Trials of a Long Haired Girl

Happy Hump day friends!  It's time again for a What's Cooking Wednesday!  Today I am sharing with you how I changed up this  Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta  for the crockpot.  Between trying to use up stuff in my freezers, pantry and fridge and allergies for those in my house, I modified the recipe to make it fit better for us.   I modified it as follows: 1 cup uncooked bell pepper(s), d iced 3 Tbsp  reduced sodium taco seasoning 12 oz.  uncooked whole wheat pasta 1 cup,   uncooked onion(s), c hopped 20 oz  uncooked ground bison 3 cups h omemade chicken stock (skimmed of fat) 15 oz can of  Simple Truth Organic black beans 1 cup of  Trader Joe's Mexican style shredded cheese Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook the meat, stirring often, until browned. Drain and then transfer beef to slow cooker. Add the bell pepper, onion, tomatoes, salsa, taco seasoning...

Happy Monday friends!  I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend!  I was determined to have 5 Blue Dot days this past week.  I had a loss of 2.8 pounds this week. Unfortunately, while I did make some progress with using some things up, I didn't stop to think about how many servings those recipes would make.  We wound up having leftovers because there was just too much food. I planned the following: Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Recipe - Crockpot Copycat Slow Cooker Sausage and Potato Casserole Slow Cooker Pesto Ranch Chicken Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta Crispy Baked Cod with Cheesy Potatoes & Roasted Broccoli Stromboli We had: Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Recipe - Crockpot Copycat Slow Cooker Sausage and Potato Casserole Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta Stromboli Here's what I can tell you about the new recipes I tried last week.   The Zuppa Toscana soup was a winner!   👍👍 Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta was also a winner!  ?...

Happy Hump day friends!  It's time again for a What's Cooking Wednesday!  Today I am sharing with you how I changed up this Olive Garden Copycat Recipe for the Zuppa Toscana for the crockpot.  However, I am trying to use up stuff in my freezers, pantry and fridge so I modified the recipe using what I have on hand and trying to purchase as little as possible. I modified it as follows: Simple Truth Traditional turkey sausage, 16 oz. browned uncooked onion(s),  3/4 cup Kirkland Signature Sliced bacon,  6 slices, diced minced garlic,  1 tsp chicken stock, 4 cups Simply Potatoes Diced potatoes,  1 cup Kale/Spinach Mix - 2 cups Kroger Half and Half - 3/4 cup Cook your sausage in a large skillet and brown over medium heat. Drain and set aside Place your onion and bacon to the skillet and saute over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Place sausage, onions, bacon and garlic in your crock pot along with broth and potatoes. Cook on...

Happy Monday friends!  I hope that you have had a wonderful weekend!  After my gain this week, I'm determined to have a good on plan week!  I have reviewed some recipes and I'm also trying to use up some of the food that we have in the fridge and freezer and pantry before I try to get some meal prepping done later this month.  While I am sharing the recipe links to the ones I'm using, I am modifying some in order to use up some of the foods I currently have in my fridge and freezer.  Admittedly, I will have to buy some things at the store, I don't think it will be a really expensive trip. Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Recipe - Crockpot Copycat Slow Cooker Sausage and Potato Casserole Slow Cooker Pesto Ranch Chicken Easy Slow Cooker Taco Pasta Crispy Baked Cod with Cheesy Potatoes & Roasted Broccoli Stromboli My plan is to make some of the 2 Ingredient Dough bread sticks as shown by Kathy over at  Kathy's WW Journey   I have been hes...

Happy Hump Day friends!  I am back for another edition of What's Cookin Wednesday!  Some day I will figure out how to make my kitchen more recording friendly, but right now, I'm just trying to figure it out.  I actually picked out a couple of recipes that I wanted to try.  We're expecting some cold weather around my area, which I'm sure some of my northern friends would laugh about, but it's cold to me.  The first one I decided to try was the Skinny Chicken Fajita Soup .  Sometimes I really just feel like recipes are a suggestion that worked for someone else and might work for you.  I definitely tweaked it a little bit for our family.  Honestly, my chicken wasn't cooked so I decided I'd just use my canned chicken.  Here's what I did: 2 - 5 oz. cans of chicken breast 2 - 10 oz. cans of Rotel Tomatoes 1 - 15 oz. can of Black Beans 1 - 32 oz. container of chicken stock A couple of shakes of taco seasoning because it was handy and I did...

Happy Monday friends!  I hope everyone had a great weekend!  Ours was busy but good!  DD performed at our "Santa's Village" in our city.  Saturday, my sweet husband took me to see It's a Wonderful Life on the big screen!  It's not his favorite movie, but he knows how much I love it.  Then a get together with my church family and church today to watch our kids perform.   Breakfast:  Likely another breakfast casserole like last week because it really was good.  I am in debate about making the 2 ingredient dough, just a small batch and using that in place of the biscuits, but haven't decided yet since I'm not feeling 100% today.  It may be easier just to use the biscuits this time.  Lunches this week: Chicken Fajita Soup, I may do a cook with me, but haven't decided yet since this is a first time recipe. Egg Roll Soup, I also may do a cook with me on this one, but again, new recipe. Dinners this week: Macaroni and Ch...

Happy Saturday friends!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Some fellow YouTubers have taken some time out of their schedules to share some cookies or other sweet treats together for you.  When I got invited to this collaboration by Joan (Joan's Pointed Plate), I was not really sure what I wanted to make.  Since I do not use some of the ingredients that others do, such as light butter, I decided I needed to find something that didn't have a lot of butter in it.  So I did a search of Pinterest and found a TON of great recipes, but not all of them had been updated for the new plans.  I choose a Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie  as it really seemed like I had most of these ingredients on hand anyway.  Here's my recipe, using my substitutions. Tracey's Variation of the Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie 35 grams Lily's Semi-Sweet Baking Chips' 2 tablespoons Butter 1/2 cup Granulated Monkfruit Sweetener 1/2 cup Truvia Brown Sugar...