STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

alb · Marc Jacobs

So excited about my new menu idea!

Christine · Coach

What a great idea!

I have one for pot roast that will fit in your Tuesday crockpot category. My mom used to make this all the time and we LOVED it - the meat comes out so incredibly tender. Plus, it's a great recipe if you want leftovers. I pulled this recipe off of allrecipes.com, which is a site I turn to regularly for ideas, but my mom's recipe is identical to this one. Over 1700 people have given it rave reviews on the site!

Also, you could use a low-fat soup in the recipe to suit your preferences. It comes out just the same.

Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast
"This is a very easy recipe for a delicious pot roast. It makes its own gravy. It's designed especially for the working person who does not have time to cook all day, but it tastes like you did. You'll want the cut to be between 5 and 6 pounds." Original recipe yield: 12 servings.

INGREDIENTS:
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups water
5 1/2 pounds pot roast

DIRECTIONS:
In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

-- Edited by Christine at 11:36, 2005-09-27

alb · Marc Jacobs

Christine--That recipes looks really tasty & easy. I'm definitely going to try that. I'll probably add LF soup to it though, good idea. Thanks so much! I agree about allrecipes, I go there quite a bit for inspiration. Anyway, I'll let you know how it turns out!

BTW I LOVE your avatar!! So sweet!

Sunshinegirl · Kate Spade

Also,

The weekend is a great time to prepare foods like a lasagna or a soup and freeze servings of it. Then you can pull it out the night before, thaw out and warm up and serve with a tossed salad. I will try and post a few recipes for you.

Also, do you have a grill? Grilling is so easy and you can have fresh fish with very little effort.

alb · Marc Jacobs

Sunshine girl--That's a great idea! I think I'll try to cook my soup recipe on the weekends (as well as the Sunday recipe).

We actually just got a Forman grill, so I plan to use it as well. We don't eat fish really (except sushi) but I think I'll try to grill chicken on it. Do you have any non-fish suggestions?

-- Edited by alb at 14:33, 2005-09-27

alb · Marc Jacobs

Christine--I have a quick question for you (or anyone else that knows)--I really want to make that pot roast, but we leave to go to work early in the morning (7:00) and we don't get home until after 6:00--so that's 11 hrs. The recipe says to cook it on low for 8 or 9 hours. Can I cook it that long on like the lowest setting maybe or would it be burned to a crisp when we get home? I don't want to burn the house down b/c of my new cooking frenzy! TIA!

Christine · Coach

alb wrote:

Christine--I have a quick question for you (or anyone else that knows)--I really want to make that pot roast, but we leave to go to work early in the morning (7:00) and we don't get home until after 6:00--so that's 11 hrs. The recipe says to cook it on low for 8 or 9 hours. Can I cook it that long on like the lowest setting maybe or would it be burned to a crisp when we get home? I don't want to burn the house down b/c of my new cooking frenzy! TIA!

I almost always end up cooking my meals in the crockpot for longer than is specified, for the same reason - I'm gone for about 11 hours a day - and the food (especially if it's meat) comes out the same as it does if I cook it for 9 hours (maybe the meat gets a little more tender, if anything.) If you cook meat on the low setting of a crockpot, it's virtually impossible to burn it to a crisp, which is the great part! The low, gentle heat and the moisture that gets trapped in the pot will never let you get crispy, dry, blackened meat.

Sometimes, if you are cooking other things in the pot, such as vegetables/potatoes, and you cook those for an extra-long time, they'll get really soft to the point where they'll fall apart when you touch them. Still, that's not a horrible thing - at least dinner's ready when you come home!

alb · Marc Jacobs

Great, thanks!

Farrah · Marc Jacobs

This is a terrific idea alb! I am looking foward to hearing how it goes. I am always looking for new easy recipes myself so feel free to share any goood ones that you have as well.

This would be a great one for your Sunday night meal. It is really tasty and I looove it. I gave the recipe to JMR and she said that it was a hit w/ her and M.

Picadillo:

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey (tastes great with either)
2 large green peppers (cleaned and cubed)
1 large baking potato (peeled and cubed)
2 tomatoes (chunked or diced-I chunk mine)
1 large can (or 2 small cans) of Hunt's no salt added tomato sauce

Brown meat in a good size pan and drain. Add peppers, potato and tomatoes, tomato sauce and either 1 lg can of water or 2 small ones depending on which one you used. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 45 minutes stirring occassionally.

Serve over Spanish Rice or with flour/corn tortillas.

This is also a great recipe that you can get other things done while it is cooking and I like that.

Also, you should check out JMRs Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe. I made it last night it is super easy and tastes phenomenal. I also used the light mayo and 2% cheese to make it healthier. I served it with Rice Pilaf and green beans and they all complemented each other really well.

laken1 · Hermes

Oh, i want to play. I am the QUEEN of what I call "dump" cooking - in other words, open a can, dump it in & cook.

