Crockpot Nachos

Today I officially have a 3rd grader and a kindergartner! I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. For now, my house is far too quiet. I'm feeling even more thankful for my little 3 year old running around, otherwise I don't know how I'd deal! The plus side to school being back is that now I'll have lots more time to devote to the little bloggy!

This is another recipe I got from Sandra at Full Bellies, Happy Kids. My kids all love nachos, so when I saw this version adapted for the crock pot, I knew I had to give it a try. It got rave reviews from all the kids, and the adults liked it as well. I just love my crock pot!!

This would be something that would work awesome to serve at a party. I love using my crock pot to feed people at parties. It makes so much less work for me, and I can actually enjoy my guests and the party!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef, cooked and drained
1 can refried beans
1 can red kidney beans, undrained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder
tortilla chips
jar of Mexican salsa con queso
Topping of your choice (I used finely sour cream, tomatoes, olives, green onions, and lettuce)

Brown the ground beef, and drain the grease. Put into the crock pot, and add in the refried beans, kidney beans, tomato paste, taco seasoning, water, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5 hours.

Warm up the queso. Then plate up your nachos! We put the meat/bean mixture on first, then the cheese, then the toppings.

It really can't get any easier than this meal!

Do you have kids back in school yet?

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Aaaaaaaaaaand we're back! :)

Wow, going back to school was a rude awakening for me! I thought, "Yeah, I can totally do it! No sweat! How hard can it be?" Um, hard. Really hard. Now I'm juggling 3 hats -- Mom, Wife and Student. But as hard as it is, it's still great to be doing something for me!

Anyway. This recipe we tried for the first time last night. I got it out of my Healthy Cooking magazine back in December of last year and finally remembered to try it. It was really tasty and SO easy. It's also a great meal to have on hand in the freezer. You can have it completely prepared and then just pop it in the oven on a busy day. Fabulous! You could also easily make this in the crock pot. And if you wanted, you could even turn this into a great appetizer for a party. Just omit the rice and serve the meatballs on toothpicks with extra sauce for dipping!

The only thing I changed was that I omitted the raisins. We didn't have any anyway, but I thought that sounded really gross to put in the meatballs. My husband says he thinks it would be really good, so we'll try it with raisins next time, I guess.

Ingredients:
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 cup water, divided
1/2 cup raisins
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 cup egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 cups hot cooked rice

In a saucepan, combine tomato sauce, 3/4 cup water, raisins, brown sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, seasonings, egg and milk. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Put meatballs into sauce. Cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until meatballs are no longer pink. In a small bowl, combine flour and remaining water, then stir into meatball mixture, cooking for 2 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Serve with rice.

What's your favorite meal to have on hand in the freezer?

Taquitos

I had this really out of the blue craving for taquitos the other day. Which is funny, because I absolutely HATE the store-bought frozen kind. They have zippo flavor and are just icky. Plus they're not very good for you. I decided to make my own, more healthy, version -- baked, not fried. It's really a very simple concept, and they turned out a million times more delicious than the pre-made ones.

Another bonus. It really impressed my husband. He came home from work, walked in, said, "Taquitos, huh?", put one in his mouth and then stopped dead in his tracks. Then he said, "Wait a minute. These have salt on them. These have flavor........Did you MAKE these? Like, from SCRATCH?" Why, yes! Yes, I did! :) I didn't tell him how ridiculously easy they were to make. I wanted all the brownie points I could get.

I won't tell if you won't! :)

This is another "recipe" that's just a method. This is just how I did mine, but you can season it however you want, use chicken or pork instead of the beef, use a different cut of beef, etc. I used the cut I did because I found a really good deal for a GINORMOUS roast that week.

Ingredients:
1-2 pound eye of round roast
2 teaspoons each of garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup salsa
8 ounces cream cheese, softened and cubed
2 tablespoons butter, melted
corn tortillas

Put the roast in the crock pot and season well. Pour salsa over the top and cook on low for 6 hours.

When meat is falling apart, shred it, then let it cook on low for another hour.

Place meat in a large bowl. Add the cream cheese and mix until well-combined. If you're having trouble getting it to mix together, you can add a little of your cooking liquid from the crock pot.

Microwave corn tortillas in between damp paper towels until they are very pliable, about 2 minutes. Spoon some meat mixture onto each tortilla and roll. Place seam-side down on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. While you're working on rolling up each tortilla, keep the already-rolled ones covered with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel, otherwise they will dry up and start to crack.

