Crockpot Honey Wheat Bread

I got this recipe from the book 101 More Things to do with a Slow Cooker a while back, and finally got around to trying it.

I have to admit, I was a tad skeptical since I've never baked using the crockpot before. But I decided what the heck and gave it a shot. And you know what? It came out really good! And it was easier than the traditional kneading and rising and rolling method of making fresh bread. I like this crockpot baking!

Crockpot Honey Wheat Bread

2/3 cup powdered milk
2 cups warm water
2 Tbs canola or vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
3/4 tsp salt
1 envelope or 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup flour

In a bowl, dissolve powdered milk in warm water, then combine with oil, honey, salt, yeast, and half of both flours. With an electric mixer, beat on low speed 2 minutes. Add remaining flour and beat on low until combined. Place dough in greased 4 to 5-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours.

Remove stoneware from slow cooker and let stand 5 minutes. Invert bread onto a serving platter while still hot.

Check out more great crockpot recipes at Dining With Debbie's Crockpot Wednesday!

Why I Buy Extra Turkeys

Just because turkeys are only on sale once a year, doesn't mean you can only eat them once a year! My local grocery stores usually offer incredible deals on turkey around Thanksgiving, hoping they can sucker you into buying all your other holiday items there.

If you have room in your freezer, now is the time to stock up. Last year I bought SIX turkeys, all for $5 - $8 apiece. I probably get a week's worth of food out of each turkey I cook. What else will feed you for a week for $5? Of course it helps that I'm only feeding two people, but if you have a larger family, you can always get larger turkeys!

Besides the initial roast turkey feast, we usually have several days of open faced turkey sandwiches for dinner, and turkey sandwiches for lunch. When we're sick of that, I make turkey pot-pie, turkey noodle casserole (recipe below), or salad with roast turkey on top.  I also boil the carcass for turkey stock, and usually end up with enough for two batches of soup (like this Turkey and Wild Rice soup) - each of which makes enough for several days.

If you don't want to eat turkey for a week straight, just portion it out into freezer bags and stick it in the freezer. You can use it just about anywhere cooked chicken is used.

If you don't have room in your freezer for a full turkey, consider just getting a frozen turkey breast. They are a little more expensive per pound than a full turkey, but it is still pretty economical. Plus, turkey breasts can usually fit in a crockpot, which makes for a super easy meal.

And even the Ninja Pups get a treat when I make turkey! Giblets and the neck get mixed in raw with their kibble for an extra special treat! (Dogs can eat RAW poultry bones - but don't give them cooked poultry bones because the cooking process dries out the bones, making them brittle and liable to break into sharp shards which can injure their digestive tract).

A freezer full of cheap turkeys works for me!

Turkey Noodle Casserole

• 2 cups cooked turkey, diced (white meat is best for this recipe)
• 1 cup white sauce (or a can of your favorite cream soup)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 cups egg noodles, cooked and drained
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese

1. Stir the white sauce, milk, black pepper, vegetables, turkey, noodles and Parmesan cheese in a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish
2. Bake at 400°F. for 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
3. Stir the turkey mixture. Top with the Cheddar cheese.

Easy Chuck Roast and Potatoes

This is a recipe from my Mother-In-Law. It is a great way to make an inexpensive cut of meat into a very flavorful meal. It is also super easy because your potatoes cook with the meat, so you just need to throw together a salad or some veggies for a complete meal.

Easy Chuck Roast and Potatoes

• 2 - 3 lb chuck roast (bone-in or boneless)
• 1 packet Lipton dry onion soup mix (or homemade equivalent)
• 3 small potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1. In a shallow dish, lay down aluminum foil
2. Place roast in center of foil
3. Top roast with the soup mix
4. Arrange potatoes around sides of roast, put some on top if you need the space:
   

5. Wrap foil around roast and fold ends together to form a packet:
   

6. Cook in oven at 325 for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes. Time will vary based on the size of you roast, whether it has a bone or not, and how well done you like your meat. Use a meat thermometer for best results!

And yes, I forgot to take a picture of the finished roast. It was yummy though :)

Check out more great recipes at the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap!

Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork

This was super easy and SOOOO good, I can't believe I've never done it before!

Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork

• 3 to 4 lbs pork roast
• salt and pepper
• water
• 1 - 2 bottles BBQ sauce
• Hamburger Buns

1. Season roast with salt and pepper
2. Place roast in crockpot, add enough water to cover roast about halfway
3. Cook on low 8 - 12 hours
4. Remove roast from crockpot
5. Pour out liquid and fat from crockpot
6. Using two forks, shred pork
7. I had a TON of pork at this point, and only 2 people to feed. So I decided to only prepare what I needed for one meal now and freeze the rest (figuring it would freeze better without the BBQ sauce). So, if you're going to freeze some of the pork for a future meal, separate that amount now.
8. Return the pork you're going to eat now to the crockpot, add BBQ sauce (probably about 1/4 cup sauce per sandwich size portion of meat), and mix well. Leave in crockpot until heated through (30 minutes or so).
9. Spoon BBQ pork onto toasted hamburger buns and enjoy
10. To prepare the frozen pork, just thaw, pour some BBQ sauce on, and heat in the microwave or stovetop. Mix it up real well and then serve.

Check out more great crockpot recipes at Crockpot Wednesday!

Crockpot Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

Don't look now, but there's only a few weeks left until Thanksgiving! This recipe is one of my favorite ways to used leftover turkey - it is a nice change of pace from the usual turkey sandwiches and pot pies, and is loaded with veggies to help you recover from too much pie :) My version is based on this recipe from the Year of Slow Cooking site, I just make a few little tweaks. I like to use Uncle Ben's wild rice for this, I think the extra seasoning adds a lot of good flavor, but usually I just use whatever is on hand (or is on sale).

Crockpot Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

• 8 - 10 cups turkey broth (substitute chicken broth if you don't have turkey)
  
• 1 box of Uncle Ben's wild rice, prepared as directed on package
  
• ~2 cups cooked turkey (I usually use dark meat)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 2 tsp sage
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• 2 cups spinach leaves
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Put everything in your crock pot. Cook on low 8 - 10 hours.

Experience more crockpot joy over at Dining with Debbie's Crockpot Wednesday!

Filling the Freezer!

Money Saving Mom is hosting a "Freezer Cooking Day" and stocking up her freezer, so I thought I would share the results of my most recent freezer cooking fest I did a few weekends ago.

First of all, let me just say that the thought of cooking for 8 (or more!) hours straight makes me want to curl up in a ball, crawl under the table, and cry. Seriously! I just can't do that much. I am so impressed with all the ladies out there that regularly do full day cooking sessions, but I am nowhere near that level. The best I can usually do is about 4 to 5 hours before my lower lip starts to quiver. But I love love LOVE the convenience and flexibility I get from having a freezer full of meals ready to go. My solution is to do half day freezer cooking sessions, spreading it out over a few days if neccessary.

My main goal this time around was to get some easy LUNCH items stashed for Ninja Hubz and me to bring to work. I'm usually pretty happy with a sandwich, yogurt, and some fruit, but Ninja Hubz likes something closer to a real meal for lunch. If there isn't something easy and ready to go in the fridge or freezer, he will end up eating out. And I admit I do like having something different now and then.

I also had bags full of chicken bones, turkey bones, and old veggies waiting patiently to be made into stock. Since I needed to make room in the freezer and I would be in the kitchen all day anyway, I decided to get that going as well. I had a big bag of potatoes sitting on the counter, so I added twice baked potatoes to the list, and threw in some meatballs and muffins just because they're nice to have on hand :)

So my freezer weekend went something like this:

Friday Evening
Bake Blueberry Oat Muffins (1 dozen)
Bake Orange Raspberry Muffins (1 dozen)

Saturday
Put Chicken Stock on stove, let simmer all day
Put Chicken Taco Meat in crockpot, let cook most of the day
Make twice baked potatoes
Make home made Hot Pockets (recipe below)
Cook Mexican Rice
Prepare Chicken and Rice Burritos (recipe further below)
Cook Chicken Tortilla Soup

Sunday
Put Turkey Stock on stove, let simmer all day
Make meatballs

It all made for a busy weekend, but it was totally worth it!

