Thankful use for leftover Turkey!

Hello and Happy 2013 Everyone!!

I have big plans for 2013!  I plan on getting my Mary Kay business up and running, which means I have to get out of my comfort zone and start talking to literally everyone! I will be cleaning out my closet, literally! Along with every room in my house. One of the other things I plan on doing is sticking to our weekly meal plan! I am planning on at least 1 slow cooker meal a week and 1 Deep Covered Baker meal, or just a Pampered Chef recipe, a week as well. My goal is to practice more new recipes for shows, to use more new products, and really spread my food budget out wisely with leftovers whenever I can! Since August, I have been working part time and so there is at least 1 or 2 nights a week I am not home. So leftovers are great for my husband and daughter. Also on my list is to make more freezer dinners, or those nights that my hubby just doesn't want what I have planned on the menu! 

 

So, for the beginning of 2013 and my list of new plans, I have made a fabulous, super easy, slow cooker soup!  I have to admit that I chose this recipe because I made a turkey for Christmas dinner and needed to use up the leftovers. So, after defrosting the leftover turkey, I got started. Here is the recipe!  Please do not forget to pin this recipe (the pin it button is on the actual page for the recipe) if you like it and share my blog on facebook.

 

Thankful Fiesta Soup

(recipe adapted from Crockingirls.com)

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Cups Leftover Turkey, chopped
• 20 Ounces Chicken Broth (I used 2 1/2 teaspoons of Better Than Boullionwith 20oz hot water)
• 1 Can Black Beans, drained
• 1 Can Whole Kernel Corn, drained
• 2 10oz Cans Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies
• 1 Can Tomato Paste
• 1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 4 Ounces Queso Blanco Velveeta Cheese
• 1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Ground Cumin
• 1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
• Sour Cream & Tortilla Chips for Topping (optional)

            Instructions:

1. Mix all in the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours.

 

That is seriously it! This soup is a simple throw together if you have leftovers!!  It would be great with leftover chicken too!

Pan-tastic Panini!!!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are having a great week! So I am sure you have seen some variation of the today's recipe all over the place. Wraps have been hitting restaurants in masses with many different fillings as a healthier selection compared to a sandwich. I have only tried of few of those out there and do like some of what I have had. I found today's recipe in The Pampered Chef's Spring/Summer 2012 Season's Best Recipe Collection and was very intrigued by all the different ingredients and how they were going to mingle together to create a wonderful wrap! And to top it off, it is grilled!! No more soggy wraps! One of the reason's I love this recipe is that you cook it on a grill pan inside! I am still working on my grilling skills, the grill outside is pretty intimidating if I am making anything other than grilled veggies. Plus, I always see the chef's on the cooking shows use an indoor grill pan, so it made me feel a little special and I wasn't nervous about it at all! Another great thing about this recipe is that including cooking the chicken, it doesn't take long to make at all, about 30 minutes. Gotta love those quick meals for those busy days! The wraps came out fantastic! My husband and I loved them and I will defiantly add them to the rotation of meals!

So I know I always list what Pampered Chef tools I have used to make a recipe but I haven't really talked much about our products, so here is where I do a little sells, being a Pampered Chef Consultant and all. If you haven't tried any of our pantry items, this would be a great recipe to to get started! The recipe requires a dijon mustard rub and The Pampered Chef has a great one! I have used it on both pork chops and chicken, and it is wonderful! Also, if you do not yet have a grill pan and press and would like to get one, The Pampered Chef has a fantastic dinner set that comes with the pan, press, panini spatula, dijon mustard rub, season's best cookbook, and a Color Coated Bread Knife! Or you can purchase what you need separately.

Grilled Chicken, Ham & Swiss Wraps

(recipe adapted from Spring/Summer 2012 Season's Best Recipe Collection by The Pampered Chef)

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 Tbsp canola oil

2 1/2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard Rub, divided

1 large while dill pickle

6oz Swiss cheese

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

1 garlic clove, pressed

16 thin slices low-sodium deli ham

4 11in flour tortillas

Instructions:

1. Brush chicken with oil and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp of rub.

2. Arrange chicken in microwavable baker (Deep Covered Baker), cover with lid and microwave on high for 8 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165F.

