Ranch Pork Chops

Again, when we went camping the other weekend I was looking for quick and easy... Quick and easy to throw together before we left for the day and quick and easy to clean up after we ate for the night! :) Hey... we were supposed to be relaxing, okay?? 3 ingredients?? Does that sound easy enough for you? It does to me... I brought those three ingredients along and we had another fantastic crock pot meal at the campground... Yay pinterest!!

Side note - lately I have been using my cream of everything mix that I found on pinterest a while back, but for the sake of "quick and easy" I just bought a can of cream of chicken to bring along... Like I said, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

Ranch Pork Chops
(recipe found on pinterest via www.livinglaughingandloving.com)

pork chops
1 envelope hidden valley ranch
1 can cream of chicken soup (or use this recipe for cream of everything mix)

Mix together hidden valley ranch and cream of chicken soup. Add up to one soup can of water depending on how long you will be cooking the pork chops in the crock pot. Dump into your crock pot and add pork chops. Give it a stir to cover pork chops and let it cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Taco Stuffed Shells

We love tacos over at our house and we loved any kind of stuffed pasta. This was one meal that I felt was sure not to disappoint... It takes a little time to do all the stuffing of the shells but once you get past that part these are such a yummy meal!! I just got all these ready during nap time and popped them in the oven before all the daycare kids left and we were ready to roll when everyone walked out the door. That works pretty well on a busy weeknight! Not to mention the fact that ALL my kids loved this meal and you know that doesn't happen every day! :)

Taco Stuffed Shells
(recipe found on pinterest via blogchef.net)

1 pound ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1 (4 ounces) cream cheese
12 large pasta shells, cooked al dente
1 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup monterey jack cheese
1 1/2 cups tortilla chips, crushed
3 greens onions, chopped
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350. Cook ground beef until brown, add taco seasoning and prepare according to package. Add cream cheese and simmer until melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Pour salsa on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Fill taco shells with meat mixture and place on top of salsa, cover with taco sauce. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and top with crushed chips and cheese. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

French Dip Sandwich

Growing up my family owned the restaurant in town for a few years... I didn't get a chance to get into the kitchen, I was busy with school, sports and all the rest but I did get to waitress there a bit to make some extra money and to help out the family... This is where I had my first french dip sandwich and it was delicious! I'm a dipping kind of girl so to have a sauce to dip a sandwich into made my day!! I haven't made my own french dip EVER so when I saw how easy this recipe was I decided the time was now... They turned out delicious and I have to say - the meat was so juicy and tender I didn't really even need the au jus... I took all the ingredients with us when we went camping and popped it in the crock pot before we left for the day. It was great to have supper ready and waiting for us when we got back from all of our adventures!

French Dip Sandwich
(recipe found on pinterest via http://www.thewhickerbasket.blogspot.com)

2-3 lb roast
2 cans beef broth
2 packages lipton onion soup mix
sub rolls, hamburger buns, whatever bread you want
cheese (I used pepperjack cause I like the kick! :)

Place roast in crock pot - I always spray my crock pot for easier clean up... Add broth and soup mix. Cook on low 7-8 hours and shred with a fork. Place beef back in crock pot to soak up all the delicious juices and open up your buns. Place meat and cheese on buns and eat away... You can use the juice left in the crock pot for au jus if you are so inclined!

Slow Cooker Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken

Wow, things have been a little hectic around here... Started daycare and school back up full time and I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off! Trying to get back into the swing of things and find a routine but that obviously didn't happen this past week! :) I am finally getting a chance to sit down and get a few recipes posted today... Papers and pictures are piling up and I have some good ones to share! :) Hope you enjoy...

I found a couple of recipes that were pretty similar and I wanted to try both of them... This is the first of the two. Definitely yummy, especially with the glaze on top! Our family enjoyed this a lot and you know that I love any recipe that I can use frozen chicken breasts with!!

Slow Cooker Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken
(recipe found at www.sixsistersstuff.com)

4-6 chicken breasts
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon lime soda
2-3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
rice or noodles, cooked

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray. Place chicken in slow cooker. Mix together remaining ingredients except cornstarch and water and pour over chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4 hours. Take chicken out of slow cooker and pour remaining sauce into saucepan. Mix together cornstarch and water, add to sauce pan and mix well. Let sauce come to a boil for 2-3 minutes or until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat and let sit for 2 minutes and allow to thicken. Serve chicken over rice or noodles and top with glaze.

Grape Kabobs

This was a new summer favorite at my house! Of course another quick treat that I saw on pinterest and just had to try... Frozen grapes were a sweet and healthy treat that I remember having a lot at a friends house while I was growing up but have never taken the time to make them. Throwing them on the kabob just makes the fun never end - hey we're easy around here... Shake it up a bit and the kids will gobble anything down! :) Seriously - I had to start buying two bags of grapes, one to freeze and one for the fridge that's how fast they were flying off the shelf!!

Grape Kabobs
(recipe found on pinterest)

grapes
skewers

Pretty self explanatory! Grab your grapes, give them a wash... skewer them on a skewer and throw them in the freezer. They have a fabulous texture that even I could not get enough of!

Sugar Crunch Popcorn aka Blue Popcorn

Right before school started I let my 3 oldest kids have a sleepover... They each got to pick a cousin to have over for the night and they had a blast playing in the woods by our house, tearing up the toy room and ultimately settling in for a movie and popcorn before bed. I thought that I would make a special treat of popcorn from a recipe that I had found and the kids went bonkers over it!! They loved that it was blue and I was asked pretty much every day after that if they could have more of the "blue popcorn".

Well, it was such a hit I thought to myself "this would make a great back to school gift for their teachers... Of course our school colors are purple and gold so I busted out 2 batches and made a little of each color. They turned out awesome, if I do say so myself! :) And the kids got to eat the leftovers... win, win! I'm sure you can come up with a fancier container then I did - I'm good in the kitchen, not so much in the craft room! LOL! :)

Sugar Crunch Popcorn
(recipe found at www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com)

1/2 cup popcorn, unpopped
salt
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon food coloring

Pop popcorn and salt to taste. Set aside in a large bowl. In a medium size pan add the remaining ingredients. Stir over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Cook for 1 minute at a rolling boil and remove from heat. Pour sugary sauce over your popcorn and cover your bowl securely. Shake until sauce covers all of the popcorn. Allow to sit for 10 minutes and then serve.

Hints: I tried to make this in a paper bag because I didn't have a big enough bowl with a cover for a double batch... This didn't work so well! The sugary sauce started seeping through the bag! :( It still turned out but I still have little blue dots all over my kitchen from when I was shaking it!! So, make sure your bowl is big enough to allow some shaking room!

Dunkaroo Dip

We took this on our camping adventure to Duluth and it was a fun little treat to have sitting around the campfire or for an afternoon snack. We all thought it was super good but you definitely can't have too much or you will go into sugar shock! :)

Dunkaroo Dip
(recipe found on pinterest via http://tastykitchen.com)

1 box funfetti cake mix
2 cups vanilla yogurt
1 1/2 cups cool whip

Mix together all ingredients and chill for an hour. Serve with animal crackers, graham crackers, nilla wafers, etc...