Slow Cooker Lasagne

Two of my favorite things: my slow cooker and Italian food. Enough said.



Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1 26 oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
1 7 oz pkg mozzerarella cheese shredded
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 tbs chopped fresh italian parsley
6 lasagne noodles, uncooked

Brown meat in skillet; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and water. Combine ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 tbs parmesan, egg and parsley in a bowl. Spoon 1 cup meat mixture into slow cooker, top with layer of lasagne noodles, broken to fit. Top noodles with half of the cheese mixture. Repeat with 2 cups meat sauce, then noodles, remaining cheese mixture, then remaining meat mixture. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours. Sprinkle top with remaining cheeses and cover again for 10 more minutes.

**Two more of my favorite things; a messy child and a clean plate!

Hashbrown Casserole-in your crockpot!!

I took this to one of our Moms meetups the other day and it was really, really good. The kids and I ate the rest of it for lunch. I had a total of 4 servings in one day. I need to hit the treadmill, I think.

Ingredients:

30 oz pkg of plain, frozen hashbrown potatoes (shredded)
6 cooked sausage links, cut up
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Spray your crock with cooking spray. Place all of the hashbrowns in the bottom and spread evenly. In a bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt, pepper, cheese, sausage, and veggies. Pour whole mixture on top of hashbrowns. Cover and cook low for 6-8 hrs, high for 3-4.

Meatball Subs

Sunday Dinner-
These are really easy for my husband to throw together. And the kids just eat the meatballs.

Ingredients:
Frozen meatballs
Spaghetti sauce
Sub bread
Provolone cheese slices
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Place meatballs and spaghetti sauce in a crockpot and cook on low for 4-5 hours. When done, place 4 meatballs in sub bread. Top with sliced provolone and place under broiler for 3 minutes to melt and toast. Top with grated parmesan. Serve with spaghetti.

Beef Chimichangas

So I have the distinct pleasure of living very close to Mexico. I have been there many-a-times, and never ONCE have I seen a chimichanga on the menu in an authentic Mexican restaurant. Maybe it's just that I go to seedy taco stands...but I really don't know how truly Mexican a chimichanga is. HOWEVER, they are fabulous! I made these with the help of my trusty crockpot.

Ingredients:

1 1/2lb pound top round roast
salt and pepper
1/2 cup water
1 can tomatoes and green chilis (like Rotel brand) - drained
1 can diced tomatoes - drained
buritto tortillas
canola oil

For topping:
diced onions
olives
sour cream
lettuce
shredded cheese

Place meat, seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper, into the crockpot. Pour in 1/2 cup water and cook on low for 8 hours. After the meat has cooked, pull it out of the crock, and skim off fat drippings. Leave about 1 cup liquid in crock. Put the meat back inside, and shed using two forks. Add the canned, drained, tomatoes and chilis. Turn crock up to high and cook for about 20 minutes to warm everything back up. Warm your tortillas one at a time over an open flame on your stove, on each side. Place a spoonful of meat down the center of the tortilla (You can put cheese inside if you prefer). Seal tortilla well by folding top and bottom over the meat and then folding in the sides. Heat up oil in a large skillet to coat the bottom. Place your tortilla seam side down. Fry until golden (about 1 min) and then flip. Remove and continue with as many as you'd like. Top with whatever toppings you choose.

I served ours with canned refried beans. Very Mexican, I'm sure of it! I also put the shredded cheese and diced onions inside the buritto before I fried them.





Feedback:

These were excellent. Not the healthiest meal I've ever made, but probably still better than eating it at a restaurant. And they were great so who cares, really?!

Spaghetti & Meatballs

This recipe is amazing! I have made it before, but this time I adapted it to the crockpot, since I am back to work tonight. Hopefully the meatballs won't fall apart in the crock!

Ingredients:

Meatballs:
1 1/4 lb ground beef
3 tbs worchestershire
1 egg
1/2 cup italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
Sauce:
2 tbs oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion finely chopped
1/2 cup beef stock
28oz can crushed tomatoes
4 tbs parsley
2 tbs basil

Preheat oven to 425.
Mix worchestershire, egg, bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add beef and mix with your hands to combine all ingredients. Form into large meatballs (fill your hands cupped together). Place meatballs on a greased cookie sheet (I used parchment paper) and bake 15 minutes. Heat a deep skillet over medium heat. Add oil, red pepper, onion and garlic. Cook 5 min until onions are soft. Add stock, tomatoes, parsley and basil. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Pour into a crockpot and gently place in cooked meatballs. Cook on low 3-4 hours. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

**If not using crockpot, after bringing sauce to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, add in meatballs and cook 20-30 minutes.



Feedback:
Another winner! The meatballs were intact. And there's no leftovers. Guess I'm eating my soup again for lunch!

Mom's Sloppy Joes

It's my Friday again! Thank goodness!

I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe, but she's made it for us forever. And it's still the best Sloppy Joe recipe I've ever had. Not to mention, I get to use my crockpot. So I love them even more!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb ground beef
salt
pepper
garlic powder
Olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
12 oz ketchup
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs worchestershire
2 tbs sweet pickle relish
8 oz sour cream
Hamburger buns

Cook onions and celery in saucepan with olive oil for 5 min until tender. Add ground beef to skillet and season to taste with salt, pepper and garlic powder. When meat is cooked through, pour into crockpot. Add ketchup, sugar, worchestershire, and relish. Stir to combine all. Cook on low for 3 hours (or high for 1 hr). Put sour cream into mix and stir to combine for the last 30 minutes. Serve on buns.


Feedback:
I've made this plenty of times before and the kids love it. My 2 year old eats 2 hamburgers - the same amount as my husband and I!! For those of you who never knew sloppy joes aren't just made my "Manwich", give these a try, you'll never go back to the can!

Crockpot Tamale Pie

Today is my Friday! WOO HOO!!

Ingredients:

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix (the little ones)
1 lb ground beef
1 can drainded rinsed black beans
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 can drained corn
1 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup shredded cheese

Spray crock pot with cooking spray (just realized I didn't do this!! Oops!) Brown meat in a sauce pan ( I seasoned it with salt and pepper). Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl (including the cheese), add meat once it is completely cooked. Dump into crockpot. Mix 2 boxes of corn muffin mix per insturctions on box. Top the mix in the crockpot with the miffun mix and spread to cover. Cook on low 4-7 hours.

Feedback:

My husband said this was good. He only had a few bites though, because the kids were making him nuts. And my 2 year old wouldn't touch it because he saw a cake I made on the counter, and this wasn't it! I know my husband is so glad I'll be home the next 2 nights!

Crockpot Steak and Blue Cheese

This looked fabulous to me, and I was super jealous that I wasn't going to get to try it straight out of the pot! I had 10 minutes to throw this all together before jetting out the door, so I forgot to take pics - sorry!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb flat beef - I used round tip
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbs Worchestershire
2 cloves garlic smashed
1 cup crumbled blue cheese

Marinate meat in sauces and garlic in a ziplock bag in fridge overnight. Pull meat out of bag, and pour liquids into the crockpot. Lay out pieces of meat and sprinkle blue cheese on them. Roll the meat around the cheese into a log. Place meat seam-side down into the crockpot. Repeat with all meat. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Feedback:
My husband said this was way too salty for him. Which means I KNOW I would have thought it was fabulous, because I have a salt addiction. I should have probably used sodium free soy-sauce, since the cheese is salty already. But he said that the kids gobbled it up. My 2 year old had 2 helpings. There was none left for me. Bummer!

Home-Style Ribs

Tonight I work until 11pm, so the family will be eating without me. I made dinner in the trusty crockpot, and my husband will probably make a quick rice or potato side dish and some corn (or he won't and the kids won't know the difference anyways!).


The Ingredients:

Home-Style Ribs

4-5lbs bonless pork spareribs, cut into pieces
1 med onion sliced
1 cup ketchup
1/2 to 1 cup water
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tbs Worchestershire sauce
2 tsp ground mustard
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika

Place half the ribs in slow cooker and top with half the onion. Repeat layers. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over all. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours
Yield: 6-8 servings (Recipe Courtesy Taste of Home Magazine)

**I will be cutting the meat portion of this recipe in half. My very young children eat like a herd of teenagers, but I think there would still be a lot left over. I bought 2 lbs of the ribs but still made the full recipe amount of sauce - the kids will love to dip bread in it. I also cooked mine on low for 6 hours, since I had less meat.

**I love that all I had to do was purchase ribs for this dinner. Every other ingredient is something that I always have on hand. Makes for a rather in-expensive dinner - which I am ALL ABOUT these days!

Feedback from the zoo:

They ate it up, which never surprises me! Hubby said it was really good, falling apart and moist. He said the 2 babies inhaled it, and my toddler looked at it for awhile before eating it. He usually sees if the babies are eating it, and then he goes for it - like the King making his subjects test the food before he will eat it! Another hit! Can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch - if there are any...