Roast Beef, Funeral Potatoes, Bread Crumb Green Beans

I know I've been quiet lately, and to all of you who read my blog, I apologize! Baby's nighttime sleeping difficulties have gotten out of control, and this sleep-deprived mama barely has time or energy to make a sandwich, let alone find a new recipe to make!

To make it up to you, I have a triple recipe post for today! This was a special meal we were planning around Easter, but due to various circumstances, we didn't get to it until this past week. Hubby helped with this one - he has a talent with the green beans!

I know the funeral potatoes are more of a western thing, but I fell in love with them the first time I had them and I can't stay away from good food, no matter where it's popular!

Honey Garlic Meatballs

As of three weeks ago, I had never tried a slow cooker meatball recipe in my life! My argument for this was that it's only meatballs. If I'm going to use a slow cooker, I'd at least like to make a full meal with it.

For Baby's first birthday party, I wanted a selection of meat to label it "Carnivore Cave" for a dinosaur-themed party. So I decided to try this honey garlic meatballs recipe, and it is so delicious! This can be served as an hors d'oeuvre, or you can throw it on top of rice or pasta! 

Ingredients

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup ketchup

2 TB soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (28oz)  bag fully cooked, frozen meatballs

Macaroni and Cheese

If you love mac 'n cheese but want something a little fancier, then this is the recipe for you! I have nothing against Kraft mac 'n cheese, but this one fills me up a little more. 

The original recipe doesn't call for it, but I usually add chopped hot dogs just so I can get some meat with my meal. You can also add frozen peas, which I have done many times with this recipe.

Chicken and Gravy

Easy, easy, easy!! Aside from just putting chicken by itself into the slow cooker, this is the easiest recipe I've used.

Ingredients

1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breasts

2 packets dry chicken gravy mix

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 3/4 cups water

1 dash freshly ground black pepper

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli

Another favorite of mine! Super easy, very delicious, and very healthy! This is a slow cooker recipe with very minimal prep. It's a great recipe to have because it includes ingredients you usually have on hand. On a regular basis, the only ingredient I need to go out of my way to buy is broccoli, but that's only if I don't have frozen florets somewhere in the depths of my freezer.

If you usually follow my link to the original recipe, you'll notice I altered it quite a bit. The original recipe says to add the broth a little at a time throughout the cooking duration, but who has time for that?? If I'm at work all day, I can't keep adding broth. So instead, I increased the quantity of rice to make sure it's thick enough for an entire container of chicken broth.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1½ pounds chicken breasts, cut into large chunks

1 small onion, chopped (I never use an entire onion, just half or a quarter so I can save it for other recipes)

2 1/4 cup uncooked long grain rice (white or brown, your choice)

1 32 ounce box chicken broth

1¼ teaspoon salt

⅓ teaspoon pepper

2 cups of chopped broccoli

1¼ cheddar cheese

Chicken Teriyaki & Fried Rice

This one is a double feature! The fried rice is a good recipe to make by itself - just add bacon and some extra veggies. In this case, I'm using the teriyaki chicken as the meat, so I'm omitting the bacon.

If you're like me, then with every recipe that calls for chicken, you just put in one package of chicken, from Publix or Costco or wherever, without checking how many pounds it is, because you know that's what will feed your family. However, I tried that with this recipe, and it was way too sweet. So, if you don't often measure your amounts of chicken, make sure to put two packages of chicken in the slow cooker. You'll thank me later!

This combination of recipes may seem complicated, but I omit a lot of unnecessary ingredients. Often I have so many of the main ingredients on hand that I don't need to buy anything extra. Keep in mind, you will have to buy a bottle of soy sauce and a bottle of rice vinegar the first time you make this, but they last a long time!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This is a great one to use if you have lots of potatoes to get rid of. I've modified the original recipe to make it a bit heartier - if you're anything like me, sometimes a baked potato (even a loaded one) just doesn't fill me up. The original recipe didn't call for corn, but I like having my main veggie in the slow cooker with everything else, so I literally don't have to do anything else with the meal once it's cooked.

Aside from the potatoes, this doesn't require a lot of prep (unless you want to cook the bacon beforehand, but you can also wait until the meal is done before you do that). I like to peel and cut the potatoes the night before and soak them in water in the fridge overnight so they don't brown.

Chicken Stew

This is definitely in my top 3 favorite meals. While it requires some prep, it's delicious and very healthy. It's also a great way to get rid of any extra veggies you have on hand. Regardless of what this recipe calls for, I just use whatever I have (sometimes, only onion and carrots).

Ingredients

1 - 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped into chunks (I don't bother chopping it - it tears so easily once it's been cooked)

1 cup baby carrots, chopped

1 stalk of celery, chopped

3 medium sized red potatoes (or several baby red potatoes), chopped into chunks (I just use russet potatoes - the giant bags are so cheap)

½ onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced or pressed (I never have garlic on hand, so I omit this - or just use garlic powder instead)

1½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried parsley (also omitted)

1 cup water

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

½ cup milk (2% or whole preferably)

This recipe offers lots of flexibility. I don't think I've ever made it with every single ingredient, and it still turns out delicious every time.

Chicken Spaghetti

This recipe is so easy! Hubby and I like to use it on days we both work because you just throw ingredients into the crock pot, turn it on, and it's ready when you get home! Very little prep. Perfect for lazy chefs like me.

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, so I can't take full credit for it. But we make this at least once a month because it's easy and so tasty!

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts

1 can cream of celery soup

1/4 cup onion

1 8 oz package cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

1 pack dry spaghetti sauce mix

1 box of spaghetti noodles

Given the cream cheese and the cream of celery soup, you can tell this recipe might be a little heavy for some. Here are some tips to make it a bit healthier:

• Add frozen peas, if you have some on hand. A great way to get extra veggies.
• Use "Healthy Requests" cream of celery soup instead of the normal stuff. Less fat!
• Try using Hidden Veggie or whole wheat spaghetti noodles instead of the normal kind. If I have toppings on my pasta, I really can't taste the difference.

Lasagna

I thought I'd start with a recipe that's not too easy but not too hard. Lasagna is a good recipe to know off-hand. It's great for families, potlucks, leftovers, or even just for yourself. As with most of my recipes, this one requires a slow cooker. I prefer recipes that don't require a lot of prep, since I have Baby to chase around, but it's hard to find recipes with ground beef that you don't need to brown first.

A lot of these ingredients I already have on hand, so the only things I need to buy unique for this recipe are: ground beef (unless you're using beef for another recipe as well - see below), cottage cheese, and lasagna noodles.

I prefer my meat-to-sauce ratio to be a little more even, so although this recipe calls for 1/2 to 1 lb of ground beef, I use about 1.25 lb. It also calls for 32 oz of sauce, but I only use one jar (about 23 oz). However, an important rule as a beginner is to trust trial and error! During my first time making this, I followed the recipe exactly, and I found it was a little too saucy for me. Plus, it's more convenient for me to use one jar of Ragu than to open up a second and have to find a way to use the rest of it before it expires.