Tonight's dinner was the picture of "comfort food." On a snowy day when I have a cold, this is just what I needed. I also got to use a couple of fun kitchen gadgets and that is always fun! I used this neat new-to-me handy dandy potato peeler a coworker gave me upon hearing I hate to peel potatoes and avoid making anything that requires peeled potatoes. Also, I used a crinkle cutter -- which makes dinner more exciting!
Ground Turkey Potato Dinner From Fix It And Forget It Lightly
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey
5 cups raw potatoes, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1/2 tsp. salt
dash of black pepper
14 1/2 oz. can green beans, undrained
4 oz. can mushroom pieces, undrained
10 3/4 oz. cream of chicken soup
Procedure:
Crumble uncooked ground turkey in slow cooker.
Add potatoes, onions, salt and pepper.
Add beans and mushrooms. Pour soup over top.
Cover. Cook on high 4 hours or low 6-8 hours.
I stirred it all together about 2 hours before serving.
Then whine in bed and have your husband serve you because you have a cold-- that makes it taste awesome!
I again found this recipe on A Year of Slow Cooking, my absolute favorite blog -- especially now that she's blogged much more than a year. The mixture of the soy sauce and pineapple makes a really savory dish. I would love to try this recipe with ham instead. I think it would be fab!
First of all, I must say this recipe is the first one that made me feel like a "real cook," because I had all of the spices, oils, etc. in my cabinet. My staples are starting to be adequate! As for the finished product, I wouldn't cook it as long next time and I would make sure its just a pound of meat -- I put in a bit more and bits weren't covered by the liquid. Otherwise its quite tastey with a bit of a "bite".
1 lb thin beef (in thin strips -- I used stew meat)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 T white wine
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T brown sugar
2 t sesame oil
2 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
1 bag thawed broccoli florets (to add later)
The Directions.
add the liquid to the crockpot
chop up your garlic, add to mixture
stir in spices
mix it all together
cook on low for 6-8 hours, depending on the cut of meat. Thicker pieces will take longer to tenderize.--an hour before serving, add entire bag of broccoli, cover and cook on high for another hour or so. Stir to coat broccoli.
What is better on a rainy day than a nice hot bowl of soup? Today was pretty much the rainiest, nastiest, January day we've had in awhile and I was happy to have hot corn chowder waiting when I got home. I found this recipe on my favorite Crock Pot Blog, A Year of Slow Cooking. The author of this blog found the recipe in Slow Cookers for Dummies and I made further adaptations. I really wanted to try this recipe when I saw how healthy it was, but was skeptical about taste when losing cream and butter. I really thought it was delicious and did not miss it one bit. It was a bit too soupy so I added corn starch to thicken, but next time I'd add more potatoes. Below is my adapted recipe.
2 medium potatoes (next time I’d add more potatotes)
Corn starch to thicken as desired
Procedure:
1. Brown the onion in the olive oil. Brown until it is soft, but not cooked all of the way.
2. Chop the carrots and pepper (the Pampered Chef version of the slap chop works great)
4. Chop the potatoes and leave skin on.
3. Put veggies in Crock Pot.
4. Add frozen corn.
5. Boil water and make broth.
6. Pour over veggies.
7. Cook on low 7-8 hour -- about an hour before serving, use your handy dandy hand blender to blend up the soup!
8. Enjoy!
I really liked the Creamy Crock Pot Chicken I made previously, however I didn't have all of the ingredients -- or much of anything else -- in the cabinets this morning. This is my variation, ie. what I could throw in the Crock Pot on a Sunday Morning!
Creamy Crock Pot Chicken Part Deux
Ingredients:
3 Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts (frozen)
1 chopped onion
2 sliced potatoes
1 tbsp. (or so) minced garlic (it was just whatever was left in the jar)
handful baby carrots
1 can fit and active cream of chicken soup
1 can milk
Cajun Seasoning to taste
Procedure:
Place all ingredients in the Crock Pot.
Cook on low all day
After a few hours the liquid will increase and you can mix it all together to ensure even cooking.
Yesterday as National Pie Day as declared by the American Pie Counsil! In honor of the holiday, I decided to make this Peanut Butter Pie today. My husband is diabetic and I made this for his birthday when we were first dating. Needless to say, three years later we are happily married -- It may have something to do with the pie!
My mom originally found this recipe when low carb was initially all the craze. However, it is so yummy and the fact that it isn't so bad for you is an extra plus. I have not tried making it with low-fat peanut butter or cream cheese -- but it would be something to try in the future. Instead of a pan, I put the pie in a chocolate pie shell from Aldi!
Here's my mom's recipe (as typed by her):
PEANUT BUTTER PIE
From the kitchen of the coolest, nicest, bestest mother…ME!
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup Splenda
1 container Cool Whip
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla
Combine softened cream cheese and peanut butter in a mixing bowl.When creamed together, add Splenda and vanilla.Fold in about ¾ container of Cool Whip to peanut butter mixture.Reserve remainder of Cool Whip for topping.Spread peanut butter mixture in an 8 X 8 or 9 X 9 dish and place in freezer for 2 - 3 hours.Remove from freezer and place in fridge.After it softens top with remaining Cool Whip.Enjoy!
