Sheet Pan Herb Steak and Veggies

Sheet Pan Herb Steak and Veggies
- original recipe can be found here.

Super easy recipe and it was so good.  I mean lick your plate clean, good.  Yes, we really did lick our plates clean!  Whole 30 and Paleo Friendly.

• Ingredients:
• 1-2 pounds flank steak (or cut of your choice).
• 2 pounds baby red potatoes
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 pound baby carrots
• 1/2 onion
• 3 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter
• 1/2 tablespoon dried parlsey
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Note: you don't need to measure out anything above.  Use your best judgment.  This is good, whole food.  We eyeballed most of it.

Instructions

1. Turn your oven on the broil setting (500 degrees)

2. In a saucepan, boil potatoes of 15 minutes, with a little salt

3. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper

4. Place the meat in the center of your sheet pan.

5. Arrange the carrots, potatoes, onions and carrots around the meet

6. Recommendation: Gently "smoosh" the potatoes so they will soak up the ghee and seasoning.

7.  In a small dish, melt the ghee and mix in the spices.

8. Brush the ghee mixture over the veggies and meat.  Once you are done brushing, pour the rest of the dish for added goodness.

9. Broil for 15 minutes.  Check after 10 to see if you need move some veggies around

10. If you like your steak a little more well done, broil longer, checking every 5 minutes.

3 Bean Salad

I had come across a recipe that looked really good, but it required grilling and I don't have time for that... so I made my own version.

LOOK AT THOSE COLORS!!!

3 Bean Salad
1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 cups Sweet Corn (or regular corn)
1 white onion, diced
1 can jalapenos
1 15oz can pinto beans,
1 15 oz can black beans
1 15 oz can kidney beans
Juice from one lime
2 tbls EVOO
1/2 bunch of cilantro

Serves 4 (I made this for 8, but after figuring out calories and eating it... we could of doubled it and been good, so stick with this makes 4 servings)

Drain the jalapenos.  Then Saute the jalapenos, onions and corn with the EVOO until onions are translucent and begin to caramelize.  Meanwhile, in a strainer dump all 3 cans of beans.  Rinse and mix together.  In a big bowl dump the beans, then add the corn mixture.  Add the juice from one lime and the cilantro. Mix well.  Enjoy :-)

Optional: Dice 2 avocados and add into mixture (nutrition facts do not include avocado)

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/8 of above recipe
Calories: 222
Total Fat: 1g
Sat Fat: >1g
Chol: 0
Sodium: 628
Total Carb: 39
Fiber: 17
Sugar: 5
Protein: 10g

Italian Wraps

I came across a recipe for some Italian Wraps in a magazine... but did not like the 603 calories!!!  600 calorie meals are bad if you eat light the rest of the day.  If you family is like mine, we make double servings of each dinner item, and eat the leftover for lunch the next day, which means all my meals need to be between 400-500 calories so that if I have two higher calorie meals, that we don't go way over what we (ok really I since I am the one on a fitness plan) should be having each day.  So I revamped the recipe and was able to bring it down to a very doable 473 calories!

 ITALIAN WRAPS
8 10-inch tortillas
8 tsps olive oil mayonaise
40 slices of thin sliced Salami (I used Citterio)
8 slices thinly sliced Provolone Cheese
4 red peppers, cut into thin strips
4 cups loosely shredded lettuce (arugula, romaine, red leaf)

Serves 8

Spread 1 tsp of mayo on each tortilla.  Then add 5 slices of salami onto each tortilla.  Next, cut the provolone in half and place to pieces onto each tortilla.  Add half a pepper onto each tortilla, and 1/2 cup of lettuce (or a small handful).  Roll up and use a toothpick to secure.  Enjoy!

Nutrition Info
Serving Size: 1 wrap
Calories: 473
Total Fat: 26g
Sat. Fat: 11
Chol: 77
Total Carbo: 31
Fiber: 1.5
Sugar: 3.7
Protein 28

Crock Pot Pizza

I found this recipe somewhere online, but when I went to print it... it didn't print the site address, so I am not sure where it came from.

