Enchilada Lentil Soup (nee Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lentils)

Meredith
The appeal of this soup, I think, is in it's recipe instructions: add all ingredients to crockpot and cook for 6 hours. How can anything that easy taste anything but good? But apart from that I actually enjoyed the soup itself. Loaded with protein and fiber, it fits the heathy bill while being comfort-foodie at the same time. Ideally I'd dump the taco packet for some real spices but for it's simplicity, I still give it a thumbs up. Bonus: it freezes really well.

Laura
This recipe was originally called Chicken Tortilla Soup with Lentils but Meredith was kind enough to rename it since the original name "didn't make any damn sense". I can't say that I blame her, I mean... if something is going to have "tortilla" in the name, they should be in the recipe.

I enjoyed cooking with the lentils. It was my first lentil adventure. (I'm looking for something to do with the rest of the bag so if you have a great lentil recipe, let me know!)

This was a very cozy tasting dish. It was warm and perfect for a chilly day. I wound up freezing some of it, which makes me happy. Nothing makes me happier than knowing that yummy food is just a few microwave minutes away.

The verdict: Make the dish on a night when you want to eat on the couch, under a throw blanket while watching reality television. You won't be disappointed!

Forecast: Chili With a Chance of Cornbread

Laura
I’ve made chili before, but certainly not enough to wing it.  Here’s the recipe I used.  It's just a little different than the original recipe.

Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef
2 (16 ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with jalapenos, undrained
1 can Mexicorn with bell peppers
2 medium onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
Shredded Cheddar cheese
Light sour cream

Directions
In a skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a slow cooker. Add the next ten ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4 hours. Garnish individual servings with cheese and sour cream if desired.

I love chili so I’m always going to have high hopes for it.  It’s a really easy recipe.  Next time, I’d either add more jalapeño peppers or maybe some cayenne.  It was a little spicy but I definitely needed more heat for my chili.  We also decided to make cornbread.  This was new to me.  I used the regular Jiffy mix and added a jalapeño to it. 

The verdict:  Chili was great but could have been spectacular with a little more heat.  Cornbread was easy and super tasty. 

I’d definitely make this again.  I feel like chili is something that I’d like to research a little more.  I’m thinking maybe try out different recipes until I find my favorite.  Maybe it’ll replace my quest for the world’s best nachos.  You know, now that I know where to find them.  (Lucky’s at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT.)  Anyway, maybe next time I’ll get up the nerve to try a recipe with cinnamon in it.  Oh, and one more thing.  Anyone know why we brown the meat before putting it in the slow cooker?  We throw all sorts of raw meats into the slow cooker.  What makes ground beef so different?  Just curious, really.  Whatever the reason, it works and it’s pretty yummy so I’m not going to go changing anything.

Meredith
I’ve never used a recipe for chili so I certainly wasn’t going to start now! I typically cheat and start with a packet of Chili-O but since I was blogging this batch, I figured I’d go au naturale and just spice it up from the cabinet. So- I started by putting 93% lean ground beef in the skillet and once browned I added random amounts of: chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin, cayenne and salt & pepper. While that simmered, I sauteed a diced Vidalia onion and two jalapeños in olive oil. Then I combined the meat and the cooked veggies and let that hang out while I started opening cans. Into the crockpot went: two cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles and two cans of dark red kidney beans (all undrained). The same combination of spices went on top of the tomatoes and beans and stir. Next I added the meat and cooked veggies to the pot. Stir well.Two more cans of tomatoes and more spices in the pot. Stir again. Finally I add one more diced onion, a diced green bell pepper, two more jalapeños and a can of corn. Oh, and more of those spices! Stir well, simmer for at least 4 hours.

You know- this was probably one of my favorite batches of chili I’ve ever made. It was spicy, zesty, tasty, comforting, chunky, smoky, veggie-licious WITHOUT all that sodium from the spice packs! I had mine with shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, Fritos and a little dollop of (light) Daisy. OH! the cornbread! Saturday afternoon I picked up a bag of Southwestern-style jalapeño cornbread mix from the Napa Valley Pantry at Marshall’s on clearance. I would definitely recommend this to a friend. It tasted like corn cake with jalapeños in it. Really, really worth the three bucks. (P.S. Luckys! Luckys! I want nachos NOW!)

Pot Roast

Laura
This pot roast was an issue from the get-go.  For starters, how can one expect the Italian girl from NY to know what pot roast is?  I picked up pork shoulder the first time around.  That wasn't right.  In my defense, it said pork roast.  I was making a roast, wasn't I?  On my second trip to the grocery store to rectify the situation, I had to text Meredith a million times to verify that I got the right meat. 

I have no idea what it's supposed to taste like.  I have no idea how to make it.  Hell, I don't even know what pot roast is.  The good news is that it's really easy to make.  The recipe I used, I found here.

Ingredients
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups water
5 1/2 pounds pot roast

Directions
In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture. Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

See, it doesn't say "beef" or "pork".  Anyway, moving right along . . .
I added carrots and celery to the bottom of the slow cooker.  When there were 90 minutes left, I sliced some mushrooms and added them to the slow cooker, too.
 
I would definitely make pot roast again.  Next time, I'll just make less of it.
 

