MMM...Tasty, Healthy, and Easy

Pot Roast with Vegetables and Pasta with Stewed Tomatoes

This was really good, it was incredibly simple, and is pretty healthy.

Pot Roast & Vegetables

2-5 lb roast (any cut)
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 to 2" pieces
4 stalks celery, cut into 1 to 2" pieces
1/2 med onion, cut into wedges
quart sized jar of stewed tomatoes (or 2-3 cans stewed tomatoes)

Place the roast in the crock pot, put the vegetables around and on top of the roast (depending on how much veggies you have and how big you roast is) -- just get it all in there!
Pour the stewed tomatoes on top of everything, put the lid on, and cook on low for 7-8 hours. If you are in a hurry, you can cook it on high for 4-5 hours.


Pasta with Stewed Tomatoes

2 Cups uncooked elbow macaroni
1 Pint stewed tomatoes (or 1 can stewed tomatoes)

Cook pasta to el dente according to package directions. Drain.
Add stewed tomatoes and cook over medium-low heat until heated through.


The pasta is always a big hit in our house -- as you can see from the little hand going after it!!
This was the first time that I have used stewed tomatoes for cooking the pot roast, but it came out wonderful!!!!

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Cooking!!

One of the most under-estimated and under-used cooking tools in my house -- there are many -- is the crock pot.
For a long time I never really used my crock pot, then I would use it often for about a month, and then the cycle would repeat itself. It is usually in the Fall and Winter that my crock pot is used - probably because the cooler temperatures call for more "comfort" types of foods, and they are easily made in the crock pot.
I recently made a split pea and ham soup in the crock pot, and it turned out amazing! It was so easy, the hardest/most time consuming part was chopping up the carrots, celery, and onion. I admit that the crock pot has the potential to make me lazy!!!
Last night I made a salsa chicken in the crock pot. It was the easiest thing I have ever cooked and was delicious!!! All there is to it is to spray your crock pot with non-stick spray, put 3-6 chicken breasts in there and cover with a large jar of salsa. That's it, cook on low for about 6 hours and serve with rice. Really though, it would have made great chicken tacos, would have been awesome in taco salad, all kinds of stuff.
Easy, right?
So, what is your favorite thing to cook in the crock pot?
















3.0000000

Jambasta

Zack has our Dish set to automatically record Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals. So I was sitting on the couch putting the girls to sleep for their nap and decided to watch an episode that was titled "Fire and Ice" - sounds good right? Well Rachael was making Jambasta, a dish that she created for her dad's birthday that combines jambalaya and pasta.

The ingredients for this dish are:
1 pkg andouille (we used linguica) sausage
1 chicken breast
3-4 large deveined shrimp per person
celery - we used about 6 stalks
half an onion
some (1t +/- to taste) garlic
1 red bell pepper (we used yellow)
1 poblano pepper
1T butter
2-4 t flour
about 1/2C beer
about 1 C chicken stock
a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
a couple sprigs of thyme
about 1/2C cream
1 pound of any short-bodied pasta (we used whole grain penne).
**Liquid measurements are estimates, Rachael Ray did "turns around the pan" rather than measurements. A turn around the pan starts at one spot near the edge of the pan and goes around to that point again.**
To make Jambasta
You start out by removing the casing from your sausage and cutting it up into small pieces. In a large, deep skillet brown the sausage until it is crisp, set aside. While cooking sausage, cut up your veggies.
In the same pan, melt some butter - maybe a tablespoon, and then put your garlic, onion, celery, bell pepper, and poblano pieces in there, sprinkle with flour (maybe 2-4 t) and mix well to combine.
Don't forget to start a pot of water to boil for the pasta.
Pour some beer over the top of your veggies - not really sure how much, about one turn around the pan.
Then pour some chicken stock in, about two turns around the pan. Open the can of crushed tomatoes and add that, mix. Add a couple of sprigs of thyme, when getting ready to serve you are going to remove the stems.
Now is the time to cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces, and add them to the sauce. Add the raw shrimp at this time too. The chicken and shrimp are going to cook in the sauce and add a bunch of flavor! Put in one turn around the pan of cream, and stir.
Add your pasta to the water which should now be boiling. Cook according to the package directions, but you want to drain the pasta just shy of "al dente" because it is still going to cook when added to the sauce.
When the pasta is cooked, pick out the thyme sprigs from your sauce. Combine the pasta in with the sauce and mix gently to combine.
Put in your serving dish, and top with linguisa!
ENJOY!!!!

This was an absolutely delicious meal!
Rachael Ray paired this dish with individual pecan ice cream pies, but to be honest with you, we were so full that desert wasn't even on our minds! I hope that if you decide to try Jambasta, that you enjoy it as much as we did!
Thank you for reading this and have a blessed day!

Recipe Share

So I am going to start by posting a pretty easy recipe that my family LOVES, then you can leave one of your family's favorite recipies in the comments...hopefully we will get enough recipes that we wont have any problems with not having something to cook for supper for a while! ;) Might have a problem deciding which one(s) though!

"Taco Taters" (Not the orignal name, but descriptive!)
3 lg. baking potatoes
1 Tbs. butter
1 lb ground beef
1 can(14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 envelope taco seasoning
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
Scrub and pierce potatoes. Cook in nuker until done. When cool enough to handle, cut potatoes in 1/2 lengthwise. Carefully remove pulp, leaving 1/2 inch. Brush butter on inside and outside of potato shells. Place taters cut side up on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook beef over medium heat untill no longer pink; drain. Add tomatoes and taco seasoning. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer;, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Spoon into potato shells; sprinkle with cheese.
Bake, uncovered, 5-10 minutes longer or untill cheese is melted. Top with sour cream.

In the interest of full disclosure, there WERE onions in the recipe - but I detest onions, so I ommit them from my recipe. IF you want to add the onions, chop up half of a medium onion and cook it with the meat.