Crock Pot Turkey Meatballs

Ugh.  Our laptop exploded.  Therefore, until we get a new laptop, there will be no pictures on CaraCakes.

Anyway, I promised some seriously awesome recipes this week, so let's get to it.

Who doesn't love meatballs?  Okay, vegetarians.  Vegetarian friends, try this with veggie crumble or ground tofu.  And double your seasonings. 

Crock Pot Meatballs

You'll need:

• 1lb ground turkey (I get the butcher to give me a mix of 85/95- otherwise it'll be too dry if you use all white turkey.)
• 2 cups pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken/beef/veg stock
• 2 bulbs garlic, crushed
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup romano
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• Dash of salt and pepper
• 1tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, combine your meat, egg, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, romano, parmesan, and breadcrumbs.  Squish all of the ingredients together with your hands.
• Form the meat mixture into balls (try to make them the same size).  If it feels to dry, add a bit of water to make it easier to mold.
• Turn the crock pot on low heat.
• Pour the pasta sauce and broth into the crock pot.
• Add the crushed garlic.  (you can add extra if you're a huge garlic lover.)
• Add the meatballs.
• This is a great meal to start in the morning, as it will be ready by dinner!
• Serve with pasta, on a roll, or on their own!

*This is another easy to freeze dinner.  You can freeze them with or without sauce.
*Tip- If you like crispy meatballs (we really do!) bake them for about ten minutes on a greased baking sheet at 400-degrees before you put them in the crock pot.

Enjoy!!

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love fall.  Maybe it's because Kyle finally stops looking at me strangely for eating a lot of soup (he deems soup to be a seasonal food, while I can eat it all the time, any time), or maybe it's because the air gets a little more crisp, and the clothing tends to be just a little more comfy.

One of my favorite things about fall is the food.  Pumpkins, hearty meats, sweet potatoes, gravy, baked apples.  I could go on for longer than this post would allow!  But the best thing, the single best foodie thing for anyone that wants to come home to a delicious, flavorful, healthy meal at the end of a hard day, is almost always made with a crockpot.

Now I know that there are two types of people when it comes to the crock pot.  The one type is the kind that values and loves their crockpot almost as much as their dog.  A good one is hard to find and trust me, you don't want to get rid of it.  (I had my old crockpot for ten years, and still used it when it had a small crack in it until Kyle finally made me get a new one.  I still stand by the fact that it was the best crock pot ever and none have ever cooked so evenly since. *sigh*)

The other type of person thinks that cooking with a crockpot isn't really cooking.  I am dedicating my week to crock pot recipes.  And these aren't your grandma's recipes man  (unless she's a super awesome, savvy cook like my grandma.  If so, rock on with her recipes!)  I challenge you to try each of these recipes, and tell me if they don't knock your socks off.

Let's get crockin'

I'll start you off easy with some crock pot barbecue chicken.

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

You'll need:

• 6 oz BBQ sauce
• 4 large chicken breasts or 8 boneless chicken thighs (you can do bone in- I just like to go for the quickest, easiest type to serve/eat/cook)
• 1 cup water

Add all of the ingredients to the crock pot.  Cook on low.  I usually start this in the morning, and serve it for dinner.  It's one of those meals that tastes better with time, so if you want to make extra so you have leftovers, do it!

*This is a GREAT meal to freeze.  I bought individual serving containers and froze the chicken so that Kyle could bring them to work for lunch.

*You have the option to cook this on low and then serve it as is.  Personally, I enjoy my BBQ chicken better pulled.  When the chicken is done, just get two forks and gently pull at the bbq chicken.  It will be so tender, it should just fall apart on the fork.  Delicious!!

Fast Food My Way!

I have blood sugar issues.  I think it may be from years of working too many jobs at weird hours.  There have been times where I forgot to eat and didn't realize it until I was at a red light and was absolutely convinced that my car was going in reverse.  Yeah, my car was definitely not moving.  It was my blood sugar going into a code red.

When Kyle and I started dating, okay literally, the day we went on our first date, I gave him fair warning that I eat every three hours.  If I don't, there are different degrees of of my grumpiness.  Since then, he's actively tried to avoid the hungry, red eyed version of Cara that I become when I go too long without so much as a peanut.

I think the worst part is that my cravings are so acute that I won't just settle for whatever is being offered to me to eat, unless I'm on the verge of passing out.  Then, I'll happily scarf down your stale bag of smoked almonds that you found in the bottom of your gym bag.  Yum.  Sweaty tasting salty almonds.  Delish.

So why is this chic informing us of her blood sugar issues, you might ask?  Well, I encountered them big-time the day while I was stocking up on "supplies" to get us through the weekend.

Colleen, who has not known me a super long time (I think we're going on a month or so now?), gave me the look at the grocery store that indicated that I was slurring and not making any sense.  I said "what?" to which she replied, maybe we should get you a candy bar?

I grumpily trudged through the rest of our shopping, got us home safely, and started searching the pantry for something to eat.  We were about to order food when I went from amber (about to lose my mind with hunger) to straight up code red.

I decided that the delivery man would take too damn long, so I whipped up mussels cooked in my super easy pasta sauce with a cup of white wine, a tablespoon or two of butter, and a clove of garlic, finely sliced.

Hungry?  Want fast food?  Doesn't get much faster than this baby.

Super Speedy Mussels for the Ridiculously Hungry:

You'll need:

• 1 lb mussels
• 1 garlic clove
• Pasta sauce
• 2 Tb butter
• Pasta
• 1 cup white wine (any that's on hand will do)

Instructions:

• Put a pot of water, well salted, to boil.
• Add pasta.
• Cook to a little less than done.
• Cover the bottom of a large pan with water.  Bring to a boil.
• Add mussels to the pan.
• Lower your heat to medium heat.
• Add the garlic and white wine to the pan.
• Put on the lid.
• Check in 1-2 minutes.
• The mussels should open after less than five minutes.
• When the mussels are all open (if there are a few that don't open, just toss them), take the mussels out of the pan. 
• Set aside.
• Use all of the liquids used to cook the mussels to cook and add the butter and pasta sauce.
• Stir all of the ingredients together.
• Allow the sauce to reduce (get thicker) for a few minutes while stirring.
• Add the pasta and mussels to the pan.  Let the pasta soak up all of that delicious sauce.

Enjoy!

This took less than ten minutes.  Seriously.  Think about how long a delivery guy takes to get to your house, or how long it would take you to run out and get something that would make you feel like you'd been hit by a truck.

Let's redefine fast food.  Eat well.  Feel well.  Try it!