Crockpot Monday

The girls and I are going to the Cruisers story time at the library this morning. We will head to the park afterwards and by the time I get lunch fed to them and get them down for naps this afternoon I won't have a bunch of time to make dinner. The crockpot is a busy mamas best friend on days like this, normally we use our crockpot AT LEAST once a week. This is one of my all time favorite recipes for our family and a great one if you are expecting a bunch of guests and were thinking Italian. A friend of mine Rachel gave me this...

2-3 lbs boneless chuck steak, cut into 1/2" strips
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (26oz) jar of pasta sauce (we use Newman's Own Marinara)
Shredded Mozzarella
Veggies of your choice, ours are...
box of frozen chopped spinach
green pepper
mushrooms
zucchini
yellow squash
or whatever we have in the house at the time

Brown steak in a skillet using 1 tbsp olive oil, transfer to crockpot. Sautee onions, garlic, and other veggies with 1 tbsp olive oil then transfer that to crockpot. Pour sauce over everything in crockpot, stir to coat, and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Right before serving stir in a hand full or 2 of the mozzarella. Serve over whole wheat linguine with a salad and warm Italian bread and watch your kids (and husbands) devour it!

This picture cracks me up. I wonder what has them both so intrigued with our (almost completely broken) wicker loveseat.