Note: If you try to put the topping on without the freezing period and stick it directly into the fridge, it turns gooey and mushes together…if you freeze it then apply the topping and then store in fridge….it’s GREAT!
For a shower present, we received a gift certificate to a local gift shop. We spent the majority of the gift certificate on a book of local hiking trails, but with the remaining money we bought some fancy Raspberry Honey Mustard Pretzel Dip. Well, we've been married for six months and it was still in the cabinet. I had the brilliant idea to pour it over some chicken and cook it all day in the Crock Pot. Here's the result!
It came out looking very pretty and tasted great as well. Proving my theory that you can dump anything over chicken in the Crock Pot and get decent results!
When I was a kid, my mom served pesto and we all hated it! My dad called it "pissto." Wouldn't you know, however, that tastes change and I love it now. However, I hate when you buy some from the store and its too oily. I knew if I made my own, that it could be just the way I want. Plus, isn't homemade always better. I found the recipe below on another cooking blog and it was super easy. I used the bowl attachment for my hand blender instead of a food processor (because I don't have one) and it worked beautifully. Also, nothing compares to the fresh taste. Once the pesto hit the hot tortellini, tons of flavors and smells were released into the air. I did add an extra garlic clove over the recipe, because we LOVE garlic. It did take a whole three packages of Basil, so I have to do a price comparison -- or buy a basil plant!
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I used walnuts -- they are cheaper)
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Procedure
1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.
2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Makes 1 cup.
Serve with pasta, or over baked potatoes, or spread over toasted baguette slices.
I had this recipe planned for one of those days where my husband and I were merely ships passing in the night. We got home hours apart and both had several commitments. I prepared the Crock Pot and he stirred in the dairy when he got home, leaving the Crock Pot on low for me. We did not puree the chowder as directed, so it was more of a chunky soup.
Combine first 6 ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours. Puree in a blender or food processor, if desired, then return to pot. Stir in milk and butter; cover and cook on HIGH about 30 to 60 minutes longer.
So I've been away from my blog for awhile, but I did do some cooking and really need to get back into the swing of both cooking and blogging! Soon after my last post of Pepsi Pot Roast, we used the leftovers to make open faced hot sandwiches. I had just had an eye doctor appointment and my eyes were dilated when I bought the bread, so I ended up with French Bread with an herb topping that added quite the kick!
Oh my. All I can say is 'oh my." I've always been curious about those dishes made with soda or beer, but this truly was the best Crock Pot I've ever made! The meat was so moist and flavorful. I used the liquid to make a gravy with flour and water and it needed no additional seasonings. I used Wal Mart brand diet cola and the dish was incredible.
Pepsi Pot Roast From Fix it and Forget it Lightly
Ingredients
3 lb. pot roast
2 10.5 oz cans cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
4 cups of diet soda
Procedure
Place meat in slow cooker
In large bowl mix together mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix, and soda. Pour over roast in cooker.
Cover. Cook on low 12 hours. (Recipe says 6 hours on high, but this worked perfectly.)
The idea of Chicken flavored with 20 cloves was incredibly appealing to me! Then, then a pealing began! Twenty cloves later -- no vampire dared come near me! Add to that zesting and juicing a lemon, and I'm sure I was a fragrant mess! We won't even discuss how I forgot to turn the Crock Pot on and left my yummy Rosemary Chicken leftovers in the fridge -- Thank goodness my husband went to work late and could save me! I was surprised to find when I got home how sweet smelling the house was. I'm assuming this was from the wine?
Twenty-Clove Chicken From Fix It And Forget it Lightly
Ingredients
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp. chopped dried parsley
2 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 tsp. dried oregano
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
20 cloves of garlic
4 celery ribs, chopped
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (Mine were big so I did 4)
1 lemon, juice and zest
Procedure
Combine wine, dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, and dried red peppers in large bowl.
Add garlic cloves and celery. Coat well.
Transfer garlic and celery to slow cooker with slotted spoon.
Add chicken to herb mixture. Coat well. Place chicken on top of vegetables in slow cooker.
Sprinkle lemon juice and zest in slow cooker. Add any remaining herb mixture.
Cover cook on low 5-6 hours (longer if frozen) or until chicken is no longer pink in center.
I served with couscous and mixed vegetables. Dessert was a delicious fat-free chocolate pudding from Aldi.
My friend also has the Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly cookbook and has been raving about the Chicken Breasts with Rosemary recipe (pg. 11). I checked out the recipe this morning and was excited to learn that we had all of the required ingredients (well kinda) in the house. The recipe calls for dry white wine or chicken broth. My friend used the wine and I used the broth. One would think that this would create two different tastes. Also, the recipe called for 4 chicken breast halves and the package I had in the freezer had 5 pretty big ones, so I doubled the liquids. Here's my version...
Chicken Breasts with Rosemary
Ingredients
5 large boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces
3 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. lemon juice (original called for lemon rind, which I did not have)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp dried, crumbled rosemary leaves
1 cup fresh tomato, diced
Procedure
Place chicken breasts in slow cooker
Mix vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and broth. Pour over chicken.
Cover and cook on low 6 hours (longer if frozen which mine were)
One-half hour before serving, stir in rosemary and tomato.
Serves 4 or 5. I served with garlic and olive oil couscous and mixed vegetables.
