CrockPot Pizza Soup Recipe

Day 218.

This is really good! Really, really, really good!

My kids' new-best-friend, Mallory, emailed me this recipe, and I was eager to test it out.

One, because it sounded awesome, and two, because I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the name Mallory. My youngest was almost named Mallory.

After Justine Bateman's character on Family Ties.

The Ingredients.

--1 jar (14 oz) of pizza sauce
--3 empty jars full of water
--1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
--1/2 red onion, chopped
--1 cup sliced mushrooms
--1 cup baby tomatoes, cut in quarters (or 1 can diced tomatoes, drained)
--2 already-cooked Italian sausage (I used chicken Italian sausage)
--1 cup sliced pepperoni, sliced in quarters (Hormel turkey pepperoni is labeled gluten free)
--8 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or 1/2 T dried)
--1 T dried oregano
--1/2 to 1/3 cup of dried pasta (if your pasta is tiny, use 1/3 cup. if it's big, do 1/2. I used 1/2 cup Trader Joe's brown rice penne)
--shredded mozzarella cheese (to add later)

The Directions.

Use a 5 or 6 quart crockpot for this recipe. Serves 4 hungry adults, or 2 hungry adults and 2 kids with enough leftovers to feed them all again.

Wash and prepare veggies. Dump them into the crockpot. Cut up the sausage into small pieces--I sliced, then cut the pieces in fourths. Add to crockpot. Cut up the pepperoni, add it, too. Add basil and oregano. Pour in the pizza sauce, and follow with three empty jars of water.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours. Everything in this is already cooked, so you are really only heating through and allowing the flavors to meld.

Thirty minutes before serving, add the dry pasta, and turn to high. My pasta only took 20 minutes to soften quite nicely.

Garnish/top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

The Verdict.

Absolutely delicious. This will definitely make it on the meal plan. Thank you so much, Mallory. You have a cool name.

Sundried Tomato and Caper Pasta Sauce CrockPot Recipe

Day 244.

That title is a mouthful. It's the last of the tomato recipes! If you still have some tomatoes on hand, and they're beginning to get squishy, this is a great way to use them up if you aren't in the mood for a heavy marinara.

These aren't tomatoes that I grew. I have never successfully grown anything other than the children. And morning glories. But my mom has a great tomato crop, and we live close by to an awesome produce stand.

This is a great, easy pasta sauce with a bit of a bite due to a handful of sundried tomatoes and capers. I was supposed to toss in some frozen peas at the very end to make it more of a full meal, and I completely forgot. We didn't miss them, but I'm going to add them to the leftovers.

The Ingredients.

--1/2 cup sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and rinsed
--5 fresh tomatoes, chopped
--1 medium onion, minced
--8 garlic cloves, chopped
--2 T capers, drained
--1 T Italian seasoning
--1/2 cup frozen peas, optional
--fresh Parmesan cheese, optional
--1 pound cooked pasta (I used Trader Joe's brown rice penne)

The Directions.

Use a 4-6 quart crockpot for this sauce.

Chop up the tomatoes, garlic, and onion and toss them into your crockpot. Add the tablespoon of Italian seasoning. After draining and rinsing off as much of the oil as you can from the sundried tomatoes, add 1/4 cup of them whole to the crockpot. Chop up the remaining 1/4 cup, and then add that. Stir in the 2 T of drained capers.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in the frozen peas 20 minutes before serving. Toss the sauce with hot cooked pasta. Garnish with shredded Parmesan cheese.

The Verdict.

This was a great meal, and we all really enjoyed it. My kids aren't quite sold on capers, but they enjoy pasta a lot, and ate quite a bit.

This was a great dinner on a Saturday night. I love turning the crockpot on during a weekend morning---it saves us from ordering take-out on a busy day.

Little Dipper Pizza Fondue Recipe

Day 365, take two.

I was annoyed with the white bean soup with fennel and spinach I made for dinner, but had all the stuff in the house to make a pizza fondue.

So I did.

I used the Little Dipper because I puffy heart LOVE it, but you could use an oven-safe dish inside a regular crockpot to create a smaller cooking vessel. Or you could increase the quantities.

The Ingredients.

--1 cup pasta sauce (my sauce had chunked mushrooms, it was perfect)
--1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
--10 pieces pepperoni, diced
--1 cup shredded cheese (I used a combo of mozzarella, cheddar, and swiss)

The Directions.

