Corned Beef and Cabbage with Potatoes

We have to make this every once in a while for my hubby and kids and their Irish heritage.

This traditional dish is surprisingly one of the easiest to make.

Ready?

You need:

A large pot or crock pot

packaged corned beef with season packet

head of cabbage broken up or chopped

peeled and diced potatoes

water

Dump everything into the pot.  Incluing the juices in the meat package and seasonings from the packet.

This is meant to be boiled, so fill with water to the top of the contents of your pot.

Boil for 4-6 hours in a pot or on high in a crock pot

or on Low in the crock pot over night or for at least 12 hours.

When it is done, the beef will fall apart and be stringy.

the cooked cabbage will blend in with the potatoes.

Corned beef is a great source of Iron.  Corned beef and Cabbage has a ton of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, 1/8 your daily value of calcium,  and Potatoes have potassium.This is a high in sodium meal, but they do have lower sodium Corned beef if you look hard enough.

Crock Pot Cajun chicken

I found this recipoe HERE along with a ton of other Crock Pot recipes.

11/2 to 2	lb.	meaty chicken (breasts, thighs, drumsticks)
		non-stick spray coating
2	tbsp.	nonfat milk
2	tbsp.	onion powder
1/2	tsp.	dried thyme, crushed
1/4	tsp.	garlic salt
1/4	tsp.	white pepper
1/4	tsp.	black pepper

Remove skin from chicken. Rinse chicken, pat dry. Spray inside of Crockery Pot with nonstick coating. Arrange the chicken, meaty sides up in Crockery Pot. Brush with milk. In small bowl mix onion powder, thyme, garlic salt, white pepper and black pepper. Sprinkle over chicken. Cover and cook on low 8 to 10 hours (high 4 to 5 hours) until the chicken is tender and no longer pink.



Crockpot Homestyle Apple Brown Betty

6 Cups of your favorite cooking apples
1 cup breads crumbs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 C melted butter
1/4 Walnuts finely chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt

Coat crockpot with cooking spray.  Place apples at the bottom
Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and spead over apples

Cover and cook in crock pot on LOW 3-4 hours or on HIGH 2 hours until done.

Crockpot Creamy Chicken and Rice

This is probably my #1 go to thing I do with my crockpot. You know those packages of rice mixture thingies?? You know these ones:

Yeah! So I use these glorious mixes to make crockpot chicken. I've only used these 2 flavors so far but it is always a hit and always yummy and so easy! In my photo above I've used the cheddar broccoli one with frozen broccoli. Here is the recipe.

2 chicken pieces I usually use boneless skinless breasts

1 package of rice mixture

2 cups water/broth

1 can of cream of chicken

1 package of cream cheese. I love using the new cooking cream ones from Philadelphia

1 package of frozen veggies

2-4 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper optional

(Recipe can be doubled)

Place chicken in crockpot with butter and you can salt and pepper if you choose. Dump in the rice package and pour the water/broth over that. Then mix together the cream of chicken and cream cheese in a bowl and pour over chicken and rice.

Cook on low for about 6 hours or on high for 3. Can use frozen chicken if you want just adjust your cooking time. At the last hour or 2 pull out the chicken and cut it up or shred it. Put it back in the rice mixture and stir everything together. Add frozen veggies and stir to combine. Sometimes I add a little milk to thin it out just a tad but that is completely optional. Then let it all come back up to temperature and the veggies thaw as well. You could even add some cheese if you wanted.

Enjoy!!

BEEF... with options!

I am always ALL about the quickest, easiest, most versatile meals I can come up with. This recipe is great, because I can change it up pretty easily to make a variety of meals. Let's start with the basics...

1st
Select your beef. In the pictures, I used some thinly sliced skillet steak and cut it into bite size chunks. (I have also used leftover roast or steak, or stew meat.) If meat is uncooked, I take about 5 minutes to brown it before adding it to the crockpot.
2nd
In your favorite crock pot dump in 1 can beef broth, (or enough broth so that everything is touching some of the liquid)
about a cup of clean baby carrots,
some onion, (My kids aren't big onion fans, but we like the flavor, so I leave mine in big chunks so they're easy to pull out.)
the browned or leftover beef, and
chunky cut mushrooms
season with salt, pepper and garlic

(This is what it looks like after steps 1 and 2 are done.)

Steps 1 and 2 normally take about 5-10 minutes to throw together. Simmer on low heat until ready to eat. Mine usually sits all day- everything becomes really soft and tender. When you're ready to eat choose your "thickener". (I have found that if I add my thickener earlier my dish gets really gooey and clumpy... so that is why I wait until about time to serve)
3rd (Thickening options)
OPTION A :Italian "stew"
add 1 small can tomato paste, Italian herbs to taste ( I really like fresh basil!), and serve over your favorite pasta or with polenta. 
OPTION B: Gravied beef and veggies
Remove most of the liquid from the crockpot and use it to make a beef gravy. You can use a gravy packet if you want- substituting the broth for water in the recipes, or you can thicken the liquid by incorporating flour, corn starch or cleargel. ( Cleargel is a great thickener, if you can find it!) Add the gravy back into the crockpot, coating everything. Serve over egg noodles, mashed potatoes, or rice.

