Slow Cooker Week

I love my crock-pot but I don't use it nearly enough. However, this week I found two recipes that I wanted to share with you! Hopefully, it will encourage you to dust yours off and put it to good use!

The first one is a a Weight Watchers recipe (Yes, I'm on the wagon again). It's called "Zero Points Value Slow-Cooker Soup". This is a variation on their original zero point soup only this one uses spinach instead of cabbage.

10 oz baby spinach leaves
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 medium celery ribs, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium garlic clove, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
28 oz canned diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, crushed

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker; cover and cook on high for 5 hours. Remove bay leaves, stir, and serve. Yields about 1 cup per serving. Serves 8.

**I doubled this recipe. I saved a portion (about half) for the fridge to eat on over the weekend and froze 5 individual servings that I can take to work for lunches!!!***

The second recipe is probably the easiest thing I have ever made in the crock pot (besides, maybe, hot apple cider....which I didn't actually make....I just heated)! You will LOVE this...

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each)
1 pkg dry Italian salad dressing mix
1 cup chicken broth or warm water

Place chicken in a 4-quart or larger slow cooker. Add dressing mix and water. Cover. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

That's it!!

I also doubled this recipe. The first night, I served this chicken sliced (you need to let it cool slightly) with steamed broccoli and buttered noodles. The chicken was so moist and it has a wonderful flavor! I then made several meals with the left overs!

For one thing, this chicken shreds like a dream! I made Farmhouse Chicken, chicken salad, chicken soup (I also saved the cooking liquid) and I took the last piece to work...shredded it over lettuce with some tomatoes and mushrooms and had a really good, low fat salad! It would be great for chicken tacos or enchiladas.

This is the perfect time of year for soups, stews and chili. Let the slow cooker work for you so you can spend some time in front of the fire, snuggling with your kids!

Enjoy!

Recipe Swap Thursday!

Therese from Musings of a Mom has started a Recipe Swap that she will post about on Thursdays! I am very excited as I am always looking for new things to prepare for my family.

After all, the same old thing is....well....the same old thing! However, there are a few things that the kids seem to ask for over and over. I realize that it's the middle of the summer and soup is not the meal of choice. However, this one is easy, delicious and since it's made in the crockpot...the kitchen stays cool!



CrockPot Pizza Soup

1-1/4 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups water
1 can (18 ounces) pizza sauce
1 cup chopped pepperoni
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes or 1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup cooked Italian sausage, out of casing and crumbled
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning (oregano, parsley, basil)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
shredded Mozzarella cheese

In large saucepan, saute onions and mushrooms in olive oil 2-3 minutes or until tender. Add everything to the crock pot except the cheese. Simmer on LOW 6-8 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours. Before serving, add Parmesan cheese and stir in. Garnish with mozzarella.
****I usually double the recipe so we have leftovers and I also add more meat to make it heartier. Serve it with garlic bread/toast. You could also add any other ingredients that you like on your pizza (bell peppers, olives etc......)

I've blogged about this before here (with pictures)! You really should try this! Your kids will love it!

Sunday Supper!

When I was a little kid, I loved Sundays. That was the day when all my Italian family members would gather for a meal. Sometimes lunch, sometimes dinner but it always involved pasta and meat of some kind. I have such fond memories of the way the house smelled and I can still hear the way my Aunt Tootie laughed.

Then, there came a time when I hated Sundays. My parents were divorced when I was 9 and my mom had full custody of my sister and I, but we spent every other weekend with my dad. Those years were very hard. Without going into too much detail, l was miserable with my mom. I would literally count off the days, hours and minutes until the next time I would see my dad. I hated Sundays because that was the day that he would bring us back to mom's. Then, I would start the count down again.

As an adult, it got better but Sundays was still the day before going back to work....usually after a very fun and active weekend with friends. Not my favorite day by any stretch of the imagination.

Now, as a wife and mother...Sundays mean so much more. It's a day for God and family. I love to have Dan's parents over for dinner. I try to do this as often as I can because I want my kids to have good memories of Sundays. During the week, we often eat off of paper plates. This really cuts down on the dishes (we don't have a dishwasher).....but NOT on Sundays. On most Sundays, I bring out the good dishes and set the table as well as serve from the table.

Tonight, we had Crockpot Cubed Steaks, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and biscuits. For dessert....fresh sliced peaches with ice cream. I got the recipe from The Flowering Dogwood.

Here's a picture of the prepared recipe from the blog:

And here a picture of what our supper looked like tonight:

How'd I do??? (Just so ya know, I didn't need that knife to cut the steaks....the fork worked just fine!).

Success....