Recipe
a jar of your favorite sauce- we used 2 jars that we had in the cupboard
your favorite pizza toppings- we used a red pepper, yellow pepper, onions, garlic, bacon, pepperoni, ground beef, and olives
1 tube of pre made biscuit dough
1-2 c of your favorite cheese

Pour the sauce into a Crock Pot first.  Then add your veggie toppings (we sauteed the onions and garlic before adding them).  Cook any meat you are using.  Then, add meat on top of veggies.  Open the dough and tear into quarter sized pieces and drop on top of the contents of the crock pot.  Cook on love for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3.  Add your cheese then cook for another 15-30 minutes (depending on how you like your cheese).  Cut into wedges and serve.

I had never heard of cooking pizza in a crock pot, but I thought why not.

 This is what it looked like before cooking.

And this is what it looked like after. I was a little worried on how I would get it out of the pot... I mean would the sauce cause it to be mush...

This was how it looked plated.  It came out pretty easily... We used a spatula to get what we could out and then just used another spatula full of sauce.

The only thing I would change with this recipe... would be to not let my husband touch it.  He added some extra spices to the sauce, because it was cheap store brand.... and he got a little too excited with the pepper and it was a bit spicy!

Crock Pot Chicken

Another recipe that I am not sure where it came from

Recipe
1 cup baby carrots or 2 to 3 medium carrots, sliced
1/2 c chopped onion
1 rib celery, sliced
2 cups fresh or frozen green beans
4 med potatoes, quatered
3-3.5lbs chicken
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cups strong chicken brother, condensed or made with double bouillon
little salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried basil

Layer carrots, onion, celery, green beans, potatoes, chicken and bacon.  In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; pour over the rest.  Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.

A new twist on an old standby.  The bacon really adds some good flavor to this meal.(doesn't bacon make everything better!)  This was really fast and easy to prepare.  I used the rest of some chicken thighs we had, but you can use whatever kind of chicken you want...even a fryer chicken. 

BBQ Beef Sandwich

I have no idea where this recipe came from... I found it in our recipe folder one day....

Recipe
3lbs stew meat
1/2c water
2 beef bouillon cubes
1tbsp minced onion
1 can tomato sauce (15oz)
1.4c brown sugar
1/4c ketchup
1/4c mustard
1 dash Worcestershire sauce

In Crock Pot place meat along with 1 cup water a bouillon cubes.  Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours (high 3-4).  remove meat and shred with a fork after cooking and retain 1 cub of the juice from cooking.  Add rest of the ingredients to shredded meat.  Put in crock pot and cook on low 3-4 hours.  Serve over hamburger buns or your favorite rolls.

These were really good.  I decided to cook this because my husband loves BBQ (I do not) and I wanted to do something for him.  I chose to cook the meet on high for 3-4 hours, then do the rest on low, so that it didn't take 12 hours to make (I never get up to the kitchen in time to cook anything for 12 hours!).  We loved this, will probably make again.

Crock Pot Corn Chowder

Original Recipe here

Ingredients:
6 slices bacon
2pkgs frozen corn (10 oz each)
1 can cream style corn (16 oz)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 c water
1/2 c onion, chopped
2 c potatoes, diced
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp seasoned salt
1 can chicken broth (16 oz)
1 c milk
1.4 c butter
corn starch

In skillet, fry bacon until crisp, remove and reserve.  Add onion and potatoes to bacon drippings, saute for 5 minutes.  Combine everything in Crock Pot except butter and milk.  Cover and cook on low 7 hours.  Pour 1.2 mixture into blender and puree until almost smooth.  Return to Crock Pot with milk and butter.  Cover and cook for 1 more hour.

I think this turned out good.  It was my first time ever making chowder.  We used the rest of the corn and potatoes from earlier in the week.  (the potatoes where those small finger length potatoes that come in 3 colors... which is why my picture may have more color than yours will- it was what we had).  Of course I forgot to get it started early so I had to cook mine on high for 4 hours instead of low for 7.  That may be why we had to use corn starch to help thicken it up some, because ours was still pretty creamy.  However, I liked this and will probably use it again.

Slow Cooked Texas Stew

I can't find where this recipe is from, it seems to have disappeared.

Ingredients:
2lbs beef tips, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 can mexican style stewed tomatoes (14.5oz)
1 can condensed beef brother, undiluted (10.5oz)
1 jar mild picante sauce (8oz)
10 oz frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
3 carrots, cut into 1.2 inch pieces
1 onion, cut into thin wedges
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4c all purpose flour
1/2c water

Combine first 10 ingredients in a large slow cooker. Cook, covered, on high for 3 to 4 hours or until meat is tender. Stir together flour and water. Stir into meat mixture and cook on high for 1 hour.