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Home-Made Hot Pockets (Beef & Veggie)
This was my first time making these, I got the idea from the blog "Our Best Bites".

Dough
I think that any french bread recipe would work great for these. I chose french bread instead of a pizza crust or other options I've considered because I knew these would end up being microwaved and would not be crispy. I think french bread is still pretty tasty when its warm and soft, but pizza crust just isn't the same without the crispiness.

Here's the recipe I used (if you don't have a bread machine, you can make the dough by hand or maybe buy some Pilsbury dough):

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp active dry yeast

Combine all ingredients in your bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Set on dough cycle.

Filling
I wanted to do something that would incorporate some vegetables, always a challenge! So I went with sort of a pot-pie like filling. I used about 2 lbs of ground beef and ended up with a lot of extra filling, so I think 1.5 lbs would be better. My amounts here are estimated... sorry but I just kind of made it up as I went along :

• 1.5 lbs ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup mixed veggies (I used some frozen peas and fresh chopped carrots)
• 2 cups mashed potatoes
• salt and pepper

In a large skillet, brown ground beef with onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Add vegetables and cook through.

Making your pockets
Roll dough out flat and divide into 16 equal rectangles (I divided the dough in half and did 8 at a time, it seems easier to work with this way). Place a couple spoonfuls of your filling and a spoonful of the mashed potatoes in the center of each section of dough. Fold the sides of the dough in so they overlap and cover all the filling, then fold a bit of  he top and bottom up to make your pocket. Pinch the edges to form a good seal so your filling stays in. It may take a few to get the hang of it... even if they're not pretty they will still taste good :)

Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes (until golden brown). Let cool completely, wrap in foil, place in freezer-proof Ziploc and freeze. To heat up, allow to thaw and microwave for 2-3 minutes. If you take them out of the freezer in the morning, they will be ready for nuking at lunch time.

Other Filling Ideas
We both liked this meat and veggie pocket, although next time I will probably add a little cheddar cheese. Some other ideas I would like to try are:

• Pizza: spaghetti sauce, pepperonis, mozzarella and parmesan cheese
• Meatball: same as pizza but with meatballs instead of pepperoni
• Ham & Cheese: diced or sliced ham, shredded cheddar
• Taco: Seasoned ground beef or chicken, cheddar cheese, maybe some salsa
• Spicy Chicken: diced or shredded chicken, cream of chicken soup, pepper jack cheese

I think there's all sorts of great possibilities for these.

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Chicken and Rice Burritos
These are really quite easy, they freeze well, and they are super yummy!

Prepare Chicken Taco meat
Prepare Mexican Rice

To make burrtios:
Take a flour tortilla. Place a couple spoonfuls of chicken taco meat in center of tortilla, add a couple spoonfuls of rice. Top with grated cheddar and monterey jack cheese. Roll up burrito, wrap in waxed paper. Repeat until you run out of tortillas. Place burritos in freezer-proof Ziploc and freeze. Heat in microwave when ready to eat.

Use any remaining chicken taco meat and mexican rice in Chicken Tortilla Soup.

This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday

Chicken (Crock)Pot Pie

This recipe is derived from a Campbell's Soup can label. It's pretty quick and easy to do in the oven, but that's no reason not to crockpot-ify it :) So here goes:

Filling:
1 can cream of potato soup
1/4 cup milk
1/8 tsp ground pepper (I also add a dash of salt)
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 cup of cooked chicken (diced or shredded leftovers works, as does canned chicken)

Topping:
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup all purpose baking mix (ie Bisquick)

Grease the inside of your crockpot (4 or 5 quart works best). Combine the filling ingredients in your crockpot. In a separate bowl, mix the topping ingredients, then carefully pour on top of the filling. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

(To cook in the oven, prepare as above using a pie dish instead of the crockpot, and cook for 30 minutes at 400˚F).

And look! I remembered to take a picture, after dinner that is:

I like this recipe because if you keep a can or two of chicken around, this makes a great "oh crap I forgot to take anything out to defrost" meal :) You can also substitute turkey or beef - I often use leftover roast or steak.