3. While the chicken cooks, slice pickles lengthwise with a vegetable peeler and grate cheese. 

4. Combine mayonnaise, pressed garlic clove, and remaining 1/2 Tbsp of rub in a large bowl, mix well and set aside.

5. Remove chicken from baker to a cutting board and let cool for 5 minutes.

6. Dice chicken into 1/2-in pieces.

7. Add chicken to mixing bowl with mayonnaise sauce and stir to coat.

8. Warm the tortillas between two paper towels in a microwave on high for 30-45 seconds to make them easier to roll.

9. To assemble wraps, layer two slices of ham width wise over center of one tortilla, overlapping as necessary; top with 1/3 of chicken mixture, 1/3 of pickle slices, then two additional slices of ham, and 1/3 o the cheese.

10. Fold in sides of tortilla and roll up tightly like a burrito.

(I ran out of ham when I made this video of how to assemble the wrap, so I used 1 peice of ham split for the top layer of ham but it will fold alright with the 2 peices of ham on top.)

11. Repeat the assembly and folding 3 more times to make 4 wraps total.

12. Preheat grill pan and grill pan press over medium-low heat for 5 minutes, repeat as necessary.

13. Place wraps in pan; top with grill press and cook for 3-4 minutes or until grill marks appear.

14. Remove wraps from pan; cut in half on bias and serve immediately.

Tools I used preparing this recipe:

Chef's Silicone Basting Brush

Deep Covered Baker

Cutting Board

Chef's Knife

Serrated Peeler

Microplane Adjustable Coarse Grater

Garlic Press

Classic Batter Bowl

Grill Pan

Grill Press

Nylon Panini Spatula

Dijon Mustard Rub

Super Shrimp!

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend!  This week's recipe is a definite keeper! If you want a quick, easy, light meal, take note of this one! This meal was made by my husband and he said he would make it again for sure!  I wanted to do something fun and light for the summer and I saw this recipe on Pinterest, so I had to try it! With the heat here, heavy meals tend to weigh us down, so I try to make light meals when we are going to be out in the sun for the day and this one was perfect.  Just don't go too heavy handed with the cayenne pepper unless you like more heat!!

Ever make a recipe that calls for a certain size of shrimp listed as a number and wonder what exactly that meant? Well this is something that use to stump me often until I researched it, so I wanted to share it with everyone, so you don't have to use the friendly search engine to get the answer you are looking for. So for example, this recipe calls for shrimp in the size of (31-35) or large shrimp. The numbers 31-35 represent how many shrimp there will be per pound and some packages will list it as (31-35 per pound). I don't know if I was just completely oblivious to this or not, but for some reason the numbers just baffled me. So, the less shrimp there are per pound the bigger they are. When you get into the bigger sizes they will be listed as U10 - U15. The U means "under" so this means under that number of shrimp per pound.  I don't know why I had such a problem with this as it is pretty simple, but there you have it.  So if you happen to have shrimp bigger than what is called for in this recipe, you can cut them into bite size pieces.

Super Simple Shrimp Tacos
(recipe adapted from Clean & Delicious with Dani Spies)

Ingredients:
1 lb of frozen raw large shrimp (31 - 35); defrosted, peeled, & deveined
6oz fat free Greek yogurt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 a head of cabbage, thinly sliced (about 5 cups)
8 flour tortillas
1 ripe avocado
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat tortillas over medium heat in a dry skillet until warm and starts to form small brown spots. Set aside on a plate covered with a clean kitchen towel.

2. Mix yogurt, cayenne, lime juice, cilantro, & salt in a small bowl, set aside.

3. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in a medium non-stick skillet and add cabbage, cooking for about four minutes or until cabbage is barely wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

4. Saute shrimp in 2 tsp of olive oil and seasons with salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne pepper over medium heat just until done. Shrimp cooks really fast so be sure to watch them to avoid over cooking.

5. Cut avocado into thin strips or dice.

6. Build your tacos! Place a scoop of cabbage on a warmed tortilla then top with shrimp, avocado, and cilantro sauce. Enjoy!

Options: When I read this recipe on Dani's website, it sounded wonderful! I like yogurt so I thought the sauce sounded great, which it was, however, my husband does not really like yogurt, so if you want to make it a little differently you could use sour cream instead of the yogurt. Also, I added the avocado to the recipe.

