Slow-Cooker Hearty Beef Stew

 Photo Source

This is a seriously tasty stew! Perfect for this cold weather!

 Ingredients 
1 Tbsp. oil
2 lb. (900 g) boneless stewing beef, cut into 1-1/2-inch cubes
5 carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large onion, cut into chunks
6 small red potatoes, quartered
3/4 cup your favorite BBQ sauce
1 Tbsp. Instant Coffee
2 cups frozen peas


Directions:
HEAT oil in nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add meat, in batches; cook until evenly browned, stirring occasionally. Layer carrots, onions and potatoes in bottom of 5-qt. slow cooker; top with meat. Pour 1/2 cup barbecue sauce over meat; sprinkle with coffee granules. Cover with lid.

COOK on LOW 7 to 8 hours (or on HIGH 5 hours).

STIR in peas and remaining barbecue sauce; cover. Cook 15 min. or until heated through.

Adapted from here

Monte Cristo Bread Pudding

Yum right!? Sometimes it's nice to just have some comfort food. Check out the recipe here.

Sweet-n-Sour Meat Balls

I love meat balls! So tasty! My mom gave me this recipe for Marshall's birthday one year and I realized I hadn't shared it with you all! So here it is!

Meat Balls:
4 lb Hamburger Meat
½ lb Onion (grated)
1 head of Garlic (grated of crushed)
Salt
Pepper

2-3 eggs
And any other seasoning you want (to taste)
2 cups cooked oatmeal

(I like to add a little cinnamon for spice)

Sauce:
1 can Pineapple (crushed- with juice)
¼ cup White Vinegar (or to taste)
2 cans of Tomato Soup
1 can of Tomatoes (crushed)
1 can of Tomato Paste
2 cups Water
2 tbsp Brown Sugar (or to taste)


Sauce: In a crock pot (preferably) combine all ingredients, mix well, or until smooth. Cook on medium for 1 hour, or until flavors have blended.

Meat Balls: Combine all ingredients, roll into 1’’ meat balls. Add meat balls after sauce has been cooking for at least 30 minutes.

Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

So yummy! I can't wait to make this! It seems that every veggie is 150% better when we add bacon to it right? Check out the recipe here!

Chicken Pot Pie

Photo source

I love chicken pot pie. I hadn't made one before so I found the recipes I wanted, twisted them a little, and man, was it good!! I highly recommend this recipe! I want to make it again right now! So good for a chilly day!


Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup ice water

 In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball.

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

(Double the recipe to make a crust for the top and the bottom of the pie) 

Pie Filling
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 cup sliced carrots
 1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)

In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery.

Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, drain and set aside. In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent.

Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside. Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough.

Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipes adapted from here and here 

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

Yum right? Check out the recipe here!

How To Cook A Turkey

Step 1: If using a frozen turkey, thaw in its original plastic wrapper in the fridge. Allow for 5 hours per pound.

Quicker method: Cover the turkey with cold water (the sink is a good place for this), changing every 30 minutes; allow 1 hour per pound (500 g).

Step 2: Prepare the turkey by removing giblets and neck. Rinse and wipe the cavity; sprinkle with salt and pepper or stuff (with stuffing of course!) lightly using skewers to fasten skin over the cavity or my suggestion; do both!

Step 3: Place turkey, breast side up, on rack in roasting pan. Brush with melted butter or oil (I also pour some chicken broth in the bottom of the pan for gravy later). Tent loosely with foil. Roast in 325F (160C) oven for about 20 minutes per pound (500 g) or until juices run clear when turkey is pierced and when thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 180F (82C) for a stuffed turkey or 170F (77C) for an unstuffed turkey. Remove tent for last hour of roasting. (at this point I usually take some of the juices and run them then over the top to give it more of a nice crisp skin)

Step 4: When turkey is done, transfer to warm platter. Tent with foil and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes. This allows time for juices at the surface of the bird to distribute evenly throughout the meat.

Step 5: Carve turkey. Eat and enjoy!

Have any good ideas, or substitutes for this....share them, leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!!

Easy Potato Salad

I thought with all the BBQs we have it was about time I learned how to make a potato salad.  You know me, I like it if it's easy to do and this recipe is a great example of that! Cheap, easy, and a hit with all my friends! (I haven't tried it on the family yet!)

3/4 cup Mayo

1 tsp. yellow mustard

1/2-1 tsp. salt (taste it, add if you think you need more)

1/8 tsp. pepper

5 cups chopped cooked potatoes

4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped

1 small  onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced

1/2 cup chopped sweet pickles 

Mix the first 5 ingredants, then add the rest, let refrigerate a few hours before serving. 

I told you it was easy!

Cooking Goal: Cauliflower Soup

Doesn't this look great? Wonderful for a chilly spring day!  

Check out the recipe at The Harried Cook

Cooking Goal: Feta Herbed Orzo

Doesn't this look wonderful? I have a bit of the problem though; some how the link to the original recipe was lost! I know it was from one of the blogs I follow but I don't know which one. SO if you posted this PLEASE let me know so that I can link back to that post AND try this recipe!!


Update!! It was done by From Which Things Grow! If you don't know their blog go and check it out now! Here's the link to the original post! 

Supper: Salmon Alfredo with Capers & Irish Soda Bread

Savory Sunday Picks of the Week!

Ok, so I promised that on Mondays I'd post my favorate recipes from Savory Sundays the day before and here are the recipes!

 Fiesta Chowder- from Darn Near Domestic

 MEATBALL SOUP (aka Italian Wedding Soup) from The South Padre Island Flip Flop Foodie

And True Veggie Lover's Pizza- from Yum! Yum! Yum!

Come on back next Sunday to join in on Savory Sunday!!

A Thank You Hamburger

We made a deal with our friend Joey for taking our One Year photos that we would make him dinner in return. Well that was in September and it's taken us this long to actually have him over but I would say that it was worth it because the dinner was great! I hope we can get him to do some year two photos.




I made these fries just by cutting them (in almost wedge size) pieces and deep frying them. I don't have a deep frier so I just use a pan and oil on high.





I made these onion rings with the left over beer batter I had from when I made beer battered fish. I had put it in the freezer not wanting to waste it and thought this might work out well and it did! The boys loved it! A great add to an already huge burger.



I've shared this recipe at:

Easy Alfredo Sauce

There aren’t a lot of options in the grocery store for Alfredo sauce, and the options that are out there are super expensive (to me at least). I’ve never really been good at sauces so I started to give up when I got a few wrong, but I had a lot of confidence I couldn’t screw this one up so I tried it the other night. It turned out great! It’s really easy, and sort of fun, and you can add whatever sort of spices you want and it seems to just make it better (sort of like a blank canvas for sauces). So give it a try and see if you like it!


1/2 cup Cream Cheese (or sour cream)
1 cup Milk 0-2 %
3 tbsp. Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Clove Garlic
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
3 tbsp. Dry Parsley or 1/2 cup fresh

The best way to make this consistent is to use a blender. Put cream cheese, milk, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt and pepper in blender. Blend until there are no clumps, pour into saucepan on medium heat, cook for about 10 minutes (or longer to make the flavour really take!). While cooking add parsley (if fresh chop finely) and save some for garnish.

Have any good ideas, or substitutes for this....share them, leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!!

I shared this recipe at: