Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

I absolutely loved this. Seth liked. The boys - not so much but I just heated up some red and/or white sauce for them while I put this on top of pasta.

I honestly did not really measure anything. I remembered seeing the recipe somewhere so I kind of just guessed and threw things together.

cherry tomatoes, cut in half
minced garlic
couple pinches of sugar
salt
pepper
basil
olive oil
shredded Parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients, except the cheese, in glass baking dish. Mix to combine. Roast at 375 for 10 minutes. At least that's what mine was, but my oven runs hot so it maybe should be like 400. You can turn on broil for a couple minutes at the end if you want.

As soon as it comes out sprinkle the cheese on top so it melts. Spoon on top of pasta for a main dish or just eat it as a side. Yum!!

Beef and Gravy

This was super flavorful and yummy. Cole saw it and started complaining that he hates gravy but once he ate it, he really liked it. We put ours on top of mashed potatoes, but it would be yummy on rice, pasta, probably even quinoa or something else a little more healthy. ;)

• 2-3 pounds beef, like a chuck roast (cut into 2 or 3 pieces)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup yellow onion, diced
• ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ cups beef broth or stock
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1/3 cup flour
• 6-7 tablespoons water
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Place the meat, salt, pepper and onion in a slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the garlic salt, Worcestershrie sauce, beef broth and ketchup. Pour over the meat.

Cook for 7-9 hours on low, or 4-5 on high. (Or as I often do, a combination of both.)

About 30 minutes before serving, combine the flour and water in a small bowl, whisking to combine well. The roux should be thick but still pourable. Pull out the chunks of meat from the slow cooker. Pour the flour mixture into the slow cooker, whisking quickly to mix in the roux with the juices and to avoid lumps. Shred the meat with 2 forks and put back into the sauce.

Cook on high for 30 minutes. Stir in ½ cup sour cream right before serving.


If it makes way too much, I'm sure you could freeze portions in ziploc bags and then thaw the day before in the fridge and reheat over the stove. 

Lentil and Rice Casserole

I don't even know that I'd call this a casserole, but that's what the recipe is called, so I'll stick with it. But this is an incredibly easy dinner. All my boys liked it. Even Seth. And he didn't even mention missing any meat, which is huge. I like to try and make a couple meals a month that are meatless and this is a perfect one. (Mom and Mandie tasted the leftovers of this at my house months ago and both really liked it too.)

Lentil and Rice Casserole
3 C. chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
3/4 C. lentils, cleaned and picked over
1/2 C. brown or white rice, uncooked
3/4 C. fresh onion (the recipe calls for that much, but I only do like 1/4 cup because it seems insane to put as much onion in as lentils and I worry it would overpower everything and my boys wouldn't like it, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad?? And one time I only had onion powder so I didn't put any fresh onion in.)
1/2 t. basil
1/4 t. oregano
1/4 t. thyme
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/2 C. cheese

1.  Combine all ingredients except cheese in a casserole dish.

2.  Cover and bake in preheated 300 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours.

3.  At the last 20-30 minutes of baking, sprinkle cheese all over, bake uncovered.

Serve with any of the following: avocado/guacamole, sour cream, salsa, tortilla chips, cilantro or olives. (I've never put all of those at once, just chosen a few.)

Easiest Crock Pot Chicken

So I feel silly posting this for, but I'm only doing it for me because I never remember to make it, but when I do I think why don't I do this more often?

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken
Put frozen chicken- breasts, thighs, bone-in, boneless, whatever you want- in crock pot. Dump some BBQ sauce on top. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-9 or a combination of the 2 depending on what time you have left. Shred if it's boneless.

Can serve on top of rice (or Cauliflower Rice!!), mashed potatoes, etc.

I usually like making this when I want to focus on a yummy or new side or two.

Salted Carmel rice crispy treats. Yum!

