Why, Yes! I Actually DO Cook! ... Sometimes.

Thanks to Pinterest, I've gotten [a little] more interested in cooking. If you ask my poor husband, he'll tell you I don't cook very often. But, when I do, I'm really not bad at it! My problem is that I get stuck at trying to think of what to cook... so after my brain starts to short-circuit and give off smoke from thinking too hard, I just give up and choose not to cook at all! ;)

But, like I said, with all the delicious-looking recipes on Pinterest, I've branched out and made a few new recipes. The following pictures represent just some of the dinners I made during the month of February (also throw in omelets, sandwiches, Stouffer's lasagna, etc., which aren't pictured here).

Recipe #1: Cola Pork Ribs (a crock pot recipe!), herb potatoes, and green beans. Recipe for ribs came from the 365 Days of Slow Cooking blog (click here) and the herb potato recipe came from about.com, which was the first link that came up when I googled "Herb Roasted Red Potatoes" (click here). The only thing I changed about the potato recipe was that I had to bake them a bit longer (10-15 mins) to get them soft. Green beans are from the can, but here's my secret to making them taste soo much better: Drain the can, put beans in a pot with some water, add a vegetable (or beef) bouillon cube for flavor, heat through!
So, the verdict on the cola pork chops? Delicious!! And SO tender. We will be having this again. And, why yes, I did use caffeine free Coca Cola ;) And the potatoes? Also wonderful, just what I was craving... and the cooked onions were my favorite part, which is a big shocker if you know me because I'm not usually an onion person.

Recipe #2: Hawaiian BBQ Chicken (another crock pot recipe!) from Six Sisters' Stuff blog (click here). I would highly suggest buying the exact sauce they recommend (I couldn't find anything comparable at the normal grocery store... so off to Target I went). I also recommend doing what I did, and taking time to shred up the chicken with forks about an hour(ish) before it's done cooking.
The verdict on the Hawaiian BBQ chicken? Pretty good. Both T and I agreed that it could have used just a bit more flavor from somewhere. But, overall, definitely a keeper and one we'll try again (I LOVE crock pot recipes!!).

Recipe #3: Spaghetti. Okay... so this actually isn't a special recipe. I was just in the kick of taking pictures of my meals. ;) The only thing I play with each time is the sauce. Depending on what's in my pantry, it's usually some mixture of basic canned sauce, canned diced tomatoes, ground beef (if I have any), fresh pressed garlic, chopped onion, and extra herbs to taste. The longer the sauce cooks, the better it tastes :)
Recipe #4: Roast, potatoes, green beans, and sweet carrots. Also, no recipe for this one, although I will tell you how I make the roast (super easy - and, yes, a crock pot roast!). Buy a chuck or sirloin pot roast (you pick the size, depending on how many you'd like to feed or how many leftovers you want). Sear each side of the roast on a pan on the stove and then place it in the crock pot. Pour in a packet of onion soup mix and some beef bouillon (2 large or 4-6 small cubes). Fill with water so it just barely covers the meat. Cook on high for 2-3 hours and then low for 3-4 hours. Or, if you have less time, just play with it... but the longer it cooks, the more tender and juicy and wonderful it will be!
Of course, the mashed potatoes are standard; make them to taste (I use salt, pepper, butter, sour cream, and milk). Green beans are canned, but "spruced up" as talked about above. The carrots are my mom's specialty: First, she steamed baby carrots in a saucepan with water on the stove. After they were cooked, she added syrup and brown sugar to the pan and let them simmer in that for a while. They are SO good and add a nice sweet touch to a savory meal. They could **almost** work as dessert... but if you know me, I'm still headed straight for the dark chocolate brownies after dinner ;)

Recipe #5: Greek Pastitsio Casserole. Recipe is at Mel's Kitchen Cafe (click here). Honestly, I don't even know what a Greek pastitsio is... let alone how to pronounce it. So I had no clue what to expect. It just sounded pretty good and I was feeling daring, so I went for it!

It actually turned out pretty darn good! I loved the tomatoes in it. (I'm a sucker for warm tomatoes yum!) I made mine with ground turkey for a "leaner" approach. This recipe also made quite a few leftovers, which is good for me being at home and for T to take to work. Again, we both felt like the flavor was a little more bland than we'd like. But I'm really not sure what to do to make it pop. And I will tell you one thing... it definitely wasn't from a lack of garlic. That stuff was coming out of my pores for the next 12 hours. And I didn't even put in quite as much as the recipe called for! Whew! ;)

Anyway, I hope if you try some of these meals that you'll like them too. And if you have suggestions of recipes that you've tried lately that are "must makes", PLEASE send them my way! Although, if they have tons and tons of ingredients (or weird ingredients), or if I'd have to slave away in the kitchen for more than an hour... please just keep them to yourself ;)

I like to keep it simple, but tasty! <3