Meals 3 and 4

So I have made two more new things for dinner but have not found the time or the motivation to post either of them. I would rather go to the gym and work out of spend time with my husband than blog. But I am going to be better, I promise! I have at least 4 more recipes that I want to try in the next week or so and I cant wait to share them!
So last night I had an unexpected day off so I decided to try this pasta recipe. I LOVE any kind of pasta. Growing up the favorite thing to eat for Sunday lunch at my house was noodles with butter and a little bit of grated cheese. I still eat this now, sometimes a few times a week. My husband things I am totally weird, but who cares! The top shelf in one of my cupboards is all pasta...... what can I say, I cant live without it! So with that, here is what I made last night.

Penne with Mushroom-Tomato-Cream Sauce


2 2/3 cups uncooked penne pasta (8 oz)
3 oz pancetta or 4 strips bacon, chopped*
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
8 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 can (28 oz) Muir Glen® organic crushed tomatoes with basil, undrained
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 cups packed fresh baby spinach leaves

Cook and drain pasta as directed on box. Return to saucepan; keep warm.
Meanwhile, in 12-inch skillet or Dutch oven, cook pancetta over medium heat until crisp. Remove pancetta to paper towels to drain. In same skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook garlic and mushrooms in oil 3 to 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until mushrooms are tender. Stir in tomatoes. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in whipping cream; heat just until hot. Stir in pasta.
Add spinach; toss until spinach is wilted. Sprinkle individual servings with pancetta.
Makes 5 servings of 1 1/3 cups each

*** So I did not use mushrooms, not a huge fan of them or the texture, but if you love them, I am sure it would taste great! I used bacon because it is cheaper and instead of putting it on top I mixed it in with the pasta and sauce. If you want more of the bacon taste, I would use a few more strips of it. I also didnt have any spinach which I was sad about, but it still tasted good. I really like this recipe, it didnt take much time at all to make and we have tons left over for leftovers! Hooray!****

I took a picture of this meal. I know it doesnt look amazing, but I promise, it tastes amazing!!



Growing up my mom loved her crock pot, at least once a week we had a meal from it. It is so easy and I am starting to try more recipes that involve the use of the crockpot.
This recipe was super easy and only took 5 ingredients, a double hooray

Slow Cooker Meatball and Gravy Sandwiches

2 medium onions, sliced
2 packages (12 ounces each) frozen cooked Swedish-style meatballs
2 jars (12 ounces each) beef gravy
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
8 hoagie buns (about 7 inches long)

Place onions in 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker. Add frozen meatballs and gravy.
Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 10 hours.
Stir nutmeg into meatball mixture. Cut hoagie buns horizontally almost in half. Place 6 meatballs in each bun. Top with gravy.
Makes 8 sandwiches

** With only having to cook for 2 people I only used one bag of meatballs and I and one and a half jars of the gravy. Make sure to mix all of the ingredients together before you start cooking or your onions will all end up on the bottom and you wont taste them. We found that toasting the buns made the sandwiches a bit easier to eat, and adding a little cheese makes is great! Even though I used half of the meat we still had a ton of left over. We have used the meat and sauce over rice and noodles and it is super yummy.**

I didnt take a pic of this one, so I borrowed the picture that is one the Betty Crocker website.