Count out 10 pieces of pepperoni. Then eat the rest of the package.
Put the pasta sauce into your Little Dipper, and plug it in. Add the Italian seasoning and diced pepperoni. Shove in the cup of shredded cheese. I promise it will fit. Cover and leave plugged in (there are no heat settings on a Little Dipper) for 45 min or so.

Stir well and serve with tortilla chips, bread sticks, or crustini.

I made some crustini with the Food for Life brown rice bread. I cut the pieces in slices, then brushed olive oil on each side. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 min, flipping once half-way through.

The Verdict.

This was great. We spread out a blanket in front of the TV and had a carpet picnic with the pizza fondue and watched Redbox dvds. How come I didn't know about redbox earlier?

good stuff.

Having a fondue party?
you really should.

fancy cheese fondue
chocolate fondue
peanut butter fondue
marshmallow fluff fondue
pumpkin pie dip
cream cheese, sausage, and Rotel dip (AKA mommy crack)

Italian Rice Slow Cooker Recipe

You can make rice in the slow cooker! Even on days you don't end up using the slow cooker for a main course, you can use it for fuss-free sides. 

I used long-grain white basmati rice, but a long-grain brown would work also. The short grains will get gummy--I'd stick to the longer stuff.

The Ingredients.

serves 4

 

 

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

6 green onions, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 cup long-grain white basmati rice

2 cups chicken broth

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker (you can win one, here!). Put the tomatoes and sliced green onions into the bottom of your cooker and add garlic and Italian seasoning. Stir in the raw rice until it's evenly coated with the tomato gunk and spices. Pour in the chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours, or unti the rice is tender. Take the lid off and fluff the rice with a fork. Let the slow cooker sit with the lid off for 10-15 minutes before serving to release steam.

The Verdict.

We ate our Italian rice with a roasted chicken. I liked how the rice was speckled with color and infused with flavor, but no oil or fat. We all ate our dinner without complaint. YAY!

on a side note: who saw Oprah yesterday with Martha Stewart as the guest? Any thoughts? Come join the discussion over on the message boards...

more ricey dishes:

using your crockpot as a rice cooker

risotto

autumn sausage casserole

fried rice

breakfast risotto

overnight breakfast brown rice and quinoa porridge (flop!)

rice pudding

day 6 of Crocktober!

Pizza Chili Slow Cooker Recipe

 

I can always count on a successful family dinner when the word "pizza" is in the title. This chili was a definite success--- it fed 3 adults and 5 children, and the crock was scraped clean at the end of the night.

The Ingredients.

serves 6-8 or so

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey, browned and drained

1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans (and the goop)

1 (14-ounce) jar premade pizza sauce

1 (14.5-ounce) can Italian stewed tomatoes

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

25 pepperoni slices

1 cup water

shredded mozzarella and/or Parmesan cheese (for serving; optional)

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Brown your ground meat on the stovetop, and drain any accumulated grease. Put the cooked meat into an empty slow cooker and add the entire can of beans, pizza sauce, and the whole can of tomatoes. Add diced bell pepper, and stir in the Italian seasoning and pepperoni (I didn't chop the pepperoni, but you can if you'd prefer). Add 1 cup of water.

Cover and cook on look on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for about 4. Serve with a sprinkling of cheese, if desired.

The Verdict.

This has fantastic pizza flavor and is super low-carb. Unless you serve it in bread bowls, which would be pretty cool (I've made bread bowls out of free-formed loaves of Pamela's Amazing Bread mix which works well).

If you're looking to stock the freezer, this is a great make ahead meal---no pasta or starches that have a tendency to break down when reheating.

more slow cooker pizzay goodness:

puffy pizza casserole

pizza soup

pizza fondue dip

Have a great weekend! 

Back to School Slow Cooker Menu (ravioli lasagna and pizza chicken)

I'm done with summer.

The school can have my kids back.

I'm ready to get on track with routines, schedules, meal-planning, and quiet.

mostly the quiet.

I've written about my love for meal planning in a bunch of spots. If you're looking for a how-to, you can read this post, or this one, or this one.

If you'd like inspiration, Laura, from I'm an Organizing Junkie hosts Menu Planning Monday each week (I have a webTV interview with Laura, here).

Here are two super simple weeknight meal recipes. I'll throw them in together instead of writing up separate posts since they are so easy.

oh! the verdicts on each were great. The kids ate every last drop, and Adam did the dishes. :-)

 Slow Cooker Pizza Chicken

 

4 chicken breast halves (or about 6 thighs)

1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced

1 small yellow onion, peeled and diced

1 (14-ounce) jar pizza sauce

20 pepperoni pieces (read labels carefully for hidden gluten, I used Hormel)

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

I used a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the chicken into your cooker and top with the cut up veggies and pizza sauce. Put the pepperoni pieces evenly over the top, and add lots of cheese. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or about 4 on high.

