Pot Roast Recipe from Pinterest

Lots of recipes are flying around from Pinterest on my news feed on Facebook and the various blogs I read. It really seems that they are hit or miss. Sometimes they are AH-MAZING and other times you are like Welp, we can still get a Little Ceaser's pizza and salvage this night!

I am still fairly a noob when it comes to cooking pot roast. I normally leave that up to Other Chef cause he makes an amazing one but lately, I have been giving it a try. For the longest time now, Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast has been my absolute fave to cook. But given how hot its been around here lately, which is completely abnormal, I haven't wanted to touch the oven. So I was looking for something in the crock pot (which OMG its going to be fall soon and I can't wait to start using that more and more again!). I found this recipe a long time ago on Pinterest and it looked fairly simple. So finally decided to give it a try.

Its really simple. In fact, not sure who's recipe this is as its just a picture on Pinterest with a tag under it on how to make it. You mix a package of ranch dressing, italian dressing (I actually used garlic and herb dressing packet) and a package of brown gravy. Cover the roast in it and add some water, voila. Done. Cook for 8 hours and love the smells that it creates for your kitchen. 

The meat is so juicy and tender, it literally just melts with a fork. Literally. I was a tad skeptical, as was Other Chef, about the ingredients but honestly, perfect flavor. Serve with some mashed potatoes (or scalloped like I did) and a veggie and you have a perfect meal. Enjoy! 

No Color Run :(

So no Color Run this year for me :( Registration for Seattle sold out in less then 24 hours. Its on their Seattle page website that apparently it set some record selling out. Poo. Poo on that. BUT at least people got in and that is cool. Maybe next time! 

So the recipe for the Cajun Chicken Alfredo is insanely simple. It makes a ton of food and leftovers in this house are always good (makes for delicious lunches). I will have the recipe posted at the end of this post. No pictures as by the time it was done, I was dying of hunger. No really. My stomach was growling up a storm!

Game of Thrones on Sunday WAS amazing. I like that I am still on the 1st book of the series (so far there are 5 out) because for the most part, I have NO idea what is going on. But at the same time, I looked up certain characters to see their fate and it pains me to see some of them. The thing that anyone must know about George R.R. Martin is he is NOT scared to kill every one. He really is not! LOL In all honesty, that kinda makes me mad because I am like But but...he was awesome!!! If you haven't started watching yet, you must. Its amazing and it totally has me waiting each week for Sunday night! Plus one of the character is named Arya and that is definetly a front runner for a little girls name ;-D

Tonight is Wednesday so that means AWANA night. Next year he starts First Communion classes. I see my schedule totally being eaten up by various sports and classes...fun times. But going to be totally worth it! 

Tonight on the menu is Hamburger Helper. Yes I know. Not the healthiest but Wednesdays are either grab and go or whatever can be cooked quickly :D 

What are you having for dinner? 

Cajun Chicken Alfredo with Penne Pasta

1 package of chicken breasts or chicken tenders

1 box of penne pasta 

1 jar of your favorite alfredo sauce (I use Classico Four Cheese Alfredo)

Cajun Seasoning (liberally)

1. Dice up chicken into bite size cubes. Put into frying pan with some EVOO.

2. Start the water for Penne Pasta. When boiling, add pasta and cook al dente.

3. Add cajun seasoning, as much as you want. (I use Tony Chacere's and its amazingly delicious). Cook chicken thoroughly.

4. Once chicken is done, add alfredo sauce. Heat up.

5. Add everything to cooked pasta and voila, done :D

Enjoy!

Scentsy Winner, A Recipe and my Menu

First I will start off by saying thanks for the quick entries for the Scentsy Beach Plugin Warmer. The winner is...

(now its weird, one of my comments didn't have a number next to their name (if anyone knows why, please let me know how I can fix that) so I had to count. Thank goodness it was only 9!!)

#7!! 

#7 is mommysap! Please contact me as soon as you see this so I can get it mailed out in a timely fashion (hoping as early as tomorrow!!). Email me at soljersterATgmailDOTcom. Thanks!! 

I know I have been slacking in the cooking department and that is...well that is nothing except pure laziness. I have made quite a few new recipes but sadly, no pictures. I tried to take a few with my phone but that just didn't work. I will still post the post about them but sadly, no pictures. Yes, bad food blogger.

About a week ago, I made Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole . One word...AH-Mazing. I loved it. Other Chef loved it. Little Man loved it. Definetly a keeper for sure!! It was kinda funny watching Little Man put all the mushrooms to the side and say to me "Here Momma, you can have these." Aww, aren't you a sweetheart? Nothing really to report about it except its amazing. Seriously. And so easy and quick to make!! You won't be disappointed!! (Recipe at the link!)

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

This grocery period is full of a LOT of new recipes. A lot of which, I have never cooked before. So that makes this food blogger extremely excited and nervous all at the same time! Most of my recipes came from Tasty Kitchen again, seriously...how amazing is that website? And almost ALL the recipes I have gotten off of there, have been amazing. If you haven't checked it out yet, you need to! 

