Family Foodies

When you hear the words comfort food what do you think of? Cheesy, warm, sweet, salty, ooey, gooey, soothing, and delicious come to my mind. As a mom I am sure you have a few comfort food recipes up your sleeve that your family will devour and go back for more every time.

You can get the result of all day homemade cooking in this busy day and time with a crock pot. You know, that round ceramic pot with a lid and a cord caked in dust in the back of your cabinet. Yup, that one. Crock Pots need little to no supervision. Making your meals easy and carefree.

Let me introduce you to a few bloggers and their spectacular recipes for carefree crock pot comfort food. Once you start using this handy appliance you might wonder why you waited so long to pull it out.

Apple Pear Delight

Nothing starts the day off right like a nice warm breakfast. Apple Pear Delight is similar to a cobbler or Apple Brown Betty. Using your crock pot for your morning meal makes everything so easy. You can put this recipe together before you go to bed and then turn it on warm. The smell you will wake up to will make this a family favorite for sure. Take note of the homemade crock pot granola used in this recipe as well. Who knew breakfast could be so simple and delicious?

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

I  make these meatballs for my family often. The author used these as appetizers for Sunday football. I normally serve them over rice or pasta. I usually end up with more sauce than this recipe seems to make because I more than double the ingredients. The chili sauce needed in the recipe is usually in the grocery aisle with the cocktail sauce.

Cheesy Crock Pot Meatloaf

You can’t have an article on comfort food without meatloaf right? This recipe combines the old standby with one of the foods that makes it all better; cheese. My theory is add cheese to your dish and the crowd (or the kids) goes wild. Just imagine the smell wafting through the air in your neighborhood of home cooked meatloaf. And the best part is you don’t have to worry about it being under-cooked or drying out when you use your crock pot. This meatloaf is moist  and flavorful. Just like mom used to make. Maybe even better.

Baked Potatoes

You read that right. You can absolutely make baked potatoes in the crock pot. Amazing, I know. In all fairness these potatoes might have to be labeled as steamed because you aren’t using an oven but who is taking score right? I never met a potato that I didn’t like and these are no exception. You can serve these spuds alongside a steak, with a nice colorful salad or have a potato bar and let your children pile on the toppings.

Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

If you ask me what I use my crock pot the most for I will say making chili. This recipe closely resembles my own. I make chili year round. We use chicken or ground turkey and sometimes I do not use meat at all. I serve it with cornbread, rice, corn chips, tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, ranch dressing, avocado  salad greens,  tomatoes, and onions. It just depends on the day. The possibilities are literally endless and always delicious. The beautiful part of using your slow cooker is you will never scorch the bottom of your pot and you do not have to watch it constantly. Chili night in my home is ALWAYS a winner. 

Macaroni And Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese made  in the crock pot? No way! Yes way! The crock pot is a welcome companion to this quintessential comfort food. There are many variations for mac & cheese floating around and it was hard to choose one to share with you.  I love the simplicity of this recipe. There isn’t anything funky or weird in here. Just regular macaroni and cheese ingredients. This recipe uses uncooked macaroni, saving you a step in the kitchen. If this is your first time making macaroni and cheese in the crock pot you might want to keep a close eye on it so it does not overcook. Make sure your liquid to macaroni ratio is right. There is thin line between mac & cheese and mac & mush. Once you have the timing down this will become one of your favorite ways to make this dish.

Double Chocolate Cake

No article about comfort food would be complete without dessert, namely double chocolate cake. When you make dessert in the crock pot you could very well eat it first because it will already be done… Who can argue with that! When I saw the picture for this recipe I was dumbstruck.  I had no words. It looks magnificent. I am headed to the store after I wrap up this post to get the ingredients. It is chocolate. It is cake. It is warm. Need I say more???

Cleanup Can Be Carefree Too

If done right the cleanup of all of this ooey, gooey, baked on browned cheesy goodness can be a breeze. Make sure you butter or spray your pot generously. A crock pot liner can be used so all you have to do is throw the liner away and wipe the crock pot out. For a dish like mac and cheese it will be a lifesaver.

I hope you enjoy all of these recipes and the blogs that go along with them. I had a great time sharing my fellow bloggers recipes, my crock pot,  and some of my family’s most loved comfort foods with you.

Is there another crock pot comfort food blog post you think should be included on this list?

 

 

Sushi is a food that many children and adults shy away from because the idea of eating raw fish is less than appetizing. You can always opt for the California roll with imitation crab, avocado, and cucumber. But even that is a bit much for the squeamish.

If you have a hard time getting your children (or their adult parent) to try this international delicacy try putting a spin on the standard dish.

