Tangy Crockpot Beef

When I was still living at home, a roast with mashed potatoes and vegetables was one of my favorite meals. Living on my own and learning how to cook, I discovered what a pain it can be to bake a roast, especially if you are working and do not have the time.

This roast is cooked in the slow cooker, so it cooks while you work. You come home to an amazing smelling house and a delicious dinner. One of the easiest roasts you will ever make. There are only 2 ingredients. Yup…only 2. You then have the option of serving it as is, as a sandwich, or with rice or potatoes.

 

Ingredients:

1 Beef Roast, eye of round or really any kind you want, trimmed of fat.

1 16oz jar of banana peppers

 

What You Do:

1. Place the roast in the crockpot.

2. Pour the banana peppers, along with all of the liquid on top.

3. Turn the crockpot on low, and cook at least 6-8 hours. I leave mine on all day and it comes out great.

4. Shred beef using 2 forks. It will pretty much just fall apart.

Makes about 8 servings, depending on the size of the roast. Each serving is 6 Points Plus if you are on Weight Watchers.
If you plan to serve it as sandwiches, ciabatta bread works best. Broil the bread a little bit first. Crisping up the bread will make the sandwich a little less messy. Top with the beef mixture.

To make it even more tasty, top it with a slice of cheese. We used light pepper jack cheese. The entire sandwich, with cheese is 10 Points Plus, and delicious!

2 Ingredient Fall Cookies

These cookies have 2 ingredients, with a possible third. With that being said, I think it’s safe to say that these are extremely easy to make, even for someone who is afraid of baking.

If you prefer a softer cookie, like me, then these are for you. If you are trying to eat healthy and love cookies, then these are for you. As an added bonus, each cookie is only 2 Points Plus if you are on Weight Watchers. You really can’t go wrong with these cookies.

Ingredients:

1 box spice cake mix (Betty Crocker works great)

1 15 oz can of pumpkin

Cream cheese frosting to top (only if you want)

What To Do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, pour cake mix and fold in pumpkin. Mix well together. When well mixed, it should look almost like peanut butter.

2. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking oil. Use a spoon to scoop out an amount for each cookie. Using your fingers is pretty messy since the dough will be quite sticky. Each batch will make about 21 cookies, so you may need to use 2 cookie sheets.

3. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes.

4. Using a spatula, transfer cookies onto a cooling rack.

5. Once cookies are cool, lightly spread cream cheese frosting on top each one.

There you have it, you have a lovely batch of moist cookies, perfect for the fall season.

Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla

I need to start by saying that I get extremely frustrated cooking in such a small kitchen. When we move, I have certain requirements for our new house…it’s not many. It must have a kitchen with a lot of counter space, and it must have a dishwasher. Our current kitchen is lacking both of those, causing me stress!!
Anyway, here is what we made for dinner. My intention was to cook for my husband, but my frustration got the best of me. I really stink at flipping anything while cooking, grilled cheese, pancakes, and yup, you guessed it, quesadillas!
Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts (about 8 oz) boiled

Juice from 1/2 of a lime

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground sea salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

olive oil spray

8 whole wheat tortillas

1 can refried beans

1 small can diced green chiles

1 1/2 cups fat free cheddar cheese, shredded

Chopped scallions, green part only

 

What To Do:

1. Chop boiled chicken. The chopper from Pampered Chef works great for this.

2. Mix chicken, lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper in a bowl.

3. Spray olive oil on a large non-stick skillet. On a plate assemble quesadilla with 1 tortilla, spread refried beans, green chiles, chicken, scallion and cheese, top with a second tortilla.

4. Cook until lightly browned. Carefully turn with a spatula. Press down on quesadilla with spatula while cooking.

5. Makes 4 quesadillas. Cook each quesadilla  individually, re-spray the pan with olive oil spray each time too. Cut each one into 4 pieces. Serve with salsa.

Each quesadilla should be about 9 points. However, the Weight Watcher’s website is currently down, so I can not double check this.

Quick and Hearty Sausage Skillet

This dish is easy to throw together, also hearty and healthy. With white beans and sausage it is packed with protein and fiber. It is another recipe that I discovered on the Weight Watcher’s website. At first I thought that eating beans and sausage together sounded like a weird combination, but it was quite tasty!

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

1 medium onion, diced

Low-Fat Chicken Sausage, smoked variety thinly sliced

2 gloves of garlic, minced

1/4 tsp dried thyme

30 oz canned great northern white beans, drained and rinsed

3/4 cup of reduced sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste

About 2 tbsp panko bread crumbs for topping

What to Do:

1.  Coat a non-stick large skillet with olive oil spray and heat over medium/high heat. Add garlic, onion and sausage. Saute for about 3 minutes, until onion is tender.

2. Add thyme, broth, beans and tomato paste. Stir, and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Serve into 4 individual bowls, and top with panko bread crumbs.

This recipe yields 4 servings.

 

A Manly Steak Dinner

I love eating meat and potatoes and Montreal Steak Seasoning. This meal has all three, so of course, I love it.

