Best Slow-Cooker Pot Roast!

Ok the title seriously says it all! BEST pot roast and in a SLOW COOKER!! Whats better?!?
I know I've been posting a lot of vegetarian meals lately and we are continueing our health kick but every once in awhile I crave amazing red meat!! I just do.. cant help it! A great steak, hamburger (real not fast food) and super yummy roast!

Randomly came across this recipe when we were gifted some meat from a friend's hunting trip. It's orginally for venison, but regular old beef pot roast works great!

Best Pot Roast
3lbs beef roast
1 package of french onion soup dry mix
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
Large onion- sliced or chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 clove of garlic
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil for pan
Carrots (optional)



1. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan. Take some of the dry soup mix and rub it over the meat. Then brown the meat on all sides.

2. Add meat to slow-cooker. Top with onions, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce.

3. Mix together remaining dry soup mix and cream of mushroom soup. Pour over meat. Top with carrots if you are adding. Salt, pepper and garlic.

4. Cover. Cook on low 6-7 hours

5. Take out to rest 10mins (if you are that patient) then slice. Reserved liquid is a GREAT gravy!!

Enjoy!!

Slow Cooker Turkey Wraps

I LOVE a good slow cooker recipe! Throw things into a giant pot you plug in and get on with your day! This recipe we've done several times over the past few months! It's easy and you are able to change things around to whatever you have on hand and it still turns out great!
The original recipe comes from Betty Crocker. I'll explain how I've changed it to fit our liking.

Slow Cooker Turkey Wraps

2lbs turkey breast cut into strips. (you can use chicken too!)
1 onion sliced
3/4cup bbq sauce
2 tb taco seasoning mix

8 flour tortillas
avocado, sliced
lettuce, sliced
fresh bell peppers sliced (original recipe calls for canned roasted peppers- not a fan in this household. plus fresh add a great crunch!)
shredded cheese (optional)
Bacon (optional) we normally leave out the bacon to keep it lower fat

1. Pour a little olive oil into a skillet and brown the turkey a little with the onion. This step is very fast. If you choose to use bacon brown it in skillet first then remove bacon and fat and then add turkey and onions.

2. Put turkey and onions into crocpot and cover with bbq sauce and taco seasoning.

3. Cook on low for 5-6hours

4. Take out turkey and shred then return it to crocpot.

5. Wrap tortillas in wet paper towel and heat in microwave until warm, I usually go in 30sec intervals flipping them every 30secs.

6. Start filling the wrap with your topping choices.

We make these fun for the kids and let them add their toppings. I think it makes them eat whatever recipe it is, better when they get to help. For me I normally make one wrap and then make a little 'side' salad with the veggies and turkey, just basically no wrap. So if you're trying to get away from so many carbs that would be a good option.

(you can see that I devoured the wrap and went back for seconds with a salad!)

Amazing Grilled Sandwiches!

Love Love Love Grill Season!!! (which is most of the time in Southern California) But there is something about those warm early summer days and firing up the grill!
We stumbled across the recipe while trying out the 'one vegetarian meal a week" idea.
Here's the originalrecipe from Allrecipes.com But of course we've changed things up a bit... :-)

Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

1 Red or Yellow or Orange Bell Pepper, cored and pulled apart into two halves
1 Zucchini, sliced longways
1 Yellow Squash, sliced longways
Half Red Onion, sliced
Mushrooms, if desired, either buttons sliced or Portabellas- they would make a pretty hearty huge sandwich
Loaf of Really Yummy Bread- (we normally go the focaccia route) sliced horizontally and vertically
Feta Cheese, crumbed
Pesto
Olive Oil for drizzling

Preheat grill to medium high.

Brush veggies and grill grate with oil. Place veggies on grill about 3min each side. Watch carefully though some may cook alot faster! (when I do mushrooms I do them inside in a saute pan and just saute with some garlic powder and pam spray)

(you can see the kids' ham and cheese side, but we did veggies

on their other side. Also added some parm cheese this time too!)

Place bread on cookie sheet. Spread both sides of bread with pesto. Pile on veggies (one side or both- sometimes hard to put together if on both sides) Top with feta. Pop them under the broiler for a few mins (could also put back on grill)

and ENJOY!!!

Sorta Soba Bowl

I really enjoyed watching Rachael Ray when I became a newly stay at home mom. She has such great recipes and understands the need to make a quick healthy meal. I don't get much time to watch her show now (Kids keep me too busy for that!) But we have some favorites of hers that we always come back to.

Sorta Soba Bowl
 Feeds 4-6 Adults

1lb of whole wheat spaghetti (we normally have a ton of leftover noodles but I freeze them or use them up         the following days)
2tbs vegetable oil- basically a few turns in the pan to help with sticking
1 onion diced
2+cloves of garlic-chopped
3 "handfuls" of store bought shredded carrots- I don't shredded my own carrots- more power to you if you do!
10ish shiitake mushrooms- thinly chopped
1 large zucchini, cut into half moons then sliced 1/2-inch thick
1 large bok choy or 3 baby boks- (remove middle part if using large bok choy) chop
6 cups of stock -chicken or veggie works

Topping
1/4cup toasted sesame seeds
1/2tbs ground coriander
1/2tbs chili powder
cayenne pepper- just a pinch depending on how spicy

Soy Sauce

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the noodles. Once it boils add some salt and the noodles and cook until al dente- try not to overcook.

While water is boiling for noodles, swirl veg oil in a large soup pan/pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and carrots. Cook until onions start to get tender (4-5mins)

Add mushrooms, zucchini and bok choy- cook for another 2-3mins. Add stock and bring to a simmer for 5mins.