Check out more crockpot fun over at Debbie's Crockpot Wednesday!

And even more recipes at The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap!

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Pumpkins!

This was my first year growing a vegetable garden. It started out as more of an experiment, but to my utter astonishment, I actually managed to grow quite a few things! Then I was left trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do with all this stuff. Pumpkins, for example:

I was very proud of the 2 whole pumpkins I managed to grow. I put too much effort into them to carve them up for Halloween... these were going to get carved up and EATEN darn it.

So I turned to the trusty Internet and tried to figure out how to cook a pumpkin. I found this University of Illionois Exension site that had all kinds of great information, including how to make pumpkin puree.

So I cut up my beautiful little pumpkins....

And scooped out all the seeds...

Then they looked like this:

I used a little paring knife to scrape out all the fibrous goo...

All the pieces went into my big stockpot, with 1 cup of water...

I steamed them for about 30 minutes, until the flesh was soft (you can see the little holes where I pricked one piece with a fork to test).

After the pieces had cooled off, I used my trusty paring knife to separate the peel from the flesh

When everything was peeled...

I put all the fleshy parts in the food processor and processed away!

It took a little while in the processor, but eventually I had a smooth puree. I measured it out in 1 cup increments and put it in plastic containers for freezing:

Those 2 little pumpkins yielded 5 cups of puree.

Here's a couple of my favorite pumpkin recipes:
Pumpkin Pancakes
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (I change this one and use 1 cup of pumpkin and omit the water)

I'm going to try this recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds tomorrow, and this Pumpkin Cookie recipe as soon as I get a deal on white chocolate chips!

Happy fall :)

Your link back to Works For Me Wednesday.

Crockpot Peppercorn Steak plus Baked Potatoes

The steak recipe can be found at the Year of Slow Cooking blog. This came out really good - Ninja Hubz was disappointed because I didn't make enough for leftovers.

What I did that isn't in the recipe was to make some crockpot baked potatoes to go along with the steak! After preparing everything and putting it in the crockpot as described in the recipe, I just grabbed two potatoes, washed them off really well, poked them a few times with a fork, wrapped in foil, and carefully laid them on top of the steaks. Seven hours later - voila! Steak and potatoes. So easy!

Visit Dining with Debbie for more Crockpot Wednesday!

Crockpot Carnitas

This was really good. You need to make this. Seriously. We had carnitas tacos, but the meat can also be used in burritos, enchiladas, on nachos, on top of some mexican rice, however you like it. We have tons of leftovers too - enough for dinner tomorrow and more for the freezer. And I got to use tomatoes and chiles from my garden. I have a bajillion little chiles so I'm happy for any excuse to use them up!

Crockpot Carnitas

• 4-5 lb pork shoulder roast (boneless or bone-in doesn't matter)
• 2 packages taco seasoning
• juice from 1 orange
• 1 can diced tomatos and chiles (like Ro-Tel), or equivalent amount of fresh diced tomatoes and chiles
• 1/4 cup diced onion

1. Trim excess fat from roast, place in crockpot
2. Cover roast with the remaining ingredients
3. Cook on low all day (8-10 hours)
4. Remove from crockpot and shred meat - discard bone if present (or save for making soup)
5. Serve meat on warm corn tortillas* with your favorite toppings - diced avocado, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream

*I usually fry the corn tortillas in a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil until they are crispy, but still pliable. This isn't the healthiest way to prepare them, but it is sooooo yummy! If I'm in a rush though, I'll just steam the tortillas in the microwave.

