This marinade is perfect for many meats and I have used it to marinate a ham the night before we smoked it. It was the marinade for the already smoked ham we had on Christmas Eve that was Thee Bestestess Ham I have ever had. I like ham, I guess, it just is a little salty and not really my thing.

At Tony's previous employer, for the holidays, he was able to choose a turkey, a ham, or what he thought was a Boston Butt. However, when we unpacked the quote-unquote, Boston Butt, we were looking at a bone-in, already smoked ham. It smelled like ham and there went my idea of a pulled pork dinner extravaganza for Christmas Eve. But not to be discouraged, we marinated it overnight anyway, cooked it on low for four hours, and then mixed a brown-sugar rub commonly found on a spiral cut honey baked ham. It was delicious! I wanted to eat it for every meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack. I bought brown and serve rolls and we finished off all the leftovers as mini-sandwiches.

Annnyyyywaaay, I went and bought an actual Boston Butt pork roast, which is not part of the pig's butt, but actually part of the shoulder area. And did you know that a Boston Butt is cheap? When we did our Sam's Aldi comparison we bought a large piece at Sams and cut it up into smaller pieces. Okay, the marinade already. I used the marinade I wrote down while watching Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. My friend, Sherry, told me that you can look up some of triple Ds recipes on the website but I haven't done that yet. So I have no idea what the exact measurements are. I just use equal parts for most of the ingredients.

1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1 T. Celery Salt
1 T. Garlic Powder
1 T. Dried Mustard
1 T. Ground Ginger
1 T. Black Pepper
1 T. Rosemary
1 1/2 tsp. Liquid Smoke
1/4 cup Worcestershire
3/4 cup Cider Vinegar
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

Whisk all together.

Place the Boston Butt in a large ziploc bag and fill with the marinade. Place in the fridge overnight.

In the morning place in the crockpot on low for 8 hours. Add the marinade sprinkle with garlic salt and a large sliced onion. Serve as sandwiches, over a baked potato, or all by itself. Like I said I have no idea what the exact measurements for the marinade is suppose to be, but I have used it several times as directed above and it was perfect.

Oh my gosh! This was so good and so easy. I think the hardest part was looking for the Golden Mushroom Soup. Seriously. I found this recipe and it had almost 5 stars out of over 1250 reviews. How could that many people love beef stroganoff was my first thought and then I saw the small list of ingredients and was very surprised. How strange something that this many people thought was good was made without a large mixture of spice and flavors. I made it, but as is my compulsion I added to it.

Oh, and I doubled it the second time I made it. It is so good as leftovers and you might think this is sick, but I put some of the gravy/sauce on mashed potatoes, oh wow!

2 pounds cubed stew meat
2 cans Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
1 largish onion diced
2-3-4 tabls of Worcestershire (this stuff is so awesome I always add more)
1/2 water
8 oz of cream cheese (the first time I made this with just 1lb of meat I still added 8 oz's, sshh don't tell my lactose intolerant hubbie)
couple of dashes of Garlic Salt (1 tsp?)
couple dashes of Hot Paprika (see I just can't believe this would be good without some sort of kick)

In the slow cooker stir in all the ingredients, except the meat AND the Cream Cheese, together. Once combined add the meat and mix together.

Cook on Low for 8 hours. Cut up the cream cheese into cubes just before serving and turn crockpot on high. Stir the cream cheese in until all combined. You might have to put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles. Or mashed potatoes, I won't tell anyone but I would really like to not be alone in this.

Oh yes I did. I know this is weird, but I wish they made a candle that captured the smell of this soup as it was cooking. And since this blog was originally started to share my favorite Crockpot recipes and not, amazingly, to educate on the dangers of staph infections, I thought I would post a Crockpot recipe. Shocking!

But seriously, I made a version of this last weekend and again yesterday for our small group dinner. It is so good, and for a total white girl, a little exotic. I mean how many plain old white cook their main dishes with cinnamon? There are some people who think eating Indian Fry Bread or Guy-Rows at the state fair is full on exposure to ethnic food Because come on everyone knows that cinnamon is for breakfast! And now that Starbucks is on every corner cinnamon has expanded its usefulness to lattes. That being said do not be afraid of this recipe, it will not freak your Mac-n-Cheese loving kids out. Buy some Pita Bread or a nice crusty bread slap some Oleo on it and go to town.

