Gone All Day Stew

I love finishing a cookbook and starting a new one. This is the first recipe out of a new cookbook. When I say "new" I do not mean that it is just recently acquired. I mean I just started making recipes out of it. I don't even remember where this cookbook came from, but it was next in line on my cookbook shelf. This is the perfect time of year to start it, too, because it's The Everything Soup Cookbook. I like making soup because it's easy, the kids usually like it, and I can usually freeze a bunch of it for another meal later. This one is called "Gone All Day," but who would leave their house all day with the oven on? You could easily adapt this one for a crock pot, I don't think you'd have to change anything except: put it in the crock pot. My mom used to leave lunch cooking in the oven all morning while we were at church, and nothing bad ever happened, so it's probably fine to do, but I think you should stay home if you try making this by the original directions. Don't want to be responsible for any catastrophes.

Gone All Day Stew
1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed tomato soup
1 cup water
1/4 cup flour
2 lbs beef chuck, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces (I bought the "carrot chips" that are already cut into the perfect size)
1/2 cup diced celery
6 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and quartered (that seemed like a crazy amount of onions to me, and nobody will eat them if they are cut in chunks that big...so I just diced one onion)
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 cubes
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 275. In a bowl, mix together the soup, water, and flour until smooth. In a roasting pan with a cover (I used my Pampered Chef bowl/cover thing that I don't even think they sell anymore but is perfect for this, and chex mix, and beans and rice), combine this mixture with all remaining ingredients; cover and bake for 4-5 hours. Remove from oven and discard bay leaf.

Of course this made the kitchen smell great all afternoon. Everybody liked it. I have half of it in the freezer already. And the hardest part was cutting the beef into chunks. You could buy stew beef, and you do cook it long enough that it would soften it. So definitely one to keep!

Cheddar & Bacon Burgers

We had these last night on the George Foreman grill, which I love. Have I mentioned it has removable plates you can throw in the dishwasher? Well it does. This is one of those recipes where you think to yourself, why didn't I think of that?? So easy and so good. From Simple & Delicious.

Cheddar & Bacon Burgers
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used cheddar/jack because I had some left from another recipe)
1/2 cup crumbled cooked bacon (near the salad dressings you can buy bacon crumbles so you don't even have to cook your own bacon)
1 envelope onion soup mix
2 lbs ground beef
8 hamburger buns
Lettuce & tomato slices

Combine first four ingredients in large bowl. Shape into 8 patties. Put them on your Foreman grill until thermometer reads 160. Also you could make these under the broiler, but you have to flip them after 5 minutes or so. Serve on buns w/ lettuce and tomato.

We had ours with barbecue sauce on top. See how easy that is? Why have I never thought to put the bacon and the cheese right in there with the meat? And they tasted fabulous. Only Nathan didn't like his. Definitely saving this one. So so so so good. I only used 4 burgers last night, so I froze the other four to have for another meal soon! I can't wait to eat them hee hee.

Caribbean Chips with Apricot Salsa

We had these to go with the Jamaican soup I just posted. I didn't make the salsa to go with these, because I initially hadn't planned on making these chips, but I just happened to buy tortillas for another recipe, so I thought I would just try them. So I didn't have the apricot preserves to make the salsa. We just dipped these in the soup, but that was a mistake.

Caribbean Chips with Apricot Salsa
2 tsp Caribbean jerk seasoning (I used Pampered Chef Jamaican Jerk seasoning)
1/4 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ground allspice
4 flour tortillas
cooking spray
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup apricot preserves

Combine first six ingredients in a small bowl. Coat both sides of each tortilla with cooking spray; sprinkle with seasoning mixture. Stack all 4 tortillas on top of each other and cut the stack into 8 wedges using a very sharp knife. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, combine salsa and preserves in a small bowl. Serve with chips.

Okay so these probably would be okay as an appetizer, but I wouldn't serve them with the soup. They were extremely seasoned. I liked them better than I liked the soup, which is why you shouldn't make them together, because it will make you think the soup isn't good, when probably the soup should just be served with bread and butter and it would taste great. But only Steve and I liked the chips. Not even Sam liked them, and they ended up having Pringles with their soup. I had Pringles coupons this week and last week, which made them very cheap, but I hate that the cans are so tall they won't fit into my cupboard. So I have this Pringles shrine in between the microwave and the bread maker. Looks silly. Anyway I might keep this one to try again, and serve it just as an appetizer and not as a side to the soup. I'm going to go to the Simple & Delicious website and tell them that, too. Oh also, if I make them again I'm going to brush the tortillas with oil instead of using cooking spray, because they will be yummier that way.

