Don't Badger Me Right Now

New Year, New Direction... for both myself and my blog. I've decided to go back on a low carb diet/lifestyle/penance: Choose your label, but since I do the cooking -

The bf is on board...

...the kids, die hard carnivores to be sure, are not convinced.

There's been talk of a "secret", carb-tastic stash for them hidden in the house... but I fear this would be a bad idea... I am weak.

Italian Beef - start with a cheap roast (as cheap as red meat is these days!)

Add 2 cups beef broth, liberal amounts of italian seasoning and pepper. I've always used a pkt of Italian seasoning - it adds the salt too. Optional is part of a jar of pepperoncini or pepper rings and some of the juice. Adds some warmth and tang.

Cook on high for 4 hours, then low for 4. Shred and serve sprinkled with cheese. Sorry for lack of photos. My camera got a new memory card for Christmas...

Steak tacos - I grab cheap, clearance steaks for this one.

Slice 2 green peppers into strips

Layer steaks in pressure cooker or crock pot, sprinkle liberally with southwest or Adobo seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder.

 Add sliced green peppers

Add 3 cups of water to pressure cooker and set for 30 mins on high (1-2 cups in crockpot, set on high for 4 hours). Once cooked, shred. For us non carbers, we layered the meat and peppers on beds of romaine and iceberg lettuces with cheese, sour cream, and salsa. There was a tense moment when the boys got out the tortillas, but I was able to convince the bf it would be ok...

Disclaimer: I am not advocating for the low carb lifestyle, nor am I healthcare professional of any kind. I've done low carb before with great success, fell off the wagon and have been dragging behind that wagon for the last 18 mos.

My jeans are tight and I'm crabby.... I'm still all about my crockpot, prepping more than one meal at a time, and keeping dinner time important.

I'll take door #2 please....

Love me two times, baby 

Love me twice today 

Started with a pile of steaks, on the cheap

One for tomorrow 

One just for today 

Love me two times 

If you can, marinate them using some leftover bottle dressing in fridge. Any oil/vinegar based flavor works. 

Toss onto screaming hot grill

Work on a couple of sides... Slice up some mushrooms

Saute with butter, garlic and onion powders

Dump a bag of baby carrots into a sauce pan with an inch or so of water, bring to boil. Once tender, drain water and add a pat of butter and either 2TBSP brown sugar or herb of choice.

Check steaks on grill... realize that propane tank has run empty

Finish cooking in grill pan on stove

Serve with mushrooms and carrots. I cheated with a couple of heat and eat mashed potato thingies from grocery store...miscreants are "too good" for instant potatoes.   Camera decided this was last picture before SD card corruption occurred.

Love me one time 

I could not speak 

Love me one time 

Yeah, my knees got weak 

But love me two times, girl 

Last me all through the week 

After dinner, bagged up leftover steaks to use for part II, a few days later... once they forget they had steak already...

Using grilled (even slightly grilled) meat in another recipe adds a level of flavor.

Sliced up 3 bell peppers and half an onion. For flavor, 1 can of diced tomatoes, pepper, and Penzey's Southwest seasoning plus Cumin.

Put tomatoes and seasonings on bottom, stir, then add steaks

And peppers/onions.

Set crockpot for 4 hours on low. Shred meat, which is now very tender, can be done with forks. Add juice of one lime and or a bundle of cilantro if you have it. Meh if you don't.

Love me two times, babe 

Love me twice today 

Love me two times, babe 

Gather usual taco makings: tortillas, shredded cheese, salsa, and sour cream.

2nd easy meal.... they never knew what hit them.

Love me two times, babe 

'Cause I'm goin' away 

Say Cheese....

I've decided that any pasta can be greatly improved by the addition of "Baked" at the beginning... which means "smothered with cheese and heat applied until melty".  The other day was "Baked Mostaccioli". Today is "Chicken Tuna Casserole" - err, "BAKED Chicken Tuna Casserole". It's made with chicken... no tuna... but the premise is the same: Cheap. Filling. Miscreants will eat.

Cheese makes everything better. Cheese enhances... many songs were actually written about cheese... producers had them change them because love songs sell better than dairy based. Hmph. I'm sure these are valid examples before the re-writes:

Hit Me With Your Best Cheese
The Woman in Me (Needs the Cheese in You)
Sweet Dreams (are made of cheese)
Pride (in the name of cheese)

The other day, I cooked up extra ingredients to make a few dinners faster/easier. Including pre-cooking some pasta.

I started by pulling the pre-cooked pasta and some chicken quarters from the freezer. Left the pasta to thaw on the counter.

Next, I put 3 chicken quarters (on sale for $1.73) into my pressure cooker. Could do this in crockpot for 3 hours on low, letting it simmer on warm til closer to dinner time. Added 2 C of water and then I set the pressure cooker for 15 minutes, walked away to continue my work from home activities. (Could use crockpot for 3-4 hours, or on the stovetop, 2-3 c of water added for an hour or so).

I left the chicken in the cooker, on warm for a few hours. I gently removed meat from bones with a couple of forks.

Added back into cooker.

Added 1/2 c sour cream, 1 can cream of celery, and partial bag of frozen peas and carrots. 

 Once mixed, I stirred in the now thawed pasta.

 Poured into a baking dish.... wait for it....say it...

CHEESE!!!

That's right... smother that casserole with cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30 mins- til melty and browned. I'm also baking a loaf of "cheesecake factory-esque brown bread" at the same time. I also cut up a couple bunches of broccoli, microwaved for 6 mins, then added CHEESE.

 Baked Tuna Chicken Casserole... Baked=Cheese

I Love to Work at Nothing All Day

And I'll be... 
Taking care of business, every day
Taking care of business, every way

2 crockpot meals for the effort of one.

With veggies already prepped, this is beyond easy. Embarassingly easy. Dump into crockpot, set on high 3 hours, walk away.
I've been taking care of business, it's all mine
Taking care of business. and working overtime
Work out

 Once home, slice ham and serve the miscreants.

Chances are you'll go far

If you get in with the right bunch of fellows
People see you having fun
Just a-lying in the sun
Tell them that you like it this way
It's the work that we avoid

Crockpot Tomato Soup... dump and run, baby!

 Into crockpot goes veggies, broth, 2 cans diced tomatoes, and seasoning, Bouquet Garni this time.

 Set crockpot for 4 hours on high, finish it up later....

 After cooking all day, it's almost good enough to eat just like this! Smells fantastic!

 I didn't dice veggies small as recipe directed, that takes more time. Besides using a boat motor/submersible blender stick is an easy cheat. I blended til thick chunky, but not smooth.

 Make a roux... spelled scary, looks scary at first. I used half of a stick of butter and 3/4 C flour. Melt butter and add flour. Whisk til thick but not lumpy.

A couple of ladles of hot soup get whisked into the pot with the roux. Whisk until smooth. It will still look thick and kind of scary. Add more ladles of soup into the roux until about half of the hot soup is added...keep whisking until it is stirred smooth. Then add soup/roux pot into crockpot. Whisk again.

 Rinse roux pot and then add 2 C half n half and warm on stove top. You could micro, but that would be another dirty dish. Once warmed, DO NOT BOIL, whisk into crockpot. Let "meld" in crockpot while preparing cheese sandwiches.

 Trader Joe's Oat Bread with swiss and co-jack cheeses. Serve with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper.

One, two, three, four
And we be... 
Taking care of business every day
Taking care of business every way
I've been taking care of business, it's all mine
Taking care of business and working overtime