Tag: Recipe of the Week

Instant Pot Black Bean Soup

Instant Pot Black Bean Soup

by Engineered Mama ♥ 1 Comment

Ignore my horrible photo… I promise this is a delicious recipe.  And yes… that is half of an avocado.  Don’t judge.  I was just so hungry by the time I was able to eat the dinner I prepared at 8:30 pm that I snapped the quickest photo I could.  Anyway, enough with the reasoning for my horribly unappetizing photo…

This black bean soup is both delicious and healthy.  I will warn you that it might not make a great main course, since it is basically, well… beans.  It’s enough for me, but most people might like something a little heavier to go with it.  Don’t let the “Instant Pot” title fool you-it is definitely anything but instant.  This recipe requires the pressure cooker to naturally release, which takes a little longer than a manual release would.  It took well over an hour and a half for the Instant Pot to come to pressure, cook on high, then naturally release, so be aware before you make this for the evening!  If you want to see the original recipe, check it out at A Pinch of Healthy.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, diced (save some time and use frozen chopped onion!)
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained (14.5 ounce)
  • 3 stalks celery, diced
  • 1 pound dry black beans, rinsed
  • 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (or to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon hot sauce (I used a little less… tiny people in the house)
  • 1 Tablespoon paprika
  • 2 Tablespoons chili powder (again… a little less for us-tiny people)
  • 2 Tablespoons cumin
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • Toppings: avocado, sour cream, lime, green onion, tortilla chips

Directions

  1. Add all ingredients (except toppings) to the Instant Pot, and place the lid on top, with the vent set to “sealing.”
  2. Cook the soup on manual high pressure for 40 minutes, and let the pressure naturally release.
  3. After the pot is depressurized, remove the lid, and carefully remove the bay leaves.  Soup will thicken after sitting.
  4. Serve with desired toppings.
Healthy Crock Pot Spinach Artichoke Dip

Healthy Crock Pot Spinach Artichoke Dip

by Engineered Mama ♥ 1 Comment

spinach dip
Photo Credit: Prevention

I love spinach artichoke dip, but somehow always have the mindset that it’s a recipe that would be far too complicated for me to even attempt.  That is, until I found this simple (and healthy!) recipe from Prevention.  The prep is easy, the ingredients are much healthier than most spinach artichoke dip recipes, and… it’s delicious!  Check out the original here!

Ingredients

  • 2 c shredded reduced-fat mozzarella
  • 1 container (8 oz) reduced-fat onion and chive cream cheese
  • ¼ c grated Parmesan cheese
  • ¼ large onion, chopped (or frozen chopped onion, thawed)
  • 1 bag (10 oz) frozen spinach, thawed
  • 1 can (13.75 ounces) artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp ground red pepper
  • Salt and ground black pepper
  • Baked tortilla chips, pita chips, carrots, or celery for serving

Directions

  1. Combine and stir together the mozzarella, cream cheese, Parmesan, onion, spinach, artichokes, garlic powder, and red pepper in a 3- to 5-quart slow cooker.
  2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
  4. Serve warm with tortilla chips or celery and carrot sticks.

So simple!  Pour ingredients, stir, let heat through, and chow down!

Cheesy Cheddar Broccoli Casserole

Cheesy Cheddar Broccoli Casserole

by Engineered Mama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Cheesy-Cheddar-Broccoli-Casserole_EXPS_SDFM17_28900_C09_30_6b-696x696.jpgI’m mainly a green bean casserole person.  That’s pretty much the extent of my casserole tolerance, so I rarely venture out.  Well, I have ventured out.  Ok, not very far, but it’s still a tiny venture, so give me some credit!  This broccoli casserole has all the good stuff-french fried onions, cheese, and oh yeah… I guess there is some broccoli.  This recipe comes from Taste of Home.  Check out the original recipe here!

Ingredients

  • 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1-1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
  • 1 can (6 ounces) french-fried onions, divided
  • 2 packages (16 ounces each) frozen broccoli florets, thawed

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325°. In a large saucepan, combine soup, sour cream, 1 cup cheese and 1-1/4 cups onions; heat through over medium heat, stirring until blended, 4-5 minutes. Stir in broccoli. Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish.
  2. Bake, uncovered, until bubbly, 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and onions. Bake until cheese is melted, 10-15 minutes.

Vegetables are much better when smothered in cheese, sour cream, and french fried onions.  Don’t you agree?

Slow Cooker Chili

Slow Cooker Chili

by Engineered Mama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

chili
Photo Credit: Betty Crocker

Most of my favorite recipes come from Betty Crocker, so naturally, I happen to love their recipe for slow cooker chili.  This chili has a very short ingredient list, but is very filling since it uses double the amount of ground beef as most chili recipes.  It’s hearty and delicious!  Check out their original recipe here!

