5 Slow-Cooker Brown Bag Lunches

Taking lunch to work can be a huge pain and it can lead to major ruts.  Anyone else get completely burned out of eating a boring sandwich for lunch?  This time of year, as winter starts to drag, can definitely aid in hitting the lunch blahs. 

I refuse to eat the frozen meal lunch items (have you read the ingredient lists? makes me get on a soap box about not real food masquerading as food but that is a whole different post).  And I try to limit buying lunch out for the reasons of saving money for elsewhere in the budget and because eating out can really pack on the calories. Although I do love lunch break that involves a tasty sandwich from a fav lunch spot with a good book in the perfectly shaded spot in the summer... 

This winter I have altered our menu planning ever so slightly to ensure that we will have leftover for lunches.  I usually am not big on leftovers so over the years have perfected the craft of cooking for two.  But an inability to eat another ham sandwich led me to rethink the humble leftover.  Spaghetti two nights in a row is blah but with one of those being a lunch (ideally a day later for the sake of variety) it works.  So for some of our favorite dinners I am making sure to cook enough to give us leftovers.

And then entered the slow-cooker craze in our household.  We used to barely use the crockpot.  But recently it is showing up once a week with the goal of a yummy Sunday dinner and a couple of good lunches.  I love having Sunday evenings free from cooking after doing the smallest of prep work in the morning.  And most slow-cooker recipes are quite generous in portions...  After dinner we divide the leftovers into individual serving containers allowing us to start the week with a couple lunches ready to go.

Here are a five recent favorite slow cooker recipes that made for tasty lunches:

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings - I adjusted to doubled the potato and carrots, added celery, did a mix of chicken breast and thighs, and stirred up own dumplings using this: 1 cup biscuit mix = 1 cup flour + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt + 1 tbsp shortening.  

Char Siu Pork Roast - The leftovers make a great sandwich.

Beef Daube Provencal - This made the house smell fantastic and was very good.

Thyme-Scented White Bean Cassoulet - So very good.  We made it with our favorite sausage instead of going the meatless route.

Slow-Cooker Chicken with Bacon, Mushrooms and Onions - We used regular onion and chopped it coarsely.  And you can substitute the white wine with chicken broth. This one can dry out if it goes just minute past the cooking time but the sauce saves it. 

How are you beating the lunch blahs?

A beautiful weekend & goals for the week

Happy Monday! What a whirlwind of a weekend and how has February been going so fast!  This is usually such a slow time of year in my opinion but this year it has been flying by - likely due to be busy moving, counting baby growing weeks, and vacation planning.  I sometimes think that one aspect of living well means finding those beautiful moments that are in the midst of the business of day-to-day. While this was a quick weekend, it was a good one filled with moments I am grateful for...

Family time - My brother and sister-in-law were able to squeeze in a visit that was totally out of their way.  I love getting to spend time with them and wish that it could be more frequent.

Baby stuff - It is fun seeing my husband preparing for that shift to being a dad.  We went together to buy a few baby clothes this weekend.  He picked out a monkey outfit that is totally different from what I have been getting.

Couple time - We fit in a very long Sunday afternoon walk to enjoy the sunshine and burn off the pie (lemon meringue from Hoosier Mama- yum) we had with my family. It was one of those totally relaxed walks where the conversation goes on random tangents and the doggie tails were wagging with contentment.

Nesting - We made some of progress on getting our place looking like our home; seeing our photos up on the wall makes me happy.  There is still a long ways to go but small bits of progress are satisfying as is working together on little house tasks.

Goals and things I am looking forward to this week -

Blogging - Get organized and make blogging part of my routine again!  I have so much to share on here but have got to organize my thoughts so that I can be efficient with the bits of time I have available.

Working out - Running before work!  I am so excited that we now have a treadmill at home... it is going to be awesome.  And it is going to help free up some time after work which is needed.

Party - This weekend we are doing a progressive dinner with some friends - can.not.wait.  But need to figure out what to make for my course and hopefully get a little bit more crossed off the nesting list.

Photography - I need to get out and have some photography time this week.  I am not sure what the theme will be but I really need some quality time with my camera as I have been feeling pretty uninspired lately - time to break out of it.

Hope you all had a beautiful weekend and a fantastic week coming up!

20 weeks

Pics: 15 weeks & 20 weeks

I have reached the halfway point for this pregnancy and thus far am loving being pregnant.  I feel fantastic.  Other than when I have to go shopping for maternity clothes...  I am totally okay with having a preggo belly but not loving most of the clothes that are out there. 

We had the anatomy scan ultrasound this past Friday and it was awesome to see the little kiddo looking like a baby.  Now when I feel the kicks (this kiddo is majorly active) I am picturing the little baby.  And it was really tough to stay team green at the ultrasound.  When they told us to look away while they were assessing that both of us were so tempted to find out.  But it will be another 20 weeks or so until we find out if our little one is a boy or girl.

As far as preparing goes, we have barely started to puchase the seemingly endless list of things needed before July.  We did move to an apartment that has room for a little one so that counts right?! Our babymoon is quickly approaching and I think that we will get to work on the baby's room after that.  I do have lots of thoughts about the nursery decor am excited to see them come to life.

So back to the maternity clothes - other than the usual suspects of Gap, Old Navy, Asos, and Shade where can a girl find a flattering but budget friendly preggo wardrobe?  And after a recent terrible trip to Target (they had three racks of clothes - three! With zero selection of sizes.) they are off my list!

Antique & Vintage Charmers

Recently I spent a Sunday morning at Architectural Artifacts.  There was lots of antique eye candy but a few pieces really stood out and caught my eye.  Shiny collections, hints of glamour, and memories of a place where everyone knows your name...

Vintage is a slightly different subject for me as I tend to find myself pointing my lens at nature.  But I had a lot of fun working on these photographs.  A small collection of vintage & artifacts has been added to the shop - wouldn't one of those chandeliers be so much fun in a girly, glamorous dressing room?