Side Dish Archives

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes or Sweet Potatoes

We LOVE baked potatoes in this house…even Annie chows down on them. However, I find that I don’t make them very often. Why? Well, for some reason I just hate heating up the whole oven to make potatoes. I know that’s weird. In the summer, it makes sense to avoid it because of heating up the house, but in the winter I have no excuse.

But then I came across a genius idea…to “bake” potatoes in the crock pot! I’m not sure why I didn’t think of it…we’ll chalk it up to sleep deprivation and Momnesia. But, there were a few problems I was seeing with all the posts out there about crock pot potatoes.

They used aluminum foil. We try not to use aluminum foil much in this house and I really hate it touching my food…so I sure didn’t want to cover my potatoes with it for 8 hours in high heat. You can call me paranoid – as long as you call me for dinner.
If you didn’t use foil, some people reported that the potatoes ended up all brown and grody looking. I’m not sure about you, but there’s something about eating food that looks ugly and gross…I’d be hard pressed to eat a potato that looked like doody – because I see enough doody in my day. [Read more…]

A Good Freezer Meal – Tater Tot Casserole

Y’all, I’ve been following the blog Hallee the Homemaker for a long time now. If you like a honest blog, one with good food and good family values, make sure you subscribe to Hallee the Homemaker. I asked Hallee to write a post for y’all and she knew I was working on freezer meals for The Bean, so she’s sharing a GREAT freezer meal with us today…and in case you didn’t know, it’s the family favorite of the Duggars. 🙂

I have been reading and participating in homemaking blogs for over three years now, and one thing that a lot of bloggers really enjoy doing is “freezer cooking”. They buy a whole bunch of supplies, and spend a day or two in the kitchen making several meals, freezing the meals, and then they can just pull a meal or pre-prepped ingredients for a meal out of the freezer as needed.

It’s a great idea and one that a lot of people have great success with. However, for me, spending that much time in the kitchen just to save meal prep time just doesn’t appeal to me. I think I really enjoy the art of cooking for my family on a regular basis, and the time it would eventually save me just doesn’t seem worth the time and energy it would take to properly do the freezer cooking.

However, Jill Bond, author of Mega Cooking, has a BRILLIANT method of freezer cooking that doesn’t require two full days in the kitchen. [Read more…]

Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans

I’m not much one for fancy side dishes. For our family, I usually serve the basics, like rice or oven-roasted potatoes with a vegetable. But every once in a while, it’s fun to dazzle your family with a more gourmet-type side. And these bacon-wrapped green beans do just that.

And really? I don’t know why I don’t make these more often. They don’t just spice up an otherwise boring meal, but they are actually very easy to make! [Read more…]

Crock Pot Garden Marinara Sauce

Today we have Sumptuous Spoonfuls joining us for a FABULOUS seasonal recipe – Marinara Sauce. If you’ve been up to your ears in tomatoes, you’re gonna love this! Crock on, baby!

Hello everyone! I’m Ann from Sumptuous Spoonfuls. Stacy contacted me to ask if I would do a guest post for her…something made in the crock pot. The only things she asked were:

Not a recipe already on the site
Only use whole food ingredients

I thought that’s no sweat! I can totally handle that … Well, time went by and the date she had given me as a deadline came and went and I hadn’t sent her anything. You know how life gets so busy … this guest post completely slipped my mind! So I totally failed on the “submitted a week in advance” part, but I did make a new recipe with whole foods! In fact, just about everything in this recipe is fresh from the garden. The only things I purchased were the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, brown sugar (or sucanat) and bay leaves. [Read more…]

You can cook that at home? Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese

My T-Tapp friend, Kayla, is sharing her Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese today – cheese just makes life better. Thanks Kayla!

Virtually any processed, packaged, let’s-preserve-as-a-mummy-forever-food can actually be made at home. It’s true! For those rare instances where you can’t make the real thing at home without all the preservatives, you can whip up a suitable substitute.

