What's cooking?

Several friends have said I need a blog to post what my meals are for dinner and other stuffs... I tell them I already have one, I just haven't updated it in a while. Things have been pretty hectic the last two years. We've moved from West Virginia to South Carolina. My husband is working from home full-time. I am in school full-time, while trying to be a mom and all that entails. My oldest moved out and lives on his own in West Virginia and working full-time for a pool cover installation company. My second oldest finished high school in WV then moved home for about a month, then went back to WV for about another month and is now living with us again working full-time at Walmart, and has decided to join the marines as a way to pay for college. My third child (who is 16) graduated from High School, is working full-time at Walmart and also wants to join the marines when he turns 17 at the end of March 2020. My fourth child, who is four yrs old, is rambunctious as ever, growing so big and strong... He is very inquisitive and loves being in the middle of everything. Last but definitely not least my fifth, last and only girl is still not potty trained, 2 1/2 going on 15, super sassy, sleeps on my floor and loves to do everyone's make up is Andys shadow. She wants to be so grown so fast... I can barely keep up.

So, dinners have been hit or miss but I try and share on Facebook what I'm doing if anyone needs ideas of what to make for their dinner if they are tired of the same things all the time. I have made bacon, cheeseburger pockets, egg salad, crockpot Salisbury steaks with crockpot mashed potatoes just to name a few. I've posted recipes on my Facebook page as well.

Tonights dinner of choice:
Crockpot Salisbury steaks with Crockpot Mashed potatoes.

Luckily, I have two different sized crockpots so I am able to cook them both at the same time. It would also work if you only have one crockpot and a small family, the potatoes can be cooked on top of the Salisbury steaks (I would think) with foil dividing them or next to the Salisbury steak divided by foil in the crockpot.

Salisbury steak
Use 6-8 qt crockpot with crockpot liner

Ingredients

 8 - hamburger patties (I prefer frozen) (I've even used flavored ones with like bacon and cheese or vadelia onion ones)
1 pkg dry au ju mix
1 pkg brown gravy mix
1 med onion sliced
1 container of sliced mushrooms
1-2 cups of beef broth
Monterey steak seasoning
Worcestershire sauce


Directions:

In the crockpot place on the bottom a layer of onions. Place 2 or 3 hamburger patties (however many will fit easily). Dash Worcestershire sauce and then sprinkle with Monterey seasoning on top of that. Layer on top of the burgers with seasoning more onion and mushrooms, then repeat hamburger patties, sauce, seasoning, onion and mushrooms. Until all layered. Next mix the au ju, beef broth and gravy mix together, and pour on top of layered meat, mushroom and onions. Set to cook high 4-6 hours or 6-8 hours low. Enjoy over mashed potatoes with green beans, broccoli or Brussel sprouts  on the side.


Crock pot Mashed Potatoes
Use 4-6 qt crockpot with crockpot liner

Ingredients

2 small potatoes per person (if using yellow, yukon gold or red potatoes) or 1 large russet per person
1 onion, diced
2 tsp minced garlic
1-2 cups chicken broth
1-2 sticks of butter cut in chunks
1/2 cup to 1 cup sour cream or 1/2 brick of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
S&p to taste

Directions:

wash and peel potatoes
dice potatoes
dice onion

in crockpot layer potatoes, onion, garlic and butter. Pour chicken broth over top.

cook on low6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours.

mash potatoes, mix in sour cream or cream cheese, milk and S&P. Stir to mix together. Enjoy.

