Dried Beans used to terrify me.

At work we are calling these "challenging times" and while our little family isn't panic stricken - we are certainly looking to be more cost conscious. On this note, I turn to a subject that terrifies me. Dried Beans.

Dried Beans are about 1/3 of the cost as the beans in the cans, sometimes even less - in addition to the price benefit of dried beans comes the health factor: the canned beans have sodium and preservatives that I'd rather be free of. But my fear of the dried bean preparation had me sticking with the canned beans - until this week.

I'm not a bean preparation wiz - this is my ONLY use of dried beans so far. And if you're like me - this will help you tip toe into the dark cool water of dried bean use.

Vegetarian Chili with Dried Beans in the Slow Cooker

The evening before I took 1/2 a bag of black beans, red beans and white beans (so 1.5 bags total) and rinsed and sorted them well - pick out any discolored or misshapen beans. Put them in a big pot of water and boil. Once the water boils turn of the burner and cover - let it sit for 3 hours or more (I let mine sit overnight because I forgot...oops...and it was just fine). DO NOT TRY TO TASTE A BEAN AND FOR GODS SAKE DON'T SMELL THE WATER. I tell you this because I did and it was AWFUL. The thing I learned after the fact and I spent an hour on google making sure I hadn't ruined everything is that beans lose most of their gas power through this process when you use dried beans (so less tooting - another huge win of Dried Beans!).

In the morning drain your beans and rinse again, pour them into your crockpot add in two cans of diced tomatoes (if you're using fresh add them later), 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 (or more if you like yours meatier) bag of Morningstar meatless crumples, 1 bag of frozen corn, 1 onion diced and 2 peppers diced, 1 packet of chili seasoning. Crockpot on low all day.

I can't taste the difference between REAL meat and the meatless crumples - but its been a while so maybe I just don't remember how it tastes - but if you're trying to cut costs, improve your health and sneak your way into this vegetarian occasionally lifestyle this is a good first step.

I also through some baby goldfish crackers on top and that was a huge yummy topping.

ps - I know that these posts are better with photos. I know that I have an awesome camera. I also know that with a little girl pulling my yoga pants down, a dog praying to the food fairy and a general lack of coordination that it's just not going to fly. Trust me though- it looks divine and tastes damn good too.

Dinner + Lunches

I've been cooking up a storm while wearing Lexi in a Moby so photography has had to go....but the cooking is still happening. My plan is make an easy dinner and use it to make a different lunch sometime in the future.

Dinner in the Crockpot: Roast
1 Cheap Cut of Beef Roast
1 Beer
1 Packet French Onion Dip Mix

Put all that stuff in the Crockpot on Low. Ignore for 6-8 hours. Two hours before serving I added:
2 chopped Sweet Potatoes
20 Baby Carrots (I didn't count you silly gooses)
1 Large Onion chopped
1 Package of Baby Bella pre-sliced Mushrooms

Serve. Yummy. Freeze the leftover meat and broth in a big Pyrex.

Lunch two weeks later: Beef n Barley Soup
Thaw the Meat and Broth
6 Cups Low Sodium Beef or Chicken Stock (I used half and half because that's what I had)
1/2 Cup Barley

Simmer for 40 minutes.
Add in Sliced Carrots, Celery, Onion and your thawed Meat and Broth.

Serve. Yummy. With Grilled Cheese. Delish!

Adventure in the Crock

The Crock Pot that is. So today I did this:

1 Jar of Red Sauce
15 Chicken Tenders Raw
2 Cans of White Beans
1 Package Frozen Spinach
1 Onion
1 Can of Diced Tomatos

I put it on low. I put it on top of Brown Rice but I dream of putting it on top of some cheese filled pasta that magically doesn't add calories to my diet and thus make my pants not fit. I don't live in Disney where calories do no exist so I put it on Brown Rice. It's DELICIOUS. Now what do I call it?