Check out more great recipes at
Crockpot Wednesday
The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Crockpot Enchiladas

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 package taco seasoning (plus water as specified on package)
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 2 cups enchilada sauce
• 6 corn tortillas
• 2 cups grated pepper jack cheese
• sour cream, sliced green onions (optional)

1. Prepare ground beef according to instructions on taco seasoning
2. Layer tortillas, enchilada sauce, meat, and onion in crockpot
3. Cook on low for 8-10 hours
4. Approximately one hour before serving, top with cheese
5. Garnish with green onions and sour cream if desired

Check out more great recipes over at
Crockpot Wednesday
The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Crockpot Cornbread Taco Casserole

A few weeks ago I tried this, but decided it still needed a little work. So I re-did it today and decided to attempt crockpot-ifying while I was at it. Here's what I ended up with:

Crockpot Cornbread Taco Casserole

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 3/4 cups water (or how ever much is called for by the taco seasoning)
• 2 cups diced tomato (or 1 can diced tomato)
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 package cornbread mix (enough for 6 muffins)
• milk, eggs, margarine, and/or whatever the cornbread mix requires
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1. Prepare ground beef according to instructions on taco seasoning
2. Grease sides of crockpot (I used a 5 quart)
3. Place taco meat, tomatoes, and bell pepper in crockpot, mix well
4. Prepare cornbread mix according to package, spoon over top of meat mixture in the crockpot
5. Cook on low for approximately 6 hours
6. Top with cheese and serve

This came out very good but I think it could use some onions cooked in with the meat.

Check out more great recipes at
Crockpot Wednesday
The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Mom's Meatloaf (Freezable)

There's a million variations on meatloaf, but I say why mess with perfection? :) This is the recipe my mom always made while I was growing up, and its still one of my favorites today. Its not glamorous but it is quick, easy, and yummy!

Mom's Meatloaf

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup ketcheup

1. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly (I usually take off my rings and use my bare hands to make sure everything gets mixed really well).
2. Form into a loaf.
3. To cook right away: Place in a shallow baking dish, cook at 350 for 50 minutes. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before slicing.
4. To freeze: wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. To cook, thaw overnight in refrigerator and follow directions above.

Check out more great recipes at The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap!

Bulk Chicken Prep (Crockpot Wednesday)

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a 10 lb bag of chicken leg quarters for $5.80. Of course my freezer's been so full I couldn't possible cram 10 lbs of chicken legs in it! So I went ahead and cooked it up, shredded it, and then just had some much smaller bags of chicken which I could cram in the freezer. And I have cooked chicken meat ready for a variety of dishes. Batch cooking like this makes my life so much easier!

If you've never had 10 full pounds of chicken legs, believe me, its a lot of meat. I don't have a single pot large enough to cook all of it, so I split it in half. One half simmered on the stove in my big stockpot with some salt and pepper, parsley out of the garden, a bunch of vegetable remnants from the freezer I save for just such a purpose, and enough water to cover it all. I let it simmer all day (about 8 hours), then pulled the chicken out and shredded the meat off the bones. I strained the liquid and kept it for chicken broth. The meat got split into 3 bags which should each be enough for one meal and put in the freezer.

The second half of the chicken went into the crockpot, along with 2 packets worth of taco seasoning mix, and about 1 cup of water. I cooked it on low all day, and shredded the meat from the bones and froze it. This yielded about another 3 meals worth of prepared meat which went into the freezer.

We had some of the taco seasoned chicken in quesadillas last night and it was delicious! Having all this meat on hand is great for casseroles and soups, or even throwing on top of a salad.

Check out more ideas for your crockpot over at Crockpot Wednesday!

Chicken Salsa Casserole

I like this recipe because I can make it a day ahead of time. Its always nice to come home after a long day and have something all ready to throw in the oven! This goes great with Mexican Rice.

Chicken Salsa Casserole

• 4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
• 1 dozen corn tortillas
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 oz can diced green chiles
• 1 lb grated cheddar cheese

1. Grease a 9x13 dish
   
2. Cut tortillas into 1 inch strips
   
3. In bowl, combine soups, milk, onion, and chiles
   
4. Lay half the tortilla strips evenly in bottom of greased 9x13 dish
5. Put half of chicken in dish, cover with half the soup mixture
6. Repeat layer
7. Top with cheese
8. Cover with foil, let stand in refrigerator for 24 hours
9. Bake covered at 300 for 1.5 hours

Check out more great recipes at The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap

Taco Cornbread Casserole - Take 1

A couple people have expressed interest in the Taco Cornbread Casserole I made this past week. As I mentioned previously, I think it still needs a little work, but I figured I'd go ahead and share what I did and some of my ideas for next time.

