Food Porn | Jefe's Plethora Pie

Can you tell that my husband came up with the name? We love "The Three Amigos." ;) This is another crockpot meal - it went over great with the Silas man! It may be our favorite recipe thus far!

Jefe's Plethora Pie Ingredients: 1 cup salsa 2 garlic cloves (we use the kind in the tube) 1/4 cup fresh cilantro (we used the kind in the tube again lol) Lazy! 1 16 oz can of refried beans 1 15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained 1 diced tomato 7 medium whole wheat tortillas 2 cups of shredded mexican blend cheese (Toppings: salsa, sour cream, and extra cilantro)
Directions: 1. The first task at hand is to prep your crockpot. Line the entire pot with aluminum foil and then spray with non-stick cooking spray.  2. In a small bowl - combine the refried beans, 3/4 salsa, and garlic.  3. In another bowl - combine 1/4 cup salsa, cilantro, black beans and diced tomato.  4. Take one tortilla and spread 1/4 of the refried bean mixture on it. (Try to leave a 1/2 inch of space around the edges) Place it in the crockpot! Sprinkle it with 1/4 of cheese, then slap another tortilla over it. Add 1/3 of the black bean mixture over the new tortilla. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese over the black beans. Top it with yet another tortilla! (It's madness, I know) Repeat layers! You will end up with the refried beans on the very top. Sprinkle your finished creation with the remaining cheese.  5. Then you are going to cover it and cook on low for about 4-5 hours. (2-3 hours on high) Slice and serve with sour cream, salsa, and cilantro. It is soooo delicious! We are looking forward to eating it again tomorrow. 

Food Porn | Vegetarian Lasagna Soup

Oh lawd - I have been gone for a while now. :/ How embarrassing! I've been so busy working, taking care of kids, cleaning house, going to weddings (seriously - so many Fall weddings), and keeping a regular exercise routine lately. I'm going to make a special effort this weekend to come up with a weekly blogging schedule. (I promise this time) So...as Sir Elton John always says...the bitch is back. ;)

Earlier today - Mr. Cherry and I decided to invest in a nice crockpot. We found a Hamilton Beach crockpot at Target on sale for $24.99. It says $29.99 online...so I guess we got a good deal! We have decided to collect some good recipes from Pinterest and cook them in the crockpot during the day while we are at work. Crockpot + easy online recipes = saving time and money! (hopefully lol) The batch of food I made tonight will probably last us several days. Silas was not very pleased with it though - he says next time he doesn't want cheese on top. What kind of kid doesn't like cheese? Ugh.

Anywho! Here is the recipe y'all...

Vegetarian Crockpot Lasagna

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 bag of vegetarian crumbles (We purchased the Quorn brand)

3 cups of vegetable broth (this ended up being 1.5 cans)

1 cup of water

1 tbsp of garlic paste (it's in the refrigerated produce section)

1 tbsp dried parsley

1 tbsp dried basil

1/2 cup chopped onion (this annoyed me - I hate chopping onions!)

1 - 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 - 6 oz can of tomato paste

1 cup of V8 juice

2 cups of uncooked shell pasta

pepper and salt to taste (I'm not a huge fan of salt, so I used it sparingly)

Directions:

First I dumped the can of tomatoes and the tomato paste into the crockpot. Then I poured in the broth, veggie crumbles, garlic paste, parsley, basil, chopped onion, V8, and salt & pepper. 

This meal can be cooked quickly (the method we chose tonight) or slower. (if you need more time)

So this means you can cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours...or on high for 4-5 hours. Our lasagna took 4 hours to cook tonight. 

Around the 3 hours and 30 minutes mark - we added in the water and uncooked pasta. I then covered it back up and let it simmer 30 more minutes.

Lastly, I sprinkled a healthy amount of cheese on top lol. Next time I will refrain from doing this to Silas' bowl. ;)

I hope everybody is having a wonderful weekend! We are finishing painting our bedroom tonight...so I'm off to paint! Oh...and happy Doctor Who day!