Cranberry Roast, mashed potatoes, salad

Ingredients: (serves 4)
2-3 pounds beef or pork roast or stew chunks
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes, or 1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat-free are gluten free)
1 (16-ounce) whole berry cranberry sauce (or 2 cups homemade!)

that's it!

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Plop in the meat (frozen is fine), and add the onion and soy sauce. Pour in the entire can of cranberry sauce over the top. Do not add water. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 5-6. If you are cooking on high, you may need to "help" the meat break apart by taking it out an hour or so before serving by cutting it into chunks, then returning to the sauce. I like it when the meat is tender and the juice has fully soaked in.

Serve over mashed potatoes, and with a green salad.

From: www.crockpot365.blogspot.com

Slow Cooker Rootbeer Pulled Pork, cooked carrots, rice

2 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast (butt)
1 large yellow onion, sliced in rings
1-2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce (start with 1, then season to taste after cooking and tasting)
1 cup chili sauce (near ketchup in the grocery aisle. if you want to make it, use 1 cup ketchup, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1 tsp chili powder---it's not identical, but pretty darn close)
2 cups root beer
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 hamburger buns or soft rolls (I make them myself, or use toasted Udi's white bread to keep it gluten free)

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. A 6-quart is fine, but your meat will cook faster. Put the meat into your pot, and add sliced onion. top with Tabasco sauce, chili sauce, root beer, and vanilla. cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or until pork shreds easily with a fork. I plopped my pork in fully frozen, and it took 10 hours on low to be shreddy.

Serve over rice, or on toasted breads or buns.

From: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Black Bean Burgers with saute'd vegetables, Creamy Cilantro Rice

Black Bean Burger ingredients:

• 2 (14-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup plain dry bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 
  

preparation

Pulse 1 can beans in a food processor with mayonnaise, bread crumbs, cumin, oregano, and cayenne until a coarse purée forms. Transfer to a bowl and stir in cilantro and remaining can beans. Form mixture into 4 patties.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Cook burgers until outsides are crisp and lightly browned, turning once, about 5 minutes total. 

I thought these turned out pretty well.  I made them way smaller than the recipe called for since we aren't doing them on buns.  I made them a long time ago and made them big and they were good on a crisp toast. This time I decided to serve them with chips, saute'd red peppers and onions and creamy cilantro rice.

Rice ingredients:

1 block firm tofu

lemon juice

cilantro

1 clove garlic

olive oil

This recipe called for sour cream, but I substituted a vegan sour cream recipe I found on vegweb.com to make it dairy free.  All ingredients go into the blender until smooth, then stir in the rice.  I was really hesitant to sub tofu for sour cream, but I actually really like the way it turned out!  I highly recommend it and will make it again for sure! 

Salmon with Maple Syrup and Toasted Almonds, baked sweet potatoes, & broccoli

I love this recipe because it's so easy and so good. My boys will even eat this salmon! I like to serve it with baked sweet potatoes and broccoli. Cooking the sweet potatoes in the microwave makes it even easier and just as good, in my opinion.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 fillet and about 2 tablespoons sugar mixture)

Ingredients
6 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
Cooking spray
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 teaspoons sliced almonds, toasted
Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°.

Place fillets in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine sugar, syrup, soy sauce, mustard, and black pepper; pour sugar mixture over fillets. Cover with foil; bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Remove foil; sprinkle the fillets with almonds. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with sugar mixture.

(from Cooking Light)

Shepherd's Pie

I have made Shepherd's Pie before, but this is a different recipe. It calls for chicken instead of beef.

I haven't forgotten

Just wanted to say that I haven't been posting meals on here because they have all been repeats. I like that you can search for previous posts/meals over to the right. I've been doing that and then making my favorites. I have my meals posted on the Big Tent sight in case you ever wonder what's for dinner.

Ham and Cheese Pan Souffle

This was really yummy, kind of like a huge country breakfast all piled up together.  I have to say though, to cook 6 of them plus clean up I was working hard hard hard for about 3 hours, so it was quite a bit of work, so I would recommend only making it for one family at a time!  It is also for sure not a diet meal, so serve it with a salad or some fruit to lighten it up a bit.

2 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
6 large eggs, separated
2 cups provolone cheese ( I used a combination of provolone and monterry jack)
1 Tbsp flour ( I used rice flour)
ground pepper
olive oil
1 onion, halved, thinly sliced
2 anaheim peppers, halved, seeded and thinly sliced
1/4 lb ham cut into cubes ( I used Kiolbassa beef sausage)
1 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced

1. Preheat oven to 400.  Cover potatoes with water in a pot, season with salt, cover and boil until just tender, about 2 minutes, drain
2. Whisk egg yolks, cheese and flour and pepper in a bowl. ( I learned to first whisk the eggs flour and pepper together then stir in the cheese as it is difficult to whisk cheese!)
3.  Heat an oven proof skillet over high heat.  Add 2 Tbsp olive oil, then onion and chillis and cook until browned.  Add the ham and cook 3 minutes.  Transfer the mixture to a bowl.  Add the remining 2 Tbsp olive oil and te potatoes to the skillet and cook until golden, 4 minutes. Add the paprika, parsley and garlic and cook one minute.  Transfer to the same bowl.
4.  Beat egg whites, 2 Tbsp water and 1/2 tsp salt with a mixer until soft peaks form.  Stir one third whites into the yolk mixture, then gently fold in the rest.  Oil the skillet if dry and place over medium low heat.  Add the egg mixture, cover and cook until the top just sets, 4-6 minutes.  Top with the filling and transfer to the oven uncovered until set, 5-7 minutes.

So what took me so long is that I only had one cast iron skillet that could go from the stove top to the oven, so I had to make them all one at a time.  If I had a large skillet, or everyone was eating out of the same dish it would have been so quick.  I also learned at the very end that I could have, once the souffle set on the stove top, flip it into a pyrex and then put the toppings on the bottom of it, and bake it then.  It was pretty hard to transfer each souffle into its own dish after it was topped and baked... anyhow, just notes for next time!

Per serving (this recipe serves 4) Calories: 641 Fat 44g (saturated 19 g), Cholesterol 373mg, Sodium 1215 mg, Carbohydrate 32 g, Fiber 4 g, Protein 32 g  ( I told you this was not a diet food!)