Cooking Adventure

Over a year ago, Steve and I got married and we received an awesome gift called: The Crock Pot.

Now our kitchen isn't finished. We have a card table for a cooking area, which also is home to our toaster oven and knife set. So cooking in our kitchen for the past year has been interesting. We have had tons of grilled cheese/mac & cheese nights. Also we grill out a ton. Steve has even perfected some of the grilling dinners we have. Plus when we grill, that means STEVE cooks. I love that. Ha-ha-ha. 

Ok... back to the crock pot.

So trying to figure out new meals to try for dinner always includes finding recipes that have few ingredients.  So I found this gem (which probably isn't that big of gem to foodies, but since we think grilled cheese and mac & cheese is great - this is huge) Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken. YUM!

So I went into our basement storage... found awesome kitchen gifts from our wedding, and the crock pot. Then went to the store to get some items, came home and mixed indigents together, and set that puppy on low for 4 1/2 hours.
*side funny note* I am NOT a cook, at all. I try. I fail... a lot!!  I fail so much at this part of being a house wife that I went to the store to get BBQ sauce that was ON SALE for a dollar, because if this meal went wrong I would be upset that I wasted a good bottle of sweet baby rays. HA! Oh and I picked up crock-pot liners - best idea e-v-e-r!! My clean up was a simple: take the liner out of the pot and toss in the garbage... easy peasy! Down side to the crock pot liners - only 4 come in a pack- ugh.

So when Steve got home from work his first words were, 'what's for dinner, it smells good'. (SCORE - things are looking on the bright side for me!)  Then we sat down and as I was taking the chicken out of the pot... it was almost falling a part. (UGH, what did I do wrong this time!?) Oh fear not, it was just because it was sooo juicy and tender. Steve took his first bite and BAM.... 'wow babe, add this one to the list!'

*hallelujah - I'm using Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce next time!*

xox m.

PS- Please feel free to share any awesome recipes you have, including or excluding the crock pot. Because as you can see... we now have 2 staples, umm... make that 3 (can't forget taco night).

Chicken Parm Round 2

Remember when I posted about "Cooking with the Bach's"? Well I forgot to mention something about the Chicken Parmesan Bundles. We didn't like the spinach that I put in there. We actually only ate the outside of the chicken and that's about it, sad. So I tried for round two the other night and used broccoli, and it was a winner! Steve said to put it on the 'make again' list. WOO HOO!!

Want to see a meal that was on the 'never make again' list??

Cheeseburger Bacon Mac.

This tasted a lot like hamburger helper but was a big pain to make. AND it was so bland and just... just... gross. This could be due to the fact that I forgot to thaw out the bacon so we tried using Bacon Bits (Highly recommend to NEVER use - sick) and so it just didn't turn out. However, I'm so glad, I am blessed, to have a husband who will try anything with me!

Here was another meal we made.... we liked it. BBQ Chicken something or other... It got a little burnt but it was still good, and Steve loves anything with the sound of BBQ (or BACON!).

On the savings note... I'm keeping it up!

We are trying to stay at $200 a month for groceries (including toiletries etc). Mom said I was crazy but all the best to us... ha-ha.

We shop at Meijer but once in a while if I see a GREAT deal I'll head to Walmart or Walgreens, and I've also been to Dominicks once before. So far the BEST deal I got was the other day at Walgreens. The shelf cost (total cost without coupons) was $26.88 and I paid OOP (Out of Pocket) $1.40 plus I got $7.00 back on my next purchase. That means I made $5.60 to go shopping and bring home two Schick 5 razors and blades (for Steve), 2 tubes of toothpaste (we were getting low), some chapstick and wheat thins. Not a TON of stuff, but I needed toothpaste so it was worth going to Walgreens to shop to get paid $5+ bucks! Go us! And if you are interested in how I'm doing this or want to join in on the savings, let me know! I would love to share the savings! :)

With pinchin' the pennies our kitchen remodel, basement and laundry room remodel will come along quicker than expected. Then you know what?? Time for savings for babies! :)


For those of you who don't know already, I have the BABY ITCH real bad. Steve has it once in a while, more often than not, but we just want to wait a little bit and enjoy each other and our time together as just us. But it's ok to look at baby clothes, books, items for a soon to be nursery??? Right? Ha! All in God's perfect timing though.

Back to house things...

If anyone is in need of paint, the Ace Hardware in McHenry is having a rebate on BenMoore paint. Buy a gallon (for $5) get $5.00 back in rebates! That's FREE paint!! There is a limit of 4 gallons, but it looks to me like a GREAT time to go get paint for our guest bathroom, master bedroom and bathroom. If Steve goes with, we could get 4 more gallons! Anyone want to have a painting party? Just kidding....

Everyone have an awesome day!

xo m.

p.s. Has anyone used the website Restaurant.com ? It's a site where you can purchase gift certificates to local restaurant in your area for a cheaper price. There are rules like... buy $25 and have to spend $50 and only valid on Sun-Thursday.... 18% gratuity added....

Well the other day they had a sale for 90% off! So I checked out the restaurants in my area and I bought a $10.00 gift certificate to the Rib House in CL for only $.40. Steve and I thought we could have a date night and get ribs for super cheap?? (There goes our date night budget! - ha ha). But we shall see if the $0.40 purchase was worth it or not.....