(After the broth has been made into gravy and added back into the crock pot before serving.)

(Finished beef with gravy and veggies...)

OPTION C: Stroganoff
Add about a cup of sour cream to the crockpot and incorporate it in. You can also add a can of cream of mushroom soup if you want your sauce to be even creamier and thicker.  Serve over egg noodles or rice.

Thank goodness for Mom!

After a long day of running around and seeing old friends, the last thing I wanted was to come home and cook or clean.  I opened the door to a housewife's dream!  Someone else had cleaned up and prepared yet another lovely dinner.  I love that we've joined forces with my parents. 

So, here is tonights dinner.  Mom made salsbury steak, steamed broccoli, and banana squash.  The kids loved it!  I don't know what the woman does with squash, but it tastes so much better than anything I make.

For dessert we had Mom's banana-date bread and Butter pecan icecream.   YUM!

I'll have her post recipes later.

Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff

4-6 pieces of frozen chicken

16 ounces in weight of sour cream

2 packages of onion soup mix

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (or 1 can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of mushroom)

your choice of noodles or rice

I salt and peppered the chicken, and also added 4 tablespoons of butter.

Put the chicken into the slow cooker. In a bowl mix together all other ingredients and then pour over chicken in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. During the last hour cook your noodles or rice. I also took the chicken out on a place and shredded it with 2 forks and added it back. Then add drained noodles or fully cooked rice to the mixture. Cook for another 30 minutes to and hour.

I forgot to take a photo, but this dish was really yummy, and obviously very easy. The hubby and kids loved it so I will for sure make it again.

I'm really into my slow cooker lately! I love the ease of it and the food is really good. Enjoy!

Chicken and Rice

I got this recipe from my best-friends dad. I forgot to take a picture when I made it so this is in the tuperware before I warmed some up for my hubby for lunch yesterday. Boneless-Skinless Chicken breast
Cream of mushroom soup
Rice
water
S&P to taste


For every chicken breast use one can of crean of mushroom soup and half a can of water. Take your chicken, cream of mushroom soup, and water put in a casserole dish. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour. (the time may take longer depending on how big your pieces are and whether they are frozen or not). Make rice, they amount depends on how muchyou need.

Once the chicken is down place a piece of chicken and some of the cream of mushroom sauce over the top of the rice.

Note: This can also be done in the crockpot, if needed to start in advance.

Round Steak Variations (Crock Pot)

Put enough round steak to feed your family in your slow cooker.

Cover with Cream of Mushroom Soup and season with Worchestershire Sauce and Pepper

