Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

Easter is over, and that means one thing: leftovers. So many leftovers. I had almost an entire bag of red potatoes sitting unused in my fridge, and absolutely nothing left in my grocery budget. That leaves one of my favorite {and cheapest} dishes on the menu...baked potatoes!

I have a special love of baked potatoes. When I was really young, money was tight around my house {as it usually is with young families}. Every Sunday, my mom would make baked potatoes and we'd pick up Whoppers from Burger King, back when they were $.99 each. We had that every Sunday after church for years, and with the exception of a terrible case of food poisoning from a Whopper about 5 years ago, it remains one of my favorite meals.

I hope you enjoy these and make some of your own baked potato memories!


Ingredients:

• Potatoes
• Butter
• Salt and pepper
• Tinfoil
• Minced garlic {optional}

Directions:

Rinse potatoes well and remove any large "eyes" with a knife. Rip off pieces of tinfoil that can wrap around each potato. Poke each potato with a fork several times.

Melt butter and spoon some onto each potato.

Add some minced garlic, salt and pepper to each potato.

Seal each potato in the tinfoil and put inside crock pot. Cook on low anywhere from 5-9 hours, depending on how many potatoes you're making. The more potatoes, the longer it takes to cook.

Once potato is soft to the touch, remove carefully from the crock pot, unwrap, cut and add toppings. Serve and enjoy!

Love and potato memories,

Pizza Pasta Salad

So as you guys already know, I'm not a big proponent of summer in the south. I was made for mild weather, so the 100% humidity and heat closing in on 100° isn't really my thing. If you see me outside during the summer and I am not floating in a pool, hydrate me. Quickly.

Anyway, I have a group of friends that are summer fanatics. They live for it, God love 'em. But apparently, what they love most is the simplicity of it all. Their days are spent lounging at the pool with their kids, and meals are whatever.

So while I am not adopting the obsession with summer, I will hold on dearly to the idea that summer meals can be simple. One of my mom role models, Christie, made a version of this at our weekly Bible study. Killer meal. Takes about 10 minutes, and is dirt cheap. Happy summer to us!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. block of mozzarella cheese
• 1 pack pepperoni
• Italian seasoning
• 19 oz. pack of cheese tortellini
• 1/4 cup Italian dressing
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette
• Shaved parmesan
• Pepper
• Cherry tomatoes (optional)
• Olives (optional)

Directions:

This is the tortellini that I used. Good ole Walmart. You can also use plain pasta if that's all you have. Cook according to instructions. For me, that just meant boiling it until soft.

Cube the mozzarella and slice up the pepperoni.

Toss the mozzarella in a large bowl.

Add the pepperoni.

Toss in the tortellini. Preferably, this would not only be cooked, but cooled so it doesn't melt the cheese. If you're adding olives or cherry tomatoes, now is the time to do it. Both of those are choking hazards in my household, so we're staying away from that.

Add the seasonings and dressings, stirring well.

Top with shaved parmesan and serve cold.

Even though tortellini is normally heavy, this meal is surprisingly light and fresh. It won't leave you feeling overly-full and gross. Perfect for summertime when I am, coincidentally, already feeling gross.

Love and summer (if I have to),