Crock Pot Challenge Meal #3: Sugared Pecans & Walnuts

Day #3 of my personal Crock Pot Challenge was a little bit different from the first two nights.  The "meal" I cooked wasn't started in the morning to cook all day.  It also wasn't a dinner, it's a snack.  I thought it was important to try a variety of recipes in the crock pot, so night #3 I went with Sugared Pecans & Walnuts.

The start of the cooking process - nuts in the crock pot with melted butter

I originally found the recipe on Pinterest and it linked me to the recipe on Food.com by user Gingerbear, added in 2003.  There are only two reviews of the recipe, one was positive, so that gave me a little bit of confidence.  Based on the smell that floated through the house halfway through the slow cooking process, they were going to turn out great.

Powdered Sugar added to the crock pot

You'll notice that the recipe calls for either Pecans or Walnuts.  Since I had some walnuts on hand, I doubled the recipe and used both the Pecans and Walnuts.  (Pecans were part of my grocery list for the challenge.) Yes, I have 2 pounds of sugared nuts.  Sometimes I act like a 10-year-old boy, and that sentence makes me laugh.  Read it again, doesn't it make you laugh?

They're done!  The spices have been added and stirred to coat the nuts

The whole process from start to finish is about 3 hours.  I started after our evening run and it was done before we went to bed.  While the pecans and walnuts were cooking it gave me time to prepare for the Stuffed Green Peppers that I'll be slow cooking tomorrow.

MMMM - so delicious.  I wish you could scratch and sniff the screen so you can smell what I'm smelling

On our very official Stephen Scale, these Pecans & Walnuts are absolutely Keepers and will be shared immediately with friends and co-workers.  These would be fantastic as a hostess gift or as a snack for Thanksgiving and Christmas house guests.  We'll definitely be making these again. And again.  And again.

I had to share this picture with you.  While I'm chopping veggies in the kitchen, it doesn't matter what veggies, and to be honest, I could just make a chopping noise in the kitchen, the dogs come running and wait for me to drop something.  They don't eat human food.  The closest they have come is a bit of carrot and they've never had that IN the kitchen.  I have no idea what Goose thinks I'm doing on the counter, but he's beyond excited to see if something drops.  At this point I was taking the caps off the green peppers and removing the ribs and seeds.  Silly puppies.  This is how they travel around the house, attached at the hip.

Goose and Mabel (in red) watching me chop green peppers.  Can you tell how fast their tails are wagging from this picture?

Goose is officially 8 months old now!  He is such a good boy.  It's cute to see how tired and cuddly he gets after 9pm when he wants to go to bed.  10pm Goose is a different dog than 6pm Goose.

Crock Pot Challenge Meal #2: Pork Roast with Apples & Sweet Potatoes

With the success of night #1 behind me, I put a lot of pressure on myself to have another great dinner.  Night #2 on the menu was a Pork Roast with Apples & Sweet Potatoes from the blog Amy's Cooking Adventures.  Stephen and I both love a good pork roast so anticipation was high.  Click on the link to the other blog for the full recipe.

Source: Amy's Cooking Adventures

The ingredient list was pretty short for this recipe and nothing was too weird, always nice when trying new recipes.  The above picture is from Amy's blog.  My meal did NOT turn out looking like this.  My pork was much darker and the sweet potatoes look like they were much soggier.  While my meal didn't look like the original picture, but it was delicious!  On the Stephen Scale this meal qualifies as a Keeper and good enough to serve to our friends.  The apple and sweet potato flavors mixed together were delicious.  We used apple cider instead of apple juice and I love what it did to the flavor.  I guess that could have made our meat a little bit darker, too.

I do think that next time I make the meal we'll cook it for a shorter amount of time.  The recipe calls for 6-8 hours on low.  I think we hit close to 10 because of work and that was too long.  Next time we'll stick to the recipe a little closer.  We got about 4 servings from the meal so we'll have dinner tomorrow night!

Tomorrow I'm not making a dinner, I'm making a snack!

