Crockpot BBQ Chicken–Smashed Peas and Carrots

Note: Pictures featured in this post were not taken by me and are not mine. They came from the post that featured this recipe @ Smashed Peas and Carrots.

I came across this blog, Smashed Peas and Carrots and immediately loved it! I was browsing through the recipes on there and came across this one for Crockpot BBQ Chicken and Oven Fries. I just KNEW it was going to be delish! And, it was. My picky and not a bbq lover husband even liked it AND he told me so before I even asked 🙂 I also tried the same ingredients with country pork ribs and they were really good as well! I appreciate easy meals and you just can’t get much easier than this!

I also made the potatoes, but I don’t think I put enough salt and pepper because they were a little on the bland side. I think adding a touch of garlic salt and maybe a little rosemary would make them good as well.

🙂

The BEST Fajitas–Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Note: Pictures featured in this post were not taken by me and are not mine. They came from the post that featured this recipe @ Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

 

Last night I made these chicken fajitas from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. She’s not lyin’ when she says they are the BEST fajitas!

 

 

I actually forgot that I had to marinade them for a couple hours or so, so they only marinated about an hour or maybe a little longer. The only things I did different was omit the mushrooms and red pepper and I didn’t have onion powder, so I left it out. It only called for 1/8t so I don’t think we missed it too much. These were served with cheese and sour cream. Usually I put black olives in mine, but I was out of that too. I gave a few pieces of chicken to my 16 month old baby and she LOVED it!

These were SO flavorful and I will not make fajitas any other way again 🙂 Thanks for another winner, Melanie!

Note: Pictures featured in this post were not taken by me and are not mine. They came from the post that featured this recipe @ Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bread Bowls–Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Note: Pictures featured in this post were not taken by me and are not mine. They came from the post that featured this recipe @ Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

 

I told you there’d be more from Mel’s! I just LOVE her blog!

My husband likes Chicken Cordon Bleu alot. I like it on occasion. I ran across this recipe over at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and decided to give it a try.

Doesn’t that picture look so good? Well, I can assure you that mine didn’t turn out looking as pretty as hers, but it did taste pretty good! I tried to make Mel’s Italian Bread Bowls and that was kind of a joke. Ok, it WAS a joke. They were more like bread saucers! I’m not really sure where I went wrong with them, but they didn’t seem to rise UP as much as they spread OUT. I think my yeast was old though. The inside of the bread bowls was pretty tasty though, especially when dipped into the sauce.

I really want to try to make this again sometime and see if using fresher yeast would help my bread to rise better. There’s not much I would change about the filling part of the meal though. It was good! I did omit the broccoli though and I think if i had put it in there, my kids might have eaten it better. They liked it though, but they also love broccoli so that would have added more yum to their meal though.

Roasted Fruit with Streusel Topping–Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Note: Pictures featured in this post were not taken by me and are not mine. They came from the post that featured this recipe @ Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

Yes, another recipe from my new favorite food blog, Mel’s Kitchen Cafe! And, it won’t be the last!

Last night I decided to try this recipe for dessert. It was pretty good. My husband cleaned his bowl, which he doesn’t often do with dessert/sweet type dishes. I really think that this recipe could be pretty versatile with the fruit you choose. I used plums and nectarines, just like Mel did. The nectarines were really hard to get open and the seed out. I was surprised at how hard that was to do! The plums were easy prepare though.

The only thing I did different was add more streusel topping. Oh, that streusel topping! It is Honey Bunched of Oats (or the generic if you are like me) and melted butter! It was SO good straight out of the bowl, before adding it to the fruit and baking! That could be dangerous for me!

Next time, I make it I’m going to try it with peaches or apples and see how that turns out. The plums were a little bit sour to me after baking, so I think I’ll go a different route. Maybe I needed to add more sugar to them. The nectarines were really good though.

The vanilla ice cream served on top of this warm dish is a MUST!!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce–Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Note: Pictures featured in this post were not taken by me and are not mine. They came from the post that featured this recipe @ Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

 

We get tired of store bought spaghetti sauce, so when I saw this recipe on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, I decided to try it. I will say, it was different, but good! I don’t usually put red pepper in my sauce when I make it homemade, so I think that’s what seemed different about it to me. I also didn’t use ground beef, I used frozen meatballs (hubby likes those better than my poor ol’ falling apart meatballs!). I omitted the mushrooms as well. My husband would have loved them, but I am  not a mushroom person and can’t even stand to pick them out of something!

My sauce turned out quite dark in color and that was before adding the balsamic vinegar…I think maybe it could have been from the tomato paste and/or the beef broth. Something tasted a little bitter about it, which I’m sure was something I did wrong somewhere, but not sure what. I added a little extra sugar and a tablespoon of butter to it to help the bitterness, and that did help. I love balsamic vinegar, but had never heard of adding it to spaghetti sauce! It added a nice flavor to it though!

All in all, it was a good recipe and next time I make it, I might tweak it just a bit to suit our tastes better. I will definitely make this again!

Chicken and Vegetable Dumpling Soup–Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Note: Pictures featured in this post were not taken by me and are not mine. They came from the post that featured this recipe @ Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

I knew I had to try this as soon as I saw this picture!

This is the first recipe that I tried from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and I was not disappointed!  I’d never made drop dumplings before (in fact…the only dumplings I’ve ever made were biscuit ones!) and I was kind of surprised that they called for sour cream! They were super easy to make and really really good! My oldest daughter is very very picky and hard to please and she ate those dumplings right up!

The only thing I did different, and was really by accident, was that I cooked the broth/veggies (except peas) for a couple of hours. I thought this meal would take a long time to prepare so I started it like 2.5 hours before we were ready to eat. It was fine though because the carrots were really tender and full of flavor! I shredded the chicken and then put it in the fridge until I was ready to heat it up because I was afraid it would all fall apart in there, but it ended up being really tough.

My only complaints were that the chicken was really tough, which was my fault……we needed MORE dumplings…and the peas.Next time I make it –and there WILL be a next time!! Many next times!!!–I will leave out the peas because we don’t really care for them. And, I will make more dumplings!

It’s hard to beat Grandma’s Chicken N Dumplin’s, but this is right up there with it! Sooo good!

Thank you for the wonderful recipe, Mel! I’ve planned my next 10 meals or so around your blog!