Unstuffed Pepper Bake

1 lb. Ground beef or turkey
1/3 cup Onion, chopped
1 1/2 c. Bell peppers, diced (any color)
2  Cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. Salt
1/4 t. Black pepper
14.5 oz can Diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 c. White or brown rice
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 t. Italian seasoning
8 oz Cheddar cheese
15 oz. can Tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large sauce pan over medium-high heat, saute ground meat and onions, peppers and garlic for 10 minutes, or until meat is browned and vegetables are tender.  Drain off excess fat and season with salt and pepper.

Stir in the tomatoes, rice, Worcestershire sauce and Italian seasoning. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup cheese.

Spread mixture evenly into a 13 x 9 baking dish and top with tomato sauce and remaining cheese.

Bake uncovered for 20 minutes on center rack, until heated through and cheese is melted and bubbly.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

***For a freezer meal: I left out the cheese and added additional water for the rice.  It may even be better to cook the rice separately and top the rice w/ the sauce and cheese after everything has cooked in the crock pot.***

Easy Chicken Chile Verde Soup

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (32 oz) green enchilada sauce
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 1/2 c. frozen corn
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 T. cilantro
Water or chicken broth to thin as needed

Combine all ingredients.  Cook on low 5 to 6 hours in crock pot; when cooked, shred chicken and serve.  (Or bring all ingredients to a boil on the stovetop and then simmer for 30 to 40 minutes.) Serve with sour cream, cheese and corn chips.

I removed the chicken breasts from my freezer meal. Cooked the soup in the crock pot and grilled the chicken on the bbq.  Then cut up the chicken and added back to the soup.  It was really good this way. I think the chicken had more flavor that way but it did add a couple of extra steps

Garlic Chicken

Ingredients:

1 t. Salt
1 t. Paprika
1/2 t. Pepper
1 t. Season salt (optional)
2 t. olive oil
2-3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 Large onion, sliced
1 medium bulb garlic (about 20 cloves)

Directions:

In small bowl, mix salt, paprika, pepper, season salt and oil to form a paste; spread evenly over each piece of chicken.

In a 5 - 6 quart slow cooker, place onion slices.  Arrange chicken over onion.  Separate garlic into cloves; do not peel cloves.  Place garlic cloves around chicken.
(I used sliced Elephant garlic because the regular garlic was sold out.)

Cover; cook on Low setting 5 to 6 hours.

With a slotted spoon, remove chicken, onions and garlic from the slow cooker; place on serving platter. Squeeze garlic cloves to use cooked garlic on mashed potatoes, vegetables or bread.

Source: Betty Crocker Slow cooker meals online

Honey Sauced Chicken

3/4 pound chicken (of your choice)

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/8 cup chopped onion (or 1/16 cup onion flakes)

1/8 cup ketchup

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 5-7 hours or on high 4-6 hours. Shred chicken. Serve over rice.

 

 

****I added snap peas and carrots

Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

2-3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup cilantro lime pesto (recipe follows)
flour or corn tortillas
preferred taco garnishes (salsa, sour cream, cheese, etc)


Season chicken with salt, pepper and garlic powder. In a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, saute chicken over medium high heat and cooked through. Toss cooked, seasoned chicken with the pesto. Fill tortillas with chicken and top with preferred garnishes.

Cilantro Lime Pesto

recipe adapted from Food Network

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves (do not include stems)
2 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sliced, toasted almonds
3 tablespoons chopped, fresh garlic
1 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 cup shredded asiago (Parmesan or Romano can be substituted too)
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup chicken broth


Using a blender, mix together the cilantro, olive oil, almonds, garlic, lime juice, asiago, salt and chicken broth on low speed for 2 minutes.

Chunky Potato Crab Chowder

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons butter

1 onion chopped

3/4 cup chopped celery

1 garlic clove minced

1 lb of red potatoes, chopped into one inch cubed squares

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups skim milk

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme

1/2 tsp of black pepper

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn

1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

8 ounces lump crabmeat

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon of salt

I adapted this for crockpot it was a regular recipe.

Saute the onion and garlic in the butter. Stir in flour and saute for 1 minute. Then add that and the rest of the ingrediants to your crockpot. 

low for 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours

Pineapple Pepper Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken breasts, raw, diced
• 4 medium carrots, one-inch pieces
• 1 cups chicken broth
• 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, minced (approx. 1/2 inch of root)
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 0.5 teaspoons ground allspice
• 0.5 teaspoons red pepper sauce
• 14 ounces pineapple chunks in juice (juice drained and saved)
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cut in one-inch pieces
• 2 ounces snow peas

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except pineapple, cornstarch, snow peas and bell pepper in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours (or high heat setting 3 to 4 hours) or until vegetables are tender and chicken is no longer pink in center. Mix reserved pineapple juice and cornstarch until smooth; gradually stir into chicken mixture. Stir in pineapple, snow peas and bell pepper. Cover and cook on high heat setting about 15 minutes or until slightly thickened. Serve over rice.