Frushi: Made With Fruit And Sweetened Rice

• Cook sushi rice or any short grain rice as directed. Once cooked add coconut milk, almond milk or soy milk and sugar.
• You can get fancy and roll your rice in the traditional way or form your rice into shapes for the fruit to rest on.
• Add any fruit that your children enjoy: thinly sliced watermelon, kiwi, raspberries, strawberries etc.
• Serve with yogurt on the side for dipping.

Breakfast Sushi: A Fun Way To Rise And Shine

• Take a tortilla (whole wheat or flour will work) and spread with your favorite nut butter (peanut, almond, even chocolate hazelnut spread). 
• Or use a cream cheese base and add chopped strawberries and a little confectioners sugar. 
• Lay fruit like bananas, kiwi, or strawberries on your tortilla. Roll, cut, and enjoy.

PB&J Sushi: An Old Favorite Made New

• Change up your routine peanut butter and jelly sandwiches by flattening your bread with a rolling pin. 
• Spread peanut butter and then add on the toppings: jelly, apples, bananas, even raisins.
• With the help of plastic wrap roll your sandwiches up and slice into individual pieces.

As you can imagine there are many variations of this modern take on an ancient dish. Get your children involved in picking out what you use in your sushi and let them help you make it. The options are endless.

What creative alternatives can you think of for sushi your children will love? 

Making a meal that everyone in your family will love can be a challenge. Sometimes we moms hit it out of the park and our children think we’re the Dinner Diva. Sometimes we strike out royally and they crown us the Dinner Dud!

Here are a few tips on how to help your kids try new things.

Use foods you know your child likes

If pasta is always a winner in your house the variety can come in the form of sauces like garlic Alfredo, roasted red pepper and tomato, or something as simple as butter and Parmesan cheese.

You might also be able to get away with adding zucchini or spinach to your rice casserole as long as you cut the vegetables up in bite size pieces and the seasonings are something your children are used to.

Consider offering condiments that they love with meals that you might not normally like ketchup, sour cream, ranch dressing, or barbecue sauce. You can even make sure that your side dish or bread is something you know that they will love to offset the new dish.

Let them play an active role in cooking

Have your kiddos scour the Internet or your cookbooks and pick what they’d like to make. Children usually choose what looks appealing to them which will make them more likely to eat it.

Allow your children to assist you in cooking the meal. This will get them used to the cooking process as well as the satisfaction that comes from preparing a dish from start to finish. They will be proud of their accomplishment and be happy to serve it to the entire family.

You can also let them name the different dishes you venture out in making. My girls named one of my made up recipes years ago because they were tired of calling it noodles with the white sauce. Instead they donned it “Special Creation.” It’s hilarious to me but they love it and I make it often.

Avoid bringing attention to new ingredients

Announcing that you made mock meatloaf with nuts, rice, and carrots will not go over well. PB&J sandwiches will soon follow. Trust me. 

Gradually add more and more things once their palate changes. You do not want to scare them off from trying too many new things at once so go slow.

I suggest one or two new things a week to start. If you do too much too soon your children will be suspicious of anything you try to feed them in the future and less likely to try anything you put in front of them.

Be flexible

Work on not making this process difficult and tiresome. Sometimes your children will love a recipe that you experimented with and sometimes they will look at you like you’ve lost your mind.  If they whisper among themselves at the bomb you just served them and called dinner, don’t let it discourage you.

Keep trying to add your own flair to the foods you want your family to try and you may just end up with a family favorite!

I have been a juicing for most of a decade but it has been a couple of years since I’ve had a juicer in the house. So, this past Monday when I started craving juice I went out to the stores to see if I could find a deal. I ended up bringing home the same juicer I’ve used in the past, this basic model offered by Jack Lalanne:

I bought some organic carrots and spinach, then loaded up on Fuji apples, cucumbers, blueberries and raspberries.

Carrot and apple is my all time favorite fresh juice. With that as a base I can add all kinds of green stuff to it and enjoy it going down.

Another favorite juice addition is a beet. Beets add a dark red color and you don’t need much to add a lot of flavor.

My son loves the juice I make at home too. He guzzles and asks for more most of the time.

Since I started using a Magic Bullet for smoothies and other small blending tasks, I decided to mix up my juicing with my blending. I juiced my apple and carrot, then took it and my spinach over to the bullet and blended it all together. It was a tad chunky, I probably overdid the spinach LOL!

I also use the bullet to blend in the berries – you don’t want to ‘juice’ the berries, they just turn to mush and you don’t much out of them. Blend them in and get all the goodness!

Next I need to head over to the farmer’s market. There’s so much more that I can add to juice if I have available to me. This time year tough because a lot produce items are expensive.

How about you? Do you juice? Do your kids enjoy it?

P.S. I bought this: Jack LaLanne’s PJEB Power Juicer Express