Simple, easy! We used stew meat instead of beef tips and baby carrots instead of regular carrots. This was amazing. Everyone loved it. It cooked all day long and just smelling it was enough to make me hungry.

Creamy Chicken with Vegetables

The original recipe is here.

Ingredients:
3-4lbs of chicken
2lbs new potatoes, cut in half
1/2lb baby carrots
1 lg onion, cut into eights
1 can chicken broth (14.5oz)
1 c sour cream
3tbsp all-purpose flour

In crock pot stir all ingredients except sour cream and flour. Cook on low 10-12 hours (high 4-6) or until chicken is tender. In small bowl stir together sour cream and flour. Stir into chicken mixture. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until thickened (5 to 6 mins). Season with salt and pepper.


Very simple and very good. We used the bone in thigh Chicken we buy in bulk at Costco. Everyone got one piece of chicken and some veggies. This was really good. Perfect meal for those yucky weather days we have been having lately

Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings

Recipe

6lb chicken pieces
1/2c chicken bouillon broth
4tsp salt
1tsp pepper
1tsp poultry seasoning
6ribs celery, cut into 1 inch pieces
6small carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2c packaged biscuit mix
3/4c milk
1 tsp parsley flakes


Wash chicken pieces, cut away fat. place chicken pieces in Crock Pot. Add broth, salt, pepper, seasoning. Add celery and carrots on top. Cover. Cook 7-9 hours on low. Combine biscuit mix, milk, parsley flakes; stir until just moistened. Drop dumplings by spoonfuls over chicken. Cover, cook on high 30 minutes.


This was pretty good. My husband says it tasted almost like his grandma's... which is a big deal! I made the mistake of scheduling this on a night I wasn't home... so Hubby had to do the biscuit part. Well he did... but he followed the package directions instead of these. Which means he used water instead of milk, and no parsley. They were garlic biscuits so the no parsley part was fine. But since he used water they didn't quite cook right in a crock pot (crock pot filled with water vapor...) So they took longer to become biscuits and the ones in the center never quite made it.... So make them with MILK not water.... Still very good, we all enjoyed it.

Crock Pot Sloppy Joes

Recipe

2lbs ground beef, turkey or chicken
1/2c onions, chopped
1/2c green peppers, chopped
1 (14oz) cans tomato sauce
8oz tomato soup
1/2c brown sugar, packed
1/8c ketchup
1.5 tbls Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbls mustard
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

cook beef in large skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink, stirring to break up meat. Drain fat. Add onion, and green pepper and cook, stirring frequently, 5-10 min or until onion becomes translucent and mixture become fragrant.
Transfer meat mixture to crock pot. Add remaining ingredients, stir well to combine.. cover, cook on low for 4-6 hours. Serve on fresh buns or toast.


These were YUMMY!!!! Love it. Super easy, super good. OUrs were really sweet... but that was becomes we used Splenda brown sugar and we didn't pay attention to the conversion, so we had too much brown sugar. But still really good. Served ours on toasted buns with tater tots. Definitely will be reappearing on our menu.

20 to 40 clove garlic chicken

Recipe

3-4lbs chicken
1 large onion, sliced
2 tsp salt
1 tbls olive oil
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp pepper
20-40 cloves garlic, peeled

Place onion slices on the bottom of the crockpot. In a large bowl, toss chicken parts with olive oil, salt, paprika, pepper and the garlic cloves. Pour into slow cooker. Do not add water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6. The longer you cook it the more tender the chicken will be.


Honestly... we didn't like this recipe. It has potential. We love garlic and onions, but I don't know. I think if we would of had it on some rice or quinoa with a salad or something it might of been better, but we didn't... so it wasn't.

Pork Stew with Vegetables

Recipe

1tbsp vegetable oil
1 pork tenderloin (1 lb) cut into 3/4 to 1 inch cubes
1 med onion coarsely chopped
1 rib celery sliced
1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp dried rosemary leaves crushed
1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves
2tbsp all purpose flour
1 c chicken broth
1/2 pkg (16oz) frozen mixed vegetables
1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms drained well
2tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in large skillet over high heat. Add pork, onion, celery, basil, rosemary, and oregano; cook until pork is browned. Place pork mixture into crock pot. Whisk flour with chicken broth, pour into crock pot. Stir in frozen vegetables and mushrooms. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours. About 15 minutes before serving, stir lemon juice, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice.