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

I mentioned on my blog a while ago my adventure in making Pulled Pork in the slow cooker. It was one of those shocking turn of events where it actually turned out REALLY delicious and it was SO easy that now I have to PRETEND like it's REALLY difficult and labor intensive or the FH would have me making Pulled Pork about twice a week and on Sunday too. Now it is very fantastic...and I would probably go along with this every other day Pulled Pork meal for about two weeks and then I would never eat it again so we're practicing a little restraint and it's a once a monther. Do you have those? Recipes that you only make once a month (or even less frequently?) tell me what they are - I'm VERY interested in the concept of once-a-monther recipes.

What you need:

• Pork Butt (or shoulder, but I can't resist talking about my Pig's Ass cooking so I ALWAYS use Butt)
• 1 Packet of that Chili seasoning mix (this is cheating, you could measure out all the ingredients that comes in this packet from Chili's or McCormicks or whoever....but you are BUSY and you don't need all those spices to take up space in your kitchen so just buy the packet).
• 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (Yup, that's it...only 3 ingredients)
  

What you do:

1. Line your slow cooker with those great slow cooker bags they make now.
2. Rub your Pork Butt with the Chili Seasoning. Now I try to do this the night before so it gets good and marinated - but I've forgotten and it still turned out fantastic.
3. Put your Pork Butt in the slow cooker on Low. Ignore for 6-8 hours (you could really ignore it for as long as you want).
4. 2 hours before you want to eat pull your Pork Butt out of the slow cooker - I buy one of those aluminum pans for this job and you just take a couple of forks and you pull apart - you will have to resist eating it from this pan, I'm just warning you, it's VERY difficult to resist so I chew Watermelon gum while I do this job.
   
5. Put the now Pulled Pork back in the slow cooker and pour your BBQ Sauce on top. Stir.
   
6. Ignore for 2 hours (or 1 hour if you're impatient like me) and ENJOY.
   

I usually like to make this with a big salad or the Asian Cole Slaw.

Yo Mama's so Lazy Beef Stroganoff

I'm not a slow cooker genius...and in truth they kind of scare me because I wonder if they really are "safe" to plug in all day long without supervision...or if I will end up on Dateline for leaving electronics unattended. I weigh my fear against my laziness and guess which one wins? Lazy, shocking right? And let me tell you being lazy never tasted so good.

Because I didn’t have all the ingredients for the recipe per the internet so I kind of “played it by ear” which has caused a few kitchen fires, a couple of truly awful dinners and a ruined holiday traditionally is not the best way for me to go into a dinner. Never the less I was on a mission to regain my hour so I made my very own recipe: Yo Mama’s so Lazy Beef Stroganoff….and sweet jebus it was DELICIOUS.

Yo Mama’s so Lazy Beef Stroganoff

Stuff you Need:
-Stew Meat (as much as you think you’ll need, aka one of the packages they sell it in at the grocery store)
-2 cans of Campbells Cream o Mushroom Soup (I used the reduced fat, lower sodium version)
-1/2 can water
-1 large onion sliced
-1 package pre-sliced mini-portobello
-1 package pre-sliced white mushrooms
-1/2 package French Onion Dip Mix
-2 dollops of Cream Cheese (optional)
-Egg Noodles
***Buy those Slow Cooker Liner Bags - I used them for the second time (the first time was on chili) and I love them.

Step One: Line your slow cooker with the cooker bag and turn on to Low. Dump the Soups in the slow cooker. Fill up one of the cans 1/2 way and dump in.
Step Two: Dump in your onion and 1/2 of each of the mushroom packages and the french onion soup mix and finally the Meat
Step Three: Put lid on, don’t bother to stir. Take a nap and ignore for 5-8 hours
Step Four: Stir and then add the rest of the mushrooms and the 2 dollops of Cream Cheese on top. Ignore again for another hour.
Step Five: Make your noodles and smother in this delicious mixture of yummy.
Step Six: Freeze leftovers and then the best part is throwing out the mess in the bag and just putting the slow cooker away. Not seeing the slow cooker soaking in the sink for 4 days while you pretend it’s not there is such a good feeling.