Crock Pot B.B.Q. Shredded Beef

May 7, 2015 Amanda Plott

It was Teacher's Appreciation this week at my little one's school, and the parents all hold an Annual potluck accordingly; serving the teachers breakfast, lunch, and even a dessert. As part of the potluck for the teacher's I decided I wanted to take something that was versatile and well liked by all, shredded barbecue beef!

B.B.Q. anything is a staple around here and it's probably even a law somehow that every Texan is required to eat something barbecued at least once a week. Otherwise you might lose your license to grill. Hah!...

Skinny Crock Pot Coke Zero BBQ Pulled Chicken (Sponsored)

March 17, 2015 Amanda Plott

Here in Texas, we're extremely passionate about two things; BBQ and sports! What better than to bring the two together with your friends and family in a fun and creative way? Since my dad is a BBQ professional, I am all about making my own BBQ sauce. I've been known to make it with lots of interesting and sometimes rather uncommon things.

NCAA® March Madness is here and Coca-Cola is celebrating with new Coca-Cola NCAA® Final Four Packs that are available at Walmart. The four packs of cans come in three flavors; Coke Zero, Vanilla Coke and Cherry Coke. I know that when my friends and family get together to watch the games, we're all about home-gating with traditional drinks and 'game day' style foods that are easy to make, versatile, lean, and delicious!

After all, what's more 'game day' than BBQ and Coca-Cola?...

Crock Pot Irish Beef Stew & Cheddar Herb Dumplings

March 11, 2015 Amanda Plott

I'm an Irish girl, what can I say? If I can find an excuse to cook with bourbon and beer, I'll find it! The idea for this dish actually came from my love of St. Patrick's Day and also my love of these Healthified Crock Pot Chicken & Dumplings, which I made a bit over a year ago and many many times since then.

I basically took the same structure of the Chicken & Dumpling recipe and made it into a hearty Irish inspired Beef & Dumpling recipe instead. This stew is packed full of bold flavor and lots and lots of chunky beef and vegetables. I promise, you won't feel like you're eating anything healthified, but you are. It's definitely a meal in a bowl.

Who knew that Beef & Dumplings would just as awesome as Chicken & Dumplings?

I wasn't sure this would work out, but in the end I'm extremely happy that I tempted the fates with this one...

Skinny Crock Pot Guinness Beer Chili

February 24, 2015 Amanda Plott

This post was brought to you by Stubb's Bar-B-Q. I received compensation to write this post … but, all opinions expressed are my own.

Chili in my family is a pretty big deal. I mean... we're Texans, so everything is a big deal. We've tried chili with many different meats, and made it in many different ways. But, we always tend to go back to my mom's original Chili Con Carne for one reason or another.

With March fast approaching and one of my favorite holidays of the year creeping up along with it, I decided that I wanted to attempt to make a healthier low carb take on an Irish style chili. And by Irish, I really just mean to use beer in it instead of any other form of liquid.

Another big deal in my family is Bar-B-Q, and one of my most favorite brands for spices, sauces, and rubs is Stubb's Bar-B-Q. So, when I got my hands on some of Stubb's new Chili Fixins Cookin' Sauce, I knew I wanted to use it in my St. Patrick's Day inspired chili...

Healthified Home-Corned Beef

February 16, 2015 Amanda Plott

I've always been a bit intrigued with St. Patrick's day. Perhaps it's because I've got some Irish roots. It could also have something to do with some over zealous teachers when I was in elementary school making a big hub-ub about the holiday. I remember that we had a little Leprechaun visit our room, and all though none of us children saw him he managed to leave glitter and rainbows in his wake. As far as I remember he did some rather naughty things too. Turned desks upside down and even turned our milk green. Those mischievous and sneaky little Leprechauns!

When I started making corned beef a few years back, I began doing so with the pre-brined corned beef briskets that you can buy at the store. But, this year I wanted to try and do something a little different. I began to do some research into the matter and found that - YES, you can corn your own beef and that it is really easy to do!...

Healthified Crock Pot Cheeseburger Sliders

February 2, 2015 Amanda Plott

This weekend was more than a little exhausting and for numerous reasons too. So ,I was more than elated that I happened to have this recipe planned ahead for. Somewhere between the weather, family dropping in, and an injury for my four year old... I was in need of something rather hands free to cook up for dinner for more than my usual table setting.

These burgers are super easy to do and rather guilt free (especially if you used the Annie's cheese sauce packs in stead of the alternative.) Now, I'd never made a cheeseburger in a crock pot before, so I was more than little skeptical of what the outcome would be but as it turns out, it was pretty stellar!

Even as I was preparing the meat to go into the crock pot, my mom was asking me 'what is this for' and 'what is that for'... 'are these sloppy joes'. Nope! Well, not exactly. Though the the texture does end up being rather similar to that of a sloppy joe; being as the meat is held together with cheesy goodness rather than a tomato sauce...