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Today's recipe is another great Pinterest find! I have to say, I am so addicted to Pinterest! I am hooked!  I find myself mostly pinning recipes, and there are some great looking ones out there!  It is pretty awesome to be able to keep all the recipes on a board, so they are always in one place to find, as long as the website they were pinned from stays active. It is more organized then the recipes I have wrote by hand! They are all in a big manila envelope for now. LOL My sister-in-law told me about Pinterest a year ago and I kept avoiding it because I knew she was hooked on it! That is all I need, something else to do instead of the stuff  I should be doing, like cleaning! LOL I finally jumped on and now I look at it for at least 5 minutes every day. Haha

Anyways, back to the recipe. I made this and I was so excited how well it turned out! It is a great feeling to make something and have it be a hit! This recipe is very flavorful and super easy to make!  I would say the recipe makes 4 - 5 servings, so if you are wanted more than that, double it. I served the stroganoff on egg noodles, but it would be great on rice or mashed potatoes as well.

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

(recipe adapted from The Well-FedNewlyweds)

Ingredients:

2 to 3 lbs. beef stew meat (or a 3 lb. chuck roast, cubed)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 cube of beef boullion

1 1/2 cups water
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. ketchup
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6-7 T. water
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup sour cream (reduced fat is fine)

Instructions:

1. Put the beef, onion, and bouillon cube into the slow cooker.

2. In a small bowl whisk together the water, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, and garlic salt.

3. Pour the mixture over the meat and onion in the cooker and stir to combine.

4. Put the lid on and cook for 7-9 hours on low or 4-5 on high.
 

5. An hour before the end of cooking, whisk together the flour and water. This should be the consistency of pancake batter. If it is still too thick after the 6-7 Tbsp of water add addition water 1 tablespoon at a time until at the right consistency.

6. Add the flour mixture and mushrooms to the slow cooker and stir to combine.

7. Put the lid back on and continue to cook for remaining hour.

8. Add sour cream, stirring to combine, just before serving.

Options: I used a beef bouillon cube and water but you could use 1 1/2 cups of beef broth or stock in place of it if you wanted to. Also, to make it gluten-free try using 1 Tbsp of cornstarch dissolved in one cup of cold water in place of the flour mixture, adding more cornstarch as needed for desired consistency.  

Tools I used making this recipe:
Small Batter Bowl
Stainless Mini Whisk
Adjustable Measuring Spoons
Measure All Cup
5" Utility Knife
Cutting Board
Bamboo Spoon Set
Spoon Rest

Slow Cooker Roast Beef and Potatoes

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone has a fun and safe St. Patrick's Day!!

So my first post is a simple yet delicious one!  I am starting out with small posts until I get the hang of it!  So how many of you love a good roast beef and potatoes meal?  I know I do!!  This recipe was given to me by a very good friend and since then I have made my roasts this way!  My husband and I love it! Ok, here it goes:

Slow Cooker Roast Beef and Potatoes

Ingredients

2-5 pound boneless beef roast (any kind)

1 envelope ranch dressing

1 envelop Italian dressing

1 envelope brown gravy

1 - 1 1/2 cups of water

Carrots

Potatoes

1 Tbsp cornstarch - optional

Place roast into slow cooker. Combine dressings and gravy with 1 - 1 1/2 cups of water, mix well. Pour the gravy mixture over the roast. Set slow cooker to high for 6 hours. Place the lid on let it go! After 3 hours of cooking, peel potatoes and cut into even sizes. Peel carrots if desired and cut into even pieces. Place on carrots and potatoes on top of the roast, place the lid back on and let cook for remaining 3 hours. 

Optional - For thicker, combine 1 Tbsp of cornstarch with 1 cup cold water and mix until fully dissolved, then pour into cooker and stir to thicken. Also, any vegetable could be added to this, celery, onions, anything you would like, just keep in mind that softer veggies, like mushrooms or zucchini, require a shorter cook time.

Rolls or bread go great with this meal! I love to sop up all the gravy with a soft baked item! :-)
I know, I should of included it in the picture, but honestly, I was just using a regular slice of bread. Nothing picture worthy!

Tell me what you think:

I have been trying to make more slow cooker recipes, just because they are easiest on busy days!  But I was wondering what you all thought about those slow cooker liners?  I have only used them twice and have just not been too impressed.  This last time I used it for the roast beef, and it actually caused the juices to spill out over my cooker, making a big mess!  Tell me what you think!