Tag: savory

Slow Cooker Southern Green Beans

I cannot believe that December is almost over and 2019 is almost here! This year has been filled with major milestones and memories that I will cherish for a lifetime. In 2018, I started a new job, graduated from grad school and married my best friend.

I also traveled to lots of fun places! I traveled to North Carolina, New York City, visited Walt Disney World for my Bachelorette party, and accompanied Derek on his first international trip to Jamaica for our honeymoon. Although this year was super busy, I challenged myself to find balance and make time for things I love like writing and dancing. I was even fortunate enough to perform in A Charm City Ballet’s production of A Christmas Carol. As 2018 comes to an end, I’m so grateful for all the wonderful blessings the year brought and very hopeful that 2019 will be another great year.

Now that the Christmas festivities have come to an end, I’m ready for New Year’s celebrations. I always look forward to New Year’s Day. Christmas is always wonderful, but it’s always busy! New Year’s Day is low key for us. Typically, I do cook a New Year’s Day meal, but I try to pick simple dishes since I’m usually still recovering from all the Christmas baking and cooking.

This year, I’m making these delicious Slow Cooker Southern Green Beans. I made these at Thanksgiving and they were a huge hit. They are inspired by Mission BBQ’s green beans. These are super easy to make and are a perfect side dish for any holiday. They also reheat great in the microwave. For this recipe, I use real bacon bits that you can find in the salad dressing aisle of your grocery store. If you are feeling ambitious, you can cook some bacon ahead of time to use in lieu of the bacon bits. However, as I mentioned before I’m still recovering from Christmas so I’m going the easy route.

Print Recipe
 Slow Cooker Southern Green Beans
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Melt two tablespoons of butter on medium-high heat in a skillet.
  2. Finely dice 1 onion and then add the diced onion into the skillet.
  3. Add ½ cup of bacon bits to the onion butter mixture.
  4. Add ¼ tsp of cayenne, ½ tsp onion powder, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp salt and 1 tsp of pepper to the onion and bacon mixture. Stir together and sauté for 5 minutes until bacon is a deep red color.
  5. Open your cans of green beans and dump them juice and all into your slow cooker. Add the bacon and onion mixture to the slow cooker. Stir together the bacon and onion mixture with the green beans until combined.
  6. Cook on low for 4 hours.
Recipe Notes

The longer you cook, the more flavor your green beans will have. However, everything is cooked before you add it to the slow cooker, so feel free to decrease the cook time if you are in a pinch. 

Savory Slow Cooker Pot Roast

I don’t know about you, but I’m so ready for spring. We had some nasty snow and ice over the weekend, which made me super anxious for warm weather and sunshine. Although, I really should not complain. My youngest brother attends college in Dekalb, Illinois and has practically been ice skating across campus to his classes. Winters are brutal in Illinois compared to Maryland. I guess I will just have to embrace this cold weather for the next couple of weeks and hunker down at home with some warm comfort foods.

One of my favorite recipes for a cold winter day is pot roast. I love pot roast because it’s such a simple dish, but is so hearty and filling. There are so many variations of pot roast, but this recipe is my all-time favorite. I cook my pot roast in the slow cooker, which makes it a perfect weekday recipe. Many slow cooker roast recipes require that you brown the roast in a skillet prior to slow cooking, but I omit this step and just dump all of my ingredients directly in the slow cooker. Less dishes, less mess and less stress. This pot roast is cooked in a thick, savory gravy that pairs perfectly with mashed potatoes. If you don’t feel like making mashed potatoes, you can just cut up potatoes and throw them right in the slow cooker along with your roast. Easy peasy!

Print Recipe
 Savory Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Passive Time 8 hours
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Passive Time 8 hours
Servings
servings
Ingredients
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Slice a yellow onion and set aside.
  2. In a bowl, mix together 1 cup of beef stock, 1 cup of water, 1 ranch dressing dry seasoning packet, 1 Italian dressing dry seasoning packet and 1 brown gravy dry seasoning packet.
  3. Place 2 cups of baby carrots and the sliced onions in the bottom of the slow cooker. Feel free to add any other vegetables, such as potatoes or celery. Place the roast on top of the veggies and then pour the liquid mixture over top of the roast. Sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper to taste, and place one bay leaf into the liquid mixture. Cover and cook the roast for 8 hours on low.
  4. Remove the bay leaf and set the roast aside on a plate. Mix 1 tsp of corn starch with 2 table spoons of cold water in a small bowl. Stir the corn starch and water mixture directly into the slow cooker, mixing with the broth and veggies. This will help to thicken the gravy. Add the roast back to the slow cooker and cook on high for 30 minutes to 1 hour until the gravy has thickened.
  5. Slice the roast and serve over mashed potatoes or with a nice piece of crusty bread.

Low-Carb Coconut Flour Sausage Cheese Balls

I hope that everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving! I sure did! Derek and I spent the day with our families and dined on some scrumptious holiday foods. Although everything was delicious, I definitely over indulged. I am carbed out! Between the corn bread dressing, corn casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and apple pie, I most definitely had my fair share of carbs.

Derek and I on Thanksgiving

I’m ready to detox this week. Lot’s of veggies and protein in my future! I have some low-carb recipes planned for this week, one of them being this recipe for Coconut Flour Sausage Cheese Balls. In the last year, I have been working on leading a healthier lifestyle. I’ve been exercising a couple times a week, cut back on junk food and as a result, I lost 25 lbs.

It’s so easy to feel like eating healthy is impossible, especially when you are juggling so many different things. The key to success is to plan ahead and meal prep as much as possible. These sausage cheese balls are perfect to meal prep on the weekend and stick in the freezer, so that you have an easy breakfast you can eat on the go during the week.

There are several variations of this recipe online. After trying other recipes, I found that many recipes call for too much coconut flour, which dries out the sausage cheese ball. I’ve decreased the amount of coconut flour in this recipe, leaving you with an extra meaty, cheesy and savory sausage cheese ball.

Print Recipe
 Low-Carb Coconut Flour Sausage Cheese Balls
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Cuisine Low-carb
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Servings
sausage cheese balls
Ingredients
Cuisine Low-carb
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Servings
sausage cheese balls
Ingredients
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Soften butter and 4 oz of cream cheese (not low fat) in a microwave safe bowl.
  3. In a large mixing bowl (I use my stand mixer), combine 1 lb of breakfast sausage, 8 oz of shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 2 large eggs, 4 oz of softened cream cheese (not low fat), 2 tbsp of butter, ¼ cup of coconut flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, ¼ tsp of salt and a ¼ tsp of black pepper.
  4. Roll the mixture into small balls, approximately 2 inches in size. Place sausage cheese balls on baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 35 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let them cool. Store in the fridge or freezer in an air tight container. To reheat, pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds or until warm.