Reader’s Recipes

I arrived home today to one of my favorite things in the entire world: packages!

One of my packages was a big ol’ box from POM Wonderful.

Me 'n' Pom

I’m a lucky lil’ blogger! Though I am excited to enjoy several bottles of this 100% pure pomegranate juice, I think Ryan was even more excited. He’s been quite the POM fan for several years.

Juicy Julie

The bottle shape is quite funky and inspired Ryan to do some POM presses and POM curls.

POM Workout

Clearly our entire family had a little extra energy today, so we leashed Sadie up for a romp at the dog park.

Funky Sadie

 I took what may be one of my top five favorite pictures of Sadie as she was spitting out leaves and dirt. Her jowls got all caught up in her mouth and she looked like such a goof.

My Lil' Goofball

We could not stop laughing at this picture! She looks ridiculous! 😀

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner was another simply delicious simple meal!

Chicken prepared in the ol’ crocker with BBQ sauce and roasted veggies on the side. Mmm, mmm good!

My Plate

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich

 I also had a small bowl of artichokes on the side.

Artichokes

Reader’s Recipes!!!

I think one day you guys are gonna find me and throw all the meals I make week after week in my face. I hope you’re not too sick of them(!!!)… Buuut, just in case you are…

I’d like to reach out to all of you for your help! I’m going to try out a new READER’S RECIPE each week in March.

I’ll make a recipe based on a recipe submitted by one of you, or I’ll create a new recipe using key ingredients you guys suggest. Fun, huh?

Please comment on this post with a recipe (or a link to a recipe) you think I should try. If you don’t have a specific recipe in mind, simply comment with a key ingredient you think I should incorporate into a meal.

Feel free to submit recipes for any meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) and baked goods as well! I don’t discriminate.

(Please do not suggest catfish or any catfish-based recipe because I can 100 percent guarantee your suggestion will not be selected… I have my reasons. 🙂 )

Woohoo! I’m already excited to try out some new delicious dishes!!!

I’ll select a recipe to try tomorrow and then after I make the recipe and post about it, you can comment with more recipes for me to select from for the next round. Sound good?

Let’s get cookin’!!!

The Test

Today’s test: Will Ryan and I survive the night having eaten chicken that was one day past the expiration date? Only time will tell… 😉 

When I arrived home from work, I checked on the chicken before heading out to take Sadie to the dog park with Ryan. 

Checkin' on Chicken

Some of you have asked about the liner I use in the crock pot in the past, and it’s awesome and makes clean up a breeze. It is a slow cooker liner made by Reynolds and I buy them at my local grocery store (Publix). Highly recommended! 

Dog Park 

Our trip to the dog park was full of fetch! 

"Throw the Ball!"

Playtime

Dog Park Kisses

Smile!

Sadie could play fetch for hours. Ryan and I always wonder exactly how long we’d have to play for her to stop. We’re thinking three hours. (Seriously. If you have a vizsla, or know Sadie, you understand. 🙂 ) 

Pretty Pup

I purposely saved this picture for last, because I think it’s super cool: 

Speedy Sadie

After an hour or so at the park, we headed home to brave the expired chicken. 

Dinner 

Good news! Our expired chicken dinner smelled and tasted great and oh-so-fresh. 

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

“Sell by” date? What “sell by” date? 😉 

I didn’t want to take any chances wasting fresh or expensive ingredients on potentially bad chicken, so I stuck to the old stand by of throwing chicken in the slow cooker with chicken broth to cook all day. 

We had tasty BBQ chicken sandwiches that didn’t taste the least bit old. Let’s call them mature BBQ chicken sandwiches, shall we? 😀 

My Sandwich

On the side we had some green goodies. 

Zucchini

My Plate

No Ice Cream???  

It’s nights like tonight that I am very thankful we don’t keep ice cream in our apartment because I’m reallllly feelin’ like I could go to town on a pint right about now. Ryan and I both cannot be trusted around ice cream. Between the two of us, we’ve been known to polish off a half gallon in one day… without feeling sick. It’s a gift, I know. 

What food can’t you be trusted around?  

Aside from ice cream I cannot be trusted around jars of peanut butter. Truth: Ryan hides them from me.

Easy Peasy

Since I couldn’t take Sadie on too long of a walk this morning due to my Invisalign appointment, I knew a trip to the dog park would be mandatory tonight. Sadie needed open space to run around and act like a psycho puppy!

The Gang

Play Time!

I took this picture of Sadie and her new friend for Ryan’s grandma and her boyfriend:

Sadie and a New Friend

They have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel like the one Sadie’s playing with above and are big-time dog lovers like me and Ryan. 🙂

Yay for the Dog Park!

Dinner

Because I knew a trip to the park was in store, I made sure to plan a quick dinner for tonight and threw several chicken breasts in the crock pot with chicken broth before I went to work and let ’em cook on low all day.

After pulling the meat apart with forks, Ryan and I added BBQ sauce to the chicken and enjoyed an easy peasy dinner!

BBQ Chicken

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

Veggies

Crock pot creations and breakfast for dinner are my fall back meals when I need an easy dinner.

What’s your fall back easy peasy meal?

Two Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken

I adore the crock pot. What I do not adore is crock pot recipes that are intense, comprised of a billion ingredients and require cooking before using the crock pot!

To me, the point of the slow cooker is to throw everything into a pot and “fahgettaboudit.”

Ryan and I think our slow cooker pulled pork is one of the best around and the recipe only requires two ingredients: pork and beef broth. Tonight we decided to replicate that recipe using chicken.

Before leaving for work, I threw two very large chicken breasts into the slow cooker and covered the meat with chicken broth. I let the breasts cook on low all day (about 8 hours).

While I prepped the veggies for tonight’s dinner, Ryan (aka my meat man) got to work shredding the chicken with two forks until it was pulled apart and lookin’ fine!

Pulled Chicken

I topped my chicken with BBQ sauce and ended up enjoying it on a Arnold whole wheat sandwich thin. I looooove BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches.

My Plate

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich

Two Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts
• Chicken broth

Directions:

Remove any unwanted fat from chicken breasts and place the breasts in the slow cooker. Pour chicken broth over the breasts until covered in broth. Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours. Remove chicken breasts from crock pot and shred with a fork.

Wicked Good Dessert

For dessert I enjoyed a cup of Jello dark chocolate decadence mousse. These lil’ babies are so darn delicious.

Jello Mousse

…And I’m off to read Wicked! A woman at the gym offered to bring me the Wicked soundtrack to listen to before I see the musical. She said she’d bring it for me tomorrow and I hope to give it a listen soon. I love musicals and showtunes. They make me smile! 🙂

Goodnight!

Easy Crock Pot Beef

Tonight’s dinner was easy… just the way I like it!

Before I left for work I placed chunks of beef (sold pre-sliced for beef stew) in the crock pot with one can of cream of mushroom soup and a half of a can of water.

Cream of Mushroom soup

I let the meat cook on low for approximately eight hours (though I’m sure six would be plenty).

By the time we were hungry for dinner, the beef was moist and delicious. After steaming broccoli, cauliflower and carrots and sauteing spinach we were ready to eat.

My Plate

Aren’t effortless dinners the best?

What’s your favorite crock pot recipe?

Two of my favorites include the easiest pulled pork ever and slow cooker chicken tacos.

I think I’d love just about any crock pot meal. 😀