Slow Cooker Chicken Rice Soup (non-cream)

Here I am, yet again, posting a soup that I love!  This is a soup I made sort of off-the-cuff, but it was delicious and the entire family gobbled it up.  I make a tasty cream of chicken rice soup and used that as the base for this non-cream soup.  You can play with it a little, adding or deleting veggies and/or seasonings that you prefer in your soup, but this is a great, basic soup for a chilly day.  (I tend to go a little overboard with veggies when I make soup; I always add more than it calls for.)  I also doubled this (other than the chicken; I just used 3 breasts) to maximize the use of my big crock pot.

Chicken Rice Soup

Ingredients:

2-3 chicken breasts (I used 3 frozen.)

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 package of Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice 
1/2 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper

1 Sazon Goya seasoning packet (see pic below, can be found in ethnic/Hispanic food section)
1 cup carrots, grated, diced, or chopped
1 cup celery, grated, chopped, or thinly sliced

Dump all ingredients into Crockpot. 

Cook on Low for 6 hours or High for 4 hours. 

Remove chicken from Crockpot and shred. 

Add chicken back to Crockpot. 

Let everything cook about 30 more minutes in Crockpot.

Serve.

(I’m Italian so I always sprinkle a little grated Parmesan cheese on my bowl of soup. Plus, everything is better with a little cheese, ya know. J )

Good 'ol Chili

Good ‘ol Chili

It's that time of year when you warm up with a cozy sweater and bowl of chili.  This is one of Joe's favorite chili recipes that he got from a co-worker several years back. We continue to make it a few times each fall/winter.  It makes a good amount and has lots of great flavor.

Ingredients

2 ½ lbs. ground beef (We usually use 1.5-2 lbs. only.)

28 oz. can Hunts diced tomatoes

15oz. can Bush’s chili beans

15oz. can Hunts seasoned, diced tomato for Chili (This can be difficult to find.)

20 oz. +/- Campbells Tomato Soup

15 oz. can kidney beans

1 pkg. McCormick mild chili seasoning (or hot)

½-1 bell pepper, chopped 

1 med. Onion, chopped

1 small jar jalapeno peppers (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Brown ground beef, drain, then add everything together.

Simmer on stove for 1-2 hours OR all night in crock pot. (I typically cook it in the crock pot on low for 8ish hours.)

Now, if you are an Aldi shopper, you can find most of these ingredients there, which will save you some money on ingredients.  If you don't see them in the regular canned foods aisle, check the aisle that has promotional food items.  Usually I can find the chili beans, seasoned diced tomatoes, etc. in one of those two places. 

Chicken Spaghetti

I was given this slow cooker recipe by my friend Holly and it was simple and delicious; even our 3 year old ate it!  It smells so good while cooking and it so easy to make in the afternoon.  

Chicken Spaghetti

2 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 bag frozen bell pepper/onion/celery blend (Her orig. recipe called for pepper/onion but I couldn't find it at the store.)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper
3 cups cheddar cheese (separated 1 cup and 2 cups)
12 oz cooked spaghetti

Cook everything except 2 cups of cheddar and the uncooked spaghetti in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. Take out the chicken and shred it. Return it to sauce and add the other 2 cups of cheddar and the cooked spaghetti. Cook for 15-20 more minutes on low. That's it!

I think this might also be good with a can of peas/cooked frozen peas mixed in during the last few minutes, too.

Sorry for the bad picture.  I didn't remember to take a picture until after we were done eating dinner.

Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken

You should know by now that I’m a HUGE slow cooker fan.  You can thank John Shaffer and Stephanie O’Dea for getting me hooked!  John is a guy we know from church.  While riding to a praise team practice together, Joe, John, and I got to talking about slow cooking.  In that conversation he recommended O’Dea’sbooks Make It Fast, Cook It Slow.  I quickly purchased Volumes I & II from alibris for a great price.  I’ve made countless recipes from these books.

This recipe is a mixture of O’Dea’s “Lazy Chicken” and a BBQ chicken recipe I found while doing a Pinterest search.  We were craving some Shane’s Rib Shack chicken, but I wanted to try and make something similar at home.  Behold, this had a lot of the same flavors and was super simple to prepare.  We loved this dinner (even the 3 year old) and will definitely be making it again!  I served it with baked potatoes and green beans.

As prepared, this made 4-6 sandwiches. This recipe can easily be doubled.  

Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken

3 large frozen chicken breasts

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 cup BBQ sauce of your choice, plus more to put on finished sandwich

¼ cup Italian Salad Dressing (I used Kraft Zesty Italian)

¼ cup brown sugar (unpacked)

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Place frozen chicken breasts in slow cooker.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken in crock.

