This recipe was simple and only took 4 hours in the slow cooker and can easily be done in the oven as well.
Six Ingredients or Less Slow Cooker by Carlean Johnson on page 64.
1 1/2 lbs round beef, cooked drained, then add 1 cup of salsa a nd cook about minutes more.
5 - 8 in flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can refried beans
layer in the slow cooker:
meat mixture
1 tortilla
cheese
tortialla
refried beans
tortilla
remaining meat
tortilla
remaining beans
tortilla
remaining cheese
Top with 1 cup salsa and cook on low 4 - 4 1/2 hours or until very hot.
So easy my son made this for dinner tonight.
We like things spicy here so our next venture into this recipe will add peppers to spice it up and my son thinks it should have more cheese as well.
Overall this is a very delicious recipe, along with being easy and quick. We love it.
Keep muching!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Swissin' it up steak
So life has been busy and I have not been diligent in trying new recipes but trying to get a groove going. Besides trying new recipes that are quick, easy and tasty I have also been trying to 'coupon' my groceries which has a whole new area I need to learn about.
I have also been reading other food blogs. I am very much a novice at this and cannot seem how to attach links correctly or upload pictures but some day maybe I'll get it all figured out, until then we are stuck with my pictureless black and white words.
My new recipe yesterday was from 'Six Ingredients or Less, Slow Cooker' on page 44. The author is Carlean Johnson. This swiss steak recipe calls for 2 1/2 lbs round steak, 1 cup chopped onion, 1 can 14.5 oz diced tomoatoes, 1/2 greeen or red pepper cubbed, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce.
Trim the meat and cut into serving size pieces and place in your slow cooker and top with remaining ingredients and cook on low for 8 - 10 hours or until meat is tender.
HAHAHA you guessed it I did NOT follow the recipe as written. We are not much for chunks of tomatoes (unless in salsa) so I used to small cans of tomato sauce. And of course I did not measure my salt or worcestshire sauce.
I cooked it for about 6 hours and the meat was perfect.
Overall this recipe was pretty easy and quite tasty. I do not like an overpowering of bell pepper so I chopped mine more than 'cubbing' it and I am not sure that changed the flavor any but the bell pepper flavor was not overpowering.
The boys did not wait for me to make rice, potatoes, or pasta to top...I guess when you're hungry you're hungry.
To date I have tried 7 recipes from this cook book and only 2 either didn't turn out or I was not sold on the recipe as a whole. This cook book was about $15 so my opinion is that it was worth the money and will continue to cook through this book. However with the weather changing it may be time to change the type of recipes I'm trying.
My kitchen is always open :-)
I have also been reading other food blogs. I am very much a novice at this and cannot seem how to attach links correctly or upload pictures but some day maybe I'll get it all figured out, until then we are stuck with my pictureless black and white words.
My new recipe yesterday was from 'Six Ingredients or Less, Slow Cooker' on page 44. The author is Carlean Johnson. This swiss steak recipe calls for 2 1/2 lbs round steak, 1 cup chopped onion, 1 can 14.5 oz diced tomoatoes, 1/2 greeen or red pepper cubbed, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce.
Trim the meat and cut into serving size pieces and place in your slow cooker and top with remaining ingredients and cook on low for 8 - 10 hours or until meat is tender.
HAHAHA you guessed it I did NOT follow the recipe as written. We are not much for chunks of tomatoes (unless in salsa) so I used to small cans of tomato sauce. And of course I did not measure my salt or worcestshire sauce.
I cooked it for about 6 hours and the meat was perfect.
Overall this recipe was pretty easy and quite tasty. I do not like an overpowering of bell pepper so I chopped mine more than 'cubbing' it and I am not sure that changed the flavor any but the bell pepper flavor was not overpowering.
The boys did not wait for me to make rice, potatoes, or pasta to top...I guess when you're hungry you're hungry.
To date I have tried 7 recipes from this cook book and only 2 either didn't turn out or I was not sold on the recipe as a whole. This cook book was about $15 so my opinion is that it was worth the money and will continue to cook through this book. However with the weather changing it may be time to change the type of recipes I'm trying.
My kitchen is always open :-)
Monday, February 21, 2011
The never ending Chicken
Hello Slow cooker....I know it's been a while.
With the niceties out of the way let's make chicken!
Place a whole chicken the slow cooker, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, oregano or italian seasoning. Chop onions, carrots and potatoes and layer over and around chicken, seasoning each layer as you go. I know it seems like a lot of seasoning but I want my chicken stock to have some good flavor.
Now I'm not a celery fan so when I do have celery I chop it very fine and add it to the crock pot as well, about 2 stalks.
