The Caitlin Moss Blog

I just have to say, I really enjoyed my last round of crock potting , however, the meals were pretty hearty and I was feeling a little weighed down (I guess I loved those meals a little to much. Maybe it was the holidays, though. All I know is I gained 5 lbs.) So, anyhoo, I wanted to keep it somewhat light this round, plenty of protein meals ready to grill bake or slow cook, but since I'm also a die-hard pasta eater, a few sauces as well. Also, the pot in our crock pot broke (again!) so many of these meals can be made in the oven or on the stove. I hope you all enjoy!   Menu | 2 Apple Honey Pork Loins with Butternut Squash 2 Texas BBQ Rub Pulled Pork 2 Spaghetti Sauce and Meatballs 2 Greek Meatballs w/ Pitas 2 Dirty Rice 2 Alfredo & Pesto Sauce with Sundried Tomatoes 2 Smoked Sausage Bake 2 Zesty Herb Chicken Thighs 2 Chipotle Chicken Thighs 2 Herb and Wine Chicken Breasts 2 Butternut Squash Chili with Kale Grocery List | Meat: 4 Pork Loins ...

(This will become 20 meals. I forgot to take an after picture. I was too excited to be on top of things after a fun girls weekend.) This was way more manageable than my last round of 38 meals, let me tell you! I even did it with kids home and awake while the husband was at work. Success! For this round, I made 20 total meals, 2 of each menu item. For other crock potting extravaganzas, use the blogger search bar in the upper left hand corner of the screen and search for "crock pot." Menu | 2 Chicken Pot Pies 2 California Burritos 2 Sweet & Spicy Meatballs 2 Spaghetti Sauce 2 Tennessee Smokehouse Pulled Pork 2 Beef Stew 2 Chicken Enchiladas 2 Mango Salsa Chicken 2 Bacon Potato Soup 2 Italian Sausage and Peppers Grocery List | Meat: 2 bags of frozen chicken breasts 4 lbs. of beef chunks 2 lbs. ground Italian sausage 2 lbs. ground beef 2 pork loins (3-4 lbs. each depending on the size of your family) 2 packages of bacon 2 packages of Italian sau...

For the past four month I've been working through the Old Testament. The Old Testament is tough. So tough that I'm finding my head hurts and I just feel spiritually drained after my days reading. The Old Testament is dense, strict, and rich in the history of the world. And to be honest, it is a lot of information to absorb. (I know, I know. That's why they say you shouldn't read through the Bible too fast.) I am not an expert on the stories of the Kings, the prophets, the Judges, the priests, or anyone in these books. I have so much more to learn and study, I know. But here's what I do know. No one is perfect in the Old Testament. Not even close. The great stories we read about Moses, Noah, King David or King Solomon are simply portions of a life. Sometimes the ones we hear about most often omit the struggle, the disgust and the humanness in each person. We forget that even though David was a brave soldier with enough faith to defeat his giant and save Israel (1 ...

I've cracked the code, y'all. I have seen so many recipes for Pad Thai (thank you, Pinterest. But sometimes you are a liar.) and I've even bought the already bottled sauces and kits and NOTHING tastes even remotely like Pad Thai. Until now... And I really must give credit where it is due. Jen Hatmaker is a Christian author that I happen to like and it just so happens she loves food (probably more than me). I've tried a few recipes of hers that she swears by so I knew I could trust her. When she posted a Pad Thai recipe on Facebook I had to try it. The most important thing you'll get from this is the SAUCE - the part that is never right. There are a few ingredients she uses in the sauce that are only found at specialty food stores. I don't even know where an Asian one is around here, nor do I have the time/energy to burn going to another store so I Googled some easy substitutions and it totally worked! Jen's Sauce: 2 T Fish Sauce 3 T Palm Sugar ...

This project was a long time coming. When we first moved into our house 3 years ago I was so excited to paint this wall a dark chocolate brown and have it be somewhat of a feature in the room. So we painted it and we loved it but I could not figure out how to decorate it. I seriously disliked everything I put on this wall. It always looked great in my head and then, when executed, it looked like crap (for lack of a better term). After finally watching enough home renovation shows and pinning enough DIY projects on Pinterest, I had a better idea of what I could do with this wall so that I would love it. [PS - when it comes to DIY artwork, keep it as simple as you possibly can. Unless you are an artist, then go crazy. But for the somewhat-crafty like myself, simple is better.] This was my end result.  [We'll be painting the other walls in the house a greige-tope color and I'm debating whether or not to keep the brown. We shall see. I'm also planning on having D...

Meet Rubble. A little over a month ago, we got a puppy. It was kind of a stupid idea, really. Sure I love dogs. My husband loves dogs. My kids love dogs. My husband even promised me he’d be really disciplined with training him. And he is, when he’s home. That’s the funny thing about staying home with your husband’s pride and joy – the training, the poop on my new floors , the pee on the carpet, the jumping on the kids, the eating of the children’s toys – that all falls on me. Joy. Pure joy. The first week we had him, he was new and cute and loveable. The second week I’d lost my stamina and wanted to burst into tears at any given moment. I became stressed. Tense. Annoyed. I started yelling. Why did we get a dog? Why did we get a puppy? When you have two young children, that just doesn’t seem logical. I clean up enough poop, pee, and break up enough fights throughout the day, thankyouverymuch. [As I write this I’m ignoring the fight over a lego. Really. Because there aren’t e...

Okay, I went a little bananas this round of cooking. My husband said to me, "How do you come up with the weirdest numbers? Like why don't you just do 20 or 30?" The truth is, I don't say I'm going to do x amount of meals. My process is simply writing down meals I want to do. Then when the list is done, I go through and count, multiply it by two (because I usually make two of everything). This time I made 38 meals. 28 crock pot. 10 freezer. I shopped and Winco and spent $295 . That comes out to about $7.75 per meal including tax. (PS - I haven't been paying attention to my blog this summer. So, I apologize to those of you leaving comments that got responses weeks and months late.) As a fair [and obvious] warning, this is a lot of food. Like, so much I thought my cart was going to break as I wheeled through the aisles. I even hesitated at check out about a few meals. But, I was committed. I pulled through. And I was rolling deep on the way home. :) Here...