 

 

Ingredients

  • 2 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
  • 1 cup frozen chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 can (28 oz) petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 can (16 oz) chili beans in sauce, undrained
  • 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

  1. In 12-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is brown; drain.
  2. In 4- to 5-quart slow cooker, mix beef mixture and remaining ingredients.
  3. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours.

I hope you enjoy this one during the winter months!

Slow Cooker Creamy Tomato, Basil, and Parmesan Soup

Slow Cooker Creamy Tomato, Basil, and Parmesan Soup

by Engineered Mama ♥ 2 Comments

More fall soup fun!  This is another easy slow cooker soup that pairs with nearly anything or can be served as an entrée.  It’s perfect for a crisp fall day.  This recipe comes from Creme de la Crumb-check out their original recipe here!

Ingredients

  • 2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 10-ounce can tomato sauce
  • ¼ cup fresh basil, finely chopped
  • 3 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 cup frozen diced onion
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 cups shredded parmesan cheese

Roux

  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 1 cup heavy cream OR half & half

Directions

  1. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, and next 7 ingredients (through broth) to a slow cooker/crockpot. Cover and cook for 2 hours on high or 4-8 hours on low (if you are home, give it a stir every now and then and scrape down the sides).
  2. About 30-40 minutes before serving, thoroughly blend all ingredients in slow cooker using an immersion blender.  Alternately, blend ingredients in blender or food processor and return to crock pot.
  1. Prepare the roux. Begin by melting the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
  2. Add flour to melted butter and stir until flour clumps up. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream (or half & half) until mixture is thickened and smooth. Add roux and parmesan cheese to crockpot and stir to combine.
  1. Allow to cook another 20-30 minutes until cheese is completely melted. Give it a good stir before serving. Top with additional basil and parmesan cheese if desired.

There you have it-comfort food from scratch!  This is one of my favorite soup recipes because the soup is thick, has a rich flavor, but doesn’t make your stomach feel so heavy you’re miserable.  In the past I have served this soup in bread bowls (frozen Panera bread bowls are my go to-check to see if your local grocery store carries them).  I have also paired this soup with paninis made on the George Foreman grill for an extra bit of crunch.  Any way you choose to serve this soup, it’s sure to be a hit!

Easy Slow-Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup

Easy Slow-Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup

by Engineered Mama ♥ 8 Comments

You can’t get any easier than this recipe.  You don’t even have to chop potatoes… or onion!  What makes this recipe so great is the leftovers may just taste even better than the first time.  Oh, and it has bacon… who doesn’t like bacon???  I modified Betty Crocker‘s recipe to create this simple set-it-and-forget-it soup recipe.  Check out the original here!

 

Ingredients

  • 1 bag (32 oz) frozen southern-style diced hash brown potatoes, thawed
  • 1/2 cup frozen chopped onion (from 12-oz bag), thawed
  • 1 medium stalk celery, diced (1/2 cup)
  • 1 carton (32-oz) chicken broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 bag (8 oz) shredded American-Cheddar cheese blend (2 cups)
  • 1/4 cup crumbled bacon (more or less according to taste)
  • 4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)

Directions

  1. In slow cooker, mix potatoes, onion, celery, broth and water.

  2. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours.
  3. In small bowl, mix flour into milk; stir into potato mixture. Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook 20 to 30 minutes or until mixture thickens. Stir in cheese until melted. Garnish individual servings with bacon and green onions. Sprinkle with pepper if desired.

This is a recipe I typically make when I don’t know what to make or when I have nothing in the house to put together for a meal.  I don’t typically keep celery on hand, so if I happen to not have any on hand, I simply omit it.  I also don’t typically have an American-Cheddar blend cheese in the fridge, so I use whatever we happen to have.  Colby-Jack and mild Cheddar have been favorites of mine in this recipe.  I also omit green onion if I don’t have it.

Wait for a crisp, fall day and fill up on this one!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Buffalo Chicken Dip

by Engineered Mama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

No details needed for this one.  Yum.  Just yum.  I found this recipe from A ‘lil Country Sugar-check out the original recipe here!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Ranch dressing (I like to use Buttermilk Ranch, but traditional Ranch and Blue Cheese work well!)
  • 1/2 cup Buffalo sauce
  • 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 2-10 oz cans chicken
  • Tortilla chips, celery, or carrots (for serving)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Mix all ingredients in an oven safe baking dish.
  3. Heat in oven 15-20 minutes or until warmed throughout.
  4. Stir and serve with tortilla chips, celery, or carrots.
Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork

Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork

by Engineered Mama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I love pulled pork, but never really knew how to make tender pulled pork in the crock pot.  I always used pork tenderloin, which never yielded good results.  I mentioned this to my mom one day and she said “oh!  You need a shoulder butt!”.  Never knew that was a thing.  Well, it is a thing… and it makes for awesome pulled pork!  They had them on sale this week, so… pulled pork all around!  It made for a hearty meal everyone loved.  It cooked all day and was ready for dinner with minimal prep beforehand.  Thumbs up for a weeknight meal.

