Summer Slow Cooking - Swiss Steak Stew with Home Canned Tomatoes

Isn't Monday a great day to come home to a nice, delicious, one pot meal, already made for you?
If you don't have a personal chef (and who does, right?), then let your crockpot do the work. It just takes minutes in the morning to prep everything, and you are good to go!
Today's recipe -- I call Swiss Steak Stew. I actually combined traditional ingredients from Swiss steak and stew - so there you go!

I have a scrapbook recipe book I put together--I've added favorite recipe clippings with washi tape, written recipes into it, and now I actually use it a lot! With this particular recipe, I've made it so many times, I've tweaked the ingredients in order to use my home canned tomatoes which gives it such a great garden flavor! But you can also use canned stewed tomatoes from the store. You can use one or two cans, depending on the consistency you prefer.

Swiss Steak Stew
2 T. oil
1 to 1 1/2 lbs. beef stew meat
1/2 cup flour
4 potatoes, peeled and quartered
small bag baby carrots
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 pint jars canned tomatoes, chopped
1 12-oz. jar beef gravy
Coat steak with flour and brown in hot oil. Remove from skillet and drain. Place potatoes, carrots and onion in bottom of stoneware. Place steak on top of vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour tomatoes over meat. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours or on high 4 to 5 hours.

The beef browns in no time at all because you're not cooking it all the way through. It will have plenty of time to cook in the slowcooker. I love cooking everything in ceramic pans now--totally hooked on them! You don't have the dangers of peeling teflon, yet they don't stick and clean up so easy. And...they're pretty! This is a Cuisinart ceramic pan.

The baby carrots are ready to go--so you only have to rough chop your potatoes, and chop a little onion. This is a nice, sweet Vedalia onion.

Then, everything goes right in, and the crockpot works on your dinner all day!

Garden delicious Swiss Steak Stew tonight!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch

Slow Food Summer - Swiss Steak

Traditionally we think of our slowcookers as a winter appliance with yummy, hot, soupy foods to warm us up. I do like that.

The truth is, unlike an oven, having a slowcooker running for a few hours doesn't heat up the kitchen...just the food.

Therefore, I'm declaring this a slow food summer, and I'm exploring tasty recipes that can easily be thrown into one of my three slowcookers (I have one large, medium and small) and just when I'm all busy and creative in the afternoon, or I've been working all day...I don't have to worry about dinner. It will be ready and waiting!

First up this yummy swiss steak with potatoes rather than the usual noodles. It was really easy, and my family loved it. I used the high setting, and it was actually done in a little under 5 hours. I kept it on warm as I prepared a cheddar dill quick bread to go with it and some steamed green breans. It could be just a meal in itself though. So delish.

Slowcooker Swiss Steak
2 Tbs oil
1 to 1-1/2 lbs. beef round steak, cut into serving pieces
1/2 cup flour
4 to 5 potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 cups baby carrots
1 sweet onion, sliced
1 15-1/2 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1 12-oz. jar beef gravy
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:
Heat oil in skillet. Coat steak with flour and brown each side of the pieces in the skillet; remove and drain on a paper towel. In the slowcooker, place baby carrots, potatoes, onions, and steak pieces. Sprinkle with pepper and salt and pour the gravy and stewed tomatoes in. Cover and cook on either low for 10 to 12 hours, or on high for 5 to 6 hours.

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch Slow

Weather: We Like It or Not!

"Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot, we'll weather the weather whatever the weather, whether we like it or not!"

Hello lovelies, and happy Saturday! That's me in my backyard, doing that childhood chant and taking pictures a few days ago of a fresh snowfall. Now mind you, I live right in the middle of the city, but there is something about a blanket of snow that makes it seem like I live in a ski lodge or something! It's fabulous, and I love taking pictures, getting cold, and going inside for some hot chocolate. So I thought I'd share a few of the snapshots of just around my house as I get ready to put a stew in the crockpot. Here is the recipe, by the way, just click on the link below. It's easy, and it's a meal when you pair it with some crusty bread and wonderful cheese. Enjoy! And if you want to knit a ski band like the one I'm wearing here which I made last year, just grab a chunky yarn, cast on 10 rows, knit until it's the length you want, cast off, and stitch it together with the same yarn. Easy peezy!

