Crockpot Harvest Stew

This recipe is from a great slow cooker blog, A Year of Slow Cooking. I love her recipes and I've made quite a few. I just going to link to the recipe and comment.

D and I both really liked this stew. The only changes I made were not adding the beans since my Crockpot is only 5 quarts and using turkey tenderloins (same amount of meat). It was in the fridge before hand so I cooked it on high for 7 hours.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Spaghetti Sauce

I use this spaghetti sauce recipe for spaghetti and lasagna. This recipe is based on what my parents make. It can be made either as a meat sauce or plain tomato (which I use for spaghetti and meatballs).  The plain sauce or with turkey is endo diet friendly.

4 cups homemade tomato sauce or 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce and 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes

1 can (6 oz) tomato paste

1 cup wine (I use white wine)

1/2 to 1 whole onion (depending on how onion-y you like your sauce), diced

5-6 cloves of garlic, diced

basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, marjoram (I don't actually measure it but you probably need at least 1/2 tbsp-1 tbsp dried of each)

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp olive oil (if you are not making meat sauce)

1 1/2 lbs ground beef or turkey (for meat sauce)

Heat a large pan over medium heat. If you are making meat sauce, add the ground beef or turkey and brown throughly. For plain sauce, add the olive oil to the pan. Add the onions and garlic and saute for about 6 minutes or until onions are tender. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes (if using), tomato paste, wine (you can just pour it in the empty tomato paste can to measure) and spices. Let bubble then reduce heat. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. Taste about 20 minutes into simmering for spices and add more as necessary. Use for spaghetti or lasagna.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Lasagna

I make my lasagna without ricotta cheese because that's how my parents made it.

Spaghetti Sauce (I use meat sauce for this)

2 cups shredded Italian 5-cheese blend

2 cups shredded Mozzerella

1 package of lasagna noddles

Optional: 1 zucchini, sliced into circles

Boil the lasagna noodles as directed on package, if necessary. Spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the pan or casserole dish (depending on the size of your dish this recipe makes 1 9x13 pan or 2 smaller pans). Alternate layers of noodles, sauce, (zucchini) and cheese. Top with the remaining cheese. You can refrigerate for a day before cooking if necessary. Bake 350 for 30 minutes uncovered plus an additional 15 minutes covered (30 minutes if previously refrigerated).

Makes 6-8 servings

November Dinner Plans

Note: Until I make the meal I'm going to link to the site where I got the recipe/idea from. I'll post my version and/or comments after I've made the meal.

Crockpot Pesto Chicken and Baked Sweet Potatoes

Salmon Stuffed and Smothered with Cream Cheese and Spinach

Crockpot Pomegranate Beef (for a dinner party)

Swordfish with Herbed Butter Sauce

Crockpot Coconut Pork

Crockpot Butternut Squash Soup with Mini Turkey Meatballs

Crockpot Indian Lamb Curry

Crockpot Cherry Chicken

Repeat: Salmon Stuffed and Smothered with Cream Cheese and Spinach

Buffalo Burgers (just hamburger made with buffalo meat that I found at the grocery store)

Crockpot Pork in Tomato Sauce

Thanksgiving Side that we brought to our friend's dinner:

Green Bean or Broccoli Casserole

Crockpot Apple Pork

I made this for my birthday. I love apple, mainly Granny Smith. This is basically just a recipe that I made up on my own.

1 onion, chopped

1 pork loin about 2.5 lbs

4 apples, cored and sliced into rings

1/2 cup apple juice

ginger, nutmeg salt and pepper

Put onion in crockpot. Rub pork with spices and place in crockpot on top of onions. Put apple slices in crockpot on top of pork and pour over the apple juice. Cook on low for 9-10 hours.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Beef Stroganoff

I got this recipe from Simply Recipes. The hardest part is getting the beef cut into strips. I modified it by cooking the mushrooms separately for my husband since I don't like them. We really liked it but it only made 2 servings.

6 Tbsp butter

1 pound of top sirloin or tenderloin, cut thin into 1-inch wide by 2 1/2-inch long strips

1/3 cup chopped shallots (can substitute onions)

1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of dry tarragon or 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh tarragon (optional)

1 cup of sour cream at room temperature

Melt 3 Tbsp of butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Increase the heat to high/med-high and add the strips of beef. You want to cook the beef quickly, browning on each side, so the temp needs to be high enough to brown the beef, but not so high as to burn the butter. You may need to work in batches. While cooking the beef, sprinkle with some salt and pepper. When both sides are browned, remove the beef to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan, reduce the heat to medium and add the shallots. Cook the shallots for a minute or two, allowing them to soak up any meat drippings. Remove the shallots to the same bowl as the meat and set aside.

In the same pan, melt another 3 Tbsp of butter. Increase heat to medium high and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes.

Remove mushrooms and reduce heat to low. Add the sour cream and stir in the beef and shallots, and mix throughly. Don't let the mixture simmer or boil or the sour cream will curdle

Serve over egg noodles (I used whole wheat).

Make 2 servings.

Pumpkin Pasta with Turkey Meatballs

This is a Rachel Ray recipe except I use meatball instead of sausage.

Here's the meatball recipe.

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 bay leaf

6-8 fresh sage leaves, shredded, or 1/2 tbsp sage

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1 cup canned pumpkin (not pie mix)

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb pasta of your choice

Make meatballs and start baking in oven. Start sauce and pasta water while meatballs are cooking.

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender.

Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes. Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble. Put meatballs in sauce, reduce heat, and stir in cream. Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute.

Makes about 4-6 servings.

Meatballs

I use this recipe for any meatballs I make. Slightly adapted from Betty Crocker. Just like in my meatloaf, I use oatmeal as the binder instead of bread crumbs.

1 1/2 lb ground beef or turkey

3/4 cup oatmeal

3/8 cup milk

1/2 tsp Worchestershire sauce (you can just do this by sight if you like)

1 small onion

1 egg

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Combine all ingredients and shape into meatballs. Place in 9x13 pan, making sure to leave room between the meatballs. Cook 20-25 minutes or until no longer pink in center.

Makes about 12 meatballs.

Upcoming October Dinners

What I'm Planning to Make for the Rest of the Month:

Turkey Meatballs in Pumpkin Sauce

Crockpot Apple Pork (for my birthday dinner)

Beef Stroganoff

Vegetable Lasagna

White Fish in Peach Sauce

Crockpot Harvest Stew

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Crockpot Ropa Vieja

This was very good. It's a make-again. I love beef in the crockpot since it's always tender and flavorful. I combined a bunch of recipes I found to make one that suited us.

2 lbs beef

1/2 onion, chopped

1 cup tomato sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 apple cider vinegar

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

Rub beef with spices. Place in crockpot and place onion on top. Pour tomato sauce, broth, and vinegar. Cook on low for at least 10 hours or on high for at least 7 hours.

Makes 6-8 servings.