The Hood Open

Every year, Brett's side of the family has a golf tournament. This entails a lot of family coming to visit. To help my mother in law with the stress of having a bunch of people visiting, I am cooking a ham for supper tomorrow. I am super excited about trying out this awesome recipe we have tried before. And with ham comes the leftovers, with which I will take some to make a wife saver (basically, bread, eggs, cheese, ham, seasonings, milk, set over night, topped with cornflakes, and baked in the morning).
I am also making rice crispies and puffed wheat squares.

I borrowed my mom's stand mixer (cause only I am crazy enough to bake in this heat), and made banana bread and muffins, possibly Eric's most favorite thing in the world, as well as oatmeal cookie batter (those will have to be baked in the morning. The cookies are possibly Brett's....runner up....for favorite thing in the world. LOL.

Can't wait for good food, great family, and fun times. Cheers!

Beef on a Bun

I had such a hard time deciding how to make this. Finally I just jumped in!

I cooked up a roast in the crockpot (peppered, and some garlic seasoning, enough water to cover the bottom of the crockpot). I cooked it for 4 hours on high.

After it was done cooking, I shreaded the roast with 2 forks in the crockpot (skim off an fat before doing so).

I added a package of Au Jus mix, and 2 cups of water. After tasting, I decided to add in half a bottle of Bold bbq sauce. After another taste I added another package of Au Jus mix. PERFECT!

I let it sit in the cockpot for about 20 more minutes to thicken, then served over buns. SO good!!! Even Eric ate some (which is saying a lot! LOL)

CrockPot Lasagna

I have been wanting to try a crockpot lasagna for a while, but was too nervous that it wouldn't turn out, or wouldn't be good, or would be too much work.
I HIGHLY recommend this recipe. It was fantastic! I have NEVER made a lasagna before, it was so simple and turned out perfect! I did make a few adjustments:

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped I omitted this,  I don't care for onions
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic I used Epicure herb and garlic dip mix (for everthing!!!) and may have used more then a few tsps
• 1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste My cans where the same size, and I added half a can of water.
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt I used a sprinke of seasoning salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano really added to the flavor!!!
• I also used a sprinke of Italian seasoning, and a dob of honey
• 1 (12 ounce) package lasagna noodles Make sure to use the oven ready, no cook ones!
• 12 ounces cottage cheese I used a small container, and about the same amount of ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese I used shredded instead of grated
• 16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese ended up using 2 bags of pre-grated cheese

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic until brown. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, seasoning salt, and oregano italian seasoning, a dob of honey, and water and stir until well incorporated. Cook until heated through. a jar (or two) of spaghetti sauce can be used as well. I highly recommend tasting as you go, and adjusting as needed.
2. In a large bowl mix together the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, shredded Parmesan cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese.
3. Spoon a layer of the meat mixture onto the bottom of the slow cooker. Add a double layer of the uncooked lasagna noodles. Break to fit noodles into slow cooker. Top noodles with a portion of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layering of sauce, noodles, and cheese until all the ingredients are used. make sure you end with cheese mixture on top, and don't make the cheese layers too thick (or do, but you'll end up needing more cheese, like me, which I LOVED!) I ended up using my hands to spread.
4. Cover, and cook on LOW setting for 4 to 6 hours. 4 hours was perfect.

The only thing missing was the crunch/crispy cheese on the top. But I will make this recipe over and over again!!! You can add in any of your prefered lasagna fillings, like spinach, peppers, etc. We really prefer just plain, although I might add in some peppers next time.

Introduction to food

Since being home with the boys, I have started cooking a lot more. I use my crockpot a lot, and am really enjoying trying new things, or converting normal oven recipes to crockpot ones.

My goal right now is to try a new recipe a week. This week will be crockpot lasagna.

I have found a great recipe for ham, made cake pops for Eric's birthday, and failed at a steel cut oatmeal (that was an interesting morning! Cooking Fail LOL). I decided to put the food experiences in a separate blog so they are easier for me to look back on.