Jamaican Ham & Bean Soup

We had this for lunch after church today, with a tortilla chip recipe that I will post separately. I thought it would be really good, and it uses jerk seasoning, which I always have a lot of because I love Pampered Chef's Jamaican Jerk seasoning. I make these jerk chicken nachos with it that Steve and I just love, so I thought we would love this soup too. It's from the latest Simple & Delicious, Oct/Nov 2011. One thing I like about jerk seasoning, besides the taste, is that you get to say "jerk" a lot when you're cooking. When I was little, I thought "jerk" was the absolute worst thing you could call someone. So now whenever I make anything with jerk seasoning, I just laugh inside. I wonder who it's named after. Stuff like that. Also, do you guys remember that song "How Bizarre?" One of the lines goes "oooh baby, you're makin' me crazy." And this soup makes me think "Jamaican me crazy." If you want you can hum that song while you read this post.

Jamaican Ham & Bean Soup
1 tbsp canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cups cubed fully cooked ham
2 cans (16 oz each) refried beans
1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
1 can (11 oz) Mexicorn, drained
1 can (7 oz) white or shoepeg corn, drained (I left out both of thse and used 2 cups of frozen corn)
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
1/2 cup salsa
1 tsp Caribbean jerk seasoning
1 can (2 1/4 oz) sliced ripe olives, drained (I hate olives, so I left these out)
1/3 cup lime juice
Sour cream and lime slices, optional

Heat oil in Dutch oven; saute onion for 3-4 minutes or until tender. Stir in ham, refried beans, broth, corn, chilies, salsa, and jerk seasoning; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in olives and lime juice; heat through. Garnish each bowl with sour cream and lime slices if desired (we didn't).

Okay so this was really easy. The most time consuming part was cutting up the ham. Unfortunately, it wasn't a hit. I thought Steve would really like this. Everybody ate it, at least ate the ham and corn out of it, but nobody was like "Yum" or anything like that. So I am surprised. I thought it would taste better. We had it with the tortilla chips, which are featured on the same page in the magazine, and are suggested as a side to this soup, but I think the flavors didn't go together, which didn't help the soup at all. So not a keeper. Maybe you'll like it though.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Bars

I made these today to bring to the Schmeling Thanksigivng Potluck. A crazy amount of fun was had. These bars were a big hit. This was my first foray into cheesecake that wasn't instant from a jello package. Don't me wrong, I LOVE Jello cheesecake. In fact, I just requested one at my birthday supper 2 weeks ago, and it was fabulous. I could've eaten the whole thing myself. But I thought this one looked pretty in the picture, and looked like it would be yummy to eat. It's from the Holiday 2011 Kraft Food & Family.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Bars
24 oreo cookies, finely crushed (I think it could've used more...the bottom layer was quite thin)
1/4 cup butter, melted
6 squares semi-sweet chocolate, divided
3 pkg (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 tbsp red food coloring

Heat oven to 350. Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Melt 4 chocolate squares in a medium bowl and set aside.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with mixer until well blended. Add eggs; beat just until blended. Remove 2 cups batter to bowl with melted chocolate; add food coloring and stir until well blended. Carefully spread over crust; cover with remaining plain batter.

Bake 26 to 28 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely. Melt remaining 2 chocolate squares and drizzle over dessert (I put the melted chocolate in a ziploc baggie and snipped a tiny corner from the bottom and drizzled it that way). Refrigerate 4 hours.

So like I said, pretty good. Some people thought they were raspberry, and mentally I was kind of expecting a berry taste when I ate it, because of the color that they were. But it was chocolately. Red velvet is weird. But good. Another one to keep!

Cranberry Shortbread Bars

I love shortbread. It's so simple and so yummy. This one is the last recipe I have marked to try from last year's Christmas cookbook from my mom (phew, finished this one almost in time to get the next one, hee hee). I always like to bring new desserts to home fellowship. The kids usually don't like what I bring, but I say that's a plus because there is more for the adults. And this is the perfect holiday dessert recipe.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 pkg (12 oz) fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
1 cup chopped walnuts (left out)
2 squares white baking chocolate, melted (I used white baking chips, they didn't have squares of white chocolate at the Walmart)

In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine the flour, coconut and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Set aside 1 cup for topping. Spread remaining mixture into greased 13x9 baking dish. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the sugars and cornstarch. Stir in cranberries and apple juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook and stir for 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in walnuts.

