Night off from Extravegent Cooking

Since it is snowing here today, yes I said the "S" word, I decided to take the day off from cooking a huge elaborate dinner.

We had instant mashed potatoes and baked chicken legs and thighs with buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing. I thought I would post my wing sauce recipe so if anyone want to try it they can. You can bake chicken wings and then toss them with this sauce for a spicy and tangy wing sauce. I poured it into individual bowls for dipping our chicken into. YUM!

Buffalo Sauce

1/4 cup I can't believe it's not butter (I use the stick kind not the kind in the tub)
1/2 cup Cayenne Pepper Sauce (I use Frank's Red hot)
1-2 TBSP apple Cider Vinegar

Bring to a simmer in a small sauce pan. Once it comes to a simmer, butter is melted, and everything is combined remove from heat. Taste and adjust according to you and your family's taste.

Stuffed Cabbage

This is one of our favorite recipes and I make it year round. It's worth putting up with the heat in the kitchen in the summer!! I am pretty sure you can throw them in the crock pot to cook too when you get to step #5

So here goes my Grandmother's recipe for Stuffed Cabbage:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 cups minute type brown rice
1/4 cup dried minced onion,
2 Tbsp parsley
1 egg
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (use more or less depending on how spicy you like yours)
two 64 ounce bottles tomato juice
one can condensed tomato soup
2 heads green cabbage

Step #1 Make the sauce:

In a large pot combine 1 1/2 bottles tomato juice, the can of soup, and the crushed red pepper flakes. Bring to a simmer then remove from heat and cool.

Step #2: Mix the filling:
In a large bowl add ground beef, parsley, egg, rice, minced onion, and 1/2- 3/4 cups sauce. Mix until combined but do not over mix. Add sauce 1/4 cup at a time until mixture comes together nicely.

Step #3 Prepare the Cabbage leaves:
Line counter top with a couple of layers of paper towels. Fill a large stock pot 3/4 full with water. Bring to a boil. Place one cabbage head in boiling water.

As cabbage cooks cut the leaves from head and remove from water to paper towels to dry. Repeat until the leaves get too small to use for rolls. The first few leaves you will use for the burn layer. They are usually a darker green color.

Repeat with second head of cabbage. Discard cabbage water. You can use what ever is left of the two cabbage heads for another recipe if you want. I usually finish cooking them, then cut them into quarters and serve with a splash of vinegar.

Step #4 prepare baking dish
Ladle some of the sauce into the bottom of a very large pan. I use a rectangle roasting pan. It is larger than 9x11 but if that's the only size you have then you can use two. Place enough of the dark green leaves on top of sauce this is creating a barrier to keep the rolls from burning.

Step #5 creating the rolls:
make a ball out of some of the ground beef mixture. I would say each ball has 1/4-1/2 cup mixture depending on the size of the cabbage leaves. Place on the stem side of one cabbage leaf.

Roll leaf over once tightly then bring in sides then continue rolling to create a nice packet.

Place on top of the burn barrier and continue with remaining meat mixture and cabbage leaves.

Step #6 Sauce
Carefully pour the sauce over the top of the cabbage rolls. You may not need to use all of it.

Step #7 Top layer
Place remaining cabbage leaves on top of rolls and sauce to create a barrier on top.

Step #8 baking time

Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 60 minutes. Drop temperature down to 250 and cook for 2 more hours.

Step #9 The end
Remove from oven and place rolls in pot of sauce on stove. Add remaining tomato juice if needed. Place on low heat to keep warm.

To serve place a roll in a bowl and cut it in half. Ladle some of the sauce right over the cut roll. Enjoy with some nice crusty bread.

This is a favorite and it makes a lot. I usually get about 24 rolls out of it.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!!

Shepard's Pie Peterson version

Tonight for dinner I wanted to make something that would stick to our ribs and warm us up. I am freezing already and it's only October!! Not a good sign.

As you can tell I use condensed cream soups in a lot of my recipes. Why not? They are inexpensive and add a lot of flavor and creaminess to the recipes.

Here is my "fly by the seat of my pants" Shepard's Pie Recipe:

spray 9x11 baking dish with cooking spray

2 lbs ground beef browned and drained
2 cans mixed vegetables drained (I used the not salt added kind with carrots, corn, peas, green beans, celery, and potatoes)
1 small onion minced and cooked until soften
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Mix above and spread in the 9x11 baking pan

Next make 8 servings instant mashed potatoes using light margarine spread and fat free milk. When Potatoes are done add you favorite blend of reduced fat shredded cheese and stir until melted.