Well, I managed to get some things done today. About 10:30am God blessed me with a small burst of energy...and I took advantage of it! For one thing, the crock-pot pork chops were very easy and very tasty. Here are the only ingredients:

The recipe called for 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup soy sauce, 1 cup ketchup, 2 cloves of crushed garlic and 6-8 chops. I had eight, very thick bone-in chops but in the future, I would use the thin cut. Even though these cooked for 6 hours and were "fall off the bone" tender, the thick and meaty part of the chop was a little stringy. The sauce was wonderful and the kids loved it. I will definitely use this recipe again. I think it would be really good for the pork country ribs too.

And here was my finished meal...with fresh green beans and noodles with olive oil.

For dessert, I made a strawberry jello "thingy" with a pretzel crust. This was extremely yummy! A friend had made this before and I happened to run across a recipe in cookbook for those dealing with cancer/chemotherapy.

When the kids got home from school, we worked on our Thanksgiving Tree. I think this is the worst excuse for a tree I've seen in all my life!! I guess that's just what you get when you're 5 days post chemo and dealing with an upper respiratory infection! I tried. Anyway, the kids had fun making additional leaves for our tree and thinking of things to be thankful for.

Well, here is our finished project...at least for today. We'll try to add more "thankful" things as they come up. Here's what the kids were thankful for..

Nathan: house, family, friends, school

Olivia: Nay Nay (this is what she calls Nathan)

Amelia: food, flowers and Billy from Jurassic Park????? I have no idea who Billy is or why she had Jurassic Park on her brain!!!

All in all, it worked out ok. We never did get to call Uncle Mark or Grandpa...there just wasn't enough of me left to do it but I'm sure they know how thankful we are for their service to our country. I'm proud to be part of a military family.....especially on days like this. We lit our candles on the mantle next to the Blessed Mother for our soldiers all over the world. Say a prayer for them tonight!!

Veteran's Day

Ordinarily, my kids would have had today off from school, but, because of a few days off at the beginning of the summer for Tropical Storm Fay....today is a make up day. I'm still not feeling well enough to tackle the Veteran's parade today so we'll celebrate quietly. If I can manage to get moving today...here are my plans:

• Get the kitchen cleaned and prepare for dinner. Tonight's menu: Crock pot pork chops with fresh green beans and a side of noodles.


• Put away folded laundry.


• Put up base for our Thanksgiving Tree.


• Have the kids cut out the leaves when they get home from school. After school snack: cheesesticks, sliced fresh strawberries.


• Complete homework.


• Call Grandpa and Uncle Mark to thank them for their service.


• Pray a family rosary for our veteran's and all who will serve our country.


• Collapse (uh...that would be me)

I wonder how much of this will actually get done? Well...either way, it's good to have goals...right?

Out of the mouth of babe's...

Lately, once my stomach settles down from chemo, I crave beef. I'm not sure why. Under normal (whatever that is) circumstances, I would usually choose a chicken or pork dish over beef. However, some time ago I came across a crock-pot recipe for Beef Bourguignon. I tried it and it was wonderful!! Beef stew can sometimes be rather, well, blah...but because this recipe called for bacon and red wine, it had such a rich and yummy flavor!! Served over hot buttered noodles, dinner rolls and a salad...it really is a perfect fall meal.

Since I was feeling better last night, I started to get everything ready for the crock-pot this morning. I fried up the bacon and then browned the beef in the drippings (yes I know....not a low fat recipe). The kitchen smelled absolutely incredible at about 9pm when I finally had packaged everything up to put in the fridge till morning. Nathan kept trying to steal pieces of bacon and cooked beef!! He said he couldn't wait until dinner time so he could eat "it all". He stood by me this morning as I gingerly poured all the ingredients (including the wine) in to start it on low. He again told me how he looked forward to our dinner tonight.

Since I worked today, I had Dan cook up the special noodles....Whole Grain Tigger Tails...to go with it. When I got home, I could smell that wonderful smell waiting for me. The table was set, the kids had been bathed and finished homework! This was a perfect night...and...I actually felt like eating! We all sat down together, said the blessing and served up dinner.

At this point...Nathan turned to me, looked at his plate and said...."Mom, how come everything you put into the crock-pot comes out looking the same...brown and mushy? This is gross!"

Dan and I enjoyed our dinner...the kids...well they had hot buttered Tigger Tails.

In case you're interested...here's the recipe.

Beef Bourguignon with Red Wine:

1 1b bacon, cooked, reserve grease
3 lbs beef, cubed
flour
1 to 2 Cups red wine
3 ribs celery, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
4 to 8 oz sliced mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
water

Slowly cook the bacon in a large skillet, remove to crock-pot. Dredge beef cubes in flour, brown in bacon fat. Transfer meat from skillet to crock-pot. Saute vegetables and garlic in remaining fat, add to crock-pot. Gently stir beef, veges, bacon, and wine (add a little water if needed). Add bay leaves, salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low 7-9 hours.