Day 68: Recipe 16
Just to let you know, there is no way to make this food look appetizing in a picture. It's very pale and looks kind of like mush. That is why there's no picture.
That should not, however, be taken to mean that it doesn't actually taste appetizing.
I was really skeptical about this recipe when I saw it for the first time because I couldn't really tell how all the flavors worked together. But I kept reading everywhere and it appears it's the classic easy crock pot recipe that everyone loves, so I figured I had to try it.
Cream Cheese Chicken from A Year of Crockpotting
makes enough for 2-3 adults
2 cups homemade cream of mushroom soup*
3 frozen chicken breasts
1 packet of dry Italian salad dressing mix
2 cloves of minced garlic
block of cream cheese (to add later)
*if you don't have homemade soup, you can just get a can of it, and then 2 cups of chicken broth
Put the chicken in the crock pot.
Dump the mix, garlic, and soup on top.
Cook for 6 hours on low.
(I love the crock pot)
Shred the chicken with a fork, and dump in the cream cheese.
Cook for another 30 minutes on high.
Serve over rice or pasta.
Survey Says
I liked, it but I thought that it needed more flavoring. Maybe two dressing packets next time?
Will thought it was good, but that it lacked texture. I'm going to try it again with more flavoring (maybe use the flavorings that are included in the "homemade" version of the recipe I linked?), and a pasta that has some texture (like farfale or rotini).
Showing posts with label crockpot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crockpot. Show all posts
Monday, March 9, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Day 66: Recipe 14
Friday night after the fun scallop experiment I went through and made a menu plan for the week, because I've decided that I need to stop making excuses for not cooking, and just do it. It helps my mood so much, so I just need to get it done.
One of the things that I've found is that there are a handful of "quick and easy"-type recipes that require cream of something soup - most often, cream of mushroom. So when I was looking through recipes I've bookmarked from A Year of Crockpotting I decided that a good place to start would be to make my own cream of mushroom soup!
My husband was less than thrilled with this proposal, since he's not a fan of mushrooms, but he was a good sport and let 2 pounds worth of mushrooms cook in the apartment all day anyways. The recipe is modified because we only have a 4 qt crockpot, and she suggested a 5 qt for the proportions she mentioned (though now I think I could have done her proportions with my size anyways).
Cream of Mushroom Soup from A Year of Crockpotting
1.5 lbs mushrooms
1 cup water
4 cups vegetable broth
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tbsp dried minced onion
1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
3 cups milk (added later)
Wash and cut up your mushrooms. Dump in the crockpot. Add the spices. Add the lemon juice. Add the vegetable broth and water.
Cook for 8 hours.
With an immersion hand blender, blend it all up. It will look kinda grainy, but it doesn't taste that way - just make sure all the big chunks are blended.
Stir in the milk. The only thing we had in the house was lactose-free milk, which tends to be a little on the sweet side, but it was fine.
Let it cool on the counter for a few hours. We watched The Wrath of Khan to kill the time.
Stir it to mix up anything that may have settled, and then pour it into whatever storage device you're using. We used sandwich-sized freezer bags. Freeze them flat, then you can store them wherever you have room once they're solid.
Survey Says
It was good! Even Will said that "it was okay." He's also said that he's "willing to try more of it." For someone who hates mushrooms, I'd say it was a ringing endorsement.
I used the same amount of pepper as was used in the original recipe, and there was a bit of a kick to it, so if you're really sensitive to spice, I'd tone it down a bit (or use more mushrooms). Also, it didn't have the thickness that I'm used to with regular cream of something soups - it was pretty thin, but I didn't mind that.
Definitely using it in recipes, and just eating it all alone.
Friday night after the fun scallop experiment I went through and made a menu plan for the week, because I've decided that I need to stop making excuses for not cooking, and just do it. It helps my mood so much, so I just need to get it done.
One of the things that I've found is that there are a handful of "quick and easy"-type recipes that require cream of something soup - most often, cream of mushroom. So when I was looking through recipes I've bookmarked from A Year of Crockpotting I decided that a good place to start would be to make my own cream of mushroom soup!
My husband was less than thrilled with this proposal, since he's not a fan of mushrooms, but he was a good sport and let 2 pounds worth of mushrooms cook in the apartment all day anyways. The recipe is modified because we only have a 4 qt crockpot, and she suggested a 5 qt for the proportions she mentioned (though now I think I could have done her proportions with my size anyways).
Cream of Mushroom Soup from A Year of Crockpotting
1.5 lbs mushrooms
1 cup water
4 cups vegetable broth
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tbsp dried minced onion
1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
3 cups milk (added later)
Wash and cut up your mushrooms. Dump in the crockpot. Add the spices. Add the lemon juice. Add the vegetable broth and water.
Cook for 8 hours.
With an immersion hand blender, blend it all up. It will look kinda grainy, but it doesn't taste that way - just make sure all the big chunks are blended.
Stir in the milk. The only thing we had in the house was lactose-free milk, which tends to be a little on the sweet side, but it was fine.
Let it cool on the counter for a few hours. We watched The Wrath of Khan to kill the time.
Stir it to mix up anything that may have settled, and then pour it into whatever storage device you're using. We used sandwich-sized freezer bags. Freeze them flat, then you can store them wherever you have room once they're solid.
