Bell Pepper Stew with Ground Turkey

(originally posted on WGLR.com on 3-18-13)

Hard to believe this is my last Crock of the Week for the season (You’ll still get one next week, BUT it will be the winning recipe from “The Crock of the Week Crock Pot Giveaway!”).

So, remember, I told you at the New Year that you would be getting some healthier crock pot recipes because the Jacobs’ household was making an effort to get healthy? I am happy to say we have stuck to the resolution, haha! This soup is one I have made a few times for us in the last few months. It is delicious AND healthy, and works great for The Husband and I to take to work for lunches. Make a double batch, and you’ll have lunch at work for a week for you and another person.

So now, let’s talk ground turkey. Some love it, some hate it. It is a healthier option than ground beef, BUT I have to say I am not a fan of a regular old boring turkey burger. However, I am a HUGE fan of it in combination recipes. It works awesome for Mexican dishes like tacos, and also in Italian dishes like lasagna. So, if you aren’t usually a fan of ground turkey, give it a chance in this recipe. You won’t be disappointed. Don’t let the recipe name scare you away! This tastes like stuffed peppers in a soup, it really does! And a 1 cup serving is only 140 calories!!! For real!

GROUND TURKEY BELL PEPPER STEW

1.5 lbs lean ground turkey

1 onion, diced

salt & pepper

paprika

1 tsp minced garlic

30 oz canned diced tomatoes (you can use no-salt if you’d like)

32 oz chicken or turkey broth (I use low-sodium)

Two bell peppers, diced (you can use green, red or yellow. I use one green and one red)

4 oz uncooked brown rice

curry

Brown the turkey in a skillet with the onion, garlic, some dashes of salt & pepper and paprika. transfer mixture to the crock pot and add all the remaining ingredients. You can throw in some more salt & pepper and curry to taste if you would like once everything is mixed together.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.5 hours. Serve with some shredded mozzarella cheese if you would like.

Slow Cooker Shepherd's Pie

(originally posted on WGLR.com on
3-11-13)

HAPPY ST.PATRICK’S DAY! 

Last year for this Irish holiday, I posted the classic St.Patrick’s meal of  Corned Beef & Cabbage , made easy peasy in your crock pot! So I am offering you another traditional Irish meal this week, Slow Cooker Shepherd’s Pie! This recipe uses beef, and I have to say that I really like how it turned out. I have made it before in the oven, and the potatoes tend to get overdone and too dry, in my opinion. But, the potatoes stayed nice and moist when made in the slow cooker. Yum, yum YUM! This meal is great year round, and will make all of your leprechauns, young and old, very happy!

SLOW COOKER SHEPHERD’S PIE

• 2 lbs potatoes (yukon gold work well)
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste (or ketchup)
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• salt & pepper
• seasoned salt

Prick potatoes all over with a fork. Microwave potatoes on high, turning once, until tender, about 15 minutes (I have one of those cool baked potato microwave bags) . Remove from microwave, let cool slightly, then peel and mash with milk and butter. Season with salt and pepper. You could also peel and then boil and mash, or even use instant mashed potatoes if you like.

In a skillet on medium heat, pour in the olive oil. Add onion and cook for a few minutes, until the onions start to get translucent. Add garlic and cook for another minute, then add in the ground beef.  When the meat is almost browned, add the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and thyme.  in a small bowl, whisk together the corn starch with the 1 cup of water, and add to the ground beef mixture when it is all browned up. Once it thickens up some, transfer the mixture into the slow cooker. Layer veggies on top of the meat, and then top with potatoes.  Sprinkle some seasoning salt on the potatoes.  Cook on low for 3 hours.

Slow Cooker (NO BOIL!) Manicotti

This week’s recipe is sure to impress your family and friends, because it seems like you have some amazing culinary skills when you serve it…Slow Cooker Stuffed Manicotti! There is a tiny bit of prep involved (but NO BOILING of the manicotti!), but if you want to enjoy a tasty meal that everyone will not believe you made in the crock pot, this is something you should make ASAP. Pasta doesn’t have to be soggy and mushy in a slow cooker, and this recipe proves that. I used low fat cottage cheese and ricotta for the filling, worked well!

SLOW COOKER (no boil!) STUFFED MANICOTTI

For the filling:

• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (1/2 cup reserved)
• Italian seasoning blend

• 1 large jar of your favorite marinara sauce
• 1 package manicotti (uncooked, about 14 pieces)

Pour some marinara into the bottom of your crock pot. I used my 6qt oblong crock. The oblong ones work better than the tall crocks for this. Now it’s time to make the filling…mix together the cottage cheese, ricotta and 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella. Also pour in the italian seasoning, about a tablespoon, but I like more, so you can use your own discretion here. Now, if you have some cake decorating piping bags, you can use one of those to pipe the filling into the manicotti shells. If you don’t have one, grap a ziploc bag and cut a hole in a corner, that works well, too! Pipe cheese into one end of the manicotti shell, about enough to fill it up halfway, then turn the shell around to pipe in the cheese on the other side. Lay shells on top of the sauce in the crock in a single layer (I had about 3 manicotti on top of others, I couldn’t fit them ALL in a single layer, still worked fine).

Pour the remaining sauce on top of the manicotti. I used more sauce than the original recipe because I know my crock runs hot. You can use less sauce if you want, but make sure you check a few times while it is cooking then, because you don’t want it to get too dry and burn. I also threw in some frozen meatballs on top because I knew my 3 year old would need some meatballs when we ate this!

Cook on high for about 2.5 hours. Check around 2 hours to see how the firmness of the pasta is. About 15 minutes before serving, sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese on top, so it can melt.
Delicious!

Here is my pic, mid prep, showing the just stuffed manicotti in my crock pot.

Slow Cooker Sauced Chicken

This week’s recipe is mainly for the sauce. I got the recipe from a friend, and she says they use the sauce on many things, but it is especially good on chicken and ribs. I made it with chicken breasts, because that is what I had on-hand, but you can use any cut of chicken you like, bone-in or out, fresh or frozen. It just seems to be a good sauce for many different meats. Plus it is easy to make! I had everything in my pantry for it, I love recipes with basic ingredients that are so versatile and easy to whip up! I served the chicken with sauce over white rice, and it was delicious.  If you try it on ribs, let me know how it is!

SLOW COOKER SAUCED CHICKEN

• 1 can tomato soup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1tsp chili powder
• 1 to 1.5 pounds chicken pieces of your choice

Place the chicken in your slow cooker. Mix all the other ingredients together in a medium bowl and pour over the chicken. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Slow Cooker Butterscotch Lava Cake

Oh boy, do I have a great recipe for you! When I was making this last week, my husband said it was “Crock of the Week whiplash” because I did a broccoli recipe the week before, and then this one, Crock Pot Butterscotch Lava Cake. Oh yes, you read that right. It is pretty similar to the Crock Pot Hot Fudge Cake I made last year, in that IT MAKES IT’S OWN SAUCE, people. It’s magic. You have delicious warm and moist cake on top, with this sinful pool of butterscotch saucy yumminess on the bottom of the crock. After chocolate, butterscotch is my favorite flavor. Throw a scoop of ice cream on it or some whipped cream, and you have a delicious dessert that tastes like you got it from a fancy restaurant. Make it. Make it NOW.

Your Thompson’s IGA ingredient list:

Crock Pot Butterscotch Lava Cake

• 1 cup flour
• 1 pkg (3 oz.) Cook & Serve butterscotch pudding (NOT instant)
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Topping:

• 3 Tbs butterscotch sundae topping
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1-1/3 cup boiling water

Spray your slow cooker with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, pudding mix, sugar, baking powder & salt. Make a well int he center for the milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk everything together, and then add in the butterscotch chips. Pour batter into the crock.

In a small bowl mix together the sundae topping and sugar. Pour boiling water into bowl, and stir until it is smooth and sugar is dissolved. Pour over the batter in the crock and DO NOT STIR. That is very important! No stirring!

Cook on high for about 2 hours, then turn off your crock and let it sit for a half hour.  Keep an eye on it in case your crock runs hot, you don’t want to burn the edges.

Scoop out the cake and then scoop out some sauce from the bottom to drizzle over your cake. A scoop of ice cream send this over the top YUM!

Often, you are planning dinner, but can't make just what you want because your main dish needs the oven, so you have to choose a side that doesn't need to be made in the oven. Well, why not use your crock pot for that side dish? This week I am offering you Slow Cooker Cheesy Broccoli Casserole. It's a good way to get veggies into your meal without a lot of work. I have to warn you though, if you haven't cooked with broccoli too often, it does have a pretty strong smell that some don't enjoy. So, yeah, I warned you there. Ha ha!

And I would like to welcome Thompson's IGA in Cuba City as a sponsor of Julie's Crock of the Week! Welcome aboard!

Your Thompson's IGA ingredient list:

Slow Cooker Cheesy Broccoli Casserole

• 2 lbs fresh (not frozen) broccoli florets, washed and trimmed
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground dry mustard
• 1 cup low fat or fat free milk
• 1 cup chicken or veggie broth
• 1 cup shredded fancy white cheese (swiss, gouda, provolone, fontina, etc)
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Use a 4 quart crock pot. Cut up and wash the broccoli. In a separate mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt, pepper & mustard. Toss the broccoli florets in the flour mixture, coating all the florets.  Pour into slow cooker. Stir in the cup pf fancy white shredded cheese. Pour in the milk and broth. Top with the parmesan cheese and cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 2-4, until the broccoli is at desired tenderness. Give it all a good stir before serving. Makes about 8 cups, each cup is about 130 calories.

Salsa Chicken 2-for-1!

This week, I am giving you a bit of a 2-for-1 treat. I made this original recipe, Crock Pot Salsa Chicken, for the first time a few years ago and LOVED it. It comes from the great cookbook "A Year of Slow Cooking" by Stephanie O'Dea.  I recently came upon a variation of the original which made it into a soup, on her blog, which is the same name as her book (Google it, it's worth it!).  So I decided to try the soup version over the weekend and it was SO TASTY! My husband and I both agreed it is one of our favorite things I have ever made in the slow cooker. So not only am I giving you the soup recipe, but I'm also giving you the original salsa chicken recipe. Not only can you enjoy it as is, but it also works great as a filling in tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, etc,  when you shred up the chicken.  It's also very low fat! YAY! Would be a nice dish for a taco bar at your Super Bowl party this weekend!

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

• 1 lb boneless chicken thighs or breasts
• 1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
• 1 cup chunky salsa (1.5 cups if you use breasts)
• 1 cup frozen corn

Pretty simple here...put the chicken in the crock (frozen is fine), and pour the other ingredients over the chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup

• 1 lb boneless chicken ( I used frozen breast tenderloins)
• 1 cup dried black beans (or 2 cans, drained & rinsed)
• 4 cups chicken broth (I used low sodium)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1-16oz jar salsa
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 cup sour cream (to stir in at the end, I used light)

If you know you are going to make this the day before, I recommend using the dried beans, just soak them overnight for at least 8 hours. I really think they tasted great in this soup, and are less expensive than the canned. But the canned beans would work well too, I am sure.

Pour beans into the crock. Lay the chicken on top, and then pur the remaining ingredients over the chicken and beans. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you are using the dried beans, it will be closer to 8 hours, check the beans for tenderness. With an hour or two to go, shred up the chicken in the crock (or remove, shred, and put back in crock, which is a bit easier!).  When the soup is done, stir in the sour cream before serving.

When serving, you can top with cheese, sour cream, avocado, etc. 1 cup serving on it's own is only 200 calories!