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Turkey, Bacon, and Guacamole Wraps

I love wraps. I used to really love Subway’s wraps because they used this really thin, pliable, tasty tortilla that I just love. They were so chewy and delicious. This is a good stand-by when you’re in a rush and need a quick dinner. Wraps are so fun! You can put just about anything in them, just like omelets. Heck, you could even throw your leftover omelet in there. I always try to keep tortillas in the house. Sometimes I make them, and sometimes I buy them. It’s really easy to make your own. But for the sake of time, I used these tortillas from Kroger to make up some simple and delicious turkey wrap with bacon and guacamole!

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Mom’s Salisbury Steak

When I came home from the hospital with Annie, I was hungry. I stayed hungry the entire time I breastfed her. I ate more when I breastfed than when I was pregnant. When my mom asked what I wanted her to bring over to eat, this was the dish I asked for. And I wanted to eat it all……but I shared with Barry. Now, that’s love. This isn’t your normal Salisbury Steak. It’s topped with barbecue sauce and I LOVE it! It makes great fixings for a sandwich too. Yum. I’m hungry. [Read more…]

Crock Pot Pizza Pasta

Annie has never been a big fan of pasta…..which is really sad because Barry and I are VERY big fans. However, the older she gets, the more she will eat. When she was young, I’d try to trick her and put some in her mouth when she wasn’t looking. After one puke, I stopped that. I’m glad she’s getting more into eating it. When we have company, I usually make pasta. It’s relatively cheap, crowd pleasing, and usually pretty easy. Combine that with a crock pot and you’re really saving some time and money! Let’s make some Pizza Pasta (P.S. – Annie did eat several bites!). [Read more…]

Crunchy Chicken Casserole

Yesterday we conquered the chicken by baking it in the crock pot. Today we’re using some of the leftover meat. I had four cups left after I picked the chicken after we ate dinner from it. I’m using two cups in this chicken casserole and I used two cups in this Chicken Salad from Life, An Epic Journey. I saw this recipe in Taste of Home, but I sorta used it and I sorta didn’t. It’s very good….not as good as my Grandmaw’s Chicken Casserole, but it’s a tad bit better for ya. My Grandmaw’s Chicken Casserole is the ultimate comfort food. [Read more…]

Crock Pot Mushroom Beef


I love cooked mushrooms. I don’t really care for raw mushrooms. I would love to tell you why…..but I don’t know. So much of my life makes no sense at all. Kind of like how I am freaked out by meat on the bone. I saw this recipe by Betty Crocker and I knew I had to give it a shot. I am SO glad I did! It was so delicious. Barry really, REALLY enjoyed it. Okay, so I enjoyed it too. Okay, so I licked my plate when I was done. Gravy should never be wasted. Can I get an “Amen!”?


This recipe popped out at me because it called for a jar of gravy. Normally I make our gravy, but I had a jar of the pre-made stuff downstairs. If I recall, I got it free somewhere around Thanksgiving….and I knew it would stay there until next Thanksgiving or after if I didn’t just go ahead and use it. If you don’t have canned gravy, you can make your own. Getting rid of stuff from the canned good shelves is really exciting. Yes, I’m boring. You’ll also need stew beef, Worcestershire sauce, spicy brown mustard, canned mushrooms, flour, and water.

Place your stew beef in the bottom of your crock. You could use other cuts of beef for this recipe, but I like using stew beef in my slow cooker. Cooking it a long time helps it get nice and tender. This was so good it would melt in your mouth. Sorta like cotton candy, except it was beef.

In a small bowl, mix the gravy, Worcestershire, and mustard. Resist the urge to drink it directly from the container. Think of the beef.

Pour the mixture over the beef. Use a spatula and get every last bit of goodness out of the bowl…..you should always be using a spatula. If you don’t, you’re leaving tons of yumminess in your bowls and jars. God created spatulas – use them.

Drain your mushrooms and pour them over the top of everything else.

Now, stir it all together. Yes I realize we just layered it……for apparently no reason at all since we’re stirring it now – but it was fun wasn’t it?

Put the lid on and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Mine cooked for 8 hours because I wanted maximum tenderness……okay, so you caught me. Mine cooked for 8 hours because I wasn’t at home to check after 6 hours. When I got home, my house smelled like Thanksgiving – except it was 90 degrees outside and I was wearing shorts and a tank top….but other than that, just like Thanksgiving.