Cook 4 hours on HIGH for Thawed meat
Cook 6-8 hours on LOW for frozen

Serve over Mashed Potates or Rice

~~~

1 Chopped round Steak cut up
1 onion chopped
1 green onion chopped
3 T. soy sauce
1 pkg French style green beans

Brown steak and put all ingredients on top of steak and cook on LOW all day. Serve over cooked rice.

Lazy Stew (Crockpot)

1 lb. Stew meat
1 qt chopped carrots
2 chopped onions
4 large potatoes sliced
2 sticks of celery diced
1 tsp salt and other seasonings
1 Can Tomato Soup thinned with one can water

put in crockpot, cover with lid, and bake at 275 (LOW) for 5 hours.
Add whichever veggies you'd like but be sure to slice them.

Stuff Over-A-Baked Potato

This is really easy to make. Cook time is about 30 mins.

Ingredients:
1 lb of ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of french style green beans (I get the ones with almonds in them)
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Spices to taste (sometimes I just use Mrs. Dash classic italian seasoning):
Oregano
Basil
Pasley
Italian Bread Crumbs
S & P to taste
Potatoes

In a skillet cook the ground beef, chopping it up as it cooks. Once the meat is cooked put the cream of mushroom soup, green beans, and spices in to the skillet. Mix together. Once everything is cooked, spread over the top of a baked potato and sprinkle with cheese.

Substitutions:
Instead of a baked potato I've used left over mashed potatoes. Also, I've made noodles (any kind you like) and mixed everything together. Kind of a homeade hamburger helper.
During cold season I've also chopped up an onion and cooked it with the ground beef.

This can be combined in a crock pot it needed to serve later.

Crockpot roast

Okay, so I found this picture online. It is identical to the one I am now using at Grandpa's house. I'm trying to consider it "cooking retro." LOL The funny thing? It works better than the new ones!

Sunday we had roast...

Crockpot
~Beef or Pork Roast
~onion or Golden onion soup mix
~Cut up potatoes and carrots
~Water up to 1/2 of the roast

Frozen meat--on low overnight
Thawed-- low 8 hours high 4-6 hours

LEFTOVERS!!! Re-heat or make a stew or sandwiches

Wednesday Dinner Post from Denver

Today I made Campbell's Nacho Chicken and Rice Wraps for dinner. I recently copied the recipe out of a slow-cooker cook book at the library. It turned out well although a bit thick (I left it cooking a bit too long). Here's the recipe just in case it sounds good to anyone else :-)

Makes 10 servings, Prep time 10min, Cook 4-5 hrs

2 cans campbells chedder cheese soup

1 cup water

2 cups pace chunky salsa or picante sauce

1 1/4 cups uncooked regular long grain white rice

2 lbs bonless chicken breasts cubed

10 flour tortillas

Combine all but tortillas in the slow-cooker and let her rip! Serve hot.

Next time I make this I am going to cut the recipe in half, and possibly use cooked chicken (possibly left overs) to cut down the cooking time and prevent the mixture from getting to thick. (Just a thought)

Cafe Rio Pork Salad

Cafe Rio is a Mexican restaurant here in my state.  Oh man, it has the best food!!  It doesn't help that it is right across the street from my house either ;)  When my friend gave me this copy cat version of their pork salad.  I knew I had to try it!  We tried it once and got hooked!!

There are three parts to the salad: the rice, the pork and the dressing.

Lime-Cilantro Rice

2 tbsp. oil

4 c. long grain rice

6 cups water

1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped

juice of 2 limes

2 tsp crushed garlic

Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Add the rice, cilantro and garlic.  Saute 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add water and lime juice.  Bring to boil.  Then reduce heat and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed by the rice (about 20 minutes)

Cafe Rio Pork

1 (16oz) bottle of salsa

1 can coke

2 c. brown sugar

4-5 lb. pork roast

Place pork in crock-pot and fill it half way up with water.  Cook roast on high for 5 hours.  Drain off water.  Cut pork in thirds.  Put back into crock-pot.  Mix together salsa, coke and brown sugar.  Pour over the top of pork.  Cook an additional 3 hours on high.  Shred pork with forks.  Leave it on low until ready to serve.

Note: I have used chicken as a substitute (It is pictured above)  It is just as good this way, as well.

Creamy Tomatilla Salad Dressing

1 pkg. hidden valley ranch buttermilk dressing

1 c. buttermilk

1 c. mayo or sour cream

2-3 tomatillas (peel off outer leaf/shell)

1 tsp. crushed garlic

3/4 bunch fresh cilantro

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

juice from 1 lime (2 tsp)

Salt and pepper

Blend all ingredients in blender.  Refrigerate.

Assembly: Put a tortilla on a plate.  Then put rice, pork, some chopped lettuce and the dressing.  (You can add beans as well) 

Finally, garnish salad with cheese, tomato, crushed tortilla chips, sliced avocados,etc.

Note: I strongly prefer the uncooked tortillas over regular old packaged tortillas.  Check the refrigerated section of your local grocery store.  Our Costco carries them too.  Just throw tortilla in a pan over the stove top, give it a few flips and it's cooked.

You can also serve this burrito style.  My kids like it a little bit better this way.  

Enjoy!

Crockpot Pork Chops

Again, I unabashedly share my sister's recipe. It's awesome.

*4-6 good sized, boneless pork chops

Roll in mustard and flour then brown.

*1 family sized can of Cream o' Mushroom
*1 family sized can of Cream o' Chicken

Put browned chops in crock pot and cover with soups.
Let cook in crock pot on high 4-6 hours and serve over white rice.

Italian Chicken and Potatoes

2 boneless chicken breasts

1/2 c. Italian dressing

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 c. parmesan (the kind in the green can)

4 potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges

place chicken in the bottom of a crock-pot.  Sprinkle half of the Italian dressing, spices and cheese.  Put the potatoes on top or around the chicken.  Sprinkle with remaining spices and cheese.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Note: I double this for my family.

Crock-pot Chicken Cacciatore

*Boneless, skinless chicken (a in as many as you can fit)
*Marinara (I use newman's) 2 cans
*Bread crumbs
*Taco blend of Shredded cheese (abt. 4 cups)
*parmesan

In layers, pour ingredients in, covering the surface of your Crockpot. Repeat till all of your needed chicken is covered.

Sauce
cheese
chicken
Bread crumbs
Cheese
Sauce
cheese
chicken
Bread crumbs
Cheese

You get the point.

4-6 hours till chicken is cooked through, serve over noodles.