First of all, let me apologize for the crappy quality of these pictures. Out of respect for my coworkers, I made and ate these ham and beans AFTER work instead of before or during. Since I work afternoon shift, that left me cooking and eating these in the dark, hence the bad lighting. And I was too lazy and hungry to spend time prettying it up, hence the messy bowl.

Don’t let that chase you away though! This was a seriously simple and tasty crock pot full of comfort food. Not to mention, it was relatively cheap: a bag of beans, some ham, and seasoning you should already have in your pantry. I chose to use a pound of diced ham to make mine, both for the easiness factor and because it seemed to be the best option at my grocery store. I also ended up using an equivalent amount of minced onion instead of the onion powder, only because I discovered I don’t have any onion powder in my pantry.

I cooked this in the crockpot for about 7 hours, I think. It could have been done earlier (even the low setting on my crock pot is super hot), but I cooked it longer to let the beans break down and thicken up a little more. Don’t forget to serve it up with some sweet corn bread!

Crockpot Ham and Beans
Source: Plain Chicken

1 lb package dried northern beans
ham bone, hocks, shanks or diced ham (about 1 pound)
2 tsp onion powder
6 cups water
salt & pepper to taste

Rinse and sort the beans for any pebbles. Add the the rinsed beans, onion powder, salt, pepper, and ham to the crock pot. Add water. Cover and cook on low about 8 hours, until beans are tender. Remove ham bone, shanks or hocks and pull off the meat. Add meat to the crock pot and mix. Serve with cornbread.

It is no secret that I am not a fan of pork. Please do not try and feed me a pork chop. I don’t want to be ungrateful or rude, but I really don’t want to eat it. There is one exception to my nose-wrinkling (potentially unwarranted, I will admit) distaste for pork — barbecue pulled pork sandwiches. Mmm yummy.

I’d never made it myself before, but I’d heard that it was super simple in the crock pot. I was browsing Pinterest a couple of weeks ago when I saw a picture of 4 ingredients with the caption “Easiest and Best Pulled Pork Sandwiches Ever.” Alright, you got me. I was a little nervous because I’d never cooked pork before (see earlier note of dislike), but I needn’t have worried because it really was super simple. Even if you include my agonizing in the grocery store over what to buy. “The recipe said pork butt! Nothing here is labeled pork butt! Tenderloin? Shoulder roast? Boston something? WHAT DO I BUY?” Ahem. (I bought what was on sale, haha!)

I got my pork home, patted it down with Lawry’s seasoned salt and finagled it into my slightly-smaller-around-than-my-chunk-of-pork slow cooker. Poured some Diet Pepsi and BBQ sauce over the top and walked away. Several hours later, I came back and pulled the pork out to shred. The recipe suggested putting it back in the juices, which I did for a little while because I wasn’t ready to eat it yet, but that’s not really the way I like my pulled pork. I like mine extra saucy, not pulled from the juices with a little BBQ sauce poured on your sandwich. So when I was ready to eat, I removed it and kept only the tiniest bit of juices and instead mixed up the whole batch with some of the Sweet Baby Rays that was left. Served up on a kaiser bun with some potato salad on the side, delicious!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Source: Sweet and Savory Food

Pork butt
1 can Diet Pepsi
1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce
Lawry’s Seasoning Salt

Generally coat pork butt with Lawry’s seasoning salt, don’t be afraid to cover it all! Place in crock pot and pour in soda and barbecue sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours. If you have a larger piece of meat, it will probably take longer. After 4 hours or so, take two forks and shred the meat into bite size chunks. Let it sit in the juice to soak up all that flavor. It can stay on warm in crock pot while serving, and can easily be reheated the next day. Serve on a kaiser roll and add more barbecue sauce if needed.

I like my pulled pork really saucy, so I discarded most of the juices and mixed it all up with some of the remaining BBQ sauce.

There are a LOT of recipes out there for stuffed shells! I was trying to figure out what to make for Mother’s Day dinner when everyone was coming over to my apartment. I had a box of stuffed shells languishing in the cupboard, so I decided to use them. I didn’t realize it would be so hard to pick a recipe! I searched and searched, and eventually chose this one that I found at Taste of Home. I could have looked all day, but I needed to get the grocery store. I chose this recipe because I wanted one that had meat *and* cheese, and didn’t need too many additional ingredients from the store. In the end, it went over very well with the family, and you wouldn’t go wrong with these!

Jumbo pasta shells, onion, Italian sausage, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, cream cheese, egg, salt, pepper, cinnamon (optional), dried minced onion, basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, sugar, tomato sauce.

Put your diced onion in a large skillet. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not a big fan of onion. After I took the next picture, I decided this was too much onion and took some back out of the pan.

Add one pound of Italian sausage.

Cook the sausage and onions until the sausage is no longer pink.

Drain the sausage, and transfer to a large bowl.

Add 8 oz of cream cheese, cubed up. It will combine easier this way.

and 1 egg.

Stir until the cream cheese and the egg are well combined with the sausage.

To this mixture, add 1 cup of the mozzarella

2 cups of cheddar cheese

1 cup grated parmesan. Yes, I used the stuff in the green can.

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 /4 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon. This is supposed to be the optional “secret” ingredient. I probably wouldn’t bother with it the next time.

Mix it all up until it’s well combined.

Meanwhile, cook the shells according to the package directions. Drain, and then rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Cooling them off will also make them easier to handle!

Stuff each pasta shell with a generous spoonful of the meat and cheese mixture. I ran out of the stuffing mixture at the same time I ran out of room in my 9×13 pan, but I still had some shells left over. I did use more than the 24 shells called for in the recipe.

In a separate bowl, dump in your 29 ounce can of tomato sauce.

Add 1 Tbs dried minced onion

1 1/2 teaspoons basil

1 1/2 teaspoons parsley

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon of sugar

and 2 cloves minced garlic (1 teaspoon of the stuff in the jar)

Stir it all up.

Spoon the sauce over the shells in the pan. Cover with foil. At this point, I put the pan in the fridge because I wasn’t expecting my dinner guests for several hours yet. When you’re ready, bake (still covered) at 350F for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, remove the foil. Sprinkle a cup of mozzarella cheese on top, and return to the oven for 5-10 minutes for the cheese to melt.

Cheese Stuffed Shells
Taste of Home

1 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup 4% cottage cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
24 jumbo pasta shells, cooked and drained
SAUCE:
1 can (29 ounces) tomato sauce
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1-1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1-1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Domino® or C&H® Granulated Pure Cane Sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
In a large skillet, cook sausage and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in the spinach, cream cheese and egg. Add 1 cup mozzarella, cheddar, cottage cheese, Parmesan, salt, pepper and cinnamon if desired; mix well.
Stuff pasta shells with sausage mixture. Arrange in two 11-in. x 7-in. baking dishes coated with cooking spray. Combine the sauce ingredients; spoon over shells.
Cover and bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 12 servings.