First part of this meal, is the steak. Flank steak is reasonably priced, and tend to be pretty lean. One flank steak would be enough to feed a small family. It is more than enough for us for dinner and for lunch the next day. In my experience, they also grill very well on our cheapo grill. To make it taste even more yummy, sprinkle (or in our case heavily sprinkle) the steak with Montreal Steak Seasoning. Then grill it however you like it.

The second part of this meal is the potatoes. We happened to have 5 small red potatoes that I had forgotten I had bought. They ended up being a perfect side for our steak.

I cut them into chunks, and laid them out evenly on a baking sheet I had sprayed with olive oil. I then sprayed the top of the potatoes with olive oil, and topped them with rosemary, garlic powder, salt, pepper and Parmesan Cheese.

I baked them at 425 for about 20-25 minutes. The end result was this:

We served the steak and potatoes with a side of broccolini with a little more Parmesan cheese. If you haven’t tried this stuff I highly recommend it.

Simple, easy, healthy and tasty…the only kind of meals we will be making.

Santa Fe Rice and Beans

Do you ever see those lovely frozen dinners that appear to be so healthy? You know, the Smart Ones, Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice? When I see those, I either immediately think, “Holy Cow, that looks amazing!” or “Who the heck would ever actually eat that?!” Of course the ones that I think look so delicious are typically the ones with the highest fat content, and or sodium, go figure. Yes they are convenient, likely better for you than fast food, but in my book, it’s like the equivalent of going out to eat.

First of all, I don’t have to wash any dishes. (Best part of eating out) I don’t have to really cook. However, I also do not know exactly what’s in the food I’m eating. Have you ever looked at one of the ingredient lists?

With that being said, I took my favorite Smart One’s meal, and recreated it myself. It doesn’t taste exactly like the one in the package, but it’s pretty darn close. It also continues on with another one of my favorite cooking themes, hiding vegetables from my husband.

Santa Fe Rice and Beans (long version)

1 tsp olive oil

4 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 zucchini

1/2 large onion

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 green bell pepper

1 cup of frozen corn

Chili Powder to taste

Cumin to taste

Coriander to taste

Red pepper flakes if you like a little extra kick

1 can dark red kidney beans

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (diced would work fine too)

1 Package Uncle Ben’s precooked brown rice

 

1. Cut up all veggies. Warm olive oil in a large skillet. Dump in all veggies, cook about 3 minutes.

Yeah all those veggies are in there and my husband ate it!

 

2. Add crushed tomatoes, and season to your liking. You can always add more seasoning later on. We are very seasoning/spice happy in this house.

3. Drain and rinse the beans. Add them into the skillet. Cut open the bag of rice and add that in too. Cook on low about 10 minutes to heat through and let all the flavors mesh. Or if you are impatient while cooking like me, turn up the heat higher until it’s heated through and just eat!

Serve with fat free or reduced fat cheese, and or sour cream.  It makes A LOT, plenty for lunch the next day.

If the above seems to complicated try the “Quick and Dirty” version.

1. Rice

2. Salsa

3. Beans
Throw it all together, heat it up and eat it.

 

Clear Out Your Kitchen Veggie Enchiladas

I had the taste for something Mexican, and found a lonely can of Enchilada sauce in the back of the pantry. I searched for recipes and ultimately decided to just do my own thing. Surprisingly, they came out fantastic!

Ingredients:

Olive oil spray

1/2 large onion (diced)

1 zucchini (diced)

1/2 green pepper (diced)

1/2 red pepper (diced)

3 gloves of garlic, minced

ground coriander and ground cumin to taste (about 1/2 tsp of each)

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen spinach

1 can tomatoes with green chiles, drained

1 can black beans

8 whole wheat tortillas

2 cups shredded cheese (I used a mixture of fat free cheddar and reduced fat Mexican blend because that’s what was in our fridge)

1 can of red enchilada sauce
Yes, there are a lot of ingredients, that is why it will clear out your kitchen. I assure you, despite the long list, these were easy to make.

1. Chop/dice onion, zucchini, and peppers. To save time use a food chopper. I suppose you could also use a food processor, but we do not own one.

2. Spray a large pan with olive oil. Add garlic, onion, zucchini and peppers. Cook over medium/high heat stirring frequently for about 3 minutes.

3. Add spinach (mine was partially thawed), corn, drained tomatoes, un-drained black beans and spices to taste. Continue to cook until it is simmering. After this step, the veggie mixture should look similar to this.

4. Line a baking dish with foil to make for easier clean up. Take 1 tortilla, sprinkle cheese in the middle, spoon a heaping spoonful of veggie mixture into the middle. Roll up the tortilla and repeat with the remaining tortillas laying them into the baking dish as you go. I ended up with some veggie mixture left over.

5. Using a spoon, spread enchilada sauce evenly over the top of the stuffed tortillas. Top with remaining cheese.

6. Bake for 7-10 minutes on 350, until cheese is melted. Decided that one serving is two enchiladas, so 4 servings in total.