Slow Cooker Ravioli Lasagna

I'd wanted to test out the ease of ravioli lasagna for a while, but couldn't find gluten free ravioli that fit the budget. The ones pictured are from Mariposa which has a kiosk in the Ferry Building in SF. I have also seen frozen gluten free ravioli at Costco. If you can't find some locally, check with your local GIG group for suggestions.

If you aren't gluten free, use whatever you've got in the house!

1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained

1 (28-ounce) jar prepared pasta sauce

25-30 frozen cheese or meat ravioli (I used gluten free; please mind labels!)

2 cups shredded cheese (I used Italian blend-- mozzarella, parmesan, etc)

2 tablespoons warm water

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. After browning the meat in a skillet, drain well and add the pasta sauce (save the jar!) to the meat in your saute pan. Stir to combine. 

Scoop a large spoonful of meat sauce and spread into the bottom of an empty slow cooker. Add a layer of frozen ravioli. Then add another layer of meat sauce. Continue layering until you run out of ravioli and sauce. Sprinkle cheese evenly all over the top.

Put 2 tablespoons of water into the empty pasta sauce jar, and shake. Pour this water over the top of your "lasagna."

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or on high for about 4. Your lasagna is done when the pasta on the ravioli is tender and the filling is heated through.

School starts for us on September 6th. I love having the kids home with me, I really do. But we've done summer. We've had the pool parties, the sleep overs, the camping trips, the roadtrips, and the all-day-tv veg days.

What's on your back to school menu?

other stuff you might like:

back to school year resolutions

real moms making real money: Amy Lynn Andrews--bloggingwithamy.com

back to school, back to work 

How a Mom Gets Ready for School 

How to Work At Home With Small Children

Italian Minestrone Soup in the Slow Cooker

 

The temperature has followed the clock's lead, and has turned back a notch. It's officially cold outside, and we're ready for soup season.

mmm.

There is something terribly soothing about minestrone soup--- regardless of your age, curling up with a bowl of hearty soup is as if you're being cuddled from the inside.

simply lovely.

The Ingredients.

serves 6-8

1 pound lean ground meat: pork, beef, or turkey. I used beef.

4 ounces sliced mushrooms

1 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 cup chopped carrot

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced or stewed tomatoes

1 tablespoon dried oregano

4 cups beef broth

2/3 cup dried elbow pasta (to add later; I used Tinkyada brand which is gluten free)

kosher salt (add to taste at the table)

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Brown the first four ingredients on the stovetop, and drain the fat. I know, I hate cooking before I cook too, but this is a good thing because you're draining the rendered grease/fat.

Add meat to the slow cooker, and your vegetables. Add the whole can of tomatoes, the oregano, and beef broth. Stir to combine. Cover, and cook on low for 8 hours. 30 minutes before serving, stir in the dry pasta. Flip to high, and cook for an additional 30 minutes or until pasta has become bite-tender.

Serve in wide-mouthed bowls with a bit of shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired.

The Verdict.

I served this soup last week to my family of five, my parents, and my grandma. We didn't have any leftovers. I am  beginning to really prefer beef broth to chicken in my heartier soups that have tomatoes--- it's just a more rich flavor.

If you plan on freezing this soup, I wouldn't add the noodles until you reheat and serve; they'll break up on you in the freezer.

additional soup season favorites:

Albondigas Soup

Tortilla Soup

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

Doro Wat

Black Bean Soup

Corn Chowder

Clean out the Pantry Minestrone

End of Summer Harvest Soup

African Peanut Soup

GIVEAWAY!! I'm hosting a giveaway for Chime.In over on the review page, and I have a FREE Amazon Kindle Fire for a lucky (randomly selected) winner!

Not Your Mother's Meatballs -- slow cooker recipe

 Oh they're just so pretty! I've got a meatball recipe for you today that will  become a new family favorite. I'm not going to lie -- you're going to have to dirty up your hands a bit, but you won't have to wash a frying pan.

Those beautiful meatballs pictured up above? They held their form and browned beautifully all on their own in the crockpot --- no pre-browning required.

score!

