Easy Crock-Pot Beef Roast

A tender beef roast is one of my favorite comfort foods.  I remember being SO excited when my mom would bring out a roast with carrots and potatoes!  My brother and I ate as many of the carrots as we could - my poor parents probably never got any.  I guess that's the plight of the parent...if your kids are excited about eating carrots...you let them eat all the carrots.

This past weekend, we made a roast while Travis' parents were in town.  Now that I'm involved in the cookin', it's important for the preparation to be quick (since we have Owen).  That's why the Crock-Pot is your best friend.

This roast takes about 10 minutes to prep (it's all "open and dump") and 5 hours to cook.  Can't get much easier than that!

Ingredients

Beef roast
1 pound baby carrots
18 ounces sliced mushrooms
Large onion, chopped
Large red pepper, chopped
2 pouches Lipton dry onion soup mix
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (10.5 ounces)
1 can Cream of Onion soup (10.5 ounces)
1-2 cans water (use empty soup cans), depending on how much you need
Salt & Pepper


Directions

Place beef roast in bottom of Crock-Pot.
Add carrots, sliced mushrooms, chopped onion, and chopped red pepper.
Add Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Onion Soups.
Sprinkle in 2 pouches of dry onion soup mix, salt and pepper.
Pour in 1-2 cans of water, depending on how much liquid you need.  (Start with one and see if more is needed later.)
Cook on high for 5 hours or until beef is cooked through.
If serving directly from Crock-Pot, cut beef into slices and return to pot.


We served ours with half a baked potato (it's yummy to spoon over the potato!) and broccoli!

Enjoy!

Pork Tenderloin in a White Wine and Pear Reduction

Last week I told you about my friend Jennifer's bachelorette party in Plymouth, MA.  While we were at one of the wineries, they told us about a pear jam they make with one of their white wines, and I knew I needed to bring a bottle of it home to use in a marinade.

This works best when your wine has notes of pear, since you're making a white wine & pear reduction - add a dash of cinnamon and a little sugar and it's the perfect complement to the pork.

Unless you have endless amounts of time to make dinner, I'd recommend making this marinade while dinner cooks the night before.  Then you'll have plenty of time for the pork to marinate...and you can just preheat and cook the next evening!  Easy-peasy.


And...if you're interested, the wine I used was the Plymouth Bay Winery's Widow's Walk white wine.  You can buy some here.

Ingredients
4 Bartlet Pears
1.5-2 cups white wine (with pear notes)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 cup sugar
2 pork tenderloins
Salt

Directions
Wash, peel and chop pears.  Combine pears, 1 cup wine, cinnamon, and sugar in a medium pot and cook over low for 40-60 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes.  If wine cooks off, add another half cup to continue cooking.

Once pears are cooked through, use a handheld masher and mash pears in pot, so they're smashed, but not completely pureed (the little chunks are delicious).

Add another half cup of wine and simmer on low for another 15 - 20 minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat and let cool.
Place 2 pork tenderloins in a galon sized Ziploc bag and pour in cool marinade mixture.  Seal and refrigerate for 4-24 hours.

Transfer pork and marinade into a large Pyrex dish and sprinkle with salt.  Bake at 350 degrees for 60-90 minutes (depending on tenderloin thickness), or until done.  Then slice and serve with a scoop of the pear/white wine reduction.

Want to try another yummy tenderloin recipe?  Check out my Honey Mustard and Apple Tenderloin.

Garlic Shrimp Kabobs

Last weekend we had our friends Emily and Jason over for dinner.  We hadn't grilled out this season yet (I know...so bad), so we were excited to fire up the grill and hang out outside for a while.  Toby also enjoyed the time outside with everyone.  He's such a good grillin' dog.  (Insert hotdog/grill joke here...I know you wanna...)

We decided to do the first grilled meal right, so we went for surf & turf.  I love the Honey Lime Shrimp I make, but didn't think that would pair well with steak and potatoes, so this time I decided to go garlic.  They were perfect - easy to make and are bursting with flavor.  Add some smokey flavor from the coals on a grill and they're out of this world.  Just look at these babies!

Ingredients
1 pound shrimp
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon melted butter
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 large cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper

Directions
Mix olive oil, butter, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.  Peel and wash shrimp, then add them to the bowl and marinade.   Cover, and refrigerate for 2-5 hours.

At this point, you can either cook them in a frying pan, or do what we did and skewer them for kabobs.  If you're using wooden skewers, you'll need to soak them in water first so they don't catch on fire.  I filled a cookie sheet with water and submerged the sticks for 15 minutes.

Then skewer 5-6 shrimp per stick.

