Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I've been working on trying new recipes on my days off.  One of the things I've been looking for in particular are relatively healthy recipes that I can make in my Crock Pot.  The one-dish aspect of it is obviously appealing.  As summer approaches, being able to make a full-on meal without turning on the oven or slaving over a hot stove also seems like a great idea.  (Although, to be honest, it snowed today.  One the first day of May.  Because I live in Minnesota.  It could snow at any given moment!)

Due to the nature of slow cookers, almost anything made in one pretty much becomes comfort food.  But in this case, beef stew is already comfort food, so all's well.  Plus, this made my house smell fantastic all day and it's relatively veggie-packed for a beef stew.

This recipe is based on a one from Taste of Home.  Within the framework of their recipe, I changed it quite a bit, with changes based on the ingredients I had, comments people left on the original recipe...and the fact that I wanted it to have mushrooms in it.  Yum!

I think it turned out quite good and it made a completely full Crock Pot's-worth of stew.  I had a generous bowl for dinner, will freeze some, and will put some in the fridge for dinners this week.


Ingredients

• About 1 1/4 lbs. of stew meat (or boneless beef chuck roast) cut into around 1-inch-sized pieces
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (I used 2 small, 1 medium, and 1 large red potato)
• 3 cups water
• almost an entire 1 lbs. package of baby carrots (I kept out a handful to eat!)
• 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) Campbell's condensed golden mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 piece celery, chopped (probably don't need this, actually.  But now I have celery for snacks this week)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• slightly less than 1/3 cup cold water
• 1 16-ounce package of frozen peas, thawed
• 1 larger-sized can of mushrooms

Directions

1. Place the beef, potatoes, water, carrots, soup, onion, celery, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon, garlic, salt, and pepper in slow cooker and stir. 
2. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender.  (I cooked it on low for about 3 hours, realized I was never going to eat dinner at this rate, then cooked it on high for nearly 3 more.  My carrots were still a bit less-than-tender, but it was fine.)
3. Combine cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl until smooth; gradually stir into stew. 
4. Stir in peas and canned mushrooms. 
5. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until thickened. 

Cake Batter Cheeseball (covered with Sprinkles!)

A few weeks ago I said to some folks at work: "I could solve all the world's problems with enough sprinkles and glitter!"  Did I really mean that?  No.  Obviously I didn't.  Because the world's problems are complicated and involve things like authoritarian regimes, droughts, massive cultural clashes/misunderstandings, greed, hate, etc.

Now, do I think that sprinkles and glitter bring some happiness into my very-definitely-First-World life?  Yes.  Yes, I do.  And do I think that I'm shallow for liking glitter and sprinkles (which are really just the edible equivalent of glitter anyway)?  Why, no.  No, I do not.  But I do know that there are people who do judge me for liking "trivial" things....and I think that is shallow on their part.  Because--and let's be honest here--I'm pretty awesome.  In addition to my love of sparkles and brightly colored bits of sugar, I'm a highly skilled research librarian sharing info with my patrons everyday. I'm an activist working toward improving my community and my country. I'm a caring friend, proud aunt, pretty decent sister and mostly-OK daughter.  I'm a reader, sci-fi fan, Star Wars devotee, kick-ass board game player, namer of houseplants, player of bar trivia, and baker of award-winning cakes.  Like most people, I'm complex.  And my love of parades, balloons, cupcakes, hedgehogs, penguins, sprinkles--and, yes, even glitter--does not make me a foolish little girl or a person who can't grow up.  It means that I like what I like, even though much of society tells me that I'm dumb for doing so.  

Anyway, since I like sprinkles, I decided they needed to be a component for my entry into work's most recent food challenge.  The theme was snack food, so I brought Nilla wafers and pretzels to dip into a sweet cheese ball.  Specifically, I made a sprinkle-covered, cake-batter flavored ball of cream-cheese-based wonder.  The secret ingredient is actually cake mix, so this makes it even more appropriate for me!