See how lovely it looks? I needed a straw……but that would have been a bad influence for Annie. We’re not done yet!

We need to thicken our gravy a bit. Oh yeah, thick gravy. Mix your flour and water with a whisk. Pour it into your beef mixture and stir well. Magic is going to happen.

Cover and cook on high for about twenty minutes. It will seem like eternity because you’ve got the gravy smell up your nose now.

Ahhhh, what a work of art. Beef art (which is somewhat better than some stuff I’ve seen downtown on the side of the road).  I served ours with a side of mashed potatoes. You could pour the mixture over mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, noodles, or rice. Anything goes…..and the beef goes too – it goes bye-bye.

 
Print Recipe

Crock Pot Mushroom Beef

Course: Main Course

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 lb boneless beef sirloin tip steak cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 12 oz jar beef gravy
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
  • 2 4 oz cans mushrooms drained
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons water

Instructions

  • In 3- to 3 1/2-quart slow cooker, mix all ingredients except flour, water and potatoes.
  • Cover; cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours.
  • In small bowl, mix flour and water; stir into beef mixture.
  • Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook 15 to 20 minutes or until thickened.
  • Spoon beef and mushroom mixture over potatoes, noodles, or rice.

Salmon Burgers

Ya know how you have that list of things that you’re never going to do when you grow up? “GOSH MOM! When I’m a grown up, I’m never going to make my kids eat fish!……I’m never gonna make my kids clean their room!……I’m never going to tell my kids they can’t climb the poles in the basement!” Well, let me just tell y’all, I’ve been eating lots of crow. It’s dry and it makes me cough. Now when Annie says that type of thing, I’ll just get the giggles. I’m sure my mom was giggling behind my back too. When I was growing up, I hated when my mom would fix salmon. It stunk. It made the house stink. It made me wanna yak. And what am I doing now? Fixing it for myself. I’m a paradox. Let’s make these delicious Salmon Burgers and feed them to our kids! [Read more…]

Fix and Forget Friday – Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Soup

 

I saw the idea for this recipe somewhere, but I didn’t really like the ingredients that it called for……so I changed them up and made this recipe mine. I don’t really mean “mine” because, in an act of graciousness, I did give a bowl to Barry and Annie. I didn’t want to, but I did it. I make sacrifices for my family. Ya know, I don’t even like hot wings – but I think it’s just because I get grossed out by meat that’s on bones. No, I have absolutely no reasoning behind that…..it’s all in my head. But this soup has no bones. It’s a winner! I love that it’s made in the crock pot, but it could easily be adapted and made on the stove.

 

We need milk, cream of chicken soup, chopped cooked chicken, sour cream, wing sauce, chopped celery and onions, and bleu cheese crumbles. Notice that I don’t have fresh celery. I realized while getting my ingredients out that I didn’t have any left. Okay, so yes I did have some……but it was so limp that it looked like a wet noodle. I pulled out my dehydrated celery instead. I’m sure fresh celery would be WAY better, so don’t be like me and let your celery get limp.

 

Put your chopped onions in a microwavable bowl and add a tablespoon or two of water. Nuke them for about 1 ½ minutes to get them semi-soft. Make sure it IS a microwaveable bowl, because we really don’t need any exploding dishes that contain white chocolate…..oh wait, that was the Cake Balls, nevermind.

 

Put your chicken down in your crock pot and add the onions. I always make sure to have extra cooked chicken in my freezer. Sometimes I find a rotisserie chicken on a good sale and I’ll bring it home, chop up the meat and bag it in the freezer. It’s almost an instant meal. I am just full of tips up in here.

 

I always make a mess mixing up my soup and milk, so I just used my onion bowl and did it that way, before adding it to the pot. I used a whisk and got everything nice and smooth. Please don’t dirty another dish for this. Thank you.

 

Do you see a problem here? I do. It was at this exact moment that I realized I had chosen the wrong crock pot. Oops. I dirtied up an extra dish. Sadness. Moral of the story – use at least a 4 quart pot.

 

Mix the soup mixture with the onions and chicken. Time to add the celery! If you are using regular celery, you will want to microwave it with the onions.

