Healthified Hoppin' John (Crock Pot)

January 2, 2016 Amanda Plott

Here in the south, black-eyed peas are a staple when bringing in the New Year. Funny enough, my mother was actually telling me the story this morning of how black-eyed peas became known in the south as a symbol of 'good luck'. Apparently though, there's a lot of stories out there that tie black-eyed peas and luck to one another.

No matter the actual and factual truth, having black-eyed peas on New Year's day has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Seriously, my mom wouldn't let us go to bed on New Year's day until we had at least one spoonful of what were then plain old canned black-eyed peas.

Thankfully, as soon as cooking came into my life our take on black-eyed peas changed. It sort of became my mission around New Year's to create better-for-you and delicious ways to enjoy black-eyed peas...

Chipotle Butter Infused Pork Tenderloin (Crock Pot)

October 29, 2015 Amanda Plott

I've been in meal prep. mode this week while I get ready for another upcoming trip this weekend for Halloween. I'm taking my little Ice Queen to my 'home town' to trick or treat with friends and family there. In the midst of it, I wanted to keep myself sane with just cooking a couple of meals that I could re-heat easily through the week.

One of the things that I wanted to cook up was this versatile pork tenderloin. Since I've been super busy, I thought it would be a great time to get out the old crock pot to cook this batboy up. While I wanted to keep the pork interchangeable, I also wanted it to have a lot of really good flavor...

Healthified Shredded Buffalo Chicken (Crock Pot)

September 3, 2015 Amanda Plott

This is one of those great base recipes that could be used in many forms and fashions. It would be great in a sandwich, a wrap, incorporated into a chicken salad, or even in a grilled cheese. There's really so many uses for it that I thought it needed to be here as it is to stand on it's own.

I've kept this dish light and flavorful by letting the chicken remain simmering all day in a broth full of large chunks of fresh vegetables; allowing it to absorb all those great natural flavors. At the end of cooking, all you do is shred the chicken, toss it with a buffalo sauce of your choosing and use it as you see fit...

Skinny Turkey Sriracha Meatballs (Crock Pot)

August 12, 2015 Amanda Plott

I had this amazing new Stubb's Texas Sriracha Anytime sauce sitting and staring at me for a few days before it finally hit me. As the heat of Texas summer starts to consider winding down, that always means that we're getting back into football season. And what does that mean? Tailgating and homegating foods will be back in action before you know it!

These partly Asian inspired and partly Thai inspired meatballs make for a great part of a meal, but would also be amazing for your next gamely spread as more of an appetizer. Toothpick or pretzel pick friendly grab-n-go snack!

As an added bonus, they can stay warming in a crock pot for several hours (if you can manage to keeping around for that long!)...

Crock Pot B.B.Q. Shredded Beef

May 7, 2015 Amanda Plott

It was Teacher's Appreciation this week at my little one's school, and the parents all hold an Annual potluck accordingly; serving the teachers breakfast, lunch, and even a dessert. As part of the potluck for the teacher's I decided I wanted to take something that was versatile and well liked by all, shredded barbecue beef!

B.B.Q. anything is a staple around here and it's probably even a law somehow that every Texan is required to eat something barbecued at least once a week. Otherwise you might lose your license to grill. Hah!...

Skinny Crock Pot Coke Zero BBQ Pulled Chicken (Sponsored)

March 17, 2015 Amanda Plott

Here in Texas, we're extremely passionate about two things; BBQ and sports! What better than to bring the two together with your friends and family in a fun and creative way? Since my dad is a BBQ professional, I am all about making my own BBQ sauce. I've been known to make it with lots of interesting and sometimes rather uncommon things.

NCAA® March Madness is here and Coca-Cola is celebrating with new Coca-Cola NCAA® Final Four Packs that are available at Walmart. The four packs of cans come in three flavors; Coke Zero, Vanilla Coke and Cherry Coke. I know that when my friends and family get together to watch the games, we're all about home-gating with traditional drinks and 'game day' style foods that are easy to make, versatile, lean, and delicious!

After all, what's more 'game day' than BBQ and Coca-Cola?...