Sweet and sour beef

Tonight's meal was Sweet and Sour Beef. Let's just say I won't be making this recipe again. It's just beef, carrots and sweet and sour sauce. Not much to it. And to quote Tim "It's not disgusting or anything but it's not my favorite" now there's a first from his mouth. I have to admit it wasn't my favorite meal either.....I give this recipe 1/2 a star.

Ingredients

2lbs stew meat, cubed
1 bottle (10 oz) sweet and sour sauce
1 cup shredded carrots
4-6 cups hot cooked rice

Directions

Combine all ingredients except rice in greased slow cooker. Cover and
cook on low heat 6-8 hours. Ladle over hot cooked rice. Makes 4-6
servings.

Sunday Chicken

Tonight's meal was Sunday Chicken on pg 78*. Which is fitting because it is Sunday. This was a great recipe, it's really simple too. Just watch it if you end up cooking it on high heat...it doesn't really need the full 4 hours. It can be served over rice or noodles too. It makes a lot of sauce if you only make 4 pieces of chicken in it. But you do have the option to make 6 pieces instead. I give this recipe a 4!

Ingredients

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans (10 3/4 oz each) cream of chicken soup, condensed
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 cup sour cream or 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese

Directions

Place chicken in greased slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients
except sour cream and pour over chicken. Cover and cook on high heat 4
hours or on low heat 6-8 hours. One hour before serving stir in sour
cream. Makes 4-6 servings.

*Refer to first post for the name of the cookbook.

Burton's Minestrone

Tonight's recipe was Burton's Minestrone on pg 31. This food didn't burn which was nice.....and Tim really liked it. I however thought it could have been better and I will make the following adjustments to it when I make it again....It calls for 2 cans of pork and beans.....well you can taste it pretty well I thought and that's not what Minestrone soup is supposed to taste like so instead I would add 4 cans of Minestrone soup instead of 2 and the pork and beans. The other adjustment I would make is the Worcestershire sauce....you could taste that pretty strong too. If you like the stuff then leave the amount the way it is...if not, I would use less of it say maybe just a tablespoon of it. Otherwise the soup was really good and I'm sure it'll be even better when I make it again. I give this recipe 3 1/2 with the possibilities of it being better next time.

Ingredients

1/2 to 1lb ground beef, browned and drained
2 cans (10 3/4 oz each) minestrone soup, condensed
2 cups water
2 cans (15 oz each) pork and beans
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup dried minced onion or 1 large fresh onion chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp oregano

Directions

Combine all ingredients in greased slow cooker. Cover and cook on low
heat 3-5 hours. Makes 4-6 servings.

Simple Beef Stroganoff

So last night was Beef Stroganoff on pg 54. It turned out pretty good. I did have to watch it closely so it didn't burn. The recipe says cook on low for 6-10 hours, so I figured 4 hours on high was just as good. Well at 2 hours on high I had to turn it to low and after another hour and after adding the sour cream it only cooked for another 30 minutes. There isn't much liquid in this one, so watch this one carefully. I give this recipe a 3 1/2 it was good but it wasn't my favorite thing from this book. I will make it again though.

Ingredients

1lb stew meat, cubed
1/2 cup dried minced onion
1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of mushroom soup, condensed
1 can (4 oz) mushrooms, drained
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 cup sour cream or 1 package (8oz) cream cheese

Directions

Combine all ingredients except for sour cream in greased slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours. Add sour cream the last hour of
cooking. Makes 4-6 servings.

Spoon over hot noodles.

Broccoli-Cheese Soup

And for tonight.....broccoli-cheese soup on pg 41 of the "101 things to do with a slow cooker" cook book. This recipe called for 2 packages of frozen chopped broccoli but I used fresh broccoli instead that I cut up myself. Since there wouldn't be any water coming from the non frozen broccoli, I added just a little bit of water. This recipe turned out pretty good, it did need a little more salt than called for but maybe that's just my taste. Also it called to cook it on 2-3 hours on high....I would make sure you turn it off at 2 hours. I let mine go a little bit longer and it started to look like it was going to burn on one side. I give this recipe a 4, Tim seemed to like it a lot, he'll be taking it for lunch tomorrow while he's at school so that must mean it was pretty good!