Meredith

Pot roast might be my favorite meal ever. It’s a commonly requested birthday dinner. So the idea of not knowing what it is was just so bizarre to me that we HAD to make it. Laura HAD to know why I love/make/eat it so much. That being said, I tried to do a couple things differently than my old standard. This time, I actually seared the meat first and after taking it out of the pan added roughly chopped onions, baby carrots and garlic and roasted the veggies in the oven for about 20 minutes. Everything then went into the crock pot with beef broth, onion soup mix, salt, pepper, etc. A couple of hours later I dropped a handful of mushrooms in for the duration of the cooking. I don’t think I noticed much difference in that extra effort. I made green bean casserole and these weird potato pancakes on the side. And I blame the photo quality this week on the mimosas ;)

 And Laura? Don’t make less next time... just give what you don’t want to me, ok?

Fit to Be Thai’d - Spicy Thai Slow Cooker Chicken

Ingredients

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs (or breasts -- or a combination!)
1/3 cup reduced fat peanut butter
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
1/2 cup Sambal Oelek ground chili paste
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
Place chicken (trimmed of visible fat) into slow cooker. Mix together peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, ginger, sweet chili sauce and sambal oelek. Pour over chicken. Cook on Low 8 hours or on High 4 hours. Serve 1 piece of chicken and sauce with chopped peanuts and cilantro as garnish.

Number of Servings: 6
We Found the Recipe Here

Meredith


Umami! Yeah I have no idea if this was umami or not but I loved it. I ate it for a week straight and would eat it right now if I still had some left (I do have some left. It’s just in the freezer). I used the combination of boneless, skinless breasts and thighs, didn’t measure any of my ingredients and went for the red curry paste instead of the Sambal Oelek because that’s all I found. I also threw a couple dried red chiles into the pot on a whim. I ate mine with brown rice, sauteed broccoli and carrots and topped with green onions. I found the dish to have a slow, not so in your face heat that the peanut butter may have cooled. In any case, the PB added a creaminess and extra element of flavor (maybe umami?). I think this will end up being a go-to meal for me, especially since I don’t think that it necessarily NEEDS the crock pot. Thumbs up!

Laura

Ok, here's what I changed. I used more reduced fat peanut butter than what the recipe said. (I have an unnatural obsession with peanut butter, but that's an entirely different blog.) I used ground, rather than fresh, ginger. I couldn't find chili paste so I used an entire bottle of red curry paste because, well because it seemed like a good idea. Finally, I used the whole bottle of chili sauce.

This was really flavorful. It was aromatic. It tasted like some sort of Thai / Indian fusion dish. It was spicy, but not hot. It was . . . umami? Okay, not umami. I guess I'm trying to say that the dish had heat but not in that hot, red pepper kind of way. My suggestion would be to either make less of it or serve it to people. It's a really tasty dish but not something that I wanted to eat for a whole week straight. I guess I could have frozen it, but there's no room in my freezer anymore. (Again, an entirely different blog topic.)

The bottom line: Very appetizing. The dish reminded me of take out. It had that kind of feel to it. I ate it as a wrap and with rice on the side. Either way, it was enjoyable. So go ahead, try it.

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients
2 pounds cubed beef stew meat
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed golden mushroom soup
1 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 pound cream cheese

Directions
In a slow cooker, combine the meat, soup, onion, Worcestershire sauce and water. Cook on Low setting for 8 hours, or on High setting for about 5 hours. Stir in cream cheese just before serving. (Makes 8 Servings)

Based upon this recipe, using many of the recommended recipes tweaks from the reviews (see first reviewers notes).

Meredith's Stroganoff

This Sunday meal was my idea. I've, for some reason, been craving a saucy beefy concoction. My mother used to make a hamburger "stroganoff" and it was always a real comfort dinner. This was WAY better – I've forwarded her the recipe.

I doubled the original recipe and followed most of the changes. I added criminis sauteéd in extra virgin olive oil with garlic, a little onion and some thyme. I deglazed the pan with a little marsala wine before adding to the crockpot. These were thrown in about 30 minutes from dinnertime and right before the addition of the cream cheese and sour cream.

The end result was just what I'd wanted: comforting, rich and delicious. I added a simple salad and some crusty bread to finish the plate.


Laura's Stroganoff

The changes: I switched out the water for ¾ of a cup of beef broth and I used a package of onion soup mix, as well. I added a BIG dollop of sour cream with the cream cheese at the end, too.

The process: This definitely started to look delicious once I added the cream cheese and sour cream to the stroganoff. I was leery about how soupy it looked, but Meredith assured me that the cream cheese would thicken it up. She was right.

The verdict: It was REALLY good! I had it over whole-wheat egg noodles (I know, I’m such a dork. The cream cheese and sour cream were fat free, too.) The beef was tender and came apart easily, which is to be expected when it cooks in the slow cooker for 5 ½ hours. The sauce did thicken up, but I thought there was too much of it. It was very filling and surprisingly good. Having never had it, I didn’t know what to expect.

I bet this freezes well so next time I might add more meat. There was certainly enough sauce to warrant it. The bottom line, I’m glad we made it. Now I can say that I made beef stroganoff and it was good!