Scalloped Au gratin Potato Chicken Casserole (Slow Cooker)

Tonight is a busy night for us. We have Cub Scout Pack Meeting tonight. We will be trying to get everything done, to get ready to be there, plus we still need to make a healthy snack to bring with us to share. I'm trying to use what I have in my pantry, fridge, freezer and food storage for the next two months. To see if I have enough for a whole two months supply, and then we will work on restocking our food supply. Therefore, I have a few odd  ball items that by themselves would not be enough for my family of 5. So I'm trying to be creative and add similar things together to make enough for our family. I know this isn't easy, and I'm sure this never happens to you. I have at one point enough boxes of things (I thought) for meals. But, I'm realizing that one box of scalloped potatoes is not enough as a side dish for my family. We each have about 4 potato slices and that's it. So, that doesn't work as a side dish, unless Bill and I are eating it as a date dinner side, and the boys don't get any. They don't like it when we do that. With that said. I first googled to see if other people had ever done a box potato mix in the slow cooker. I found a few that had. So I when with my plan. I know exciting right! :)

Ingredients:
1 box Scalloped Potatoes
1 box Au gratin Potatoes
1 bag frozen mixed veggies
6 chicken tenderloins cut into bite size pieces
4 cups of water (HOT)
4 Tbsp butter

Directions:
In the slow cooker, add the HOT water, mix in the seasoning packages from the boxed potatoes, then add the potatoes, and mixed veggies and stir. Cut up the tenderloins and add to the potato/veggie mixture. Drop the butter on top of the chicken and then stir to incorporate into the dish. Set on low for 8 hours, Stirring periodically to mix in all the ingredients.

Serve warm.

Cheesy Cowboy Stew

I originally found this cowboy stew recipe at one of my favorite crockpot blog. I have made it several times. I even made it once for my in-laws and they loved it! They request that I make it at least once every time they visit. It's a great hearty stew that is so easy with mostly canned foods I have on hand. It's so easy to put together. The longest part is browning your meat. Or you could even have it meatless, or with leftover meat. This time I thought it would be yummy with some cheesy component. So here is my take on a cheesy version of this delicious cowboy stew.

Ingredients:
1 can chili beans (RANCH style or generic brand)
1 can italian style tomatoes
2 cans whole or sliced potatoes (drained)
1 can of corn (drained)
1 can tomato sauce (I used Tomato soup today)
1 can Rotel(T) tomatoes with green chili's
1 lb ground beef (I used italian turkey sausage)
1 jar ragu cheese sauce
1 small onion, diced
1 cup water

Directions:
In a large crock pot, preferably the 6 qt but the 4 qt will work. Brown your meat and cook your onions til translucent. I usually cook them at the same time. Then in the crock pot add the remainder of the ingredients only draining the potatoes and corn. Add the meat onion mixture, water and the ragu cheese sauce. Cook on high 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Stirring occasionally.

I love quick easy crock pot meals. You can add jalapenos for added spice to your own dish.

My kids actually eat everything including the tomatoes. It's amazing and so filling. One crock pot full will feed my family for two meals. I like to either freeze this or bring dinner to another family. This freezes well. Enjoy!

Potato, Corn, Bacon and Cheese Chowder

Today I made a yummy chowder. It is so cold here.. like 13 degrees. The whole country seems to be in the same freezer I'm in today. Therefore, it called for a delicious soup or chowder. I was going to make fish again tonight, but since we had that last night I wanted to shake things up. This is a fairly easy recipe, it's got a few parts more than normal. But still yummy. I didn't want to dirty too many pans when making this. I made the bacon last, but you could always have mad the bacon a different day, or even used packaged bacon bits so no other pan needs dirtied when making this. Less mess, makes me happy. :)

I have been snitching this since it's been done. almost 2 hours of a bite here and there... so I hope I'm hungry for dinner. This is SO good.

Ingredients:

1-1 1/2 cups potato flakes

8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 cans corn (DO NOT DRAIN)

2-3 cans Swansons Chicken Broth (or homemade equivalent)

