Crock Pot Pizza

I found this recipe somewhere online, but when I went to print it... it didn't print the site address, so I am not sure where it came from.

Recipe
a jar of your favorite sauce- we used 2 jars that we had in the cupboard
your favorite pizza toppings- we used a red pepper, yellow pepper, onions, garlic, bacon, pepperoni, ground beef, and olives
1 tube of pre made biscuit dough
1-2 c of your favorite cheese

Pour the sauce into a Crock Pot first.  Then add your veggie toppings (we sauteed the onions and garlic before adding them).  Cook any meat you are using.  Then, add meat on top of veggies.  Open the dough and tear into quarter sized pieces and drop on top of the contents of the crock pot.  Cook on love for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3.  Add your cheese then cook for another 15-30 minutes (depending on how you like your cheese).  Cut into wedges and serve.

I had never heard of cooking pizza in a crock pot, but I thought why not.

 This is what it looked like before cooking.

And this is what it looked like after. I was a little worried on how I would get it out of the pot... I mean would the sauce cause it to be mush...

This was how it looked plated.  It came out pretty easily... We used a spatula to get what we could out and then just used another spatula full of sauce.

The only thing I would change with this recipe... would be to not let my husband touch it.  He added some extra spices to the sauce, because it was cheap store brand.... and he got a little too excited with the pepper and it was a bit spicy!

Crock Pot Chicken

Another recipe that I am not sure where it came from

Recipe
1 cup baby carrots or 2 to 3 medium carrots, sliced
1/2 c chopped onion
1 rib celery, sliced
2 cups fresh or frozen green beans
4 med potatoes, quatered
3-3.5lbs chicken
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cups strong chicken brother, condensed or made with double bouillon
little salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basil

Layer carrots, onion, celery, green beans, potatoes, chicken and bacon.  In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; pour over the rest.  Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.

A new twist on an old standby.  The bacon really adds some good flavor to this meal.(doesn't bacon make everything better!)  This was really fast and easy to prepare.  I used the rest of some chicken thighs we had, but you can use whatever kind of chicken you want...even a fryer chicken. 

BBQ Beef Sandwich

I have no idea where this recipe came from... I found it in our recipe folder one day....

Recipe
3lbs stew meat
1/2c water
2 beef bouillon cubes
1tbsp minced onion
1 can tomato sauce (15oz)
1.4c brown sugar
1/4c ketchup
1/4c mustard
1 dash Worcestershire sauce

In Crock Pot place meat along with 1 cup water a bouillon cubes.  Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours (high 3-4).  remove meat and shred with a fork after cooking and retain 1 cub of the juice from cooking.  Add rest of the ingredients to shredded meat.  Put in crock pot and cook on low 3-4 hours.  Serve over hamburger buns or your favorite rolls.

These were really good.  I decided to cook this because my husband loves BBQ (I do not) and I wanted to do something for him.  I chose to cook the meet on high for 3-4 hours, then do the rest on low, so that it didn't take 12 hours to make (I never get up to the kitchen in time to cook anything for 12 hours!).  We loved this, will probably make again.

Menu 11/4-11/13

Breakfasts: (rotates)
Breakfast Sandwiches, Waffles/Sausage, Cereal/Smoothie/Oatmeal

Snacks: (rotates)
Granola Bar/Cheese, Yogurt/Almonds and Fruit Leather

Lunch/Dinner (whatever we have for dinner, we have for lunch the next day)
Friday- we went out to eat
Saturday-Chicken Patties (from Costco) with Chips and Fruit
Sunday-BBQ Beef Sandwich(recipe) and Rice Casserole (recipe)
Monday-Pita Cheeseburgers (from Costco) with Chips and Fruit
Tuesday-Crock Pot Chicken (recipe)
Wednesday-Deli Sandwiches with Chips and Fruit
Thursday-Chicken patties(from Costco) with steamed veggies
Friday- Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pesto Sauce and Veggies (from Costco)
Saturday-Chicken Pot Pies(from Costco) for the in laws, Chad and I went out with my family
Sunday- Crock Pot Pizza (recipe)

This month I am trying to get the menu planning and menu posts lined up with my new monday schedule, which is why this post has a bit more days than normal.  After next week my menus will be starting on Monday too... so I am slowly getting there.

