Soup in the Pot!

Keri's Crock Pot French Onion Soup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5-6 sweet onions

1 clove of garlic

2 Tbsp butter

14 ounces beef broth

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

sliced French Bread

sliced or shredded cheese

 

In a large skillet, cook onions and garlic in butter on low heat for about 20 minutes.

 

Transfer onions to crock pot and add beef broth, Worcestershire sauce and 1 cup of water.

 

Cover and cook on low 5-8 hours or high for 2-4 hours.

 

Toast bread slices with cheese on top under broiler for 3-4 minutes.

 

Serve soup in bowls topped with toasted bread.

What a Crock!

I kid! I kid! 

(But, seriously, who could resist a title like that during the Great Crockpot Challenge of 2012?)

As Krista explained, the Crockpot Challenge was started primarily as a way to initiate me (Janet) into the wonderful world of slow cookers. Up until now, I've only ever used my crock pot to make BBQ pork (ala my dad's incredible recipe, which I will share with you some time this summer when I will certainly have a craving for barbecue--it's so stinkin' good!)

So, what was the verdict, you ask. Yeah, I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat, biting your nails in eager anticipation to know...

Well, if I'm being 100% honest here, my verdict is: "Meh."

Krista's Crockpot Baked Potatoes and Fixin's

April's Crockpot Challenge! 

(...And my mom's homemade roll recipe)

So...someone came up with this brilliant idea to have a Crockpot Challenge. (Okay, it was me!)

Well, it seemed like a good idea...

My whole point behind it was to get Janet to use a crockpot. Keri, Amy and I use crockpot meals every once in a while, and I have professed to Janet how WONDERFUL it is to do a crockpot meal.

Whenever I make one, I simply get everyone's crockpot in the morning, throw everything in it, and send it back to them to them to plug in and cook. (I would imagine that plugging four crockpots in for a day would somehow effect my electric bill!!) Anyway...on crockpot nights, dinner is done and it is not even lunch time!

Janet, being the incredible cook that she is, has never tried it. (TONIGHT is the night for her!)

Back to Monday night, my night. Over the weekend, I just couldn't come up with an idea I wanted to try.
I looked on all the recipe websites, and nothing was looking appealing...I was not in the mood for pot roast!! I came across many recipes on making baked potatoes in the crockpot.


Sounded easy...clean, poke holes, cover in foil and THROW IN CROCKPOT! Perfect.

So I cleaned the potatoes, poked holes, covered them in oil and some salt and wrapped them in foil. Then, I filled my crockpot...and, I believe this is where I messed up. Most of the recipes didn't indicate how many potatoes to put in.

At 4:15, I was starting to panic when the potatoes were as still hard as rocks. UH-NO!
Quickly, I turned the oven on and started transferring them.

The final verdict on the crockpot cooked baked potatoes: Not great. I do think that they started cooking in the crockpot because once I threw them in the oven, they were done quickly, BUT on a whole, it was a failure!

On a more positive note, I want to share my mom's roll recipe recipe with you. It is so easy and so yummy! (A few weeks ago, I made a salad for The Better Halves and used these rolls to make the croutons! They were a couple days old and made for the perfect croutons.)

Mom's Homemade Roll Recipe

1 cup of warm water between 105 and 115 degrees

2 packages of active dry yeast

1 stick of melted butter

½ c sugar

3 eggs

1 t salt

4 ½ cups of flour

Yields: 2 dozen

Combine water and yeast in large water and let mixture stand until yeast is foamy … 5 minutes

Mix in butter, sugar, eggs, salt on slow speed.

Beat in flour one cup at a time until dough is too stiff to mix.

Cover and refrigerator for 2 hours or up to 4 days.

Grease a 13x9 baking pan. Turn chilled dough out on lightly floured surface.

Divide dough in 24 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into smooth round ball. Place in even rows in pan…4 across.

Cover and allow balls to rise to double size…1 hour.

Preheat oven 375. Bake until rolls are golden brown…15-20 minutes. 

ENJOY!

Janet's Pasta with Sausage & Parmesan (aka "Sausage Noodles")

(About 4 or 5 servings)

One box Campanelle Pasta (cooked according to box directions. I used Barilla brand, but any brand or medium-ish shape should work, as long as it can really hold the sauce.)

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 cup milk (heated)

dash of nutmeg

½ cup shredded mozzarella

freshly-grated Parmesan, to taste

4 Italian sausage links

Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat until melted. Stir in flour, salt, pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat, stir in warm milk (I heated it in the microwave). Add a dash of nutmeg.

Heat mixture to boiling, then stir in ½ cup mozzarella cheese (more or less, to taste).

Meanwhile, remove the casings from 4 Italian sausage links, and sauté the sausage until it is fully cooked and in bite-sized crumbles. (If you feel like adding a little extra flavor, shake in fennel and dried oregano to taste. Strong flavors, so use a light hand!)

Combine drained pasta, white sauce and crumbled sausage, tossing until sauce thoroughly coats pasta and sausage. Test for salt and pepper. Serve immediately topped with Parmesan.

(Served with Spinach and Arugula Salad, topped with croutons, fresh mushrooms, dried cranberries and balsamic vinaigrette.)

