Messy Solution

With school loans being gone for the summer, Brent and I were left to our own devices to pay rent and bills. It feels great to work and make money and pay for things on our own without help from the government (in the form of loans and debt). I can't wait for school to be over so we can fend for ourselves and live without collecting more debt.

We were both lucky to find jobs with different schedules so one of us is always with the little one. I work at a local cafe, and am enjoying the work there, in the mornings and afternoons a few times a week. Brent works at a call center on campus in the evenings. We also buy and sell things on the side and are doing pretty well on eBay right now. And the plasma center is still enjoying Brent's service there twice a week.

We're both enjoying time with the little one (LO). He is not so little anymore. He's getting big, going down the slides at the playground on his own, working on saying words everyday (today's new word is 'bubble'), and just as happy as ever. Where did my baby go?

Since we've been so busy, the house was getting into disarray often. With Brent's strong encouragement, I came up with a cleaning schedule for us. Here it is:

We've been using it a couple weeks now and it's going pretty well. I love having something to refer to each day. It helps me break down all the mess around me and see what needs to get done that day. There are days that we don't get everything done on the list that we should, but it's still a help to get some done and see our accomplishments.

I thought I would share it with all of you because it might be something you could use yourself (modified) in your own circumstances. Do any of you do something similar? What are your strategies to keeping your home clean?

Cornbread Casserole

Cornbread Casserole

You will need the following ingredients:

3 pkgs. corn muffin mix + ingredients listed on the box

1 can creamed corn

1 lb. ground sausage, browned

1 c. onions, diced

1 c. green pepper, diced

1 can corn, drained

1 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

Mix together the 3 packages of corn muffin mix plus the ingredients.

Add the creamed corn and stir it together.

In a pan cook the ground sausage.

I used a sweet breakfast sausage since I can't eat anything spicy.

Add the onion and pepper to the meat and stir.

Place the meat mixture in a bowl and add the corn.

Now you will layer the dish, similar to a lasagna.

Spray your crockpot with cooking spray.

Pour half of the muffin mix into the crockpot.

Add all of the meat mixture to the top of that. 

Sprinkle half of the cheese on top of the meat.

Pour the rest of the muffin mix into the crockpot for the final layer.

Cook on High for 4 hours, or Low for 6 hours.

*I forgot a crucial part to this recipe*

Add the remaining cheese to the top of the cooked cornbread.

Cover and cook for the remaining 20 minutes.

This recipe needs that melted cheesy goodness on top or it will turn out too dry, like our did :(

 Serve with a fresh salad.

Yum!

This casserole was pretty tasty, but also pretty dry. If I make this again I won't forget the cheese on top! But I would probably add a jar of salsa on top of the meat mixture to add some taste and liquid to the dryness.

Sloppy Joe Sandwiches

I have never been a fan of sloppy joe's. They're messy, gooey, and stinky. They bring back memories of school lunches that were cheap and did not taste good. But, I had a change of heart tonight when I tasted these yummy Sloppy Joe's! They were more meaty than saucy, which meant less sticky mess in my hands. They had a nice bold flavor. This recipe will be fun to make for parties and dinners during the summer. I can't wait to make it again!

Brown 2 lbs. ground beef with 1 diced onion and 2 minced cloves of garlic.

For the sauce, you will need the following:

1/2 c. ketchup

1 8oz. can tomato sauce

1 6oz. can tomato paste

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/3 c. brown sugar, packed

Add the ingredients to the crockpot.

Stir together. It doesn't need to be smooth because the heat cooks out the lumps.

Add the meat mixture with the sauce.



Stir to combine.

Cook on low for 2-4 hours.

Mine cooked approximately 3 hours.

Look at that steam!

Serve on a hamburger bun.

Add fries/onion rings or a salad.

Dig in!

Another successful hit for this growing boy!

Apricot Chicken

Super simple recipe for today's meal - Apricot Chicken. You only need 3 ingredients! Yes, that's right, only 3!

You will need:

3 lbs. chicken

Spray crockpot with cooking spray.

Add chicken.

Add one package dry onion soup mix.

 

Add 2 jars of apricot preserves.