1 medium onion-diced

1 can evaporated milk

3 Tbsp corn starch (disolved in water) to help thicken the soup

1 - 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

1 lb bacon diced and browned

1 tsp thyme

1 1/2 dried basil

1 dash cumin

salt and pepper to taste

In the slow cooker - set on high. Add 2 Tbsp butter or margarine and onions. Place lid on and cook until onions are translucent aprox 5-10 min. While the onions are cooking, peel and dice potatoes. To keep them from turning brown, once cut place in a bowl with cold water to keep them from oxidizing. Drain the potatoes before you add them to the onions. Once the onions are translucent add the potatoes, corn with water, chicken stock, salt/pepper and crushed thyme, basil and cumin. (Use a mortar and pestle to crush the thyme, basil, and cumin together). Heat on high 4 hours til potatoes are just slightly firm. Then add the evaporated milk, corn starch, potato flakes, 3/4 of the bacon and cheese. Stir well and it will thicken and turn a slight yellow from the cheese. - Serve warm with reserved bacon bits, sprinkle of cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

YUMMINESS and DELICIOUSNESS is all I can say. Try it and become a believer... mmmmm warms ya' all over!

Shepherds Pie

I love, love, love shepherds pie! It is such an easy thing to make, and so delicious. My mom used to make this when I was a kid. It was different every time, but still so familiar. For me, it depends on the cheese I have on hand, or decide if I want to make a white sauce or a red sauce... If I make it with a white sauce, I skip the green beans and substitute mixed veggies. If I use red sauce it's the green beans for the veggie. I've made this several ways, the olives are optional with the red sauce, as my family doesn't like olives, but I do, so when I'm feeling a little frisky I add the olives to shake it up a bit. I try not to tell them it is in there. Or I end up with none of them eating, and i have a 13X9 dish of shepherds pie to eat all by my self... is that bad?! I don't think so, I will eat it for lunch for a whole week. :)) Lucky me! :)

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 jar/can spaghetti sauce or alfredo sauce

1-2 cans of green beans or mixed veggies

6-8 potatoes (made into mashed potatoes) or 2 bags of instant mashed potatoes

1-2 cups of shredded cheese, or 6-8 slices of cheese

1 can minced black olives (optional)

brown ground beef with minced onions or just seasoned with salt and pepper. Mix in the spaghetti sauce. Pour into a 13X9 pan adding the olives (optional)

then sprinkle the cans of drained green beans on top.

Next Layer the mashed potatoes on top of the green beans.

then sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.

Bake in the oven preheated to 350F for 30-35 min. Till heated through and bubbly. Remove, serve warm. Dig in! and yummy :)

Potato Pancakes

My grandma lived in Germany for several years as an adult while my grandfather was in the Army. She is also from North Dakota where there is a huge European influence. When I was a little girl, she used to make these potato pancakes that would make your eyes roll back in your head. That's how good they were. Well, unfortunately the concensus in the family is that the recipe died with her. :( how sad. I remember they were creamy and crunchy and had a nice oniony flavor that with maple syrup was just so heavenly. I can't quite explain it. Yes, you read right, she used to serve it with maple syrup, not sour cream or cottage cheese, but maple syrup. And on rare occasion with sweetened applesauce. This was a typical breakfast. I am assuming that she made these with leftover mashed potatoes but that is so fuzzy in my memory right now. Well, last night I had this huge craving to have potato pancakes. I searched online for a recipe... little did I know, that there are so many recipes for potato pancakes. I thought it was something that she made up. Well, obviously not. I read several that used shredded potatoes. I thought I'd try it with my red potatoes, I have about 10 lbs. Here is what I made....

Ingredients:

8-10 large red potatoes peeled and shredded

1 small/medium onion diced

3 eggs

1 tsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp flour

salt and pepper to taste

reserved bacon grease

Peel and shred potatoes into a medium bowl, mix in diced onion, eggs, garlic, flour and salt and pepper. Once this is all incorporated.

In a skillet on the stove heat oil of choice, I used Bacon Grease, but vegetable oil or olive oil will work fine. Heat til sizzling, then add by large spoonful into the oil, flatten as best you can.

Then when browned on bottom flip and brown on the opposite side, when browned it's done.

Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve warm. This made about 15 good sized potato pancakes.

VERDICT!

