American Chop Suey

There's nothing better in the winter time than comfort food and to me, this American Chop Suey is the epitome of comfort food. I mean really, who doesn't LOVE a dish with ground beef, tomatoes, all kinds of other fresh veggies, noodles, and cheese? My little guy absolutely LOVES this too.

The Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained

5 bacon strips, diced

1 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced (I used 1 green and 1 yellow pepper!)

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes --- any flavor, or plain

1 can water (empty tomato can)

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 (26-ounce) jar prepared pasta sauce

1 (16-ounce) package elbow macaroni

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. In a large skillet, brown the beef, bacon and onion all together until the meat is no longer pink. Drain well and plop into your slow cooker. Add everything else into the pot except for the pasta and cheese.

Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or high for about 4. Stir in the raw pasta and cook on high for approximately 30 minutes, or until pasta is bite-tender. Serve in a wide-mouthed bowl with a handful of cheese on each serving.

Margarita Chicken

I am with out a doubt beyond addicted to the blog a year of slow cooking. In fact, I begged my brother to buy me her cookbook for Christmas--and he did. (Now I just need to go buy the 2nd edition.) 90% of her recipes are using ingredients I commonly have around my house, so I don't need to make a special trip to the store to make a healthy and well balanced dinner for my family.

This chicken recipe I have made SEVERAL times and I'm SO in love. I've used both boneless skinless breasts and thighs. Both work well.

Even Bryson enjoyed this chicken.

The Ingredients

--4-5 frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs

--1/4 cup Dijon mustard

--1/4 cup honey

--1 T soy sauce

--2 minced garlic cloves

--3 T margarita mix

The Directions.

--mix your sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl

--plop the frozen chicken in the bottom of your crockpot

--cover with the sauce (I usually double the sauce recipe so the chicken is pretty submerged in it while cooking)

--cook on low for 7-9 hours or on high for 4-5. I normally flip the chicken over half way through cooking so the other side gets nice and caramelized.

Cream Cheese Chicken

Big surprise, right? Another slowcooker dish. This one is a spin off of my favorite chicken dish--Angel chicken--although, it's MUCH healthier this way!!

The baby loved it, the husband inhaled it, and I had seconds :-)

Ingredients
--2 cans of cream of chicken/mushroom soup (I used one of each b/c that's what I had)

--frozen chicken--enough to feed four adults

--2 T Italian seasoning

--1/2 t celery seed

--1 T onion powder

--1 T sugar (weird, I know.)

--1/4 t black pepper

--1 t kosher salt

--2 cloves minced garlic

--block of cream cheese (to add later)

or you can make it with:

--1 can cream-of-something soup

--1/2 cup chicken broth

--frozen chicken pieces

--packet of Italian salad dressing mix

--2 cloves minced garlic

--block of cream cheese (to add later)

The Directions.

Put everything except for the cream cheese into the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and begins to shred. Shred the chicken with two large forks, and mix in the block of cream cheese. Switch the crock to high and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is fully melted.

Serve over pasta

Java Roast

This was AMAZING!!! I am SO addicted to the blog "A Year of Slow Cooking" that I can't help but use my slow cooker 5 times a week. (Click recipe title for the link)

I was a little skeptical with the coffee and cream cheese but seriously, it was unbelievable. Even the toddler enjoyed it :-)

Ingredients

--3 lb chuck roast, trimmed of fat
--3/4 cup brewed coffee
--1 yellow onion, chopped
--1 red bell pepper, chopped (I used yellow)
--8 oz sliced mushrooms
--1 t garlic powder, or 4-5 chopped cloves
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/4 black pepper
--1 T Worcestershire sauce
--3 T red wine vinegar
--4 oz cream cheese (to add at the end)

The Directions.

Use a 4 quart or larger crockpot.

I opted to not brown the meat and onions, and instead plopped everything in to the crockpot. I put the vegetables on the bottom, and then the meat.

Add the coffee, Worcestershire sauce, red wine vinegar, and spices.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. I cooked our meat on low for exactly 8 hours, and then it was on warm for another 3.

Carefully remove the meat from the pot, and stir in the cream cheese. I'd cut the cream cheese in slices and add it one at a time, if you can, to help it from separating in little white dots the way mine did. I got impatient. If you do get a bunch of little white dots, they will taste fine, but annoy you.