Feta shrimp skillet, Mexican chicken noodle soup, apple-pecan pork, slow cooker vegetable-stuffed chicken with mushroom sauce, roast beef dinner, sausage and leek soup and stuffed pepper soup.
With a major winter storm looming (at least possibly!) and frigid temperatures, it seemed like a perfect week for comfort food. For me, that always includes soup. This week we had three different kinds and they were all awesome.
There are many things I love about soup, including the leftovers that are perfect for school lunches. I also love the way soups allow me to stretch a few simple ingredients and feed a lot of people. They are a great way to use up leftovers and still create something hearty and delicious. I'm not quite sure why I find it so satisfying to re-purpose leftovers and use things up that might otherwise get tossed, but I really do. This year, I am trying to be more intentional about using everything I buy and throwing out as little as possible. I'll keep you posted on that.
I used the slow cooker a bit less this week, and still managed to get supper on the table pretty quickly. The recipes I've shared are healthy, quick and delicious.
On the menu - January 7 - 13, 2019:
Sunday Feta Shrimp Skillet with broccoli, spaghetti and green salad
Love this fast and easy shrimp dish that tastes amazing and is fancy enough for company. It's a nice change from the usual ways I prepare shrimp and is wonderful over pasta or spiralized zucchini. Surprisingly low in calories, too!
Monday Rose's Chicken Noodle Soup with tortilla chips and tex mex cheese
If you're tired of regular old chicken noodle soup, this is a delicious twist on everyone's favorite. Think basic chicken noodle with tomatoes, black beans and corn. So good topped with crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheese. Thanks to Rose Kamper for permission to share her original creation. Dad came back for seconds - this really hit the spot tonight.
Tuesday Apple-Pecan Pork Chops with Sweet Potato Beds and brussel sprouts
Another quick skillet meal tonight. I used pork tenderloin instead of pork chops and it was even better, I think. Dad is enjoying a touch of sweet these days and this recipe fit the bill. I was a bit concerned that there wasn't as much liquid as something cooked in the slow cooker, but it pureed wonderfully and Dad liked it alot. I also love the Sweet Potato Beds (and the accompanying pork recipe in that link is great, too!)
Wednesday Slow Cooker Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Gorgonzola and Mushrooms, rice, cauliflower and green salad and Darn Good Chocolate Cake for dessert
Once again, I'm giving a shout-out to "300 Slow Cooker Favorites" by Donna-Marie Pye, and once again, I don't have permission to share the actual recipe I made (Vegetable-Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce). Sorry, folks! But seriously, with 300 recipes for the slow cooker, there are a ton of great options in her cookbook, and I have a big list of ones I want to try. As I may have mentioned before, I would highly recommend that you purchase her cookbook. You may have noticed that I use it almost weekly!
If you don't have her book, the recipe above sounded like a pretty good substitute. You could totally use some other cheese besides gorgonzola.
The Vegetable-Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce was good, but different. I think mine was cooked slightly too long (7.5 hours) and I forgot to salt the chicken. I would recommend not skipping that! The sauce was good, and our company enjoyed this dish.
Since we had company, I also made dessert - Darn Good Chocolate Cake. Recipe to come!
Thursday Roast beef dinner with oven roasted potatoes, carrots, gravy and coleslaw
I know I've shared this before, but as I may have mentioned, this is pretty simple and a classic at our house. I make this at least once a month.
Put a roast (we like eye of the round) in a roasting pan with about 1 1/2 inches of water in the bottom and a beef bouillon cube. Add two peeled, whole onions. Roast at 325 F, covered, for 3 hours. After 1 1/2 hours add washed potatoes and peeled whole carrots to the roasting pan. Use the drippings to make gravy.
Friday Sausage & Leek Soup with buns
One of my favourite ways to eat potatoes and leeks. You can use pork or turkey sausage. So yummy!
Saturday Stuffed Pepper Soup with cheese, crackers and green salad
I had some rice leftover from Wednesday that I wanted to use up, as well as a lone green pepper in the crisper. This seemed like the perfect way to clean up the fridge a bit. Stuffed peppers are something else I have never made, and I've never made Stuffed Pepper Soup before, either. As my son gets older, he is less picky and more willing to eat a wide variety of vegetables (including peppers) which definitely expands our meal options. He said this was "much better than expected" and deemed it "good". (Must have been very good because he had seconds!) Mom had to add some extra canned tomatoes to make it less thick (and better for pureeing) for Dad, but they liked it, too. I forgot to top my bowl with shredded cheddar cheese as the recipe suggests, but I think that would be an awesome addition to this soup. We don't always love the flavour of green pepper, but this was super, even without the cheese. Thanks to my friend, Jami, who recently served this with rave reviews and was kind enough to share the recipe.
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