The Ingredients.

makes 24 golfball-sized meatballs

 

1/4 cup chopped Italian Parsley

1.5 pounds lean ground beef

4 slices smoked bacon, diced (raw; don't cook it)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup Panko-style breadcrumbs (I used Kinnikinnick Gluten Free Bread Crumbs)

2 eggs (the eggs pictured are duck eggs! thanks, Grandpa John!)

2 tablespoons dried minced onion flakes

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

additional ingredients:

1 cup flour (I used rice flour)

2 cups chicken broth (can use beef)

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Spray the inside of your cooker with cooking spray, or rub it down with a bit of olive oil (don't go crazy, just a little glisten) and set aside. In a good-sized mixing bowl, combine the chopped parsley, ground beef, and diced bacon. Add in Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, eggs, and the dried spices. Combine well--- I'd use your hands (remove rings, wash appropriately, and all that good stuff that if I had a legal team they'd tell me to include).

After the meat is mixed, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or non-stick foil. Pour 1 cup of flour (I used rice flour) into a shallow dish (pie pan works great).

Roll meat into golfball-sized balls and then lightly dust each meat ball with flour before placing  onto the lined cookie sheet. When all the meat is gone, put the whole cookie sheet into the freezer for 1 hour, or until completely frozen. It's okay to freeze overnight, if you'd like to break this into two days (put in sealed dish/tupperware if freezing for longer).

Once your meatballs are frozen, place them one-by-one (this means don't dump!) into your lightly greased slow cooker. It's okay to stack them. In a  small mixing bowl, whisk together the broth and tomato paste to create a gravy. Pour this evenly over the meatballs. Cover, and cook on low for 5 hours, or until the meatballs have browned and are fully cooked. I cooked the meatballs pictured above on low for 5 hours, then let them sit on warm for another 3 1/2 hours before dinner was served.

Serve alongside pasta or rice, or all on their own. These are filling!

The Verdict.

You will love these. I couldn't stop taste-testing these throughout the afternoon and kept texting Adam to come home quick because dinner was going to rock.

and it did. I shared the leftovers with my dad who is somewhat of a meatball connoisseur and he *really* liked them. I learned about the flour-and-freezing trick from Pinterest--- it worked great, and is such a fantastic technique to keep the meat together. I already knew meatballs didn't need to be browned in the slow cooker beforehand but dredging them in flour first gives a bit more of a "crusty" texture and thickens the tomato gravy beautifully.

The internet is so much fun!

more meatballs in the crockpot:

apple, cheddar, and turkey meatballs

meatballs in peanut chile sauce

Albondigas (meatball) Soup

turkey meatballs with cranberry barbecue sauce

two little smokie appetizer recipes (but you can use meatballs!)

Lentil Minestrone Soup Recipe

I had a cold last week. I'm better now, but there were a few days there when I was pretty much certain that I was going to choke to death on my own snot. 

(lovely, just lovely, steph...)

Anyway. I really wanted a soup to soothe my throat and to make me feel loved and taken care of. Since I'm home during the day with an almost-three-year-old, there wasn't anybody available to make me soup, so I did it myself (I promise I washed my hands really well first!).

But by the time it was finished cooking, I was back to bed, and was served ---- complete with a Thomas the Tank spoon.

I love my family.

and you'll love this soup. It's easy to throw together, uses household staples, and freezes and reheats VERY well. I kept it vegetarian, but Adam suggests I throw in a hambone next time. Sliced smoked sausage would be awesome, too.

If you'd like a soupier soup, add more broth 30 minutes or so before serving.



The Ingredients.
serves 6


2 cups lentils, rinsed
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced carrot
1 onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes (with juice!)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups hearty torn greens, like kale or chard (if you'd prefer spinach, stir in before serving)
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth (optional: add another 1 to 2 cups of broth if you'd like before serving)

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Put the rinsed lentils into the bottom of an empty insert. Add the diced celery, carrot, onion, and garlic (if you have a food processor, it might be helpful to use). Add the entire can of diced tomatoes, and add the seasonings and torn greens. Stir in the broth (I used chicken, but any broth will work just fine).
Cover, and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or until the lentils are soft. If you'd like to stretch this to feed more, or for a thinner soup, feel free to add more broth.

Serve with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired, and a hunk of garlic bread.

The Verdict.

I ate this for all my meals 3 days in a row and was HEALED(!) from the WORST cold, ever!
that, and I may have taken some Nyquil....


other minestrone soups you might like:
Italian Minestrone
Clean-Out-The-Pantry Minestrone
Pesto Minestrone
Traditional Minestrone



In case you missed it, I'm fortunate to be able to offer an updated Ninja Cooking System package to you, and we are still running daily giveaways to help with your holiday shopping!



have a wonderful week!