CROCKPOT BEEF AND VEGGIE STEW

This is my eternal Christmas tree on the side of the house--it's so pretty with snow on it!

In the backyard--lots of cardinals, pigeons and squirrels.

It's so magical--I think some fairies live here.

EAT, WRITE, DREAM, STITCH, SNOW

Slow Cooker Mushroom Chicken Linguine

 This one is for mushroom lovers! You'll easily have these ingredients on hand--I love cooking from the pantry. You can go do your errands while the sauce is cooking, come back, and toss in the pasta!

SLOW COOKER MUSHROOM CHICKEN LINGUINE
Two boneless skinless chicken breasts chunked up
One can roasted garlic mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cups sliced baby portobella mushrooms
1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
12 ounces dried linguine or spaghetti
2 tablespoons butter
a splash of olive oil
freshly grated parmesan cheese

Place the chicken, soup, water, onion, and mushrooms in the slow cooker and let the sauce cook 4 to 6 hours on low, until the chicken is cooked through. Cook the linguine according to package directions. Drain and toss with butter and olive oil. Toss the linguine and fresh parsley in the slow cooker with the mushroom chicken sauce. Top with parmesan to taste. Easy and delish!

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, and make it slow.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken and Veggies

Five ingredients make this one easy meal--Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken and Veggies! This really began as an experiment to see how my homemade salsa would hold up in the slow cooker. I love the results. Everything is flavorful, and when it's done, you can enjoy it as is with some crusty bread--and feel free to top it with sour cream or cheese.

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SLOW COOKER SALSA CHICKEN & VEGGIES
(serves 4)
Three skinless boneless chicken breasts, chunked up
4 potatoes, peeled and diced into large chunks
2 to 4 cups of frozen green beans
1 jar of chunky salsa (home-canned, or store bought)
Garlic salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Cook on low 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. Make sure the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are tender. Enjoy! (Get my salsa recipe right here.)
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Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, and use your slow cooker to make life easier!

A Slow Cooker Shells and Cheese Story

Once upon a time, a girl named Sandy lost her favorite crockpot mac and cheese recipe. She looked everywhere for it. In the kitchen, in her recipe box with the angels on the lid, in her recipe drawer, in her recipe scrapbook her sister gave her years ago and she started and never finished it...and finally in her whole recipe book shelf! Gone. It was simply gone. And when she thought about it, the recipe used some ingredients she didn't even have in the pantry anyway (like a can of evaporated milk). It was snowing outside and very cold--she did not want to go to the store! So, she decided to create a new recipe, with fresher ingredients, and more flavor.

Melting the cheese and butter.

Adding the last of the ingredients.

We smelled it cooking!

This cooked on low for 2-1/2 hours--it's a taste of heaven.

Lauren coats boneless skinless chicken nuggets in flour with garlic sea salt, fresh rosemary, cracked black pepper and dried parsley.

Fry the pieces for about 12 to 15 minutes. Yum!

It worked! It was amazing and delicious with the homemade chicken nuggets her daughter Lauren made, and Sandy, her family and her slow cooker lived happily ever after! (now if only the fairies would flitter in and do the dishes while she sleeps!)

Eat, Write, Dream, Stitch, and cook it slow.

Slow Cooking - Cool Kitchen

There are some summer days when turning on the oven to roast a chicken for two hours is just not an option. That's when you break out the crockpot and get dinner going early!

My family loves slow-cooked chicken--the aromas fill the house all day, and although you sacrifice the crispy browned skin, the meat is very juicy.

Use your fresh garden herbs for this dinner while you have them! Stuff a roasting chicken with a bunch of fresh rosemary--you can also use thyme, or both--and a few cloves of garlic, half an onion, and a lemon cut in halves. Run the lemon over the skin of the chicken, then rub the chicken with olive oil and salt it. I set my crockpot on high for six hours. I have one of those crockpots that switches over to "warm" automatically when it's done, which is nice if you're working all day or out shopping, or aren't sure exactly what time you'll be home. Cheddar dill biscuits are perfect for this meal--just whip up some Bisquik biscuits and add in an extra splash of milk, a cup of shredded cheese, and 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh dill.

Enjoy eating fresh from the garden while you can!