Cilantro Potato Salad

Summer time is coming, which means BBQ, cook outs and spending time outside. Here's a new potato recipe to try. I'm not one for potato salad, actually I don't really like potatoes typically at all but this potato salad was amazing. Not to mention they were fresh grown potatoes picked straight from our backyard yesterday morning. Actually all of the ingredients (except the mayonnaise) were from our backyard garden, even the garlic & green onions was from our backyard.

Cilantro Potato Salad
1 1/2 Tbsp mayonnaise
3/4 cup cilantro leaves chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
2 lbs small new potatoes, cooked
1/3 cup finely chopped green onion

In a bowl stir together mayonnaise, cilantro, green onion, garlic & salt. Add potatoes and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

Crock Pot Lasagna

I was hesitant about this one, would the noodles get soggy? Would it taste like a good lasagna, cause I love a good lasagna. I was pleasantly surprised! I made a homemade sauce but you can always use a jar of your own favorite sauce.

Crock Pot Lasagna

1 26oz box/can strained tomatoes (we're a huge fan of Pomi)
chopped onion
2 tsp garlic
1 lb ground beef
1/3 cup basil
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup parmesean
15 oz container ricotta cheese
2 cups mozzarella
1 whole egg
lasagna noodles, uncooked

In large skillet ground beef and onion, add garlic.
Pour in strained tomatoes (or jar of sauce). I wanted a bolognese type sauce so this is where I added the heavy whipping cream (can be omitted) 1/4 cup parmesan, and 1/4 cup basil. Let simmer for 5 minutes
Mix ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 1/4 cup parmesan, egg and remaining basil.
Spray crock pot with non stick spray
Pour in 1 cup of sauce, place noodles on top (break into pieces to make fit if necessary), layer cheese. Continue until last layer is sauce.
Cook on low for 3-4 hours (depends on temperature of your crock pot, mine was done at 3 1/2, then I turned on to warm.
Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and let cook an additional 10 minutes until melted.
Serve

Crock Pot Ham Bone Soup

The question of what to do with leftover ham bone, there is so much good flavor and meat leftover on that bone you don't want any of it to go to waste. After Easter dinner, I started trying to come up with the perfect recipe for the ham bone. Seeing how much I love my crock pot it all just made sense to put together a soup that included the ham bone. Looking at our bone we assumed we'd eaten just about all the meat, boy were we wrong. After sitting in the crock pot for 7 hours we were shocked to see how much meat we still had.

Crock Pot Ham Bone Soup
1 ham bone with some leftover meat (ours was frozen)
1 onion diced
1 can crushed/diced tomatoes
1 can beans, drained & rinsed (we used great northern bean, kidney will be good to)
3 potatoes, cubed
1 bell pepper (we used yellow)
4 carrots chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 tsp garlic

Put all ingredients in crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours.
The ham bone itself has so much flavor there is no need to add any additional spices.

Crock Pot Fajitas

This was probably one of the easiest/quickest recipes I've thrown together. Just 4 ingredients and you're done.

Crock Pot Fajitas
1 lb flank steak cut into strips (you could use any meat you want for this recipe)
2 bell peppers sliced
1 onion sliced
1/2 a jar salsa (what ever is you're favorite, I use a salsa verde from Trader Joes)

That's it, place all in crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours.
We served with tortillas, guacamole, cilantro, cheese and more green sauce.
Enjoy!!!

Crock Pot Zuppa Toscana

Crock Pot Zuppa Toscana
1 lb Italian Sausage
1/2 lb bacon chopped
chopped potatoes (I added 4 medium sized potatoes)
2 cups chicken both
4 cups water
1 medium onion chopped
2 tsp garlic
1 cup kale
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Chop sausage into bite sized pieces and brown sausage in skillet and add to crock pot
Brown bacon until crisp, drain and add to crock pot
Place water, broth, potatoes, onion and garlic into crock pot
Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours, until potatoes are tender
Add kale and whipping cream and stir to combine, cook on low an additional 30 minutes
***recipe called for 1lb bacon cooked in skillet and added to crock pot, personally although I LOVE bacon I didn't think the recipe "needed a full lb", so I cut it to 1/2 lb.

Crock Pot Chinese Beef Strips with Snow Peas

I'm always looking for things to change up our weekly dinners, and I really like to utilize the crock pot as it gives daddy time to play with the kiddos or for all of us to go for a walk/bike ride after daddy gets home from work.  Seeing that daddy is usually the "cook" in the house (he really enjoys it, is really good at it and by the time he gets home I just need 10 minutes to myself), the days I crock pot are a break for him too. So I venture onto new recipes every once in a while, this week I found 4 to try. Last night we tried the first of the 4 and it was good. Here's the recipe:

Crock Pot Chinese Beef Strips w/ Snow Peas
1 lb flank steak (sliced into strips)
2 cups beef broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp garlic
1 bunch green onions
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 can bamboo shoots, drained
1/2 cup snow peas

Combine steak, beef broth, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and 2 chopped green onions in crock pot.
Cook on low for 5-7 hours
Turn to high. Dissolve 2 Tbsp cornstarch with the 2 Tbsp cold water. Stir into crock pot and mix well
Cook on high for 15 minutes or until thickened
During last 7 minutes (I like my snow peas still crunchy) add water chestnuts, bamboo and snow peas.
Serve over white rice.