Spread over crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Drizzle with white chocolate. Cut into bars. 2 dozen.

Yum yum yum. Yum. So good. Easy. Not too time consuming. Definitely keeping this one!

Baked Beans with Sausage & Apples

This is from Tiffany's adoption fundraiser cookbook. We love baked beans, and also we love smoked sausage. Baked beans, when you make them slow all day, make your kitchen smell great. Yankee Candle should totally do a Baked Beans one. The before, not the after, hee hee. Anyway a lot of times in cookbooks like these with multiple contributors, it can be hard to follow the recipe, because the person who submits it will not write down a step they just assume everyone will know, or that they know to do so well they don't even think to write it down. I am sure I am guilty of the same thing when I have submitted recipes in the past. So a couple of times in this one, I was like "what??" But a popular and oft-featured New Recipe Night consultant, my mom, told me what to do. So I will fill in her suggestions where appropriate.

Baked Beans with Sausage & Apples
1/4 lb dried kidney beans
1/4 lb dried pea beans
1/2 lb smoked sausage, cut into 1" slices and browned (I used a whole package because we really like it)
2 cups peeled, sliced apples
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1 tsp salt
1 garlic clove (which I minced)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp pepper

Soak beans overnight (in a large amount of water in a Dutch oven). In the morning, simmer beans until tender (this will take about 1 1/2 hours...way longer than I expected). In a crock pot, combine all other ingredients except beans and sausage. Bring to a boil (in the crockpot?? I didn't do that) then mix with beans (do you drain them first? Yes, but mom says reserve the bean cooking water in case you need to add more liquid as they're cooking); add sausage. Cook 2 hours on high or 6 hours on low, adding more liquid if needed (the bean water). You can also bake these at 325 for 6 hours, adding liquid as needed.

These could be meatless if you left out the meat. That is the Captain Obvious sentence of the day. I made mine in the crock pot and didn't end up needing to add any extra liquid, but I'm sure if you made them in the oven you would have to. These came out great. Nathan didn't like it at all, but he still ate them. Everyone else liked them. The sauce turned out so so yummy and just a hint of sweetness. I gave some to my friend and she said it was delicious. So this is definitely something I'll make again, but definitely making a double batch next time, because they are all gone already, only one little serving left for leftovers.

Slow-Cooker Cheesy Chicken & Potatoes

This is what we had last night. It's from the "Holiday 2011" Kraft Food & Family that my sister just gave me. It looked easy, and I had some red potatoes left over from last week so I made it. We have homeschool co-op on Tuesdays, which is always a crazy day, so Monday night I put this all in the crockpot, and put the liner in the fridge. Tuesday morning I took it out of the fridge, left it on the counter for about an hour to come to room temp, then put it on low right before I left. Coming home yesterday the kitchen smelled great, and then I could do nothing until it was time for supper. I watched the Amazing Race episode I had missed on Sunday night, and I think it was an afternoon well spent.

Slow-Cooker Cheesy Chicken & Potatoes
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 lb red potatoes (about 3), very thinly sliced
1 tsp paprika
8 small bone-in chicken thighs (about 2 lb), skin removed (I bought boneless skinless thighs)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1/4 lb (4 oz) Velveeta, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (omitted...the green pepper is enough green for one dish for this family haha)

Place peppers in bottom of crock pot sprayed with cooking spray; top with potatoes. Sprinkle paprika over chicken. Place 4 thighs on top of veggies; cover with soup then remaining thighs. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours or high 3 to 4 hours.

Use slotted spoon to transfer chicken and veggies to serving plate; keep warm. Set crock pot to high heat. Add velveeta and worcestershire sauce to reserved liquid in crock pot; stir. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Stir until velveeta is completely melted and sauce is well blended. Spoon over chicken and vegetables and sprinkle with parsley.

So even though this was very easy, it wasn't that great. Velveeta is very expensive, even though it's not real cheese. It was $3.50ish for 1 lb or $4.50ish for 2 lbs, so I got 2 lbs because I can make taco dip with the rest of it. But the sauce just wasn't very cheesy. The 2 little ones didn't like the potatoes. The chicken was very tender and good, but the sauce didn't do anything for it. So not saving this one. But I am going to do that thing with the crock pot more often.

