Hearty & Healthy Beef and Veggie Soup

There's nothing better on a COLD Minnesota winter evening than hot soup.  Bonus if it's healthy and can fit into one of my meal plans!  I love tossing random things into a crock pot, and coming home to a hot dinner and house that smells wonderful.

Last week my soup was beef & veggie.  I've been using tons of veggies in my soups this winter to make it a little more interesting and to bump up our nutrient intake.  There is SO much illness going around that extra nutrients can't hurt. 

Ingredients:
- Stew Beef (1 packet of it, all pre-cut from Hy Vee)
- 1 container low sodium beef broth (not stock)
- 1/4 a container of low sodium chicken broth (if you're not cooking it for longer than 6 hours you probably don't need this.  Mine cooked for 10 hours, and I was afraid of the liquid getting too low and burning)
- 1/2 C barley, dry
- 2 C chopped green beans
- 3 stalks of celery, dimed
- 5 carrots, peeled and dimed
- 1/2 a purple onion, diced
- 1/2 C frozen sweet corn (bonus if you have some that you froze yourself from this summer!)
- seasonings of your choice (I used one that was Maple Bacon, another that was Chipotle Garlic, and then just some extra garlic powder (not salt)).

Directions:
- Add all the ingredients to a large crock pot
- Stir to ensure everything is mixed well
- Cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours
- Eat and enjoy!!

Note: this heats up well.  We always have enough for 2+ meals, and the "cooked" picture is from our leftovers later in the week. 

Healthy Spaghetti Alternative

Spaghetti Squash has intrigued me for a while.  I'm not a huge squash fan, but the health benefits of this were interesting.  I'm also a huge pasta fan and it's been hard to give this up.  A while back we switched to the veggie pasta, but it still has a lot of carbs.  This weekend we had some friends over and we decided to try spaghetti squash!  I was shocked at how easy it was, and how similar the texture was to regular spaghetti.  I couldn't tell the difference!  Topped with crock pot turkey pasta sauce, it was delicious, filling, and healthy!  This sauce should freeze well too so we can have the leftovers later on a night where we don't have time!

**Update: it heats up very well and even 3 days later tastes great!  The texture wasn't compromised which was my biggest worry.  I mixed in the pasta sauce after heating both, and it was a fabulous dinner! 

Spaghetti Squash: Serves 2-3 adults

Ingredients

1 Spaghetti squash

2tsp olive oil

Garlic powder

Sea salt

Pepper

Directions:

• Heat oven to 425F
• Using a sharp knife, make small cuts around the squash as if to halve it lengthwise
• Put squash in the microwave for 2 minutes
• Remove from the microwave and use the sharp knife to carefully cut the squash in half lengthwise, along the cuts you made earlier
• Scoop out all the seeds and dispose of them
• Drizzle the flesh side of the squash with olive oil.  Season with the garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper to taste
• Lay each half of the squash flesh down (with the hard shell facing upwards) in a glass dish
• Bake for about 40 minutes
• Remove, and turn over to show the flesh.  Use a couple of forks to pull the flesh out of the husk.  It will automatically shred into spaghetti-like pieces
• Top with your favorite topping and enjoy!

Turkey Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey (lean)

1 red pepper

Any desired seasonings

1 jar pasta sauce (I look for homemade ones)

Directions:

• In a large frying pan or a cast iron skillet, brown the ground turkey.
• After the meat is cooked, use a strainer to drain the grease into the container the meat came in. Dispose of this.
• Return the meat to the skillet.  Add the red pepper (dice prior to this step) and any other seasonings you may choose.  I like to use garlic powder, oregano, and italian seasoning.
• Heat these for a few minutes then let cool and store in a container if you’re not using it immediately.
• You have two options for the sauce.  You can either add the jar of sauce directly to the ground turkey in the skillet after you added the seasonings, or you can save the meat for later in the week and use the crock pot.
• Crock Pot option: During the workweek I like to have the meat pre-made then I toss it in a crock pot with the sauce, on low.  Add some water if you’re cooking it for longer than 4 hours.  Otherwise cook 4 hours on low then set it to turn to warm.
• Use the sauce to top your favorite pasta or the spaghetti squash

Crock Pot Carrots

So, as I mentioned in my post about peachy pears, I'm continuously looking for ways to gain efficiencies (can you tell I work with logistics?) when making baby food.  It hit me that during the winter I let our crock pot run all day long, making soups for dinner.  Why not cook baby food overnight, let it cool during the day, and blend it in the evening?  Genius! 