(I made lentil soup before and without the garam masala would be super good for the less adventurous)

I pretty much stuck to the recipe I found on allrecipes.com but since I am completely unable to stick to a recipe I changed it up a bit. For example, it no longer has lamb because I am not a fan of lamb. It does not have the pasta, the eggs, or lemon either. I mid-westerned this Moroccan Lentil Soup recipe up and then made it exotic by making it vegetarian**.

Ingredients:
2 tbls Canola Oil
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I actually have no idea the exact measurement I just lightly sprinkled this in)
3 tbls butter cut into three pats
1 cup of sliced celery (I didn't really measure this either maybe 5-6 stalks sliced in half moons)
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (29 oz) can whole tomatoes with juice, Cento brand (I use my potato masher to chop up and I take out the basil leaf but diced tomatoes would work)
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
1lb lentils (2 cups)

In a large saucepan sauté onions and celery with the canola oil. Once veggies are sweating add turmeric, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cayenne, butter, and cilantro. Cook on medium heat stirring frequently until veggies are soft and turmeric has started to make the mixture a little sticky, 5-10 minutes.

Dump the veggies in Crockpot. In the sauté pan dump tomatoes juice and all and mash with potato masher. If using diced tomatoes then skip this step. Pour tomatoes into Crockpot and add broth, water, and lentils. Give it a good stir and cook on high for 6 hours or low 8-10 hours. This makes a lot so it is perfect to freeze part of it for a wintry day. Adding cooked diced chicken would be good too.
Printable recipe here

My daughter absolutely loves this soup. She liked my other one too, but she likes this version better.

**I am totally kidding about the whole white bred/bread midwestern thing. I know plenty of caucasians that eat ethnic food :)

What a great dish! Sweet, spicy, and my daughter said, a little sour?? (I am sure she said that just because I said it was sweet. The sky is not really blue either, by the way) My husband said he would like to use the sauce as a marinade for brisket and I liked it because it was simple.

The last couple of weeks shook my routine up. I am not sure if it was the twice weekly soccer practice, the ragweed swirling in the air, or the incredibly cumbersome amount of homework and flashcards my second grader has. Whatever it was I found myself letting my husband and daughter fend for themselves for dinner or trying to make them forget that it is dinnertime, that actually worked once. In an effort to get back on a routine, I decided to go back to planning a weekly menu, this means Get Out the Cookbooks and Try Something New. Enter Israeli Orange Chicken from the 1983 Bishop Kelley cookbook, Calling All Cooks.

I switched some things up because I wanted to use my crockpot and frankly I just don't have time to bake, turn, and baste. Be sure to serve this over rice. We had noodles because I mistakenly mentioned I love rice so now my daughter thinks rice is gross and will make her sick. She ended up leaving the table, without finishing her dinner, anyway; for her own safety.

The Ingredients (printable copy here)

2-3 lbs boneless Chicken, I used thighs because I had some but breasts would be great too.
2 tsp Garlic Salt
2 tsp Paprika (I love to use the HOT Hungarian brand)
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Dried Tarragon
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme (mine is s powder)
1 1/4 cup Orange Marmalade
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 can of Orange Juice Concentrate
1/2 cup of Water

Place chicken in Crockpot and sprinkle all the seasonings over all. Spoon the orange marmalade and place on top of chicken in various places. Do the same with the orange juice concentrate. Add lemon juice and water. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 if chicken was frozen, but note that with all the sugars in the marmalade and concentrate there might be some carmelizing the longer this cooks. But is this a bad thing?

And don't try to make nice by serving with noodles use rice, it will soak up the juice so much better. If I had known this was going to be so good I would have taken pictures but a scratch and sniff webshot would be better. And yes, I do realize that I named myself Crockstar and yet I haven't posted a recipe in a couple of months, but that is because I am just recycling the same recipes. How many times should I post Chicken Burritos or Creamy Chicken and Noodles?

