VALENTINE'S DAY CRAFT FAIL

I have been preparing a post about this awesome Valentine's craft  that I am making with the girls. We are making heart shaped rainbow crayons to give out to their friends.

I made a BIG mistake. I bought ice trays because that is all I could find and was hoping that they would hold up in the microwave.

They did not:

The tray melted!!

Yeah, that didn't turn out so well!!

Yummy Beef Tips update

Tonight I tried the beef tip recipe in my crock pot. If you did not see the original recipe post please click HERE.
I put all of the ingredients in the crock pot EXCEPT the broccoli. I didn't want it to be too overcooked. I added a few layers of paper towels under the lid to catch the excess moisture. Then I cooked it on low for 8 hours, adding the broccoli at the 6 hour mark.

A few observations:

• Ten hours would have been better. The meat was not as tender as when I made it in the oven. It was still delicious, though.
• I was home to change the paper towels a few times. There is a LOT of moisture. Make sure to put lots of layers under the lid, especially if you will be out for the day. 
• The broccoli should probably only be in for one hour. It was fine, but a bit overdone for my taste. 
• I used Campbell's cream of mushroom this time instead of the organic brand I used originally and there is a difference. It was still very yummy, but not as irresistible as the first time. 
• This time I served it over egg noodles. It wasn't bad, but I prefer it over rice. It felt like fancy Hamburger Helper over the noodles.

Verdict:

It is still a great meal and a nice option if you want something that can be left cooking for 10 hours, but for the best effect you want to cook it in the oven as originally intended. 

Recipe Review: Yummy Beef Tips

I hit the jackpot on this one! I have to say that this is THE best recipe I have found online and I will be making this over and over and OVER!!!

My Pinterest "Noms" board is full of recipes I would like to try, but most are a bit more complicated and I have been putting them off. And if you have been reading this blog you know that they don't always turn out so great. (See Crock Pot Lasagna)

This recipe comes from Mommy's Kitchen and she has a lot of what appear to be great recipes. This one seems to be her most popular so I am not overly surprised that it is so delicious. I am a bit surprised that I managed to pull it off so well, however.

First of all, as I have mentioned,  I don't always do things by the book. This was no exception. In fact, I messed up a few things and now I have basically invented an entirely different recipe. I still want to promote the Mommy's Kitchen recipe, because it looks amazing, but I can't personally attest to it since I am so inept that I couldn't even follow the recipe.

• Stew meat (1 lb, but can double that with same ingredients)
• 1 pkg brown gravy mix
• 1 pkg ranch dressing mix
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used an organic soup with low sodium)
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• Broccoli
• Garlic powder and black pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp each)

• Preheat over to 300 degrees
• Place the meat, broccoli and onion evenly in casserole dish 
• Sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper
• Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl then pour on to meat and veggies

Make sure the dish is well sealed. I have a covered casserole dish, but tightly covered with foil is all you need. 

This dish will cook for 3 hours. DO NOT CHECK IT. Just leave it and in 3 hours it is tender and amazingly delicious!!

I had this over white rice, but over egg noodles or mashed potatoes would probably be just as delicious. 

Pretty much the BEST meal ever!

I plan to try this in a crock pot as well. I think on low while I am at work will do fine. And add a few paper towels under the lid to capture the extra moisture. I will let you know in comments when I give this a try. It will be cooked again soon!

PINTEREST RECIPE FAIL: CROCK POT LASAGNA

In the last 6 months I have been trying to cook more and more rather than eating out or microwaving my meals. Pinterest has been a very useful tool to this end. I have a few recipes of my own that really enjoy making, but I want to give my family more variety.

Since I work full time and have to drive an extra half hour half of my week to get the kids from daycare, I have found that crock pot meals are my best friend. So when I see a really simple recipe for the crock pot I jump at it.

I really love lasagna and the idea of making it effortlessly in a crock pot seemed too good to be true, and I was right.

Let me qualify this, however, I truly think this fail is my fault and I do not in anyway mean to disparage the original poster of this recipe. I will explain as we go.

The original recipe was pinned from a blog titled Creating through Life and can be found HERE.
It seemed so easy and looked very good.

I wish I had a photo of my finished product, but had not yet realized I would be blogging about it. 

I won't list the directions here since I have the link. What I will tell you are where I made my own adjustments. Remember how I said I rarely follow instructions?

The instructions call for putting your crock pot on low for 4 hours or suggest that if you put it on high while you get ready for your you can then put it on keep warm you can leave it for a full work day. I don't take long to get ready for work and forgot to do this "on high" part. So as I left I wasn't sure what to do. I decided to put it on low and when my boyfriend got home, 7 hours later, I had him put it on warm. I them got home 2 hours later. 

We were having his best friend over for dinner and they were already home when I arrived. We had our lasagna with Caesar salad and some bread. They were very gracious about it, but honestly, it was horrible!!!

The edges were nearly burnt, very crusty. The sauce was completely dried out. And the noodles, this part was the worst, were mushy. I had to throw half of it away. Thank goodness we had a lot of Italian bread. 

So, I ask you to PLEASE, go to the link about and try this recipe. Try is EXACTLY as directed. Then please let me know in comments how it was. I am sure this is a lovely recipe and, as usual, it was my own domestic failings that ruined this one.