I used what I consider to be normal jar sizes. I believe they were 18oz. each.

USE SMALLER JARS!!!

The chicken was a bit too sweet. Smaller jars, and one with no sugar added, would help a lot.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Serve over rice.

I used white, but wild grain or brown would taste good. Possibly even jasmine rice.

I think he enjoyed the meal!

Honey Wheat Bread

I love this recipe so much that I actually shared the link to it before I made my blog post about it!

I made this Honey Wheat Bread for Easter and took it to a friend's home for Easter dinner. They were just as amazed as we were that bread can be made in the crockpot. Even better, they really liked it!

 

Mix together 2/3 c. powdered milk with 2 c. warm water.

Don't make the water too warm or you will kill the yeast.

Add the following to the milk mixture:

1/4 c. honey

3/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. oil

1 pkg. active dry yeast

2 Tbsp. flax seed (optional, but I added them)

and 1/2 of the flour (You will need 3 c. wheat flour and 1 c. white flour)

I added 2 c. wheat flour.

Mix together the ingredients in the bowl.

Add the remaining flour, in my case 1 c. wheat flour and 1 c. white flour.

I had to knead it together a little at the end, but Brent didn't on Sunday when he made it.

Spray the slow cooker with cooking spray.

Add the dough to the crockpot.

I pressed mine in a bit to make it more even on top.

Cook on High for 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

I would say 2 hours and 10 minutes is perfect.

Mine cooked the full 2 1/2 hours today and one section was very hard.

Here is the final bread loaf!

It's normal bread, not like a banana bread texture.

Doesn't it look tasty?

I also had some with raspberry jam and that was fabulous.

I LOVE this recipe! I never would have imagined you could make bread in a crockpot. When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it out. I'm glad I did. I think this will forever be a staple in our home :)

Day 5: Juicy Pot Roast

First off, my Grandpa Gifford passed away this morning. I do not have time to post all about him right now as I am rushing to pack and leave for the airport in a few hours. I will write about him more later. He will be missed and I love him. I know he is in a better place and is no longer in pain.

Life does go on though, so I feel like I should continue writing my blog post on recipes. I will be gone a week and miss doing it, but I will resume when I get home.

Today we had Pot Roast. I am not a fan of pot roast but I gave it a shot!

You will need:

3-4 medium onions, sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3-4 lbs. beef chuck roast (I used shoulder)

1 1/2 c. brewed coffee (I used 1 c. apple juice and 1/2 c. water)

1/4 c. soy sauce

Layer half of the onions and garlic into the crockpot.

Add the meat.

Pour the liquid mixture over the meat.

Cover with remaining onions and garlic.

Cook on low 9-10 hours.

Ours cooked for 10 hours, and I felt it was too chewy.

Brent said it was perfect.

So...trial and error for the correct time.

This is the final product!

Separate the meat and onions from the liquid.

Looks yummy right?!

Add the juices to a saucepan and whisk in cornstarch.

I used 1/4 c., and then another 1/8 c. to make it more thick.

Next time I do it, I'll mix the cornstarch separately in a container with some cold water.

The gravy had chunks of cornstarch since I just added it to the hot liquid.

Final product!

I didn't care for it since roast just isn't my thing.

Brent grew up having roast every Sunday and hated it.

He told me he loved this recipe though!

So, I would say it was a success!

Day 4: Apple Crisp

Dessert time! Today's Apple Crisp was pretty tasty. I've never been a fan of crisps, crumbles, or cobblers. I think it's a texture thing for me - it's too soft and squishy. But, I actually really enjoyed this recipe :)

You will need:

2 cans apple pie filling

1 c. chopped pecans

1/4 c. old fashioned oats (I used 1/2 c. because I wanted more crumble)

3/4 c. melted butter

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 Tbsp. cinnamon 

After spraying the crockpot with cooking spray, put all the ingredients into the crockpot.

Stir everything together in the crockpot until it looks like this.

Cook on High for 2-3 hours.

Mine cooked about 2 1/2 hours, all of Priesthood Session!

Top with vanilla ice cream and voila!

The pecans in this recipe gave the crisp a crunch and the texture didn't bother me at all. Yay!