Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Lately, my crock pot has not been getting much use. It has had the sole purpose of being my veggie broth brewer. This is mainly because lots of crock pot recipes revolve around meat, which can withstand the long and slow cooking process. While I am not a vegetarian, I have been trying to cut down on my meat consumption. I have not had many veggies from my CSA that would hold up in the crock pot. The only vegetarian dishes I know of for the crock pot are a variety of bean chili's. While I love chili, it is not the season. If you have any ideas for vegetarian crock pot dishes, please comment!! I do not receive nearly enough comments and I really enjoy reading them.

There are loads of pasta crock pot recipes out there, but this is the first time I tried one. Basically, they do not take enough time to be considered a weeknight meal. Does that even make sense? I love the idea of the crock pot, because you can set it before work and have dinner (or broth) completely cooked when you get home. If you tried to do this with pasta, you would come home to a big pot of mush. Most pasta recipes take about 2-3 hours to cook on high. This just seems highly inconvenient, since I can't run home at 4 to set it up for my arrival home at 6 and we would be eating way too late if I had to set it once I was home from work. The only reason I wound up making this was because I had some cheese that needed to be used and i was having  a very lazy Sunday (aka I had a rare Sophia free evening on Saturday, so I was hurting a little from my night out). It also helped that pasta was on sale!

• 1/2 lb uncooked pasta. Any kind should be fine, but I used shells.
• 4 cups milk
• 4 cups cheese. I used 2 cups mozzarella and 2 cups cheddar. Mix and match, or use whatever you have/prefer.
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

 In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Add salt, pepper, and mustard then whisk again. Grease crock pot with cooking spray. Put all ingredients in the crock pot. Fold together, making sure everything is evenly mixed. It will be very liquidy (yes, I make up my own words). Set to high and cook for 90 minutes to 3 hours. Around 90 minutes, you want to start sporadically checking your pasta. Mine took 2 hours to complete. All crock pots cook different and you want a nice al dente texture that will hold up to the cheese.

We loved this crock pot concoction! I think it will definitely be on the menu again for a lazy weekend dinner. The texture is definitely not that of the boxed macaroni and cheese. It has a bit of a gritty texture from the real cheese. This reminded me of the mac and cheese that an ex boyfriends mom used to make in the oven. She would toss some extras in there sometimes, like sausage or mushrooms. Maybe next time Ill jazz it up with some extras. Maybe I'll mix in some fresh broccoli from my CSA. The possibilities are endless, everything tastes delicious smothered in cheese!

Sophia really liked this as well, which is always a total plus! She asked for seconds AND wanted me to pack some for her school lunch. I love when I can send leftovers for her lunch, because finding solutions for a wholesome lunch is a major challenge. Sandwiches everyday seems so boring, but with a school change for kindergarten next year, I believe it is the only option we will have. At least the school she is in now will refrigerate and heat up leftovers that I send. I may have to invest in a good thermos or two.

You may think half a pound of pasta won't be enough for your family, do not be fooled by the numbers! This makes a lot of mac and cheese. Sophia and I both had seconds at dinner on Sunday, we both brought some for lunch on Monday, and there's enough left for me to have it for lunch again today. The pasta seems to swell as it cooks. Especially if you accompany it with some chicken breast and greens, that half pound will go very far!

Colcannon

Not sure what Colcannon would traditionally be served with, but fresh veggies go with anything!!

Colcannon is a traditional Irish meal that would be eaten at the beginning of the spring season. A feast was made on Imbolc, the first day of Spring, which would always include Colcannon. Colcannon has many different recipes, one substituting kale for cabbage and was served at Halloween. In the fall version of the dish, a ring would be hidden in the food to predict who would be married within the year.

There are some today that serve this dish as a celebration of St. Patricks Day, because it represents Ireland with its white and green color. I decided to create this dish simple because it was the most intriguing search result when I googled "cabbage and potato recipes". Added bonus: I could also use green onion, which has been a bit of a challenge in my CSA. Now if only I could find some new uses for radishes!