Crock Pot Challenge Meal #1: Beef Stew

My first meal of the Crock Pot Challenge was the "Absent Cook Stew" from my Fix-It and Forget It cookbook, a recipe by Kathy Hertzler.  Basically the recipe told me what to put into the crock pot, there wasn't much cooking on my part.  

Awesome Beef Stew!

The recipe called for the following ingredients:
2 lbs of stewing beef, cubed
2-3 carrots (I used 4)
1 onion chopped
3 large potatoes (I used 4 medium baking potatoes)
3 ribs of celery (I used 4)
One can of tomato soup
One can full of water
1 tsp of salt
dash of pepper
2 tbsp of vinegar

I also added in two bay leaves and also 30 minutes before serving another half cup of water because it was pretty thick.  I like my veggies, what can I say?  Everything went into the crock pot in the morning and dinner was ready when I got home from work. Glorious.

The meal serves 6 so we won't have as many leftovers as I thought we would have.  There will be enough for us to have lunch tomorrow and then one other night this week.  I thought about freezing the two servings that we'd eat later this week, but maybe I'd like to have options for dinner and lunch later in the week.  And let's be honest, the stew was amazing.

Beef stew doesn't look too appetizing, does it?  It looks mushy - but I promise, it was perfect.

I asked Stephen if it was a "Keeper" or "Trasher" recipe.  He said it's definitely a keeper.  It may even rank up there with some of my top recipes ever, he said.  It has been classified as good enough to serve to our friends.  :)  I thought that was a good qualification.  We won't serve everything we have for dinner to our friends.  From now on we'll judge our crock pot recipes on the Keeper/Trasher scale and we'll note if it was good enough to serve to friends.  The only thing that I think I'll add next time is a bit of garlic.  

Night #1 done.  It was so great to have dinner ready as soon as we walked into the door from work.  It was/is a super rainy night and a warm stew was just what we needed.  Tomorrow I'm going to make Pork Roast with Apples & Sweet Potatoes from Amy's Cooking Adventures.  I already have the veggies cut and the spices measured so all I will need to do in the morning is cut the apple and layer the items into the crock pot.  

Crock Pot Challenge Grocery List

While my first crock pot meal of the challenge is cooking away at home I wanted to include the grocery list that I had for my 14 meals.  I am missing a whole chicken and a package of spices for one of the meals, so mentally add that to the below list.  Remember, this ran me $140 at Publix last night, no coupons.  Maybe one day I'll challenge myself to actually use coupons.  However, based on the deals at Publix yesterday, we did save $11 on the final bill.

Amount	Ingredient
15oz can	Tomato Sauce
1	Sweet Potato
7	Onions
2 lbs	Stewing Beef - cubed
24oz	Small Curd Cottage Cheese
12 oz can	Skim Evaporated milk
3/4 cup	Shredded mozzarella Cheese
6 cups	Shredded Italian cheese (fontina?)
2 cups	Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 contain.	Ricotta Cheese
20 slices	Gruyere Cheese - sliced
1/2 cup	Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 box	regular lasagna noodles
3	Potatoes
2 1/2 lb	Pork Roast
1 lb	Pecans
container	mushrooms
2.5 cups	Half and half
1/4 tsp	Ground Ginger
1.5 lbs	Ground Beef
1/4 tsp	Ground Allspice
6	Green Peppers
3 cloves	Garlic
10oz	Frozen Chopped Broccoli
Loaf	French Bread
1/2 lb	Elbow Pasta
9	Eggs
1 cup	Dried Figs
64 oz	Beef Stock
5 stalks	Celery
1 bag	baby spinach
1 cup	Apple Juice
1	10oz can tomato soup

I tried to be as specific as possible in my ingredients.  Some items on the list come in just one size package (I can't buy just 1 cup apple juice) so I bought the package size that made sense.  For items like the 1.5 lbs of ground beef, that will be split between two meals - Lasagna and the Stuffed Green Peppers.  I did have the regular pantry stuff at home that I didn't have to shop for, so those aren't on my grocery list, obviously.  I was shocked that we didn't have Ground Ginger at the house.  I'm sure I'll find that little container of spices in the back of the pantry one day.

I went home at lunch and took a peek at the stew, I can't wait for dinner!

