Santa Fe Beef Stew

 

I LOVE my slow cookers! Do you? My slow cooker has been a huge helpmate in saving family dinner times lately. No matter how many directions we are committed to running in the evening with the kids, I can feel confident that there is a hot meal waiting for all at home.

As our kids have gotten older, their taste palates have grown and they are more apt to try new dishes...thank goodness! This meal is one that I don't think they would have eaten not long ago. But when I served this a few months ago, they devoured every bite and went back for more. We all couldn't believe how moist and tender the stew meat was, it just melted in our mouths! I think one of the things they liked most about it was the "kick" the stew has from the green chili's and taco seasoning. It takes the every day beef stew and brings it up a notch. 

I actually took bits and pieces from two separate recipes from the same cookbook to prepare this the way I thought my family would like it. If you decide to try this for your loved ones, I hope they enjoy it as much as we did!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful! Enjoy!

Santa Fe Beef Stew

2 lbs. stewing meat, cubed

2 Tbsp. oil

1 large onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 cups water

1 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes

2 beef bouillon cubes (I used beef base)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

3 carrots, sliced

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed

14 1/2-oz. can diced tomatoes

14 1/2-oz. can green beans, drained, or 1 lb. frozen green beans (I used 1 quart home canned bean)

14 1/2-oz. can corn, drained, or 1 lb. frozen corn

4-oz. can diced green chilies

1 pkg. dry taco seasoning mix

1. Brown meat, onion, and garlic in oil in saucepan until meat is no longer pink. Place in slow cooker.

2.Stir in remaining ingredients.

3. Cover. Cook on High 30 minutes. Reduce heat to Low and cook 4-6 hours.

Source: Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook

Slow Cooker Saucy Chicken with Veggies and Rice

I absolutely love my slow cookers and the freedom they offer me on busy days. :) I am always on a continual search for new, exciting recipes that may appeal to my entire family. This dish was so, so simple to prepare and took only 15 minutes to "throw" into my slow cooker. But, please don't let the simplicity lead you to think that this dish lacked big flavor! Oh My! The sauce consisting of only dry onion soup and cream of mushroom soup was fantastic and gave the chicken and veggies a rich flavor. Served with a side of rice, this dish was given HUGE thumbs up from every one of my food critics! Yeah. :-)

From the heart of my kitchen to yours may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Saucy Chicken with Veggies and Rice

3 cups sliced celery
3 cups sliced fresh carrots
2 cups sliced onion
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried tarragon
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup white wine or chicken broth
Hot cooked rice

Place the celery, carrots, onion and chicken in a 5-quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the soup, soup mix, thyme, pepper and tarragon, pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until a meat thermometer inserted into the chicken reads 170 degrees.

Mix cornstarch and wine until smooth; stir into slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until gravy is thickened. Serve with rice. Yield: 6 servings.

Source: Taste of Home; Simple & Delicious Jan/Feb 2009

Slow-Cooker Chicken Parmigiana

Things are certainly getting busier around our household which always indicates that spring is just around the corner. Baseball practice has begun, soccer is soon to begin, next school year's choices of elective classes have already been selected, piano recital pieces have been chosen and the sun is just starting to grace us with more daylight hours. Yippee!! Added to all that, my friend Sarah and I are marketing our new business, promoting our Easter cookie bouquets and baking and completing incoming orders. Whew, I'm practically worn out just sitting here thinking of all that needs to be accomplished these next few weeks. But, oohhh how I love watching my kids in their extra-curricular activities and the excitement building for our bakery is quite contagious. I believe that with all our busy-ness this season I'm going to be relying a bit more on my faithful slow-cookers to aid me in getting a home cooked meal on the table for our family.