I cook on high about 4 hours. I then remove to let the chicken start to cool. When it's cool enough to handle I start playing! :-) Well I start separating chicken, bones and skin, and the veggies, and of course what I will have left is the stock.
I always make much more than I need but I used 4 carrots and 6 potaotes and a whole onion.
I then make a rue, 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons flour, cooking about 2 minutes before I start adding chicken broth.
Now I didn't add any liquid to my chicken so the amount of stock I have is small so I actually used the can chicken broth. If you boil the chicken instead of slow cooking you could have much more broth. I do it both ways but slow cooker always wins out if it is a day I am not going to be home much.
Once I get my 'brothy' on I start adding the chicken, that I have coarse chopped and the veggies. I also add a can of green beans and corn draining the juice from these first. If this gets a little to thick I just add more chicken broth until I get my desired consistency.
I am soooo bad at making home made crust I always buy it. So I place my pie crust in my pie dish and fill it with my pot pie fillings and then top with another crust. I follow the directions on the pie crust box for baking times.
I usually have enough to make at least 2 pot pies which there are NEVER any left overs. Some times I take the the rest of my pot pie fillings add a little more chicken broth and TA DA a very tasty chicken and vegetable soup.
This is really easy and really not very expensive. A whole chicken cost, in my area, about $7 with the vegetables maybe costing me $2, pie crusts $2, chicken broth $2. So for about $13 dollars we have at least 3 meals for 3 adults.
I also watch for sales and coupons. Maybe I need to add that spin. The cost of the meal.....hmmmm
Well stay tuned as we are having more chicken tomorrow. Happy Presidents Day!
With the niceties out of the way let's make chicken!
Place a whole chicken the slow cooker, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, oregano or italian seasoning. Chop onions, carrots and potatoes and layer over and around chicken, seasoning each layer as you go. I know it seems like a lot of seasoning but I want my chicken stock to have some good flavor.
Now I'm not a celery fan so when I do have celery I chop it very fine and add it to the crock pot as well, about 2 stalks.
I cook on high about 4 hours. I then remove to let the chicken start to cool. When it's cool enough to handle I start playing! :-) Well I start separating chicken, bones and skin, and the veggies, and of course what I will have left is the stock.
I always make much more than I need but I used 4 carrots and 6 potaotes and a whole onion.
I then make a rue, 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons flour, cooking about 2 minutes before I start adding chicken broth.
Now I didn't add any liquid to my chicken so the amount of stock I have is small so I actually used the can chicken broth. If you boil the chicken instead of slow cooking you could have much more broth. I do it both ways but slow cooker always wins out if it is a day I am not going to be home much.
Once I get my 'brothy' on I start adding the chicken, that I have coarse chopped and the veggies. I also add a can of green beans and corn draining the juice from these first. If this gets a little to thick I just add more chicken broth until I get my desired consistency.
I am soooo bad at making home made crust I always buy it. So I place my pie crust in my pie dish and fill it with my pot pie fillings and then top with another crust. I follow the directions on the pie crust box for baking times.
I usually have enough to make at least 2 pot pies which there are NEVER any left overs. Some times I take the the rest of my pot pie fillings add a little more chicken broth and TA DA a very tasty chicken and vegetable soup.
This is really easy and really not very expensive. A whole chicken cost, in my area, about $7 with the vegetables maybe costing me $2, pie crusts $2, chicken broth $2. So for about $13 dollars we have at least 3 meals for 3 adults.
I also watch for sales and coupons. Maybe I need to add that spin. The cost of the meal.....hmmmm
Well stay tuned as we are having more chicken tomorrow. Happy Presidents Day!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Bungled Meatloaf
A couple of nights ago I had not really planned dinner so out comes the 'burger' and a meatloaf is whipped up. I sort of remembered a recipe my son had done in 4H boys cooking several years ago. It had cream of chicken soup in the recipe and that is all I could recall.
So I set out to try this recipe I thought I remembered! So my usual ingredients, ground beed, eggs, bread crumbs, onion, catsup, seasonings, garlic and this time the soup.
I think my oven messed up because this was a SOGGY meatloaf! LOL
Maybe I should have increased my breadcrumbs, I'm not really sure but I like thinking it was my oven and not me.
One night of this soggy meatloaf is all we could handle so I took my bungled meatloaf and turned it into a buritto.
I threw the burger back in the skillet; thinking that I could cook out some of the SOGGY. I chopped two potatoes and added because as soggy as this meatloaf was I was sure there was enough liquid to cook my potatoes. I then added 2 stalks of celery chopped fine, salt, pepper, cummin, red pepper flakes, 1 sm can tomato sauce, and a little jalapeno juice from the jar.
30 minutes later I put in on a tortilla and woo hoo, not bad at all. In fact much better than the soggy meatloaf!