This started because I had a zillion pouches of cornbread mix in my cupboard that have been there since the dawn of time or so (that's when cornbread was invented, right?), and since I am on a quest to use up all such strange things from my cupboards, I had to figure out something to do with it. And if I really liked eating plain old cornbread, well it wouldn't have been sitting in my cupboard for so long, now would it? :)

So here's what I did:

The weekend before last I had prepared some taco meat and froze it in 1 lb packages. So I took 1 lb of prepared taco meat (thawed), diced up a small green bell pepper and medium tomato from my garden, about 1/3 cup of mixed cheddar and monterey jack cheese, and mixed all that up in a 13x9 dish. Then I prepared 2 of the cornbread pouch mixes (they are small pouches that make 6 muffins each) as directed on the package, and then poured the cornbread mix on top of the meat mixture. I cooked it at 350 for about 25-30 minutes (until the cornbread was done).

It was pretty tasty, but I think there was too much cornbread. What I will probably do next time is use the same amount of meat, put it in an 8x8 pan, and use only one package of cornbread mix on top. I also think it needs more veggies - more bell pepper and tomato, and possibly some onion. I may even mix some salsa in - some extra moisture would probably be an improvement. I will also add more cheese next time, I wasn't quite sure how the cheese would fare baking for so long, but it was pretty well protected by the cornbread topping.

I would love to hear any ideas or suggestions you might have!

Crockpot Vegetable Beef Soup

I love making soup. It's so easy, it's so frugal, and its different every time. Whenever I have leftover bits of veggies hiding in the fridge, I chop them up and put them in the freezer. When there's too much stuff in the freezer, I make soup.

My freezer is PACKED.

So today I made soup! Last weekend I scored a ton of cheap ground beef, and prepared and froze a bunch of it, including browning 3 lbs with garlic and onion. I've always shied away from crockpot recipes that require you to brown your meat before putting it in the crockpot - I mean, if I have to cook it twice, its not really making anything easier, is it? But by cooking up a big batch of meat and sticking it in the freezer, it makes it a cinch. I can handle trying some of these recipes and still have the convenience of a quick one-pot meal. Yay!

I also happened to have 6 cups of beef broth lurking in the depths of my overfull freezer. And digging through my cupboards yielded a small bit of pearl barley waiting patiently for a purpose.

So last night I pulled 1 lb of the pre-cooked ground beef and all 6 cups of the frozen broth out, and put them in the fridge to defrost overnight. This morning, they were still pretty much frozen. No worries, I started dumping everything in my trusty 4-quart crock pot, and quickly realized that it was too small. Soooo, I brought out the 6-quart crock pot and dumped everything in there. Aside from having twice as many dishes to wash, it all worked out ok :) I added some frozen carrot coins, chopped celery, chopped zucchini, and diced tomatoes from the freezer, the barley, some salt, pepper, and italian seasoning. I turned it on low and went to work. When I got home 10 hours later, yummy delicious soup was waiting for me! Hooray for crockpots.

I probably would have added some more broth if I'd had any. The soup came out pretty thick, another 2 to 4 cups of broth would have made it much more soup-like. Or some tomato juice probably would have worked too. The other option would be to use 1/2 lb of ground beef mixture instead of the full pound. But it tasted just fine and was very filling. We have several servings for leftovers.

For those of you who like your instructions slightly more detailed than "put a bunch of stuff in a crockpot and go to work all day", here is an actual recipe version (the quantities are estimated, feel free to use whatever you have on hand).

Crockpot Vegetable Beef Soup

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 an onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8-10 cups beef broth
• 1/4 cup pearl barley (uncooked)
  
• 1/2 cup sliced carrot
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
• 2 cups diced tomato (fresh or frozen), or 1 can diced tomato (with liquid)
• 2 tsp italian seasoning
• salt & pepper to taste

Brown ground beef with onion and garlic, drain well. Add to 6-quart crock pot with the rest of ingredients. Cook on low 8-10 hours.

