Crockpot Lasagna

Want a homecooked meal this week, but you’re short on time? My friend Michelle shared this recipe for crockpot lasagna some ten years ago and it’s still a family favorite to this day.

Last night while cooking supper I multi-tasked and put together crockpot lasagna in less than 30 minutes. When it was ready, I simply put the crockpot insert into the fridge. This morning I started the crockpot and for lunch we dined on homemade lasagna.

Crockpot Lasagna
1 to 1 1/2lbs of ground chuck or turkey
2 jars of spaghetti sauce
16 oz container of part skim ricotta cheese
8 oz shredded mozarella cheese
1 large box of lasagna noodles
Basil, chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
Sea salt
Pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup water

Coat skillet with olive oil and sauté garlic, add in meat and basil cook until brown.  Drain meat and add in spaghetti sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

In crockpot, layer as followed:   meat sauce,  uncooked noodles, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese. Repeat.

Fill crockpot with layers. When complete, add one cup of water by pouring it down the sides of crockpot making sure it makes it to the bottom. The water will keep it from drying out and help cook the noodles.

I’ve made this enough times over the years to know it will burn. Everything but the noodles is basically done.  Cook on low for 6 hours.

Each Monday in Ocotber, MMCW will be sharing a crockpot recipe. Would you like to share with of your family favorites with everyone? Send your recipe to mentoringmoments@aol.com.

Grandma’s Steak & Potatoes Crockpot Casserole

Some of my earliest memories are of eating Sunday lunch with my Grandparents at May’s Restaurant in Winfield, Alabama. I always chose the same thing from the buffet line: country fried steak, mashed potatoes, English peas, and a dinner roll.

Years passed, May’s closed, and Grandma was given a steak and potato crockpot recipe that became her favorite. She loved making this casserole because she could adjust the amounts easily for her and Grandpa. If she told me once, she told me a thousand times how to make this dish–often changing the ingredients just a tad to give it a new twist.

In Grandma’s honor, I put a few of my own twists on her recipe by adding fresh garlic and baby bella mushrooms. Feel free to make it your own by adjusting amounts and ingredients. Enjoy!

Grandma’s Steak & Potato Crockpot Casserole
6 to 8 cube steaks
4 to 5 baking potatoes
3 medium onions
Carton of baby Portabella mushrooms
4 finely chopped garlic cloves
1 (26 oz) Family size cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of water (can substitute beef broth)
Sea salt & pepper to taste

In a skillet, coat bottom with Olive Oil and brown steaks. Remove and place in crockpot. Saute garlic and baby bella mushrooms in olive oil, set aside.

Layer steak, potatoes, onion, mushrooms, and soup mix in crockpot. Salt and pepper layers lightly with Sea Salt as you go.

Cook on high in the crockpot for 6 hours or low for 8 hours.  While a crockpot casserole is not the easiest to photograph, I hope you get the idea. Perfect for Sunday dinner!

Monday Madness

It starts on Sunday evening. My stomach get tight, my brain starts working overtime, and I get a little anxious. This has happened to me since Kindergarten – you can ask my mom!

It’s not because I don’t love Sundays – I do! As a matter of fact they are my favorite day of the week. It’s Mondays I’m not so fond of.

Everyone is a little more tired on Monday than usual even if bedtimes were kept rigidly. We’re all a little down at the back-to-school routine even if the break was just two days long.

I’ve learned that Mondays need to be ‘easy’ days at my house. Not only does it take me a while to get into the groove of the week again, I need to start the week off at a slower pace so I’m not burned out by Thursday.

Here are some things to consider when trying to carve more time and sanity into your week:

TV/COMPUTER TIME: Consider making Mondays the day the TV and computer games get a break – turn it off. Studies show that school-aged brains think best when they haven’t had too much computer game or TV time on school days. It might take some adjustment, but it’s worth it.

We haven’t had TV channels in our home for 16 years and we’ve done just fine! Our kids don’t feel deprived, we get our news off the internet, and we do have a television for videos (VHS because we now watch most videos on our computer monitor). It’s good for the kids to go outside to play, read a book, play a board game and simply use their imaginations. It might seem like more work at first, but in the end it will free up a lot of time.

SLOW COOKER DAY: I love my slow cooker. I have three slow cooker pots that share two bases. One base is coming apart and still works if I set it ‘just so’… but I still use it! Mondays are definitely the perfect day for slow cooker meals. Either Sunday night or Monday morning while the kids wolf down some breakfast, throw your ingredients into the pot, turn it on and leave it.

You can find great slow cooker cookbooks, but if you don’t want to rush out and buy anything you can check some online recipes.

Here’s one my family loves – it makes enough for a starving army!

CREAM OF SAUSAGE VEGETABLE SOUP
1 lb sausage or ham, cubed (Make sure it is a smoked ham or sausage, quite strong in flavor)
5 medium potatoes, diced finely
3 large carrots, diced finely
1 large onion, diced finely
2 cups green beans, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp dried green pepper (or ½ fresh pepper diced)
1 tbsp dried red pepper (or ½ fresh pepper diced)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
10 cups water
Combine above ingredients in slow cooker.
Cook for 8 hours or overnight.

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup flour (rice flour for gluten free recipe)
4 ½ cups milk

*About 10 minutes before serving, melt butter in a large pot.
Stir in flour until a smooth paste forms in the pot.
Add milk, stirring constantly until it boils.
Slowly add to cooked soup.
Garnish with shredded old cheddar cheese, croutons or parsley.
Enjoy!
You may have wondered why I chose to do a Monday Madness on a Wednesday. It’s so that you have plenty of time to get ready to implement the changes before Monday comes.

