Kristin and I both thought it would be a good idea to dabble into the world of a food blog. We make SO much food, most of it from scratch, and spend a lot of time crafting and looking for some awesome recipes. This is the kick-off blog to a chain of posts that I’ve been meaning to make over the past month or so. Kristin is out of town for the week, so I likely won’t have any new ones while she is away…but until she returns and we continue cooking, check out some of the recipes we’ve tried in August. :)

 

 

If you are looking for a meal that will be done in 15 minutes, this is not the place to look.  But if you are looking for something super easy and not time consuming, read on!

It may sound like a contradiction, but welcome to the world of slow roasting and crockpots!  My favorite cooking appliance, hands down, is the crockpot.  I love the idea of throwing everything in the pot and coming back 8 hours later to a perfectly cooked meal.  It is great on those busy days, when you know you aren’t going to have enough time to make anything decent, and even better when having guests, as it removes any stress or time commitment.  This entire meal was so low maintenance.  The majority of the time I spent just leaving things alone to heat up.  It turns out roasting is a similar except that you should probably actually be in the building when the oven is on.

Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

I was inspired for the whole thing by watching Ina Garten roast tomatoes to make a caprese salad on the Food Network.  Considering we had grape tomatoes (Food Lion sale a few weeks back, 2.28 a pint, these are the same tomatoes I’d used on the pesto pizza) that were about to go bad, I’d been looking for a creative way to use them and this seemed like the perfect solution.  I used the advice of this webpage to modify Ina’s recipe for grape tomatoes.

Basically I just threw on some McCormick Italian seasoning, salt and pepper onto sliced tomatoes before roasting them in the oven for a few hours at a low temperature. Then I cut up the mozzarella and put it on a plate with the tomatoes in a fancy arrangement (relatively easy, just make sure the cheese and tomatoes are the same size).  I also sprinkled some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top, with a few basil leaves sprinkled throughout. Super easy.

The roasting turned out beautifully.  I’m not a huge raw tomato fan, but this must be the most delicious single bite possible from a vegetable (or is it a fruit?!).  The flavors are concentrated from the roasting and they are juicy, without the typical wateriness of raw tomatoes.  Because the garlic was not minced, it is pleasantly flavorful but not overwhelming.   The only improvement for next time is I will make sure to get higher quality mozzarella.  Generic store brand is NOT where it’s at.  And my basil plant would be healthier and bigger so I can add more basil leaves.

Crockpot Pesto Alfredo Chicken

Trying to figure out what to do for the entree was a little trickier.  I couldn’t really find a recipe I liked so I basically made my own with just these ingredients:

I thought about adding broccoli to the crockpot (that’s why it is in the picture), but decided last minute I wasn’t really in the mood for broccoli.  Nonetheless, it would be a pretty delicious customization, just need to add it to the crockpot frozen about 30 minutes before serving. Broccoli and alfredo are like peas and carrots!

Crockpot Pesto Alfredo Chicken Recipe

2 Tbs olive oil
6 chicken breast halves
16 oz jar Ragu alfredo with garlic sauce
¾ cup pesto (I used homemade and it had a little too much garlic, so I didn’t add any extra garlic)
½ red onion, chopped
Fresh basil, optional
1 peeled garlic clove, optional
Italian dried herbs, optional
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in pan and let chicken cook on each side for about 5 minutes until the edges are no longer pink.
2. Throw all ingredients into crockpot for 6-8 hours on low.
3. 30 minutes before serving add any dried herbs you wish.
4. Enjoy! Serves 6

There are three main tips for crockpot cooking flavor.

1. Searing meat ahead of time will make it much more flavorful and juicy.
2. Only add fresh and whole herbs at the beginning of cooking (bay leaves, minced garlic or garlic cloves, fresh basil, pepper corns).  It doesn’t matter what the recipe says.  The flavor will cook off if you add dried herbs too early.  Add the dried seasonings about 30 minutes before turning off the heat and replace lid.
3. Do NOT keep opening the lid to check on it.  I know its super tempting, especially when the lid starts to steam up, so if you must, add another 20-30 minutes to cooking time for each time you open it.

I expected the sauce to stay as thick as the alfredo sauce in the jar.  The chicken released some of its juices and watered down the sauce quite a bit.  Next time I will add some freshly grated parmesan to thicken it up, I think.  However, Justin said it was perfectly thick and would have been good sauce for noodles after I shared my doubts.  I’l  definitely do that next time.

Also, finally learned how to cut an onion without crying.  Check out this video.  It worked for me!

 Strawberry and Feta Romaine Salad

I had been needing to use up the strawberries in the fridge before they went bad.  We stocked up during an amazing weekend sale at Food Lion for 3 pounds of strawberries for $5.  Gotta love summer! So I made a strawberry and feta romaine salad with this strawberry vinaigrette.  I used the strawberry jam we made fresh from a few weeks ago.  It tasted great and was super easy.  Just mix and shake! The whole salad may have taken me 10 minutes, tops. I fact, we might have to make more strawberry jam with the rest of the leftover strawberries in order to make more vinaigrette!

This entire meal was such a hit!  It looked like it was tons of work, but mostly I just left it and forgot about it.  And it was so delicious, we both loved all of it. :)