Simply Sides 16 - Creamy Crock*Pot Potatoes

Can you believe in 34 years on this earth I have never had something as simple as a fingerling potato? Well, I have seen them a lot online and on TV but have never purchased or made them, so when I saw them on sale at Aldi for less than $1 a bag I grabbed them and found a recipe.  The recipe came from Pinterest (so this is both a Pinterest Pick AND a Crock*Pot Cafe recipe, as well as a side dish!!!).  Find the original recipe HERE. The sauce you finish this dish with tastes like a lighter alfredo sauce and was absolutely delicious with the chicken I served with these potatoes.  Simple (and cost effective!), this recipe is great for a weeknight side dish.

Creamy Crock*Pot Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1-2 lbs fingerling potatoes, halved
• 4 tbs butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp dried dill
• 1 tbs parsely
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1-2 handfuls of shredded mozzarella

Directions:
Place first 6 ingredients in the slow cooker insert and stir well.  Cover, and turn slow cooker on low for 8 hours.  Add cream and cheese, stir very well, and heat on high for 30 minutes.  Serve on the side of your favorite protein (I recommend a boneless skinless chicken breast - I seasoned mine with Greek seasoning and baked for 30 minutes while cream and cheese were cooking with the potatoes).
Enjoy!

Corned Beef - Crock*Pot Cafe 4

St. Patrick's Day dinner is one of my favorite dinners throughout the year.  I absolutely adore corned beef.  And all the sides are delicious and comforting, which makes it a great meal all around.  I have a great recipe for fried cabbage that I'll share with you in the future.  Even people who claim they don't like cabbage enjoy it.  And then I just make some mashed potatoes on the side, because I prefer my potatoes mashed over any other way.  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Corned Beef (Slow Cooker Method)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lb corned beef brisket (I bought a 2.5 lb flat cut beef)
• 1 bag of baby carrots
• 2 large onions, quartered
• 1 16 oz can beer (I used Bud Light, a lot of people use Guiness)
• 1/2 cup water mixed with 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbs yellow mustard (really, you can use whatever kind of mustard you like)

Directions:
Place carrots on bottom of slow cooker insert.  Top with onion quarters.  Place corned beef on top.  Pour beer around (but not on top) of beef.  Sprinkle season packet that comes with beef all around.  Spread mustard over top of brisket.  Pour water/sugar mixture all over crockpot.  Place lid on top.  Cook on low for 10-12 hours.  ***Note, you can also cook this on high for 4-5 hours but I prefer the longer cooking method.
Enjoy!

Galumpki - Home Cooked Recipe 65

My mom's side of the family is straight Polish, so I ate a lot of Polish dishes growing up such as kielbasa, pierogi, Gulasz (aka goulash), and Golabki (aka galumpki, aka stuffed cabbage).  I have already posted our families goulash recipe and you can find that HERE.  Cabbage is on sale this week as St. Patrick's day is tomorrow, so I thought I would grab an extra head and make some galumpki, otherwise known as stuffed cabbage or cabbage rolls.  My grandmother was always the one who made this dish when I was growing up.  Unfortunately her health is declining and rarely makes it anymore, so I thought I would give it a go.  The filling came out great, as did the sauce.  I think I should have cooked the cabbage longer.  But I don't even usually eat a lot of the cabbage so it was ok for my purpose.  But I recommend that if you make this recipe you peel the leaves from the head of cabbage before boiling them so they cook a little more thoroughly.


Galumpki

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cabbage
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 cups of cooked rice
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 8 oz cans tomato sauce (store brand is fine, at my Aldi it's only 25 cents a can)
• 1 10 oz can tomato soup (I use Campbells's condensed)
• 1/3 cup ketchup (Heinz is my go to)
• smoked paprika
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
-I use a rice cooker to cook my rice while I am boiling the cabbage-
Place head of cabbage in a pot and cover with 1 inch of cold water.  Bring to a boil, turn heat off, let sit at least 20 minutes until leaves become pliable.  Drain and let cool enough to handle.
Brown ground beef, with onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add a teaspoon each of paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Stir well.  
Mix together tomato soup, tomato sauce, and ketchup.  Season with pepper and a dash of salt.  
Add 2 tablespoons of sauce to meat.  Mix in cooked rice.  Combine well.
Layer a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.
Take a cabbage leaf and spoon a large spoonful of meat and rice mixture into the leaf.  Fold the leaf around the meat.  Place stuffed cabbage on top of sauce in baking dish.  Repeat until meat mixture is gone. Cover cabbage rolls with remaining sauce.  Bake 30-45 minutes.
Enjoy!

Latin Beef - Home Cooked Recipe 64

I needed a new recipe for ground beef and I was looking for something with a Latin flair.  I looked up some recipes online and decided to combine a couple to make my own ground beef recipe.  I call it Latin Beef (creative I know, LoL). It's easy, inexpensive, and perfect for a weeknight meal.

Latin Beef

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 cup of peas

1/2 a potato, small dice

1 small onion, small dice

1 packet sazoñ

1 tbs adobo seasoning

fresh ground black pepper

8 oz can tomato sauce

***I served mine with yellow rice, just make a packet according to manufacturer instruction

Directions:

Brown ground beef.  Add in onions and potatoes when you start beef .  When beef is browned and potatoes are mostly cooked through (10-15 minutes), add sazoñ, adobo and cook 2 minutes. Add in tomato sauce, then peas a couple minutes later.  Season with pepper to taste. Serve with yellow rice.

Enjoy!

Mexican Sloppy Joes - Pinterest Pick #7

We never ate too many sloppy joes when I was growing up but I have had them once or twice.  It's a great meal idea for kids but I never really considered it a grown up dinner. While browsing through Pinterest I came across a recipe for a spin on sloppy joes that had a Mexican feel.  I decided to try it and I am declaring it a winner!  Instead of the buns you could always use tortillas and the meat would also be great as a taco filling.  Lots of options!  You can find the original pin HERE and the website where I got the recipe is HERE.  Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest!

Mexican Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 poblano, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 10 oz can enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso)
• 1 cup Monterrey jack cheese, shredded 
• 4 burger buns

Directions:
Brown the ground beef.  While halfway through, add in diced onion and diced poblano as well as garlic.  Season with salt and pepper.  When beef is browned, drain and return to pan.  Add in enchilada sauce and simmer on medium low heat for 10-15 minutes.  Spoon meat over bottom buns.  Sprinkle generously with cheese.  Top with tops of buns and serve. 
Enjoy!