Oh, and for no other reason than to publicly (with the few of you who read my blog) share feelings for Craig Kimbrel, closing pitcher for the Atlanta Braves.

I think he's swell

My 14-day Crock Pot Challenge

Call me crazy, but I'm challenging myself to a new test.  I want to see if I can use my crock pot for 14 straight days.  One meal or snack a day will be made from the slow cooker.  Tomorrow, October 1, will be my first day. Some of the meals will give us a ton of leftovers, especially when there are just two of us eating together, but that should cover our lunches for half the month, too.

We did our grocery shopping this evening so that we have everything we need in-house.  I realized that I missed some ingredients for two of the meals, so those are going towards the end of the challenge so I have time to get back to Publix.  For the 12 meals I did shop for, we spent $140.  The ingredients I'm missing for the other two meals should come to about $10 total so it's safe to say that I will have 14 days of meals for $150.  I'm sure if we had shopped coupons and based meals on what was on sale we could have cut that down a little bit, but at close to $10 a day with a ton of leftovers, I'm not upset about it.  We also bought a few extra things while at the store, so it should take us even further than two weeks.  

Tonight I will cut and prep for meal #1 and I'll throw everything into the crock pot in the morning.  We'll have dinner as soon as we get home.  Hopefully, this will help us kick start our motivation to start working out again.  

To make sure that I wasn't running to Publix every evening or quitting the challenge mid-way through I made my list of meals.  Most are from recipes I found on the Internet, some are from a cookbook I have at home: Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook, Feasting with your Slow Cooker.

Source: Amazon

Here they are, if the recipe is online, I've included the link so you can follow along at home.  I'll blog about the experience along the way and I'll make my notes about the recipes at that time.  

1. Absent Cook Stew, book page 28
2. Pork Roast with Apples and Sweet Potatoes
3. Sugared Pecans
4. Stuffed Green Peppers, book page 123
5. Applesauce, book page 245
6. Egg & Broccoli Casserole, cook page 23
7. Minestrone Soup
8. Buffalo Chicken Sandwich
9. Greek Chicken
10. French Onion Soup
11. Mac n Cheese
12. Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup
13. Lasagna
14. Overnight Oats

Wish me luck!  Stephen is super excited about all of the food coming his way.  

Atlanta Braves: Chipper Jones Day

Friday, September 28, 2012 was Chipper Jones Tribute night at Turner Field.  The Atlanta Braves were starting their last, regular season home stand against the NY Mets.  If you read this blog, you already know how important the Braves are to our house.  We wouldn't have a house together without the Braves.  We wouldn't have AMAZING wedding pictures from Turner Field.  We love the Braves.

When you think about the Atlanta Braves, you should automatically think of Chipper Jones.  He was the first round draft pick for the Braves 19 seasons ago and has played every game of his professional career in a Braves uniform.  Since joining the team, the Braves have had one World Series win and the Braves organization has had its most success with Chipper on 3rd base and Bobby Cox as the General Manager.  Two seasons ago we said good-bye to Bobby, now were having to say good-bye to Chipper Jones, too.

In March, during Spring Training in Orlando, Chipper Jones announced that the 2012 season would be his last as he fought back tears when he addressed his teammates.  You can tell from the way the players talk about Chipper and the way Chipper talks about his teammates that what he's going to miss most is his time in the clubhouse and the playing field with his team.  

It was a gorgeous night at Turner Field and the stadium was packed.  Over 51,000 fans turned out to see Chipper's final regular season Friday night. (The Braves will play in the Wild Card game next Friday night and hopefully through the end of October.)

Chipper sitting next to Bobby Cox and Hank Aaron

The regular stage was rolled out to the infield before the start of the game for Braves VIP to give their tribute to Chipper Jones.  On hand we had former and current Braves players, Bobby Cox, two of Chipper's kids and his best friend and agent.  

It was great to see Bobby back in Turner Field.  I just hate that it was because we'll be losing our favorite player.

Teams around the league have been honoring Chipper as he comes to their stadiums for the last time.  In each stop he gets a gift from the team.  These have ranged from a year-long supply of sausages from The Brewers to a surfboard from The Padres.  

