Slow Cooker Ground Beef Lasagna Soup

Review

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

10 3/4 oz. tomato soup, canned, condensed

14.5 oz. tomatoes, canned, petite diced

15 oz. tomato sauce, canned

2 chicken bouillon cubes

2 beef bouillon cubes

4 c. water

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 1/2 tsp. basil

1 tsp. parsley

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

8 oz. Ricotta Cheese

8 lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces - UNCOOKED

12 oz. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Combine all ingredients except for ground beef and mozzarella and ricotta cheeses in the crock pot.  

Recipe said to add RAW ground beef over top, however I added cooked ground beef.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours (or high for 4-5 hours).  Half an hour before done, stir in the ricotta cheese.  Serve with the mozzarella cheese on top.

Our Review

This was pretty good.

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Tofurky Tacos and Burritos

Recipe

We used two packs of the ground beef Tofurky, heated in a pan with diced onions and added taco seasoning.  That was it.  We added all of the toppings for tacos and burritos and ate.

Our Review

Two guests didn't even know that this was vegetarian and not real ground beef!  The boys ate it and never noticed a difference and everyone ate more than one taco or burrito, so I think it was a success.

Mexican Lasagna

Recipe

1.5 lbs ground beef

1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

6 oz tomato paste

1 Tbls chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

dash of ground cayenne pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

24 oz tomato sauce

14.5 oz diced tomatoes, drained

15 oz black beans, rinsed and drained

1.5c frozen corn kernels

6 oz chopped olives, canned

9-12 no-boil lasagna noodles

2c shredded mozzarella cheese

1c shredded cheddar cheese

1c sour cream

8oz cream cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease 9x13 pan.

Cook ground beef with the onion, drain the grease.  Add the garlic and tomato paste, stir to combine and cook for 1 minute.  Stir in chili powder, cumin, cayenne, oregano, salt, and pepper and mix well.  Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, stir to combine, and then add beans, corn, and olives.  Mix well and heat for about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat.  Spread 1/2 cup of the mix into the bottom of the 9x13 pan.  Layer noodles over the sauce, then spread 1/3 of the mix on top of the noodles.  Dollop 1/3 of the sour cream and 1/3 of the cream cheese across the mix and then sprinkle 1/3 of the cheeses on top.  Repeat the layers two more times until all ingredients are used.

Cover lasagna with foil and bake for 35 minutes.  Uncover and bake for 10-15 more minutes until lasagna is hot and bubbly.

Our Review

This was pretty good, everyone liked it, but I couldn't get past the strange taste of noodles with the mexican ingredients.  I'd like to try it again with a few changes.  Next time I will use tortillas instead of the lasagna noodles.  I think it would also be a good idea to mix the sour cream and cream cheese together so they would be easier to spread around.  We didn't use a lot of cayenne pepper and we didn't have the olives, I think it would be fine with the olives too.

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Stuffed Zucchini (Zucchini Boats)

Ingredients

4 medium zucchini

1 lb pound ground beef

1 lb Italian sausage

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1 can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

1 can condensed tomato soup (10.75 oz)

1 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 13 x 9 baking dish.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds, chop and save about 3/4 of the seeds for the stuffing.  (Feed the rest to your chickens).  In a medium bowl, mix together the ground beef, sausage, onion, bread crumbs, egg, and zucchini seeds.  Place the mixture equally into all of the zucchini boats.  Mixture should be piled up over the top.  Place boats into the baking dish.

In a bowl, stir together the crushed tomatoes, tomato soup, and water.  Spoon the mixture over the zucchini boats, liberally.  Bake for about 45 minutes.

Our Review

There was a lot of liquid in the tray.  We used a cookie sheet, and it overflowed with the juices.  Besides that, it was pretty good.  I did use all of the zucchini seeds and used 5 zucchini's and there was still a lot of stuffing.  In the future I need to either use far less meat (maybe half a pound of each kind) or do 10 zucchini boats.  I also thought the tomato topping was good, but too washed out so next time I won't add the water.

All in all, we'll have it again.

