Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

So, I got a slow cooker for Christmas…and one of my resolutions was to use it a lot and post the recipes. On the plus side, I have been using it a ton however I’ve just been too lazy or unorganized to ever blog about it. Mainly, I’ve just made a lot of chili and a bunch of roasts…

However, I do have a recipe for you today! Finally! I had been craving spaghetti and meatballs for most of last week and so when the weekend finally rolled around, I decided to make a nice hearty meal for Matt and I. I decided to make the meat sauce in my slow cooker and it turned out really well. Plus my house just smelled incredible all day.

I also threw in some meatballs that I already had in my freezer, made this garlic bread to accompany the meal and these chocolate chip cookies for dessert…it was a serious comfort food party.

P.S. I NEED to do a post on those chocolate chip cookies. They are quite possibly the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. EVER.

Slow Cooker Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

2 lb lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (28 oz) diced or whole tomatoes*, undrained
1 bottle (24 oz) strained tomatoes
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
dried thyme
dried oregano leaves
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper flakes
olive oil

*I only used whole tomatoes because I originally thought it was a can of diced…it didn’t make too much of a difference though, I just had to break them up a bit but diced would’ve probably been better.

Directions:

In a large skillet, cook onions in a drizzle of olive oil on medium heat. When onions are just starting to get soft, add garlic and cook for another minute or two. Add beef and cook until it is no longer pink; drain.


Spoon beef mixture into your slow cooker. Stir in remaining ingredients. (*Note: I rarely measure spices so unfortunately I didn’t really have an idea of how much I put in…plus, I just ended up adding more to taste later anyways.)

Cover; cook on high heat for 4-6 hours or low heat for 8-9 hours.



Spoon over your favorite pasta and enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup

I love squash. All kinds of squash. They’re kind of amazing vegetables due to the fact that they adapt very well to both savory and sweet dishes. They’re so versatile and so delicious – everyone should eat more squash!

Butternut squash is probably one of the most popular types of squash out there these days. However, it’s a tough bugger to cut. I love butternut squash but I absolutely hate peeling and slicing it so I admit that I don’t eat as much of it as I probably could.

But this weekend I got brave. I went out and bought a fresh squash, rolled up my sleeves, and went to town on it with the biggest and sharpest knife I had. It still took awhile, but I destroyed that squash in the end. Then I cooked it up with some other veggies, threw them all in my food processor and turned it all into delicious soup.

And it was good…

Curried Butternut Squash Soup
(Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Puréed Butternut Squash Soup)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2¾ pounds small butternut squash, prepared and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups water
1/2 cup peanut butter
Curry powder
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion, ginger, garlic and celery until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add squash and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant (about 6 to 8 minutes). Stir in water and stock. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until squash is tender (20 minutes).


Purée your soup in two batches. (*Note: When blending hot foods, allow the heat to escape to prevent splattering. Remove the cap from the hole of the blender’s lid, and cover with a dish towel.)


When soup is blended, pour back into pot and stir in peanut butter, and enough curry powder and salt and pepper to suit your tastes. Serve hot.

Chicken Pot Pie for a snowy day

The snowpocalypse hit today. We got 30 cm last night (and even more today…) and I was awakened at 7 AM to a knock on my door as my brother was stuck in our alley and needed help. I spent the first hour of my morning pushing and shoveling. Consequently, I decided to hibernate for the remainder of the day.

So I made chicken pot pie. On days like today, you shouldn’t have to do anything besides curl up in your favorite sweats and watch movies and eat chicken pot pie. However, if you happen to get laundry done and your Christmas decorations taken down, so much the better!

Chicken Pot Pie
This recipe is more like a casserole with a top crust as Matt isn’t a fan of savory pies (being the pie-lover he is, I don’t understand this in the least) so I had to trick him into thinking it was a casserole. You can still make this pie with a bottom crust as well though.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsalted butter
3 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup flour
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 bay leaves
3 cooked chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup frozen peas
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

pastry for a single crust pie
salt & pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion and about a 1/4 tsp salt, and cook until softened (about 6-7 minutes).

Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant. Stir in the flour, then slowly stir in the broth, cream and bay leaves. Simmer until the mixture is thickened (about 10 minutes).

After the mixture has thickened, discard the bay leaves and stir in the chicken, peas and parsley. You can add any additional salt & pepper to taste here as well.


Pour the mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Roll out pie dough, drape it over the dish and trim. Bake at 425 F until the top is golden brown and bubbly (about 20-25 minutes). Let cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving.


P.S. My good foodie friend Lindz also has a yummy chicken pot pie recipe here. Check it out!

Casseroles instead of cookies

Have you ever seen that Campbell’s commercial where the mother is making dinner and the kids each ask if she’s making their favorite dish, however instead of just saying the name of the dish, they spell out the website url to where the recipe is on cookingwithcampbells.ca? Yeah…I’ve seen it a lot. And I kept thinking that the cheesy broccoli thing that the mom did end up making looked amazing and I had to see what it was.

Now, I’m going to admit that normally I’m a bit of a food snob. I’m not a fan of all those Kraft and Campbell’s recipes as they make you use all their brand-name products and most of them have like, salad dressing in them…it’s weird. But this recipe’s only brand-name ingredient was Campbell’s cream of broccoli soup. So I went out and bought some.

(on a side note, you could probably use no name cream of broccoli soup too…or even cream of mushroom…or chicken…I don’t think it would make a huge difference.)