• 3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 3 Tbsp milk
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup green onion (regular onion could be used as well)

Cook the potatoes in a pot of boiling water. Remove cooked potatoes with a slatted spoon and set aside. Cook cabbage for 6 minutes in the boiling potato water. Meanwhile, saute the onions in the butter. Mash potatoes with a fork. Stir in onions and cabbage. Add milk, then salt and pepper to taste. Fluff with a fork.

I was pretty excited to make this meal, but it was actually kind of bland. Seasoning it with a little extra butter stirred in and some more salt and pepper which helped a bit. Sophia did not like it too much, but she did eat some without any arguments. The original recipe suggested topping this with some cheese. Maybe next time!

Kielbasa Soup

Kielbasa is an Easter staple around here. I'm not sure if it is a very important holiday dish in other parts, but in Philadelphia, I can not remember an Easter that did not feature this Polish sausage. Many have specific little Polish delis where they will insist on buying their kielbasa. I like kielbasa but was never a huge fanatic over it. It has a great taste, but I never did like that it would try to steal the spotlight from my all time favorite ham.

Since I hosted Easter this year, I decided to go a little off tradition. Sure, I'd have the all important kielbasa on the menu, but not as one would expect. Soup! Who would ever think you can put kielbasa in soup?!? Well, Pinterest did and I thought the idea was brilliant. I was able to set it in my crock pot at 7am and turn my mind to other more important cooking manners throughout the day. My family members were a little put off at first that I would be having soup at the holiday meal instead of straight up kielbasa, but in time they got over it and maybe even became a little intrigued.

• 1 lb. (2 cups) dried small white beans
• 1 onion, chopped into fairly small pieces
• 1 Tbsp finely minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
• 6 cups broth (the original recipe called for chicken broth, but I used my homemade vegetable broth that I had in my freezer)
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) petite dice tomatoes
• 14 oz. Kielbasa sausage, cut into half-moon slices (I used light turkey kielbasa to keep things more on the healthy side. Shhhhhh! My family doesn't know and they couldn't even tell by taste)
• 4 packed cups fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

 Pick over the beans, removing any broken ones, and add beans to the slow cooker.  Chop onion, mince the garlic and crush the spices. I put my spices in a Ziploc bag and crushed them with the back of a spoon. Add to the slow cooker.  Add the broth and diced tomatoes to the slow cooker and start to cook on low.  

Cut the sausage in half lengthwise, and then slice it into half-moon slices.  If you're going to be cooking this while you're not home, add the sausage now and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until the beans are nicely softened.  If you will be home, I would cook the other ingredients about 5-6 hours and then add the sausage.  It will work either way, but the sausage will be softer if you add it for the entire cooking time.

When beans are done to your liking, chop the spinach, turn the slow cooker to high, and cook about 30 minutes more.  Serve hot, with freshly grated Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on the stew if desired.

 

This went over great with my family. It was nice to have an appetizer to serve that was not the typical picky cheese and crackers or vegetable platter. My sister even asked to take some home to have for lunch at work the next day! We usually trade soups whenever we make some. Somehow the two of us grew up being pretty domesticated. 

Roasted Peppers

Roasted Peppers have always seemed to be somewhat of a treat or luxury for people other than me. I have never liked the taste of red peppers. Green peppers are delicious, but I cannot explain why the red (and even sometimes orange and yellow) turn me off. I don't even like dishes made with red peppers in it, because the flavor permeates the entire meal. Red peppers are probably second on my yuck list of food. Surpassed only by coconuts. Blech....

You very rarely ever see roasted green pepper. Whether in jars or fresh from an Italian deli, you only see the red. Sometimes you may see some green mixed in with the red, but never green alone. As much as I dislike the flavor of red pepper, I love green peppers. One day I realized I had 3 peppers that were close to rotting. Instead of tossing them, I decided I would finally attempt to make roasted peppers.

