when you get home you (hopefully) have a bag full of nature's most delicious mushrooms. Yum. I also have memories of my parents and I driving all the way to Mt. Carmel, Illinois - probably about a  45-minute drive - to get fresh shitake mushrooms. Double yum.

Memories aside, mushrooms are just plain delicious. That's all it comes down to. I don't think I've ever met a mushroom that I didn't like. When my friend Sara suggested a recipe to me that included two cans of Cream of Mushroom soup, I had a hunch it wouldn't go over well. But then I remembered that one of my favorite dishes - Green Bean Casserole - includes the same soup and the mushrooms aren't even noticeable. Could I sneak mushrooms past my mycrophobic husband?

Creamy Chicken Rice Casserole

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
• a box of chicken Rice-a-Roni
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup (use Cream of Mushroom for both if you don't have a picky husband)
•  2 tbsp butter or margarine 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil the chicken breasts. I had never boiled chicken before and wasn't exactly sure how long I should boil it. And you know what? You'll know when it's done. It's changes from that weird kind of translucent color to white and becomes tender. Take it out to cool and then dice it up.

Keep the broth. Start the Rice-a-Roni as directed, this what you'll need the butter or margarine for. And instead of using water, use the chicken broth you have leftover. When that's finished, mix the rice, chicken, and soup together. Add in one more cup of chicken broth. Spread mixture into pan -- I used a square baking dish that I borrowed from my mom and I'm hoping she's forgotten about.

Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the dish is bubbling throughout.

See any mushrooms in there? Brad didn't either and the dish was a big hit. Super easy, pretty cheap to make, and it helped in my attempt to slowly ease my husband out of his comfort zone.  I don't think he'll be up for grilled portabello mushrooms anytime soon, but this was definitely a start.

10 Pathetic Excuses Explaining the Recent Lack of Posts

1. We had a 48+ hour power outage and therefore, no Internet access for awhile.

2. I'm officially an Avon representative now and it's taking up a lot of my time. I've been relying on a lot of my go-to recipes and not trying new ones out.

3. I'm trying out a low carb diet right now. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts...

4. We bought a grill around Mother's Day so a lot of our meals have consisted of burgers, brats and the vegetarian equivalents. Add a fruit tray and a bag of chips and you have yourself a meal. That's not exactly blog worthy in my eyes.

5. My casual couponing has taken a more extreme turn lately and now I spend a lot of Caroline's naptimes organizing my coupons for my next shopping trips. It takes longer than you'd think.

6. I opted to make Caroline's baby food instead of using the jarred stuff. Although this is cost effective and a healthy alternative for her, it does take up some of my time. Man, these excuses are just getting weak...

7. I attempted one recipe, Ham and Cheese Sliders, that just didn't make the cut for this blog. Although I know that even the best chefs in the world have mishaps in the kitchen, it was still frustrating. Maybe I'll give that one another shot soon.

8. I had originally set a goal to update the blog 2x a week with new recipes. I skipped a week for some reason (can't really remember why now..) and never got back on track.

9. I'm lazy and completely unmotivated at times. Sometimes, a girl just needs to spend her free time vegging out in front of the TV watching The Office rather than being productive.

10. I kind of ran out of fresh, new ideas for recipes to be honest. Please comment this post with a challenge for me -- name a meal/dish that has meat in it and I promise I will at least attempt to cook it!

My promise to you is that I will have at least one new recipe posted by this time next week. Hopefully two. If you come visit my blog in a week and this is the most recent post, you have my full permission to come to my house and give me a swift kick in the pants. Seriously, apparently I need it.

Crock Pot Buffalo Ranch Chicken

This is the easiest recipe ever. Seriously. It's so easy, I almost feel weird posting it. But it was my very first solo carnivorous cooking attempt -- and Brad has been in love with it ever since. It would be a great starter recipe for anyone that is uncomfortable cooking meat -- or a great recipe for any chicken lovers out there that have 8-5 jobs and would love to come home to a delicious meal that's 95% ready.

Crock Pot Buffalo Ranch Chicken

• 3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• a bottle of Frank's Red Hot Wings Buffalo sauce (or anything similar)
•  2 packets of Ranch mix

 Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot and cover with both Ranch powdered mixes. Flip chicken over so the ranch coats it.

Then pour 3/4 of the bottle of buffalo sauce over the chicken.

Cook on low 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.

When the chicken is tender, shred with a fork and add remaining buffalo sauce if necessary.

 Although I completely forgot to take a picture of the final product, we served the chicken on Hawaiian rolls and with potato chips. Who said cooking good food had to be difficult?

Chicken Parmesan

Confession time, readers.

I almost always test out recipes a time or two before posting them on Bonding with Bacon. Sometimes I completely botch them or realize there's a little something I could improve. My goal is to provide you with recipes that you can use and your family will enjoy.

On that note, this was my very first attempt at making chicken parmesan. I've made eggplant parm before and I've watched my mom make tofu parm a million times. So I figured I couldn't screw it up too badly.

Chicken Parmesan

• 3 or 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved
• breadcrumbs (I used Italian four cheese flavored)
• 3 eggs
• jar of your favorite marinara sauce
• one package of sliced mozzarella cheese

So the recipe that I built mine off of called for "halved" chicken breasts. Umm, which way do I cut them? After some contemplation (and asking my husband, who had no idea), I decided to cut them long ways which made them thinner. I still don't know if this is how I was supposed to do it, but it worked out.

Then take two small mixing bowls, fill one with beaten eggs and the other with your breadcrumbs. Take your chicken, dip it in the egg mixture and then completely coat all sides with the breadcrumbs.

Lay out your chicken on a greased sheet. Cook at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Take any pan that would fit all of your chicken in it laid flat (the only one I had was my pie pan, which worked just fine), and pour half of your marinara sauce on the bottom. After the chicken is done, place it on top. Then cover with the remaining marinara. Finally, place the sliced cheese on the very top - some areas can overlap.

Cook for another 20-25 minutes and voila! Chicken parm. Serve with your favorite pasta and/or garlic bread.

Busy Mom Beef Stew

You ever just have one of those days? The ones where no matter how hard you try, nothing seems to get accomplished. I love my 6-month-old daughter to death, but we have those days quite frequently. She is definitely one of those babies that needs to be cuddled constantly -- a trait that I will probably miss in a few years. So in order to spend my day cuddling with my little munchkin, I need some easy recipes that I can scrape together during one of her 20 minute naps. This is where my beloved crockpot comes in (told you it'd be back).

Busy Mom Beef Stew

• 1 lb stew beef
• 4 or 5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 or 4 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• beef broth
• one beef stew flavoring packet (hey, I told you this was easy!)
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Peel and cut the carrots and potatoes into medium pieces.

Throw the beef, carrots, potatoes, flavoring packet, and Worcestershire sauce in the crockpot. Pour in a few cups of beef broth, add some water if the meat and veggies aren't fully submerged yet. Stir everything up together.

Why a flavoring packet? Yeah, I could be a good cook and measure out the perfect portions of paprika, rosemary, parsley, blah blah blah. Or I could spend $1.50 and have it measured out for me. Simple as that.

 

Cook on low for about 7-8 hours or on high for about 4-5 hours. Stir occassionally. When the stew is done, if the consistency is too liquidy for your liking, add flour until desired consistency is reached. Easy!