In medium bowl mix all other ingredients.  Wisk for a minute to make sure all brown sugar is well incorporated. Pour over chicken.

Cover.  Cook 3-4 hours in high or 6-8 hours on low.
About a half hour before serving, take chicken out and shred.  Put back in crock and stir with the sauce at bottom of crock.  Cover and let everything cook together for a half hour longer.

Tortellini Chicken Soup with Black Beans

Here’s another slow cooker soup I threw together yesterday.  I had most of the ingredients in the pantry, so it was something pretty quick and easy to put together.  This was one of those soups that you can just toss in a can of this or a cup of that if you have something you want to use up.

Tortellini Chicken Soup with Black Beans

Ingredients

1 can black beans

I can Rotel (I used Aldi brand.)

1 Can Mexicorn (I used Aldi brand.)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 onion, chopped or diced

1 small green pepper, chopped or diced

1 small red pepper, chopped or diced

2 32oz. chicken broth or stock

1 Ranch packet

3 Tbsp. garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. garlic salt (I added this about ½ hour before serving.  Add as much or as little as you like.)

1-2 Cups chicken breast, diced or shredded (I used 2 chicken breasts.)

1 bag frozen tortellini
Parmesan Cheese to sprinkle on top, if desired

Add all ingredients to the slow cooker except the tortellini.  Add the frozen tortellini to the soup about 30 minutes before serving.  In this final step, you basically just cook the soup until the tortellini is heated through.  Top each bowl with Parmesan cheese, if desired.  Enjoy!

I love simple recipes.  I really love simple slow cooker recipes.   

Slow Cooker Caribbean Jerk Chicken

Slow Cooker Caribbean Jerk Chicken

I wanted to use this new McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning in a slow cooker recipe. I put together the following recipe and it was delicious! My husband was a HUGE fan of Red Robin’s Jamaican Jerk’d Chicken Sandwich, but they took it off the menu some time ago.  (He is forever disappointed about this.)  I was going to try to come up with a variation using some of the same ingredients.  This is what I came up with.

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts (I used frozen.)

3 Tbsp. McCormick® Caribbean Jerk Chicken Seasoning

1 can chunk pineapple (drain, but save juice 4-5 Tbsp.)

Juice from 1 lime

3 tsp. garlic, minced

This is super easy!

Put frozen, yes frozen, chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Rub with Caribbean Jerk Seasoning. Squeeze lime juice over chicken. Spread garlic over chicken. Drain pineapple saving 4-5 Tbsp. of juice. Pour pineapple chunks over chicken. Pour reserved pineapple juice over everything. Cook on high 4-5 hours, low 6-8 hours.  I served this with red beans and rice and green beans.

Tater Tot Casserole

Our friend Steven is home on furlough from his time in China this summer.  When he's home, we try to have him over for dinner and I try to make something that he can only get here in the States.  When he was over for dinner last week, I decided to make one of his favorites (from my menu)...a simple Tater Tot Casserole.  This is easy and delicious and a family favorite in our house!  (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture!)

Taco Tot Casserole

Ingredients

4 Cups Ore-Ida® Tater Tots®

1 Pound Ground Beef

1 packet Taco Seasoning (My favorite is the Taco Bell Brand taco seasoning.)

11 oz. can Corn with Peppers, drained

11 oz. can Soup Nacho Cheese (In the stores near me Campbell's is the brand that has the soup.  If you can't find the nacho cheese soup, you can also use the Fiesta Cheese Soup.)

Salsa, optional for topping

Sour Cream, optional for topping

Sriracha, optional for topping

Directions

1.  Heat oven to 375°.

2.  Cook ground beef with taco seasoning mix according to package directions. Spoon meat mixture into an ungreased or 2-quart casserole. 

3.  Spoon corn over meat mixture; spread soup over corn. Arrange frozen Tater Tots® in a single layer over soup. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned and mixture is bubbly. Serve with salsa and sour cream, if desired.  

Note:  I double this recipe all the time.  Just make sure to use a 9x13 baking pan if doing so.

Steven (pictured far left) and a group of our friends at a picnic this summer.
What a fun time to catch up with people from our old Thursday Night Bible Study.

Original recipe found here.

Easy Goulash

Ever looking for something that will cook all in one pot and be easy enough that you can have the meal finished in a half hour?  This is one of those meals.  Plus, it’s hearty and filling.  Pair it with some fresh cornbread and you’re good to go!

Easy Goulash

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 pound ground beef

1 cup uncooked pasta of your choice    I choose elbow macaroni.

