Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

This quickly became a family favorite after a sweet friend had me over for lunch and served this soup.  It's quick and easy.  This is a recipe that can be put together in an afternoon and still be full of flavor by dinner time.  (I don't have the link to the site I got this recipe from as I wrote it down on a note card, so I can't give credit but I will put this disclaimer that this is not my original recipe.)

Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound ground Italian sausage (we like to use hot)

24 ounces of spaghetti or marinara sauce

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

8 ounces cream cheese

8 ounces sliced mushrooms

16 ounces frozen cheese tortellini

2 ounces fresh spinach leaves

Instructions:

1.  Brown and crumble sausage until cooked through.  Drain fat.  Place cooked sausage in slow cooker.

2.  Add spaghetti/marinara sauce, broth, cream cheese and mushrooms in the slow cooker.  You can just drop the whole block of cream cheese in, no need to worry about stirring or cutting it up.

3.  Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 2-3 hours

4.  20 minutes before serving turn heat to HIGH if not already done so and stir in frozen tortellini and spinach.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until tortellini is tender and hot.

5.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

 

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

Buffalo Chicken lettuce wraps with pineapple fried rice

This is seriously the easiest recipe ever!  It's probably why I never blogged it before.  All of my boys love this and so do many of their friends!


Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

1 bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or whatever other piece you want, my husband used chicken thighs in Korea)
1 bottle of Frank's RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce
2 T butter

Place breasts in crockpot (I usually just throw them in frozen), pour bottle of wing sauce over chicken, turn crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hours.  The chicken will be so tender it shouldn't take much to shred, we usually do it right in the crockpot.  During last 30 minutes to hour of cooking, throw in the butter to create creaminess. 

That's it!  Sometimes we serve on a bun and have chicken sandwiches.  Sometimes we just eat it alone or turn it in to lettuce wraps.  This can be eaten warm or cold. 

Enjoy!

Crockpot Flank Steak Tacos

This is what we had for dinner tonight and it was FABULOUS!  I found the idea on Pinterest but the recipe was under the name of "carnita beef tacos".  Well this will sound incredibly silly but the name bothered me.  Carnitas are pork and as you can see this is beef...therefore I cannot in good conscious call them Carnita Tacos.  They are now Flank Steak Tacos....doesn't sound as fancy but trust me, when you eat them you won't care about the name!  Now that I have given you a little food lesson, we can continue on to the recipe!

Do not be scared that there is no liquid...your meat will not burn, I promise!

Flank Steak Tacos
2 lbs flank steak (or 4lbs if you have hungry teenage boys like I do)
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped (one works fine if you don't want as much heat and if you want more heat, leave the seeds in!)

Spice Rub

2 tsp chili powder (I like to use New Mexico Red Chili but you can use whatever makes you happy)
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt  (sometimes I like using Kosher salt in rubs, just depends on my mood)
1/2 tsp black pepper

*You can really put any combination of spices you like, it's all about the flavors you like!


Directions:
Mix together all spices in a small bowl. Rub the spices all over your flank steak, really you cannot over spice. Then, place your steak at the bottom of your crock pot.
Cover the steak with the chopped onions, bell peppers and jalapeno pepper. Turn heat on LOW and cook for 8 hours.
After 8 hours, remove meat from crock pot and shred with a fork (honestly by this point, you really don't even need to shred it, it will just fall apart).

Serve with corn tortillas (make your own, they are super easy!)

Top with whatever makes you happy...here are a few variations from our home.

 I simply put the meat on the tortilla, squeezed some lime juice then added fresh avocado.

 Neil put meat, then lime juice, mashed his avocado, added green salsa that you can't see, lettuce and red salsa.

 Daniel just ate his with meat and avocado.

 Michael was the same..meat, lime, avocado and eventually his rice ended up in the taco too.

Crock Pot Sloppy Joes

I have been making these for years, they are my boys favorite sloppy joes.  They have eaten Manwich once and decided they would never eat it again.  I got this recipe out of the book that came with my very first crockpot we bought when Kevin and I first got married.  So we have been making these for over 16 years and they are still a hit!

Sloppy Joes
3 pounds ground chuck
1 onion, finely chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
2 - 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Brown beef in skillet and drain off fat.  Put in crock-pot; add remaining ingredients.  Stir thoroughly.  Cover; cook on low 8-10 hours. (High 3 to 4 hours).

I am serving these on Homemade Buns with homemade pickles.  DELICIOUS!

Crockpot Beef Stew

Our weather is starting to change and it's beginning to get a bit chilly. I LOVE my crockpot during the fall/winter seasons. Today we had a church get together where we all met for dinner first and then cleaned our building. Everyone had to bring a pot of soup. I decided to make beef stew and oh man, I am pretty proud of this, it was DELICIOUS! I say was because sadly, none made it home with us.

Crockpot Beef Stew

2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch squares
1-2 lbs of carrots (use whatever you have, baby carrots or regular carrots)
3-4 potatoes, cut into chunks
2 onions, cut into wedges
1 1/2 cups drained, diced tomatoes (I used some of my tomatoes I canned!)
2 cups beef broth (I ended up using more but I'll tell you why later)
2 celery stalks, diced
3-4 Tablespoons quick-cooking Tapioca (I love using tapioca as a thickening agent in stews)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3-4 bay leaves

Combine all the ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

*I like a thicker broth in my beef stew so I added one packet of McCormick Beef Stew Seasoning this go round but you don't need it, your stew will still be great without it, even without tons of additional seasoning! Because I added this seasoning mix, I used a little more beef broth so it wouldn't be too thick.

