Baked Spinach & Cheese Noodles

I didn't get to make most of the menu items last week because I was hit HARD by that stupid stomach virus. I think I ate more crackers last week than I have in my entire life. Unfortunately, me having a stomach bug meant that Dave & the toddler were on their own for dinner from Saturday through Wednesday.
Then Thursday was beautiful so we made burgers on the grill & Friday cooked steaks on the grill along with some veggies marinaded & grilled. MMMMM
Saturday night we made an amazing dish though. Baked Spinach & Cheese Noodles. This was absolutely incredible. Even the picky toddler LOVED it & kept signing more when his plate was empty!
I would definitely make a few changes to this recipe. I think it needs some diced onion and some garlic. Chicken would be a great add also if you're looking for something with a little meat. Otherwise, it was FABULOUS!! I will absolutely make this one again.

Ingredients:

2 T butter

1/3 cup flour

2 1/2 cups milk

1/2 t pepper

1 t kosher salt

3 T Dijon mustard

15 oz ricotta cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1 chopped red pepper

16 oz package of un-cooked noodles

The Directions.

I made a roux with the butter and flour, and then added the milk, the container of ricotta cheese and stirred in the spinach, red pepper, and spices. Oh! Use a big pot, so you don't have to transfer halfway through the way that I might have needed to do. And then you won't drop slimy spinach on the floor...

Spray the inside of your slowcooker with cooking spray and dump in a package of uncooked pasta noodles. Turn on your slowcooker so you won't "shock it" when you stir your cheese and spinach mixture into the noodles. Slowcooker stoneware shouldn't change temperatures rapidly.

Top with 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese.

Loose Meat Sandwiches

This was the first recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking that I wasn't impressed with. They sounded INCREDIBLE to me with all the tang from the mustard and the vinegar but honestly, I thought they needed something more.

The husband on the other hand LOVED them. He had 3 sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1 pound extra lean ground beef or turkey (the lean is more imp. than the type)

1 onion, finely diced

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 cups beef broth

8 hamburger buns (I used gluten free bread, toasted)

traditional hamburger fixen's (pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, mustard, etc)

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Crumble in the ground meat (it needs to be thawed, or it'll cook in a big clump). Add onion, sugar, spices, mustard, and vinegar. Pour in the beef broth. Mix well until everything is fully incorporated---you may want to use your hands. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Stir well before serving by scooping with a slotted spoons onto hamburger buns. Top with your desired fixings.

Chicken Parmesan

I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical of this one but honestly, it was AMAZING. The smell in the house all day was incredible. I literally could NOT wait until the husband came home to sample some. The chicken was SO tender that it fell apart when I tried to "stab" it with a fork.

The only change I would make would be to use panko bread crumbs next time & use some garlic and a little salt.

The Ingredients:

--2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

--1/2 cup bread crumbs

--1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

--1/2 t Italian Seasoning

--1/4 t black pepper

--1/4 t kosher salt

--1 T olive oil

--1 beaten egg

--sliced mozzarella cheese (i used shredded bc that's what I had)

--favorite jarred marinara sauce

The Directions:

--spread the 1 T of olive oil into the bottom of your crockpot stoneware insert

--whip the egg with a fork in a separate bowl

--mix the bread crumbs with the seasonings and the parmesan cheese in another separate dish

--dip the chicken into the egg, then into the bread crumb mixture, coating both sides with crumbs, cheese and seasonings

--place the chicken breast pieces in the bottom of the crock

--layer 2-3 slices of mozzarella cheese on top

--cover with entire jar of marinara sauce

--close lid and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4. If your chicken is still frozen, it will take longer.

Pork Tenderloin

A friend had given me a recipe for cooking this piece o pork that was in my freezer. Unfortunately, we had JUST gotten back from vacation & I didn't have most of the ingredients it called for...so I played around with it and boy was the finished product AMAZING!!

Ingredients:

--piece of pork tenderloin (mine was about 3lbs or so)
--3 cloves of garlic--minced
--Large Onion cut in rounds
--beef bullion crystals
--soy sauce
--pepper
--3/4 cup of water

Directions:
1. Sprinkle enough beef bullion crystals to cover the bottom of your slow cooker & add your onions on top.
2. Place your pork in the slowcooker.
3. Sprinkle liberally with pepper.
4. Spread the minced garlic over the pepper.
5. Sprinkle with a little bit of beef bullion crystals (I did like a 1/2tsp)
6. Pour in your water.
7. Use about 5 or so "shakes" of the soy sauce bottle and cover the top of your pork.
8. Cook on low approx 8 hours or on high approximately 4-6hrs.