1 can of Corn, drained

1 can of Lima beans, drained

1 can Diced tomatoes with Oregano and Basil

1 can Tomato Soup

Sauté onions and green pepper together.  Brown and cook meat.  Mix onions and green peppers together with meat.  Add corn, Lima beans, tomatoes, and tomato soup.  Cover, stirring occasionally until entire mixture is heated through.  While meat mixture is heating, make your pasta according to package directions.  Drain when finished.  Add pasta to meat mixture.  Stir and serve.  This one-pot dish is great served with fresh corn bread!

Dorito Taco Salad

My family first discovered this salad years ago.  My little cousin's grandmother brought it to a party.  She has since passed away, but we still remember her when we make this salad.  It's simple and good.  As stated in the actual recipe, do not mix the dressing until right before you plan to serve.  This is easy to take on-the-go, but it's best if you keep all the ingredients separate and just toss them together when at your destination.  The tastes all come together and the crunchiness of the Doritos really make this a great salad!  It's perfect for a summer BBQ, too!

Dorito Taco Salad

1 11.5 oz. bag Doritos (regular, red bag, Nacho cheese flavor)
1 can Black Olives, sliced or chopped
2 medium Tomatoes, diced
1 bag of pre-shredded lettuce (You can also shred a head of lettuce.)
16 oz. Green Goddess Dressing
1/2-1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese, if desired
Ground Beef (1 lb.)

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef. 
2. Mix beef, tomato, lettuce, black olives, Cheddar cheese in a large bowl.
3. When ready to serve*, crunch up Doritos and mix with beef mixture.  Mix thoroughly with dressing.
 
*It is very important not to pour dressing into the salad until ready to serve.  The dressing will make salad soggy if you aren't serving for a long time.

 Recipe Notes:

·         You can shred a head of lettuce if you don’t want the pre-shredded kind.

·         You can brown the meat with a packet of Taco Seasoning, if desired.

·         All ingredients can be adjusted to what you like.  You can add more/less/delete anything to your liking.

·         Mix ingredients in a LARGE bowl.  When combined, this makes a very large bowl of salad.

Ranch Cheeseburgers

In general I’m not a big burger fan; however, once in a while I get such a craving for a juicy burger.  It usually has to have cheese.   Everything is better with cheese.  While trying to come up with an easy dinner, I thought it would be great to enjoy the beautiful weather and get the grill fired up.  I didn’t want to buy a single ingredient.  I wanted something easy.   I wanted a burger.  Alas, I did some searching and settled on a simple ranch burger recipe.  This recipe has been around for ages, but this was the first time we’ve ever tried it.  We will definitely do this one again!  One of my favorite things about this is that the cheese is combined with the meat mixture.  Yummy!

Ranch Cheeseburgers

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 packet (1 ounce) Hidden Valley® Original Ranch® Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 pound ground beef

4 hamburger buns

Preheat the grill or broiler.

In a large bowl, combine seasoning mix with the beef, onion, and cheese.  Mix with clean hands until incorporated. Shape the meat into four burgers about 1-inch thick. Grill the burgers to your desired preparedness.

Serve immediately on the hamburger buns.

Adapted from this Recipe.

It's time for Meatballs y'all

Growing up with an Italian family, there was never a shortage of meatballs with the typical Italian dinner.  However, I have always been intimidated by the meatball and making them from scratch was not something I thought I could do well.  Thanks to my sister Jane, I had a recipe in my recipe binder for over a year for a meatball recipe she found online.  I pulled it out the other night and decided to give it a whirl.  I’m glad I did!  They were delicious and my husband already wants me to make these again!

Mmm Mmm Meatballs

1 pound extra lean ground beef

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 small onion, diced

½ teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

½ teaspoon dried oregano

1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup milk

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup seasoned bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Combine the beef into a mixing bowl.  Add sea salt, onion, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, oregano, and Worcestershire sauce.  Mix well.  I always find it best to mix with your hands!  Add the milk, Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs.  Mix until evenly blended.  Form into 1 ½ inch meatballs.  Place onto a baking sheet.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until no longer pink in center.

The verdict:  These were delicious!  I did not use any of the spicy ingredients that were listed in the original recipe.  I’m a baby when it comes to spicy.  Next time I might make a few the same way but add the spicy ingredients in for my husband who can never have things too spicy.  After making this recipe, I’m no longer afraid to make homemade meatballs; that’s for sure!

Adapted from the recipe here.

Chicken Pot Pie - A Crowd-Pleaser

Here’s another quick and easy recipe to make for dinner.  It was a crowd-pleaser, even for our little 18 month old crowd-pleaser.  I’ve made this a few times, but somehow I forgot about it.  I’m sure it’ll come out more often now that the little guy loved it!  The prep is easy and it bakes for only 30 minutes.

Hearty Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

1 package (16 ounces) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

1 cup cut-up cooked chicken

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup Original Bisquick® mix

½ cup milk

1 egg

Heat oven to 400ºF. Mix vegetables, chicken and soup in ungreased 2-quart casserole.  

Stir remaining ingredients in small bowl with fork until blended. Pour into casserole.  

Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.  

Makes approx. 6 servings

The original recipe can be found here.

Cranberry Apple Pork Tenderloin

Slow Cooker Cranberry Apple Pork Loin

We bought a pork tenderloin with the intention of finding a new recipe to try.  I have two shelves of cookbooks, but where would I start my search process, you ask?  Why, Pinterest, of course!  I came up with four recipes that sounded good and my husband was the one to make the choice. 

We decided to try this one since it was pretty simple.  I’ve never cooked pork before, so this was our guinea pig, so to speak.  The only thing I would change is to add more salt when cooking.  I thought it was hard to add salt “to taste” when mixing ingredients that would be in a slow cooker all day, so I was pretty conservative with the salt, which left the final product needing more in the end.  Other than that, it was really tasty!  The blog I originally got this from said it was even better the next day, and she was right!  We loved it even more for left-overs the next day and the day after that.

Cook Time:  8 hours, low

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 (3 to 4 lb) boneless pork loin roast

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can whole cranberry sauce (not sliced cranberry sauce)

1/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c apple juice

2 apples, cored, peeled and coarsely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place roast in slow cooker; rub all over with the minced garlic. Add remaining ingredients and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours. Pork should be about 160° when fully cooked. Serve with Garlic Parmesan Roasted Potatoes.

This recipe can be found here.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

We have a huge bag of quinoa from Costco, so I began searching for some new recipes to try out on my family.  I also wanted to use up some green peppers that would be going bad soon, so my end result was quinoa stuffed peppers.   I substituted the rice for quinoa and they were delicious!  There are a few classic recipes when I’ll typically pull out my trusty ‘ol Betty Crocker cookbook (circa1971) and this is where I started for the dish. 

A few quick notes before I begin:  1.  My recipe called for 6 green peppers, but I only had 3.  I baked the extra meat/quinoa mixture in a ramekin along with the 3 peppers.   I also didn’t have tomato sauce, so I used a can of crushed tomatoes—worked like a charm.  3.  The recipe called for 2 Tbsp. of onion—I just used the whole onion, chopped.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

What you need:
6 large bell peppers

5 cups boiling salted water

1 lb lean ground beef

2 tablespoons chopped onion  I used a whole onion.

1-1 ½  cups cooked quinoa

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic salt

1 clove garlic, finely chopped  I used ½ teaspoon garlic powder.

1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (3 oz) I used shredded Parmesan.

Heat oven to 350°F.  Cut thin slice from stem end of each bell pepper to remove top of pepper. Remove seeds and membranes; rinse peppers. Cook peppers in the boiling salted water 5 minutes; drain.

Cook quinoa according to package directions.  I cook mine in broth for added flavor.

Cook/brown beef and onion in medium skillet until beef is brown and onion is tender; drain. Stir in quinoa, salt, garlic salt, garlic and 1 cup of the tomato sauce; heat through.

Stuff peppers with beef mixture. Stand peppers upright in ungreased 8-inch square glass baking dish. Pour remaining tomato sauce over peppers.  Cover tightly with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Uncover and bake about 15 minutes longer or until peppers are tender. Sprinkle with cheese.  I sprinkle mine with cheese right before putting back in oven for the last 15 minutes of baking time.

Adapted from the recipe here.

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Ingredients: 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (You can also use thighs if you prefer.) 1 bottle (12-ounces) favorite Caesar dressing 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 1/2 tsp. ground pepper 2 cups shredded Romaine lettuce 8 hamburger buns, toasted Directions:  Without adding any liquid or spices, place chicken in a 3-4 quart slow cooker.  (I put mine in frozen.)  Cover and cook on LOW heat for 6-7 hours.  Drain any accumulated liquid from slow cooker and shred chicken with a sturdy spoon or fork.  Pour in 1/2 bottle of dressing, Parmesan cheese and pepper.  Stir together until evenly mixed.  Continue to add dressing until desired moistness level has been reached (for me it was about 3/4 bottle).  Cover and cook on HIGH for 20-30 minutes or until mixture is hot.  Toast the buns, if desired.  Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture over toasted buns.  Add lettuce.  Serve immediately.   UPDATE:  If we make this again I will not use any more than half the bottle of dressing or I'd use more chicken.  They were good, but the flavor was over-powering.  I might also add a few stalks of chopped celery into the mixture.  I think that'd give it a nice crunchy texture to the chicken.  Overall, this was very good. Original Recipe found here.