These 2 are both weight watchers recipes & are some of my favorites (they also both freeze really well):

Taco Soup
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 can whole kernal corn with juice
1 can pinto beans with juice
1 can black beans with juice
1 can red beans with juice
1 can rotel tomatoes with juice
2 cans stewed tomatoes with juice
1 1/2 cups water
1 package taco seasoning
1 pkg original ranch dressing (dry package)
Brown ground meat with onions, drain fat. Add remaining ingredients, cook for at least an hour (i find it's better if you cook it longer, but you don't have to)

You can serve it with chips, shredded cheese on top, & can even add sour cream if you want. YUM

Beef & Bean Chili
1 lb lean ground meat
1 onion, chopped
16 oz tomato sauce
1 can green chilis
3 cans black beans
1 1/2 cups water
1 package taco seasoning
Saute meat & onion, drain. Add sauce, chilies, beans, & taco seasoning. Add water if need, or not for thicker chili (i like mine thick so I only add about 1/2 cup water). Simmer for 1 hour (again, i find it better if it cooks longer)
I like to put this chili on a wheat bun with a fat free hot dog, but my husband doesn't think it goes on a hot dog, so I guess it's your preference. It's really good alone too - you can also add cheese - of course.

Tater Tot Casserole:
My favorite all time recipe - my mom used to make this when I was a kid & my husband asks for it ALL THE TIME. As a matter of fact, i'm making it today. This isn't a low fat recipe, but you can make it much more low fat my using healthy request soup & FF cheese. Surprisingly, tator tots aren't that fattening.
1 lb. lean ground meat
1 bag frozen tater tots
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
8 oz of shredded cheese

brown ground meat, drain, the put back in skillet. Stir in the cream of mushroom soup. Line the bottom of a 9x13 dish with 1 layer of tater tots, then put the meat / soup mixture on top. Top this with cheese - bake 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.

It is SO good. I mean really yummy.

I'll think of some other things i'm sure & will add when i have more time.

I think it's so sweet & great that you are doing this for your family. It's really a great idea. You are a great wife & mother just for thinking of it!!!

Oh, I thought of something else that I do ALOT & it's really easy is chicken stir fry - I have an electric skillet and I really really love it - you can get one for like $20 or $25 at walmart. I cut up a few chicken breast tenderloins (i keep a frozen bag in my freezer at all times) into bite sized pieces & cook them in the skillet - then I add a bag of frozen veggies - just look at your grocery what you like - I like something with snow peas & add fresh mushrooms, then I put 1/2 bottle of any kind of asian sauce - i like the House of Tsang Korean Teriyaki. It cooks in maybe 10 minutes & you are done.

-- Edited by laken1 at 12:55, 2005-09-28

alb · Marc Jacobs

Hey girls! Thanks for the recipes! Farrah, the recipe you posted sounds great! I'm definitely going to add it to my list. That's a great Sun night dinner for me, I agree. I'll also check out JMR's chicken parm. It will be great if I can make a low fat version, so I'll try it your way.

Laken--I actually follow WW now too to lose some of my pregnancy weight gain (7 more lbs to go!), so do you have the points for any of those recipes? I know I have seen the taco soup one (maybe in the getting started book?) and I *think* I copied the tater tod one the other day from Dottie's website. Have you discovered that yet? It's dwlz.com and it's fabulous. Thanks also for mentioning the srit fry idea. We used to have that quite a bit, but then we got tried of eating it so much so we stopped. I might try it again some time though.

Okay, here is my first menu (starts next week):

MENU
WEEK OF 10/2/05

Sunday
Veal Picatta + Zucchini Tomato Saute

Monday
Chicken fajitas (using TJ's fajita mix and adding FF sour cream, FF cheese, LF flour tortillas)

Tuesday
Pot Roast (that Christine posted) + salad (still looking for salad recipe)

Wednesday
Low Fat Cheese and Veggie Soup

Thursday
Chicken, Basil and Artichoke Pizza (from TJs)

The recipes for Monday and Wednesday are Weight Watcher friendly BTW. Let me know what you think or if you want any of these recipes.

laken1 · Hermes

Hey - the chili is 1 cup =3 points (i put 1/3 cup on my hot dog for a 3 pt dog, 1 for chili, 1 for bun, 1 for weiner - gross word i know!)
taco soup - 1 cup = 2 pts

I actually found the WW version of the tator tot casserole in my book as well - with an 8 oz block of cheddar, & 2 cans HC cream of mushroom, it is 7 pts / serving, makes 12 servings.

I have about a trillon WW recipes but haven't tried a bunch of them - my husband doesn't do tomatoes or salsa, so that hinders a lot of those recipes - i'll look through them & see what looks yummy though. And yes, I did find dwlz.com - i love that site! I can't imagine that anything i have isn't on her site as well.

I make a meal plan every week & make my grocery list accordingly - I find that SO much easier to organize my grocery trips & I don't spend $100 on groceries & then have nothing to eat - which is what seems to happen when i don't do it this way (much like having a closet full of clothes & nothing to wear maybe??) I think your idea is great.

alb · Marc Jacobs

laken1 wrote:

<
I make a meal plan every week & make my grocery list accordingly - I find that SO much easier to organize my grocery trips & I don't spend $100 on groceries & then have nothing to eat - which is what seems to happen when i don't do it this way (much like having a closet full of clothes & nothing to wear maybe??) I think your idea is great.