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.

Brown Sugar Chicken

Yes, I know...slacker...I won't give excuses...

Tonight I made brown sugar chicken (click the title of the post for the link of the OP) and it was AMAZING!!! And fast :-)
Ever since we had our son, I'm all about uncomplicated, fewer ingredients, and no prep work recipes...& if I can throw it in the slow cookers, I'm all over it.

This was absolutely incredible. I served it with Orzo & steamed veggies. Even the baby inhaled it!

Brown Sugar Chicken

ingredients:
--12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, or 6 boneless, skinless breast halves
--1 cup brown sugar (it's okay. you can brush your teeth after.)
--1/4 cup lemon-lime soda (stay with me...)
--2/3 cup vinegar (I used white wine, but think regular white would be fine)
--3 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
--2 T soy sauce
--1 tsp ground black pepper

The Directions.

Use a 4 quart crock pot for this recipe.

Plop the chicken into your crock pot. Cover with the brown sugar, pepper, chopped garlic, and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, and pour in the soda. It will bubble!

Cover and cook on low for 6-9 hours, or on high for 4-5. The chicken is done when it is cooked through and has reached desired consistency. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Serve over a bowl of white rice with a ladle full of the broth.

French Dip Sandwiches

This is another hit at my house! SUPER yummy and SUPER easy! I found this in KellyCooks blog! SOOO amazing!

2lb beef roast
1packet dry onion soup mix
1 can french onion soup (i use the reduced sodium)
2 beef bullion cubes

Provolone Cheese for topping
Rolls for makin' the samiches!

Directions:
Place the beef roast, soup mix, can of soup, and beef bullion cubes in the crockpot.
Cook on low for at least 6 hours.
Shred the meat, reserving the juices in the bottom of the crockpot.

Toast the rolls, add the meat, top with cheese! YUM

The Best Beef Stew

Yet another recipe from my Fix It Quick: Slow Cooker. Hubby is a BIG meat and potatoes guy, so beef stew is definitely a favorite of his. I'm not huge on beef stew so I wanted to try something different--this was definitely amazing!!! We will be making this again for sure.

Ingredients:
1/2c plus 2T flour, divided
2t salt
1t pepper
3lbs beef for stew, cut into 1" pieces
16oz diced tomatoes in juice, undrained (I used the Italian style with the garlic and herbs)
3 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2lb smoked sausage, diced (I used HOT italian per David's request)
1c. chopped leak
1c. chopped onion
1/2c chicken broth
3cloves garlic, minced
1t thyme
3T water

Directions:
Combine 1/2c flour, salt, and pepper in resealable plastic food storage bag. Add beef; shake bag to coat beef. Place beef in slowcooker. Add remaining ingredients except 2 T flour and water. Stir well. Cover; cook on LOW 8-12 hours or on HIGH 4-6 hours.

One hour before serving; turn slow cooker to high. Combine 2T flour with 3T water, stir until mixture becomes paste. Stir mixture into slowcooker; mix well. Cover and cook until thickened.

Tortilla Soup Slow Cooker Style

This is another recipe from my favorite cookbook--Fix It Quick: Slow Cooker. It was extremely delicious after spending a day baking with mom. Hubby ate a HUGE bowl of it before work and said it kept him nice and full.

Ingredients:
28oz Chicken broth
14.5oz Rotel--undrained
2 cups chopped carrots
2cups frozen whole kernel corn
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
8oz tomato sauce
1t chili powder (I added like 2T)
1t ground cumin
1/4t garlic powder
2cups chopped cooked chicken breast.

Directions:
Combin broth, Rotel with juices, carrots, corn, onion, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder in slow cooker. Cover; cook on LOW 6-8 hours.

Before serving, mix in chopped chicken

**I cooked my chicken ahead of time and added it with the other ingredients at the beginning**

Rotisserie Crockpot Chicken

This is a recipe I printed off over the weekend at work from(http://aboutabitofeverything.blogspot.com). It sounded amazing and I really needed to use up the whole chicken I had in my freezer. We're supposed to be getting a terrible snow storm today, so I thought a nice chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and veggies would be nice!