The original recipe came from a blog called Like Mother, Like Daughter, and it was really the photos that drew me in.  I'm also pretty certain you could use all kinds of cake mix to make this super-tasty treat.  I think chocolate would be worth a try...but I'm thinking that spice cake and/or carrot cake might be amazing.  Also, this recipe is seriously delicious and a bit addictive...and it won me my second-ever Golden Spatula ("Spatchie") award from co-workers voting it as the best food in the challenge.  I'm honored and also just glad they enjoyed it! :)  

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1½ cups yellow cake mix, dry
• ½+ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• approximately 1 cup sprinkles, optional-but-not-really-optional (don't use the colored sugar or the non-pareils.  The first will disappear and the second are too crunchy.  Use the long-shaped sprinkles.)            

Important directions re: sprinkles
Man!  Sprinkles sure have a bunch of blue in them these days!  (Though Wilton does sell jars of non-blue-containing sprinkles, they are sort of expensive.)  I bought a small shaker of sprinkles so that I wouldn't have to use all my "good" ones, but the bottle was about 1/3 blues.  Blech!  So I decided to remove all the blues and throw those away.  I did this using a plate, small sharp knife, and a bowl, plus a good conversation with a friend on the phone. It was actually kind of relaxing to separate out the good colors from the bad.

At the beginning

Mid-separation

Basically finished

So much better!

 Directions:

1. Stir/whisk/beat your cream cheese until smooth and creamy
   
2. Add butter and stir/whisk/beat until smooth
   
3. Mix in cake mix, vanilla, and powdered sugar.
4. Add half of the sprinkles and stir (optional)
   
5. Place all of mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap in a generally ball-like shape
6. Wrap the plastic wrap around the mixture and roll into a better ball
   
7. Refrigerate for at least an hour (until cheese ball is at least mostly firm)
8. Spread remaining ½ cup sprinkles onto a large flat plate or into the bottom of a large bowl
9. Remove cheese ball from plastic and dab/roll it in the sprinkles, then press sprinkles into an empty spots so that it is even.  Note: I did not put sprinkles on the bottom of the cheeseball.  
10. Cover bowl with cheese ball in it and put in freezer for about 1 hour (or in fridge overnight).  If left in freezer for several hours/overnight, remove to thaw 30 minutes before serving
11. Serve with cookies, graham crackers, pretzels, or whatever

And no, I don't have a photo of the finished product.  People pretty much dug in right away and I didn't have a camera or phone.  But here it is after most of it was eaten:

Buffalo Chicken Mac n' Cheese Pasta Bake

One of the recent recipes that I've tried and liked (the corn pudding recipe was not terrible, but I didn't have any desire to finish it, so I'm not going to make it again!) is this healthy, veggie-packed Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake.  It has lots of flavor but isn't particularly cheesy.  I think adding some extra shredded cheese stirred in and all melty (after it is out of the oven) was a great idea.  Personally, I used some reduced fat shredded Colby and it was super-good.  The original recipe I found in my Hungry Girl 300 under 300 cookbook, but I made a few small changes.  Here's my version:  

Ingredients

• 4.5 oz. (about 1 cup) uncooked macaroni 
• 2 or 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped (or a bunch of baby carrots chopped, which is what I did)
• 1 small onion, chopped (or a about half a medium onion, chopped)
• 8 ounces cooked and and shredded/chopped skinless lean chicken breast
• 1+ teaspoon garlic
• 1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Buffalo sauce, divided
• 1/2 cup fat free sour cream
• 2 wedges Laughing Cow light Swiss cheese
• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• bread crumbs, optional 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook pasta to al dente, drain, and set aside
   
3. Heat large skillet sprayed with non-stick spray to medium-high heat.  Add celery, carrots, and onions.  Stir occasionally, cook until veggies are softened, about 5 minutes.
   
