A good pot roast is one of my family’s favorite meals.  It is one of my favorites to make because it’s so easy to make! Since Harris Teeter has beef roasts on BOGO sale this week I thought I’d share my super easy, super tender recipe! In fact, we had this last night!

Ingredients:

Beef Roast
2 cups beef broth
2 Bell Peppers, sliced
2 Onions, Sliced
4 Carrots, sliced
1 Large Tomato, diced
Sauer’s Prime Rib & Roast Rub

Directions:

The night before cooking rub the roast with the Sauer’s Prime Rib & Roast Rub.  Wrap tightly in saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, pour the beef broth in the crock pot.  Place the roast, peppers, onions, carrots, and tomatoes inside the crock pot.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.

 

Sometimes I don’t have the broth or rub so here is an alternate way I cook the roast.

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Ingredients

• PAM Spray
• Cabbage
• Potatoes
• Olive Oil
• Seasonings of your choice
• Mozzarella Cheese (I got it when it was B2G3 and froze it)
• Mayonnaise

 

 

 

 

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cut cabbage and potatoes in slices (a Mandarin Slicer is awesome for the potatoes)
3. Spray pan with PAM
4. Drizzle the slices with Olive Oil and seasonings
5. Bake for 20 min and flip over and bake for 20 more minutes
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle the cabbage and potatoes mozzarella cheese and return to oven
7. When cheese has melted, serve with a dab of mayonnaise on the cabbage slice.

 

There are two flavors I am in love with right now- caramel and white chocolate.  So when a cupcake and a caramel craving hit at the same time I knew what I had to do!

This is the cheaters version but I think they turned out amazing!

 

Ingredients:

Cake Mix (white)
Eggs (as directed)
Oil (as directed)
Caramel flavored coffee creamer (substitute for water as directed)
Caramel Ice Cream Topping
Icing of choice

Directions:
Make cupcake batter as directed on box except substitute caramel coffee creamer for the water in the directions.  I added an extra shot of caramel sauce to the batter to make it extra caramel-y.

Bake as usual. Top with icing and drizzle with caramel sauce.

Enjoy.

 

 

This dish disappeared quickly at our table last night!  I’m glad I put up extras in the freezer!

Ingredients:

2 Rope Smoked Sausage, sliced
2 Yellow Squash, sliced thin
2 Zucchini, Sliced
2 Onions, Sliced
Olive Oil
Red Pepper Flakes
Thyme
Garlic
Salt
Black Pepper
Grated Parmesan

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place sausage, squash, zucchini, onions in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil.
Place on a lipped cookie sheet in as thin of layers as possible.
Sprinkle with spices.
Bake for 35 minutes and sprinkle with grated parmesan.
Bake an additional 10 minutes or until parmesan begins to brown.

Serve hot.

 

Tip: To make an extra serving of this -double the recipe and blanch the zucchini and squash.  Let cool and dry.  Place in a freezer bag with onions and sausage.  Freeze for a few months and then continue the rest of the recipe as directed- cooking an additional 5-10 minutes.

Rice is a huge staple in my household.  I use it 3-5 times a week.  I love making it in the oven but it has heated up my house to much with this warm weather so I decided to make it in the crock pot- same idea right? It came out so well!

Ingredients
Long Grain Rice
Butter
Slow Cooker (Crock Pot)

Directions

Butter the crockpot well.  Pour in water according to the package directions for the amount of rice you are making. Pour rice in.  Add any seasonings or for white rice add a little butter.

Cook on low 2-3 hours until the rice is fluffy. You may need to add a little more water if the rice is too dry and allow to cook another 20-30 minutes.

If you cook too long the rice around the edges will begin to crisp and brown (still tasty but not nice and fluffy).

Did you know that cooked rice is super easy to freeze?

Put in freezer bags or use a food saver.  It will be great for up to 6 months.  To reheat add about 2 tbsp water for each cup of rice and microwave for 1-2 minutes until hot.

 

 

This is such an EASY dish to make but it really makes the table look beautiful!  Usually we just toss all the fruit in a bowl but several weeks ago I tried to go a little nicer and was super happy with how it turned out! You can adjust the amounts based on the container you are making the salad in.  We made a large container for a family event. Of course you could mix it up with any of your family’s favorite fruits!