Here's the recipe....

4-5lb chicken
2t kosher salt
1t paprika
1t onion powder (i used garlic powder)
1/2t thyme
1t italian seasoning
1/2t cayenne pepper (i used 1t)
/2t black pepper
a pinch of chili powder
4 cloves of garlic, cracked (for stuffing)
1 yellow onion quartered (for stuffing)

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Clean your bird and dry with a paper towel. Then stuff with the garlic and onions. Then rub your spice over the whole bird. Place in your crockpot on 4 balls of foil (so your chicken isn't sitting in fat and the skin gets nice and crispy). Cook on low for 8 hours.

Vegetable Bean Soup

I woke up this morning with a terrible cold and all I could think about was soup. So I decided to rumage through my fridge and pantry to come up with something yummy in the soup category. I took a little inspiration from Fix It Quick: Slow Cooker.

36oz Vegetable Stock
3 medium sized leeks chopped (the whites only)
14oz diced tomatoes, undrained
1medium yellow onion coarsely chopped
3 large stalks chopped celery
1 small head of cabbage chopped
2 medium carrots chopped
1 handful fresh grean beans
some dried rosemary
1 can white beans
1 cup cooked orzo
S&P

I put everything together in the slowcooker, except for the beans and orzo, and cooked it on LOW for 8 hours. Then I added the beans and cooked an addtional 30 minutes on LOW. I cooked the orzo separately and added it at the very end so it wouldn't soak up all the yummy broth.

My husband had 4 huge bowls of this soup. I enjoyed it as well--although my sense of taste is a little off right now thanks to my stuffy nose!!

Minestrone alla Milanese

I made this on Saturday morning for my mom. She still hasn't eaten a whole lot of anything, so I thought this might taste good!

28oz reduced sodeium beef broth
14oz diced tomatoes, undrained
1c diced potato
1c. coarsely chopped green cabbage
1c. coarsely chopped carrots
1c. sliced zucchini
3/4c chopped onion
3/4c. sliced frehs green beans
3/4c. coarsley chopped celery (I chopped some of the leaves up too for flavor)
3/4c water
2T EVOO
1 clove garlic minced
1/2t basil
1/4t rosemary
1 bay leaf
15oz cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
Grated Parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients excpet beans and cheese in slow cooker. Mix well. Cover; cook on low for 5-6 hours. Add beans. Cover; cook on low an additional hour or until veggies are crisp and tender. Remove and discard bay leaf. Garlish with cheese, if desired.

Recipe adapted from "Fix It Quick: Slow Cooker"

Beef Bourguignon

It's been ages since I've actually updated anything in here...I just don't seem to have the time anymore but I'm going to make an effort to work on it a couple times a week.

I made this the other night when my mom had her surgery because it was quick and easy and I could just toss it all in the crockpot and it was all ready to go when I finally got home after 26 hours of being awake.

3lbs boneless beef top sirloin steaks
1/2c. all purpose flour
4 slices of bacon diced
2 medium carrots, diced
8 small new red potatoes, unpeeled, cut into quarters
8-10 mushrooms sliced
24 pearl onions
3 cloves minced garlic
1 bay leaf
1t dried marjoram leaves
1/2t dried thyme leaves
1/2t salt
black pepper to taste
21/2 cups Burgundy Wine or Beef broth (I used half and half)

1. Cut beef into 1/2inch pieces. Coat with flour and set aside.
2. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until partially cooked. Add beef; cook until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon.
3. Layer carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, bay leaf, marjoram, thyme, salt, and pepper, beef and bacon mixture in the slow cooker. Pour liquid over top. Cover and cook 8-9 hours on low or until beef is tender. Remove and discard bay leaf.

This recipe was adapted from "Fix it Quick: Slow Cooker"

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

I have had such a taste for pulled pork sandwiches. I started looking for some new and different ways to prepare this--and came across this recipe on allrecipes.com. It was absolutely fantastic! David wasn't so sure about it when I first told him, but he ended up eating 3 sandwiches.

1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin You can use a pork shoulder also
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer I used A&W
1 (18 ounce) favorite barbecue sauce I used sweet baby ray's sweet and spicy
8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted bottle your

I also rubbed some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cumin on the tenderloin before putting it in the slow cooker.

Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. Note: the actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns.