(Out of this World!!) Calico Beans

For our son's first birthday, I had a fairly simple, but savory menu put together. Of course, I had every intention of going all out for the affair, but when it came down to the wire, the only thing I had to time to be a little fancy with was the beans.

The "Old McDonald's" mac & cheese turned out horrible when I experimented a week prior, and I wasn't about to eat mac & cheese for **another** week, so we went with Kraft mac & cheese.

The pulled "piggy" sandwiches were simply a pork loin slow cooked in the crockpot with a little garlic salt topped off with bbq sauce and buns - so experimental, I know.

But the real hit of the event were these beans, shared with me by my friend (who had her second son the day after we had our little guy - we spent hospital time together) Rebekah. So THANK YOU, Rebekah for this recipe! It was a HUGE hit, and there wasn't a drop left (much to my dismay, but my waistline is thankful).

Without further ado, he here is the recipe:

NOTE: The initial recipe calls for 2 cans each of pork & beans, kidney beans and lima beans, but I just went with the Bush's beans, and they did not disappoint!

Calico Beans

Brown and cook slowly:

1 lb hamburger
1 C onion
1 lb bacon, diced

Mix together:

1 C catsup
4 t vinegar
2 t salt.
1/2 C white sugar
1 1/2 C brown sugar
2 tsp dry mustard
2 large cans Bush's Homestyle beans

Add meat and Mix well and bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Or cook in crockpot on low all day.

This is a double batch and it fills a crockpot.

Cranberry Catalina Crockpot Chicken

When I saw mention of this recipe on Mark's cousin's then-fiance, Lori's facebook page, I knew I just HAD to get the recipe! How could anything with an entire bottle of Catalina dressing be anything less than incredibly tasty?

What's even better? You don't even have to thaw the chicken breasts!!

It's so easy, I'm pretty sure my 4-year-old niece could figure it out!

You put about 4 frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot:

Then pour the following 3 ingredients over the frozen chicken breasts:

...a jar of jellied cranberry sauce...

...a packet of French Onion Soup Mix...

...and a whole bottle of Catalina dressing...


You then set the crockpot to 8 hours (or your "low" setting) and walk away.


8 hours later, when you're famished, you get this:


It was delicious! I served it with rice and broccoli and it went over pretty well!

Thanks for the great recipe, Lori! I need to try this again soon!

Apple Chicken Stew

A few months ago, my buddy Ang told me about this great recipe she found on Allrecipes.com for Apple Chicken Stew. I'm always a sucker for combining fruit and meat, but Mark is always a little more unsure about it. This one sounded a little more minimum on the fruity, sweet taste, so I decided to try it out after the Toro Employee Sale this morning.

So here's the recipe, with hats off to Carol Mathias from Lincoln, NE for posting the recipe on AllRecipes.com.

The Ingredients

I'm going to start out by separating the ingredients into 5 categories (and 6 steps): The veggies, the meat, the fruit, the spices and the sauce

The Veggies

You combine all the following in the crockpot: cubed potatoes, sliced carrots, sliced celery and sliced red onion.

The Spices

Combine the salt, pepper, thyme and caraway seed. Sprinkle half over the veggies.

The Meat

Cook the chicken in the olive oil...

...then put the cooked chicken over the veggies in the crockpot.

The Fruit

Put the peeled, diced apple over the meat in the crockpot.

The Sauce

Combine the apple cider and cider vinegar, then pour over everything in the crockpot.

Yeah, I failed to take a "finished product" pic, or a pic for this step. Ooops!

The Spices (again)

Sprinkle the rest of the spices over everything in the crockpot. Add the bay leaf.

Turn the crockpot to cook on high for 4 hours.

Eat it :)