Super Helpful Note: Be sure to put the leftover pasta INSIDE THE REFRIGERATOR instead of leaving it on the counter and then falling asleep in an exhausted heap. This small but very important step will keep you from crying the next day when you go looking for that pasta for lunch. --Just speaking from experience here…(sniff)

Keri's Maryland Crab Salad

The Maryland Crab Salad (a name actually used by a local restaurant so maybe I shouldn't be copying that) is lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheddar and monterey jack cheese, carrots (mostly for the non-salad-eating kids),and croutons topped with biscuit fries (another stolen name) and crab cakes.  I think the crab cakes must Phillips, the crab is really good quality.

This is their signature recipe:

1 lb crab meat

1 egg

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp mustard

1 Tbsp melted butter

1 tsp parsley flakes

1 tsp seafood seasoning (Old Bay, of course!)

1/2 cup bread crumbs

The Better (Than You) Halves?

I have a friend who thinks she’s pretty funny…Ok. She is pretty funny. But don’t tell her I said so. And not long after we started The Better Halves, and I was talking about it almost constantly (yes, believe it or not…I used to talk about our dinner co-op even MORE than I do now), she teased me in a good-natured way, calling it “The Better (Than You) Halves.”

Yes, I realize that stumbling into a situation in which neighbors take turns cooking for each other is pretty incredible. In fact, the other day, I was standing on the sidelines at one my son’s lacrosse games, and the other moms were talking about easy recipes to serve after getting home relatively late on a school-night. When it came up that dinner was just magically delivered to my house by my neighbors, one of the women said (not unkindly, but in a matter-of-fact way), “Well, that’s nice for you that you can do that.”

Hmmm…

Yes. It is. And while I just smiled and nodded, inside I was thinking: “But maybe you can do it, too!”

Like the dinner co-op zealot that I am, I can’t help but think we’ve tapped into something special that almost anyone can find a way to replicate…even if they don’t live in a magical fairyland like me, with four friendly and compatible neighbor women who love cooking for each other.

Swing and a Miss: Breakfast for Dinner

 (sigh)

Lots of work. Big mess.

Didn't love the dinner.

I haven't gotten the verdict from the other Better Halves, but as the cook-of-the-day, I have to say: I'm disappointed.

I usually love breakfast for dinner. I made French toast and fruit salad last month, and it was dang tasty. Thinking I would re-visit the breakfast theme again once this month,  I decided to go with something a bit more "protein-ish." (Last month's French toast, while yummy, had everyone on a big-time sugar rush at 7:00 PM on a school night. Not really an ideal situation...)

Soooo, inspired by a cooking show that I will not name because I'm kind of irritated at how the recipe turned out (it rhymes with Schmioneer Schwoman), I decided to make Breakfast Burritos and Sausage Pancakes on Sticks. Yeah...It was one of those good-in-theory ideas, but not so much in practice.

Keri's Holy Guacamole!

 

 

Along with the fixin's for her amazing Grilled Chicken Wraps (including grilled chicken, bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, sprouts, and dressing--oh, and tortillas to wrap around it), Keri included some seriously delicious guacamole. 

 

This "no-recipe" guacamole was invented by our neighbor, Paula, who is an amazing cook and a hostess with the mostest...

 

Paula's No-Recipe Guacamole by Keri

 

- a few ripe avacados (2-4; definitely 4 for a crowd)

- the juice of a lime or two (I love it...so the more the merrier for me)

- a big bunch of fresh cilantro (I used a healthy cup of chopped leaves with my 4 avacados)

- a shake of salt and pepper; I used kosher salt and fresh ground pepper generously

- a dash of garlic powder--very scientific, I know, but it really depends on how you like it

- a tablespoon or two of salsa or just some diced tomatoes...I like the salsa--homemade hot salsa by my Mom if I can get it :-)

 

Mash/mix it all together.

 

Serve with Grilled Chicken Wraps (or anything else, for that matter...).

Amy's Aunt Mary's Pineapple Casserole

Some of you might already have this recipe or some form of it, and I'm not quite sure if its roots are Pennsylvania Dutch. So why is Aunt Mary's casserole so different? Well, it's probably not, but the recipes we lovingly inherit always become that persons. Like, my mom's Bar-B-Que, or Patricia's Chicken Tetrazinni.

 

This is Aunt Mary's Pineapple casserole. If you don't believe me, here is the recipe card:

 

 

 

This dish was placed in front of me at my husband's Aunt Mary's house and I thought, capitol YUCK. Then, trying to be an adult, I tasted it. Now when it's served I think capitol YUM. Plus, it's fun to think I'm eating something for dessert for dinner.  I hope you give this easy recipe a try.

 

Aunt Mary's Pineapple Casserole

 

1/2 C butter, softened

1 C white sugar

4 eggs 

1 can crushed pineapple, drained

7 slices cubed bread

Mix together.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Krista's Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

(inspired by a recipe on Pinterest)

Veggie Ingredients

• 1/2 red onion, quartered
• 2-3 yellow, red or green bell peppers, sliced
• Broccoli florets
• 1 small handful of shredded carrots
• 6 cloves of garlic, leave the skins on for roasting
• 1 green zucchini, sliced
• Olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
• Dried basil
• Dried oregano