Most of the recipes Ive seen suggest roasting the pepper whole. Like I said, my peppers were close to spoiling, so there were some soft spots I wanted to cut out. I decided to slice the soft spots out and cut the core out. I wound up with 4 shells of pepper. To make the second step of the process easier, I lined my cookie sheet with foil and then laid my pepper pieces down, skin side up. I liberally sprayed the pieces with cooking oil and popped them in the oven. With my oven preheated to 400, I let them roast for about 45 minutes. Once they started showing the tell tale black marks on their skin, I pulled them out of the oven.

One would assume that the actual baking or roasting would be enough. I was surprised to find out there is actually a steaming process involved. Next, scoop all your peppers to the center of your piece of foil and carefully fold up the sides to create an airtight pocket. Let your pepper pocket sit until it is cool enough to handle with bare hands. This allows the peppers to steam in their own heat. Once the peppers can easily be handled you can go a step further and peel the skins. I did not peel mine, but I guess I am not a true roasted pepper connoisseur since I have never been able to eat them. Most vegetables pack a vitamin and nutrient power punch in their skins, so I see no reason to remove them. If you do want to remove them, most recipes I've read state that you can simply grasp the corner and peel them off. If you do remove the skins, do yourself a favor and save them in your veggie scrap bag for broth!

Once cooled, you can store these peppers in a sealed glass jar in the fridge. The time they will last varies depending upon which recipe you go by. Some said a week, while others said they will last up to 6 months. I doubt you will be able to let them last that long, because they are so tasty! If you want to store then for an extended period of time, I would suggest using something that will be airtight, like a mason jar.

Bacon-Jalapeno Poppers

I'm baaacckkkk! Missed me? I'm sure you did. I missed myself a little.
Well, that sounds a bit weird. I have had a lot on my plate. I attempted to take my last college course to obtain an Associates Degree. Such a tiny little degree and 9 years after high school, I still dont have it! I'm a great student when I can apply myself. A 3.8 GPA doesn't just earn itself, you know. So when I took on this one last class, the blog wound up being the second thing that had to go on the back burner. The first was working out. Exercise has been something newly important to my daily regimen since about Thanksgiving. Even with cutting out the workouts and the blog to make time for school work, I still couldn't get it done. I wound up withdrawing from the class. Such a pity, because that was almost $600 that just blew right out my window. the stress was just too much to handle right now with starting to work full time again and managing my household alone. I have a few recipes piling up that need to be shared. I am going to work on this as well as try to motivate myself to get back into the habit of working out. A happy and healthy mommy can make all the difference in the world to a 4 year old. And THAT, my friends, is the most important. Ever.

Can you guess where I found this recipe? Nothing better than Pinterest! Except of course that one time that the link I followed put a virus on my work computer. DO NOT  click on anything that says 20 worst baby names. The original recipe I used is here. For the first time, in probably ever, I followed this recipe exactly. No substitutions or alterations. It probably helped a lot that there is only 3 ingredients. Easy peasy.

• 12 jalapenos
• 1 block cream cheese
• 8 slices raw bacon, cut into thirds

***you will need a baking sheet and a cooling rack that you would use when cooling fresh baked cookies

Preheat oven to 375. Slice the jalapenos in half and remove seeds with a spoon. Please wear gloves or wash your hand immediately after handling these peppers. You DO NOT want the accidental burning body part incident I wound up with the first time I made these. I will leave it at that, but feel free to use your imagination. Using a spoon, fill each jalapeno shell with cream cheese. If you let the cheese sit out while you are slicing and seeding the peppers, it should become softer and easier to work with. Wrap the bacon pieces around the stuffed peppers and lay it on the cooling rack. Place the cooling rack on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes. Recipe yields 24 poppers.

You may want to have your cookie sheet covered with foil before you put the rack on and bake. The purpose of baking them on the rack and not directly on the cookie sheet is so the bacon grease can drip down off the peppers. I am not sure if this collection of grease would make the peppers soggy if you cook them without the rack.

These peppers were an absolute hit. I first made them for a super bowl party and they were the first thing devored from the entire spread. I had about 5 myself. Every time someone walked by the table, they could not resist popping one of these boys in their mouths.  I have made them again for a special Valentines treat and will be making them again for my brother-in-laws birthday dinner this upcoming Saturday. They are a bit tedious to make, but definitely worth it.

