It was 90* in the Mojave today, so obviously I made wintery comfort food! 

1lb stew meat

1 sweet potato

3 stalks celery

3-4 carrots

1/2 onion

1 can stewed tomatoes

1/2 cup red wine

2 1/2 cups water

~1 cup mixed grains (I like Trader Joe's Harvest Grain Blend)

salt, pepper, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and worcestershire sauce to taste

Cut veggies into chunks and add all ingredients except the grains into the crock pot. Mine is pretty fast... I cooked this on low for 3 hours, added the mixed grains, and cooked for 45 more minutes. I like the Italian seasoning, but use whatever you like. Serve with crusty sourdough on the side!

A few weeks ago I needed a last minute desert for a party, so I searched the pantry to see what I could come up with. There are recipes all over Pintrest and the blog world for different ways to make a box cake, so I gave it a try with what was on hand... Chocolate cake mix and blueberry  pie filling.  The results were a very pleasant surprise, perfectly moist cupcakes with just enough fruit taste to set them apart from your usual chocolate. I made them on a Thursday  thinking they would be eaten Friday night, but the get together was delayed until Sunday. I was a little worried they would be dried out after a few days in my cupcake container, but they were just as moist and perfect as the day they were baked (and I know, because I sampled one both days)! 

KC is actually better in the kitchen than me, so as often as possible I sweet talk him into cooking. It pretty much only works on the weekends, and breakfast is usually his meal of choice. Lately biscuits and gravy has been his go-to breakfast, so I got him to write up his recipe for you. We've tried to put a "healthy" spin on an unhealthy but delicious breakfast.

Much of this recipe is made to taste, but here are some basic measurements to get you started:

1 lb. lean, ground turkey sausage (If all you have are links, you can remove the casing and cook the same way.)

2-4 tbsp. flour (I haven't tried with whole wheat, but 1/2 and 1/2 regular to whole wheat flour may work.)

Parsley, fennel seed (crushed), fresh cracked pepper to taste

Skim milk

First, cook the turkey sausage, but do not drain it. As you're cooking, add the parsley, fennel seed (crushed), and fresh cracked pepper (and whatever else you like). Next, add the flour. This part is based on how much fat is in the pan. Start with a little, mix it in, and add more as needed. The last step is to add the skim milk to get the gravy to the consistency that you want it. If it's too thick, add more milk. If it's too thin, keep simmering till it's right.

KC and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this week... and in true Marine Corps form, we weren't together to celebrate it. Oh well, we've missed a lot of the minor holidays this year, and there will only be more with deployment on the horizon! He's on his way home now and I just whipped up a little desert so we could have something special with our semi-homemade pizza tonight. I stumbled on this desert on food.com, and it sounded so perfect I didn't even alter it. it was together in 3 minutes, and I licked the mixing bowl clean! 

Butterfinger Pie

1 12oz tub Cool Whip

8oz  cream cheese

1 bag fun sized butterfingers, or 6 normal bars, crushed

 (I used my magic bullet blender)

1 graham cracker crust

Mix first 3 ingredients and put in crust. done! 

I used a stand mixer and let the filling mix for a couple minutes until it was pretty thick.

Chocolate crust would be good too.

Comfort food at is best! This meal is cheap and filling. I don't remember where I came across this lentil and brown rice base originally, but I've been playing around with it for a while and this is definitely my favorite version!

 I have realized since I started blogging that a lot of my recipes are just really not pretty... But I promise they are tasty!