Spread potatoes across top of ground beef mixture. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes then up the heat to 400 for 20 minutes to help brown the top or you could put it under the broiler on low until top is brown.

Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Yum!! A few in the family have already come back for seconds and as you can see from the picture they couldn't wait to dig in!!

Mushroom and Onion crock pot pork chops

I am sorry I don't have a picture of this one to share. We dug into it before I had a chance!! this recipe made 5 servings at 5 points per serving.

1 1/2 pounds boneless pork chops
1/2 cup minced onion
1 packet beefy onion soup mix
1 can low fat cream of mushroom soup.
1 cup water

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Place on low setting. Put pork chops and minced onion in crock pot. Mix soup mix, mushroom soup, and water together and pour over pork chops and onions. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Serve

The meat fell apart and was really tender. I served this with 2/3 cups of white rice for 3 points, some green beans, and a side salad. It was pretty good. My oldest even asked for seconds.

Taco Soup

I looked up recipes for this soup online and tweaked it based on what I had on hand. I had intended to make this in the crock pot but ended up using my Dutch Oven instead. It's my second favorite piece of cookware and I have not used it in a while. I really could use a spare too (hint hint, Matt, our Anniversary is coming up). I am including the instructions on making it in the crock pot and on the stove top. Either will do. This recipe makes 16 one cup servings at 4 points each.

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2(15 ounce) cans kidney beans with liquid
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, with liquid
1 (10.75 ounce) can tomato soup
2 cups water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
1 diced green pepper
1/2 cup salsa for added flavor
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix or 2 Tablespoons home made
seasoning (or more if you like it really spicy)
I like to make my own:
1 tablespoon chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano,
1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon sea salt,
1 teaspoon black pepper

Crock Pot Instructions:

Brown Ground beef in skillet, drain and place in crock pot that has already been sprayed with cooking spray. Mix all other ingredients in with meat in cooker. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 hours.

Stove Top instructions:

Spray dutch oven or stock pot with cooking spray. Brown ground beef in pot using spoon to break up, add diced onions and green peppers. Add taco seasoning and salsa. Stir. Next add cans of beans, tomatoes, and corn. Add tomato soup and water using water to get all of the soup out of the can. Stir.Bring to a boil and then lower the heat. Simmer 30 minutes or longer. I started mine at 3pm and will simmer on the stove until dinner time around 6pm. I will just stir every time I walk past the stove. The longer it sits the move flavorful it will be!!

Ladle into bowls and serve with tortilla chips on top, fish shaped crackers, saltines, shredded cheese, sour cream, or what ever you want. Feel free to change this soup up. Soups are one of those things that you can tweak and still have it tasting yummy!

Enjoy!!

Saturday Smörgåsbord

It's that time of week again. Saturday!! I usually clean out the refrigerator and we have left overs for lunch and dinner. It's my way to empty it all out so I can fill it up again! Some of my left overs get put right into the freezer when they have cooled enough. Like the Turkey and Vegetable Soup I made earlier this week. As soon as it was cool it went into labeled containers and put right in the freezer. Today we will have left over Cheater's Chicken Pot Pie, Crock Pot Philly Cheese Steak, Spaghetti Squash, Salad, turkey burgers, and someone is bound to complain about the left overs so they will have chicken nuggets. Easy Peasy!

It's also my day to dust, vacuum, and scrub the house. I plan to enlist the kids to help me out on all of that. It's only fair. They live here too and 90% of the mess is theirs!

I developed a crock pot recipe I will be trying out tomorrow. If it's any good I will be posting it tomorrow night. After I am done with all of my Saturday chores I will be curling up with a book and a blanket. It's COLD here! It's only supposed to get up to 52 here today and we have a frost warning for tomorrow morning!

What do you usually do on Saturdays?

Cheaters Chicken Pot Pie

This is one of my family's favorite recipes, it is so simple to make too. One of my tricks is to make two Roasted chickens on a Sunday. We eat one half of one for dinner that night with all the side dishes we normally have. Then I use the rest of the meat for recipes the rest of the week. I even cook the carcasses with vegetables and water to make a delicious stock for making Chicken Corn Soup (that recipe will be posted another day). Other recipes I make with the leftover chicken are Chicken tacos, chicken enchiladas, and chicken salad. I buy my chicken's on sale. It's a great way to make a dollar stretch and feed my family of 6!

This is 8 points per serving when I used the recipe builder on Weight Watchers dot com. One serving is enough for me and I usually have cranberry sauce with it.