Slow Cooker Chicken Puttanesca

SPRING BREAK is over. It was pretty anticlimactic and I'm still trying to figure out where I went wrong. We were really looking forward to it, and had been quite excited the days and weeks leading up to this last one. The kids and I had elaborate plans of staying in our jammies all day and playing board games and gardening and writing.

Instead we watched too much tv and argued.

But! I'm now caught up on all of Mad Men and watched the entire first season of the remake of Dallas. I liked it when the boys took their shirts off.... 

anyway. 

I did cook, and I think you're going to like this one.

The Ingredients.

serves 4

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon dried oregano (2 tablespoons fresh, finely diced)

1/2 teaspoon dried red chile flakes

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup pitted kalamata olives (no juice)

4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced (to add at the very end; not pictured)

cooked pasta for serving (I used gluten free angel hair)

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker for best results. If you only have a 6-quart, use more chicken, or don't cook it quite as long (I'd check after 4 hours on low, 3 hours on high).

Plop the chicken into the bottom of your slow cooker and add all of the other ingredients, except for the cheese.

Cover, and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or on high for about 4 hours If you'd like, you can cook longer, but the chicken will probably fall apart and begin to shred. That's okay with me --- but if it's not with you, consider yourself forewarned!

Before serving, top with sliced fresh mozzarella cheese, and cook on high for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

Serve over hot buttered pasta with a green salad.

The Verdict.

This is a fancy-pants chicken recipe that is super easy yet it tastes like you spent all day in the kitchen. There is very little chopping required (only from garlic; you could always use jarred if you prefer) and you can throw it all in the pot before you even put on your contacts and drain the coffee.

I had Chicken Puttanesca last summer at an Italian restaurant and knew I needed to figure out how to make it at home. I'm not, however, going to tell you what Puttanesca means because that's why they invented Google and this is a family-friendly website.

:-)

other great Italian Slow Cooker Food:

Super Simple Lasagna

Italian Rice

Eggplant "Parmesan"

Italian Minestrone

Not Your Mother's Meatballs

Fillet of Sole with Pesto

Pesto Minestrone

we've got giveaways up and running again on the giveaway page. Come check them out!!

Slow Cooker Italian-Style Calico Bean Soup

This has been one of "those weeks" -- and I feel like I just can't seem to do anything correctly, and everything seems to be just slightly off balance.

it stinks.

I try to maintain a positive outlook on life, the universe, and everything, but today was one of those days that I wanted to crawl back in bed as soon as my feet hit the floor. The good news was that dinner pretty much made itself, and the kids have promised that they'll do the dishes.

And Adam promised he'll oversee the process, which means that I'm going to curl up on the couch with a blankie and watch the DVRed Lifetime shows I've got stockpiled...

[hey, no judging allowed! SOMEBODY has to watch Drop Dead Diva and Devious Maids, or they'll get cancelled!]



The Ingredients
serves 8-10

1 (16-ounce) package bean soup mix, flavor packet discarded
1 (12 to 16-ounce) package bulk Italian sausage, browned and crumbled
1 (26-ounce) jar prepared pasta sauce
2 empty pasta sauce jars worth of water
1 chicken bouillon cube (12 grams)

The Directions

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. In a large pot on the stove top, bring the beans to a rapid boil in a bunch of fresh water. Boil the beans for 10 minutes, then cover and remove from the heat. Let the beans sit in the cooling water for 1 hour, then drain and rinse in clean water. Place the beans into an empty slow cooker insert.

{please note that because this bean mix contains red  beans, the beans *must* be boiled this way to kill a naturally-occurring potential toxin found in red beans. It's best to be safe rather than sorry!]

In a large skillet, brown the bulk sausage on the stove top, and drain any accumulated fat. Scrape the pan contents into your cooker. Add the entire jar of pasta sauce, and two jars-worth of water. Drop in the bouillon cube. Stir to combine. Cover, and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or on high for about 5 hours. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and a hunk of homemade cornbread.

enjoy!

The Verdict

I love this bean mix because it has something for everyone -- I especially love the great big huge butter beans that nearly triple in size while cooking. The leftovers freeze beautifully, and I enjoy having lots of little containers in the fridge ready to go for lunches during the week.
If freezing, you'll need to thin a tiny bit with broth or water upon reheating.

more beany goodness:
traditional minestrone
16 bean soup
cowboy stew
dried beans tutorial

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