Crockpot Beef Stew

I threw this meal together before work yesterday...in the 10 minutes I had to chop and dice everything. It was so easy and I got a text from Kevin while I was still at work saying that it was really good. Both kids gobbled it up too! I made a large meal out of it so that we could have leftovers and dinner tonight too since I knew it would be crazy hectic tonight.

Gather it:
2 lbs of cubed beef stew (or you can cube up your own large hunk of meat)
4 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
4 large red potatoes, quartered
1 medium sweet potato, quartered
4 celery stalks, large half moons
32 oz carton of chicken stock (beef probably would have been better, but I didn't have any)
dried parsley
freshly cracked black pepper

Make it:
1) Place all veggies, parsley, and black pepper in crockpot and cover with stock.

2) Place beef on top of veggies.

3) Cook on low for 8 hours.

We ate it with rice and it was delicious. Make sure to scoop up some of the broth to go over the rice...YUMMY! Oh and Kevin and I added a bit of salt and more black pepper to our dishes.

Note: Next time I will add onions and garlic, but I'm all out. Also, the sweet potatoes cooked a lot faster than the other veggies so next time I'm going to cut it into larger chunks since it kind of fell apart.

Crockpot Black Eyed Pea Soup

We are having a cold spell here in Florida...as in 50 degrees cold!!! Brrr!!! I'm taking full advantage of this cold weather and making some soup! This soup is similar to the white bean and ham soup I have made before, but there were some changes/additions. This soup is truly the easiest thing to make and so filling. Parker "helped" me make the soup by shaking some herbs into the soup. He loves to help me cook even if it's just to shake the herb container or to stir. When he helps cook, he does tend to eat a lot more. He gobbled it up. Avery gobbled it up. Kevin gobbled it up. I gobbled it up. Easy. Delicious.

Gather it:
1 lb dried black eyed peas
2 thick slices of ham, large cubes (you can also use ham hocks, but my grocery store doesn't carry them)
2 cartons (32 oz each) of chicken stock
1 can (14.5 oz) of chicken stock
1 large white onion, large diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced (we love garlic, you can use less if you're not a fan)
2.5 cups of fresh kale, lightly packed (seems like a lot, but it shrinks like spinach)
dried parsley, more than quite a few shakes of the container b/c Parker tends to go crazy
dried oregano, just a few shakes
black pepper, to taste

Make it:
1. Place all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Avery picked the little bits of ham off first...lol

FYI, I did sprinkle a little bit of sea salt on my bowl of soup, but the kids had theirs unsalted and I also added a few drops of hot sauce that we bought from a local vendor at one of our farmer's market. I literally added 3 drops of hot sauce and my mouth was practically on fire, but it was so good! lol We also had it with corn bread muffins. I drizzled a tiny bit of honey on top of each corn muffin before I baked it so the top got a little sweet hint. The whole meal was absolutely delicious!!!

Crockpot Chicken Pesto

I found this recipe on Pinterest (surprise!) and wasn't sure if Kevin would like it, but it looked so easy and yummy that I just had to try it. I had it cooking all day and I was still at work when Kevin and the kids had dinner. Kevin told me that it was really good and both kids ate everything on their plate and Avery had seconds. I think she might be going through a growth spurt b/c when I fixed myself a plate, she kept coming to me and saying "bite, bite". Little girl ate about 1/4 of my meal!

Gather it:
8 chicken thighs
1 packet of Ranch dressing mix
7 oz jar of pesto
1 cup of chicken broth (original recipe calls 1/2 cup, but we like a little sauce over our rice)
pepper, to taste

Make it:
1. Mix ranch, pesto, and broth together in crockpot.

2. Add chicken. Flip it to cover both sides or spoon pesto mixture over chicken.

3. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

As with most crockpot meals that I do, it's easy and yummy! You must try it!

Here's the original recipe.

Crockpot White Bean and Ham Soup

I've been craving soup lately, but winter in Florida usually means it's 80 degrees outside. That didn't stop me though - just turn the AC down low! lol I've never made this soup before, but my friend's mom used to make black eyed pea soup with pieces of ham when we were in elementary school. It was delicious and used that as my inspiration. But she used to simmer that soup on the stove for hours. I've never cooked with dried beans before and I was gonna attempt it on the crockpot...def used my family as my guinea pigs! lol If it failed then we could always pick up a pizza!

I was hoping Publix had ham bones, but they didn't and I wasn't about to go all the way to The Honey Baked Ham store to get some. I just grabbed some ham from the meat section at Publix. I thought it was a big slab of ham that I could dice up on my own, but it was pre-sliced. It still worked and the whole soup turned out so good and this has to be the EASIEST dish EVER! Kevin liked the new recipe and the kids gobbled it up. In Parker's words: "It dee-wicious, Mommy!"

Gather it:
1 lb of dried White Northern Beans, rinsed and sorted through
about 1 lb of ham, large pieces
3 (14.5 oz each) cans of chicken stock
1 medium white onion, diced
pepper
parsley
oregano

Make it:
1. Place all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours.

