Creamy Tortellini and Roasted Veggies

Okay, so I have some disclaimers to make.

Our ugly and delicious dinner.

1. I am a portrait photographer. I am not a food photographer. The following photo, of tonight's dinner, does not represent my skills as a photographer nor any culinary skills that I may or may not have.
2. The only healthy thing about the following meal was the roasted veggies. This is probably an excellent meal to eat while you're carb-loading for a race. I'm most certainly not. I'm just eating this way because it's fall. And it's fun. I did get to shower today, though. So, that's something.

Onward and upward....sometimes when I'm at the grocery I just grab random stuff for that night of the week (and there's usually always at least one) that I have NO CLUE what we're going to make for dinner. Like...my brain just can't process what we have available to make or I'm not hungry for anything and/or I am just out of time. Whatever the case, I grab a few things I can throw in the freezer for such days as this. 

We had to take a full sick day on Friday because our baby (two-year-old) was battling a respiratory infection of some sort and needed me on the couch with her ALL DAY LONG. She was really sick, you guys, and it was really sad. What? Snuggle a sweet buttercup baby on the couch all day? Twist my arm. So...we did that. We watched show after show and learned that she REALLY loves the movie/musical Annie. She was still sniffly Saturday and by Sunday the other kids had whatever she was having. SO...we got behind on basically everything and I had to kick it into high gear today. We got a bunch of school work underway, laundry folded, other junk cleaned and I started dinner early, LIKE A BOSS. 

I remembered the tortellini (cue the harps, bells and trumpets). I've never made anything with tortellini before. So, I did the only truly logical thing. I made a cheese sauce for it. Friends, when in doubt, cover dinner with cheese and you'll be everybody's favorite mom. Just saying. 

Cheese sauce went like this-ish: 2c almond milk (or whatever you have); 1 brick of cream cheese; a handful of Romano; some butter; pepper; a bunch of garlic; flour and...I think that's it. Melt it all down on medium heat and stir it all together till it's thick and smooth. If you can't get the flour lumps out - stir a figure 8 in the pot until they start to thin out. That's not witchcraft; it works. 

Also? I know some of you Type A people are freaking out because there are no measurements listed and you're probably scrolling down to leave a comment right now and tell me there are no measurements. You know why? I have no idea how much of what I threw in there (I even guessed on the 2c of milk). And? It really doesn't matter. You have to trust me. Start with a 1/4 of flour and don't go nuts with the other stuff. You will be okay. Just  keep smelling it and taking taste tests. 

I threw the tortellini (frozen) in my crock and poured the sauce over. I cooked it on high for a while (a few hours) and checked for doneness. Once it was nice and cooked through, I left the crock on keep warm till dinner. 

On the side, we had my favorite Costco veggies (roasted in the oven with: olive oil, sea salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, Hungarian paprika, and dried minced onion). YUM. Listen to me...all you really need is salt, pepper and olive oil and your veggies. Add what you like!!! I cooked these around 425 for...you guessed it...a while. I don't know. 40 minutes maybe? Watch for doneness and don't burn 'em. 

Finally, my last starchy component - the Sister Schubert roll. If you like rolls. Please do yourself a favor and get some from the freezer section!! Delicious yeasty amazing rolls ready in 10 minutes. YUM!!

As always, enjoy!!! 

Slow Cooker Scalloped Potatoes!

It's a rare-occasion, but sometimes the Internet does indeed let me down when it comes to finding recipes. That rare phenomenon happened this morning as I searched - to no-end - for a crockpot scalloped potato recipe. Basically, this is what happened. Every recipe had ingredients that I didn't want to mess with; didn't have; or required time I didn't want to spend. So, alas, I invented something. We haven't sat down to dinner yet, but I smell the potatoes cooking and I think the outcome will be favorable. I also might have scraped the leftover sauce out of the pan and ate it straight. So I kind of know it's going to be good as long as I don't burn it.

Here's how it went down...

Prep work:

• Wash and thinly slice some red potatoes. I think I used 5 or 6 to feed our family of 6.  Tough, right? 

On the stovetop: 

• 2c almond milk - bring it to a boil
• Add in 1/4c flour - or just accidentally dump in some random amount like I did. It's cool. Stir till it's smooth.
• Salt, pepper, garlic, minced dried onion and butter (like 2T of butter).  Stir it up some more. 
• Throw in a handful of cheese. I don't know how much. Don't fret. Just put a generous palmful-ish in. And if you crazy, add more and more and more and more. I love cheese.

JUST DON'T FORGET TO STIR CONSTANTLY. K? I'm not responsible for your burnt cheese sauce, only my own. 

Now, layer it up in your crockpot:

• Spray the TAR out of your crockpot with a non-stick spray. Otherwise, you might as well just throw out your crock when you're done. 
• Layer 1: Potatoes (salt, pepper, minced dried onion and parsley them)
• Layer 2: another handful of cheese;
• Layer 3: pour on 1/3 of the sauce. 

Repeat 1-3 until you are out of ingredients or space in your crockpot. Top with some more pepper and parsley or whatevs. I use dry parsley because fresh parsley is like...I might as well just throw it in the trash right after I use it the first time. I never use a full head of parsley before it turns into a science experiment. 

Cook on LOW for 8-10hrs or HIGH for 4-6hrs. I cooked on HIGH because I basically can't think about dinner 8-10hrs ahead of time unless it's like Thanksgiving day or we have RESERVATIONS. Can I get an AMEN? 

Enjoy!!  I served it with baked ham/pineapple for my meat-eaters and boiled cabbage. 

We also had banana/vanilla wafer pudding - part of our homeschooling math and science lesson for the day. Sadly, I forgot to add the bananas. Live and learn, right? This is real life, people.