Want to see my Weekly Menu? (September and October)

Every Thursday Sandra at Diary of a Stay Home Mom has recipes for Slow Cookers from other readers. She calls it Slow Cooking Thursdays and you can find some really good recipes. She also just got back from visiting her family in South Africa where she is from. She hadn't been back in over ten years! The pictures of her trip were great.

I made this Tuesday night and our kids loved it! Great flavor, tender meat, and super easy. No one in our family is a fan of mushrooms so this recipe does not include any vegetables commonly found in Beef Burgundy. Plus, I used inexpensive meat and had wine with dinner since I didn't want the bottle to go to waste.

Ingredients

• 2lb package of cute up stew meat
  
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup


• 1 package of Dry Onion Soup Mix (I used the Golden Onion mix)


• 1/2 cup of dry red wine (I used Columbia Crest Merlot because I have no idea what is "dry" and what is "non-dry" but my husband who actually reads our subscription to the Wine Spectator told me it would work)


• Cooked Egg Noodles
  

That's all!

Lightly grease your crock pot and then mix the cream of mushroom soup together with the red wine and place the meat on top. Sprinkle the entire packet of dry soup mix over all. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.

*Tip*
When I came home from work I gave this a good stir. I thought it seemed a little thin. In a 2 cup measuring cup I added a 1/2 cup of cold water and 2 spoonfuls of cornstarch and mixed it together to get out all the lumps. I poured this into the crockpot and stirred. I let it cook for another 1/2 hour. I thought the consistency was perfect.

On Wednesdays Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer hosts Works For Me Wednesday and I find some of the best ideas, like cleaning my shower while I am taking a shower-duh, but somehow I had never thought to try that. This Wednesday the theme is a 5 ingredient or less meal and I thought I had the perfect one for that. My recipe for chicken burritos is only FOUR ingredients including the tortilla and then you can add all the toppings you want. The chicken is so good sometimes only a little cheese is added. (I originally wrote this post on February 12th)

The kids absolutely love these burritos! The reviews were fantastic tonight. The four year old ate TWO!! The nine year old said, "I love these. This is the best night". The seven year old was overheard saying to her sister, "The chicken was the best tonight, the juicest, moistest, yummiest that we have had".

If only I could get this praise for the meals I actually work on. I made the chicken when I went home for lunch in less than FIVE minutes. Let me show you how.

Take 2-4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breast, Rotel, and Taco Seasoning. That is it!! Easy peasey.

Pour a can of Rotel over the chicken and generously sprinkle taco seasoning over all. Normally I use McCormick or Pace Taco Seasoning but we went to Sam's this weekend and I got this. I noticed no difference.

***If using more than 3 chicken breast add a 1/4 cup of water to keep moist.

Set your Crock Pot on Low to cook for 5 hours. Yes, most slow cookers will say 4 hours is high so I set mine to 8 or 10 hours so I get a low setting. You could also start this in the morning just put it on the lowest and longest setting. Today I only used 2 breasts because I didn't want leftovers.

After coming home from a long day put the kids to work. Get the table set and get out the next ingredients: Refried Beans, Tortilla (burrito size for adults, taco size for kids), sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, lettuce, and any other condiment your family likes or you have on hand.

Refried Beans can be optional but our family likes them and I tend to think it makes the burritos/tacos more filling. I added Taco seasoning to the beans as the seven year old was cooking them.


If you do not own a comal then wrap your tortillas in foil and put in the oven at 300 degrees for 10 minutes to warm them up. (My friend Carol would call me a guera if I put tortillas in the microwave)

Shred the chicken, there should be just enough liquid to make it perfect. Take the tortillas out, put all the condiments out and call them to the table!!


Did I mention he ate TWO??!!

Their burrito folding skills do not stand in the way of devouring these chicken burritos!

Yes, the nine year old was right, this was a pretty perfect night.

Tri-Tip was originally used only for ground beef and was shipped primarily to California to be used as a cheap cut of beef. Here go read about it. When we would visit my ex-husbands uncle in Santa Barbara his uncle would always make it and act like it was meat of the gods. He would load up a spray bottle and spray it with a soy sauce, oil and water mixture about every hour. All the while telling me that I was going to have the best piece of meat served in Santa Barbara. He also told me some cockamamie story that the name Tri-Tip came from where Santa Barbara was located in California. (Google fails to mention that) I later found out it was a super cheap cut of meat and the reason he had to cook it all day and keep it marinated was to make it edible.

