Crock Pot Creamy Tomato Soup

Source: skinny taste

Time: 10 minute prep the night before, 10 minute prep the morning of, 6+ hours cook time, 20 minutes prep after cooking
Servings: Makes about 10 cups, ~ 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• 1 cup finely diced carrots
• 1 cup finely diced onions
• 28 oz can whole plum tomatoes, with juice
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• 3 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• Parmesan or Romano cheese rind
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1 3/4 cups reduced fat (2%) milk, warmed
• salt, to taste
• black pepper, to taste

Directions: 

1. Heat large skillet over medium heat, add oil, celery, carrots and onions. Cook 5 minutes until golden. Add to slow cooker. 

2. Pour juice of tomatoes into the slow cooker, then roughly crush the tomatoes with your hands (be careful of splatter!), add to slow cooker. Then add broth, cheese rind, thyme, basil and bay leaf. 

3. Cook on LOW for at least 6 hours. Mine cooked for about 7 hours, then stayed on warm for an additional 3-4 hours maybe. 

4. After cooking, remove cheese rind and bay leaf. Using an immersion blender or blender, blend the soup until smooth. If using a blender be sure to do this in SMALL batches, otherwise you'll have soup on your cabinets and floors. 

5. Melt butter over low heat and add flour. Stir constantly with whisk for 4-5 minutes. Slowly whisk in about 1 cup of the hot soup, then add the warm milk and stir until smooth. 

6. Pour back butter, flour, milk mixture into the slow cooker with soup and stir. Add grated pecorino cheese and season liberally with salt and pepper. 

7. Cover and cook on low 30 more minutes or until warm. 

Verdict: 

This soup was really good. It tasted very creamy and richer than it actually is. Allison really enjoyed it as well. Bonus is it's pretty healthy. Isaac didn't touch it, but he didn't touch any of his other dinner that night either, so his vote doesn't really count. 

Servings: 6 • Size: 1-1/2 cups
Calories: 177 • Fat: 10 g • Carb: 17 g • Fiber: 3 g • Protein: 8 g • Sugar: 8 g
Sodium: 600 mg • Cholest: 21 mg

Pasta Caprese Salad

Source: food network

Time: about 30 minutes

Servings: a ton as stated in the recipe, the photo above is with the recipe halfed

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 pounds mixed heirloom tomatoes, cored, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 pound pasta, such as campanelle, penne or fusilli
• 12 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch pieces or buy the pearl mozzarella 
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions: 

Whisk olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, shallot and garlic in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes and gently toss. Marinate at room temperature about 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook at the label directs. Drain and rinse with cold water. 

Add pasta and mozzarella to tomato mixture and toss. Stir in basil and lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until serving. 

Verdict: 

This pasta salad is great, easy to make and easy to transport and leave out at a cookout. The kids love it too. They sometimes pick out the tomatoes, but the eat the noodles and cheese and then ask for more!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

source: Pinch of Yum

Time: 1 hour
Servings: 10-12 (this photo is only half of the recipe, I cooked the other half in another dish)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 19 ounces (about 2 ½ cups) red enchilada sauce
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)
• 6-8 small flour tortillas
• 1 can refried beans 

Directions: 

1. Cook and shred chicken. I did this the morning before putting this together by boiling a large pot of water and cooking the chicken breasts about 30 minutes. Then shred with two forks. 

2. Preheat over to 375. Place a few spoonfuls of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a square glass baking dish. Place 2 tortillas int he bottom of the dish, overlapping to cover entire surface. Layer 1/3 cup beans, 1 cup chicken, 1/2 cup cheese, 3/4 cup enchilada sauce and 2 tortillas. Repeat once to make a total of 2 layers. 

3. Cover the top with remaining enchilada sauce and 1 cup cheese. Cover baking dish with well oiled aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes. 

4. Remove foil and bake uncovered for additional 5 minutes or until cheese is starting to brown and sauce is bubbling. 

5. Allow to rest at least 15 minutes before cutting. Otherwise it'll be a soupy mess!

Verdict: 

This was good, but a little spicy. I guess it was the sauce I used, although it was mild. The next time I make it i'll try another brand. The beans were really good though and helped cut a little of the spice. This was pretty time consuming and I made it on a day I had off from work. Probably a little too time consuming for a weeknight meal. 

Cheeseburger Macaroni

Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean hamburger meat
• 1 pkg taco seasoning
• 1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies (or petite diced tomatoes)
• 2 cups beef broth (or water)
• 1 cup elbow macaroni
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

Brown and drain hamburger meat. Stir in taco seasoning, Rotel, beef broth and macaroni. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and cover pan. Simmer 12-14 minutes until macaroni is tender.