One pound cooked chicken
one bag frozen mixed vegetables (I usually get the one with lima beans, carrots, corn, green beans, peas)
one can cream of celery soup
one can fat free evaporated milk

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix the above together in a large bowl and pour into the bottom of a 9x11 glass baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

2 packages of butter flavored crescent rolls.

Take crescent rolls out of packages and lay across the top of the chicken and vegetable mixture. Make sure the rolls touch the edge of the dish to seal. Put back in oven and bake 20 minutes or until the rolls are golden and cooked through. Take out of oven. Let sit for 10 minutes and then cut into squares and serve.

Crock Pot Philly Cheese Steak

This Recipe makes a lot and is only 5 points per serving (based on Weight Watchers points plus values). Makes 6 generous servings.

1 lb lean top round steak sliced thin. cut into strips
1 whole medium green pepper cut into strips
1 whole small or medium onion cut into strips
1 cup beef broth
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp grill seasoning ( I used McCormick Hamburger Seasoning since it's what I had)
1 10 ounce jar of mushrooms drained or as many fresh mushrooms that you want.
1/3 cup Weight Watchers shredded Mexican Style Cheese blend

Spray Crock Pot with non-stick cooking spray. Place steak, onions, and green peppers into crock pot. Stir to distribute. Add Salt, Pepper and Grill seasoning. Stir to coat. Add beef broth. Cover and cook on low 7 hours. Uncover for 30 minutes and then add mushrooms and replace cover. Cook for 30 more minutes uncover and stir then sprinkle cheese over top replace cover. Cook for 10 more minutes. Then serve.

I roasted a Spaghetti Squash the other day so I reheated that and put 1 cup of it in the bottom of my bowl then added the Cheese Steak to the top. You could certainly serve it as is, over pasta or rice or as a baked potato topping. I hope you all like this experiment as much as I did. It may not look all that great but it sure tasted WONDERFUL!!

Tater Tot Casserole

One pound ground beef or Turkey
1 bag frozen tater tots
1 can each of Cream of Celery and Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can Evaporated milk
1 can corn or bag of frozen sweet style corn (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a skillet brown ground beef, drain.
Spread ground beef and corn (if using) in bottom of a 9x11 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Spread frozen tater tots on top. In a separate mixing bowl, mix soups and evaporated milk together. Pour over top of tater tots. Bake in oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until Golden and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.


(For a fun twist we sometimes substitute McCain Smiley Fries for the tater tots.)

Variation: Use 1 can of cheddar cheese soup instead of the cream of mushroom soup or replace both soups with 2 cans cheddar cheese soup. Makes a cheeseburger tater tot casserole. If you do this though you may want to add some diced onions for added flavor.

Crock Pot Meatloaf

Crock Pot Meatloaf

This recipe makes 16 servings at 5 points each. It makes for wonderful meatloaf sandwiches the next day too!



3/4 cup fat free milk

2 eggs

1 tablespoon minced onion

5 slices bread cut into chunks ( I used Pepperidge Farm light style oatmeal bread. You can probably use any kind of bread you want)

1 teaspoon ground sage (I didn't have this so I used Poultry seasoning)



Combine above ingredients.



Add 2 pounds ground beef and mix well. Form into loaf shape ( Loaf will be very wet!) and put in a preheated slow cooker sprayed with cooking spray.



Cook 7-8 hours on low.



combine:

1/4 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon each of brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce.

1 tsp ground mustard



spread mixture on top of meatloaf 15 minutes before done.



I took the lid off my slow cooker the last 2 hours of cooking. Then put it back on for the last 15 minutes with the ketchup mixture on it.

2 point per serving Turkey and Vegetable soup

So I played around with my weight watchers recipe builder last night and am in the process of making a HUGE pot of this. To appease Matt and the kids I am going to make a pot of egg noodles tonight. Then I can scoop a little bit of noodles into their bowls and ladle the soup on top. For me, my soup will be noodle-less or I am roasting a spaghetti squash right now. I may put some of that in as my noodles.



Put 1 tbsp oil in bottom of stock pot

Dice 2 cups carrots, 1 whole green pepper, 1 whole onion, 3-4 stalks celery and cook in large stock pot to soften slightly.

add 1 can corn and one package frozen broccoli florets.

Then pour in Homemade Turkey Stock skimmed of all fat (I think I had about 15 cups but added some water to it to bring it up so the stock pot was 3/4 full)



Bring to boil and cook for 20 minutes. Add 1/8 tsp poultry seasoning and pepper to taste.



Add 2 cups cut up cooked skinless turkey meat can use a combination of light and dark meat and 3 chopped hard boiled eggs.



Simmer until turkey and eggs are heated through. Serve



YUM!



And my house smells WONDERFUL!