Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast

allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
• 1 1/4 cups water I used beef broth
  
• 5 1/2 pounds pot roast

Directions

1. In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
2. Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

I have made this once before, and raved about it. I made it essentially the same way I had made it before, and it was just fine. I wouldn't say I was nuts about it, and our guests seemed to like it, but also didn't really RAVE about it.

The good thing about this one, though, is that it was very easy to make. There are a TON of reviews on allrecipes of this one, and many people give suggestions for improvement, so I imagine some of them are going to improve this.

I also tossed in some quartered potatoes, celery, and carrots with the roast, and I used a 4 pound angus rump roast.

Shrimp Newburg

Another from Rachael Ray's December 09 issue. Pictures coming soon!

BAJ thought this was REALLY good and said he wants to have this again. I wasn't as convinced, however, partially because of a mental thing I had that perhaps the shrimp wasn't fully cooked.
It was easy, but I can't imagine it took the amount of time it said it did; I felt like it took me much longer.

Chicken Broccoli Couscous

Recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray December 2009. Coming soon, whenever I can find it online... pictures also coming soon, whenever I get around to uploading them.

This...sucked. Blandness all around, with the exception of those bites with raisin in them. I think, perhaps, we haven't found a decent couscous recipe yet, but the ones we've tried have been pretty terrible. The whole family's servings got tossed, and we had a package of ravioli for dinner.

Hey, at least it was reasonably cheap...

French Onion Macaroni and Cheese

From the December 2009 Everyday with Rachael Ray

I can't find the recipe for this online anywhere just yet, and don't really feel like typing it out, especially knowing it will be posted online shortly enough.

I saw this in the new RR magazine, and immediately thought of my friend Lauren, who loves all things French Onion, and put it on my meal plan for the week.

BAJ and The Boy were going to be a little bit late getting home, so I started shredding the cheese and slicing the onions before I planned to start cooking. After completing these tasks, the recipe time took thirty minutes as suggested, but without it, I'd add another 5-10 minutes to the time.

BAJ REALLY liked this one, and said I could make it again anytime. I thought it was tasty, but that it wasn't as all that as he made it out to be. Nonetheless, this is the first mac and cheese recipe he's LIKED, let alone raved about, so it's definitely going to be a keeper around here.

Pan Fried Chicken with Fresh Tomato and Corn Salsa

From Everyday with Rachael Ray August 2009. See original here

• 4 Servings
• 
• Prep 20 min
• 
• Cook 5 min

Ingredients:

• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 4 chicken breast cutlets (about 1 1/4 pounds total)
• Salt and pepper
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 3 ears)
• 2 tomatoes, cored and chopped
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Easy does it
Stand an ear of corn upright in a large bowl and run a knife down the length of the cob to remove the kernels.

Directions:

1. In a shallow dish, stir together the breadcrumbs and 2 tablespoons basil. In a separate shallow dish, add the buttermilk; in a third dish, add the flour. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Working with 1 piece at a time, coat the chicken in the flour, then dip into the buttermilk and coat with the breadcrumbs, shaking to remove any excess.

2. In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning once, until golden-brown, about 5 minutes; drain on paper towels.

3. In a large bowl, stir together the corn, tomatoes, onion, the remaining 2 tablespoons basil and 1 tablespoon olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Serve over the chicken.

This was really tasty; I especially liked the corn salsa. I definitely overcooked the chicken, however, which meant we didn't ultimately like the dish, but will need to give it another try. This has all the perfect flavors of summer, and, aside from screwing up the chicken, we'll have to try this again!! Oh yeah, I made this July 23, and just never got around to blogging it. Oops. I served with couscous, as suggested by Rachael Ray!

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

From allrecipes.com, see the original here.
Ingredients

* 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 teaspoon paprika
* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1 1/2 cups beef broth
* 3 potatoes, diced
* 4 carrots, sliced
* 1 stalk celery, chopped

Directions

1. Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.
2. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

I made this for "lunch club" at work, partially (erm, largely) due to my husband's dislike of all things beef. I messed up modified the recipe by adding a whole can of beef broth, only using 2 potatoes, and using 2 stalks of celery. It was a little bit too much broth, I thought, but after taking the first serving, I decided that wasn't the case at all, and was glad I had done it.

This was a really flavorful stew, and I will certainly make it again. If you go to allrecipes and read the reviews, someone name Corinne made a bunch of modifications to the base recipe, but I'm not a fan of cooking meat before putting it in a slow cooker, so I went with the original recipe! When I make this in the future, I will add a can of mushrooms (almost did that this time, but, um, forgot) and a can of tomatoes--not sure if stewed or whole would work best. I also might take Corinne's modification of using a package of stew mix, although I love the idea of setting the spices on my own.

The good thing about lunch club is that you get the benefit of the opinions of several coworkers. First, they all commented (as did some students who could smell it in the hallway) on the delicious aroma of the stew. It's funny, you bring a crockpot into work and people think you're a domestic goddess. I heard feedback from two others who ate the stew, and they both commented (unsolicited) that it was really good.

In short, this beef stew isn't like Mom makes, but it's pretty good nonetheless... and until I get around to bugging Mom for her recipe, or finding one that comes close, this is a delicious (and fairly easy) stew!!

Lemon Thyme Chicken

For some reason, I never added Annie's Eats to my Google Reader. I've made some things from her blog before, via other bloggers, but I made sure to do it when I found this recipe. Today, I was looking for something with chicken (which I actually remembered to make sure was defrosted--an aside, I have about 30 vacuum packed chicken breasts in the freezer because I forget to defrost and then buy more when I need to cook dinner. BRILLIANT) and had a craving for some kind of creamy sauce. I stumbled upon this recipe, and knew it to be just what I wanted... although the sauce wasn't very creamy. I digress.

So, this is a Chicken Francese kind of thing. Except that it adds in thyme and some butter. It's also very smart in butterfly the chicken instead of POUNDING the chicken... so. much. easier! Also very smart to start browning in the pan and then continue cooking in the juices--so moist and juicy and not overcooked!

So, if you're reading this, and you haven't yet added Annie's Eats, do it NOW!

Lemon Thyme Chicken
Printer-Friendly Version

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
3/4 cup flour
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
2/3 cup dry white wine I substituted vegetable broth
Juice of ½ a large lemon (or the juice of 1 whole lemon, if desired)
2-3 tablespoons butter

Directions:
Butterfly the chicken breasts to create four halves. Season both sides of the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Place the flour in a shallow bowl, and dredge the chicken pieces in the flour, shaking off the excess. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken pieces to the pan and saute until lightly golden, about 2 minutes; flip and cook on the other side, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme leaves to the pan and saute just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Off the heat, add the wine to the pan. Return the pan to the heat and bring the liquid to a simmer. Reduce until the sauce has thickened and the chicken has become golden brown on each both sides. Add the lemon juice to the pan and stir in the butter until completely melted. Serve immediately, and spoon the extra sauce over the chicken.

Oh, yum. The hubs made mashed potatoes while I took care of the chicken, and the sauce tasted so good over those taters. I wish there had been more sauce leftover, but I might have reduced it just a little too much.