Stovetop Italian Macaroni

This is from the Simple & Delicious I just got in the mail last week. It sounded easy, and I only had to buy one ingredient, the tomatoes. Also I like almost everything with onion soup mix. One time I had a coupon for save $1 on Lipton dried soup or whatever. I bought onion and "savory herb and garlic." Yesterday I found the savory herb one in my cupboard, with a use-by date of Oct 24, 2008. HA! Guess I only like the onion one! I threw that other one away. I will use things a bit past their best-by date, but that's too much. Okay so here's this one.

Stovetop Italian Macaroni
1 lb ground beef
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups water
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (if desired)(I left this out. Too risky)
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook beef over medium heat in a Dutch oven until no longer pink; drain. Add the tomatoes, water, soup mix, Italian seasoning, and pepper flakes if using. Bring to a boil. Stir in macaroni. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-9 minutes or until macaroni is tender. Remove from heat. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Cover and let stand for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

The grownups + Sam liked this. From the littles, a refrain of "I don't like tomatoes." "I don't like cheese." When reminded this is the same cheese that appears on cheese pizza and in stuffed shells, the littlest replied, "No it's not!" Anyway it was a fine meal, and lots of leftovers for the week to come, but probably a one hit wonder.

Lentil Tacos

This is from Tiffany's cookbook. Now normally I wouldn't say "yum, lentils." But they are so cheap. And I am trying to make one meatless meal per week. Not because meat is bad, but it is expensive. And we have had lentils before. The kids have eaten them without complaint. So I decided to try them.

Lentil Tacos
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1/4 cup taco seasoning (or 1 envelope)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup salsa

In large skillet saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add lentils and taco seasoning, cook and stir 1 minute. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 25-30 minutes or until lentils are tender. Uncover and cook 6-8 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Mash slightly and stir in salsa. Fill taco shells and top as desired (we used cheese and lettuce).

These were pretty good. They definitely will not replace regular meat-filled tacos on our menu. Nathan had chicken nuggets, ha ha. Sam & Emma both ate theirs and said that they liked them. I asked them, on a scale of 1-10, if meat tacos are a 10, what are lentil tacos? And they said 7. So that's pretty good. We still have half the filling left so we will be having these at least once more in the near future.

Easy Cinnamon Roll Muffins

I found this on facebook. One day a bunch of my fb friends posted this recipe and how good it was. I decided to try it because my kiddos LOVE cinnamon rolls and those Pillsbury ones are so bad for you. Not that these are overly healthy, but you can doctor it a bit to make it more healthy. This is from a blog I have never heard of before, called Joy the Baker, and at the bottom of the recipe it says it is copyrighted. I am certainly not plagiarizing and always cite my recipe sources.

Easy Cinnamon Roll Muffins
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp active dry or rapid rise yeast
2/3 cup warm milk (100-110F; low fat is fine)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

Filling/Topping

2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cardamom (this is crazy expensive and I didn't buy it...I have never bought it...the little jar at Walmart was $11!!)

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk or cream

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Dissolve the yeast in a measuring cup filled with the warmed milk, then stir milk mixture, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and egg into the flour mixture. Mix well, until very smooth. Pour into prepared pan and let rest for 15 minutes (I let it rest in the mixing bowl).
While the dough rests, mix together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom(if you are rich) in a small bowl using a fork until all the butter has been incorporated into the sugar and mixture is crumbly. Divide the batter between 12 greased muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly on top of rested dough and press the mixture down into the dough with your fingertips (or swirl in with a spatula.)(you should swirl it...I didn't, I just pressed it in, but not deep enough, I guess, and a lot of the topping ended up not staying on the muffin, and only top layer was cinnamon roll-y, and the rest was just a regular muffin)
Place pan into a cold oven, then set the oven temperature to 350F.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until bread is lightly browned at the edges and the center of the bread springs back when lightly pressed. Some of the sugar mixture on top may still be bubbling.
Cool for at least 30 minutes before whisking the powdered sugar and milk together to form an icing and drizzling it onto the bread.
Serve warm. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.

So these were really really really good. I am definitely going to make these again. They smelled great, tasted great, and the kids all loved them. You should totally try them.