Hungarian Goulash

My husband is back home for a little while now that he finished his clinical rotation in Florida. So he helped me pick out this recipe. :)

Ingredients: (Serves 6)

1lb Extra-lean Ground Beef

1 Large Onion

1 Garlic Clove, minced

1/2c Ketchup

2T Worcestershire Sauce

1T Brown Sugar

1-1.5t Salt

2t Paprika

1/2t Dry Mustard

1c Water

1/2 Bag of Frozen Corn

1/4c Flour

1/4c Cold Water

Instead of browning the beef before putting it in the slow cooker, I figured it would be better to put in raw. Then break it into pieces after it cooks. First of all, then the meat would be chunkier for the goulash. Second of all, it takes less time. :)

Slice the onion. Once it was done the onion pieces were a little larger than we liked. I suggest chopping it more than slicing.

Place onion on top of ground beef.

Combine garlic, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, paprika, mustard, and 1c water

Pour sauce over meat and onions

I added my own ingredient to this meal. I figured corn would add volume and mix well with the goulash. Add corn to slow cooker


Cover and cook on Low for 5-6 hours.

Dissolve flour in 1/4c cold water.

Stir into meat mixture.

Cook on high 10-15 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Siver over noodles or rice.

This version of goulash was pretty good. It had an interesting flavor. I didn't expect it to be a little sweet.

Nutrition: (Doesn't include noodles or rice)

156 Calories

3g Fat

1g Fiber

17g Protein

15g Carbs

4 WW PointsPlus

Recipe from Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly

Chicken with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms

This meal was simple to make with only 4 ingredients. :) I had made something with pearl onions in the past and it was delicious. So I wanted to try this recipe out.

Ingredients: (Serves 4-6)

4-6 Boneless Chicken Breast Halves (I used 8 tenders)

10 3/4oz Can of Cream of Chicken or Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup (Reduced Fat)

8oz Sliced Mushrooms

16oz Bag Frozen Pearl Onions

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Mix the soup, mushrooms, and onions

Put the chicken in the bowl. The recipe said to cut into 1 inch strips, but I did not have a lot of time in the morning. Plus, it is easy to cut when the chicken is cooked.

Spoon the mixture over the chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cover and cook on Low for 6-8 hours.


If you didn't cut the chicken earlier, use a spoon or spatula to cut the chicken into pieces.

Serve over rice or with potatoes.

This meal was delicious. My dad loved it too. :)

Nutrition: (Does not include rice or potatoes)

150 calories

3g Fat

2g Fiber

18g Protein

11g Carbs

3 WW PointsPlus

Recipe from Southernfood.about.com

Pulled Beef

Yesterday, we had a potluck at work for Christmas. I wanted to make some kind of real food so that I didn't eat chips and appetizers all day long. I figured pulled beef sandwiches would be perfect for my coworkers. :) This is the recipe that my family has always made.

Ingredients:

4lb Chuck Pot Roast

1 Onion

Lawry's Seasoning Salt

Aldolf's Tenderizer

Minced Garlic

Hamburger Buns

Sprinkle the tenderizer and seasoning salt on each side of the roast. Then place in the slow cooker.
Cut the onion in quarters.

Place onion in slower cooker.

Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

It was very juicy after cooking. Once it is done cooking, use a fork to shred the beef. It may take a few minutes to get it started, but then it gets much easier. Just be patient in the beginning.

We ate the pulled beef on hamburger buns. My coworkers loved the pulled beef sandwiches!

Chicken Pot Pie

The other day when we were out to dinner Jessica and my parents were talking about how much they loved Pot Pies.  I hadn't had one in forever and I normally try to stay away from them because the frozen ones are so bad for you.  I figured making it at home would be a lot healthier!  I found a recipe on the Crock Pot Guys website and decided to try it out.  I made a few adjustments when I made it..

Ingredients:
1 lb Boneless Chicken, cubes
3 large Potatoes, small cubes
3 cups Baby Carrots, quartered
1 1/2 cups Frozen Peas
1 cup Frozen Corn
8 oz Sliced Mushrooms, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons dried Onion (I forgot I used my onion in the Hawaiian Chicken)
2 cans Cream of Chicken
3 cups Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup Butter
3/4 cup Milk

Chop all of the vegetables into little cubes and mix them together in the slow cooker.

Next I had taken my chicken right out of the freezer so I had to defrost it for a couple minutes.  While it was still mostly frozen I cut it into little cubes and then covered the vegetables with it.

After the chopping is complete cover the mixture with the cans of condensed soup and it is ready to start crocking.

Before I left for work I set this on low for seven hours and then it sat on warm for two and a half hours.

This looked so good I was ready to eat as is! lol Spray a 13x9 baking pan and spoon the vegetables and chicken into the pan.  Try to mix everything together as you do this.


Sorry this one is so blurry.