Ingredients

2 packages (16 oz each) frozen chopped broccoli
2 cans (10 3/4 oz each) cheddar cheese soup, condensed
2 can (12 oz each) evaporated milk
1/4 cup dried minced onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

Combine all ingredients in greased slow cooker. Cover and cook on
high heat 2-3 hours or on low heat 4-5 hours. Makes 4-6 servings

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Tortilla Soup

Tonight's meal.....Tortilla soup on pg 39. This was actually a really good recipe and tasted like tortilla soup you'd get in a good mexican restaurant. So I definitely recommend it. The only downside is you have to cook and shred the chicken first before even putting it in the crock pot. Make sure you read that part of the recipe before you try putting it all together....what I did to make the cooking and shredding part go fast is I used my fake George Foreman grill which cooks meat really quickly so it didn't take as long as it normally does. This recipe calls for Cumin.....what the heck is that? Well I didn't know until I bought it for this recipe and let me tell you it has a very distinct smell. It's the smell of a taco seasoning packet you buy at the store. Well anyway it makes your house smell great while it's cooking and it tastes great too! I give this recipe a 4 I will definitely make this one again.

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 cans (14 oz each) chicken broth
2 cans (14 oz each) stewed tomatoes, chopped with liquid
1 cup medium salsa
2 Tbsp dried cilantro
1 Tbsp ground cumin
3-4 flour or corn tortillas, cut into 1/2 inch strips
cheese, grated

Directions

Combine all ingredients except tortillas strips in greased slow
cooker. Cover and cook on high heat 4-6 hours or on low heat 8-10
hours. Ladle hot soup into individual serving bowls over strips of flour
tortillas and grated cheese. Makes 6-8 servings.

Devils food cake....

Well tonight I made the Italian Chicken and Mushrooms again, this time I actually had mushrooms. It's my sister's birthday so I thought I'd make dinner for her. I was going to make one of the cake recipes in the cookbook but I used the crock pot for dinner so I just made a Devils Food cake but with some modifications.....I added some chocolate chips and a can of cherry pie filling. When you add pie filling to a cake mix, you should mix it by hand so that the pieces don't get chopped to bits. That way you have full cherries inside the cake. I took turns with each hand mixing 100 beats so that my right arm muscles don't get bigger than my left. :) Then I iced it with cream cheese frosting (not frosting I made thank goodness but from a cannister) :) We'll see how she likes it.

Burritos

Happy Ground Hog's Day!

Tonight's dinner, Burritos on pg 57. This was a great idea for a meal and of course it feeds a lot of people again so be prepared for leftovers if it's only for 2 people. I made a few adjustments on this recipe. It called for 2 cans of refried beans but I only had one so I substituted a can of black beans for the other and it worked fine. I'm sure you could substitute both cans for whatever beans you want. I also added a can of green chiles just to give it a little bit of a kick. It turned out great! The only thing is I went to cook it on low for 6 hours like it calls for and at 3 hours of being on low it started to burn on one side.....maybe my crock pot is retarded or maybe this girl just likes to cook things a little too long. Anyway I only left it on low for about 3 hours then turned it to warm for the next hour and then turned it completely off and it was still warm an hour later when we were ready to eat it.

So the moral of the story is make sure you check on your food if you're not used to your crock pot even if you're cooking on low. I give this recipe a 4, I would have given it 5 except for the burning at 3 hours of low cooking.....it was really good though!

Ingredients

1lb ground beef, cooked and drained
2 can (16 oz each) refried beans (or black beans)
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
flour tortillas

(I added 1 can of green chiles)

Directions

Combine all ingredients except for tortillas in greased slow cooker.
Cover and cook on low heat 6-10 hours. Spread hot bean mixture on flour
tortillas. Fill with favorite burrito toppings. Fold and
enjoy. Makes 4-6 servings.

Burrito toppings might include tomatoes, whole kernel corn, green onions,
cheese, guacamole, caramelized onions, and red or green salsa.