Fast forward to now. Now, I try to cook at home almost every night and since I work full time I need to use my crock pot as much as possible otherwise it would be chicken nuggets and fries in the toaster every night. (Not that there is anything wrong with that, uh huh, no way, just raising my own bar)

When we made our monthly trip to Sam's Club I spotted huge packages of Tri-Tip, cheap. We bought a couple packages and I split it up into family meal portions and froze it. I made some of it the other night and Oh my! It was delicious and flavorful. It is very versatile after it has been cooked. We have had it plain with just the seasoning it was cooked with and it has been made into BBQ sandwiches. Just think, if I wasn't such a twit I would have been making this all along just by asking the butcher. I do live in the state of Beef Producers after all they could have given me some before they shipped it off to Cali.

If you want to try a great beef dinner that does not take any browning and is not quite a roast, not quite a flank steak, not quite a brisket then drop the pride and ask your butcher for Tri-Tip if it is not in your meat counter.

• 2-3 lbs of Tri-Tip. (mine looked like 4 big boneless ribs not sure if that is normal or not. ASK YOUR BUTCHER)
• 1/2 cup of Beef Broth or 1/2 cup of water with dry beef broth mixed in
• 2 tbls of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 packet of Dry Italian Dressing mix (Sam's needs to make this in a big bottle like the Ranch)
• Generous sprinkling of Garlic Salt
• 1 tbls of Ground Mustard
• 2-4 dashes of Hot Sauce
• drizzle of Olive Oil

Before adding the Tri-Tip mix the broth/water and Worcestershire together then put the meat in the Crock pot. Generously sprinkle the meat with Garlic Salt and Ground Mustard then sprinkle half the packet of Dry Italian Dressing Mix all over. Add a few dashes of your favorite Hot Sauce and drizzle lightly with Olive Oil. Cook on low for 8 hours. Serve it how you want as a sandwich, as a BBQ meat, as a meat side with it's own au jus, or just plain with a baked potato. It's all good!
(Link to recipe print out)

Lentils. I have never cooked with Lentils before. I see many blog posts about Lentil soup. Jeana had a post about making Lentil Soup and even though it did not turn out how she wanted it her post compelled me to go out and buy me some vittles lentils.

They then proceeded to lie in my cupboard mocking me and my anti-vegan consumerism lifestyle ever since.

Then gas hit $4 a gallon with the promise of eventually hitting $7 in another year. Vegan and cheap sustenance is sounding fan-freakin-tastic. So I hit the internet and started looking at recipes for cooking this cheap little legume in order to stockpile against the coming Armageddon. (I should never have read this article in the Sunday Tulsa World)

Because I am combining, switching, and de-veganing this crockpot version of Lentil Soup I feel free to name it. It will now be called, In Case We Really Do Go Broke Soup, nicknamed Armageddon Soup-to scar scare the kids. (Wouldn't my stepkids mom just love to know I am feeding her kids End of the World soup?)

Time to empty out the pantry and stock up on Gas is $4 and Climbing Lentil Soup. Link to print is at the bottom of the post.

The Ingredients:

• 3 cups of Lentils, picked through for small pieces of trash and rinsed
• 1/2 pkg of Bacon cut into 2 inch pieces (this can be omitted but thought my chances of getting everyone to eat this went up tremendously with b-a-c-o-n)
• 3-4 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 20 baby carrots, chopped up (sliced)
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbls of minced garlic
• 1.5 tsp of ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp of garam masala (my homage to the vegans who consist on lentils)
• 1 tbls of garlic salt
• 2 tbls of olive oil
• 2 spoonfulls of Frank's Hot Sauce
• 2 cans Chicken Broth
• 3 cups of water
• 1 can Rotel
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/3 cup of Cooking Sherry before serving (this is optional)

Whew!! That was a huge long list of ingredients.

In a saute pan brown the bacon pieces and then add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and red pepper. Cook until slightly soft but not browned.