Survey Says
It was good! Even Will said that "it was okay." He's also said that he's "willing to try more of it." For someone who hates mushrooms, I'd say it was a ringing endorsement.
I used the same amount of pepper as was used in the original recipe, and there was a bit of a kick to it, so if you're really sensitive to spice, I'd tone it down a bit (or use more mushrooms). Also, it didn't have the thickness that I'm used to with regular cream of something soups - it was pretty thin, but I didn't mind that.
Definitely using it in recipes, and just eating it all alone.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Baked Oatmeal - not bad!
Day 9: Recipe 8
I did breakfast again, and again, it worked! I preferred the breakfast casserole, but I really did like the baked oatmeal, too.
Baked Oatmeal (from A Year of Crockpotting)
serves 8+
6 cups rolled oates (not instant, not steel-cut)
1 cup brown sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted
Dump all the dry stuff in the crockpot and mix well. Then beat the eggs and dump in the wet stuff, mixing well again.
Cook on low for about 5 hours. I really wanted to do this overnight, but since I don't have a smart crock pot (one of the kinds that switches to warm after a set time) and I sleep more than 5 hours a night, I bought a light timer (the kind that you use to have your lights turn on and off when you're out of town) and had it shut off after 5 hours. I only did this because the finished product would be shelf-stable, and it worked perfectly!
Let it sit in the cooling crockpot for at least an hour before you try to cut it. The more it sits, the more solid it becomes.
Survey says...
I served it with yogurt and fresh fruit and my RAs and I all liked it! It tasted kind of like a cinnamon oatmeal cookie. My husband didn't get to try it (and sounds a bit bitter about that) but I'm pretty sure he would have liked it. If I'd been just making it for us I'd have added dried fruit or something that I knew that we liked (maybe chocolate chips?) but since I was making for 8 people, I figured I'd stay generic and let people just add what they wanted.
Overall? I'll definitely make this again. Oh, and it made our apartment smell amazing for a full day.
I did breakfast again, and again, it worked! I preferred the breakfast casserole, but I really did like the baked oatmeal, too.
Baked Oatmeal (from A Year of Crockpotting)
serves 8+
6 cups rolled oates (not instant, not steel-cut)
1 cup brown sugar
4 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted
Dump all the dry stuff in the crockpot and mix well. Then beat the eggs and dump in the wet stuff, mixing well again.
Cook on low for about 5 hours. I really wanted to do this overnight, but since I don't have a smart crock pot (one of the kinds that switches to warm after a set time) and I sleep more than 5 hours a night, I bought a light timer (the kind that you use to have your lights turn on and off when you're out of town) and had it shut off after 5 hours. I only did this because the finished product would be shelf-stable, and it worked perfectly!
Let it sit in the cooling crockpot for at least an hour before you try to cut it. The more it sits, the more solid it becomes.
Survey says...
I served it with yogurt and fresh fruit and my RAs and I all liked it! It tasted kind of like a cinnamon oatmeal cookie. My husband didn't get to try it (and sounds a bit bitter about that) but I'm pretty sure he would have liked it. If I'd been just making it for us I'd have added dried fruit or something that I knew that we liked (maybe chocolate chips?) but since I was making for 8 people, I figured I'd stay generic and let people just add what they wanted.
Overall? I'll definitely make this again. Oh, and it made our apartment smell amazing for a full day.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Breakfast Casserole - Success!
Day 8: Recipe 7
I cooked breakfast for my staff for the first time EVER! I'm totally in love with my crock pot.
Breakfast Casserole (mostly from A Year of Crockpotting)
serves a bunch - 10+
30 oz package of plain frozen hash browns
4 breakfast sausages, cooked (we used veggie)
1/2 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, dice
2 cups shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
Dump the hash browns in the crockpot. Make sure it's all broken up and spread out evenly.
Cut up the sausages. In a seperate bowl, mix the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, cheese, sausage, and veggies. Dump it on top of the hash browns.
Cover it, and cook on low for about 8 hours. It's done when the edges start to pull away a bit.
Survey says...
The husband and my RAs really liked it! I enjoyed it, but wish I had some salsa to eat it with, because I love salsa on my eggs.
I want to try it again with bacon. If my husband liked tomatoes and mushrooms I'd want to add them too. It's kind of a really thick omelette with potatoes.
Basically, it was good, but I think it'd be awesome with salsa.
I cooked breakfast for my staff for the first time EVER! I'm totally in love with my crock pot.
Breakfast Casserole (mostly from A Year of Crockpotting)
serves a bunch - 10+
30 oz package of plain frozen hash browns
4 breakfast sausages, cooked (we used veggie)
1/2 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, dice
2 cups shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
Dump the hash browns in the crockpot. Make sure it's all broken up and spread out evenly.
Cut up the sausages. In a seperate bowl, mix the eggs with the milk, salt, pepper, cheese, sausage, and veggies. Dump it on top of the hash browns.
Cover it, and cook on low for about 8 hours. It's done when the edges start to pull away a bit.
Survey says...
The husband and my RAs really liked it! I enjoyed it, but wish I had some salsa to eat it with, because I love salsa on my eggs.
I want to try it again with bacon. If my husband liked tomatoes and mushrooms I'd want to add them too. It's kind of a really thick omelette with potatoes.
Basically, it was good, but I think it'd be awesome with salsa.
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