Heat the oven to 425 while you work on the next step, which is a little more tricky.  I didn't realize this recipe called for a rolling pin, but I made due without it.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl and stir them together.  Next cut the butter in until it looks like it is evenly spread throughout.  Pour all of the milk in and mix it all together.  I had to start using my hands because it got so thick.  Since I didn't have a rolling a pan I used my fist in the bowl and tried to flatten it out as much as possible.  Then I held it up in the air and stretched it out as much as I could.  Lay this on top of the mixture.  The recipe said to brush melted butter over top the dough, but I forgot about this step and it turned out fine.

I baked this at 425 for 22 minutes.  This was just enough time for me to boil some noodles to go with it!

I let it cool for a few minutes and then sliced it into eight servings.

My mom always served the frozen pot pies over noodles.  I don't think this really needed them because the top crust was thicker than normal.  I loved it!!

Hawaiian BBQ Pulled Chicken

Tonight I made a really simple Pulled Chicken recipe.  It was very simple to make at the last minute!

Ingredients:
1 lb Boneless Chicken
1 can Pineapple
1 Onion
1 jar BBQ Sauce

Place the chicken on the bottom of the slow cooker and cover it with the chopped onion.

Drain the pineapple and spread it over the onions.

Pour the bottle of BBQ sauce on top and you are finished!

This was so easy I was able to do it all before work instead of the night before.  I set it on low for seven hours and then it sat on warm for three more hours.

Use a fork and shred the chicken.  It was falling apart on it's own so I was able to keep it in the crock when I did it.

This ended up having a lot of sauce!  Next time I think I will add twice as much chicken.

Since it was so saucy I think I will prepare it with rice for the leftovers.  It was fantastic though!  It had a sweet and tangy taste to it.

Lentil and Ham Soup

Last night my friends had a Girls Night for a Christmas dinner. I thought a soup would go perfectly with appetizers, salad, lasagna, and Christmas cookies.

Ingredients: (Serves 8)

1c Onions

3 Cloves of Garlic

6c Fat-free Chicken Broth

1c Dried Lentils

1/2c Carrots

2 Bay Leaves

3c Swiss Chard

1 1/2c Potatoes

1c Ham

14 1/2oz Can Diced Tomatoes

1t Dried Basil

1/2t Dried Thyme

1/2t Black Pepper

3T Fresh Parsley, chopped

If you don't have a lot of time in the morning before work, I suggest chopping all of the veggies the night before. That was the only time consuming part of the recipe.

Chop the carrots and onions

Chop the Swiss chard

Chop the potatoes. I chose use red skin potatoes and to leave the skins on, and it worked out perfectly.

Chop the ham. It called for 1 cup. I had a lot of ham leftover from when I made ham last week. I ended up using almost 4 cups. It was nice and thick ;)

Combine all ingredients except fresh parsley in the slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours.

Stir in fresh parsley and served. Honestly, I forgot to add the parsley, but the soup was still good without it. Also, sorry about the off-center photo... It may have to do with the wine I was enjoying with the girls before dinner was served. ;)

The girls loved the soup! And it was healthy! I would call that a success. :)

Nutrition:

200 Calories

3.5g Fat

25g Carbs

10g Fiber

17g Protein

4 WW PointsPlus

Recipe from Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly

Chicken Stir Fry

I have always loved stir fry's. It is such a great way to get in a lot of veggies.

Ingredients:

4 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts

1t Salt

1t Crystallized Ginger (minced) or 1/4t Ground Ginger

1c Celery

5 oz Water Chestnuts, sliced and drained

1 Onion, sliced

2c Chicken Broth

2T Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1c Mushrooms, sliced

1lb Bean Sprouts, drained

2c Cooked Brown Rice

1/2c Almonds, slivered

I found out that I didn't have soy sauce like I thought. I used Teriyaki instead. It still tasted great with the substitution.

The night before I cut up all the veggies to save time in the morning. Slice the celery

Slice the onion

Slice the chicken into strips about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch thick

Place chicken in slow cooker with salt, ginger, celery, water chestnuts, onions, broth, and soy sauce


Cover and cook on low 5 to 6 hours

Turn slow cooker on high. Add mushroom and bean sprouts. cover and cook on high 15 minutes.

This is where I had a problem. The food cooked throughout the whole day, but when we tried to turn the cooker on high we realized that the heating element stopped working. :( I need to take the slow cooker back to the store now. Hopefully, they will exchange it without a problem since I've only had it a couple months. We finished cooking the meal in the oven.

Serve over hot rice. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve with extra soy sauce, if desired.

The stirfry was very yummy. I did add more teriyaki. We served it with white rice, but it would be even healthier if you used brown rice or couscous. I've made stirfry over couscous before and it was really good.

Nutrition:

380 Calories

11g Fat

5g Fiber

33g Protein

34g Carbs

9 WW PointsPlus

Recipe from FaveDiets.com