Upcoming Menu Choices (mostly dinners but there are some breakfasts and lunches too):

Flank Steak with Snow Peas and Jasmine Rice

Killer Club Sandwiches

Fried Round Steak, Potatoes Au Gratin

Make-Ahead Muffin Melts (I'll make Wednesday night)

Skillet Parm Cheese, Broccoli and Rice

Eggs in Ham Cups

Bacon, Hashbrown and Egg Casserole

Italian Chicken Soup

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Wrap

Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches with Onion Butter

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli over Rice

Cheesy Potato Fritatta

Ranch Potatoes (will go with steak and steamed broccoli)

Chicken Noodle Soup Casserole

Nutella Oatmeal with banana

Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Crescent Braid

Creamy Chicken Casserole

Creamy Chicken Spaghetti

Ricotta Scrambled Eggs

Poppy Seed Chicken

Risotto

LOTS of good eats which means LOTS of happy stomachs around here! Which also means lots of cooking, lots of messes and lots of picture taking :D 

Randomness (with a new recipe)

I was tagged in the 11 things by Running with the Girls and I run like a girl but for some reason whenever I posted it, their questions to me have big white boxes over the front of it so you can't see it anyway :( Boo.

I recently got this Babycakes Donut Maker and am eager to make some donuts! Maybe today me and Little Man will. How cute are those little donuts? (crap I just realized I passed out yesterday before blogging...ugh. Guess I am blogging twice today). Which made me think that I signed up for a thing called a foodie penpal and was just assigned my penpal this morning. I can't wait to get a box together for her and mail it!! I love getting mail and I love it even more when its goodies and not just junk!

Really nothing new or interesting to report honestly. Tomorrow I will have (well maybe later today since I missed my post yesterday) a review for PureFit energy bars. I am cooking Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Casserole (yes I can hear my ass hating me) tonight for dinner which is a new recipe so should be interesting. Last night though..oh last night...

So on Pinterest, my friends have been tagging this recipe a lot. I love Mexican food and especially tacos so I clicked on it to check it out. THREE INGREDIENTS PEOPLE! Three. Chicken breasts, taco seasoning and a jar of salsa. AND the best part is...your crock pot does ALLLLL the cooking. Yes ma'ma, that is a winner right there. I put it in the crockpot really early, around 10 and it was done by 4. Early dinner for us but I also have this weird image of my ass tripling in size if I eat anything past 7. Make sure when you spoon the chicken out, you use a slotted spoon. I didn't and they were kinda messy but man, were they delicious. Definetely a keeper in my book :D

Since I am a bad blogger and have let my camera's battery die, I will leave you with a video of my fave song at the moment. Video is DEFINETLY weird but I love this song. Its been playing on repeat in my ear for the last 10 minutes.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!!

What is your fave recipe at the moment?
What is your fave song at the moment?

Thanks Pinterest?

As I am sure many of you know, Pinterest is slowly but surely taking over the interwebz. Pretty much every single person I know on Facebook uses this website. I love it. Not even gonna try to deny that one. I can literally sit on there for hours just clicking link after link. Its quite an addiction to be honest. And since I am sure you used it, you know that when you log in, you see everyone's boards. Lots of the boards I am following have Recipe/Foodage/Good Eats boards. Not only that but most of my friends, know each other. Subsequently I have been seeing this recipe a lot lately. So decided to check it out.

Let's just say that for us, this looked better raw and it turned into a cooking mess.

What I used...

Doesn't that look like it would taste delicious?? 

So instead of crushing the garlic, I used chopped. Yes that gigantic thing of garlic is what we go through in about 2 months time. Its ridiculous how much garlic we use but meh, GARLIC IS LOVE! (I know N is laughing right now!!) I also used 3 cheese Italian cheese instead of shredded Parm. That is not on purpose! The 3 cheese and the Parm were right next to each other. So I thought I was grabbing Parm and didn't realize until I got home that I had in fact grabbed 3 cheese. Fun...times. That orange container is my EVOO container. I love it. Not sure if Other Chef does though....

Anyway, I put it all together, stuck it in the oven at 350 for 35 minutes like he said. 35 minutes later, I check the meat because there they were kinda large. Yup, not done. Back in for 20 minutes. Take it out and this is what it looks like:

Looks good doesn't it? 

So we think hey, we cut into the meat and its done...its done.

Wrong.

The meat was STILL not done. Kinda frustrating.

At this point, I put it BACK IN for another 30 minutes. We're now at almost 80 minutes cooking. FINALLY done. But by that time, we had moved on to something else so yeah, whatever. The chicken is sitting in my fridge for some leftovers. We'll see how this goes.

The Verdict: Not sure. All I know is that the cheese is now a crunchy deep brown. The croutons that touched the sauce is completely mushy. I don't do mushy bread. No freaking way, no how. Not sure if I will ever make this again. Probably not.

Recipe for those that might want to try it!! There is a video that goes into detail, sorry I can't copy and paste that!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
hot red pepper flakes, to taste
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 5, but they were huge!)
2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup chopped basil
8 oz mozzarella, shredded
4 oz Parmesan, grated
1 (5-oz) package garlic croutons