These were pretty good. They are not my grandmothers. I will try these again with mashed potatoes to see how they taste. I found this a fairly easy recipe. The hardest thing was hand shredding those potatoes. I'm hoping for a kitchenaid shredding attachment for christmas. Which would make it really easy to do this again in the future. My husband and kids didn't try them. They are hooked on plain pancakes. But I had some leftovers for lunch today, they were tasty. I will make these again, the next time I am craving potato cakes. Enjoy!

Scalloped Potatoes and Onions

I had a lot of red potatoes to use, and I am trying to do more with the potatoes then just mashed potatoes. I decided that I would try my hand at making homemade scalloped potatoes. I have never made these before. I have had these before and I love them, I just felt like it was a little harder for me to make.. But after tonights experience. I need a different mandolin to slice my potatoes and I will make these again. :)

Ingredients

10 good sized red potatoes - peeled, and sliced thin

1 medium onion - diced

1 stick butter

3 Tbsp flour

4-5 cups of milk

salt and pepper

2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese

1/2 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs

First, peel and slice thin red potatoes into cool water (so they don't brown). Then make the sauce...

Second, in a medium sauce pan melt butter, then once the butter is melted and bubbly toss in the diced onions and stir until they are translucent. Then sprinkle the flour and cook about a couple minutes until the flour is incorporated and no more flour taste. Then mix in 1 cup of the cheese until melted, once the cheese is melted then gradually mix in the milk and stir continually. Once the cheese milk mixture is starting to thicken remove from the heat. In the bottom of the 13X9 pan spread approx. 1/4th of the sauce in the bottom, then spread some of potatoes on top of the sauce, in an even layer. Then top with 1/2 of the remaining cheese approx 1/2 cup of cheese. Then top with the cheese sauce and repeat steps until the final layer is sauce. Then top with extra cheese. Bake in a 450F oven for 30 min.

Finally, Top with italian bread crumbs and bake another 5 min.

Serve warm.

Dig in!!

VERDICT?

The best scalloped potatoes EVER!!! My husband and kids... they say EPIC! After dinner there was less than half of a 13X9 pan left, and that was not all we had for dinner. Braeden had 4 helpings! yeah me! This is so good I'm not doing very good at describing how delicious this is. Try it and enjoy! I know this is a lot of cheese and yumminess, but so worth it!

Homemade Mashed Red Potatoes

Ok, this is my secret recipe. This is my children's favorite mashed potatoes. They say it's my FAMOUS recipe. But, not famous yet... but very tasty. I hope you enjoy. I manually mash my potatoes. With a hand potato masher.

Ingredients:

2 potatoes per person

diced onions, about 1/2 an onion or minced onion

1 tsp to 2 tsp minced garlic

1 stick butter

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a pan cut up the potatoes, add to cold water to cover. Add the onion and garlic to the potatoes. Cook on high til boiling, then put to medium heat til potatoes are soft, where one is taken out and a fork can mash it easy. checking periodically after 25 min. Then drain off the water, add back to the pot, with butter, milk and sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. This is a yummy recipe. We love it. I hope you do too :)

Chunky Veggie Beef Stew

Ok, So I had a little left over from my beef roast yesterday. I decided I didn't want to do too much mess today, since I'm still trying to finish from the mess this weekend. So I decided to use up some veggies in the fridge, and the left over beef from dinner last night. Here's what I created.

It looks like a yummy beef stew, with chunks of veggies, big carrot bits, potatoes, zucchini, squash, spinach, and onions. With bite size chunks of the yummy roast from last night. Ah, my mouth is already watering. Because most of my carrots are still raw, I cut them up and layered them on the bottom of the pan, to help them cook better. Then I placed the red potatoes that only need heating from yesterday on top of the carrots. Then the fresh veggies went on top of that. Covered in the gravy from the beef roast last night, which had carrots and onions in it. Then cut up the beef into small bite size pieces and put that on top. I had found about 1 cup or 1 1/2 cup of beef stock in the fridge to add a little extra beef flavoring and liquid to the meal. Now it's all sitting in the slow cooker. Dinner will be yummy. I will either make biscuits, or rolls to go with it. I haven't decided yet. along with an apple pie for dessert. Tempted to make another dutch apple pie like I made last night, it was a huge hit!