I KWYM about spending a lot of $$ on groceries and then not having any meals to eat. That happened to us this week actually, which was part of the reason for me putting this menu plan together. I spent $150 the other day at the grocery store, and we really don't have any meals for dinner this week. Most of the bill was for WW snacks, which I now have too many of, i.e. dill pickles, yogurt, granola bars, etc. I'm glad to hear your menu planning has worked out well. I feel bad that I have to go to the grocery store again, esp. b/c I have to go to a regular store and Trader Joes, but I think it will be worth it in the end. Thanks for the point information, I can't wait to try all these recipes (the tator tot one is especially appealing right now!).

Sunshinegirl · Kate Spade

Alb,

I have a really great recipe for a turkey meatloaf that has onions, carrots, curry and hard boiled eggs in the middle of it (although this can be optional). It's from Health Magazine. It's really tasty and not your "plain ole meat loaf". Let me know if you want it and i'll post it.

Also, as far as salad: buy a couple heads on red and green leaf lettuce, clean it and tear or cut it up. Stick it in baggies and your lettuce is done for a couple of salads. Cut up onion (red or yellow), tomatoes, radishes, celery, and any other vegetables that you love and put them in a separate bag. Then obviously, you can mix this with the lettuce and your salad is done.

A good dressing: 3 tbsp. of rice vinegar (Nakano brand/garlic flavor), to 1 tbsp honey, couple cloves of fresh garlic, and canola oil to tast. whisk all of this together.

Nice toppings include toasted ramen noodles, sunflower seeds or other nuts, and fresh herbs.

Hope this helps. I love food and we prepare a meal pretty much every night even though sometimes we do not eat till 8:30, it's something special we do (but yes i know, i dont have a baby).

sage · Dooney & Bourke

I am not Alb, but I would love to have your turkey meatloaf recipe, Sunshinegirl!!

Alb, something I like to do is shake'n'bake about a dozen boneless skinless chicken breasts and freeze them in serving sizes. Then, you can have chicken breasts with steamed veggies and rice, or chicken parmesan (just cook pasta and use bottled sauce and ff mozza and some parmesan) or salad with sliced chicken or .......I just find it very handy having cooked chicken on hand. Also cooking a bunch of meatballs or turkey balls and freezing them is great too. You can make spaghetti sauce or sweet and sour meatballs and rice. I got these ideas from a time saving book that suggests cooking a bunch of meals at one time. I find this idea very energy efficient. This is my reason for cooking a bunch of things at once(I am not pressed for time

) If I am going to have the oven on for two chicken breasts I might as well cook twelve!

alb · Marc Jacobs

Wow, I'm even more excited to start this now that I have so many great ideas!

Sunshine girl--Yes I def. want your turkey meatloaf recipe so please post it when you get a chance! I'm intrigued by the fact that it has curry in it (mmm, curry). Thanks for offering that. I love your salad ideas. I already by field greens in a bag which saves some time, but I hadn't thought about cutting up the veggies agead of time. That makes so much sense! I'm going to try your salad dressing recipe too, it sounds good and low fat. Thanks for the topping tips, I bet the toasted ramen noodle would be good. That's really great that you all prepare a meal every night, I so hope I can start doing this soon (before Lucy is old enough to realize I haven't been doing it). Oh, I have one question for you though. I know this is a dumb question, but what is the best way to freeze soup? I don't have a lot of room in my freezer so that's what concerns me. I assume I could use either a freezer bag or a big tupperware container, but then when it freezes do you just stick it in the microwave to get it out of the container? Thanks!

Sage--I love your shake n bake idea! Thanks for mentioning it. Also, do you have a recipe for sweet and sour meatballs at all? I get these precooked frozen turkey meatballs at Trader Joes that I use alot, so the sweet and sour recipe would be a nice change. TIA!

bumblebee · Coach

yum--good recipes in here--i'm going to steal some, too.

alb, i'm reposting this one from an old thread because i thought it might work for your leftover night--i think my mom originally thought it up as a way to make use of leftover "taco night" items when the tortillas were already gone. it's pretty easy to make with whatever random veggies and stuff you probably already have in your fridge. my brothers and i used to really love this when we were kids.

Hot Hats

one tube (Pillsbury, whatever) ready-to-bake rolls, ground meat, browned in one packet of "taco seasoning" mix, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, zucchini or any vegetables you think would be good.

flatten the rolls out so that they get a little larger and are big flat circles. place all of the fillings you want in the center and then gather the rolls up around the sides and pinch together at the top to make them into "hats." make sure there aren't any holes in the dough or the fillings will leak out.

bake according to the directions on the tube for the rolls.

kids love to be involved with making these and they're super easy! it will keep them busy for a little while also, and will trick them into eating vegetables.

alb · Marc Jacobs

This sounds great! Thanks, Bumblebee!