I served it with a side of Spanish Rice. Uncle Ben’s microwaveable packages are a life saver!

Most notably, my husband who claims to “hate vegetables” ate these and loved them. I have never seen him eat so many vegetables in one sitting, let alone like it!  The leftovers also made for a tasty lunch.

Chicken and Rice with Pesto

This was the dinner we were supposed to eat while camping. If camping I would have thrown this into a foil packet and stuck it on the grill. since we were at home I made it a little differently, and it still came out just as good, if not better.

Ingredients:

Olive oil (spray or regular)

2 Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breasts, cut into small pieces

1 package precooked rice, brown and wild variety Uncle Ben’s is wonderful

1 zucchini diced

1/2 onion diced

4-6 tbs reduced fat pesto (depending on how much you love pesto)

Shredded Parmesan cheese (amount depends on your liking)
If making into foil packets, just mix all ingredients, throw into the foil packet and cook until the chicken is safe to eat.

 

1. Lightly spray a large pan with olive oil. Add onion, zucchini and chicken. Stir frequently until chicken is cooked through.

2. Add rice, pesto and cheese to the mixture. Heat until cheese is melted.

3. Enjoy your delicious meal.

Camping Food at its Finest

Going to hotels can be pricy, and when you live in Hawaii you don’t really need to go very far for a vacation. My husband and I both enjoy camping, and there is a place right on the beach at only $12 a night. In a way this was sort of going to be our honeymoon “getaway”.

Part of the reason why we enjoy camping is the cooking part. We typically make some kind of hobo packets, and they always come out great. Cooking with the packets also allows us to use the usually nasty grills provided at the campsites.

We got a late start to this camping excursion. We had spent the day at the airshow, which was nothing short of spectacular. Planning is not always one of our strengths, we waited to do the grocery shopping until after the airshow, which resulted in having to shop at the regular store instead of the commissary which coasted more than anticipated (mishap number 1).

That also took longer than anticipated. So there we were checking in at near dark, rushing trying to set up our tent and get dinner started in the pretty much dark(mishap number 2). As we go to light the charcoal up we discover that in trying to save money, we bought charcoal that does not light itself (mishap number 3). Luckily, the little camp store had lighter fluid and my husband got there just before it closed for the night.

Despite the challenges that night, dinner came out amazing. We made Chicken and Broccoli Hobo Packets.

Ingredients:

2 Chicken Breasts

Fresh Broccoli

1/2 package of Stove Top Stuffing (chicken flavor)

2 tbs Fat Free Ranch Dressing

Cooked Bacon crumbles

About 1 cup low fat shredded cheese

A little water

1. Cut up chicken and broccoli. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Make foil packets (or buy the kind that are already made)

3. Stuff the mixture into the packets.

4. Cook over a grill or fire. Really no idea how long but it seemed like forever. Take it off to check if it is done, if it’s not (ours weren’t) then cook it some more.

Slept like a rock. And woke up in the morning to this! (mishap #4)

We’ve camped here before and this has never happened. Either a wild pig, or a mongoose got into our food. It ate our chicken for the next dinner, meat for lunch the next day, and destroyed 2 water bottles, our ranch dressing and got dirt all in our cooler. So glad we spent all that money on food.

Fortunately, the camp shop came to our rescue again. We were able to buy lunch meat for our planned lunch. Here’s what it looked like, below are the instructions, super easy and would also be great as a party food cooked in the oven.

Take a loaf of Italian bread and slice it leaving about 1/4 inch at the bottom. In every other spot squirt a dab of Dijon mustard, then 1/2 slice of cheese and 1 piece of lunch meat of your choice (we used ham). Wrap the loaf in foil and warm on the grill.

Sadly, we were not able to find chicken breast at the camp shop. So we found a replacement and ate these instead. Hahaha.

Yes, those are corn dogs. Yes, we ate them. Yes, they were pretty darn good!

All in all, it was a great trip. When things do not go as planned, it helps us to remember them more. We were camping in paradise, it doesn’t get much better.

Tasty Crock-Pot Pork Chops

Have you ever eaten a dried out pork chop?

I have! And, let me tell you, all of those experiences with eating dried, un-juicy pork chops made me really not like the things. Until one day, someone wonderful in my facebook Weight Watcher’s group posted about this recipe. I am all about easy recipes in my crock pot, so of course I tried it!

The pork chops will come out so tender, they will literally fall apart. Serve it with over mashed potatoes, rice, broccoli or your favorite veggie. Also makes great leftovers.

The ingredients are pictured here:

Yes…that’s it. 3 ingredients.

1 package of pork chops

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 package of ranch dressing mix

 

Throw all ingredients into the crock pot and let it work it’s magic. I cook mine all day while I am at work. When we are ready to eat, we just use a fork to break up the pork chops.

Here is what the finished product looked like packed as my lunch:

This recipe would serve 4, possibly more depending on how hungry those people are and if it is served with sides. The pack of pork chops was only $4.70, each can of soup around $1 and the dressing pack was less than $1. So for about $7.00 plus the cost of sides, you could serve up dinner for 4!