I'm in Love

with the old meat bin at the grocery store. That's what I call it. I'm sure they call it something that sounds much sexier. Needless to say that when it comes to buying red meat the old meat bin and I are monogamous.

Today, I was able to get hamburger meat for $1 a pound, Extra Lean Stew meat for $2 a pound and a rump roast for $4. I got at least 6 meals worth of meat for $10.

I threw the meat in the freezer and predict that next week tacos, roast and stew will be on the menu. What's even better is I already have most of the grocery's I need to complete these meals.

As for this week, I am hoping that after I make the tortellini tonight and a pot of pinto beans tomorrow, the ham will be all gone. I have a sneaky feeling I am going to have to pull one more itteration of ham and something out of the air to get down to the ham bone and make the pintos.

Any ideas other than the standard stuff you find on the internet when you search leftover ham?

Oh No I Didn't

Just feed the kids ham and Easter Eggs for dinner.

Left-Over Ham Recipe

I might have accidentally bought a 9 pound ham for the 4 of us for Easter. OOPS. We may be eating ham until the end of time. I may have just become the Bubba Gump of ham.

Here's what I am cooking tonight or tomorrow. It's different than most of the leftover ham recipe's you will find out there and it is really easy and good.

Tortellini with Ham and Peas

• 1 lb cheese tortellini
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/4 lb ham chopped

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook tortellini until just al dente as package directs. Add peas for last 30 seconds of cooking time.

Drain tortellini and peas and return to pot. Stir in butter, cream, salt, pepper, parm and ham. Turn stove on to medium and cook, stirring until everything is heated through about 2-3 minutes.

Not Me Monday - The Locked Out Edition

Big Chocolate did NOT lock himself out of his office last Sunday. He did NOT lock in his keys and cell phone.

He definitely did NOT lock his shoes in his office either. He did NOT have to go downstairs to the Mexican restaurant barefoot to call for help.

I did NOT have to go ring my neighbor's doorbell to bum a ride to my car so that I could go and rescue him.

I am NOT secretly amazed that this story didn't happen in reverse. I would have bet money that I would be the one to be locked out and desperate.

On a completely different note, I did NOT catch my self flipping the imaginary blinker on my shopping cart before I turned left onto the tortilla isle at Walmart this weekend. The traffic in that store was hell I tell you.

Eggcetera

I have a confession to make. I went to Costco last month and bought the super king kong mega pack of eggs. Fifteen dozen eggs. I cannot believe it, but we ate all 15 dozen. We didn't even cheat by making Easter eggs with them either.

I thought it seemed like I was buying a dozen eggs every other day. I guess I really was. Sad thing is that I just went to target and bought a dozen dozen eggs this week since they were 99 cents each. Even sadder thing is that I bought 15 pounds of bacon last week.

Have I mentioned that there are only four of us plus the constant stream of friends on the weekend? We eat a lot of breakfast! Just today we used 18 eggs for breakfast (for lunch) for 5 of us. We had yummy scrambled eggs with ham and cheese and a loaf's worth of french toast.

Crock Pot Coq Au Vin

You'll need:

2-3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (or more if you only have bone in)
1 pkg lipton beefy onion soup mix
1 cup beef broth
1 cup red wine
pkg mushrooms (baby bella's are best)
1 onion or pkg frozen pearl onions

Season your chicken well with salt and pepper. Brown it in a a couple tablespoons oil or bacon grease if you are adventurous. Layer chicken in your crockpot, dump onion soup mix, mushrooms and onions on top of chicken and pour in beef stock and red wine. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 2-3 hours.

You can use this same technique to cook a fabulous pot roast too. For other crockpot recipes visit SmockityFrock's What's in your Crockpot Carnival.