This was really good. I didn't cook the stuff in the skillet first... I just threw it in the crock pot. We just ate in plain, not over rice. Very good, thick stew.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos

Recipe

2 can diced green chilies
24oz salsa
2tsp cumin
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic
4lb bone in chicken thighs

Place chicken in the bowl of a slow cooker. Top with salsa, diced green chilies, cumin, onion and garlic. Cover and set on low. Cook for 8 hours. Remove chicken from pot, shred, and return to juices. Spook chicken into taco shells, with whatever toppings your family likes. Or use the meat to make burritos, tostadas or as a filling for enchiladas.

This was absolutely wonderful. If you are looking for a make ahead recipe for shredded chicken to use in your dishes, use this one. When you slow cook something on a bone, the longer it cooks, the more tender it becomes. The flavor and texture of this chicken was just perfect. We put into hard taco shells and added some shredded lettuce, tomato, cheese and guacamole. We ate it with some chips and our leftover seven layer dip. This is definitely a recipe that will be making more appearances to our menu.

Tuscan Pasta

Recipe

1lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (15.5 oz)
1 can tomato sauce (15oz)
2 cans Italian-style stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1 jar sliced mushrooms, drained (4.5 oz)
1 med green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c onion, chopped
1/2 c celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 c water
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
6 oz thin spaghetti, broken into halves

Place all ingredients except spaghetti in Crockery Pot. Cover and cook on low 4 hours or until vegetables are tender. Turn to high. Stir in spaghetti; cover. Stir again after 10 minutes. Cover and cook 45 minutes or until pasta is tender. Garnish with basil and bell pepper strips if desired.

Serves 8


My husband got his meal this week so this was for me. I am a pasta fiend. I think it comes with being Italian. So when I found this crock pot pasta meal I was definitely looking forward to it. And it was pretty good. Personally I am a white sauce kind of gal, but this red sauce dish was still worth it. We used Spiral Pasta instead of spaghetti. I would definitely recommend spraying the crock pot with cooking spray to keep everything from sticking. And if you like your pasta extra saucy...double up on the tomato sauce. If your looking for an easy, yummy crock pot pasta meal... you've found it!

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches

Original Recipe

Recipe
1 chuck roast 93-4lbs)
3/4c soy sauce
1 beef bullion cube
10 whole peppercorns
1tbls rosemary
1tbls minced garlic

Cut all the fat off the roast. spray crock pot with nonstick spray and place roast in crock pot. Mix together soy sauce, bullion cube, peppercorns, rosemary, and garlic. Pour mixture over the roast. add enough water to the crock pot to cover the roast. Set the crock pot on high and cook for 1 hour. Turn down the heat to love and cook for an additional 10 hours. The roast is done when you can pull it apart easily with a fork. Shred the roast with a fork and serve on rolls with cheese. Use remaining juices for dipping sauce.

First of all... we just cooked on high for 6 hours... I don't get up early enough to have 11 hours to cook something before dinner. We also didn't use cheese. We toasted our buns, through the meet on and dipped away. They were really good. We served with the mac and cheese recipe coming up next. Really good. Father in law said it was better than Arby's!

BLT Wraps

Original Recipe

Recipe
1 cup mayo
1/2c dried tomato pesto
8 (10in) flour tortillas
1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
1 medium onion, thinly sliced (optional)
16 bacon slices, cooked
salt and pepper to taste

Combine mayo and tomato pesto in a small bowl. Spread evenly over 1 side of each tortilla, leaving a 1/2in border. Layer lettuce, onion, and bacon evenly over tortillas; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roll up tortillas, cut in half diagonally.

The original recipe called for dried tomatoes in oil, but we used tomato pesto because we had some in the fridge and wanted to use it before it got gross. It was really good. These were super easy and very good. We served them with some sun chips. A nice, quick, light meal. The only thing we would change is that next time we would double the bacon just to give it more flavor and crunch. (and because the men of the house love bacon... but who doesn't?)