Have you ever bungled something but was able to save it?
So I set out to try this recipe I thought I remembered! So my usual ingredients, ground beed, eggs, bread crumbs, onion, catsup, seasonings, garlic and this time the soup.
I think my oven messed up because this was a SOGGY meatloaf! LOL
Maybe I should have increased my breadcrumbs, I'm not really sure but I like thinking it was my oven and not me.
One night of this soggy meatloaf is all we could handle so I took my bungled meatloaf and turned it into a buritto.
I threw the burger back in the skillet; thinking that I could cook out some of the SOGGY. I chopped two potatoes and added because as soggy as this meatloaf was I was sure there was enough liquid to cook my potatoes. I then added 2 stalks of celery chopped fine, salt, pepper, cummin, red pepper flakes, 1 sm can tomato sauce, and a little jalapeno juice from the jar.
30 minutes later I put in on a tortilla and woo hoo, not bad at all. In fact much better than the soggy meatloaf!
Have you ever bungled something but was able to save it?
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Soup Weather
Oh yes....it's still been cold enough to induce cravings of home made soup. I got out the old trusty Six Ingredients or Less Slow Cooker cook book by Carlean Johnson and turned to page 35 for a GREAT recipe for onion soup.
10 cups of yellow onion sliced thin
1/2 cup butter
2 cans condensed beef broth
1 1/3 cups dry white wine
french bread slices
shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook on low 3-4 hours
I know...I know..you're asking ok Tina what did you change this time....hehehe....NOTHING!!!!!!
This soup was ssssooooooo easy. Not only was it easy but it had a great flavor.
Now that I think about it I did put garlic butter on the bread. LOL
While we were eating we were thinking of many different things you could do with this onion soup. You could brown hamburger and saute some veggies and throw in this great onion soup. Or how about thickening the soup and making a gravy and top hamburger patties with it.
Well that would take us to our next recipe we tried which was on page 39.
1lb stew meat, bite-size
10 small red potatoes, slice in halves or quarters
5 medium carrots
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can condensed french onion soup - or your home made soup you made above :-)
1/3 cup red wine
I chopped the potatoes and carrots and just dumped everything in the slow cooker along with some very finely chopped stalk of celery, mixed it up and added salt and pepper. This cooked on high about 5 hours; the recipe says 8 - 10 hours.
Again, this was a great quick and simple 'stew'. The stew meat was tender and the veggies done just right.
So both of these recipes get a thumbs up!
Stay tuned.............
10 cups of yellow onion sliced thin
1/2 cup butter
2 cans condensed beef broth
1 1/3 cups dry white wine
french bread slices
shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook on low 3-4 hours
I know...I know..you're asking ok Tina what did you change this time....hehehe....NOTHING!!!!!!
This soup was ssssooooooo easy. Not only was it easy but it had a great flavor.
Now that I think about it I did put garlic butter on the bread. LOL
While we were eating we were thinking of many different things you could do with this onion soup. You could brown hamburger and saute some veggies and throw in this great onion soup. Or how about thickening the soup and making a gravy and top hamburger patties with it.
Well that would take us to our next recipe we tried which was on page 39.
1lb stew meat, bite-size
10 small red potatoes, slice in halves or quarters
5 medium carrots
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can condensed french onion soup - or your home made soup you made above :-)
1/3 cup red wine
I chopped the potatoes and carrots and just dumped everything in the slow cooker along with some very finely chopped stalk of celery, mixed it up and added salt and pepper. This cooked on high about 5 hours; the recipe says 8 - 10 hours.
Again, this was a great quick and simple 'stew'. The stew meat was tender and the veggies done just right.
So both of these recipes get a thumbs up!
Stay tuned.............
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Ah Potato Chowder
Today's trial recipe was pretty darn good!
Ok so just a recap I am trying recipes from Six Ingredients or Less, Slow Cooker cookbook. Today's recipe is on page 34.
16 ozs frozen obrien hash browns, thawed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can whole corn undrained
1 can creamed corn
1 can evaporated milk
salt/pepper to taste
Yes still having difficulty actually following a recipe. I used a whole bag of obrien hashbrowns and I have NO idea how much that is. :-) And I used a whole chopped onion about medium in size. But those were the only changes I made.
This chowder is GREAT! Pretty thick, not soup consistency and a definite corn flavor. I'm thinking if I would have drained the whole corn it would have less corn flavor, but I give this recipe a GREAT big woo hoo!!
Well we have some left overs so it will be a couple of days before we try a new recipe but...stay tuned!
Ok so just a recap I am trying recipes from Six Ingredients or Less, Slow Cooker cookbook. Today's recipe is on page 34.
