a crock pot is a girl's best friend.....

 

Lately, I've been drawn to make-ahead freezer meals and crock pot recipes. It may have something to do with the fact that the b&b season will be starting soon and that means I'll be back to work, 7 days a week for the next 6 months.  While I love my job, I don't like trying to fit dinner into such a hectic schedule. I know how fortunate I am to be a SAHM the other 6 months and I take full advantage of that time, as far as keeping our home running a little smoother, including more time to prepare dinner every evening. Summer is an entirely different story. We do lots of grilling, but I'd like to use the crock pot more often as well. I've seen lots of recipes I'd like to try including two that I made this week. One of them came from Pinterest and the other from a crock pot cookbook I bought a few years ago. I'll include both at the bottom of this post. I've also pinned a few sites that explain make-ahead freezer meals. Check out this link to find out more. I hope to give that a try over the summer, I think it could make cooking much easier. Wouldn't it be great to just pull a pre-assembled meal out of the freezer, throw it in the crock pot, and smell dinner that evening when you walk in the door. It's sounding better all the time!
Whenever I finally pull out the crock pot, I wonder why I don't use it more often. I tried a recipe for Crock pot Italian Chicken on Thursday and it not only smelled amazing while it was cooking, but it tasted amazing as well. I served it over penne pasta.....it was a huge hit with our family.

Crock pot Italian Chicken:
4 chicken breasts
1 packet Zesty Italian dressing seasoning
1-8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
Cook for 4 hours. Serve over pasta. 

copied from pinterest

Yesterday, I made Ranch-Style Roast and it was delicious as well. Here's the recipe:

2-1/2 to 3 lb. roast
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup beef broth
1 pkg. ranch dressing mix
1 large onion-sliced
1 pkg. mushrooms
Put roast in slow cooker.Mix together soup, broth, and dressing mix and pour over roast. Add onion and mushrooms on top. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high, or until tender.

I have a feeling the crock pot and I will be seeing lots more of each other over the next few months!