If you try this, or have any suggestions or comments, I'd love to hear what you think!

Check out more of Crockpot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie

Pizza Hoagies (Freezer Meal)

I got this recipe out of an old Taste of Home Quick Cooking magazine. The only problem with this recipe is that Ninja Hubz loves them so much, he usually eats them all within a few days :)

Pizza Hoagies

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (this is my addition, not part of the original recipe... but who doesn't want more garlic in their life? mmm)
• 1 can (15 oz) pizza sauce (I usually use about 1/2 a jar of spaghetti sauce like Ragu)
• 1/4 cup chopped ripe olives (I omit these)
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 8 hoagie or submarine sandwich buns or french rolls (I usually use 6 french rolls, I don't even know where to find 8 packs)
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (another addition)

In a skillet, cook beef and onion (and garlic) over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in pizza sauce, olives, basil and oregano. Cook for 10 minutes or until heated through.

Cut 1/4 inch off the top of each roll; set aside. Carefully hollow out bottom of roll, leaving a 1/4 inch shell (discard removed bread or use for something else). Sprinkle 2 tablespoons cheese inside each shell. Fill each with about 1/2 cup meat mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese (and parmesan, if using), gently pressing down to flatten. Replace bread tops.

To cook immediately: Place sandwiches on baking sheet, bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until heated through.

To freeze: Wrap sandwich in foil and freeze. To prepare frozen sandwich, place foil-wrapped sandwich on baking sheet, bake at 375° for 60-70 minutes or until heated through.

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Crockpot Beef Fajitas

If I haven't mentioned it before, I LOVE my crockpot. It is just SO nice to come home from work and have dinner already cooked, sitting there waiting patiently for you. This dish is nice because you can use relatively cheap cuts of meat (I usually use london broil) - since it is sliced thin and slow cooked all day, it gets pretty tender. I haven't tried this with chicken yet, but I'm sure it would come out just as good.

I like to get everything ready the night before, so in the morning all I have to do is dump everything in the crock and turn it on. For this dish, that means I slice the meat and veggies the night before and have them ready in the fridge. Then I set out the crockpot and the fajita seasoning on the counter so I see them and remember to get everything going in the morning. I don't function so well in the mornings, so if I don't have the "reminder" on the counter, I will forget :)

Crockpot Beef Fajitas

• 1 lb thinly sliced steak
• 1 package fajita sesoning mix, or homemade equivalent
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 to 2 cups sliced bell peppers (I like a mix of green and red)
• 1 to 2 cups sliced onion
• 6 flour tortillas
• toppings of your choice: grated cheese, sour cream, etc

Put meat in crockpot, top with seasoning, add water. Cook on low all day (8-10) hours. About 30 - 60 minutes before serving, add bell peppers and onions and mix well. Serve on warmed flour tortillas, top with cheese and sour cream.

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Crockpot Wednesdays

Menu Plan Monday - 7/12/09

Last week's crockpot fest was a success - my new 6 quart crockpot arrived in plenty of time to make my roast chicken, and it came out awesome. The potato soup recipe I tried was pretty good, but I believe with some tweaking it can get better, so I'll be trying that again in a week or two.

This week I'm planning several new recipes. I seem to have an abundance of smoked sausage in the freezer, so I headed over to the Hillshire Farm's website and browsed some of their recipes and decided on the Garden Vegetable Linguini. And the pork chop recipe included in Org Junkie's menu plan last week sounded so good I decided to give that a try as well!

• Sunday: Garden Vegetable Linguini
• Monday: Honey-Garlic Pork Chops, Noodles, Salad
• Tuseday: Crockpot Chicken Alfredo (recipe below), Salad
• Wednesday: Leftovers/Fend for Yourself
• Thursday: Grilled Cheeseburgers, Oven Fries, Salad
• Friday: Crockpot Chicken Tacos
• Saturday: Eating out for hubby's birthday

Crockpot Chicken Alfredo

• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 pkg Italian salad dressing mix
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 3 Tbsp margarine or butter
• 1 pkg cream cheese

Layer all into crock pot and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours, chicken will fall apart. Serve over cooked pasta.

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