While watching one of my DVR'd episodes of the Voice (I am SOOO behind since I never have a moment to sit anymore), I washed, peeled, and chopped organic carrots.  It actually was a very enjoyable evening task.  The nice thing about this was that I didn't have to dime the carrots.  I chopped each carrot into about 5 or 6 sections, then tossed it in the crock pot.  I added about 1C of water, then set it on low and let them cook overnight.  The next morning I turned it off to cool slightly while I got ready for work, then stuck it in the fridge.  Later that evening I pureed the carrots and froze in ice cube trays for the upcoming weeks.  Very simple and time effective!

Crock Pot Peachy Pears

Since pears went over so well, and T seemed to like the Motts natural Peach medly apple sauce that she got at Grandma's last week, I decided to attempt to cook peaches and pears in the crock pot.  Since we are super busy, yet it's important to us to make her food, I'm trying to find ways to be more efficient.  I've got a great tip that I learned while making carrots and will share soon (bet you can't wait to read about that one!).

Now, one of the challenges with making T's food is that I haven't actually ever eaten or prepared a lot of the things we're having her try.  Peaches fall under that category.  I knew they had a pit in them, and that stone fruits are in season.  But I don't have a clue on how to pick out the ripe ones, how to cut them, or how to efficiently skin them.  These are the things I stumbled through while preparing, but if you know of better ways, I encourage you to follow your own instincts! 

I started with 6 pears and 6 peaches.  Pears are ripe when the place where the neck connects with the bulb is soft.  Peaches....well....I just squished a bunch until I found soft ones.  The peaches I selected were pretty soft, but that's fine for baby food.  When cutting up pears, I create 4 sections, then cut out the core, then use my knife to peel back the skin.  Peaches were pretty easy, especially the soft ones.  I cut it in 4 (around the pit) then used the knife to start peeling back the skin.  In about half the cases I was able to just use my fingers to peel the skin off.  Otherwise I kind of hacked away with the knife to get the rest of the skin off. 

I tossed everything into my crock pot on high for about 3 hours, then set it in the fridge to cool overnight.  The next day after work I pureed it all in my handy-dandy Baby Bullet and froze it into cubes.  I didn't need to add any additional liquid other than what was in the crock-pot.  The consistency was pretty thin. 

Notes:  The mixture is pretty runny, so I add about 1T of baby oatmeal before heating.  You may need to add more to thicken it up. 

Crock Pot pears

Pears have been our newest food addition.  I initially was planning to make these on the stove top, but then totally ran out of time. It was one of those days where I got home a little early and decided to whip up some food before picking T up at daycare.  Well everything takes longer of course, and before I knew it I had to run.  It occurred to me that I had success making apple sauce in the crock pot, and that pears were similar and may work that way too.  I cut the pears in half, removed the pit and peel, then chopped into smaller pieces.  I tossed the pears into the crock pot on high with about 1/2C of water, and cooked for 2 hours or so.  I probably didn't need the water, and will either reduce or eliminate the next time I make pears.  After they were fully cooked and soft I tossed them in the baby bullet and pureed.  Make sure you let the food cool in the fridge before freezing.

T loves the pears, but they are pretty thin.  I've found that adding some baby oatmeal before heating (in a glass cup) helps thicken the consistency and allows her to eat it more efficiently.

 

Pulled Turkey Sandwiches

This is a really easy way to make a meal (and leftovers!).

1 Jenni-O turkey fillet - we used the apple wood flavor
1C organic chicken broth
Hawaiian rolls
BBQ sauce
shredded co-jack

Place the fillet (it will come in two pieces) and chicken broth in a crock pot on low.  Cook for 4-5 hours until cooked through.  Remove and cut or shred with a steak knife (this works best).  Put about 1 oz on each roll, top with 1/2T of BBQ sauce and a little cheese.  Total calorie count per sandwich?  Approximately 175.  Eat up!