While sauteing the bacon and veggies dump all the other ingredients minus the Cooking Sherry into the Crock Pot. Once veggies and bacon are finished add to the mix (I used all the bacon grease, why not? My weight will not be an issue if I am walking to work everyday)

Set the Crockpot to cook for 6-8 hours. Stir in Cooking Sherry the last half hour and serve with pita bread. I found some onion pita at Reasors, yum! Store the leftovers for later use when you are chopping down your kitchen cabinets for firewood. The soup will bring back fond memories when gas was only $4.

Here is the a printable copy for CrockStar Armageddon Lentil Soup.

Some recipes say to take half of the soup and puree it and then add back in. If it was winter time I might have done this just to make it psychologically more hearty. I was not really wanting that at this time of the year.

** Updated to add**

THIS IS AWESOME!!!! We loved this. I might back off of the Garam Masala since that was just a tad too overpowering but even with it I think it was soooo good. Honestly? I thought Man, I should open my own restaurant and just serve versions of this it is so good. This made enough for 3 servings the first night, 3 servings on Friday night and 3 ziploc bags of 2.5 servings to freeze. LOVED IT!!

Every Thursday Sandra at Family Corner has recipes for Slow Cookers from other readers. She calls it Slow Cooking Thursdays and you can find some really good recipes. Check it out.

I love love love this meal. I love all the flavors the sour cream, the tomatoes, the spice. So incredibly good and it happens to be my dad's favorite homemade dish. Not that knowing it is my dad's favorite had anything to do with me making it. Just some extraneous info in case you happen to run into my dad and ask him over for dinner. He would tell you some great Civil War battlefield stories. But I would wait until after the elections are over, he is a little tense right now.
Back to the Goulash. Here are the main ingredients and this recipe will serve 8 and it makes the best leftovers. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds of beef round steak, cut in 1/2-inch cubes (veal can be used as well)
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered thyme
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 16 oz sour cream
• Noodles (egg, no yolk, wide, whatever anyone likes)

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Season the meat with salt and pepper and brown it in the oil. After the meat is almost brown add the onion and garlic. Cook until onion and garlic are tender.

In a small bowl mix together the flour, paprika, and thyme. Slowly add to the meat until it is incorporated into the mixture. Transfer to your Crock Pot.

In a mixing bowl dump in the tomatoes. With a potato masher or fork break up the tomatoes. I also cut off the top with the core but that is optional. Pour all of this into the Crock Pot, add the bay leaves, and stir.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4. Before serving stir in sour cream and ladle over noodles.

Like I said I love Hungarian Goulash just wish I didn't have to do all the meat browning, onion tenderizing, flour mixing before hand. But I have tried it without doing all that prep work, just throwing it in the Crock Pot--not as good. I haven't served this to my step kids, they may or may not like it since it is different and has tomatoes, but I loved it as a kid and my daughter really likes it. And my dad, well you already know he does. German Chocolate is his favorite dessert, just so you know.

(Can be made on the stove top just simmer covered for one hour, stirring frequently)

Originally posted on 4/6/2008

Every Thursday Sandra at Family Corner has recipes for Slow Cookers from other readers. She calls it Slow Cooking Thursdays and you can find some really good recipes. Check it out.

I love dumplings! That was one of the best things about spending weeks at a time in China. I have absolutely no idea how to make Chinese dumplings but American dumplings? Oh yea, frozen or refrigerated biscuits are the way to go. Add some meat or chicken and we have a semi-homemade meal that everyone loves. This was no exception. It was the first time I made this and it will not be the last. The whole family loved it, kids, parents, the dog was begging, all of us. And the flavors? to die for.

I have inherited my husband's mother's 1960-something Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I found this yummy sounding recipe and adapted it to make in a Crockpot.

The Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs. of Pot Roast (I had cut mine up into medallions earlier and had frozen, they worked perfectly and only had to cook 5 hours to be super moist and tender)
• 1 14oz can of Basil, Oregano, Garlic diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup of Rice Vinegar
• 1/4 cup Cooking Sherry
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced (3 spoonfuls of the already minced in a jar garlic)
• 6 whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp of Accent (the original recipe called for Pickling Spice but I could not find that at my grocery store)
• Salt and Pepper and Garlic Salt
• 6-8 or 10 Frozen or refrigerated biscuits (I thawed my frozen Grands Buttermilk Biscuits ready made biscuits)

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan. Season the meat with garlic salt and pepper and brown in the heated oil.