4. Add chicken, garlic, and 3 Tbsp. hot sauce to skillet.  Mix and set aside
   
   
5. In a microwave safe bowl mix sour cream, cheese wedges, mustard, and rest of hot sauce.  Heat in microwave for 30 seconds.
6. Spray an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with non-stick spray.  Place half of pasta in pan, top with veggie/chicken mixture, top with rest of pasta.
7. Put sour cream mixture on top in an even layer, Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.
   
8. Bake about 30 minutes, until hot and bubbling
   
9. Serve, sprinkle with shredded cheese, if desired
   

Makes 4 servings 

Veggie Pasta Bake

In the past few weeks I've started trying to regularly cook.  Not just making dinner, but cooking actual things, mostly so that I can have leftovers.  The other part of the goal is to make things that are healthy: lots of veggies, lower fat, that sort of thing.

In that spirit I made this pasta bake last week.  It is based on a recipe from the Hungry Girl 300 Under 300 cookbook.  The original recipe says that it makes 4 servings, but I actually divvied it up into just 3.  I also changed the pasta to what I had in my cabinet (macaroni rather than ziti) and made a few other changes.  Let's be honest, I used more cheese.  

Ingredients:

• 5 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) uncooked pasta
• 1 cup thinly sliced/chopped onions (about 3/4 of a medium onion)
• 2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms (I used one package of button mushrooms)
• 1+ Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 cups spinach (I used one bag of spinach from the salad section)
• 3/4 cup light or low-fat ricotta cheese
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:  

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Prepare pasta to al dente, drain, and set aside in a bowl
3. Heat a large skillet sprayed with non-stick spray, to a medium heat
4. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until onions are soft (about 3 or 4 minutes)
   
5. Add mushrooms, garlic, and basil.  Cook until mushrooms are soft (about 3 minutes)
   
6. Add spinach and, again stirring often, cook until spinach is wilted and excess moisture was evaporated (about 8 minutes)
   
   
7. Remove skillet from heat and add ricotta cheese.
   
8. Transfer everything from the skillet to the bowl with the pasta
   
9. Add tomatoes and 1/2 cup of the mozzerella cheese.  Stir
10. Spray a 8in or 9in square baking pan with non-stick spray.
11. Add mixture from bowl
    
12. Top with Parmesan and the rest of the mozzerella
    
13. Bake about 15 minutes (until entire dish is hot and cheese on top is melted)
    

Chocolate-filled Croissants: Valentine's Treat #2

Since a package of cinnamon rolls only makes 8 treats--and I wasn't sure of success--I decided to make another type of small-batch, easy treat.  This is something I've made before, and they are fast and easy.

The only rough part is that they call for nutella or other chocolate spread.  Which isn't terrible, but then I have left-over nutella.  Which means that at some point I end up eating a spoonful out of the jar.  Again, not a terrible hardship.  But it is a little shameful, and a little bad for my healthy-eating goals.  In this case, however, I already had a partial jar, so this recipe was actually helpful.

All you do is unroll the Pillsbury crescent rolls, spread with a spoonful of nutella, roll up, and bake.  Be sure to roll from the wide end toward the point, and to put the point on the bottom before baking.

Heart-Shaped Cinnamon Rolls: Valentine's Day Treat #1

I was looking for something festive, but easy to make to share with my co-workers on Valentine's Day, obviously I went on Pinterest.  Well, not obviously.  But that *is* a good place to just see a bunch of ideas in one place.  I saw this recipe's photo, followed it to the Pillsbury site, and thought: "Dang!  Easy, cute, cheaper than bakery cinnamon rolls.  A winner!"  

Well, it turns it it wasn't as easy as I thought.  "But, why?" you might ask.  Well, apparently the Pillsbury people make several different kinds of cinnamon rolls and they are relatively different...and the vital preliminary task of unrolling the cinnamon rolls is made significantly harder if they are not technically rolled in the first place.  Yep, somehow I managed to buy the type of rolls that are more of a solid roll with cinnamon stuff on top.  

"Ok.  No problem," I thought.  I can do this.  And I did!  They turned out pretty cute, actually.  Here's what I did:

1. Take a cinnamon roll and rip it in half.  Then stretch each half out and pinch ends together to made one long piece.  (Now, if I'd really been thinking, I would've just cut a spiral myself.  But did I do that?  Uh, no.)

2. Fold long piece in half and pinch bottom together.

3. Roll under loose ends to make a heart-shape

4. Spray an 8 or 9 inch round pan with non-stick spray and place hearts around edge, points to the center

5. Bake according to the package directions

6. Separate the rolls and then use frosting that came in package, if you like.  (I left mine plain and brought the frosting and a knife, so that people could add as much or as little as they liked.)

African Peanut-Sweet Potato Stew

When I graduated from NC State with my Master's in Public History, I needed to celebrate.  And I needed the celebration to be huge.  So, my roommate, classmate, fellow graduate, and best friend Emily and I went on an awesome--but budget conscious--girls' celebratory trip to Florida.  We stayed at a Disney hotel and spent time at all the Disney theme parks.  (We also took an Orlando city bus to Sea World.  That was an adventure in more that one way.)

For our trip we bought the Disney dining plan and we decided to go to several really cool restaurants for dinners.  One was the Boma restaurant in the Animal Kingdom resort/hotel.  (No, we didn't stay at the Animal Kingdom.  Duh.  We were poor grad students.  We stayed at the bargain Disney hotel where the outdoor stairways were disguised by giant Rubics cubes, not the hotel where giraffes can visit your room's porch or whatever.)  Boma was--and still is--a buffet that serves all kinds of African food.  It was amazing!  Of course, while we were trying all kinds of things, the parents with 2 or 3 kids in tow were dishing up mac and cheese.  But, really, they should know better than to bring their kids to fancy places with "weird" food.

The single most memorable thing that I tried was a peanut stew with root vegetables.   I literally have had dreams about how good this stuff was and I remember thinking at the time, "This has to be something I could make and it would be so good on a cold winter night."  With that memory in mind, I recently started searching for a recipe to try.  I couldn't find the actual Boma recipe, but there are tons of African peanut stew recipes out there.  I found one that used a crock pot from Good Housekeeping and used it as the basis for my first attempt at recreating that long-ago food memory (see recipe below).

I won't say that my recipe is as good as the Boma version, but I really, really liked it.  It is definitely a keeper.  Also, it kept and reheated well.  In fact, the leftovers might have been better than the stew on the first day.  The spices could be tinkered with to produce a stew that is to anyone's liking.  This version is very mild and the peanut butter is the dominant flavor, but if you wanted it spicier you could definitely do that, too.  

Recipe makes 5 generous (2 cup) servings

Ingredients

• 3 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 - 2 cups fresh cilantro leaves and stems, chopped (I just chopped all the leaves in a grocery store bundle)
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2/3+ cup creamy or chunky peanut butter (I used Skippy reduced fat creamy peanut butter and it was awesome!)
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground red/cayenne pepper
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup water
• 3 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 package frozen green beans, steamed or otherwise prepared as directed on package
• unsalted, dry roasted peanuts

Directions

1. Peel and chop sweet potatoes
      
   
2. Drain and wash garbanzo beans
3. In blender, blend garlic, cilantro, tomatoes with juice, peanut butter, cumin, cinnamon, ground red pepper, and teaspoon salt.
        
   
4. Pour peanut-butter mixture into slow-cooker and stir in water. 
5. Add prepared sweet potatoes and garbanzo beans and stir.
   
6. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook low setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours or until potatoes are very tender. (It took mine more like 5 1/2 hours, but some of my sweet potato chunks were a bit larger) 

   

   Yes, this really is just a photo of my slow cooker cooking.  You can tell it is really early, though, because there's no condensation on the inside of the lid :)

7. About 10 minutes before sweet potato mixture is done, cook green beans as label directs and gently stir green beans into stew.
8. When serving, top with a handful of peanuts.  Stir peanuts in before eating.