Taco Soup (CrockPot)

1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg hidden valley ranch mix
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans black beans
2 cans corn
1 can Rotel
1 large can diced tomatoes

Brown meat, drain, place in crockpot
sprinkle seasonings on meat
drain and rinse all the cans of beans, place in crockpot
add corn (do not drain)
add Rotel and tomatoes

Mix together and heat on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Really the longer the better.

Serve with sour cream and shredded cheese.

My kids eat it with both tortilla chips and cornbread.

I actually triple this recipe because my kids love it so much and we hardly ever have leftovers!

Hawaiian Meatballs

With all the different things that I choose to be involved in, many include events that end up being potlucks. I don't always have time to hang out at home and create something magnificent. I also am not the type of person who is okay with stopping by the store and picking up something from the deli (not that there is anything wrong with that!) I try to have things on hand in the cupboards or freezer that I can throw together to create something yummy.

Tonight I had a "coffee" for our unit and it was potluck so I threw ingredients together for Hawaiian Meatballs. I got lots of compliments on them.

Hawaiian Meatballs
1 can (20 oz) unsweetened pineapple chunks, undrained
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 package (32 oz) frozen, fully cooked homestyle meatballs
2 medium green peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 jar (10 oz) maraschino cherries, drained
Hot cooked rice, optional

1. Drain pineapple, reserving juice in a 2-cup measuring cup; add enough water to measure 2 cups.

2. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in the pineapple uice mixture until smooth. Stir in vinegar. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

3. In a 3-qt. slow cooker, combine the meatballs, peppers and pineapple chunks. Stir in pineapple juice mixture. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until heated through and peppers are tender, adding cherries during last 30 minutes of cooking. Serve with rice if desired.

CrockPot Ribs

Can I just tell you how yummy and simple this is to do! Now I have made CrockPot Ribs a couple different ways. This works for beef or pork ribs, either way they come out deliciously tender!

One is just throwing them in the crockpot, seasoning with salt and pepper and whatever else tickles your fancy (personally I think you can never go wrong with just S&P). Set the crockpot on high for 4 hours or so, adding whatever BBQ sauce you want during the last hour or hour and a half. I said cook on high for 4 hours but I'll be honest here, I like to cook on low for a long time to let it get it nice and tender. There are lots of great BBQ sauces out there (today the hubby and I bought Apple Butter BBQ sauce at a Farmer's Market, can't wait to try it out on something) Oops sorry, got sidetracked (did I mention how yummy that BBQ sauce was!). Anyway, you can use storebought or make your own (I'll post a quick recipe for BBQ sauce at the end).

My friend Aubri told me how she does her ribs and this is pretty much how I did it today. (Hope you don't mind me sharing Aubri!)

"Put them in the oven on a cookie sheet for 25 min. or so, to get them browned. I sprinkled steak seasoning on them first. Then I just put them in the slow cooker for 4 hours on high, and put famous dave's bbq sauce on them 1 hr before they were done. yum-0 A real man pleaser, lol."

I didn't use Famous Dave's BBQ...at this moment I don't even remember what kind I used but it was good. Sometimes I use a sweeter sauce, others a more smokey and occasionally I'll even use something spicy. It's all up to what makes you happy! And as I mentioned before, you can even make your own (my husband LOVES making his own sauce).

Quick and easy BBQ sauce!

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1 cup chili sauce
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 dash hot sauce
  

In a medium bowl, mix together the ketchup, chili sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs, and turn to coat.

Lazy Meatballs

Sometimes we can be so busy and we need an easy but filling meal. This is one of our favorites in our home. We often make it on Sundays so we can come home from church and have dinner ready.



We use our crockpot, 3 cans of spaghetti sauce and a bag of meatballs. We used just over half of this big bag (hey I have 3 boys..we eat a lot, haha). We throw everything in the crockpot and set it on low for about 3 hours. I like to use Traditional flavored and Italian Zesty and Spicy sauces.



Yummy meatballs.
I like to eat mine alone with mozzarella cheese sprinkled on top. The boys like them in sandwiches or over pasta. No matter how we eat it, we always leave the table nice and full.

Hawaiian Haystacks

I'm not going to lie, I never make Hawaiian Haystacks the same way. The fun thing about Hawaiian Haystacks is that they are fun, yup, just fun. I will bold the main ingredients. The rest you do as you want.

1 chicken (I use whatever chicken I have in my freezer, sometimes I have chicken breasts, whole fryers, chicken thighs, etc.; use what makes you happy)
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. parsley
1 tsp. oregano
Salt
1 carrot (chopped, diced, shredded; again, whatever makes you happy, today I cut mine in big chunks)
1 c. broth (make sure you only add a little at a time to make up the consistency you like)
1 large can cream of chicken soup
Rice, cooked (I cheat, I use a rice cooker, I love it!!!!!!)

*Toppings*
Cheese, shredded
Cashews
Chunk pineapple
Chinese noodles
Peanuts
Baby Corn
Olives
Celery
Green/Red/Yellow Peppers
Mandarin Oranges
Coconut
Soy sauce
Boil chicken with garlic, parsley, oregano, salt, and carrot until tender. Debone chicken if you used chicken with bones. Now you decide if you want to shred, dice, chop your chicken, whatever texture you like.

Mix chicken, broth (from boiled chicken (I strain mine) or you can use chicken stock/broth from a can), and soup. Heat thoroughly, I often put mine in a crock-pot on low for an afternoon. But it can be done just as easily on the stove.

On plate layer rice and whatever *toppings* you choose, (this is the fun part!), I added a list of suggested toppings but you can put whatever you like. Enjoy!

And just to show you the fun of this meal, I am posting pics of all our versions of our Haystacks from dinner tonight.

My husband's and mine, he likes everything, I like mine simple

Son 1, Son 2, Son 3 (one day he decided he didn't like the gravy, so now he eats his deconstructed...yup, learned that term on Top Chef)