Food Archives - Page 17 of 17

Spice Up Your Pot Roast

February 23, 2013 By Lauren

I've been wanting to spice up my pot roast for a while now. I make a pot roast at least twice a month -- it is easy, tasty and my family loves it. I like to make it in the slow cooker, since all I have to do is throw the ingredients in, turn on the slow cooker, and I have a delicious meal ready for my family a few hours later! But, I've been a bit disappointed with how bland my pot roasts have been. My husband tends to like spicer foods, and following in their daddy's shoes, my kids tend to like more flavorful foods, too. So, I've been looking for new pot roast recipes, but most have very Continue reading...

Pampered Chef Molten Lava Cake

February 14, 2013 By Lauren

For a Valentine's Day treat for my family, I decided to break out my new Pampered Chef Covered Baker and make a quick chocolate molten lava cake. The recipe was so easy - all I had to do was follow the directions on my chocolate cake mix (add eggs, oil and water to the cake mix and stir) and then add the cake batter to my Covered Baker. I then used about half a container of store-bought chocolate icing and placed spoonfuls of the icing on top of my cake batter. I covered my Pampered Chef covered baker, stuck it in the microwave, and microwaved it for 10 Continue reading...

Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

February 10, 2013 By Lauren

Today has been a great day so far. One of my daughters just loves the snow, so I promised her last night that I would get up early (for me, that means 9:30 a.m. on a Sunday) and take her to the big pile of snow that the snow plows left in the middle of our street. She's been sledding and climbing on it all day. Luckily, my husband is watching her outside now, so I can have some hot soup and warm up! Before I took my daughter outside, I started a simple crock-pot dinner that my family just loves! All I did was take 2 pounds of baby back pork ribs and place them in my large slow cooker. I Continue reading...

What I Am Reading This Week

February 6, 2013 By Lauren

Reading magazines used to be a hobby, but now, reading all the fantastic mom blogs out there is my new obsession! These are some favorite posts that I came across this week. I just LOVE Mexican food, so I was happy to find this Cheesy Chicken Taquitos recipe from How to Nest for Less: I love this post on organizing a daughter's closet. I've been trying to figure out how to organize one daughter's hair accessories, and One Creative Housewife has some really smart ideas! My kids love fortune cookies, so if I could manage to make these fortune cookies (with free printables) Continue reading...

Mrs. Smith’s Signature Deep Dish Pies

January 27, 2013 By Lauren

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Mrs. Smith's for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine. My family has been a fan of Mrs. Smith's pies for a long time. My kids love the Classic Apple Pie, while my husband particularly likes Mrs. Smith's Dutch Apple Pies. What I love about the pies is that I can pop them in the oven, and within minutes, I have a deliciously warm pie that I can serve to my family. I recently learned about Mrs. Smith's Signature Deep Dish pies, and I am excited to try them! What I like about these pies are that they are deep dish, meaning each Continue reading...

Delicious Christmas Cookie Recipes

December 7, 2012 By Lauren

I will be going to a Christmas cookie exchange in about two weeks, and will need to bring about 5 dozen cookies to share with neighbors and friends. So, I’ve been looking around Pinterest for some good Christmas cookie recipes. It’s always fun to find new cookies to bring to the party – which a great neighbor of mine throws every year! (Thanks, Roberta!) Now is a perfect time to bake – it’s a wonderful way to get in the spirit of the holiday season, and homemade cookies make for some sweet gifts! These are a few of my favorite Pinterest cookie Continue reading...

My New Pampered Chef Bar Pan

December 3, 2012 By Lauren

As I mentioned a while back, I had a Pampered Chef party recently. It was wonderful having some friends over for the party, and now I have been having fun trying out my new products. Last night, I tried out my new Pampered Chef Medium Bar Pan. The pan normally retails for $25, but I got it for 60% off as a host benefit from my Pampered Chef consultant, Rose Cardone Slack. I bought the pan because I have very little to cook on in the oven. I have a few old cookie pans that I usually cover with foil when I cook meat in the oven. I figure that I can use the Pampered Chef bar pan, which is made Continue reading...

Keurig K-Cup Home Brewer — A Hot Father’s Day Gift!

November 27, 2012 By Lauren

I love my family's Keurig K-Cup Home Brewer. I originally bought the coffee maker as a gift to give to my husband for Christmas, but my kids convinced me to give the brewer to him right away, since he often drinks coffee on the way to work in the morning. If the man in your life doesn't have a K Cup home brewer, it would make a perfect Father's Day gift! The brewer has become a family favorite. My kids love it, because now they can make their own hot drinks on their own, instead of asking me to heat up some hot apple cider, hot chocolate, etc., in the microwave. I keep large mugs in a great Continue reading...