In a small bowl mix topping ingredients together- reserve for a garnish for soup.

Take cooked noodles and drain. Toss with a little veg oil and place in individual bowls. Drizzle some soy sauce over the noodles. Then pour veggie soup over noodles. Top with sesame seed topping.

For our little ones, I leave off the spicy topping and just sprinkle regular sesame seeds on theirs. I also serve it with forks and spoons for them. I, myself, use just a fork. We have left it vegetarian before but have also added shrimp and/or chicken to it. If chicken, I will marinate the chicken in some soyaki (from trader joes) or just some regular teriyaki sauce. Then bake in marinade and shred or dice cooked chicken and add into soup last minute.

Enjoy!

Not Your Vegan's Tofu

Oh Tofu.. I have nightmares of eating "scrambled eggs" made from tofu as a kid at my Grandparent's house. I'm pretty sure they even added it to pies! I told my little self that when I get older and make my own food, it will NOT be tofu!

But then my brother decided he'd make life a little more interesting and become a vegan. Yes, a vegan... no animal anything! Not even leather clothing! And tofu was reintroduced to me at an older age. And then I got married and introduced it to my husband and now my children. I am still very leary of this spongy-like protein. It's just strange and honestly most of the time lacks flavor. So why am I posting a tofu recipe.. well because it's GREAT ONE! Full of flavor, veggies, great with rice and dare I say, egg rolls.. Oh and did I mention there's beef in the recipe?! WHAT?!?! Beef and tofu together! Try it! It might change the way you feel about these odd little bricks.

Spicy Tofu Stir Fry

16oz firm or extra firm tofu

1lb ground beef
1clove/1tsp minced garlic
1tsp minced ginger (from the jar)
1 bag of stir fry veggies OR keep it simple and just do 1cup frozen peas
1/2cup general tsao stir fry sauce (From Trader Joe's)
1tbsp soy sauce
1tsp sesame oil
2 green onions sliced

Heat a large skillet pan or wok to medium. Brown the ground beef.

While the beef is cooking take out the tofu from the package. Lay it on a few paper towels. It's helpful to slice it long ways before putting on paper towels. Then place a few more paper towels on the top of the tofu. Press down on the tofu to help get the extra moisture out of it. You can always place an empty pan or something else heavy on top of the tofu and keep it there until ready to dice it.

Once the beef is brown put in the garlic and ginger. Stir that around a little bit, then put in your veggies. Stir fry them until they are just slightly crunchy.

Dice the tofu into little squares. Add them to the pan. Then pour in the sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil. I try to pour most of the sauce on the tofu- not sure if that really helps or not. Cook for 2 minutes or so until tofu is warm! Serve over rice, if desired, and top with green onions.

The 1/2cup of sauce is not too spicy for my kids especially with all of the veggies in it. My husband and I add extra sauce to ours once on the plate to get a little more heat!

Enjoy! And let me know if you are brave enough to try tofu for the first time! Would love to hear what people say about this recipe!

Healthy Descions 2011!

Well last night was one of those dinner nights where I was so excited to try a new recipe from my new cookbook "Quick and Easy Cookbook" from the American Heart Association, but of course we were out of the house way past dinner time. And you find yourself contemplating stopping at a certain pizza place and not making dinner. But thanks to the new year and our pack to feed the kids healthy foods we ventured home to make dinner- Kids screaming in the car and all!
I had already planned on making these oven baked fish nuggets and some cauliflower to go along with it. The plan was to stop at the store for the ingredients we didn't have on hand but of course figured there wasn't time for that before major meltdowns! Figured I'd give them a try anyway. (Explain my adjustments along the way- but will type the original recipe)

Crispy Cereal Fish Nuggets

1lb white fish fillets (I used Maui Maui from Trader Joe's that was already cut up)
1egg
2tb skim milk (we keep 2% in our house)
1/4cup Parmesan cheese (we did not have.. so sad :-( Think this would have made them great! Any shredded cheese would be good I think..)
1/4cup cornflake crumbs or bread crumbs or panko
1/2t paprika- I used about 1full teaspoon because I ended up with more cornflakes.
A few shakes of garlic powder, onion powder, and dried basil- I add these to almost every recipe I make!

Preheat oven to 450.

Rinse fish and pat dry. Cut fish into bite-size pieces. I notice kids eat smaller pieces better than larger ones, so I always try to keep theirs small.

Beat together egg and milk in a shallow bowl.

Toss cheese, crumbs, and seasonings into ziploc bag.

Coat the fish in the egg mixture until well coated. Take out a few pieces at a time and toss it in the bag with the crumb mixture. Pull them out with a fork and lay them on an oiled or foil lined baking sheet. Then repeat until all fish is coated in crumb mixture.

Bake in oven- check it every 5minutes. Mine took almost 15 last night due to some of the larger pieces I had. But the small pieces I used for the kids were done at the 5min mark.

The recipe comes with a Lemon Tartar Sauce- I didn't make due to lack of ingredients, but am looking forward to making it next time.

1/2cup of fat free mayo
2tb finely chopped dill pickle
1t lemon juice
1t grated lemon peel

Mix together and keep in fridge until ready to serve fish.

(Nutrient Analysis- per serving. Calories 191kcal, Protein 26g, Carbs 14g, Cholesterol 64mg, Sodium 739mg, Total fat 3g (saturated fat 1g, poly 1g, mono 1g) )

Feel good starting the New Year off without stopping at a certain pizza place! It wasn't the most put together meal and between steamed cauliflower and mashed potatoes it looked a little blah on the plate but it tasted good, was healthy and the kids ate it!

Enjoy!