Roast (Pinterest)

So I am going to just be 100% honest. I am an amazing wife. But I fail in one area. COOKING. I am decent at it, I'm just not a fan. I would much rather pay to eat out. Baking is more my game. (which is funny, because 99.8% of the time I never eat what I bake)

  

But I want to have some easy meals in my back pocket, for those times that we just want a good ol' home cooked meal.

 

I love cooking with my crock pot, there is nothing better that throwing some food in, turning it on, and coming home to a house that smells delicious and the food is even better.

 

This roast was easy peasy and super duper yummy!!! This is definitely a keeper. In fact it is so good we are making it again tonight and we just tried it about 10 days ago.

 

 

Pot Roast:

2-5 lbs roast (since there are only 2 of us, we did a 1.5 lb roast)

1 envelope each: brown gravy, ranch & italian dressing (I mixed all 3 together & used 2/3 of the mix)

 

Put enough potatoes and carrots to cover the bottom of the crock pot, place roast on top. Sprinkle the 3 packets over top, add water and cook on low for 6-10 hours. Enjoy!

 

Pretzel/Chocolatey Goodness (pinterest)

 Just to warn you, these are addicting!

 

I don't know what to call them but they perfectly combine sweet and salty in one.

 

They take a bit of time to make just because you lay out pretzels, unwrap hugs and/or kisses, and then place an M&M on top when they come out of the oven.

 

 

You just lay out wax or parchment paper (I used wax), lay the pretzels down, top with the chocolate, and bake for about 5 minutes.

 

When they come out of the oven place and press an M&M on top. You WILL get chocolate on your hands, unless you have super powers.  

  The only thing that I disliked is that they took a while to set up. I just wanted to eat them.

 

I personally liked the hugs best, but they are both great. These would also be cute with the seasonal M&M's for different holidays if you are having a party or need to bring a treat.

 

Pretzel/Chocolate Goodness

Square pretzels

Kisses and or Hugs

Plain M&M's

 

On cookie sheet place a sheet of wax or parchment paper down. Lay down pretzels and top with kiss/hug. Bake on 200 for about 5 minutes, the chocolate just needs to be soft. Remove and top with M&M.

 

SIDE NOTE: I used a bag each of hugs and kisses. I would probably find a big bag next time, because I could have easily used 2 bags of each to use up all of the pretzels and M&M's. 

Mary Kay Satin Hands (Pinterest)

 All you need for this Mary Kay Satin Hands copycat is sugar, Dawn olay hand renewal and a container.

 

 

There are 4 different scents to choose from!

  

 Mix everything together and enjoy!

 

 

M. K. Satin Hands Copycat

3/4 c. sugar

Dawn dish soap with Olay hand renewal

 

Put sugar in container (8 or 12oz) and pour soap until reaches the top of the jar. Mix and use.

 

SIDE NOTE: The mix is SUPER runny! But it was pretty close to M.K. Satin Hands.

Cinnamon Butter Rolls (Pinterest)

So this cinnamon butter rolls looked super easy and delicious.

Well I was right on the first count. They are super easy to make, but I don't know if I didn't use enough of the spread, or if you are supposed to taste the butter from the crescent rolls. I intentionally picked out plain crescent rolls rather than the butter, but the butter flavor was too strong.



You just unroll the rolls and spread the mix, and roll from wide to narrow end.


 

I was worried when they came out of the oven that they would stick to the pan and I would have to let it soak. But they came off easily. That also may have been because Kyle and I weren't fans and I threw the rolls out within 5 minutes of being made.

 

 

Cinnamon Butter Rolls

1 tube crescent rolls

Filling: 5 TBSP softened butter        1/4 c. sugar        2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Glaze: 2 TBSP melted butter        1/4 + 2 TBSP powdered sugar        1/2 tsp vanilla

 

375. Place rolls on cookie sheet and spread with filling, and roll up tightly. Bake 10-12 minutes and drizzle glaze over rolls.

The Dollar Store?!?!

So I went into the dollar store looking for a few things for things on my 'Pinterest List'.

I was walking up and down every isle and on the bottom rack I saw these ridiculously cute containers.

They are shoe box size ... and just A DOLLAR!!!! I of course bought 10 and am trying my hardest to not go back and buy 10 more. (I can never buy just one of almost anything)

Clear container with black chevron print.

They had a red print and a green one, each color had a different print. I am surprised I remembered the other colors because I was so drawn to the black one, that I can't even tell you the other prints.

Baked Spaghetti (Pinterest)

... Before I start I am having a hard time with the titles for the pins. The first 2 were just about what they were, the next one I labeled week 2, and now I am saying pin 4. I think I am going to stick with labeling it by pin, but that will probably change.


Now back to the meal. So my husband and I are picky eaters so most of the meals I will talk about are basic, and might even have some things taken out from the original recipe. (Most veggies are out, I like some, he likes none, etc.)

I have heard people rant and rave about baked spaghetti so I decided to make it.

I don't know what I was expecting, but you pretty much bake spaghetti, throw it in a casserole dish, top with cheese and bake. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but the only thing that was different was the noodles had a baked taste and had tons of cheese. We will stick with plain ol' spaghetti, and have lasagna if we want a baked noodle taste.

I made the full recipe and we each had 2 leftover containers for the following days.

BAKED SPAGHETTI

1 jar (24 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 lb gound beef
1/2 pkg spaghetti noodles, cooked (full package 16 oz)
1/4 c parmesan cheese
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese


Preheat oven to 350. Add sauce to ground beef and simmer for 10 minutes. Mix in 1/8 c of parmesan cheese. Mix noodles and ground beef/sauce together, dish into 9x13 pan. Top with cheese. Bake 20-30 minutes.

Quick and Easy Alterations

Of course after the hoildays there are major sales in every store. One day I happened to walk into Old Navy and saw these cute dresses for $2.97!!!

 

 

Adorable right!?! If you know me I couldn't resist the deal and about 3 different ones. However one was a size too big. Even though I can alter things I really like to just buy something off the rack, But it was on sale and I knew it wouldn't take me more than 10-15 to alter.

 

If you have basic sewing skills it is really easy, here are some easy steps to follow.

 

 

Take the dress, shirt, sweater and turn it inside out. Take another of the same item, or something similar (if you don't have a similar dress, take a shirt and skirt to lay on top of the larger piece).

 

 

The at the shoulder seams pin both pieces together.

Lay on a flat surface and make sure the bottom hems match. From here you can pin the correct size item to the bigger size and get ready to sew, or if you are nervous about sewing the pieces together, mark with chalk or a marking pen.

Make sure the seams lay flat before pinning, and that no excess fabric is caught, so that you have puckering or seams you have to take out and fix.

Sew away!!!!

Oops! I caught the serged seam, but just barely. Whew!

The top seam was the one was sewn with the 2 dresses together. The bottom seam is closer to the correct size dress.

I then took pinking shears and cut close to the top seam. Pinking shears help fabric from not fraying.

Look at that!!! Super cute and easy, and now you don't have to pass up on something you like that is just a little too big!

I can't wait for spring/summer. Throw on the dress with a skinny belt and some sandals!!! Perfection.

(I would show you a picture of how cute that would be, but my pasty legs would ruin it. Use the top picture for a reference point and imagine away!)

I have also done this with jeans. I had a really nice flare leg pair from express and couldn't bear to get rid of them (they were expensive), so I decided to take the risk and make them bootleg. Worked like a charm and I wear them all the time, instead of my amoire holding them.