That's it! lol Easy, huh? I think that's a huge reason why I liked this recipe so much! I didn't add extra salt b/c I wasn't sure how salty the soup would be from the ham. The kids ate it fine without extra salt, but Kevin and I added a little sea salt to our bowls. We also ate it with some mini corn muffins - the Jiffy brand was on sale (not that it's not already cheap) 2 for $0.95. This is the brand that my mother in law uses so it's now my go-to brand. Parker thought he was getting a special treat b/c it was muffin shaped! lol Oh and next time, I'll probably add some spinach to the soup to get some veggies worked into the soup!

Another soup to try: black eyed pea soup
http://sweetandsimpleandadashofcrazy.blogspot.com/2013/03/crockpot-black-eyed-pea-soup.html

Crockpot 3 packet Pot Roast

I LOVE this dinner! It's so easy and yummy...I know I say that all the time, but seriously those are pretty much my requirements when cooking. I especially love crockpot meals b/c I don't have to do much. I'm not a fan of crockpot meals where you have to pre-cook the meat then dump it into the crockpot. There are many crockpot pot roast meals where it tells you to sear the meat on a pan first. Umm, yeah...no thanks!

This meal came from Pinterest (surprise!), but I've made my own changes. Here's my version:

Ingredients:
2 lb beef roast
1 packet of ranch dressing
1 packet of Italian dressing
1 packet of brown gravy mix
carrots
frozen peas
1/2 cup of water

Directions:
1. Empty all 3 packets into crockpot with water. Mix until well incorporated.

2. Place meat in crock pot. Roll around in mixture until all sides are covered in the mixture.

3. Cover and cook on low for 6-8hours.

4. Add carrots (I used microwaveable carrots which are smaller and thinner than baby carrots and cook pretty fast) and frozen peas about 30 minutes before the end of the cook time. You can probably use regular carrots cut into smaller pieces and put it in the same time as the meat, but I usually only buy microwaveable carrots b/c that's what the kids snack on).

And that's it! Serve with rice or mashed potatoes. I promise it is delicious! My whole family gobbles it up! ENJOY!!!!

This is the original recipe.

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

I stumbled upon this recipe on where else but Pinterest. Anyway, I've never been a fan of chicken and dumplings, but Kevin likes it so when I saw how easy this recipe was, I decided to give it a try and that was almost a year ago. It was a big hit with my family! I even shared it with my best friend, Lauren's, sister and now it's one of her family's favorite recipes. Lauren's mom also loves this recipe and has shared it with her co-workers. It's that yummy! And the big bonus is that it's super easy!

I decided to make it tonight even though it's not chilly outside since I never made it a few weeks ago as planned when it was cold out and I still had all the ingredients. Kevin even requested I make this in the middle of the summer! He likes it that much! As always, I made changes to the original recipe - nothing big, but just added a few things. Here's my version:

Ingredients:
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
- 1 (14 oz) can of chicken broth (I use low sodium, fat free)
- 2 small white onions (diced)
- dried parsley (the kids like to help "cook" and shake the container over the pot)
- Italian herbs
- black pepper
- frozen peas and carrots (I just eyeball how much to put in, but I do tend to go heavy on veggies. I usually add celery too, but Kevin made boneless buffalo chicken for dinner last night and we ate the last bit of the celery with it)
- 1 can of refrigerator biscuit like Pillsbury (the original recipe only calls for 4, but the first time I made it I used 6 since the Publix brand was smaller and Kevin requested I add more next time. So now I use the whole can, which has 10 biscuits)

Directions:
1. Mix diced onions, both cans of soup, broth, black pepper, parsley and Italian herbs (I don't measure my herbs - I eyeball it, depends on how much you like) in crock pot.
2. Cover and cook on high 4-6 hours or on low for 8 hours.
3. About 35 minutes before it is about done, take biscuits out of the fridge and cut each biscuit into 6 pieces and set aside.
4. Take a pair of tongs and shred the chicken while in crockpot. It should fall apart easily, but I like to leave a few chunky pieces.
5. Add veggies and biscuit pieces into crock pot. Stir.
6. Cover and let the biscuits cook and the veggies warm up for about 30 min.

Enjoy the yummy goodness of this dish!

Beef Stroganoff turned Pot Roast

I had to work last night and wanted to make an easy crockpot meal. I had bought a huge chunk of meat last week to make beef stroganoff...only I slacked and never made it. Besides I didn't have the "golden mushroom soup" that the recipe called for. Apparently this soup is hot commodity b/c I've gone to 3 different Publixes (uhhh, is that grammatically correct?) and 1 SuperTarget and none had it! I had added it to our grocery list on Sunday and I thought Kevin had picked it up when he went shopping. I rummaged through our cupboards before frantically calling Kevin asking where the darn soup was. I stared wide-eyed at the 2+ lb of meat I just cubed up and the diced onions as Kevin tells me he couldn't find any at the store.

What the heck was I supposed to do with this cut up meat and onions?!? Well I went to Pinterest of course! I realized I had all the ingredients to make a crockpot pot roast. Only "problem" is that my meat was cubed. Oh, well! Cubed Pot Roast...it's what's for dinner!