In the Crockpot add the vinegar, sherry, cloves, and Accent. Stir. Add the browned meat and cover with the can of tomatoes. Spoon garlic on top and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook for 4-5 hours on high, 8-10 on low.

After cooking place the biscuits on top of the meat and sauce.

Cover and turn on high for half hour to 40 minutes. Serve and enjoy the praise.

The best thing about jury duty last week was getting home before 4 p.m. and not leaving the house until almost 9 a.m. It was fantastic! Yes, I had to lick my wounds and practice hooey-balooey positive self talk because I was rejected from two jury panels. The self talk was more along the lines of "you are a freak, you are smart enough, pretty enough, and dog-gone-it people like you". So to boost my self esteem that has sunk to a new low of worrying about what convicts and ambulance chasers think of me I did what I love, I made dinner.

Doesn't that look fabulous?! So good, so rich, and so incredibly pretty--Just like me! well minus the rich part and probably not the incredibly part either but who cares anyway, I am smart, funny, and people really like me.

This is not a dish I could just throw together on my lunch hour. I also wouldn't prepare this before going to work unless I happened to be up at the butt crack of dawn.

The ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Red Peppers, sliced into strips
• 1 large onion, sliced into strips
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/3 cup of whipping cream
• crumbled bacon (about 5 strips)
• Garlic salt and Cracked Pepper
• Minced Garlic (3-4 cloves)
• 5 Tablespoons of tapioca, crushed (you can use 4-5 tbls of cornstarch mixed in water instead)
• Fresh Basil
• Asparagus
• Rice or Mashed Potatoes

In a saucepan melt butter and add the peppers and onion. Saute until slightly wilted but so the crunch is almost gone. Pour into the CrockPot and add the garlic, bacon, and crushed tapioca. Sprinkle with Garlic salt and Cracked Pepper. Pour in the chicken broth and stir. Place the chicken breasts on top and sprinkle with Garlic Salt and Cracked Pepper.

Cook on high 4 hours or low 6 hours. There will be another half hour or 45 minutes after this when the asparagus, basil, and whipping cream is added.

Prepare the asparagus by cutting off the woody part and cutting into 3 pieces. Wash and tear the basil, I used the whole package because we really love basil. Remove the Chicken from the CrockPot and add the whipping cream, basil, and asparagus. Stir until combined (if using cornstarch instead of tapioca I would add it at this time) and place the chicken back in the CrockPot. Turn to high and cook an additional half hour.

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes. We did rice the first night and then I made mashed potatoes for the leftovers. Personally, I liked the mashed potatoes better. Wide noodles would be good too.

And then to celebrate no more jury duty and because I wanted a pick me up since the local ambulance chaser thought I would not make a good juror because I ..........well I don't really know but I am sure it was because I was too fantastic, too logical, too smart, and too many people like me, I made this:

We had these delicious, wonderful, incredibly easy but freaky fattening and gorge inducing Apple Dumplings. TD had seconds! He never has seconds that is how tempting and wrong they are. If I ever just let myself go and know I will be able to live without my pancreas I am having an entire pan of these right after a heaping plate of Chicken Alfredo with a side of Chili Cheese Fries, loaded of course.

Every Thursday Sandra at Family Corner has recipes for Slow Cookers. She calls it Slow Cooking Thursdays and you can find some really good recipes to make in your Crock Pot. Check it out.


Mondays are not the easiest days in our house. If it is after a weekend that we had TD's kids then mine will be whiny when I pick her up because she will be soooo b-o-r-e-d without her playmates. Never mind that she has dance every Monday night from 6-7 p.m. and was an only child for the first 5 years of her life.

Creamy Chicken and Noodles is the 9 year old's favorite and if she likes it then even the pickiest eater will like it.

This will make enough for 4 adult servings and it is 9 Weight Watcher Points per serving (I used my recipe builder)

2 large frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 small can of Chicken Broth (the whole can of Swanson makes it a little soupy)
Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
4 oz Cream Cheese
Wide Egg Noodles




Dump the cans of soup into Crock pot, stir to combine and sprinkle 1 tbls of Dry Ranch over soup mixture. Place the chicken on top of the soup. Sprinkle about 2 more tablespoons of Dry Ranch over the chicken. Turn Crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

My Crock pot is at high Heat for 4-6 hours so I used the Low setting for 8 hours even though we ate within 6.5. I like using the low setting to keep the sides from burning.