Chucky Veggie Beef Stew

Ingredients:

6 carrots, cut into chunks

1 zucchini sliced and chunks

2 small squashes sliced and chunked

5 baby red potatoes (mine are left over from a previous meal, and precooked)

Brown gravy about 2 cups (mine is is from a previous meal, leftover)

1 box chopped spinach (drained)

1 1/2 cup beef broth

about 1 lb or 1 1/2 lb beef roast (leftover from previous meal) cut into bite size pieces

1/2 onion for flavor, cut into large chunks

Add all ingredients into slow cooker, low for 6 hours. High for 3 hours.

Serve with rolls or biscuits.

The verdict> I was surprised by how well this turned out. My husband didn't think the kids would eat it. I had my reservations, but I had hoped they would. And to his surprise and my gratitude,... they ate it all, well at least all of their portion. I have enough for a second night of soup. That will be part of our leftovers night. :) But they all said how yummy it was and that they liked the spinach and the zucchini. Those were amazing words coming from my kids. It was a tasty and satisfying soup. I'll be making this again. :)

Beef Roast with vegetables

Today is sunday, and I like to make something extra special for dinner. I know we are to rest from our labors, but we still need to eat. I like to cook a bigger meal on Sundays than the other days of the week, so I can use part of the meal in another meal later. Tonights meal is beef roast with potatoes, carrots and onions. Any leftovers I can use at part of a beef stew, later in the week. Or as lunch for Monday. Leftovers. :) here is what I did this week for my Beef roast.

Ingredients:

1 large beef roast 3-5lbs

1 onion - Quartered

9 red potatoes (left whole) and pierced

9 carrots (peeled, and cut in half)

2 pkg beef gravy mix & 2 cups cold water for the gravy

Salt and pepper rub

1/4 cup olive oil

Remove beef from pkg. Use generously salt and pepper rubbed on the outside of the whole roast. Heat skillet and olive oil till very HOT. Place the roast in the skillet, brown on all sides. Remove once all sides are browned. In a roasting pan, place the potatoes in the bottom of the roasting pan, the cut onion and carrots. Mix the gravy pkgs and pour on top of the potatoes, onions and carrots in the pan. Then place the browned beef on top of that. Cover and cook low and slow for 6-8 hours. Oven 250F. Or you can place these in a crock pot on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours.

Beef should come out nice and juicy. Browning the beef helps keep the moisture in the beef.

Creamy Shepherds Pie

Ok, So tonight is shepherds pie. My husband had bad acid reflux. So, I try to limit the items I make with a tomato based sauce. Here is a good alternative for tomato sauce in your shepherds pie. I've used one can of cream of celery and one can of cream of broccoli. Cream of chicken or cream of mushroom as well as Alfredo sauce is good in it too. :)

Ingredients:

1 can cream of celery

1 can cream of broccoli

2 cans green beans

2 pkg instant potatoes (or 7 red potatoes boiled and smashed)

1 cup shredded cheese

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion

This is a really simple and easy meal. You can substitute mixed veggies for the cans of green beans, to add more veggie value.

Directions:

Brown ground beef and onion in a skillet, drain excess fat, set aside. Make instant potatoes or boiled potatoes. set aside. In a 13x9x2 pan, mix the cream soups, the ground beef and onion together. Once mixed well, layer the green beans (or mixed veggies) on top of the creamy mixture in the pan. Then layer the prepared mashed potatoes on top of the green beans. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake in a 350F preheated oven for 30-45 min, till bubbly and cheese is melted. Let stand 5 min. Then eat.

This is a tasty meal, good on a cold day. Serve with salad, buttered bread, or with no side dish. If wanting for smaller meals. Make up and divide into two square pans or small casserole dishes. Set one in the Freezer for a later date, and cook one for now. Two meals in one :)