Pampered Chef-Style Chicken Fajita Dinner

November 20, 2012 By Lauren

I had a Pampered Chef party at my home last Friday, and it was a lot of fun. For the party, a Pampered Chef consultant came over and demonstrated the Pampered Chef's cooking tools and products. For my guests, she made a great chicken fajita recipe in my kitchen’s microwave in only 14 minutes. She used the Pampered Chef deep covered baker to make the dinner recipe. I was quite impressed – the Pampered Chef covered stoneware casserole dish that she used made the chicken nice and juicy – not rubbery, like one would expect from the microwave. I immediately wanted to order the Pampered Chef deep Continue reading...

Organization Spree: The Kitchen

October 19, 2012 By Lauren

I've been on an organizing kick lately. This year, I've blogged frequently about how I'd like to create a fun, but clean basement playroom for my kids. (Check out my posts on my plans for fixing up our unfinished basement on the cheap). My kids currently have a play space in our unfinished basement, but the toys are stored in open storage, which makes the basement playroom space look messy. Plus, since the basement is unfinished, the only color in the space (besides the toys) is the drab gray of the basement floors and walls. I like what the folks at mom blog, My Blessed Home, did for Continue reading...

Freezer and Pantry Meals

October 16, 2012 By Lauren

One night last week after getting home late from an evening full of my kids' after-school activities, we found that I didn't really have anything to prepare for our family's dinner in the fridge. My kids didn't want to go to the grocery store, so instead of getting calorie-laden (and expensive) take-out food, I decided to prepare our family's meals from what I could find in our pantry. My husband and I had frozen French bread pizzas, and my daughters had boxed mac 'n cheese, one of their all-time favorite meals. To get a little green element in there, I opened up a can of peas. Our Continue reading...

What’s for Lunch: Deviled Eggs and Pasta Salad

September 7, 2012 By Lauren

Now that the school year is here, I am hoping to better manage my kids' nutrition by making lunch for my daughters most school days. In the past, I used to let them buy lunch, since they liked their school's lunches. But, it turns out that this year, my daughters would rather bring in their own lunches, so I am happy! It seems that the appeal of the school's lunches have worn off for my daughters. They also don't like the long lines they have to stand in to purchase a lunch. When I pack a lunch for them, they get to choose their seat in the lunchroom earlier, and get started on their Continue reading...

Party Food!

May 21, 2012 By Lauren

I am hoping to host a family party in a few weeks, and as I am not the best of cooks, I’ve been on the search for tasty (but easy) recipes that I can serve. I’ve had a lot of luck with Pinterest, and think that through the online site, I’ve found a few recipes that might work for my next shindig. South of the Border Fare I found a great recipe for a cheesy enchilada casserole. The casserole looks easy enough for even me to pull off and it looks like something I could possibly freeze later if there is some casserole left after the guests have moved on from the entrees to the Continue reading...

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

April 19, 2012 By Lauren

Every Thursday, mom blogs Centraljerseyworkingmoms and the Harried Mom host Thursday Crock Pot Buddies. In the recipe series, the moms try out a new crock pot recipe each week. I was chatting with CC Fowler of Centraljerseyworkingmoms the other day about the cooking fest, and decided to join in the fun. I decided to make my life easier for myself Monday, and so I made a slow cooker supper of Sloppy Joes that afternoon. The recipe was quick and easy to put together and the meal came out tasty! This is the recipe, which I adapted from Dawn J. Ranck’s and Phyllis Pellman Good’s Fit-It and Continue reading...

Is It Time to Toss the Condiments in Your Fridge?

April 12, 2012 By Lauren

Open the door to my home’s refrigerator, and one usually find bottles and bottles of ketchup, salad dressing and other condiments on the door’s shelves. Even worse, the bottom drawer of my fridge tends to accumulate those sauce packets that are free when we go to Taco Bell, McDonald’s and the local Chinese restaurant. Which got me to wondering: How long do condiments last? What is the shelf life of things like ketchup and salad dressings? I did some research, and found out that things like cocktail sauce, salad dressing and mustard last a lot less longer than I thought they did. Website Continue reading...

Cheese Herb Bread (1 lb loaf)

April 5, 2012 By Lauren

Recipes for 1 lb-loaf bread machines, like for my Zojirushi 1-Pound-Loaf Programmable Mini Breadmaker, can be hard to find (most recipe books include recipes for 2 lb or larger loaves), so when one comes across a tasty recipe for a 1 lb. loaf, you stick with it! I have made this recipe, which I've adapted from the Bread Machine Magic cookbook, several times, and my kids love it. It is simple to put the recipe together, and the bread comes out soft and delicious consistently. It tastes great with a little flavored olive oil (you can add some dried oregano and basil to the oil) drizzled on Continue reading...