Crock Pot Stroganoff

OK-

So I had a huge *HUGE* craving for this stuffs- only problem is I had a) never made it, and b) didn't have a lot of time *after* work to cook it... so I Googled a recipe to give me a jump start of an idea of what I wanted.

I cooked this in my little 2 qt crock pot:

Ingredients:

1 lb beef stew chunks

1 small can beef broth

1 small can Cream of Mushroom soup
3 Heaping TBS Sour Cream

2 cups of thickly sliced mushrooms

3 TBS whiskey (not needed, but we had it on hand- DIVINE!)

1/3 small onion- thickly sliced

1/2 brick of cream cheese

1/2 cube butter

Celery Salt

Red Pepper Flakes

Ground Pepper

Salt

Put the beef chunks in the bottom of the pot, salt and pepper to "taste", 1/2 can of broth, 2 TBS whiskey in the crock pot.  While that is starting to warm up, combine the Mushroom soup, cream cheese, butter, stirring them together.  While stirring this, add the 1 TBS whiskey, 1 TBS (ish) red pepper flakes, and a light dusting of celery salt- mixing well.  When done, pour over the beef chunks.

Slice the fresh mushrooms thickly (so they don't disappear completely) and slice the onion just as thick. Put on top of soup type mixture.  Add remaining broth.

Let it cook on high for 6 hours.
** ADD SOUR CREAM**

The broth, at first, will be really runny. However, just thicken it up with some thickening.  We used:

2 Heaping TBS flour with some water, to where it was thick, not gloopy (that is Husband's word) and poured easily.  Stir in well.  

As it continues to simmer, uncovered now, boil your egg noodles to al dente.  

Pour over egg noodles and serve with vegetable of choice, and top with diced tomatoes- which sounds weird, but so nummy!

You can make it lower in fat by using the Fat Free options for everything listed- we used fat free cream cheese, but we had everything else on hand.

Pasta a la Cora

So, to totally toot my own horn- tonight I made an *amazing* dish- not for the heart healthy but for the nummy factor! 

Oh. My. Gosh!

The blend of flavors, so rich, but so right- yum!

This is, of course, a pasta dish, but super easy- promise! Although it *is* a dish for the multi-tasker... The sauce and the saute`e go on at the same time... just a forewarning.

So, of course, you boil pasta- while cooking, of course, and although  we used a weird noodle, but have since decided that we will be using the spirally noodles- they just sound better.

Ingredients:

Saute`e:

• 1 Chicken breast- halved then sliced
• 2 baby bella mushrooms- sliced
• 1/4 yellow squash -julienne
• 1/4 onion- sliced
• 1 tsp roasted garlic- minced
• 1 TBS olive oil
• salt
• milk

So, first, heat the olive oil into a pan- we use our awesome "sticky" pan- meaning we get the stuff kinda stuck to the bottom.  Add onions, stir.  Add roasted garlic, and cook together until you can actually smell the garlic blending beautifully with the onion.  Then add the mushroom and squash, cooking together.  Once it starts to "get happy" - I got that term from a fellow cook- it means to cook thru- add the sliced chicken.  Add a little more oil if the pan is sticking too badly.  Add a little- seriously, tiny amounts, more roasted garlic and some water, just to get a juice flowing in the pan.  Brown thoroughly.  Remove chicken from pan.  Add just enough milk to the bottom of the pan, getting all that browned up flavor off and making a nice brown gravy.  Once it starts to simmer again, add the chicken mixture back into the pan, heat thoroughly and set aside. 

Sauce:

• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1 heaping cup Parmesan cheese- grated finely
• 3/4 c Ricotta cheese
• 1 stem green onion- diced
• 1/4 tsp roasted garlic 
  
• onion salt
• garlic salt
• 1/2 TBS butter
• baby spinach
• 2 heaping tsp Pesto Sauce- to taste-ish

In a 2 quart sauce pan, add butter, letting it melt across the bottom.  Once all butter is melted, add baby spinach until it reaches the top of the pan-  cook down.  Remove from heat.  Pour in the cream, cheeses, stirring quickly to remove any chance of clumping.  Add green onion- stirring frequently.  When the cream starts to simmer, add the spinach back in.  Stir frequently and get it to a boiling simmer.  Allow it to simmer for a while.  

Remove from heat and serve!

This is possibly Husband's second favorite dinner that I've made since we've gotten married!  I hope you enjoy it!