My ONE marital fault (ahem) is that I don’t cook. Well…I don’t cook good food often. So I’m trying to work on that. I tend to have great ideas about how I’m going to cook more and what I’m going to cook and how great my cooking is going to be—I just need to actually do those things. I’m pretty sure this thing is my ticket.
I praise and bow down to all you working women who can come home after a long day of work and start in on dinner for your family. It’s haaaard work. Between after-school snacks, making sure homework gets done, and straightening up the house when I get home, I find I have very little energy to get started on dinner until 10:00 at night. (That’s a joke. Sort of.)
I figure this little nugget will motivate and inspire me! Don’t believe me (yeah, I don’t either just yet)? Take a look at some recipes I’ve gathered that I have convinced myself I can do!
Every Sunday is chili day at our house in the winter. I try to find a couple of variations of it, and this one looks spectacular! Filed.
We tend to eat a lot of chicken and pork here—sure can get boring after a while, eh? This looks like a fun twist on things!
And who doesn’t love mac and cheese?? Well, actually I don’t. I don’t eat any noodles (no, none), but my family loves it! This recipe is one of the simplest I’ve found. Definitely trying it!
Lest we forget dessert, I found some seasonal-inspired apple crisp that looks yummmmmE!
Call me spontaneous (or simply a last minute thinker), but I thought it might be fun to link up your favorite crock pot recipes! It’s that time of year, and I know we’d all love some new easy recipes! Maybe you just have an easy recipe that isn’t for the crock pot? Link that bad boy up!
P.S. Are you still drooling over that apple crisp like I am?
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That apple crisp looks SO good! Much better than anything I have to eat here.
Same here, Heather! I just ate Pringles for dinner. 🙂
I’m eating Ritz crackers for dinner tonight! Mmm mmm, healthy.
If it makes you feel better, I had ‘Nilla wafers with milk. 🙂
I love your idea of having a chili night every Sunday. What a fun tradition! And that cream cheese chicken chili looks yummy. I’ll have to give it a try as well. 🙂
It’s an easy dish for what seems to be an all-day football and laundry fest! 🙂
Thanks so much for hosting this fun impromptu party! I liked you on Facebook and am following you on Pinterest. Would love for you to check out my Pinterest.com/PosedPerfection page too. I hope you have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Nici
Thanks for directing me in the right direction 🙂
Have a great weekend!
Meegan
meeganmakes.com
I like the look of that chili! Great recipes – yum! Also, my husband and I work VERY long hours, and while we don’t have kids, when we get home at 8pm after a 13-14 hour day, the last thing I want to do is cook. The slow cooker has literally saved me in this regard. We use it a lot (especially in the winter) and I am so, so thankful for it. Good luck!!
Oh my word! I can only imagine that dinner is the last thing you want to worry about! I’m glad to hear you say it’s so helpful! I need all the convincing I can get. 🙂
Ohhhh … definitely keeping on eye on this link party. I love using my slow cooker (I own 4 different sizes) and always looking for new recipes. Being single, I make meals in regular recipe size & freeze the rest in small portions.
Four sizes! You’re way cooler than me. That’s a brilliant idea to just freeze the leftovers. Makes things much easier, I’ll bet!
Chris, I hate dinner time!!! That question, “what’s for dinner?” makes me cringe every time!! That’s my “one” fault too;). Ha! Great idea, i could use some help. One day, maybe I’ll make a meal plan. Linking up a great chicken chili for ya. Hope you like it, it’s my fave.
I absolutely love chicken chili! It’s one of my favorites! Can’t wait to check it out. And yes—dinner time is my enemy too. 🙂
I’m so glad you’re hosting this party! I have been looking for good crock pot recipes. Our family favorite is the pulled pork barbecue sandwiches I linked up, but I need MORE! Can’t wait to browse through all the links. 🙂
Oh my word, Julie. I can’t wait to see the recipe! We love a good pulled pork sandwich over here! Thank you for sharing it!
Perfect timing. Just got a new, smaller slow cooker. To me, slow cooking is the best for this time of year.
Totally agree, PamMarie!
I have the same slow cooker and absolutely L-O-V-E it! I’ve even purchased others for gifts. It’s super chilly here this weekend; cannot wait to try out some of these recipes!