Source

Slow Cooker Chili

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef, cooked

2 cans (16 oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained ****

2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (8oz) tomato sauce

2 medium onions, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbs chili powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Garnishes (shredded cheese, corn bread, tortilla chips)

Add all of the ingredients, except for the garnishes, to a crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  

***I used almost 3 pounds of ground beef and half way through the cooking time I realized there was way too much beef and not enough beans.  I added a HUGE can of kidney beans and 4 more ounces of tomato sauce because I'd originally opened a 12 ounce can.

Our Review

I'm not sure why I make a face and shy away from making and eating chili.  This is the third time that I have made it, and each time I have eaten it and thought it was pretty darn good.  Apparently I have a mental block.  My only other review is that it definitely needed more beans, even if I hadn't used more beef.

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Tequila Lime Flank Steak

This was a made up recipe one night when I knew I wanted to have flank steak this morning but also knew I wanted to get rid of some liquor because I never drink.

I poured some lime tequila over the flank steak, sliced up some limes and onions and then added some salt and pepper and cilantro.  I let it marinate overnight and then grilled it on the George Foreman the next day.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing.  It was eatable and that was enough.

Crock Pot Taco Soup

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef (cooked with the onion)

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 c water

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

14.5 oz can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can V8 vegetable juice

1 c chopped celery

1 c sliced carrot

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp dried parsley flakes

2 tsp dried basil

1 bay leaf

Add all ingredients to a crock pot and cook on low for about 4 hours or until vegetables are tender.

Discard bay leaf before serving.

Our Review

I wasn't thinking this would taste as good as it did.  I went back for more.  The V8 had me worried and this was a bit tomato-ey but it wasn't bad.  I made it a second time and added beef broth in place of half of the water.  It also needed to cook longer than 4 hours both times.  I think it ended up being about 6 hours.

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Grilled Marinated Flank Steak

Ingredients

1/3 C olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/3 C soy sauce

1/4 C honey

1/2 Tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds flank steak

kosher salt

ground black pepper

Mix the first six ingredients in a small bowl to create the marinade.  Pour the marinade into a dish or a plastic bag with the steak and seal.  Put in the fridge to marinate.

Our Review

This may be the best flank steak that I have ever had.  I marinated it for almost two days and then grilled it on the George Foreman grill because it was raining outside.  It was very good and I will definitely make it again.

Source

Old Fashioned Sunday Supper Crockpot

Ingredients

2.25 oz onion soup mix

3.5 lb rump roast

2 lb potatoes cut in half

3 c sliced carrots

2 celery stalks sliced

7 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp garlic pepper seasoning

2 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

1.5 c zinfandel

14.5 oz beef broth

1/4 c flour

Put half of the potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and garlic pepper into the crock pot with the bay leaf.

Mix 1 cup of wine and the broth and then pour it into the crock pot.  Rub onion mix all over the pot roast and then put the roast and the loose onion mix into the crock pot.  Add the remaining potatoes, carrots, celery, thyme, garlic, and pepper.

Cook on low for 9-10 hours.  Remove bay leaves.  Remove all solid contents.  Pour liquid mix into a pot on the stove.  Over medium/high heat add the rest of the wine and the flour and stir for 3-5 minutes until it is thickened to a gravy.  Serve with the meal.

Our Review

This was good, but far more work than my usual “drop everything in and go” recipe.  

I will admit that I cheated on the recipe a bit…  I didn’t measure out any of the ingredients besides the wine and the broth.  I didn’t see any garlic pepper so I used garlic salt and then used pepper (I probably have garlic pepper but wasn’t going to search for it since I was already late for work).  I didn’t have zinfandel since I don’t drink wine, but I had some sherry so I used that.  Even with all of these adjustments it still tasted good.

Source

Crock Pot Taco Soup

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef cooked and drained

1 onion chopped

28 oz diced tomatoes with juice

14oz kidney beans with juice

15 oz canned corn with juice

8 oz tomato sauce

1.25 oz taco seasoning mixed with 1 cup water

1 C cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Serve with cheese and chips.

Our Review

Everyone said this was great.  One person said it was even better after she added salsa to it.