Black and Tan Pot Roast

I am actually SUPER proud of this one. I came up with the recipe all by myself and it even gets my VERY picky hubby's seal of approval... I have a tendacy to "mess" with my crockpot meats... I flip them every few hours and I ladle the jus over the meat whenever I think about it so the meat stays really moist and it ends up just falling apart is so so so good...

 

Black & Tan Pot Roast (Crock Pot)
- Bottle of Black & Tan
- Chicken Stock ( I usually use a whole carton)
- Water (enough to bring level to just cover the roast)
- 3 T of minced garlic
- Savory Herb Lipton Soup Mix
- Salt (I've recently started using sea salt for everything)
- Onion Powder
- Pot Roast
- Veggies

1. Sear/Brown the roast in a little bit of olive oil on the stove...
2. Mix all the other stuff (except your veggies)  together in your crock pot and place meat in. Make sure the liquid comes up just over the meat.
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. 1hr before eating add potatoes 45min before eating at carrots...

Some Housekeeping OCD stuff...

Just things to keep in mind when navigating my blog... =)

1. Titles will always link back to the website I used whether for inspiration or how to...
2. I will post all my recipes on the sidebar for easy finding... =) 

Pinspired Kitchen Adventures!

So I promise I haven't been ignoring or loosing steam on this whole blog thing, I've just been extremely busy. But I've been taking notes (in my head) and snapping away with my camera and I've got a good backlog of things to post about so I'll get there... The last couple of weeks I've been "pinspired" to do some kid awesome foods for lunch. Recipes are posted in the sidebar. The notable lunches:

My silly noodle dogs... Which was fun to do and I was totally excited about but Dylan did not like... He pinched his nose and said it was stinky (we pan fry our hot dogs) and refused to eat the hot dog. He did, however dig the noodle part....











The chicken and cheese crescent pinwheels... I've done a couple of variations on this and they are hits with my boys... My youngest LOVES blueberries and Dylan was on a Curious George kick that morning and watched the "bunny" episode like 5 times... So I gave him carrots...

Well, that was anti-climatic...

Last night while the boys were sitting in their chairs, nom noming on their dinner, my husband noticed my pinterest boards and saw something he thought was so cool he literally got up and went to the store to buy the missing item needed to try doing the pin...
After taking out the trash, I might add... =)

He was looking at a pin of a video that shows you how to make Mt. Dew glow in the dark, using baking soda and hydrogen peroxide... I had this pinned for like 6 weeks or so but kept forgetting to buy the Dew... So the hubby went out got the Dew and I gathered the baking soda and peroxide... We thought it would be extremely cool for the boys at bedtime, which was quickly approaching... We mixed it up and NOTHING happened, he looked at a couple of comments and remixed it a couple times and NOTHING happened each time... After the 3rd try my hubby googled and discovered it was hoax... And that it had been established as a hoax since like October of 2007... We felt extremely duped and disappointed... Goes to show we can't believe everything we see on pinterest... ;)

Wow I didn't see that coming...

So I didn't expect my first "failure" to come quite so quickly... Today I attempted to make Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread... I know sounds amazing doesn't it? Thanks to pinterest I discovered this recipe and figured hey why not try this today... Granted I should have thought about the fact it isn't great for my weight loss goals but I figure it will all work out...

I followed the recipe pretty much to the tee with a few quirks... I think its good but I didn't allow it to cool long enough and it completely fell apart when I was trying to get it out of the pan... Not the prettiest thing but it's so tasty... I love the top part where its browned and crunchy...

Reese's Peanut Butter Banana Bread

- 3 ripe bananas
- 1/2 c. peanut butter ~ I used Jiffy's Omega 3 Extra Crunchy in the green jar... Loved the extra crunch from the peanuts... Plus its a fun great way to get some of that Omega 3 DHA goodness...
- 1/4 c. oil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 8oz bag of the Reese's Mini Cups, the unwrapped ones...

Preheat oven to 350
Grease your loaf pan
In one bowl whisk together all dry stuff (not the sugars)
In another bowl blend the wet stuff and sugars, then add dry to wet until mixed
Fold in the Reese's cups and pour into the pan and pop it in the oven
Bake for 60 minutes ~ Here's where things went fuzzy, the recipe said an hr but it took another 10 and probably should have had another 5... So if I make it again I'd do it for 75 in oven... Anyways, it says to cool for 10 minutes, should have let it cool longer maybe it wouldn't have fallen apart...

So my take on the recipe; it is really tasty, but super dense and heavy, banana bread is dense to begin with and then add the pb cups and the peanut butter and it becomes super dense, so you definitely need a huge glass of milk to help it down...

Something New Today...

I am almost ashamed proud to say that "Sid the Science Kid" not only inspires my older son but also the stupid theme song has inspired me... My son loves the show and will watch several episodes or clips on the PBS iPad app back to back to back and so that song gets constantly stuck in my head... It got so stuck it has inspired me to change my life... 

2011 was a really rough year for me. In August of 2010 my husband and I moved from Fort Myers, FL into my parents home in NC to become caregivers for my mother whose 7 year battle with lung cancer was coming to a close... I missed most of her battle by going to college, getting married, divorced, remarried, becoming a mother. I moved to FL for a year and half... When found out it was almost the end of the war, my Mother and my father and my sister needed me. So my wonderful, loving, and supportive husband agreed to move into my parents home and become caregivers... I was 3 months pregnant at the time... Oh, yeah I forgot to mention that didn't I??? It was hands down the hardest thing I've ever faced and it has really shaped me as an wife, mother, and friend... 

My mother found her peace on April 23rd and I spent much of last summer so focused on getting my Dad and sister through that time I didn't process it and in August when my sister left for her 2nd year of college and everything settled down, I really struggled. At the same time, my husband after a year of struggling with an unsuccessful decent job search found a good job and I felt like I lost my best friend, he was my constant rock and I truly missed him... I went into a pretty decent state of depression especially for me, I am lucky blessed to be a generally content or even fairly happy person, and it took quite awhile for me to get out of it... 

I have come out on the other side of that depression and ready to try to move on... It's been hard and I still struggle with dealing with the loss of my mother everyday... I took some time in December to really reflect on the last year and half and what is in store in the future for me and my family... During this time was when Sid inspired me... Inspired me to start with Something New Today... 

My mantra for 2012 is going to be Something New Today... Trying to take some small steps to do Something New... I have 2 boys and they are constantly learning something new and I'm ready to slow down and learn somethings from them... I plan to try new things constantly, whether its recipes, crafts, projects, trying to meet goals and accomplish things. I want to set some goals and create a bucketlist for myself.  I expect some complete failures and lots of mistakes but I plan to just keep trying something new constantly and hopefully I'm gonna find my path...