Menu Plan 11/14-11/20

Here is the Burke Family Menu for this week:

Breakfast: (rotates)
-Waffles/Sausage, Breakfast Sandwiches, Muffins

Snacks (rotates)
Granola Bar/Applesauce, Yogurt/Almonds and Fruit Leather

Lunch/Dinner(whatever we have for dinner, we have for lunch the next day)
Monday-Quinoa Burger (recipe), Veggie Chips, Fruit
Tuesday- Pita Cheeseburgers (from Costco), Chips, Fruit
Wednesday- Sante Fe Chicken (recipe)
Thursday- Chicken Patties (from Costco), Rice Casserole (recipe)
Friday- Frozen Pizza and Veggies
Saturday- Deli Sandwiches, Chips, Squash Bites
Sunday- Baked Potato Soup (recipe)

Usually I only have 3 dishes that I make throughout the week, but this week we have 4... however, all but the Quinoa Burgers are Crock Pot Meals (which are my favorite type).  You can look for these recipes to be posted later in the week after the dish is cooked.

I have decided to start posting my menus on a site that does a linky for menus.  If you need more menu ideas, head over there and check out the site.

*This menu has been linked to: Meal Plan Monday

Menu Planning

Today, over on my other blog, I explained our menu planning and grocery list.  If interested you can read the entry here.... It might give you a better idea of how our menu is created as well as maybe some ideas you could implement for your own menu planning.

Crescent Wrapped Brie

If this doesn't look amazing to you... just trust me it is.  This is a recipe from my wonderful mother.  Her and I have been making this for many many years.  Very Simple to make too.

Ingredients:
A Round of Brie
A package of Crescent (think Pillsbury)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a cookie sheet or pie plate with cooking spray.  Lay out your 8 crescents in a star pattern, with points facing out.  Make sure some are overlapping so there is no empty hole in the middle.  If you don't like the taste of brie rind (i don't) scrape it off with a knife.  Then place the brie on top of the rolls, in the middle.  Next, fold the points over on top of the brie.  Maneuver them so your brie is mostly covered.  Bake for 15 mins or until crescents are golden brown.  Enjoy.

In the above picture I cut the round in half so the cheese would ooze out.  This is my favorite way to eat Brie.  And I can never finish it in one sitting.  Best to share with a friend.

Sweet Hot Bean Dip

Recipe from here

Ingredients:
1 (8oz) block of cream cheese, softened
1 (15.5oz) can of bushes chili starter beans
1 jar of salsa (8.5 oz)
1-1.5 cups grated cheese of choice

preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray.  Spread cream cheese evenly over bottom of the dish.  next using the lid of the can, drain the liquid from the beans (do not rinse) and evenly spread on top of cream cheese.  Pour salsa on top of the beans (using enough to cover them).  Bake for 30 mins. or until edges begin to bubble.  Remove from oven.  Add the shredded cheese (enough to cover salsa) Place back in over just long enough to melt the cheese (about 5-8 mins). 

I first found this recipe on pinterest.  We doubled our recipe since we were taking it to a get together.  I also used one can of a sweet starter bean and one of a regular starter bean... I wanted to give it a different flavor.  We used our favorite mexican blend of cheese.  This was pretty good.  I think i either used too much shredded cheese or cooked it to long with the cheese, because the shredded cheese was a little firmer than i wanted and it made it hard to stick a chip in without it breaking.  We had about half leftover when we got home... it didn't last through the next day.