Dar, I’m so glad you said that! I haven’t even cracked it open yet–sceeered!! 🙂 I’m looking forward to it though!
Chris you inherited I HATE to cook from your mom. I was able to be a stay at home mom, and I still had trouble with cooking. Even today I cringe at having to cook dinner, so Larry cooks. As a working mother, the crock pot sounds like a great t. I’m not used to the crock pot, ( we use the pressure cooker alot) but I hear it is a life saver. Put it on before work, come home to dinner! I’m going to check out your receipes for Larry to try. Taco soup sounds great. We’re cooking taco’s tonight! Hope you have a restful weekend. Love you!
You should consider Freezer Cooking. It’s a LIFE SAVER! Once every two weeks I cook several of our families recipes and then freeze them in preportioned sizes. It’s super easy. After that, I make a meal plan of what were going to eat each night, but their are plenty of weeks I’ve been too busy and just pull something out of the freezer and put it in the oven. If you’re interested, you should check out http://www.moneysavingmom.com
She changed my way of cooking and I went from 60 hours of cooking a month to just 16. TOTALLY WORTH IT!
I love that you said that, August. It’s definitely something I’ve considered. I just haven’t looked into enough yet. I love the idea of it though! Thank you for sharing.
If you’re not ready to make a full dive into it, you can start slowly. Every night that you cook, let your family eat whatever they’re going to, then put the rest in the freezer preportioned. After a week or so you’ll have plenty stocked up to eat on.
Freezer cooking works for all areas, too. I make breakfast burritos/hot pockets and my husband can just grab them as he’s leaving. Lunch works well too. You can freeze almost anything. We make premade PBJ’s all the time (way healthier/cheaper than uncrustables).
It’s definitely not for everyone, but once you get going, you’ll never turn back. Everyone eats healthy, you save money, and it cuts off the tummy too! (I’ve lost 30 pounds since we started and my husband lost 25). Good luck!
So funny that you don’t eat noodles! I won’t touch a noodle but my family loves all kinds. My favorite crock pot recipe is corned beef! I add a can of beer to the water. Yummo!
Finally! Someone who speaks my language. 🙂 And that corned beef recipe sounds spectacular. Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve got to try that chicken chili. Looks delish. I went through all the links this morning and got all kinds of great ideas for dinners this week–thanks!
P.S. Was so excited to get my October issue of BHG in the mail and see you and your bedroom project featured on the back page, Chris. So cool! Congrats! 🙂
Aww thanks, Julia! It’s fun to see someone you “know”, isn’t it? And yes…I think that chicken chili might just be my first dish. So many great ideas! Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for the recipes! And thanks also for letting us share! I love my crockpot…it gets heavy use during the colder months 🙂 I can’t wait to see what others post…I can always use new ideas.
I have made that Honey Sesame Chicken 3 times now. We think it is better than Pei Wei. Really! Finally an easy and yummy homemade Chinese dinner. I serve it over brown rice and some frozen stir fry veggies. All but one kid liked it (I have 5).
I followed the recipe exactly, except once I dished some on a plate, I stirred a little bit of Chili Garlic Sauce into the mixture. This sauce adds just the kick and spice we like. We felt like this addition is what made the meal.
I am linking up my Top 3 Crock Pot Tips (#1 makes or breaks a meal) and my Top 3 Crock Pot Meals: http://www.susoutter.com/2011/11/my-top-3-crock-pot-tips.html
Thanks for a fun linky party. . can’t wait to try out some new ideas!
Oh I’m so excited to hear that! It looks SOOO good, but sometimes looks can be deceiving ya know? 🙂 Can’t wait to check out your links. Thank you so much for sharing them!
I think I was the last woman in America (working woman anyway) to get a crock pot. I don’t know why I fought it so hard, but finally caved a few months ago. I’m convinced it’s going to transform me into a frozen pizza mom, to real food for dinner mom. So thanks for all these recipes! We aren’t big on the cow, so it’s nice to find options for chicken that aren’t just tacos.
Love love love this idea. I don’t have a thing to add but boy am I going to hijack these recipes! Just talked about how soccer practice nights need to be crock pot nights. Way to go hot mama. Great idea. Thank you to everyone who has recipes to share.
I have the crock pot…I just need to use it! I’m so glad to see so many great ideas!
Yes, Laura. I’m with you. Mine is still in the box. 🙂