Recipes of the Week: Bacon Bow Tie Pasta & Guinness Crock Pot

SH here and I am loooving all my new recipes! It's getting a lot less intimidating with each new thing I try, and I'm really loving trying new foods in my own home :)

Bacon Bow Tie Pasta
I picked this gem up at MyRecipes.com and the full bacon bow tie pasta recipe is right here for you!
The recipe is pretty simple and it didn't take long for me to make. I did use gluten free pasta instead of bow tie pasta to keep the gluten out of this dairy heavy recipe. Honestly anything with bacon is f$%^& delicious for me! The sauce was easy to make... and dude, bacon for dinner? Yes please!
My husband is not a huge cream cheese fan and did think this sauce was a bit heavy and creamy - but it's bacon, he'll be fine.

All ready and stirred up in the pot with sauce, noodles and crispy bacon!

Serve hot :)

Slow Cooker Guinness Beef Stew
I made this recipe for my office - we had a pot luck to celebrate St Paddys Day so I knew this sick twist on my usual crock pot fav would be amazing. BakedByRachel.com had a great recipe that I followed for this one - you can check it out for yourself right here.

It does take a bit of prep work (crock pot always does) but it's so worth it and it smells so damn good when you wake up! (I got wifey points for waking up to an apartment smelling like beef and guinness) :)

All chopped up and ready to go

Add that Guinness in! I used a whole bottle :)

Pure St Paddys Day food joy!

What new recipes have you all been getting yourself into? Trying out holiday themed recipes? Sharing with your office or family? Post links below - I'm always looking to try something new :)

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Veggie Chili

Fall is here and you can't do without a good,  hearty, warm chili for the cool evenings.  This is Lacey's own recipe! Change it to your liking though. Wanna add mushrooms? Go for it. Hate peppers? Take them out.  Add some tasty winter squash for added flavor. It's all about throwing what you love into the Crockpot for an easy meal ready  by dinner.

Ingredients
1 Green Pepper chopped
1 Orange Pepper chopped
1/4 c. Diced onion
2 chopped stalks of celery
2 c. corn
2 diced tomatoes
1 c. kidney beans
1 c. black beans
3 c. All natural or homemade tomato sauce
3 chopped carrots
1/2 c. Quinoa**
2 gloves garlic (pressed/chopped finely)
1 tsp. chili seasoning (or to taste)
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1 tsp. cumin (or to taste)
1 tsp. onion powder (or to taste)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
Pinch of salt

Directions
Put all ingredients in slow-cooker & stir. Cook on Low heat for 6 hours.

**Optional: Quinoa is very similar to rice. It's a small grain that looks sort of like couscous. You can either make this separately as a base underneath or add directly into the crock pot to be part of the chili.


If you're able, I challenge you not to buy your normal canned goods for this recipe (corn, kidney & black beans). Many of them are loaded with salt. If you choose to do so (which we have to resort to many times since beans must be prepped before being used in a recipe), buy no sodium or low sodium items.

Gluten Free Hot Lunch: Beef, Potato, Veggie Crock Pot Recipe

I have been a picky eater my entire life. So I grew up existing on chicken fingers, PB&J sandwiches, yodels and a variety of other (delicious, but processed) snick snacks. I moved to New York City 3 years ago and as an adult living in NYC, I continued to eat my favorite foods. I think that may be the "worst" part about being gluten free in NYC - I have access to any food I've ever wanted, at whatever time I want it. Every day I have to practice self control, and it has been one of my greatest life lessons learned so far.

So when I decided to turn my life around, I had to change my daily eating out habits... no more amazing NYC bagels or pizza for this lady. The hardest part? Packing enough food and snacks for work!

I'm at the office 8:30AM - 5PM+, so I NEED to snack at least twice during the day, plus a decent lunch. As Lacey has mentioned, it is crucial to plan ahead so you don't cave in and eat crap. In my case, cave in and drink soda in place of a meal.

I bring fruit every day to work, and I've been experimenting with a variety of recipes that are easy and painless to make for lunch every day. Luckily my boyfriend (D) is awesome at putting random gluten free recipes together and came up with my new favorite crock pot lunch! (Note: D is not gluten intolerant but he still loves this meal!) Eating a hot lunch is wonderful during the day, and it actually fills me up.

See below for pictures and recipe. Recipe can be tailored to whatever you prefer... crock pots are awesome and I recommend putting yours to use! We put this together on Sunday nights and it's ready for us Monday morning!

INGREDIENTS:

Beef (or Chicken), Carrots, Celery, Onion, Potatoes, Bouillon Cubes

Note: We have a pretty small crock pot, so adjust ingredients as necessary to fill.

RECIPE:

Beef (or Chicken) - 1 stew pack or 1 breast, cut into cubes

Carrots - 5 carrots, peeled and cubed

Celery - 4 stalks, chopped

Onion - 1/2 onion, chopped

Potatoes - 1/2 a bag, peeled and cut into cubes (Yukon Gold and Russet are our favorites)

Bouillon Cubes - 2 cubes into 1 cup of boiling water *The trick with the Bouillon Cubes for flavoring is using only 1 cup of water to dissolve them in. The other water will come out from the veggies, so don't water down your crock pot.

COOK:

1. Dice up all veggies, potatoes and meat

2. In a large bowl, mix up all the veggies and potatoes (keep meat separate)

3. Mix some pepper into 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and coat the mix of veggies and potatoes evenly

4. Boil water, dissolve Bouillon Cubes into 1 cup of water

5. In Crock Pot - put meat into 1 pile in the center of the crock pot (This is important, will help it cook the best)

6. Put mix of veggies and potatoes evenly around the meat

7. Pour the Bouillon Cubes mix evenly around the crock pot

8. Cook on low heat for 8 hours!

There are a lot of gluten free crock pot recipes out there, so try a few and see what it does for your lunch break :)

This is my new daily motto. I often get overwhelmed about my food allergies, but I take it on day by day and I've never been happier or healthier :)

"It's not what you do once in a while; it's what you do day in and day out that makes the difference."

- Stephanie