 The Braves had their own gifts to give Chipper.  The City of Atlanta officially named the day Chipper Jones Day here in Atlanta.  Not too shabby.  The Braves will be giving him bricks from Turner Field in the shape of Home Plate.  Where those bricks were removed from the stadium there is also a plaque to commemorate Chipper.  Because Turner Field has been Chipper's home away from home for so long, the Braves will also be giving him his actual locker from the locker room.  That's pretty darn cool.  When they told him about that he looked pretty excited.

The Mets stood at the edge of the dugout the entire tribute

Brian McCann spoke on behalf of the current Braves players.  I love that guy.  I didn't notice until Brian mentioned it, but all of the Braves players were wearing a sports performance turtleneck shirt under their uniforms Friday night, a tribute to Chipper and what he wears under his uniform everyday.  They ALL hate turtlenecks.  In the locker room they were calling them "nerdelnecks".  HAHAHA.  The Braves players gave Chipper a gift themselves, a brand new pool table.  It looked pretty damn nice.  There was a little plaque on the side of the table noting that the table was a gift from the 2012 Braves Players. 

We love you, too, Chipper.

Chipper addressed the crowed for more than his allotted 4 minutes and was visibly moved by the entire presentation.  He has been the team's leader for so long, he's going to be very missed. 

At the end of the presentation, the staged was rolled off the field and it was time for the teams to take the field.  Chipper is typically the first one out of the dugout and the rest of the team follows.  Friday night the rest of the team stayed in the dugout and let Chipper take the field alone.  He was not aware of this plan.  I was too caught up in the moment to take a picture of him alone on the field but it was pretty amazing.  He noticed he was the only one out there when he was almost to 3rd base. He was so embarrassed.  In the picture above, Chipper was stepping back off the field until the rest of the team came out.  He's in the red uniform shirt.

As a fan of the Braves my entire life, I can't remember a game that didn't have Chipper Jones.  Thanks for all of the memories, Chipper, and let's take this season all the way to the end.  You deserve to hoist the World Series trophy above your head after your final game in a MLB uniform.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

I'm not sure how I came across this website, but I think it was a Facebook post by a friend.  I'm a huge fan of comedy and I think Jerry Seinfeld is a genius.  Enter Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.  Basically it's a series of shows that are released weekly where you join Jerry for coffee and breakfast with one of his comedian friends.  Episodes are released every Thursday, so there is a new one releasing today with Michael Richards, his co-star on Seinfeld.

source: website

Each week he has a new car to drive and he picks up his friend at their home.  Cameras are in the car with them as they drive to the coffee shop/restaurant and a camera crew joins them for their meal.

You can watch all of the videos on the website or you can watch them on Crackle.  We watch on Crackle because it plays through our Roku at home and into our big screen TV.  The downside of watching on Crackle is that we don't get the bonus footage, what they call Spare Parts. They also have a Facebook page that you can like that will link to new videos.

It's so interesting to see Jerry as himself and the interactions he has with his friends.  You can tell that he genuinely likes these people and I love how easy it seems to make him laugh.  Sometimes I find myself laughing at him laughing more than I'm laughing at the joke.

I think my favorite episode so far is when Carl Reiner is his guest and Carl introduces Jerry to Mel Brooks.  You can see how excited Jerry is to meet Mel and it's great to watch these comedic geniuses discuss the business.

There are 9 episodes so far, this week's will be the 10th, and I've watched every one of them.  I'm fascinated.  So far, Jerry has dined with:

1. Larry David (they worked together on Seinfeld)
2. Ricky Gervais (one of the funniest car scenes ever)
3. Brian Regan (freaking hilarious man)
4. Alec Baldwin (how crazy would it be to see them eating together)
5. Joel Hodgson (new comedian to me)
6. Bob Einstein (LOVE him.  I saw him on Arrested Development but didn't know he was so much more than the small part he played)
7. Barry Marder
8. Colin Quinn and Mario Joyner (Colin is beyond funny and Mario was a new introduction to me, but I'm a huge fan now)
9. Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks

Check it out, sit back and laugh a little bit.