Crock Pot, I Love You

I cannot decide what I like more about crock pot meals: How easy they are to make, or how moist and delicious the food ends up after cooking in a crock pot all day.

I think I’m leaning toward the yumminess of the food, but there’s nothing simpler than throwing meat in a crock pot with some broth before heading out to work. It makes dinner so easy, and you know that’s what I’m all about!

One thing I would always dread about crock pot meals was the clean up. Sure it’s all in one pot, but inevitably the food would adhere to the sides of the crock pot and clean up would be a bit of a challenge. No fun.

After discovering Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners, clean up became a breeze!

I just put a liner in the crock pot before adding all of my ingredients. Clean up is as easy as throwing away the bag filled with the food scraps. I buy them at my grocery store (Publix) in the aisle with the foil and Ziploc baggies.

(Just FYI, I am not Mr. Reynold’s daughter or anything. I just really love those liners!)

Dinner

I’m sure you’ve figured this out by now, but dinner tonight came straight outta the crock pot!

Crock Pot Pulled Chicken

Before leaving for work, I threw a bunch of chicken breasts into the crock pot and covered them with chicken broth. I let everything cook on low until it was dinner time.

As I chopped and roasted some veggies, Ryan pulled the chicken breasts apart with two forks and smothered the meat in BBQ sauce.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts + Squash

Dinner

I enjoyed the BBQ pulled chicken on an Arnold honey wheat sandwich thin.

BBQ Sandwich

I love how doughy those sandwich thins are. Yum, yum.

What is your favorite crock pot meal?

Satisfied and Energized

Hooray for dinner leftovers!

A bunch of roasted veggies from last night’s dinner popped up in my lunch today in the form of a big ol’ salad.

Roasted Veggie Salad

My salad contained:

• Romaine lettuce
• Roasted broccoli
• Roasted carrots
• Roasted Brussels sprouts
• Rotisserie chicken deli meat
• Olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Veggie Close Up

My dressing was a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Dressing

My favorite part of salads is the sheer volume of food I can eat without feeling disgusting!

I love eating and eating (and eating), and a big salad leaves me feeling satisfied and energized, not overly stuffed and sleepy like other large meals can.

Organic Cheat Sheet

I don’t know about you, but I’ve read about a billion different articles about which fruits and vegetables to always buy organic. Somehow, I can never remember which ones fall into the “only buy organic” category and which ones do not when I’m at the grocery store.

FitSugar.com posted an adorable Organic Cheat Sheet, created by the Environmental Working Group, which may make remembering which produce to buy organic a little easier.

Organic Cheat Sheet

Do you buy organic foods?

Unsolved Mystery

I know I’m in the middle of a deep sleep when the alarm goes off and I’m mid-dream.

I really wanted to finish my dream, but I had to get up to make it to BodyPump, so my dream ended up being an unsolved mystery.

(In case you were wondering, in my dream, Sadie was a human baby and was missing! By the time I woke up I was pretty convinced she had been abducted. I attribute this dream to the stupid show on E! last night about the top women murderers of all time. There are some creepy ladies out there!)

Workout

Despite feeling like I had an unresolved issue looming over my head, I managed to have a decent workout. BodyPump was a great challenge, and I finished up my workout with 25 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical.

Breakfast

Breakfast was a tasty pb & p sandwich!

I made my peanut butter and pear sandwich using a fresh, juicy pear I bought at the farmer’s market yesterday.

Farmer's Market Pear

You know I just had to have a peanut butter finger while making this sandwich. 😉

Monday Morning PBF

I spread creamy peanut butter on half of a honey wheat Arnold sandwich thin.

PB

I topped the other half with thin pear slices before smooshing the two halfs together.

Pear + Peanut Butter

Peek-a-Boo

Breakfast is Served

This really is a great way to satisfy a peanut butter and jelly craving without all the sugar! Fresh fruit = aweeeesome.

Question of the Day

Do you typically dream about people you know?

I always dream about people I know.