16 ozs frozen obrien hash browns, thawed
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can whole corn undrained
1 can creamed corn
1 can evaporated milk
salt/pepper to taste
Yes still having difficulty actually following a recipe. I used a whole bag of obrien hashbrowns and I have NO idea how much that is. :-) And I used a whole chopped onion about medium in size. But those were the only changes I made.
This chowder is GREAT! Pretty thick, not soup consistency and a definite corn flavor. I'm thinking if I would have drained the whole corn it would have less corn flavor, but I give this recipe a GREAT big woo hoo!!
Well we have some left overs so it will be a couple of days before we try a new recipe but...stay tuned!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Isn't Chowder Soup?
I tried a new recipe from my slow cooker book; Six Ingredients or Less Slow Cooker. This recipe is Potato Chowder on page 32. The recipes calls for:
6 cups potatoes peeled and cubed (small)
1 cup chopped onion
2 cans Italian style diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
salt and pepper to taste
Again I have a hard time following the recipe. I just don't measure things! But I stayed very close:
6 potatoes cubed; I never peel my potatoes
1 onion chopped
2 cans diced tomotoes with chilis; only because I could not find the italian on this particular day
2 cans corn; I never use frozen vegetables because they squeak when I eat them
salt and pepper
I poured in the tomatoes, onion and corn, salt and peppered. I then started cutting my potatoes. When I had a layer across the top of the other ingredients in my slow cooker I salt and peppered again because my family likes a lot of seasoning. I finished cutting the potatoes and again salt and peppered. I then took a wooden spoon and mixed it all up getting the seasoning throughout all my ingredients.
So I really did not deviate from the recipe that much. However, I did have some finely chopped carrots that I threw in just because they needed to be used. :-)
The recipe calls for cooking on lovw 10 -12 hours. I cooked on high for 5 hours. It smelled wonderful!
Yet again disappointment set in as we started to 'dive' into lunch. First it didn't look like chowder. I always thought of chowder as soup so I was expecting a soup like consistency. Second no flavor. Even with all the salt and pepper I used...NO flavor. You could taste the chilis but that was it.
So what did I do....turned the slow cooker back on low. I added 2 cups of beef broth, a small can of tomato sauce and 2 tablespoons of itailan seasoning. Well....I added these ingredients over the next couple of hours trying to find the flavor that made my tastebuds tingle and in the end I was quite please with my potato chowder. The only ingredient I am really not sure of the exact amount used is the italian seasoning so go slow and taste along the way.
Because this chowder had a tomato base (kind of) I'm thinking that it was supposed to be similar to a manhatten style chowder. The book also has another potato chowder recipe that is cream based so guess what dinner is tomorrow? Yep yep yep! We are going to compare the two chowders.
Eat up and stay tuned!
6 cups potatoes peeled and cubed (small)
1 cup chopped onion
2 cans Italian style diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
salt and pepper to taste
Again I have a hard time following the recipe. I just don't measure things! But I stayed very close:
6 potatoes cubed; I never peel my potatoes
1 onion chopped
2 cans diced tomotoes with chilis; only because I could not find the italian on this particular day
2 cans corn; I never use frozen vegetables because they squeak when I eat them
salt and pepper
I poured in the tomatoes, onion and corn, salt and peppered. I then started cutting my potatoes. When I had a layer across the top of the other ingredients in my slow cooker I salt and peppered again because my family likes a lot of seasoning. I finished cutting the potatoes and again salt and peppered. I then took a wooden spoon and mixed it all up getting the seasoning throughout all my ingredients.
So I really did not deviate from the recipe that much. However, I did have some finely chopped carrots that I threw in just because they needed to be used. :-)
The recipe calls for cooking on lovw 10 -12 hours. I cooked on high for 5 hours. It smelled wonderful!
Yet again disappointment set in as we started to 'dive' into lunch. First it didn't look like chowder. I always thought of chowder as soup so I was expecting a soup like consistency. Second no flavor. Even with all the salt and pepper I used...NO flavor. You could taste the chilis but that was it.
So what did I do....turned the slow cooker back on low. I added 2 cups of beef broth, a small can of tomato sauce and 2 tablespoons of itailan seasoning. Well....I added these ingredients over the next couple of hours trying to find the flavor that made my tastebuds tingle and in the end I was quite please with my potato chowder. The only ingredient I am really not sure of the exact amount used is the italian seasoning so go slow and taste along the way.
Because this chowder had a tomato base (kind of) I'm thinking that it was supposed to be similar to a manhatten style chowder. The book also has another potato chowder recipe that is cream based so guess what dinner is tomorrow? Yep yep yep! We are going to compare the two chowders.
Eat up and stay tuned!
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