Try It Sunday: The saddest little summer salad you ever did see.

I feel like I have to start this off by telling you I'm not actually a bad cook and I'm usually far more prepared than I was when I set out to make this salad for Matt.

This isn't actually a "recipe" per say, it's more of a "dump what I have and call it good" salad because that's essentially what I do. 

Ingredients:

- a meat (I'm using diced ham here, but I usually use tuna because that's what Matt prefers)

- a pasta of your choice (I usually use rings or elbow macaroni, but this week I had bow ties)

- mayo

- mustard

- onion 

- carrots (I didn't have any. Whoops!)

- peas

- Ranch dressing

- some kind of shredded cheese (totally optional, and I'm only using it because I used ham)

Now, I consulted Edward before I decided to cook and he assured me that I did indeed have peas. 

It turns out Edward was wrong. But I found these and I thought maybe I could make these work. Except then I realized, I had no recollection of buying these. Where did these come from? Oh yes, they were from my brother's freezer from when he moved. Over a year ago. 

Turns out, things can go bad in a freezer so these weren't smelling great as I cooked them and they looked vaguely like spinach. So I threw them out and went with plan B. Just wait till you see what that was. 

Anyways.  

So while I was chastising Edward over his absolute screw up, I got everything else ready. My pasta was cooked, I chopped my onion, I got everything all ready while my veggies cooked and then cooled.

Yeah that's right, I went with mixed vegetables. Don't judge, people, don't judge. It's what I had and I wasn't trying to run to the store for peas only. But it also solved my carrot problem so really, this was a win.

Dump everything into your bowl and mix. There aren't any measurements on the mayo, mustard, or dressing because it's kind of to your taste.

Matt likes it so it isn't goopy, but you can still taste all of the different things in it. I don't eat any of this because I hate basically everything in this aside from the noodles and cheese.

Edward was feeling pleased because somehow, I was able to not make this ridiculously ghetto. Matt ate the entire huge container for breakfast at work because he is gross and weird.

Try It Sunday: Lemon Bars

I'm the first one to tell you I love to bake, but I kind of suck at it. I shouldn't say that. There are some things I can make and make well. Other things... not so much. Don't ever ask me to make a bundt cake because it'll come to you still in the pan. It's just the truth.

That means I basically stick to super easy baking recipes you cannot screw up. Once upon a time I was in Barnes & Noble looking through the bargain and clearance books and I found this cookbook.

It's not very big, but it's amazing. It's seriously the most used and best cookbook I own. If you can't bake without starting a fire, you need this book in your life.

Also, we'll be cooking with Edward today.

So one of my favorite things ever are lemon bars. Unfortunately, lemon bars from scratch are a pain in the ass and I don't think they ever really taste lemon enough. But these bars? DELISH. And lemony.

You need: one box of lemon cake mix, 2 eggs, and a 1/3 cup of oil. That's it. 

Go preheat your oven to 350 while you mix. 

Dump it all into a bowl and mix. It's super thick, so just make sure you mix it well. 

It is super thick. 

Now, it says this will fit a 9x13 pan that you've greased. It does not. Well, I've never gotten it to spread into a 9x13, so go for an 8x8 pan. Unless you really like lemon bars, then you'll do a double batch of this and get it into a 9x13. 

Like me. 

Bake this baby for about 20 minutes if you do a double batch. Otherwise it's 13-15 minutes. Basically you want it to be golden brown on the top. 

Like this. 

It does rise (it IS a cake mix, after all), so mine basically looks like a weird sheet cake. But who cares because it's delicious. 

I cannot emphasize this enough! 

Now, if you aren't a total loser and actually have powder sugar, sprinkle that on top. If you are like me, you ran out and assumed you had some because you usually do but it turns out you don't, so you don't get powder sugar on your yummy bars. 

But this is a GREAT recipe to bring if you are going to a potluck. I'll bring this with a little container of raspberries and blueberries to have on the side. Yummy. 

Try it Sunday: Pot Roast you can't screw up

Each Sunday I'm linking up with Stacey for her recipe linkup. 

Hello, lambs! Welcome to another edition of Try it Sunday!

This week we are making Pot Roast. I'll confess to you I have absolutely never, ever made a pot roast in an oven. I have always done it in a slow cooker and it works so well I'll never change my ways. Normally I make this a lot in the winter but Matt requested it and truly, it's not that expensive to make and it's EASY.

Admission: this is a recipe I found off of Pinterest a few years ago and it's kind of been my go to. Traditionally, I use an onion soup mix but this tastes so much better.

 My basic ingredients is a boneless roast, a packet of brown gravy, a packet of ranch dressing, and a packet of italian dressing. I also include an onion, and sometimes I'll throw in some carrots if I have some left over from a salad or just for snacking, and sometimes I throw in potatoes.

I put my roast into the slow cooker and toss in my onions (and carrots and potatoes if  you have them), and I sprinkle a bunch of cracked black pepper over it. I have a steak seasoning blend I bought on a whim and I used that this time and it was great. 

Next I put about a cup of water in a measuring cup and add all three packets. I mix as well as I can, but it looks kind of disgusting and questionable.

Just pour that over your roast. I started mine around 9 am and it was maybe only half thawed out (I had my roast in the fridge over night) and cooked it on low until about 5:30. Once it hits 8 hours in my slow cooker, it automatically goes to a "warm" setting and that's just fine. 

This is what it'll look like at the end. Normally if I'm making mashed potatoes for Matt, I'll take some of this liquid and mix with some flour on the stove to make a gravy. I didn't this time because we weren't having mashed potatoes, but it does make a good gravy. 

Instead we had green beans from my in-law's garden and some pasta side dish that was on sale for $.55 at the grocery store. The best thing is that this pot roast makes an excellent sandwich the next day as leftovers!