Easter Dinner made easy

Everyone eats a spiral sliced ham on Easter. However, with my tiny oven (seriously, it's tiny. It doesn't even fit a standard sized cookie sheet...), I opted for something else for Chris and I. I love my slow cooker with a passion. You can pick one up for as cheap as $7 at Wal-Mart. I think mine was roughly $15 and it's a good sized 4qt one.

Meat tips: For Chris and I, the huge pork and beef roasts at Safeway / Dominicks tend to be a bit much. Even a 7lb roast is too big. Try and find the smaller butt cuts if you're just feeding two. They generally run around 3lbs and are plenty enough for us.

Pork Pot Roast:


1 3lb pork butt roast
1-2 bags of stew vegetables (Around $4 for two bags from Safeway!!)
3-4 red-skinned potatoes, whole
1 package of McCormick Beef Pot Roast seasonings

Place the stew vegetables and potatoes on the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the pork roast on top of the vegetables. Pour over the seasoning packet on the vegetables and the beef. I put about two cups of water into the slow cooker as well. If all of the seasoning packet isn't dissolved into the water, don't worry. You'll be cooking this thing for 6-8 hours on its own, or longer if you wish. The steam and melting of the fat in the pork roast will dissolve the rest of the seasoning. Speaking of which, switch that baby onto high, stick the lid onto it, and forget about it. If you have oodles of time, you can stick it on low for 10-12 hours and it will still be just as good! After it is done cooking, take two forks and shred the pork. It should be very tender by this point. If it's not easy to tear apart, you may need to cook it an additional hour or two. I use tongs to get the deliciousness out of the slow cooker so I don't burn myself.

Grandma's Sweet Potatoes


1 large (24 oz or bigger) can of Princella Sweet Potatoes (or whatever brand you like)
1 bag of marshmallows (mini ones, or I found these neat ones that are already in planks for s'mores)
1 cup of light brown sugar
Get out that brownie pan again!

Drain out the sweet potatoes. Pour them into the brownie pan and mash them with a fork. You can make them as smooth or chunky as you like. Cover the top of the mashed sweet potatoes with the brown sugar. Then, cover the top with the marshmallows. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and stick the pan in the oven. Wait about 10 minutes and check on them. You should see a light brown crispy top to the marshmallows. They will puff up so if they start to rise above the edge of the pan, don't freak out. Once you take them out of the oven, they will deflate. Make sure to let them sit on the counter for a few minutes so  the marshmallow can reset itself. Spoon and enjoy. :-)

Omnom Pasta and Broccoli


1/2 box of rotini pasta (I like Barilla personally)
1/2 block of Velveeta cheese. (You can use the flavored ones now too!)
1/2 cup of chopped up, thawed, broccoli

Cook the pasta as directed. (10-12 minutes at a full boil, usually). Drain the pasta, but reserve some of the pasta water. About 1/4 to 1/2 a cup should do. Add in the cheese and turn the heat onto medium-high. Melt the cheese into the pasta. Add in the chopped broccoli (I can find it pre-chopped and frozen usually in my freezer section). Cook the broccoli throughly. Spoon out and enjoy! :-)