Tortellini and Spinach Soup

5 c. no-salt broth or water
2-1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon (or 3 cubes)
1 c. chopped onion 1/2 c. chopped carrot
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

9 oz. cheese tortellini
1 can navy or white beans
3 c. packed chopped fresh spinach (or 1 c. of frozen spinach)

Combine broth, bouillon, onion, carrot and garlic in pot and bring to boil. reduce heat, cover and simmer about 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, and using a slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to a blender. Pour 1 c. of broth into blender too. Puree vegetables. Pour back into pot. (I actually added the spinach here and blended it all up so that maybe my kids would eat the spinach, but it turns the soup too green and probably not any better than having the spinach leaves in the soup!)

If you want to use frozen spinach, you would probably add it here (after pureeing the other vegetables), and cook it with the tortellini (or freeze it with the soup part).

I froze this soup part, so when you take it out of the freezer, just heat it up to a boil. Add tortellini and beans. Return to boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook 5 minutes. Add fresh spinach until wilted--only a couple more minutes. Be careful not to overcook the tortellini.

White Chili

1/2 lb. great northern white beans (1-3/4 c.dry = 4 cups cooked) or 4 cups canned beans
1 lb chicken, cooked and cubed (optional)
2-1/2 tsp. olive oil
1 med. chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. cumin
1-1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. cloves dash of cayenne pepper
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 - 1 can green chilies

1-1/2 c. monterey jack cheese, grated
garnish: sour cream, salsa, cheese, cilantro

Place beans in pot. Add cold water to cover the beans by 3" and soak overnight. Drain beans. Saute onions and oil in pot about 10 min. Stir in garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, cayenne.

Saute a couple of minutes and then add the beans and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 2 hrs. (If using canned beans, simmer about 30 min.)

If cooking beans from dry, make sure they are soft enough to eat before adding the chilies because they will not get any softer after you add them. Add the green chilies, however hot you want it. Stir in about a cup of the cheese and chicken, if you're adding it. Garnish with the rest of the cheese and other stuff. This freezes well.

Hawaiian Curry

4 Tbsp. butter
small onion, grated (I minced)
1 tsp. minced garlic

Melt and simmer for 5 minutes.

6 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. salt
2-3 tsp. curry powder

Combine and mix into butter/onion mixture.

2 c. coconut milk
1 c. chicken broth
3 c. diced cooked chicken (or substitute vegetables)

Combine and add to butter/flour mix. Stir over low heat. Add chicken just before serving to heat through. I made the recipe, slightly undercooked the vegetables, then cooled and put into the freezer. Then just put in pan on stove or crockpot to reheat and finish cooking the vegetables. Serve over brown rice.

Veggie Lasagna

Ingredients chopped onion and carrots (anything else you want)
baby spinach
a spoonful of minced garlic 29 oz can spaghetti sauce 8 oz pkg. lasagna noodles, uncooked 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese  1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups Parmesan cheese

Directions 1.) Stir all the cheese together, set aside a little of the mozzerella to put on top at right before you serve.                   2.) Stir the tomato sauce in with the veggies keep a cup or two of sauce set aside to put on the top 3.) Spread 1/3 Veggies Sauce mix 4.) Arrange 1/3 uncooked noodles, break them up so they fit better 5.) Spread 1/2 Cheese 6.) Spread 1/3 Veggie Sauce Mix 7.) 1/3 noodles 8.) 1/2 cheese
9.) 1/3 Veggie Sauce Mix
10.) Rest of the noodles
11.) The sauce set aside for the top 12.) Cover and cook on low for 4hrs 13.) Sprinkle some mozzarella on top and Let the lasagna stand in the crock-pot with the lid off for at  10 minutes 

BEEF STEW

Blog: The Test Kitchen of Melissa Fallis

Ingredients:

1 can green beans, drained (original recipe called for 1/2 green bell pepper instead)

1 onion, chopped

3-4 handfuls baby carrots, cut in half

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 - 1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat

1 6oz can tomato paste

1/4 cup beef broth (I added this)

2 tsp Paprika

1/4 tsp pepper

Cooking Day:

Cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low in a crockpot. Add 1/2 cup sour cream about 10 minutes before serving. Serve over egg noodles.