Ingredients:
2 cans chunk pineapple, drained
3 Kiwis
2 pkg Strawberries
2 cans Mandarin Oranges, drained (or 6-8 Cuties peeled)
1 pkg Raspberries
1 pkg BlueBerries

Directions:

Drain and wash all fruit separately. Get a large, deep clear glass bowl or container.  Place a single layer of pineapple on the bottom.  Slice Kiwi fruit thinly.  Place a single row of kiwi against the bowl and then lay the rest down to cover the pineapple.

Cover the kiwi slices with the rest of the pineapple.

Slice Strawberries thinly and do the same as with the kiwi: Place slices against the glass and then make layers lying down.

Pour mandarin oranges on top of strawberries.

Place Raspberries on top of oranges and top with blue berries.

Chill & enjoy.

 

My husband LOVES lime & chili on many things and so when I got a personal size watermelon recently I knew that is how he was going to want it served!  Here is how to prepare watermelon with a little kick!

Ingredients:

Watermelon, cubed
Course Salt
Lime
Chili Powder

Directions
Squeeze Lime into bowl.  Zest lime.  Toss watermelon in the lime juice coating them all.
Sprinkle watermelon with chili powder, salt and zest.  Tread lightly- you can quickly over power the watermelon with salt & chili!

It’s better to do several layers of seasoning than over powering it.

*My husband also highly recommends Tajin Chili & Lime Seasoning.

 

When I tell you that this was the absolute best no-bake cheesecake (even best cheesecake period) I’ve ever had – it’s true.  It was so creamy and delicious and honestly I think one of the biggest secrets is the cookie crust- in fact even if you wanted to use boxed no-bake cheesecake I think it would turn out amazing simply because of the cookie crust!

Ingredients

2 bags Mrs. Thinsters Cake Batter Cookies
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 pkg Cream Cheese, softened
1/3 cup Suger
8 oz whipping cream carton
Strawberry to garnish (optional)
White Chocolate shavings to garnish (optional)

Directions:

Using a food processor, crumble cookies until finely ground.
Add butter and mix well.  Press into the bottom of a round pie pan.  Refrigerate while preparing filling.

Using a whip attachment, whip cream cheese and sugar until well blended and airy.  Pour whipping cream into bowl and whip again until mixture is light and fluffy.  You may need to turn off the mixer and help incorporate the cheese and cream and whip again.    Spoon into pie crust and freeze.

Freeze until ready to serve. Allow to thaw just a short time (10-15 minutes) before serving garnished with strawberries and/or white chocolate.

It’s the prefect dessert for a hot summer day! 

 

I’ve been trying really hard to stay out of the drive thru, avoid take out and refusing to call for delivery.  That means trying to change up the same-old-same-old meals we’ve been having so we aren’t bored.  Check out these pizza pockets.  Perfect for little hands!

Serves: Makes 24 pockets

Prep Time: 1 hour start to finish

 

Dough ingredients

1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base

1/2 teaspoon garlic, fresh, minced

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon rosemary, dried

1/2 teaspoon oregano, dried

1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried

1/4 teaspoon basil, dried

1/2 cup butter, cold

 

Filling Ingredients

1/3 cup ricotta cheese

1/3 cup marinara sauce

3/4 cup mozzarella, shredded

 

Crust Treatment Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted

parsley, dried

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Bacon makes everything better- especially chicken.  This was the most delicious chicken and I’m so excited to share it with you- because it’s THAT good.  If you love chicken and bacon this is an easy meal to pull together quickly because it only took minutes in the saute pan.

Did I mention that it’s easy…and fast…and delicious?  Instead of cooking it in a pan you could put it on the grill but I really think the secret to it’s extra deliciousness is that it’s cooked in the mixture of a little olive oil and bacon drippings.

If you really want to make it spectacular- brine the chicken overnight before cooking it.  It’s an easy way to get really juicy chicken.  In a pot large enough to hold all the chicken add a salt water solution.  (use about 1/8 cup table salt or 1/4 cup Kosher salt and 1/8 cup sugar per quart of water). Completely submerge chicken and allow to sit overnight at least. 

 

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