Ya'll I've made this pot roast before and it's super yummy and super easy! I pinned it through Pinterest, which led me to this blog for the recipe. As always, I tweaked mine a little bit, but not a lot. Here's my version:

Ingredients:
1 beef roast - I typically buy 2+ lb of meat, those suckers shrink a lot! Next time, I'll buy a bigger roast b/c we don't really have enough for leftovers for lunch (best part!)
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 package Italian dressing mix
1 package brown gravy w/ mushrooms
1/2 cup warm water
1 large onion
black pepper
dried parsley

Directions:
Place roast in crockpot. In small bowl, mix together all 3 seasoning packets, black pepper, and parsley. Sprinkle mixture all over meat. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, then rub mixture into the meat. Add onions. Pour 1/2 cup warm water into crockpot. Cook on low 6-7 hours. You can thicken the gravy, but I never do - too lazy!

I usually serve it with mashed potatoes with gravy slathered all over the meat and potatoes and a side of veggies. However, since this was supposed to be a beef stroganoff, I had egg noodles to go with it. I have added some frozen mixed veggies or carrots and peas into the crockpot about 30 minutes before the time is up to warm up the veggies, but tonight I decided to go with broccoli.

Sorry, ya'll, I did not take any pics since I was in a rush trying to get everything in the crockpot so it would cook in plenty of time for me to eat it before work. Then the whole dishing out a serving was difficult b/c Avery was wrapped around my leg or trying to push me away from the counter. Avery ate some of my dinner then ate more with Kevin and Parker after I left. Apparently Parker slurped his meal down too. Make this easy meal...trust me, it's a delicious meal!

My next crockpot meal will likely be chicken and dumplings...just waiting for cooler weather, which we may get this weekend! Stay tuned for another Pinterest meal!

These are the seasoning packets I use. I've started to buy a small box of the Ranch and Italian mixes b/c I have a handful of recipes that call for these ingredients. Also, the gravy I normally buy has mushrooms in it. I like the extra texture, but Kevin went shopping and when I say buy brown gravy, he takes it literally and does not deviate...so then why did he come home with a 12 pack of Yueng Ling?!? I'm 100% positive that was not on MY grocery list!

Crockpot Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

After 2 failed crockpot meals (pineapple chicken and potato soup) due to not reading the instructions very well (cooking w/ 2 crazy kids including an 18 month old who keeps trying to get between me and the counter is tough) I decided it was time to try another crockpot meal. I will try those recipes again though. Anyway, I found this recipe at simplymadewithlove. She has lots of great recipes that I can't wait to try! Oh and I use crockpot liners for easy clean up! Whoever invented this is a GENIUS! I hate scrubbing burnt food on the sides of the crockpot! 

You might think this is just a regular chicken and rice soup, but the roux really makes a difference - it makes it thick and creamy. Kevin and I also added some extra pepper and a sprinkle of salt to our bowls (I tend to not cook with salt and also to limit the kids' sodium intake). The whole family loved it. Avery even had seconds when Parker finally decided he wanted to eat (he doesn't like to eat at 5:30 when we typically eat and instead eats around 6:45-7, which I'm ok with right now as long as he eats). 

I tend to tweak recipes and rarely measure (except for wet ingredients and stuff like flour)...here's my version:

Ingredients:

46.5 oz chicken broth (this is 1 carton and 1 can of broth)

2 cups water

3 boneless chicken breasts (about 1.5 lbs)

2 pkgs of Rice A Roni long grain and wild rice

1/2 cup all purpose flour 

1/2 cup butter (per the recipe, but I used butter in a tub, so I "estimated")

2 cups half and half

half a bag of microwaveable carrots (found at Publix - these are smaller and thinner than baby carrots)

5-6 stalks of celery (cut in half moons - I used the inner stalks including the leaves)

onions - diced

black pepper - 4-5 twists of the grinder

dried parsley 

Directions:

Combine broth, water, carrots, celery, onion, parsley, black pepper, chicken and rice (including seasoning packet) in slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours. About 30 minutes before you want to eat, shred chicken in slow cooker - I used a pair of tongs and the chicken just falls apart. Replace lid.

*** I originally used only 1 carton (32 oz or 4 cups) of broth and the recipe called for 4.5 cups. I didn't want to open another box/can for just 1/2 cup. I figured I could add extra broth later if needed. I probably could have gotten away with it, but I needed to add more since I also added an extra package of Rice A Roni in the beginning. 1 package just didn't look like enough. This Asian girl forgot how much rice actually expands. I ended up adding 1 can of broth about 3 hours into cooking. This will make A LOT of soup. We have enough for left over lunch tomorrow and then some. Next time I'll follow the directions and use 4.5 cups of broth and 1 pkg of rice. lol ***

Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Stir in flour by tablespoon to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Stir cream mixture into slow cooker and then let cook on low for 15 more minutes. 

*** left: butter and flour mixture; right: half and half added to mixture - it will resemble a pancake batter in consistency. As you mix the half and half in, it will clump up together. Eventually, it will thin out. You will be getting a good arm workout! ***

the roux mixed with the rest of the soup

all done! the lighting made the soup look yellow...it's not!

ENJOY THE YUMMINESS!!!