Brush the tops of each tortilla with melted butter, then sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 375 until tortillas are golden brown and crispy. Serve with sour cream and guacamole for dipping.

The slightly-too-browned edges are what happens when you're distracted by your potty-training 2 year old -- she suddenly had to go, actually made it to the potty and was so insanely proud of herself and CUTE that I got too caught up in dancing around like a crazy person, clapping and cheering, and forgot about my food in the oven.... :)

Did you do anything festive for Cinco de Mayo?

Cube Steaks and Gravy

This recipe is really yummy. It makes the cube steaks very tender... and if you know cube steak, you know that's a feat... hee hee. We had it with egg noodles but you could serve it with other pasta, mashed potatoes would be delicious as well. I hope you enjoy it!

Cube Steaks and Gravy – Slow Cooker

1/3 cup all purpose flour

6 beef cube steaks (1-1/2 lbs)

1 T vegetable oil

1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings

3 cups water, divided

1 envelope brown gravy mix

1 envelope mushroom gravy mix

1 envelope onion gravy mix

Hot mashed potatoes or cooked noodles

Place flour in large resealable bag. Add the steaks, a few at a time, and shake until completely coated. In a skillet, cook the steaks in oil until lightly browned on each side. Transfer to a slow cooker. Add the onion and 2 cups of water. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until meat is tender. In a bowl, whisk together gravy mixes with remaining water. Add to the slow cooker; cook 30 minutes longer. Serve over mashed potatoes or noodles.

Makes: 6 servings.

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

About a year and a half ago, we took the kids to Utah to visit some family. While I was there, I met up with my good friend Kim. She took me to Cafe Rio for lunch. I'd never been there before, but I fell in love with their pork and was determined to figure out how to recreate it at home. I think this is pretty darn close!

Ingredients:
2 pound sirloin pork roast
1 can Dr. Pepper
2 cups enchilada sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 can diced green chilies
1 tablespoon garlic salt

Pour Dr. Pepper, brown sugar, enchilada sauce and chilies into your crock pot and stir to combine. Add the roast and sprinkle it with garlic salt. Cook on low for 4 hours, then remove meat and shred. Return to crock pot, stir well to cover meat with sauce and cook for another 2 hours.

Other parts of this recipe:
Cilantro Lime Rice
Black Beans
Cilantro Lime Ranch

Slow-Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

This is so delicious. It's really easy to make and the crock pot does almost all the work too so that's a definite bonus. I've had this recipe for a while and I believe it's weight watchers friendly too! Here it is!

Slow-cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

¾ lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs – cut into 1 inch pieces

2 cups sliced celery (2 med. Stalks)

2 cups chopped carrots

¾ cup chopped onion

14 ½ oz canned chicken broth

½ tsp dried marjoram

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

½ tsp salt (optional)

2 bay leaves

10 oz. frozen green peas (optional)

1 cup frozen home-style egg noodles

Brown chicken in skillet over medium heat. Mix chicken and all ingredients except noodles and peas in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 6-7 hours until chicken is fully cooked. Stir in peas and noodles. Cook until noodles are tender.

Serve with fresh, hot rolls. Yum!

** In the slow cooker I used, it usually cooks things extra fast or extra hot, one of the other. The point being that most of the liquid evaporates out of things no matter what you do. So if your slow cooker seems to cook the same way I would use two cans of chicken broth so that you have some broth left when it comes time to serve it.

** I would also recommend that you take the noodles out of the freezer 30-45 minutes before you add them to the soup. Also break them up before you put them in and they will cook faster. You can also use regular dried egg noodles if you prefer them.

Italian Cream Cheese Chicken

I got this recipe probably about 2-3 years ago from an online forum called Cooking For Your Family. It is so yummy! It's so creamy and delicious. I just love recipes that have very few ingredients but can still turn out so tasty. Add to that the fact that it's also a crock pot recipe, and you've got yourself a serious winner!

Now, I've mentioned before that I really prefer chicken thighs to breasts. However, this recipe is one of the few times where I actually prefer chicken breasts. So definitely use breasts for this one.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
6 ounces cream cheese, brought to room temperature and cubed
1 package dry Italian seasoning

Put your chicken breasts in your crock pot. Mix soup and Italian seasoning and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3 hours. Add your cubed cream cheese. I just scatter the pieces over the top of everything, put the lid back on and then let it cook and get really soft for another hour.

