Homemade BBQ Beef Sandwiches

Homemade BBQ Beef Sandwiches

{I love love LOVE the crock pot. So I'm always trying to find recipes to use it. This one is great any time of year.}

1 1/2 cup ketchup

1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 tsp Chili Powder (add more, if desired)

1/2 tsp Garlic Salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

Combine sauce ingredients. Set aside.

Take a 2-3 lb chuck roast and brown it on all sides. (This is actually the first time I've followed that step and it did turn out to be the softest, shreddiest ;) meat I've done in the crock pot, so I think it actually did probably help. Contrary to my previous beliefs that the step was just a time waster.)

Put the roast in a crock pot and dump all the sauce on top. 

Add half a can petite (important when you have picky boys and husband) diced tomatoes. (I added a whole for this one and Seth said it was way too tomatoey. While I still liked it, the sauce definitely didn't shine like normal, so I'll stick with half. Or I guess you could also not add it at all, but it all may get too dry in the crock pot without the extra juice the tomatoes provide.)

Cook on LOW for at least 6 hours, preferably 8. 

Enjoy!

This meat freezes perfectly. And this recipe makes enough for our family for 2 meals. So we'll eat it for one night and then put the rest in a freezer bag to be eaten later on. Just in case you didn't know the definition of 'freezer meal' ;)

My entry to  the appliances online  crafty creations competition. You can enter too at Lil’luna!

My Fitness Pal

Today my friend showed me this app called My Fitness Pal.  I haven't explored all that's possible, but at the very beginning you enter in your age, height, weight, how often you exercise, etc.  and then you can state your goal weight, and it gives you a target number of calories to eat each day!  Then you can enter in everything you ate that day and it subtracts it from the number of calories you should eat... 

What's awesome, too, it that it tells you how much of your daily value of certain nutrients you've eaten so far!! So you know to try and eat less saturated fat, and more iron... (or maybe that's just me, haha) 

It also can keep track of your waist size, hip size, and even neck size if you care to measure those. :) 

Anyway, I downloaded the app and started entering in info, for example, this morning I ate an omelet for breakfast... so I started typing in: 1 large egg, shredded cheddar cheese, onion, green pepper, tomato... and it got super tedious.  So I was fairly disillusioned with it.  BUT THEN I figured out you can type in a whole recipe!  I still had to type everything in, but now it's saved and so next time I eat an omelet I just have to find it on m recipe list.  (Super convenient if you eat a lot of the same foods—like me)  

you can download the free app on your phone... or iPad, or you can use the website: www.myfitnesspal.com.  

supposedly it's a good reminder to be healthy if you keep a food diary... but I've never been successful at that. Plus then you have to find all this info on your own for it to even mean anything.  Hopefully this app will make that a lot more convenient!  It's at least worth a try since it's free, right?

Quick 10 Minute Workout Video

I just wanted to share a link to a 10 minute workout. It's only ten minutes... and who doesn't have ten minutes? And it actually gets me out of breath real quick. I love it for days when I just don't have time to work out more (or make excuses that I don't have time :). After all, this is a whole lot better than nothing!! Plus exercising in the morning always makes me eat better for the day because I don't want to waste the 200 calories that I burned (if that!) on junk food. 

I'd love to know if you all try it!

Walnut Blondies with Maple Butter Sauce

Okay, as if that title needs any more of an introduction...  THESE ARE SO GOOD.  I made a batch on Sunday... minus the walnuts and the white chocolate chips, hahaha.  Even without they were still sooo delicious.  Then Ging and I made the real recipe on Tuesday, and they were at least 10 times yummier.  That said, here are a few notes:

- These are super rich, so I would definitely recommend eating them with plenty of ice cream. :)

- I didn't make the sauce either time, so I don't know if that's hard... Plus, like I said, it's super rich, so I think it's fine without.  But if anyone makes it with the sauce, let me know.

- I think this recipe might be easier to make if you double it... just because of some of the weird measurement sizes.

- When I baked it at my house, I used a 9 x 9 pan, and they cooked just fine.  At Ginger's we put it in a pan that was a little smaller—so they were thicker—and we had to cook them for extra time and they still ended up a little doughy in the middle.

http://www.recipesecrets.net/blog/recipes/copycat-applebees-walnut-blondie-with-maple-butter-sauce/

Fun Cooking Tips

Hello- I decided to finally post something on here. I am working on putting a whole bunch of recipes together- but if you don't like artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes maybe you won't like my recipes either? Well anyway, here are a few cool tips I've found lately.

This is so great! It takes me more than 10 seconds, but it still works pretty quick, and then your fingers don't smell like garlic! Cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d3oc24fD-c

I found this a while ago when a recipe called for red wine. It seemed to work great. The recipe was for home-made beef vegetable soup, I'll try to post it some time.
http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blalcohol6.htm

Fake Eyelashes

Okay, so I think I've already sent a message on Facebook to everyone about this a while ago. . .

But, I decided I would finally post it on here because THREE different people have asked me if I was wearing fake eyelashes!! Jeeeez.

It's insanely easy and if you do it consistently it seems to work pretty fast.

Apply castor oil to base of eyelashes before bed. Simple as that.

I found castor oil at a health store (a bottle way bigger than I'll ever finish for $15.00). I bought the oil a few months ago, intending to use it every night but did it maybe three times. Last week, I cleaned out an empty mascara tube and filled it with castor oil. I would NOT recommend doing this unless you have FAR TOO MUCH time on your hands. Its super easy to apply once it's in there, it just took longer than I'll ever admit. Anyway, after applying it every night for a little over a week I can completely see that they are longer and fuller! YAHOO!

Cowboy Quesadillas

I've made these for dinner twice now, and have loved them both times. The boys don't  care for them but I'll keep making them try. :) On a side note, they used to hate Hawaiian Haystacks and would only have rice and cheese on it, no sauce or anything and then cucumbers on a different plate on the side and just this past week when we had them, they ALL were putting EVERYTHING on top of their rice. It was too cool! ;) 

They are definitely a quick meal and super healthy, at least in my opinion. You could also easily leave out the chicken -Linda- and it would still taste great. 

When you first read it, it sounds not too yummy or kinda like a weird combination of things, at least to me, but the first time I tried it, it was like 6 at night and I still had no clue what to make for dinner and happened to have all these ingredients on hand. So glad I tried it.

Here's the link to where I got it - http://www.ourbestbites.com/2010/10/cowboy-quesadillas/

 

Cowboy Quesadillas
Recipe by Our Best Bites
1/2 C white rice - leftover rice (because who would really cook just a little)
1/3 C black beans
1 cup diced cooked chicken
1/3 C fresh frozen corn kernels (no need to thaw)
2/3 C diced tomato
3 Tbs sliced green onion - I've never added this
1 1/2 C shredded cheese (any type or combo you like)
1/4 C bbq sauce
6 small tortillas (fajita size, about 6″) - I used 5 bigger ones

Dipping Sauce
equal parts bbq sauce and ranch dressing - I think I did this the first time and liked it *I think*, but didn't do it this most recent time, so I can't say for sure

Combine rice, beans, chicken, corn, tomato, green onion and shredded cheese.  Add bbq sauce and stir to combine.  Place about 1/3 C of mixture on half of each tortilla and fold over to close.
Heat a skillet to medium heat on the stove top.  When hot, spray lightly with cooking spray, or drizzle with canola or olive oil.  Place quesadillas in pan and cook for 2-4 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crisp.  Flip and repeat on opposite side.  Cool for a few minutes and then serve with BBQ-Ranch dipping sauce.

Enjoy!