• Here is a fun twist on your typical rice crispy treats. I have made these a few times and always get asked for the recipe. They are gluten free too- so I love using it when I have friends who can't have gluten. Baking gluten free can sound intimidating, so this is my go-to! :) Try them, I hope you love them like we do at my house! :) 
  Ps. A little tip for making any rice crispies that delicious yummy gooey is to cook the marshmallows on a lower heat till they melt. You do not want to do it as quick as possible.  This will help the marshmallow to stay soft and pliable rather than hard as a rock. Works like a charm. Hope that made sense!! Ingredients:
  1 cup unsalted butter
• cooking spray
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 1/2 teaspoons flaked sea salt
• 1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows
• 12 ounces gluten-free crispy rice cereal (such as Kellogg's® Gluten Free Rice Krispies®)
  
  1. Directions: Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. Place cereal in a large heatproof bowl.
  3. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir brown sugar, cream, and corn syrup into butter; cook, stirring, until mixture becomes thick and syrupy, 7 minutes. Stir 2 teaspoons salt into butter mixture. Remove from heat and add marshmallows; stir until marshmallows are smooth and melted.
  4. Pour marshmallow mixture over rice cereal and stir. Transfer cereal mixture to prepared baking dish and press down with greased parchment paper. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt; cool and cut into squares.
  
  

Chicken Pot Pie

 Holy cow! I can't believe it's been so long since we posted. I've been having a hard time coming up with dinners lately, so I thought I'd start posting recipes so I can easily look up ones that I've made before and love.

This is the yummiest chicken pot pie I've ever had. And I've tried a lot. Easton even said today that this may be what he chooses for his birthday dinner. Just a warning- this is not a healthy meal. But so worth it. It's pure comfort food!

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (although today I only used one and used extra potato to make up for it and didn't even miss the extra chicken)
3 cups frozen peas
3 cups frozen corn
3-4 potatoes, cooked and cubed
(add or subtract any veggies you like)
3/4 cups margarine or butter
2/3 cup + 3 Tbls flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic salt
4 cups chicken broth (I just heat up 4 cups water and add in chicken boullion)
1 + 2/3 cup milk

Thaw vegetables. Melt butter in large saute pan. Add in flour and all the seasonings. Slowly add in the chicken broth and milk. Bring to boil then simmer over medium-low heat til it thickens. Add in chicken and vegetables.

Make into pot pies. There's so many ways you can make these. I make individual pot pies in ramekins and top them with phyllo dough. I spread with a little melted butter or margarine to help make it brown on the top. You can use cresent roll dough. You can use regular pie crust to top it. I don't like putting a crust or anything on the bottom just cause those are unnecessary extra calories. But you can totally make it however you want. It's this filling that is delicious! The only baking you'll have to do will depend on your topping as the filling will already be warm. If you're taking it out of the freezer, you can heat up the filling to cut back on the time needed to bake it, or you can just bake it longer if the topping needs to bake a while anyways.

This recipe makes a ton. So I usually have quite a bit leftover to freeze for another meal another day. Super easy!

Chocolate Lava Cake

Picture and recipe taken from Creations By Kara. (obviously)

I pinned this recipe a while ago and while deciding what dessert to make for Seth's Father's Day dinner, I came across it again and knew I needed to make it.
It was surprisingly easy and incredibly yummy. I really thought it tasted like a dessert you'd get a restaurant.

Chocolate Lava Cake
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate (I used Baker's chocolate bars found right by the chocolate chips, but the other lady used chocolate chips)
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
9 Tbsp flour
Butter 6 ramekins or custard cups. (I found a pack of 4 custard cups at Target for just over $6 and they came with lids, so I thought it was a pretty good deal.0 Put chocolate and butter in a large glass bowl. Melt in microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds till smooth. Whisk in powdered sugar till thoroughly combined and melted. Whisk in eggs and yolks. Stir in flour. Divide batter between the 6 ramekins, I actually made 7 and thought the portions were still good. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 425° oven for 13-14 minutes.

You must absolutely serve this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it is for sure rich, but oh so yummy. Since it has odd numbers of eggs and yolks you can't really cut it in half for those of you with smaller families, but I bet you could keep the batter in the fridge for a while and just bake a couple at a time. Although, I microwaved our extra ones the next day and they still were yummy. (Although they definitely did not come out as easy of the cups as before.)

 Hope you'll splurge on this extra special dessert. :)