 

Now, add the buffalo wing sauce and sour cream. You can vary the degree of hotness in this recipe by adding more or less hot sauce. I thought ½ cup was good. It was hot, but not hot enough that Annie didn’t lick her bowl clean. If you want to get heartburn and let your nose run, just add more hot sauce. Mix it all up.

 

Put the lid on and let it cook for 4-5 hours on low heat. This is a great recipe if you have time early in the day, but you’re busy around dinner time. That happens to me regularly. I fixed this while Annie was down for her nap and then I had the rest of the afternoon free with her…..and Elmo.

 

Will ya look at that? Hello beautiful! It was at the moment that I lifted the lid that I realized I did NOT butter my crock. Oops. Will that goop ever come off? Yes, it did……after a little soaking. So, please don’t be a doofus like me and forget to grease your crock.

 

Sprinkle each serving with bleu cheese, if you’re risky like that. I didn’t do it……I hate bleu cheese. But Barry thoroughly enjoyed his. This soup is even better the next day!

 

Buffalo Chicken Soup

  • 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 3 cups milk
  • 2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 3 cups shredded, cooked chicken
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup wing sauce
  • Crumbled Bleu cheese
  1. Put celery and onion in a microwavable bowl.
  2. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water and microwave 1 1/2 minutes.
  3. Combine all ingredients.
  4. Pour into a buttered 4qt slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours.
  5. Sprinkle individual servings with Bleu cheese.

Rhubarb Buckle

*UPDATE – See this post about our new eating habits.(7/10/11)

Please excuse some of my pictures in this post. I’ve been experimenting a little bit since I had a photography lesson…..but these didn’t turn out very well. Let’s just pretend they did and move along. Thanks for your cooperation. Let’s see, we’ve covered crisp, cobbler, crumble, grunt, and now buckle. I LOVE buckles. Most recipes you’ll see will call for blueberries. You could really use any fruit for this dish, but you’d have to adjust the sugar amount. I needed to use up this rhubarb, so I went with it. I am ready for fresh rhubarb! I need to clean my freezer out to store this year’s bounty. What’s a buckle? It’s basically a cake with fruit. As the cake cooks, the fruit sinks to the bottom, pushing the batter to the top…..it buckles. And when that happens, it’s totally divine. YUM, YUM! Of course, after you eat it there is probably going to be some adjustment with another buckle – if you catch my drift. [Read more…]

Strawberry Grunt

*UPDATE – See this post about our new eating habits.(7/10/11)

So, we’ve covered cobbler, crisp, crumble and now we’re on to…..grunt. Grunt is just fun to say. Grunt. Grunt. Grunt. Actually grunting is fun to do too. Try it. If you’re having a hard time doing something, grunt and it’ll make it easier. If you grunt because you can’t get a jar open, your manly man will come to your rescue and take care of the problem. Try it. Aside from the obvious body noise, what is a grunt? It’s like a cobbler, but you cook it entirely on the stovetop. You stew your fruit until it starts to get thick and then you drop dough on top, sorta like dumplings. Then you put the lid on and let the steam cook the dough. Pretty easy. It’s called a “grunt” because of the sound the liquid makes, bubbling up between the dumplings as they cook. I’ve also heard this dessert referred to as a Slump…..but grunt just sounds better so we’ll stick with that. Grunt. Let’s GRUNT! [Read more…]

Cinnamon Roll Cherry Cobbler

***UPDATE: See this post about our new eating habits. (7/10/11)

This is a Stacy original……sorta. I saw the idea somewhere, but didn’t like the ingredients. So I used the idea, but different stuff. It’s a Stacy Sorta-Semi Original. Go with it. So far we know what a crumble and crisp are, so today let’s learn about cobbler. My mom has always made the best cobbler. I’m guilty of trying to eat more of the breading part….and leaving the fruit. Yes, it was me. I confess. Sorry Mama! American cobblers are “fruit stews with dough dropped on top before baking.” God created them on day 8. They rank up there as one of my favorite desserts of all time….right beside Lava Cake. Don’t confuse them with British cobblers that have a meat filling. If you’re expecting sweet and get meat, your day just might be ruined. They are always best when eaten warm with ice cream. *Slobber* [Read more…]