I found this recipe on allrecipes and I think it made for a pretty good flavor for the pulled pork.  Check out the original recipe on allrecipes!

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1 (4 pound) pork shoulder (butt) roast
  • 1 cup barbeque sauce
  • 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 extra large onion, chopped
  • 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 8 hamburger buns, for serving
  • slaw, for serving (optional)

Directions

  1. Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker; pour in the barbecue sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cover and cook on High until the roast shreds easily with a fork, 5 to 6 hours.
  2. Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices.
  3. Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork and slaw onto the toasted buns.
I skipped the toasted buns part… ain’t nobody got time for that.  I did, however, add slaw to the ingredient list because I love slaw with my pulled pork!

Caramelized Baked Chicken Legs (Slow Cooker Option!)

Caramelized Baked Chicken Legs (Slow Cooker Option!)

by Engineered Mama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Caramelized chicken legs honey soy sauce baked easy edited
Photo Credit: Bless This Mess.

These chicken legs are absolutely amazing.  They’re sweet, savory, juicy, and tender.  Heck, even my four-year-old says “you make the best chicken, mom!” when I make these for dinner.  I love making them on a weeknight because I can sit out all of the ingredients the night before, mix the sauce, pour it over the chicken, and BOOM-delicious protein with very little prep.  Our oldest loves to do the “ingredients” when I cook, so he usually adds all of the ingredients of the sauce to the bowl, mixes it all up (or “mixa mixa mixa” if you’re privy to Danielle Tiger… if you are, I’m sorry :/), then I add the mixture to the chicken.  I got this recipe from Bless This Mess.-check out the original recipe here!

There is even a slow cooker option for these chicken legs.  I typically prefer chicken legs in the oven because they get a little crispier, but since these are in a sauce anyway it makes for a great slow cooker recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 lbs chicken legs
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Oven Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay the chicken legs out and give them a good sprinkling of salt and pepper on both sides. Put them in a foil-lined baking dish with high sides (the foil is to make clean up easier – it’s not essential). A high-sided sheet pan is the best option because it has sides to keep everything in, but it is big enough that the chicken isn’t drowning in the sauce. It will caramelize best if half of the chicken is poking out of the sauce while cooking.
  2. In a glass measuring cup measure out the honey, soy sauce, and ketchup. Add the minced garlic and stir. If the mixture doesn’t combine well, microwave it on high for thirty seconds and stir again. Pour the honey mixture over the chicken legs.
  3. Put the chicken legs in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Take the chicken out of the oven and rotate it so that the bottom that was in the sauce is now on the top out of the sauce. Put the legs back in the oven. Raise the heat to 425 degrees and bake until the sauce is bubbly and starts to caramelize on the chicken legs. This should take about 15 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Slow Cooker Directions

  1. Place all of the chicken legs in the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour the sauce over the chicken legs. Slow cook on low for 6 hour or on high for 4 hours, until the largest piece of chicken registers 165 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

Enjoy!  Be sure to check out Bless This Mess. for more awesome recipe ideas!

Reuben Crescent Bake

Reuben Crescent Bake

by Engineered Mama ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

reubenReuben.  ‘Nuff said.  This Reuben dish feeds an entire family and combines all of the favorite ingredients of a Reuben with a crescent dough.  Now, if I’m being honest, I’ll have to say that the rye bread makes the sandwich, because it does.  But, on a busy weeknight this meal is a great option!  I have adapted the recipe (larger quantity mainly) from this one found here at allrecipes.  Check it out if you’d like to see the original!

Ingredients

  • 2 rolls Pillsbury crescent dough (8 oz)
  • 1 1/4 lb corned beef deli meat (I prefer it to be sliced thick, but any thickness will do!)
  •  16 (at least) slices of Swiss or baby Swiss cheese
  • 2/3 cup Thousand Island Dressing
  • 1 1/2 cups sauerkraut, drained and squeezed dry
  • 1 egg white, beaten
  • caraway seeds (according to taste)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease a 9″x13″ glass baking dish.
  2. Mix together the sauerkraut and Thousand Island Dressing until well combined.  Unroll the crescent roll dough into the bottom of the greased baking pan.
  3. Bake the dough crust in the baking dish until lightly browned, 8 – 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and place slices of cheese in a single layer on top of the baked dough.  Top the slices of cheese with a layer (or two) of the corned beef.  Next, layer the sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing mixture on top of the corned beef.  Add another layer of Swiss cheese.  Lay the second sheet of crescent dough over the Swiss cheese.  Brush the top of the dough with beaten egg white and sprinkle with the desired amount of caraway seeds.
  4. Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown, 15-20 minutes.  Let stand 5 minutes prior to serving.

Enjoy!