Healthified Crock Pot Kalua Pork

June 29, 2017 Amanda Plott

Summer time around here (especially July) is when my mom always likes to throw a mostly annual luau. Unfortunately, she hasn't really been able to do that for the past couple of years, just because they had moved about an hour further away from me and well... all of their friends basically too. Either way, this is one of our family favorite recipes for these such luaus! And with it being nearly July, I thought it would be a great time to update this Kalua Pork with a bit of a facelift.

So, what do you do in Hawaii? You go to a luau. What do they serve at a luau? Kalua pork.

Kalua (as not to be confused with Kahlua) is a traditional way of cooking pork in Hawaii. The word kalua actually translates to 'to cook in an underground oven'. While they use something in Hawaii called an imu for this process, I don't readily have one of those at my disposal... so I used the next best thing. My slow cooker!...

Crockpot Chicken Verde Pozole

June 20, 2017 Amanda Plott

Today is it, y'all! It's my birthday! And while I'm off taking the galant drive to Dallas to pick up my brother and my nephew for a few days... I decided to leave you all with this to savor until I return tomorrow. It's too effing hot out. So... no stove or oven for us today. Nope. We're going straight to the crockpot. My best friend during the summer months of Texas. While it does put off a mild warmth through the day, it's nothing like what my stove or oven will do. So, here we are!

Can I be honest in saying that I've never had pozole before? Never had it. Never made it. I'm not sure why either. 'Cause I'm here to say, that after today, it's going to be a staple around these parts. And I mean that too. This verde version of pozole is so very similar to my Legion Chili. Really the main difference here is the chili has beans and the pozole has hominy in it. What's hominy? Your guess is as good as mine. Hah! I kid...

Healthified Crockpot Low Country Chicken Boil

June 13, 2017 Amanda Plott

My local box of produce over the past couple of weeks has gifted me with a bounty of red potatoes that I can't bare to let go to waste! My mother asked me a couple weeks back about this recipe that I had put together a couple of years back now. With my brother not being a seafood eater and my dad being mildly allergic to shellfish, she wanted to put together a Low Country Boil that omitted the shrimp or crawfish. Being as I'm not a seafood fan either, I had tried my hand at a seafood-free low country boil, like I said though, this was a couple of summers ago.

So with an idea in mind and plenty of red potatoes to go around, I got to work on my Low Country Chicken Boil once again. Here among the southern states, summer time is when everyone starts to have crawfish boils! It's always sounded amazing to me; sausage, potatoes, corn - who wouldn't like it? Well, me! If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not a seafood eater. I wish that I could be, but it just isn't a possibility. Sadly...

Crockpot Carrot Soup with Basil Herb Oil

June 7, 2017 Amanda Plott

I'm barely a week into summer break over here and I already seem to have lost track of what day it is. Is it still the weekend? Almost the weekend again? Where am I? What am I doing? One of the only things that's managing to keep me somewhat grounded, is cooking. For the past few weeks, I've been getting loads and loads of carrots in my local box of produce. I've been trying to use them up as quickly as I could, but... the bag of them only continued to expand.

I've got to be honest, raw carrots are definitely not one of my favorite vegetables. So, thinking of a way to use up over 2 pounds of carrots was a rather daunting task for me. Especially considering that I wanted to be sure to use them all up before any went bad. Waste not, want not...

Crock Pot Honey Cajun Pork Tenderloin

February 28, 2017 Amanda Plott

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Whole Earth Sweetener Co. All opinions are 100% mine.

Happy Mardi Gras y'all! To celebrate this super special and festive holiday, I cooked up this tasty Crock Pot Honey Cajun Pork Tenderloin. It's full of cajun spices, flavors, and love; the latter of which is a huge part of southern cooking. I should know. I'm a Texan. Another thing I know that Texas and New Orleans has in common is our love of all things spicy when it comes to our food. The more heat, the better.

Don't worry though, I kept this pork tenderloin on the more mild side while also being easily adjustable for those that crave a more in-depth heat. You know, the sort that makes you start to sweat and clears your sinus. I've got you all covered, from one end of the spectrum to the other...

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

February 15, 2017 Amanda Plott

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #HuntsHasHeart #CollectiveBias

February is all about hearts and in more way than one! It's true that Valentine's day is in February, but did you know that it's also Heart Health month? Heart health is something that affects each and every one of us. Everyone has at least one person in their life that has been or will be affected by heart disease in some way. For me, half of my grandparents currently have heart disease.

Just this past year my step-grandfather was diagnosed with heart disease. He's been put on medication and told to make some changes to his eating habits in an effort to slow progression of (and hopefully even stop) the disease...