The experiment continues

Tonight was beef and broccoli. http://pinterest.com/pin/96686723222620123/ I made this because it's what Pat gets every time we have Chinese food. Every. Time. I don't like it because often the meat doesn't taste done. So I thought, "Hmm. crock pot means long cooking time. Meat's got to be cooked enough even for me." I was right. It was good.

The first few bites tasted just like a pot roast. I was disappointed. But, the more I mixed it up with the rice, the better it tasted. I couldn't get it to finish in the crock pot though, so I have another dirty pot, but that's ok. My broccoli also turned out mushy, but let's be honest, broccoli doesn't taste all that great anyway.

I used to love broccoli, so don't start the hate just yet. But I've had a hard time eating it since I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Nathaniel. It was my one true food aversion. Before then, Pat and I were eating broccli three nights a week. (Keep your stinky fart smell jokes to yourself!) Being pregnant with that kid ruined broccoli for me to the point where I still have a hard time eating it (except for broccoli cheese soup, but really, how much is in there?) Now that Nathaniel is getting close to 4, I have just begun to be able to eat it again. I've had it roasted in the oven (which is awesome if you've never tried it- olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper at 400 for 30 minutes or so) and I've had it tonight. As I said, it was mushy, but still discernible as brocoli.

The recipe I used called for beef consumme, but that stuff's expensive so after reading the comments on the original recipe, I just used beef broth and a package of onion soup mix. I also added an onion to the crock pot, because the CHinese place has them in their beef and broccoli. I also cooked the rice in beef broth, instead of water, to give it added flavor. (If you don't do this, you really should. It's great and you've already got it in the house if you made the B&B this way. I use chicken stock when I make rice for stir fry.)

Anyway, as I said, it turned out good. I will definitely be making it again. Tomorrow is just tomato soup and grilled cheese, since half our house is Catholic- no meat on Fridays.

One thing I remembered that I wanted to add- I spent another $12 on groceries, since I didn't have enough cheddar cheese, and wanted to make cake cookies- http://pinterest.com/pin/96686723222533220/ - for school. I also picked up some snacks for Nathaniel, since we really had none in the house. He loves swiss cake rolls. He calls them "cakey things." How can you resist that? My total is still under $170 for the month though, not including milk. Not too shabby.

PS- I ate bubble up pizza for breakfast and lunch today, and still have enough for lunch tomorrow. That would be 6 servings for about $8.00 worth of ingredients.