Salmon on Gingered Carrots

Here’s a fresh alternative for Easter or Passover dinner, succulent salmon on a bed of gingered carrots.

Ingredients:
4 Tbsps. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 – 16 oz. bags of  fresh baby carrots
1 tsp. ground ginger
2 lbs. fresh Salmon fillets
Salt and pepper to taste
2 pieces fresh dill weed
Preparation:
Sauté minced garlic, carrots, and olive oil in saucepan on stovetop. Place vegetables in crockpot, and sprinkle with ginger. Place fish fillets over vegetables, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and dill weed. Cover, and cook in crockpot on low for 1 hour until salmon flakes when tested with a fork. (Test after 45 minutes of cooking. If salmon is done, turn off crockpot, and keep covered until serving time.) Place carrots on serving plate, and top with salmon.

This recipe is from my new cookbook, Creative Crockpot Cooking set for release in January of 2012.

Cuban for Dinner

My family of picky eaters fell in love with Cuban food last year. From black beans and rice, plantains,  to traditional Cubano sandwiches, we love our Cuban. Imagine my surprise when a friend shared a recipe for Cuban pork that looked easy for this culinarily-challenged gal to make.

I popped the roast in the oven when I realized I had not read the instructions far enough to know it was (originally) a crockpot recipe. Looking down the barrel of a 6 o’clock dinner time I knew that was not happening. It was probably a good thing because the aroma of  the cooking roast was irrestible.  Be forewarned–your entire home will fill with the most exotic sweet citrus aroma. Do not be surprised if all the neighbors find their way to your door!

The original recipe appeared in November 2009′s  issue of Food Network Magazine and is called Slow-roasted Pork with Citrus and Garlic. My adaption skips the 48  hours of marinating and leaves out a few ingredients since  I used what I had on hand. If you’re a by-the-book cook ,you’ll want to check out their recipe. If you’re more like me, you’ll love playing around with this recipe and adding more or less of some spices and throwing in a few of your favorites to create your own signature version.

Citrus Pork

1 large Boston butt pork shoulder

For Rub:
10 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of either dried or fresh oregano, 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh or dried thyme, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 4 bay leaves (fresh or dried), 2 tablespoons Sea Salt, 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper.

For Marinade:
Juice of 2 oranges with halves reserved, juice of 4 lemons with halves reserved, juice of 2 limes, 1/4 cup Worcestershire, 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 3 onions thinly sliced.

*Place roast in a large roasting pan.

*Grind the garlic, oregano, thyme, cumin, bay leaves, salt, and pepper together. No fancy kitchen gadget? Chop up the garlic and herbs (if you used fresh) then mix with salt and pepper.

* Make cuts into the pork and rub your ‘rub’ in.

* Cut all the lemons, limes, and oranges in half and squeeze the juices into a bowl. Set your citrus halves aside for later. Pour in the Worcestershire and olive oil and stir. Pour over your roast.

* Thinly slice one onion and put rings on roast.

* Cook covered with aluminum foil in a 350 degree oven for an hour. After an hour add remaining sliced onions to top of roast and several of your citrus halves around it. Take foil off at this point and continue cooking for another 30 to 45 minutes or until meat is nice and brown and done all the way through.

If you have leftovers this will freeze wonderfully in a Zip-loc freezer bag for another dinner or lunch.

Taco Soup

Loi Palmer, April 2005 MMCW
4 lb ground chuck, 1 large chopped onion, 2 cans northern beans, 2 cans kidney beans, 2 cans corn, 2 cans Rotel, 2 medium cans stewed tomatoes, 1 can green beans, 1 small can chopped black olives, 2 large cans tomato sauce, 1 package taco seasoning mix, 2 packages Ranch dressing mix (powder), 1 cup water.

Brown ground beef and onions. Drain off fat. Mix all other ingredients with beef and onions. Simmer on low for 45 minutes. Serve with sour cream and grated cheese.

Thai Coconut Chicken

Kellie Renfroe

Oasis

My family of picky eaters loves the unique flavoring of this easy and economical dish. Adapted from a Family Circle recipe, Thai Coconut Chicken can be made in the crockpot or on the stovetop.

1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth, 3 tablespoons of Thai Kitchen green curry paste, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 6 to 8 chicken thighs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper, 1 (16 ounce) bag of baby carrots, 1 large chopped sweet red pepper, 1/2 pound green beans, 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk, 12 chopped fresh basil leaves, 1 (32 ounce) Mahatma Jasmine rice.

Whisk together broth, 2 1/2 tablespoons of curry paste, fish sauce, and brown sugar in a bowl and set aside.

Remove skin from chicken and place in pot. Season with salt and pepper. Add carrots and pour in curry mixture. Cook at medium high heat for stovetop, high for 3 hours in the crockpot, or on low for 5 hours. When chicken is cooked through, remove from pot and remove thigh bones and shred chicken. Place back in pot.

Add green beans (I use frozen) along with red pepper for the last hour of cooking. In a sauce pan heat coconut milk while whisking in 1/2 tablespoon of curry paste. Pour over cooking chicken and veggies. Add chopped basil leaves to the pot and stir.

Cook rice and serve with Thai coconut chicken. This fed my family of six with leftovers.