The Caitlin Moss Blog

In honor of my dad, this round of crock potting is gluten-free. Over the summer my dad was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and when I found out, I cringed for him. My dad, like me, loves food - all kinds of food but especially pastas, pizzas, bread. How on earth could we take out so many delicious foods that fall under the category of "gluten" and still be satisfied? Apparently it's not as hard as I thought. These recipes are REALLY good, completely satisfying, super easy, and very affordable. I did 30 meals for $168 (this includes a strainer I needed plus disposable trays for the two freezer meals). Keep in mind these recipes are NOT Paleo or AIP. They are simply GLUTEN FREE. That also doesn't mean fat-free or calorie-free. Sorry, folks! ;) You also won't find any cream of whatchamacallit or seasoning packets. Not because I'm completely opposed to them (though I do know they are highly processed and not good for us), but because most, if not all of them...

I love PF Chang's lettuce wraps and made my own copy cat version of them last night and they turned out great. Even my kids couldn't stop eating them which is always a bonus. And guess what, they took less than 10 minutes. For realz. Here's what you do: Get 2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cut (you remember this ? Well, I also had cooked and froze shredded, which I brought out and thawed that day.) In a medium pan, heat 3 drizzles of olive oil (or sesame oil) with 3 cloves of minced garlic. Add about 1 cup of teriyaki sauce, 2 Tbsp. of Rice Vinegar, and 3 Tbsp. of brown sugar. Once the sauce is combined and heated, add the chicken and a Tbsp. of sesame seeds. Last, take one head of iceberg lettuce and cut in half to use as the wrap. We served ours with a side of sticky, sweet and brown rice (made in the rice cooker, of course) and a salad with mandarin oranges and toasted sesame dressing. It was tasty!

I get asked this question a lot. I'll admit, I love a clean house and I have a pretty high standard of clean. I'm also not uptight about messes (despite what many people think). I know the difference between messy and dirty. I don't mind messy, I mind dirty. I figure as long as the floors are clean underneath the toys, the laundry, and the cheerios, all is well. Plus Maci and I suffer from allergies and asthma, and I know dirt and dust can aggravate those things tremendously. So I guess cleaning is one of my forms of preventative medicine. (ha. ha!) So to answer the aforementioned question, how do I keep my house so clean? Here are my tips and tricks. 1. The more you clean, the less you clean. No really. If you clean your bathrooms well every week, you spend less time scrubbing as the weeks go by because there is less build up which means less heavy duty cleaning to be done. Trust me. Even dusting isn't much of a task because I dust once a week (not a lot of dust ...

This week the crock pot meal of the week is Roast Beef Au Jus sandwiches. They were from my freezer meals in December and they turned out REALLY good and they weren't something you'd expect from a crock pot. Here's what you need: 1 package roast beef 2 cups water 1 packet au jus seasoning Cook on low for 2-3 hours (really just to heat up the sauce). I also added 4 sliced mini bell peppers the last hour. When the time is up, place meat on toasted hoagies, top with cheese and a side for dipping. Isaiah loved these and cried for them the next day. There's nothing like hearing your 3 year old saying "roast beef au jus."

I'd always heard those magical things existed...slow cooker liners that you put in your crock pot to make clean up a breeze. For some reason I could never find them or I never had the desire to look hard enough. The truth is they aren't hard to find at all, they just get hidden amongst the many different sizes of Ziploc bags. I bought 4 boxes of 4 at Target for $1.79 each (I think). Clean up was seriously this easy. I don't think I've ever cleaned the kitchen so fast. If you don't have these, get some! They are the best...almost as good as the crock pot itself.

I never quite understand why people say they don't like leftovers. I didn't realize those people existed until I became a mom. I hear it all the time, "I don't like eating leftovers." "My husband won't eat the same thing twice in one week." "My kids think it tastes like old." Shocking, I know. It's a conspiracy. We love leftovers. As a matter of fact, I actually reserve one night a week for leftovers. My husband loves to take them work for lunch but I, even more than that, love to use them to help me make another meal. I'm convinced most people just don't know what to do with their leftovers so allow me to break it down for you. (Or just give you some examples.) On Tuesday of last week I made crock pot Italian Sausage and Peppers over bow tie pasta. It's one of our favorites. But even I don't want to have that for dinner Tuesday and lunch on Wednesday and Thursday. Instead I made this: Italian Sausage, Peppers, ...

This is the side of my under the stairs closet. It's a great amount of space for storage but I'm still figuring out how to organize it. I keep most of our craft supplies in here and it always just looks like a jumbled mess. This week I found these super cute baskets in the dollar section at Target. I bought 6 (though I probably could have used more). What a difference. When my stuff is organized, I feel like my life is more under control. I've been completely overhauling the whole house...purging, cleaning, organizing. I like to get my Spring cleaning done before spring so I can enjoy any sunshine we get!

Roasts tend to be more "traditional" crockpot meals and I always prefer cooking mine in the crock pot because it's the easiest way to cook large chunks of meat with worrying about drying it out. In December I did 19 meals for $114 . This week we made the Balsamic Roast and it was GOOD - tender, tangy, savory. YUM! Here's the recipe: 1 Pork Roast 1/4 c balsamic vinegar 1 tsp sea salt 3 minced garlic cloves 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional) 1-2 cups broth or water I let it defrost in the refrigerator completely and cooked it on LOW for 8.5 hours.