Anyways, besides the fact that I’ve never opened a can of cream of broccoli soup before in my life and was consequently put off a little when I did (it looks and smells kind of gross..), the whole dish turned out pretty darn good. So good, in fact, that Matt and I ate the whole thing…and it would’ve probably made really good leftovers, but we now have none. Oh well. It was tasty while it lasted.

And I will never doubt cream of broccoli soup again.

Creamy Chicken & Broccoli Casserole
(Adapted from Campbell’s Easy Chicken and Broccoli Divan)

Ingredients:

3 cups broccoli florets, steamed
2 cooked chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
1 can cream of broccoli soup
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used old cheddar)
2 tbsp dry bread crumbs
1 tsp butter, melted

Directions:

First, cook your chicken breasts (I seasoned and broiled mine). While they’re cooking, steam your broccoli. When chicken is cooked, cut into cubes.

Mix milk with soup in a measuring cup or small bowl. Arrange broccoli and chicken in a baking dish (1.5 qt).

Pour the soup and milk mixture over broccoli and chicken. Sprinkle with cheese. Top with mixture of bread crumbs and butter.

Bake at 425°F until heated through (25-30 minutes).


I promise I'll get back to some dessert recipes soon enough, I just need a little break...and somehow get the rest of my Christmas baking out of my house.

Comfort Food: Beef Stew & Biscuits

Today, it was just plain yucky outside. After I braved the roads first thing in the morning to hit the gym, I quickly decided to spend the rest of the day indoors. On cold, snowy days like today, all I want to do is curl up on my couch with a mug of tea and some good movies.

I was also craving comfort food. Mind you, I tend to crave comfort food on a regular basis. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that I live in Alberta and we get snow for most of the year and therefore all I want is to hibernate and eat yummy and hearty meals year-round. Or it could also be due to the fact that I grew up eating the most delicious and comforting dishes as my mother is an insanely awesome cook.

Nevertheless, today I wanted stew. Beef stew. I had never made it before but I figured it couldn’t be that difficult.

Thankfully, it wasn’t. I also made biscuits. And they may just be the best biscuits I’ve ever made. AND they were super easy. I actually googled, “easy buttermilk biscuits” because I really didn’t feel like rolling out and cutting dough, and I stumbled upon a great recipe that’s quick and easy, and amazingly delicious.

Beef Stew
(Adapted from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry’s Stew-Pendous Beef Stew)
The longer you can cook this, the better. The meat really needs a good 2 hours to get fully tender and delicious. A slow cooker would make it even better. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for one…

Ingredients:

olive oil
1-1½ pounds beef (I used eye of round), cut into 1 to 1½ inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/2 an onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons herbes de Provence (or any mix of herbs you’d like – I made up my own)
3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch pieces
2 large carrots, diced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup frozen green peas

Directions:

Pat beef dry with paper towels. Sprinkle beef lightly all over with seasoning salt. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large pot (preferably non-stick) over medium-high heat. Add half the beef cubes and cook, turning occasionally, until all sides are lightly browned. Remove from pot and keep warm. Repeat with another drizzle of olive oil and remaining beef cubes. Set browned beef aside.

Add onions, celery, and garlic to same pot (you may add a bit more olive oil or ¼ cup beef broth to pot if necessary to prevent sticking). Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Return beef cubes to pot and stir in herbs de Provence (or your herbs of choice). Add beef broth, tomato paste, vinegar, bay leaves, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour, 15 minutes. (Make sure it is a low simmer and that mixture is not boiling or it will burn.)

Stir in potatoes and carrots. Cover and simmer for 30 more minutes. Mix cornstarch with 2 tbsp warm water until smooth. Add to stew. Mix well and continue to cook until stew is bubbly and has thickened. Stir in peas and cook just until they are heated through, about 2 minutes.


P.S. These are the biscuits I made. They’re seriously awesome. So awesome, in fact, that there were none left over – Matt made sure of that.

Awesometastic Chicken Curry

So, I really didn’t expect to be posting on this blog everyday…or posting many “normal” recipes however I made a chicken curry today that was so good, I figured it needed to be shared. My boyfriend, Matt, raved about it and after some serious curry fails in the past, it feels good to make something awesome for a change.

Plus, he’s a super harsh critic when it comes to my cooking. If he thinks it’s good, it usually is.

So, without further ado, the recipe for Stephanie’s Awesometastic Chicken Curry!

Ingredients

vegetable or canola oil
½ a medium onion, diced
1 red pepper, chopped (green, yellow or any combo of the 3 would work too)
3 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 tbsp curry paste (I use Patak’s Mild Curry Paste)
2-3 boneless chicken breasts, chopped into 1-inch pieces
5 tomatoes, diced (I used roma tomatoes because that’s all I had, but a can of diced tomatoes would work fine too)
¼ cup whipping cream
1 tsp coriander
pinch or 2 of hot red pepper flakes

basmati rice, for serving


Directions

Heat up vegetable oil (about 2 tbsp) in a deep frying pan on medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic and pepper and fry until onion is soft and golden. Stir in curry paste and add chicken. Cook until meat is sealed, about 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Add cream, coriander and red pepper flakes and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until meat is cooked. Feel free to add other spices or more pepper flakes to taste. I also eyeballed the cream, so you could add more of that too if you want a creamier curry.

Serve with basmati rice. Naan bread would be good too.

This made enough for Matt and I, plus 2 servings of leftovers.


I know this recipe isn’t anywhere near vegetarian or vegan, but you could make it so by substituting the chicken with a can of chickpeas and using a dairy-free creamer or coconut milk.

I promise I’ll be back posting some new dessert recipes ASAP!! Look at me, less than a week in and I’ve already seriously strayed from my original intent…some dessert blogger I am.