Slow Cooker Taco Soup Recipe

Serve this Tex-Mex soup with homemade half-whole-wheat flour tortillas, shredded reduced-fat Cheddar or Jack cheese, and a dollop of fat-free sour cream, if desired. Make this meatless by using a tofu or soy product in place of the ground sirloin.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground sirloin (around 6%-9% fat), or ground turkey with around 6% fat
1 cup chopped onions
1 16-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
8 ounces canned tomato sauce
2 cups water
2 14.5-ounce cans peeled and diced tomatoes
1 4-ounce can diced green chilies (buy mild, if you prefer)
1 ounce packet taco seasoning mix
1 cup shredded, reduced-fat cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

Preparation:
1. In a medium skillet, cook the ground beef or turkey over medium heat until browned. Drain, and set aside.
2. Place the ground meat, onion, chili beans, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce, water, diced tomatoes, green chile peppers, and taco seasoning mix in a slow cooker. Mix to blend, and cook on Low setting for 8 hours.
3. Ladle into individual serving bowls, and top each with 1/8 cup shredded cheese and a tablespoon of fat-free sour cream. Serve with homemade flour tortillas.

Yield: 8 servings

Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 288 calories, 20 g protein, 37 g carbohydrate, 7 g fat, 2.7 g saturated fat, 24 mg cholesterol, 10 g fiber, 730 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 22%.

WebMD Recipe from the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic

Dehydrating Fruit

A couple of days ago, my friends lent me their Nesco Food Dehydrator to play with. I set it up yesterday and started with blueberries and pear slices. Now I am hooked! You see, I LOVE dried fruit, but I hate the added sugar and the preservatives that they add. So drying it myself, makes life so much better! Now I can have fresh, dried fruit slices with nothing added! :)

Dried Peach Slices

Dried Pear Slices

Hearty Bean & Ham Soup

For  Christmas my parents got us a new Crock-Pot! Oh how I love it! It has the most awesome settings! Today I am using it for a new soup I adapted from 500 Treasured Country Recipes.

Originally this was called Overnight Hearty Bean Soup - but I never soak my beans when putting in the crockpot, so I converted it to a crockpot recipe instead. I also needed to use the ham that I had thawed out - so I used ham instead of bacon.

1 pound dried navy beans
6 cups cold water
2 cups diced ham (1/4" - 1/2" pieces)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups sliced celery
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
3 cups tomatoes diced
1 cup vegetable broth
1 teaspoon each sage, thyme, oregano
1 bay leaf
1 pound box elbow macaroni
parsley
freshly ground black pepper
grated Parmesan cheese

1. In large pan, heat olive oil and gently saute, mushrooms, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Do not brown. Add to crackpot.

2. Add the tomatoes, sage, thyme, oregano, ham, and bay leaf to the crackpot. Stir to blend, then add to beans to crackpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

4. 10 minutes before crackpot is finished cooking, Cook the macaroni, drain, and add to the soup. Add parsley, pepper, and Parmesan to taste before serving.

Side Note: To keep your noodles from getting too soggy (when reheated), do not combine noodles into soup, just spoon the soup over the noodles in individual bowls.

Yield: 8-10 servings


This is a great book - I highly recommend it!

500 Treasured Country Recipes
by: Martha Story & Friends

Slow-Cooker Beef and Black-Bean Chili with Masa Cornbread

For dinner tonight I am making Slow-Cooker Beef and Black-Bean Chili. Started it this morning, can't wait to try it tonight! The house smells SO good right now! Here is the recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 pound beef chuck, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
• 1 can (15 ounces) tomato puree
• 1 cup dried black beans, rinsed
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/4 cup sour cream, for serving

Directions

In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine beef, tomato puree, beans, onion (reserve 1 tablespoon for garnish), garlic, chili powder, 2 cups water, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cover, and cook on high, 6 hours (or on low, 8 hours). Serve chili topped with sour cream and reserved onion.

Found recipe at www.marthastewart.com

Masa Cornbread

Ingredients

• 1.5 c masa harina
• 1/2 c flour,
• two eggs
• two t of baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 1 scant T sugar (brown, turbinado, white, honey, whatever)
• 1.5 (approx) c of milk
• 1/2 stick of butter, softened

Instructions

1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Rub half of butter (2 T) into dry ingr., Put the other half in a cast iron skillet in a 425 oven.
3. Add eggs and enough milk to dry ingr to make a batter (takes more than regular cornmeal bread), around 1.5 c.
4. When butter in skillet is melted, spread out batter and bake until brown around edges and light brown areas on top (20 min?). Cool out of the pan if you want to keep the bottom crust crisp.