Early this morning I realized that the meal I had planned to serve tonight simply wouldn't work with our evening commitments. I browsed through the pantry, checked what I had in the deep freeze, then grabbed one of my favorite slow-cooker cookbooks and searched for a recipe that called for ingredients that I had available. I chose this particular recipe because of it's simplicity and the fact that it sounded delicious to serve on this cold, sunny day. After picking my little girl up from kindergarten it took me less than 30 minutes to defrost the chicken, saute' it and get it into the crock-pot to cook for the remainder of the day. What a wonderful relief it is for me to know that however hectic our evening becomes, dinner is ready and waiting.

All my family LOVED this chicken! It was moist, cheesy and delicious served with our home grown green beans. Marty enjoyed a second serving and asked that I pack the leftovers up for him to take to work for lunch tomorrow. Ka-ching....another slow-cooker success!!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Chicken Parmigiana

1 egg
1tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
2-4 Tbsp. butter
14-oz. jar pizza sauce

1. Beat egg, salt and pepper together. Dip chicken into egg and coat with bread crumbs. Saute' chicken in butter in skillet. Arrange chicken in slow cooker.
2. Pour pizza sauce over chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on Low 6-8 hours. (Mine was done in 5 hours)
4. Layer mozzarella cheese over top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cook an additional 15 minutes.

Source: Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook

Barbecue Pulled Pork

I love recipes that are simple yet are filled with such amazing flavor that it tastes as if I spent all day on it. With today's lifestyle for so many families, evening schedules are packed with a variety of extra-curricular activities that leave little time for the family to gather at the table to share a meal. Multiple studies show that families that sit together and share the evening meal three to four times per week have children that are more successful in school, are more communicative with parents and are less apt to experiment with drugs and alcohol. I don't know about you, but this seems like a such a simple way for me to to help keep my family safe, successful and confident.

My friend Sarah fixed this recipe not too long ago and I absolutely fell in love with it. It takes no time at all to throw into the slow cooker, let it cook, shred and serve. I think we ate this as leftovers for lunch for several days, and I never did tire of it. Yummy! She shared her recipe with me and my family loved it, it's now a regular on my monthly menu.

In today's tough economy, I've begun to try to save money any way I can at the grocery store without compromising flavor and taste to our meals. One item I've never been picky about brand names is barbecue sauce. That was until I had Sarah's pulled pork with Sweet Baby Ray's sauce. It was/is the best sauce I've ever tasted and now the only one I purchase. If you have never tried this bbq sauce, give it a try with the pulled pork. It's absolutely delish!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and your food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Barbecue Pulled Pork

Pork shoulder picnic roast (any size)
Minced garlic
Minced onion
1 stick butter
Salt & Pepper to taste

Place roast in slow cooker, salt and pepper to your taste, cover with minced onion and garlic. Cut the butter into small pads and dot the roast with it.

Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Remove roast to platter to pull apart. Pork should be pulled into bite sized strips.

I drain about half the liquid from the pot and keep the rest to mix with the bbq sauce and pork.

Place pulled pork and bbq sauce back into the slow cooker and warm to desired temperature. Serve on rolls.

Source: Sarah O'Brien

Easy Cheesy Rigatoni

Today was the first day back to work, school, piano lessons, cheer team practice and, of course, the resuming of homework. For my weekly menu planning this meant putting my faithful crock-pot back to work to have dinner ready between activities. Knowing the kids would be mentally and physically exhausted tonight, I didn't want to spring any new dishes on them and encounter finicky taste buds and short tempers so I prepared one of our favorite slow cooker recipes. This dinner can be ready to place in the crock pot in under 20 minutes and is very versatile to please any picky palate. You might want to add sausage to the hamburger to spice it up a little, add mushrooms or onions for texture or use a variety of cheeses to change the taste. Change it up to best fit your family's pleasure. Enjoy!

Rigatoni

28-oz. jar spaghetti sauce
12-oz. rigatoni, cooked
1-1 1/2 lbs. ground beef, browned
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 lb. pepperoni slices

1. In a 4-quart slow cooker, layer half of each ingredient in order listed. Repeat.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 4-5 hours.

