365 Slow Cooker Suppers

(Split Pea and Ham Soup)  

In January I started a new job and though I'm loving it, the hours and the commute are a bit longer. Consequently I'm not always in the mood to cook by the time I get home. After a couple weeks of getting home and just wanting to make frozen pizza or go out to dinner, I realized I needed to find another solution to eat a little healthier. I'm not a huge cookbook person and tend to just get the recipes I want online, but I'd had my eye on the 365 Slow Cooker Suppers cookbook for a while. I got a copy with the hope that I could combine the ingredients in the crock pot the night before (after I have time to relax after work) then in the mornings I would just need to start the slow cooker and it would be ready when I got home.

 (Honey Lime Chicken Soft Tacos) 

 

Every single recipe in the cookbook is made in a slow cooker and they don't require a ton of prep work, which I love. There's a great variety in the recipes offered, everything from Miso salmon to chicken piccata. So far I love it and it's a big improvement as far as saving my sanity after work. The cookbook starts with a huge list of ingredients that you might want to keep on hand, which is so incredibly helpful. It's also splits the recipes into your basic poultry, beef, veggie sections, so it's easy to navigate. One aspect I love is the author's notes on each recipe. She adds a few comments on each ones about her personal experience with it.

I read through the whole thing, bookmarking recipes I wanted to try, then I went through my pantry to check for ingredients and made a big grocery list of what I needed. I've already made half a dozen recipes from the book and have a few more I'm trying soon.

(Carrot and Coconut Bisque)

The split pea and ham soup is the runaway favorite so far. It's creamy and so good! We sprinkled some grated parmesan on top and it warms up really well the next day too. The honey lime chicken tacos had a great flavor and everyone liked them a lot. We used lots of cilantro and Nonfat Greek yogurt as toppings and we'll definitely be making those again! The honey Dijon beef stew wasn't as great. It turned out pretty well, but the red wine flavor was a little overwhelming and I have another beef stew recipe we like more.

The only bomb was the carrot and coconut bisque. It had the consistency of baby food with a weird spicy/sweet after taste. Honestly we are not picky eaters, but this one was awful. We ended up dumping it and making frozen pizza. You win some, you lose some.

Overall I'm really pleased with the cookbook and I am planning on making a couple of the recipes each week. We always end up with leftovers and that makes packing lunches easier too!
 

 (Mac and Cheese - not from the cookbook)

 

I also recently used my crock pot to make mac and cheese. I had never tried the crock pot liners before (the plastic sleeve you can put the crock pot in to make clean up easy) but it worked so well! I used the Reynolds brand. I won't use them all the time, but if I have a bunch of people over it would be perfect! That way you aren't scrubbing out a crock pot while you're guest are hanging out in the other room.
 
Anyway, a few people on Instagram asked for the mac and cheese recipe, so here it is courtesy of the Huz' cousin.
 

Mac n Cheese

Ingredients:

- 4 oz cooked macaroni

- 6 oz evaporated milk

- 3/4 cup milk

- 1/8 cup melted butter

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 egg

- 2 cups shredded cheese

Spray the crock pot first then combine all ingredients together and cook on low for 3 hours. I sometimes sprinkle bread crumbs on top.  (I mixed the both kinds of milk, butter, salt, and egg in a bowl before adding it to the crock pot.)

Photos by moi.                                                                                                         

 

p.s. I posted this as part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking!

 

p.p.s. I was not given the cookbook to review and I get nothing if you get a copy. I just wanted to share my thoughts on it.

 

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened
A Mostly True Memoir
by Jenny Lawson
★★★★☆

I’m not really a “laugh out loud” kind of girl. This is why I don’t go to comedy clubs. The only time I went to one it was disastrous. The comedian was pissed because I wasn’t laughing at any of his jokes so he yelled at me! Anyway, the point is, it takes a LOT to make me actually laugh out loud and this book just killed me. I started laughing so loud while I was reading it in bed that my husband finally made me read the section I was in
aloud to him.

Jenny Lawson, better known online as The Bloggess, has been crossing lines and embarrassing her husband online for years. I first discovered her through the infamous metal rooster post and she’s been cracking me up ever since. Her memoir maintains her hilarious rambling style and it works well with the crazy (but true) stories she tells.

Lawson covers a lot of ground in her first memoir. We start with her childhood in a small town in Texas and her taxidermist father who can’t help but bring home some interesting “pets.” We follow her all the way through uncomfortable moments in high school, adventures in her HR job, a nervous weekend with other bloggers, meeting her boyfriend’s wealthy parents and some odd run-ins with Texas wildlife.

Her relationship with her long-suffering husband Victor is one of the funniest aspects of the book. The two are incredibly different, but they understand each other and that makes their relationship work.

I couldn’t stop laughing out loud at some of the mental pictures she paints, like her finance’s mother visiting her parents for the first time and driving up to see Lawson’s father boiling animal skulls in their yard.

But the book isn’t all laughs. There are some incredibly serious issues discussed as well. Lawson has struggled with anorexia, anxiety disorders, depression and more. She talks about each of those things with a bracing honesty and humor, but the edge of her literary voice is tinged with the pain of those struggles.

I think Jenny’s writing is both riotously funny and jarringly honest. Her irreverent style and adult language may not appeal to everyone, but I think fans of David Sedaris would love her.

I’ll leave you with a great example of Lawson’s writing style. If the following paragraph cracks you up, you’ll probably love the book. If it doesn’t, then don’t read the book, and also, what’s wrong with you?!? (Just kidding… kind of).

“Spell-check refuses to recognize the word “Chupacabras.” Probably because it’s racist. Spell-check, I mean, not chupacabras. Chupacabras are monsters from Mexico that suck blood out of goats. They don’t care what race you are. Bizarrely, spell-check is perfectly fine with the word “CHUPACABRA!” in all caps, which makes no sense at all. Unless it’s because it recognizes that you’d use that word only while screaming. Touché, spell-check. P.S. Actual words used in this book that spell-check insists are not real words: Velociraptors. Shiv. Chupacabra. Yay. It’s like spell-check doesn’t even want me to write my memoir.”

Here are a few other thoughts on the book…
Devourer of Books
Beth Fish Reads