After that hour is up, remove chicken from crock pot and shred. Then whisk the cream cheese into the sauce. Return chicken to crock pot and mix well to combine. Then serve over noodles. You could also serve over rice, but I like it over noodles best.

April's Fabulous Crock Pot Chili

Alright, I know you've all been waiting on the edge of your seats for this one. :) I came up with this one day while I was trying to think of something to cook for dinner that wouldn't take much time on my part. Then.... DING.... the light bulb turned on. I have everything to make chili and I could just throw it in the crock pot and not touch it again until dinner time. Well, it was perfect. You can do many variations with it as well. Different beans, veggies, tomatoes, spices, etc. It is also extremely budget friendly. If you are really tight just leave out the ground beef and you have a lot of dinner for just a couple dollars.

April's Fabulous Crock Pot Chili

1 lb ground beef
3 - 15 oz cans of beans (Any combination works great. My favorite is chili beans, kidney beans, and black beans.)
2 - 15 oz cans of tomatoes (any variety, if you like your chili chunky then use diced, if you like it smoother then use crushed)
1 - 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 small can diced green chilies
onion
garlic

Spices to taste:
chili powder
cumin
salt
pepper
paprika
oregano

Optional Veggies:
green bell pepper, chopped
red bell pepper, chopped
tomatoes, diced

• Brown ground beef with onion and garlic. I threw in the diced peppers and diced tomatoes when it was almost browned.
• While beef is browning, throw everything else in the crock pot.
  
• I put the tomato sauce into a small bowl and mix in all my spices into that and then I add it to the crock pot.
  
• I also added some chili powder to my beef mixture.
  
• When beef is done, add to crock pot and mix well.
• Cook on low until dinner time
• Serve with corn bread

This recipe completely fills my crock pot. I'm not sure the size but I'm guessing it's about 3 qt.


Enjoy!!

Mexican Chicken

This chicken is really yummy. And seriously, you cannot get any easier than this recipe - there are only 4 ingredients! My husband doesn't like chicken in the crock pot (he says it has a different texture), but this is the one recipe he really likes.

Ingredients:
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can El Pato Mexican tomato sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 tablespoons taco seasoning

Put chicken in the crock pot. Sprinkle chicken with taco seasoning, then pour El Pato sauce and stewed tomatoes over the chicken.

Cook on low for 4 hours. Remove chicken from crock pot, shred and then return to crock pot.

Cook for another hour to allow the now-shredded meat to really absorb some of the sauce. When I serve this, I usually soften up some corn tortillas in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on the stove, then put some of the meat mixture in and then top with cheese, sour cream and guacamole. This time, I just used the meat to make taco salads with because I had a bunch of lettuce in the fridge that was threatening to go bad on me. Since I was doing a taco salad, I added homemade ranch dressing, olives and crushed tortilla chips.

White Turkey Chili

I do a regular chili recipe in the crock pot that will be posted someday but I had been thinking about trying a turkey chili. So I search the web, of course, for something that would fit my tastes just right. Well I found two that I sort of combined to make my own. With chili you really can't go wrong. You can do beef, turkey, probably pork, or just beans. Then just throw in some veggies and liquid or whatever and you're set. Yummy.

The recipes I found came from HERE and HERE.

And here is what I did in my own cozy little kitchen :)

White Turkey Chili

1 lb ground turkey
3 cans white beans (any variety)
1 small can chopped green chilies
2/3 to 3/4 can chicken broth (adjust depending on how "soupy" you want it)
chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 tsp cumin
1 ½ tsp oregano
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper
chopped green bell pepper ( i had to omit it in mine because I didn't have any)



Brown turkey with onion and garlic.



Add all ingredients to crock pot.



Cook on low until ready to serve.



Top with shredded Monterey jack cheese.

Enjoy!

Salsa Chicken

This was so super easy! You will all just love it.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken



4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup salsa
1 package reduced sodium taco seasoning
1 can reduced fat cream of mushroom soup (condensed)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream




Add chicken to slow cooker.



Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken.



Pour salsa and soup over chicken.



Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.



Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.



Serve with rice.

(Recipe from sparkpeople.com)