Lay the kabobs on the grill over simmering coals and cook a few minutes per side, until shrimp turn pink.  You can spoon some of the marinade on the shrimp while they're cooking, but be careful because it'll make the coals flame up!  Then carefully flip shrimp and finish cooking!

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These were the surf half of our surf & turf dinner...and really made the meal.  Give 'em a try next time you heat up the grill!

Chicken with Tomato and Mushrooms

This weekend I went to Costco and stumbled upon a giant container of beautiful cherry tomatoes.  I couldn't wait to get home and make something with them.  What I came up with is super quick and full of flavor...and only uses a few ingredients!

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
2.5 cups cherry tomatoes
8 ounces mushrooms
Italian dressing
Water
Olive oil
Basil
Garlic powder

Directions
Season chicken breasts with garlic powder and basil and cook in a little olive oil until just done.  I decided to cut my breasts in half so they were thin.  I started with about 1 tablespoon olive oil.  When more needed to be added to the pan, I substituted the Italian dressing for oo, and finished cooking the chicken that way!

Once your chicken breasts are just done, remove them from the pan.  Add tomatoes, mushrooms, 1/4 cup Italian dressing, and 1/4 cup water to the pan, and cook over medium until tomatoes break down (about 10-15 minutes).

Once you've got a nice looking sauce, add chicken breasts back to the pan and cook for another few minutes to finish cooking.

Then serve!

Enjoy!

Baked "Fried" Eggplant Chips

Last weekend Ann and I spent all afternoon cooking.  We were planning on taking all the pups on a little trip, but since it was pouring outside, we decided to have a stay-cation.  It ended up working well, because poor husband had an endless number of papers to grade to finish up the semester.

We decided to make a meaty lasagna and salad for dinner...mmmmm.  I'd bought an eggplant the day before in case we decided to go vegetarian with the lasagna.  Since we doubled up on the meat instead (ground beef and sausage) we decided some Baked "Fried" Eggplant would be yummy addition to dinner too.

Ingredients
Eggplant
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Balsamic Dressing
1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions

Mix 2 eggs and 1/4 cup balsamic dressing in a small bowl.  Mix 1 cup breadcrumbs and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese in another small bowl.

Cut eggplant into 2-bite size pieces.

Dip eggplant piece into egg mixture, then into breadcrumbs, coating completely.  Place each on a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 425 for 6-8 minutes per side.

Serve with marinara sauce for dipping, and enjoy!  It's best to eat these when hot, so eat immediately.

Flatbread Pizzas

Last week I was at the grocery store when I stumbled up some wraps I hadn't seen before - Flat Outs!  They're similar to regular wraps, but are a little thicker and lower in calories.  I don't often make an impulse purchase - I'm and in & out kind of shopper - but when I saw their idea about pizzas I snatched 'em up!  Good marketing, Flat Out.  :)

At only 90 calories for the crust, it makes pizza a low calorie dinner...which is fantastic since we're on a diet.

Just spread on 1/4 cup of pizza sauce and top with your favorite toppings!  My pizza had spinach, tomato, mushroom, red onion, 2 ounces of shredded chicken, garlic powder, basil, and shredded cheese.  Travis had spinach, red onion, chicken (mixed with Texas Pete Hot Sauce), tomato, garlic, basil, and pepperonis.  Since the crusts are thin, it's important not to overload them with toppings.  Don't be stingy, but don't get too crazy.

Bake for 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges of the crust are light brown.

They were SO yummy and will definitely go on our regular dinner rotation.  Mmmm....

The Perfect Taco Salad

Last week I was chatting with my sister-in-law Sarah, and she told me she and her boyfriend had been enjoying making taco salads lately.  Taco salads are one of my favorite things to get at a Mexican restaurant (that and chicken chimichangas...mmmmm), but I've never thought to make one at home.  After our conversation, I was inspired to make my own!

It was tasty, filling, packed full of veggies...and should be added to your dinner routine STAT.  Even better, since everyone gets their own, you can specialize them to their taste.  Love salsa? Double yours!  Hate tomatoes? Skip 'em!

Ingredients
2 pounds ground turkey
1 large onion
1 pepper (I used yellow)
8 ounces mushrooms
3/4 cup Taco seasoning
1-1.5 cups water
Refried Beans (1/2 cup per salad)
Shredded Lettuce (2 cups per salad)
Broccoli Slaw (1/4- 1/2 cup per salad)
Tomato, chopped
Shredded cheese
Salsa, Guacamole, Sour Cream etc
Garlic Powder
Olive Oil
Salt

Directions

Heat can of refried beans in a small pan.  Mix in some garlic powder and taco seasoning to give it a little extra flair.  Then make your taco meat.  We packed ours full of veggies.  The below makes about 6 cups.

