5 Ingredient Thai Butternut Squash Soup (Crock Pot)

March 25, 2016 Amanda Plott

So about a week ago I got my hands on the biggest butternut squash that I've ever seen in my life. The best part about it was that it was from a local Texas farm, which you know I'm all about. I had already used the squash in two previous meals this week and was racking my brain to come up with a third and final use so that I could get it all eaten up before the weekend. Because, you know, there is a lot of Easter happenings and I couldn't let this beauty go to waste.

This smooth and creamy thai butternut squash was the perfect was to use up my mammoth of a squash. And what's better is that it is super simple to make since there is little prep work with only 5 ingredients, and the crock pot will do all of the cooking for you...

5 Ingredient Lean Beef & Bourbon Stroganoff (Crock Pot)

January 21, 2016 Amanda Plott

I knew that when I woke up Monday morning, something was off. And sure enough later in the afternoon after my three hour drive home from visiting family this weekend, my throat started to swell up and get inflamed. By that evening my teeth were even hurting with all the congestion that had started to form!

Thankfully, I had gotten things pretty much in order before I left - for the week to come. My shopping list was ready to go and my meal plan was complete. Here's to planning ahead! All I had to do was make through the daunting trip to the grocery store and I'd be set.

With getting things back organized, I was sure to plan simple meals for this week, so this 5 ingredient stroganoff was a must....

Healthified Hoppin' John (Crock Pot)

January 2, 2016 Amanda Plott

Here in the south, black-eyed peas are a staple when bringing in the New Year. Funny enough, my mother was actually telling me the story this morning of how black-eyed peas became known in the south as a symbol of 'good luck'. Apparently though, there's a lot of stories out there that tie black-eyed peas and luck to one another.

No matter the actual and factual truth, having black-eyed peas on New Year's day has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Seriously, my mom wouldn't let us go to bed on New Year's day until we had at least one spoonful of what were then plain old canned black-eyed peas.

Thankfully, as soon as cooking came into my life our take on black-eyed peas changed. It sort of became my mission around New Year's to create better-for-you and delicious ways to enjoy black-eyed peas...

Cuban Black Beans (Crock Pot)

December 12, 2015 Amanda Plott

I was trying to use up some of the odd-and-end things that I had leftover in the kitchen this week (mostly to start making room for Christmas foods), and one of the ways that I like to do that is with a nice pot of homemade beans.

Black beans are one of out family favorites, in fact for several years there it was one of the only sources of protein that I could manage to get my little girl to eat. She was basically a vegan for the first four years of her life, by her own choice of course. She's always had a pretty sensitive palette, especially when it comes to spice, so I'll blame it on that.

Beans have always been in her 'safe zone' so, I've made myself rather familiar with making beans in my crock pot over the years. I've found that beans are one of my favorite and most versatile ingredients...

Chipotle Butter Infused Pork Tenderloin (Crock Pot)

October 29, 2015 Amanda Plott

I've been in meal prep. mode this week while I get ready for another upcoming trip this weekend for Halloween. I'm taking my little Ice Queen to my 'home town' to trick or treat with friends and family there. In the midst of it, I wanted to keep myself sane with just cooking a couple of meals that I could re-heat easily through the week.

One of the things that I wanted to cook up was this versatile pork tenderloin. Since I've been super busy, I thought it would be a great time to get out the old crock pot to cook this batboy up. While I wanted to keep the pork interchangeable, I also wanted it to have a lot of really good flavor...

Scary Good Stuffed Meatballs & Garlicky Sauce (Crock Pot)

October 24, 2015 Amanda Plott

One of my more favorite recipes here is one that is about two years old now. It's a tried and true recipe that I've kept in my back pocket and used numerous times over the years. With Halloween getting closer and closer, I decided to take that recipe out, dust it off, and give it a good scary once over.

A while back now, I had heard of these wonderful cheese stuffed meatballs and just knew that it was something that I had to give a try. So, I thought what better time than now? To make these meatballs even more scary good, I used both ground meat and hot sausage to give that nice little bit of heat. I also wanted to keep the vampires at bay, so I was sure to make the sauce garlicky...