Pot Roast

From: My Mom included this recipe in a book of recipes that she made for us growing up.  It's one of my favorites...  It's such a hearty meal and it serves a lot.  And because it takes about 10 minutes to get everything into the crock pot and 12 hours later it's done!

Ingredients:

Roast
4-6 potatoes, cut for stew
1 quartered onion
carrots, peeled and cut for stew
can of cream of mushroom soup
can of golden mushroom soup
half a can of water
garlic salt
pepper

How to: 

Place roast in bottom of glass baking dish or slow cooker.  Arrange potatoes, onions and carrots all around and on top.  Spoon over the top the soups and water.  Sprinkle over everything with garlic salt and pepper.  Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350°F for 4-5 hours or 250 for 6-8 hours or in the slow cooker on low for 12 hours.  The meat should be falling apart and a gravy forming on the bottom.

Side notes:

You could also delete the quartered potatoes and serve with mashed potatoes.  In the picture, I forgot to buy potatoes - who forgets to buy potatoes?! - so I made it without them.  Before serving, I cut sliced whole wheat bread into squares and spooned the pot roast over the top.  Wow, it was really good that way!!

Sloppy Joe Casserole

From: This little tabloid recipe magazine was one of the best I've ever picked up!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed tomato soup
1/4 cup water
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 package (7.5 oz) refrigerated biscuits (10 biscuits)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese or non dairy cheese

How to: 

Heat oven 400°F.  Cook the beef in a skillet over medium-high heat until it's browned.  Drain fat.  Stir the soup, water, Worsestershire sauce and black pepper in the skillet and heat to a boil.  Spoon the beef mixture into a 1 1/2 qt casserole.  Arrange biscuits on top.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.  Top with cheese.

Slow cooker option:  I have not tried this, but here's my guess.  Put all ingredients except biscuits and cheese in a slower cooker and mix well.  Turn on high for 4 hours.  When meat is ready, add biscuits and cheese and cook for another half hour.  Serve.

Pesto Blue Cheese Ramen Noodles

From: We often have extra pesto sauce and blue cheese in our refrigerator and one day I was trying to figure out what to do with them.  This is what I came up with!

Ingredients:

Ramen noodles
2 or 3 Tbsp blue cheese crumbles
3 Tbsp pesto

How to:  Boil the noodles until they are cooked.  Drain.  Add pesto and mix well.  Top with blue cheese crumbles to your liking.

Side Notes:  For lactose intolerance, you could substitute non dairy cheese.

Dip for Steamed Artichoke

From: I was online searching for something different to serve with steamed artichoke one day and decided to take a few ideas from this site to make my own dip.  Here you go!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of mayonnaise
1 tsp of thyme
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 heaping Tbsp of blue cheese

How to:  

Mix all ingredients well and serve.

Side notes: You can also melt half a stick of butter and dip in both.  Yummmm!

Iced Coffee

From: This is the Pioneer Woman's perfect iced coffee.  It is fantastically delicious.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground coffee (make sure it's a good rich roast)
8 quarts cold water
Half-and-half (a healthy splash per serving)
sweetened condensed milk (2-3 Tbsp per serving)

How to:  Just click here.

Lettuce Wraps

From: I fell in love with Chili's lettuce wraps years ago and was heartbroken when they stopped serving them.  Then when I found this recipe online recently, I jumped for joy and knew I had to try it immediately!  It's definitely one of our favorites.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts and 1 Tbsp oil
2 carrots
1/4 cup minced water chestnuts (optional)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
about half of a bunch of romaine lettuce leaves

Stir Fry Sauce
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional - add only 1/8 of a tsp if you don't want the sauce to be spicy)
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger

Peanut Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional - add only a pinch if you don't want the sauce to be spicy)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar

How to: 

Start by preparing the stirfry sauce. Combine water and cornstarch and stir until cornstarch is dissolved. Add this to the other stir fry sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer till thick. Set aside.

Now prepare the peanut dipping sauce. Combine ingredients in a pan over medium low heat. Heat while whisking until sauce becomes smooth.  Remove from heat when done.

Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook chicken breasts until done, turning every couple of minutes. Keep the pan hot, but on a cutting board, chop into small pieces. Put chicken back in the same pan over medium/high heat and add water chestnuts. Heat for 1 minute. (Water chestnuts are not shown.) Add 5 Tbsp of stir fry sauce to the chicken and heat for 2 minutes, stirring often.  The sauce should be bubbly.  Now the chicken is done.

Shred the carrots.  I use a carrot peeler and peel until I have a whole bowl of carrot peels.

Put it all on the table.

Pile it into a lettuce leaf and roll it to eat it!

Yummmm...

Pasta with Wine and Mushrooms

From: This recipe came from the Pioneer Woman's cooking website.

Ingredients:

24 ounces, weight Thickly Sliced Mushrooms (baby Portobellos Are Best)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Kosher Salt (I used regular salt)
Black Pepper
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Large Onion, Peeled And Sliced (I used half an onion, chopped)
1 cup Dry White Wine
3/4 cups Whiskey (Jack Daniels Is Good - but I don't keep whiskey in the house, so I used red wine)
1/2 cup Chicken Broth
1 cup Heavy Cream
Salt And Pepper, to taste
12 ounces, weight Mostaciolli, Cooked Al Dente

How to:  Just click here.

Side notes: Serve this one with your favorite glass of wine and serve it on date night!  The sauce for my recipe never thickened...  I'm not sure why that is, but it tasted good, just the same.  Next time I might try thickening it in the pan with a little bit of arrow root powder (because it's tasteless).