1 - Chop your onion and pepper into small pieces and sauté in olive oil and salt.
2 - Brown ground turkey, strain, and return to pan.  Put mushrooms into food processor and pulse until they're fine.  Then add them to the turkey.
3 - Add in your sauteed onion and pepper.
4 - Add 3/4 cup taco seasoning and 1-1.5 cups water.

(The mushroom trick is one of my favorites we've been doing for a long time - it's a great way to lighten up ground beef!)

Now it's time to layer your taco salad!  I decided to use a deeper bowl so I could move things around easily, but this also works well in a soup bowl.  It's kind of fun if the bowl is clear so you can see the pretty layers!

Here's the salad I made, from bottom to top:

2 cups shredded lettuce
1/4 cup broccoli slaw (give is a crunch!)
1 small tomato, sliced
1/2 cup refried beans
1 cup taco meat mixture
1/4 cup shredded cheese
1 Tablespoon sour cream

Travis added a layer of salsa, but you could also add guacamole, olives...or anything else your heart desires!

Travis also crumbled up some chips on top of his salad - everyone can do their own thing AND enjoy the same dinner!

YUM.

What are your favorite taco toppings?

Honey Lime Shrimp

I come from a long line of shrimp lovers.  My grandpa loves to tell the story of one of the first times they met my mom.  If you know my mamma, you know she's not usually a big eater.  On this first meeting of what would be her future in-laws, they went to an all you can eat seafood restaurant where she apparently made the most of the never-ending shrimp.  The entire table got their money's worth for sure.  Plate...after plate...after plate.  :)

This week, I decided to try a Honey Lime Shrimp recipe, which was perfectly sweet and tangy.

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lime juice
Zest from 1/2 a large lime
1.5 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 pinch black pepper

1/2 pound shrimp (you could do up to one pound)

Directions

Combine first 8 ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add shrimp to marinade and marinate 30 to 60 minutes.

Transfer shrimp to a medium frying pan.  Pour half marinade into pan and simmer on medium a few minutes on each side, or until shrimp turn pink.

Remove shrimp from pan.  Continue simmering remaining marinade for 5-8 minutes for a tasty drizzle.

I served ours with green beans and Garlic & Herb Mashed Cauliflower.  Delicious!

Does this have you in the mood for shrimp?  Check out my Mushroom and Shrimp Pasta in a butter garlic sauce.

Cheesy Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I made the most delicious stuffed chicken last night.  For the past week, with the bombings and general feeling of uneasiness around Boston, I haven't been in the mood to cook much.  I quickly exhausted all of our easy weeknight go-to's, so we were in need of something interesting for dinner.  

When we first moved to Boston, we lived down the street from an Uno's Chicago Grill.  My favorite thing to get there was their "Baked Stuffed" - a chicken breast stuffed with cheese, broccoli, and tomato.  Feeling nostalgic,  I decided to put my own spin on the dish, complements of the Laughing Cow and some spinach.  Laughing Cow wedges are perfect for stuffed chicken breasts - they are pre-portioned into 35 calorie wedges and spread easily, so you can make sure there's cheesy goodness in each bite.  These stuffed chicken breasts are bursting with flavor - you'll LOVE them.  Here's what you need.

Ingredients  (Serves 2)

2 chicken breasts

4 Laughing Cow Light Swiss Cheese Wedges

Spinach

Tomato (diced with seeds removed)

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Basil

Salt

Directions

Pound chicken breasts until they are about 1/4" thick.  To do this, place each breast between sheets of wax paper and pound lightly (starting in the center, moving outward) until thin.  This is where I learned I was missing a key piece of equipment - the meat pounder - so I used a jewelry hammer.  :)  It worked!

Lay flattened chicken breasts on a flat surface, bottom-side up.  Sprinkle with garlic and onion powder, basil, and salt.  

Then add filling.  Each chicken breast gets two Laughing Cow wedges.  (At only 35 calories per wedge, you can afford LOTS of cheese!)  Spread cheese across entire chicken breast.  Cover in spinach, then sprinkle tomato pieces.

Make sure you spread filling over the entire breast - I changed mine after the picture...sorry!

Now it's time to roll it up!  Roll from one of the short ends, so you have a "stubby" chicken wrap (not a long one).  Once you have it rolled, use several toothpicks to keep edges sealed.  Tuck ends together and secure so the cheese doesn't leak out while cooking.  Sprinkle wrapped breast with garlic and salt.

Line a baking dish with foil and spray with pam.  Then bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes, or until done.  

Carefully remove toothpicks and serve!

Enjoy!