Some poppers were a lot spicier than others. I'm not sure why this happened. Maybe I missed a seed or two when cleaning them out. Maybe some of the oil was more concentrated in some of the peppers. I have no idea. Some did not seem to be spicy at all, which would make me think these are kid friendly, until you bit into that one that blows your taste buds out of your mouth...

Eat at your own risk. But they are sooooo worth the risk!

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

So I am playing a little bit of catch up. This recipe was from a dinner I cooked for my mom and brother Sunday evening. I knew I wanted to serve corn and mashed potatoes, but wanted something with a little more nutrition value. Also, the roast I was making was a bit on the smaller side so I wanted more meat.

• One package of frozen whole green beans
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• Italian seasonings
• Bacon slices

Pour oil into a large bowl and sprinkle seasonings into it. Put green beans in oil and toss. Grab a bundle of about 5 beans and wrap with the uncooked bacon. Place into a baking dish. Roast in the oven on 350 for approximately 30 minutes.

I used some turkey bacon I had left from a breakfast earlier this week. Whatever green beans I had leftover, after wrapping the beans with bacon, I poured into the dish over the wrapped bundles. I was very happy with how these turned out and Sophia was excited to have bacon at dinner. This child loves bacon way more than I ever did!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Tbsp margarine
• 1/3 cup apple juice
• 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potato
• 3 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 425. Sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Work in the margarine until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add apple juice, sweet potato, honey, and nuts. Work them into a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and kneed in just enough flour to make dough lose its stickiness. With floured hands, divide dough into small balls and arrange on a lightly greased baking sheet. Pat the top of each ball to flatten it slightly. Bake 12-15 minutes.


I probably will not ever make these biscuits again. This was the recipe I was most excited to make for Thanksgiving, yet it turned out the worst. While kneading out the dough, no matter how much flour I added it remained very sticky. I am assuming this is because of the honey, but who knows. All I know is I had the dough stuck to every one of my fingers and no amount of flour made it better. This stickiness made shaping them into balls impossible so I wound up just plopping them onto the baking sheet, which resulted in a not so nice looking result. The flavor left a lot to be desired. I don't know if it was the amount of flour I tried to use to make the dough less sticky, but they were very bland. This is definitely not going to be a repeat.

Cranberry Sauce

I am going to share two cranberry sauce recipes with you. I originally was going to do the recipe I found in my pressure cooker book, but then I found one that was less calories for the crock pot. So I decided to use the crock pot, until my week got really busy. I have no time to sit around for a 7 hour recipe, especially since the last two hours of cooking are a little more hands on than most crock pot recipes. I decided to combine the two, using the ingredients for the crock pot but the time instructions for the pressure cooker. Doing this blindly and hoping for the best, basically.

Pressured Cranberry Sauce:

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 tsp orange zest

Combine all ingredients in pressure cooker and stir. Securely lock on lid an cook on high for 6 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes before performing a quick release. Stir sauce, smashing cranberries until the sauce is your desired consistency. Let sit an additional 5 minutes to firm slightly before serving warm. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight if you prefer to cold cranberry sauce.

Skinny Crocked Cranberry Sauce:

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cinnamon stick

Combine all ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low 4 to 5 hours, until berries are soft. Remove lid and cook on high 2 to 3 more hours. Removing the lid allows the cranberries natural juices burn off. Stir occasionally. Chill in fridge overnight.




I used the ingredients for the crock pot recipe and used the instructions for the pressure cooked recipe. I also added 1/2 cup of water, because more liquid is usually needed to cook in the pressure cooker. I doubled the recipe, because I love cranberry sauce and I wanted to make sure there was enough for me to have some leftovers! We will also be having the jelly kind from the can, because I do love that as well! I don't think I have ever actually had real homemade cranberry sauce.

The texture of the sauce looks great. It was way too tart though! Real cranberry sauce is supposed to be tarter than the canned stuff, but this was too much for me. I had to add about 4 tbsp of sugar. Lesson learned: Thanksgiving is not the time to be worried about "skinny" recipes!

Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

• 2 large or 4 small sweet potatoes
• 1 can black beans
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup frozen corn

Preheat oven to 400. Wash potato and puncture all over with a fork. Bake until soft, anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. Saute onion and peppers. Drain and rinse beans and add to peppers and onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then cook on medium low. Add salsa and frozen corn. Stir well. When potatoes are ready, cut and fluff them. Top with bean mixture. Serve with extra salsa, butter, sour cream, or shredded cheddar cheese.


Yummy! It is like Mexican sweet potato. I served it alongside green beans, as you can see. I also wanted to do some rice, but ran out of time and I was too hungry to wait. The rice wasn't needed though. I wound up eating a potato and a half smothered with deliciousness. I topped mine with margarine, the bean mixture, sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. Probably not the most healthy way to go, but with a plate full of veggies I'm going to tell myself it was OK. The black beans made this very filling and the flavors together were absolutely delish! As an entree or a side dish, I will definitely be making this again!

When I served Sophia her meal, I gave her the sweet potato separate from the filling. She ate up the sweet potato and green beans, but the filling she had a bit of a problem with. She told me it was too spicy, even though it was not spicy at all. I think she gets scared of beans. We know she does not like baked beans (I don't either) so I think she associates other beans as tasting like them. She has had beans in meals that she liked. Most of the time I don't tell her she is eating beans until after she eats them. When she asks what is on her plate, I just tell her its a vegetable. Gotta keep chipping away at those finicky little taste buds!

My girlfriend Melissa came to dinner tonight. She is one of my favorite people to cook for, as she is such a great audience! She loves to eat and is so appreciative of my meals. Plus she is a very adventurous eater, so she will try anything. My meals can't even touch some of the exotic things she has told me she ate. Congealed pigs blood anyone? When I eventually try my beet soup recipe, she will be my Guinea pig. She was a huge fan of this meal! Sometimes it is so nice to have someone cooking my meals that wont argue with me to compromise on how many bites they must eat. It is extra special when I am not the only one going back for seconds!



Misa Misa and the Little Miss on the beach this past summer.



Garlic Bread

This garlic bread was super simple to make and paired nicely with the Stuffed Shells. I bought a loaf of Italian bread and sliced off 5 pieces. Then put a layer of margarine on each piece and sprinkled them with Italian seasonings. I placed them on an oiled baking sheet. I sliced four garlic cloves in half, put them to the side on the baking sheet, and sprayed them with some extra oil . During the last 10 minutes that the shells were cooking, I popped the bread in the oven. Once they were crisp and the garlic was soft, I mashed the garlic cloves down with a fork and spread the pulp onto the bread. Very tasty and it took pretty much the same amount of time to make as packaged Garlic Texas Toast would.

Green Beans with Tomatoes

YUM YUM YUM!!

• 1 package frozen green beans
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1tsp basil
• 1 Tbsp parsley
• 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese (optional)

Put green beans in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let boil for 3 minutes. Drain. Heat oil in a skillet, add beans, and toss. Add tomatoes, garlic, basil, oregano, and parsley. Cook 5 to 10 minutes. Top with cheese if desired.

This could probably be my most favorite dishes on this blog to date. It was so simple to do and tastes out of this world!! Usually I simply steam my veggies and eat them as is. Preparing them this way only took a few more minutes than steaming in the microwave.

I didn't measure out the oil, I just sprinkled some in a skillet. I also did not use the cheese. I don't think it needed any extra flavor and felt no cheese would be better for my figure. I did measure all the spices, but instead of measuring them as I was adding them to the skillet; I used my time wisely. While waiting for the beans to boil, I measured out all my spices and put them together in a mug. When it was time to add them, I only had to dump the mug into the skillet, instead of rushing to play with measuring spoons and worrying the beans will over cook.

Tomorrow I plan to make a braised mushroom sauce to serve with pasta. I am tempted to cut up these green beans to add to it. I don't know if I want to enjoy them alone as a leftover or use them in another recipe. We will see what my tummy decides it wants tomorrow!