Hits and Misses

I received two awesome cookbooks for Christmas from my Mom. One was The Slow Cooker Bible and the other was The Pioneer Woman Cooks. And we all know how much I love my crock pot AND my Pioneer Woman! The first recipe we chose was Chicken and Black Bean Chili. It's the one recipe I forgot to photograph. Oh, and John made it from start to finish! I LOVED this chili! Definitely one to keep. Great depth of flavor (which sometimes you don't get with a slow cooker) and chicken in the crock pot is always so tender. Served with shredded cheddar, sour cream, chips and corn bread (addicted to this stuff), it was an ultimate comfort meal. So, this was a hit.

The second hit was from Ree, the wonderful Pioneer Woman, called Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce. Ohhhh, baby. Delicious. Wonderful. But anything is, with an entire cup of heavy cream in the sauce. It was very simple, just fettuccine and this delectable sauce, with fresh basil sprinkled over the top. This would be fantastic with chicken or shrimp, as well. But...... lack of time made us stick to a simple recipe. We served it with some pesto flat bread and a glass of merlot, and divine, my dears!

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce. Eat this only in the winter, far, far away from beach season.

Now for the miss. At least for me. John on the other hand thought this was a huge hit. Which is why he ended up eating most of it. :) It was from the slow cooker bible and it was called Chinese Chicken Stew. The spice in this dish was chinese 5 spice, and I just don't think it's for me. I wasn't crazy about the type of smokiness that it lent to the dish. John likes to think he has a more diverse palate than me and that is why he liked it, but we all know the truth on that one. :)

Chinese Chicken Stew, a hit for some, a miss for others!

So hopefully I will be cooking a lot more lately, as I really slacked towards the last part of the year. On tonight's menu? A favorite around here: Bobby Flay's Meatloaf, with smashed potatoes and roasted asparagus (#1 veggie of choice in this house!). Wish me luck, somehow this meal always ends up taking me forever. I may have mentioned it before, but I am a slow cooker (pun intended)! Ah, that was a bad one.