When we came home from work even the garage smelled terrific. Anna was immediately hungry.

Every Thursday Family Corner has recipes for Slow Cookers. She calls it Slow Cooking Thursdays and you can find some really good recipes to make in your Crock Pot. Check it out.

This is a family favorite. My family could eat this soup every single day. The chicken stays moist and the flavors blend together nicely, making leftovers almost better than the first serving. It can be made spicy and hot and beans and veggies can be switched to please even a picky eater.

I should just call this Multiple Can Soup due to the simplicity of this recipe, just open cans and dump. It really is that simple.


I use the following ingredients:

• 3-4 frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cans Cheddar Cheese soup
• 1 can Mexican Corn
• 1 can white beans
• 1 can spicy beans, I used Ranch Style with jalepano peppers
• 1 can Rotel, I used the Lime and Cilantro flavored and we loved it!
• 1/2 can Chicken broth
• Generous dashes of Taco Season, if using a packet the whole packet
• Several dashes of Cumin
• Several dashes of Garlic Salt
  

Dump all the canned ingredients into the Crock Pot. Stir and add the Taco Seasoning and Cumin. Before I put the white beans into the mix I rinse them over and over.

See all those bubbles? Uh-yea, if you don't want those bubbles inside your intestinal tract saying "Hello! Outside world!" I found that it really helps to rinse canned beans. Otherwise, enjoy this soup on a night when you are alone or wanting to be alone.

Lay the chiken breasts on top of the soup mixture. Generously sprinkle the Garlic Salt and again sprinkle the Taco Seasoning. Cook on high 4-6 hours or low for 8. After cooking take the chicken out and cut up into small bite size pieces or shred. Put chicken back into the crock pot and mix with the soup.

Serve with Fritos and cheddar cheese. I love to add a spoonful of sour cream too. TD sometimes adds more salsa adn cilantro, but the Lime and Cilantro Rotel was perfect.

Link to printable recipe here.

Originally posted 3/2/2008

I love love love this meal. I love all the flavors the sour cream, the tomatoes, the spice. So incredibly good and it happens to be my dad's favorite homemade dish. Not that knowing it is my dad's favorite had anything to do with me making it. Just some extraneous info in case you happen to run into my dad and ask him over for dinner. He would tell you some great Civil War battlefield stories. But I would wait until after the elections are over, he is a little tense right now.

Back to the Goulash. Here are the main ingredients and this recipe will serve 8 and it makes the best leftovers. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds of beef round steak, cut in 1/2-inch cubes (veal can be used as well)
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon powdered thyme
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 16 oz sour cream
• Noodles (egg, no yolk, wide, whatever anyone likes)
  

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Season the meat with salt and pepper and brown it in the oil. After the meat is almost brown add the onion and garlic. Cook until onion and garlic are tender.

In a small bowl mix together the flour, paprika, and thyme. Slowly add to the meat until it is incorporated into the mixture. Transfer to your Crock Pot.

In a mixing bowl dump in the tomatoes. With a potato masher or fork break up the tomatoes. I also cut off the top with the core but that is optional. Pour all of this into the Crock Pot, add the bay leaves, and stir.

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4. Before serving stir in sour cream and ladle over noodles.

Like I said I love Hungarian Goulash just wish I didn't have to do all the meat browning, onion tenderizing, flour mixing before hand. But I have tried it without doing all that prep work, just throwing it in the Crock Pot--not as good. I haven't served this to my step kids, they may or may not like it since it is different and has tomatoes, but I loved it as a kid and my daughter really likes it. And my dad, well you already know he does. German Chocolate is his favorite dessert, just so you know.

(Can be made on the stove top just simmer covered for one hour, stirring frequently)

Every Thursday Family Corner has recipes for Slow Cookers. She calls it Slow Cooking Thursdays and you can find some really good recipes to make in your Crock Pot. Check it out.



Originally posted on 2/12/2008