Most days I get a little baking in and I always have a nice square meal on the table at 5:45pm when Chris gets home..

-About 1 Teaspoon of Garlic Powder.-Salt and Pepper.

Dump it all in the pot.This takes about 5 minutes at the most.Of course, anything you can add that’s straight out of the garden ups the delicious factor, but it’s totally not necessary.

I have a medium pot, so this all fits in quite nicely.If you have a big crock pot, add more beans or tomatoes.

Here’s how it looks:.

At this point, depending on how much extra time I have and how happy the baby is, I might add a dash of this and that out of the cupboard or the fridge, but usually I don’t.This picture turned out pretty blurry, but you get a sense of things..

I always try to keep the middle of the table pretty simple.My family lets me play Martha Stewart on holidays and I don’t want to scare them off by doing anything too over-the-top.

I stick with what works for us and that’s usually a table runner, some tea lights, and some other little things scattered about.Also, I think salt and pepper shakers that are a little confusing as to which one’s which and where it comes out are starting to be expected..