Source: Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Most Monday's, although I am home throughout the day, our evening commitments allow us approximately 30 minutes to sit down at the table as a family to eat dinner. In this case, I rely heavily on my slow cooker to have dinner ready for us when we rush in the door. Rarely does the crock pot let me down and this recipe was no exception. What a delightful, yummy success on a cold fall evening. It was quick and simple to assemble and had all the wonderful tastes of a lasagna that takes many hours to prepare. The only changes I might make the next time I fix this would be to add Italian sausage to the ground beef for more depth and add a variety of Italian spices to enhance the flavor of the sauce. I can't wait to put this on our weekly menu again this next month when we need a simple, delicious meal during the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.

Convenient Slow Cooker Lasagna

1 lb. ground beef
2 29-oz. cans tomato sauce
8-oz. pkg. lasagna noodles, uncooked
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese

1. Spray the interior of the cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Brown the ground beef in a large nonstick skillet. Drain off drippings.
3. Stir in tomato sauce. Mix well.
4. Spread one-fourth of the meat sauce on the bottom of the slow cooker.
5. Arrange one-third of the uncooked noodles over the sauce. (break them up so they fit better)
6. Combine the cheeses in a bowl. Spoon one-third of the cheeses over the noodles.
7. Repeat these layers twice.
8. Top with remaining sauce.
9. Cover and cook on Low 4 hours.

Source: Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook

Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken

If you're like me, you love to spend time in your kitchen cooking and baking and trying excitingly new recipes. There are days that I could whittle the entire day away cooking, but there are so many instances that quick and easy is the only way to go. When a friend shared this recipe with me I knew it would appear on my weekly menus repeatedly over the months because of its simplicity but more so because it was a HUGE hit with my family. The picture does not do this dish justice. Now that we have set our clocks back, there is no natural light at dinner to photograph foods, so I'm left to use the kitchen lights with no flash and the result is a dull, colorless picture. You'll have to take my word that this is a scrumptios meal to feed your family! There are only four ingredients that you can throw in the crock-pot in less than 5 minutes, you go about your day for 6-8 hours, boil some rice and then plate up a fabulous dinner that your family will love. Next time you know you'll be in a pinch during the dinner hour, put your slow-cooker to work for you with this savory chicken dish. You won't be dissapointed!

Salsa Chicken

3 to 4 skinless-boneless chicken breasts
taco seasoning (as much or little as you want)
1 (16 oz.) jar salsa (mild, medium or hot...please your own tastebuds)
1 can fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 cup fat free sour cream

Layer first four ingredients in crock-pot in order listed. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. During last 15 minutes of cooking time, stir in sour cream.

Serve over rice.

Source: Malynn Hearon

Slow-Cooker Scalloped Potatoes

The other day when I fixed oven fried chicken for dinner, I needed a side dish that would be ready when we arrived home from piano lessons. The boys both had soccer practice and we had exactly 30 minutes to sit down and eat dinner as a family. In order to prepare for this rushed schedule I cooked the chicken during nap time and then resorted to my ever faithful crock-pot to take care of the rest of our meal. There's nothing tastier or more comforting than potatoes served alongside fried chicken. These potatoes were fantastic. They were extremely cheesy and oh-so yummy!! Where the cheese had cooked close to the walls of the crock-pot it was nice and crispy, just like pan fried potatoes. Mmmmm. I am definitely marking this dish as one to fix again.

Slow-Cooker Scalloped Potatoes

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 cup water

8-10 medium potatoes, thinly sliced

half an onion, chopped

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 cup grated American, or cheddar cheese (I used cheddar)

10 3/4 oz. can cream of celery, mushroom or chicken soup

1 tsp. paprika

Dissolve cream of tartar in water. Add potatoes and toss together. Drain.

Place half of potatoes in slow cooker. Sprinkle with onions, salt pepper, and half of cheese.

Repeat with remaining potatoes and cheese.

Spoon soup over the top. Sprinkle with paprika.

Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours, or High 4 hours.

Note: Tossing the potatoes in the water with cream of tartar keeps them from darkening.

Source: Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook