A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Slow Cooker Reuben Chowder: Corned Beef, Potatoes, & Cabbage

 

My name is Glenna and I'm a huge Reuben addict.  Love the combo of corned beef and saurkraut. There's just something deliciously sweet, salty, crunchy, cheesy wonderful about it!  Imagine my pleasure when I accidentally stumbled on a recipe for reuben chowder...and then Googled for more recipes...and then took all the things I liked out of each one and made my own--in the slow cooker!

Heaven...I'm in heaven....

Copycat Recipe: Joe's Crab Shack Harvest Bay Mahi Mahi

 

 One of the great things about things about cooking restaurant-style food at home is being able to customize it.  I love this entree, Harvest Bay Mahi Mahi, a firm-fleshed white fish covered in rich Alfredo sauce mixed with sauteed shrimp and mushrooms,  from Joe's Crab Shack but I've always wanted more: more sauce, more shrimp, more mushrooms!!!!!  Viva la shrimp and shrooms!  Since I don't have a district manager looking over my food cost reports, that's easy to do without sacrificing any of the integrity of the original dish, not to mention, being able to shave a few butter and Alfredo sauce calories here and there without sacrificing that luscious mouth feel and rich taste.

Here's How I did it, step by step, and with photos:

Creamy Vegetable Soup for the Crock-pot/Slow Cooker

 I love soup. I particularly love cream soups, although I often feel guilty for eating them.  There's something ultimately wintery and comforting about soups with creamy heartiness that feels so good and yet so decadent.  But.  Using a trick I learned from a Pinterest recfpe for creamy chicken chili, creaminess doesn't have to equal loads of cream, flour, and butter. It's amazing what cream cheese can do in a slow cooker to transform a simple vegetable woup into a creamy feast on a cold winter's day.

Creamy Crock-pot/Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup

Recipe by Glenna Anderson Muse

Ingredients:

• 4 medium Yukon Gold (or russets or red-skinned) potatoes
• 1 cup green beans
• 1 cup carrots, julienned
• I cup celery diced
• 1 mdium onion, diced
• 1 red or green sweet pepper, cut into strips
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 1 14.5 oz can Kidney, Pinto, or Navy Beans
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 15.5 oz can chicken broth
• 8 oz pkg light cream cheese
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:

In heavy-bottomed skillet over mdium heat, saute garlic and onion in olive oil.  Add celery and pepper and saute for 3-3 minutes.  Add all  to crockpot along with rest of vegetables, beans, and spices.  Pour over chicken broth and lay cream cheese on top.  Cook on high for 2 hours and hten turn to low for 6-8 hours. Stir to mix cream cheese.

Makes 10 cups.

Nutrition per 1 cup serving:  Calories:    167;   Protein:    6.3;    Carbs:    16;    Fat:     6;       Fiber:     4.2;    Weight Watchers Points:      3

 

 

Jiffy Mix Cornbread Breakfast Egg Casserole

 

  Mmmmm....weeeknd breakfast casseroles.  They can range from the greasy to the sublime and I have to say this is one of my favorites.  Quick and easy to put together, I have have a few tricks to make it go even faster.

This little gem is an easy mix of breakfast sausage patties, hashbrowns, sweet bell pepper, onion, eggs...and cornbread! Yes, cornbread.  The best part about it is that you can pull the sausage and hashbrowns from the freezer and the cornbread doesn't have to be pre-baked so the whole thing can be prepped and in the oven in about 10 minutes.

It's a great combo of savory, sweet, eggy goodness perfect for a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning at home.  Makes 10-12 servings but our house, we love it so much, it's more like 4-6 servings!

Other great baked egg breakfasts:

Paula Deen's Artichoke Frittata: Sunday morning with the Nieces

Classic Quiche Lorraine for Breakfast

Scotch Eggs

Good & Good For You: Ground Beef, Potato, & Veggie Chowder

 

There's something about cold, rainy nights that demand soup, isn't there?  Something warm and comforting on the inside to combat the dreariness of the outside.  This soup started out as a simple potato and milk soup but then Hubby Gene said "Can you put hamburger in it?" I thought "Why not?"  I knew I'd put lots of onion and celery in it, but on the heels of the ground beef addition, I also chopped fresh parsley, sweet red and green pepper, carrots, and fresh mushrooms so that our Yukon Gold simple potato soup became a very hearty and tasty ground beef, potato, and tons of veggies chowder, so yummy it's a pleasure to eat leftovers the rest of the weekend. 

 

 

Home-Made Buttermilk Herb (Ranch) Dressing

 I know that in some circles "ranch" dressing or dip is considered passe' but, to me, it ranks up there will all my favorite comfort foods like mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, chicken pot pie, and all the rest of the delicious, non-pretensious things that are so lovely and comforting to eat.  I do admit, though, that ranch dressing out a bottle from a grocer's shelf doesn't thrill me but making it home-made with fresh herbs is definitely the ticket! 

It's also much better for you.  Think about it.  Sure, it's a little more work to put the ingredients together but when you make it from scratch, including the mayo, you're talking about eating eggs, cold-pressed oil, buttermilk, dill, parsley, garlic, etc., all whole foods  not tons of chemicals and preservatives. That, and the fresh creamy herby taste make it worth every one of those 15 minute spent preparing it.

New Year's Day: Get your Black-Eyed Peas on!

I'm not a huge fan of black-eyed peas but this is one recipe I love and make every year: Cowboy Caviar.  With its mix of black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, celery and other vegetables, it's a wonderful cold side dish, you get your New Year's Day good luck black-eyed peas, and it's a great do ahead recipe for New Year's Eve or New Year's Day parties!

While black-eyed peas are grown in many countries, they are particularly eaten here in the southern United States.  There are two southern traditions that explain the superstition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for luck, both grew out of the Civil War. The first is the legend that whenever Sherman's Union troops sacked cities or plantations and raided the food supplies, the northeners considered black-eyed peas and field corn to be food for slaves and stock, and left it, so all the starving southeners felt "lucky" to have any food left to celebrate New Year's Day with at all.

The second is a much more pleasant legend.  Again placed during Civil War times, legend has it that many slaves celebrated the New Year's day that the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect by eating Hoppin' John, a common, hearty dish, made of a combination of black-eyed peas, rice, pork, and greens (also yummy). 

Other legends place black-eyed pea eating as far back as the Talmud and the Egyptians but having grown up eating very southern-ish, my favorite is the thought of celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation and the hope of great strides in civil rights of all men and women of all everything in our country's future.

Gene's Christmas Eve All Favorites Thank You Dinner

2012 has been a long year at our house. While we've had our share of blessings in many ways, my health was not one of them.  After a year or more of not feeling well, constant fatigue, and intermittent chest pain, palpitations, high blood pressure, and vomitting, we found out this fall after numerous trips to several doctors, an ER visit with overnight observation, and a full cardiac work up that all of that chest stuff was caused by, drumroll please, gall bladder dysfunction.

Say what?  Yup, you read that right. All that false path heart fear was really just my silly ole gall bladder acting up. I never had abdominal pain at all! Crazy, I know.

So an operation, pneumonia, and several weeks off work to recupe my stamina, I'm back in the groove and can remember who that energetic fun Glenna used to be and is again!

As a small thank you to my wonderful hubby, Gene, who waited on me hand and foot, took over all of the house chores, and did everything to take care of me while I was depressed, shaky, and pukey all the time, I didn't volunteer to work Christmas Eve like I often do, but instead stayed home for a cozy Christmas Eve dinner of all of his favorite foods as a small token of thanks for his help, his sense of humor, and his patience helping me through this awful year health-wise. Thank you, Honey!

Gene's Christmas Eve Thank You Dinner Menu

Oven Fried Chicken

Mashed Potatoes

Corn

Creamed Spinach (Okay, that one's my favorite)

Dinner Rolls

Nannie's From Scratch Banana Pudding

(chicken and creamed spinach recipes follow, banana pudding tomorrow!)

Good & Good For You: Sweet and Sour Mushrooms

 

 I've been making Sweet and Sour Mushrooms for years but I added one "secret" ingredient this time that made Gene say "Oh YEAH! THAT'S the stuff!"  The secret ingredient?  Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce. We eat it on everything: steak, pork chops, chicken, meatloaf, and even toasted walnuts, but the Sweet and Sour Mushrooms are truly out of this world:  tangy, sweet, spicy, the taste trifecta. 

Good & Good For You: Creamy Tomato Soup

 

 After such a long hot summer, fall is a welcome relief!  With fall, come the cravings for great fall foods:  pumpkin and apple dishes, warm chewy breads, and thick soups.  Two of my favorites are leftover from grade school:  beef vegetable soup with peanut butter sandwiches and creamy tomato soup with grilled American cheese sandwiches. 

Campbell's or Progresso?  I could do that but for just a little bit more time I can have creamy tomato soup from my  pantry that still has tomato-y goodness but with a much more complex herby fresh taste I yearn for as an adult.