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Original Recipe

Recipe
1 15oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 14.5 oz can deiced tomatoes (plain or flavored)
1 10oz package frozen whole kernel corn
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (choose your favorite color)
1 10oz can enchilada sauce (any style)
1 10.75oz can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 1/2c milk
1c shredded cheese (we used mexican blend- our favorite)
2 chicken breast

In a 3 1/2 to 5 quart slow cooker, combine drained beans, tomatoes, corn, onion and bell pepper. place 2 chicken breasts on top of mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together enchilada sauce and soup. Gradually whisk in milk until smooth. pour sauce mixture over ingredients in cooker. Cover. Cook on law heat for 6 to 8 hours or high heat for 3 to 4 hours. Remove chicken and cut or shred into bite sized pieces. Add chicken back to soup. Top with cheese and serve. Can also be topped with avocado, sour cream or tortilla chips.


We doubled this recipe because we need 8 servings of everything (4 for dinner, 4 for next days lunch). This was really good. Since things are so crazy right now, we broke out our crock pot earlier. It just makes things easier. Spend a few minutes in the morning (or make the night before and leave in fridge till you get up) to throw it all in the pot and let it go. I actually thought it was better the second day. While in the fridge the mixture thickened up so when you reheated it for lunch it was really thick and filling.

Taco Corn Bread Casserole

Original Recipe

Recipe
1 package (8.5 oz) corn bread/muffin mix
1 egg
1/3c milk
3 cups cooked taco seasoned meat (roughly 1 pound)
1 can black beans
1 cup (8oz) sour cream, light
1 cup colby jack, cheddar or mexican cheese, shredded and divided
1/2c onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1c shredded lettuce
1 can sliced olives

In a large bowl, combine the corn bread, egg and milk until blended. Spread into an 8 x 8 pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Brown meat, add taco seasoning and cook according to package. Combine taco meat and beans, spread over corn bread. Combine sour cream 3/4c cheese and onion. Spread over meat mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes longer or until heated through and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with tomato, lettuce and remaining 1/4c of cheese.


Ummm... YUM! This was fantastic. It was a mess coming out of the pan, more like a taco salad then a casserole, but still really good. We served it with a side of tortilla chips and guacamole and salsa. It was really good. The corn bread base was the perfect off set for the rest of the dish. I decided next time I make it we are going to double the recipe and make it in a bigger pan (9x12 probably) so that we can cut out the chips and dip and to spread it out a little more.

Grilled Chicken Breast Tostadas

We grill almost year around, but for most people the grilling season is wrapping up soon, so here's a yummy new grilling recipe for you to try.

Grilled Chicken Breast Tostadas (original recipe)

Serves 6
Ingredients:
2 limes
3 tbsp EVOO
1 clove garlic, minced
3 boneless skinless chicken breast (about 1 1/2lbs)
salt
pepper
1 cup sour cream
Bag of Mexican blend shredded cheese
6 6inch tortillas
olive oil
guacamole
salsa

In a gallon sized ziploc bag, combine juice from 1 lime, olive oil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken and marinate at least 1 hour. While chicken marinates, mix 1 cup sour cream, with 1 tsp lime zest and 1-2tbsp lime juice to make a lime crema. Store in fridge until ready to serve. preheat grill to high. Grill chicken for about 4-6 minutes per side until juices run clear. Brush tortillas with olive oil and toast on grill for about 30 seconds per side or until nice and crisp. Remove from grill and sprinkle with salt. Slice cooked chicken breasts into slices and build tostadas. To build: Spread tortilla with guacamole then top with chicken, salsa, lime creama and cheese.



These were really good. We added cheese to the original recipe because I love cheese :-). Next time I think we will just go with plain sour cream, not the lime creama. Maybe we just had too much zest, but the next day the lime creama tasted sour when we had the leftovers. The original recipe has links to make your own tortillas, guacamole, and pico de gallo, but we just bought our own tortillas, our favorite quacamole (Wholly Guacamole) and used the salsa we had here. It was a busy day, so we needed something that would be quicker to make, and we shaved some time by using some store bought stuff. I also put the chicken marinade together while eating my lunch, and it tasted amazing! We served it with a side of spanish style quinoa but you could also serve it with some Texas baked beans, or queso dip and chips or whatever you favorite Mexican side dish is. Definitely a keeper.