Meanwhile, melt butter in saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking for 5 minutes until light brown in color. Whisk in milk and bring to a boil. Whisk until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the shredded cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the cheese sauce over the hamburger mixture and stir to combine.

Verdict:

This was SOOO spicy! I have no idea why it was so spicy, i used mild Rotel and original taco seasoning. Even I could barely eat it. But other than being spicy it was really good. I'm going to try to make it again using regular diced tomatoes and mild taco seasoning because I think it could be really good. The kids didn't touch it, cute plates and all. But I think they'd like it, if it weren't so spicy.

I'll update when I make it again.

Swedish Meatballs

Source: simply recipes

Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients

• Meatballs (I used frozen turkey meatballs - you could make your own using your favorite meatball recipe, but I don't have time for that!)
• 3 T butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups beef broth/stock
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• egg noodles or other noodle to serve with meatballs

Directions

1. Cook meatballs according to package. I baked mine on 350 for about 20 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta. 
3. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. 
4. In another small pan, heat beef broth over medium heat. 
5. When melted, add flour and stirring often cook flour until it's the color of coffee-with-cream. You've just made yourself a classic roux!
6. Slowly add hot beef broth a little at a time stirring constantly. Keep stirring and adding broth until you've added it all and most of your lumps are gone. 
7. By this point your meatballs should be almost done. Mine had maybe 4 minutes left on the timer. Take them out of the oven and put them in the sauce you've just made. 
8. Cover and let simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Add a little pepper to taste if you'd like. 
9. Take out the meatballs and place in a serving dish, leaving the sauce. 
10. Finally, add your sour cream to the remaining sauce and stir until blended. This should only take 30 seconds or so. 
11. Pour the sauce over the meatballs and serve with noodles. 

Verdict

This was really good and super easy, especially since I didn't make the meatballs. The kids ate it pretty well, especially the noodles, not so much the meatballs, which is another reason not to slave away in the kitchen making your own meatballs!

We'll definitely have this again. And bonus, this was a last minute addition to our menu and it's one of those recipes where I already had everything I needed stocked in the house to make it. Win!

Chili-Lime Pork with Corn Salad

Source: Everyday Food

Servings: 4
Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
4 cups frozen corn, thawed and drained
1 small jalapeno, seeded if desired, minced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 avocado, sliced
4 T Olive Oil, divided
2 limes
coarse salt and pepper
1 t chili powder
2 - 1lb pork tenderloin, cut into six 1-inch-thick medallions

Directions:
1. Toss corn with jalapeno, scallion, cilantro, avocado, 2 T oil and juice of 1 lime. Season with salt.

2. Combine chili powder, 2 t salt, 1/2 t pepper and 2 T oil. Flatten medallions with your hands so they are about 1/2 inch thick. Brush both sides with chili mixture.

3. Heat grill to med-high. Grill pork 4-5 minutes per side. Remove from grill and squeeze juice of remaining lime on top. Top with corn salad. Serve.

Verdict:
This was super yummy.  I served it with tortillas, heated on the grill, on the side. We also made tacos out of it.  So easy and so yummy!

Slow Cooker Jerk Pork with Caribbean Salsa

Source: skinny taste . com

Time: 5 minute prep in morning, 15 minutes for salsa in the evening
Servings: 10 or more

Ingredients:

• 3 lb boneless pork shoulder blade roast, lean, all fat removed
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 - 3 tbsp Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning (I used mild)
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1 lime, squeezed
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice

Note: I didn't have time to buy the seasoning and couldn't find the McCormick's version at HEB either, so I used a Weber grill mix jerk seasoning packet. I found it near the marinades and BBQ sauces. 

For the Caribbean salsa:

• 1 haas avocado, diced
• 2 large ripe mangos, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped (or jarred mango - saves time to not have to peal it, but they are mushier)
• 1 1/2 tbsp chopped red onion
• 1-2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 2-3 tbsp fresh lime juice
• salt and pepper, to taste 

Directions:

Using a sharp knife, cut slits into the pork and stuff holes with half of the crushed garlic. Combine the remaining garlic, jerk seasoning, and salt, rub all over pork (you may want to wear gloves). Place in a large container, pour the lime and orange juice over the pork; cover and refrigerate 5 hours or overnight, turning pork occasionally so the marinade covers all of pork.

The next morning, put everything in the crock pot and cook on LOW for 9 hours.

Remove liquid from crock pot and reserve. Add shredded pork back to the slow cooker. Add about 1 cup of the liquid back into the crock pot and taste for salt and pepper. Let it cook an additional 15 minutes.

Meanwhile make the Caribbean salsa: combine all the ingredients in a bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate salsa until ready to serve.

Verdict: 

This was delicious! The salsa is what made it really good. Both kids (and adults) gobbled this up. I served it over brown rice.