One of the things I struggled with as I switched to mostly real food was how to decide who was right. I read stacks and stacks of books, each one sounding so convincing, but each one just a little different. “Eat more whole bran. No, whole bran is bad for you, sprout it or sour it. No, white flour is actually better because it does not have the bran in it…that’s why most cultures have always sifted the bran out. No, that’s all wrong, you should never eat wheat again…” And so on the ideas go.

Do you ever wonder what’s actually true?

Seriously! I’ve read “research” and so called “studies” that “prove” the exact opposite of each other! [Read more…]

Crock Pot Baked Beans

Today my friend Lea from Nourishing Treasures is sharing a great side dish with us – baked beans. I think this calls for us all to have a cookout. 🙂

Making my own baked beans has been on my list of things to do for a while now. I think the only canned things I buy now are olives and tuna fish. I don’t know what took me so long, really. But when Elizabeth shared her Barlett Baked Beans recipe with me, I knew I could do it.

Because I can’t leave well enough alone, I did tweak the recipe. Here is mine: [Read more…]

Crock Pot Crab Dip

I asked my good friend, Lori, from We Pillage the Village if she would be willing to share a good seafood recipe with us. She lives up north were good seafood abounds…and most of my knowledge of seafood is tuna in a can. 😉 Thanks Lori!!

Every year I’m the “crab dip lady”. Come September, my sister has a big band competition with her high school marching band and it’s my duty to provide the crab dip to the judges and band staff. That’s about 150 people. It’s a HUGE hit every year and I have to say that it’s the best crab dip I’ve ever tasted – and coming from Maryland, I’ve had lots of crab dip. I always keep it hot and bubbly in a crock pot for the 6 hours that the competition lasts. It holds up great and goes wonderful with crackers, Melba toast, pita and raw veggies. [Read more…]

Crock Pot Granola

I just have to tell you that I love my friend, Jill, from The Prairie Homestead. She’s such a sweetheart…and now she’s given me a way that makes it harder to burn granola. She’s a saint I tell ya…a saint.

I really admire those moms (and dads!) who whip up a big breakfast every single day of the week…

As much as I love cooking, breakfast at my house is pretty ho-hum. Since my morning routine involves rushing out the door to do chores and milk the cow before my 2 year- old wakes up, my morning “cuisine” is usually quite simple… (And boring.)

Because I haven’t purchased any sort of boxed cereal for several years now, I usually rotate between oatmeal, scrambled eggs, or yogurt… It gets old after a while.

So, whenever I find a make-ahead recipe that allows me to cook once and still have a decent breakfast for a couple days of my week, I’m thrilled!

[Read more…]

Fix and Forget Friday – Crock Pot Stuffed Onions

Today we have a guest post by Ginger from Crock Pot Recipe Exchange.

When it’s the holidays I like to make something a little extraordinary, but also easy. Since onions are an inexpensive staple in the grocery stores I knew that a wonderful side dish could made out of them.

Once onions are cooked they have a mild sweetness that turns them into a comfort food. That alone makes everyone asks for seconds and the recipe.

Here is how I make them: [Read more…]

Whole Wheat Vegetable Pizza

Today we’re talking about Real Party Food. I love a good party. I’m a party animal y’all! Someone says “Party!” And I say “Where at?!” Actually, I’ll be truthful. I should be called Stacy The Wallflower. I love parties, but I am usually physically attached to the wall or a corner chair. I like to be in the back and watch. My idea of a good party is when I can escape to the kitchen and help with refilling bowls and cutting up cantaloupe. For some reason, I always fear I’ll make a gigantic fool of myself in front of everyone – food down my shirt….a popped open button right in the middle of my chest…..toilet paper on my shoe…..my skirt tucked in the back of my leggings. Yeah – I dream about this stuff. It’s safer to stay against the wall where no one can see your rear.One of my favorite party foods of all time is Vegetable Pizza – made withPillsbury Crescent rolls and ranch dressing mix. Since these aren’t foods we buy anymore, I thought I would have to do without it. But then I got ornery and decided to make my own. You’re not going to take away my favorite party food, BUSTER! Let’s party! [Read more…]