Crock Pot Corn Chowder

Original Recipe here

Ingredients:
6 slices bacon
2pkgs frozen corn (10 oz each)
1 can cream style corn (16 oz)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 c water
1/2 c onion, chopped
2 c potatoes, diced
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp seasoned salt
1 can chicken broth (16 oz)
1 c milk
1.4 c butter
corn starch

In skillet, fry bacon until crisp, remove and reserve.  Add onion and potatoes to bacon drippings, saute for 5 minutes.  Combine everything in Crock Pot except butter and milk.  Cover and cook on low 7 hours.  Pour 1.2 mixture into blender and puree until almost smooth.  Return to Crock Pot with milk and butter.  Cover and cook for 1 more hour.

I think this turned out good.  It was my first time ever making chowder.  We used the rest of the corn and potatoes from earlier in the week.  (the potatoes where those small finger length potatoes that come in 3 colors... which is why my picture may have more color than yours will- it was what we had).  Of course I forgot to get it started early so I had to cook mine on high for 4 hours instead of low for 7.  That may be why we had to use corn starch to help thicken it up some, because ours was still pretty creamy.  However, I liked this and will probably use it again.

Slow Cooked Texas Stew

I can't find where this recipe is from, it seems to have disappeared.

Ingredients:
2lbs beef tips, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 can mexican style stewed tomatoes (14.5oz)
1 can condensed beef brother, undiluted (10.5oz)
1 jar mild picante sauce (8oz)
10 oz frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
3 carrots, cut into 1.2 inch pieces
1 onion, cut into thin wedges
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4c all purpose flour
1/2c water

Combine first 10 ingredients in a large slow cooker. Cook, covered, on high for 3 to 4 hours or until meat is tender. Stir together flour and water. Stir into meat mixture and cook on high for 1 hour.


Simple, easy! We used stew meat instead of beef tips and baby carrots instead of regular carrots. This was amazing. Everyone loved it. It cooked all day long and just smelling it was enough to make me hungry.

Creamy Chicken with Vegetables

The original recipe is here.

Ingredients:
3-4lbs of chicken
2lbs new potatoes, cut in half
1/2lb baby carrots
1 lg onion, cut into eights
1 can chicken broth (14.5oz)
1 c sour cream
3tbsp all-purpose flour

In crock pot stir all ingredients except sour cream and flour. Cook on low 10-12 hours (high 4-6) or until chicken is tender. In small bowl stir together sour cream and flour. Stir into chicken mixture. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until thickened (5 to 6 mins). Season with salt and pepper.


Very simple and very good. We used the bone in thigh Chicken we buy in bulk at Costco. Everyone got one piece of chicken and some veggies. This was really good. Perfect meal for those yucky weather days we have been having lately

Menu 10/28-11/3

No new breakfast or snacks. Sorry, I know some of you really enjoyed the breakfast and snacks I have posted, we are just too busy right now. I have accepted the fact (and I hope you can too) that we will only be making 2 or 3 meals a week and the rest will be store bought stuff.

However... I do have two new dinner/lunch for you and it's good....

First, we did try Costco Pita Cheeseburgers this week... they are pretty good. We also had the rest of the Asparagus and Gruyere ravioli we had before. And we added Frozen Chicken Pot Pies from Marie Callendar to our repertoire... they are good as well.


Now on to the new menu item.... Creamy Chicken with Vegetables and Texas Stew!

Not only that but as an added bonus, Chad and I went to my sister in laws house on Saturday and I am sharing the two recipes we took-Crock Pot Corn Chowder and Sweet Hot Bean Dip.

And just for the fun of it I am sharing a favorite comfort food of mine.... Crescent Wrapped Brie....

And just so you know... I actually have pictures for some of these!

Menu 10/21-10/27

Nothing really to post this week either. We spent the weekend out of town for a wedding. Great wedding, beautiful. I took a bunch of pictures and can't wait till I have time to edit and upload some.

For other meals we had Breaded Chicken patties from Costco, Pizza from Costco and then Steak Fajitas and Spanish Style Quinoa (which we have made before). For the fajitas we used leftover tortillas that we had gotten a few weeks before (from Costco... I love them, gotta check the brand next time). We got some steak strips from Costco, then we sauteed some onions and pepers and put it all together and added some guacamole... Viola!