Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes

I thought I had shared this recipe - but it seems that I had not.  Here is the backstory.  So we are always looking for ways to use slow cookers when we have big family meals.  The idea of having a slow cooker taking a job away from the stove for a big event like Thanksgiving is a good one.  This is doubly valuable when you have a smaller kitchen.  We had made this once before - but I could not find the recipe I used.  Fast forward to 2020 - and we are in a smaller kitchen.  We just moved (yep - great time to do that) and we now have a smaller freezer.  So that extra turkey we bought on sale needed to be cooked!  And we need mashed potatoes...right?

There are lots of recipes out there - but I found one that I wanted to try from the American Heart Association's recipe collection.  This is a great place to start for healthy dishes that you can make at home.  I found a recipe for their Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes (from the Idaho Potato Commission).  I tweaked this a bit and loved the way it came out.  It was pretty easy to make and much better for you than many of the recipes I found.

Ingredients (serves 8-10)

4-5 lbs Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4" slices
2 tsp Sea (or Kosher) salt
1 tsp Black pepper
2 cups Broth (vegetable or chicken)
2 cups Water
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter
1/2 cup Skim milk (adjust to taste)

Directions

1. Place the peeled and cut potatoes in cold water to cover for around 1-2 hours.  Drain potatoes.
2. Add potatoes, sea salt, black pepper, broth and water (in that order) to the slow cooker.  Cover and set on high for 4 hours.
3. When potatoes are tender, drain most of the liquid (adjust to taste).  Then add the butter (sliced into tablespoon sized portions) and the skim milk.
4. Use a potato masher (or small electric mixer), slowly beat potatoes are mashed.  Add additional butter or milk to taste. 
5. Leave on low or warm until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Cranberry Mustard Sauce

The other day, I was looking for a cookie recipe and I stumbled upon the Ocean Spray recipe page.  I have grown very fond of cranberries and want to use them in more recipes.  I found this great recipe for Chicken Tenderloins with Cranberry Mustard Sauce and it looked excellent.  I played with it and tried it tonight.  Loved the way it turned out.  We made mashed potatoes and green beans to go with this.  This will be on a steady rotation - it was fantastic - and it is pretty healthy to make it even better.  We will have this again, maybe with roasted veggies.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

4-6 pieces Chicken tenderloins (or two chicken breasts cut into strips)
1-2 tbsp Flour
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt (adjust to taste)
1/4 tsp Black pepper (adjust to taste)
1 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Olive oil
1/3 cup White cooking wine (or white wine)
2/3 cup Chicken broth
3 tbsp Dijon or brown mustard
1 tsp Cornstarch
1 tbsp Water
1/4 cup Dried Cranberries (adjust to taste)

Directions

1. Lightly toss chicken pieces with flour; shake off excess. Sprinkle lightly with Kosher salt and black pepper.
2. Heat the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the chicken and cook 3-4 per side, until chicken is golden brown on each side and cooked through. Remove from pan and keep under foil to keep warm.
3. Add cooking wine, chicken broth and mustard to skillet, scraping up browned bits and cook for around 1 minute.
4. Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Stir into skillet with the dried cranberries and bring to a boil.  Cook for 2-3 minutes. Boil 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce thickens. 

Pour sauce over chicken & enjoy!

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

Normally I try to find my own twist on a recipe or come up with something from scratch.  But here is a recipe that Pam and I simply love.  Given the fact that we are spending a good deal of time in home, we need a recipe that will make the time feel better.  So this is one of our favorite recipes.  It is not exactly health food - but it is really, really good!  It is really just this recipe: Craisins Dried Cranberries Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies.  Ocean Spray has a really nice collection of recipes that are freely available and will be a great addition to everyone's recipe list.  Long story short - we always have the ingredients to make these in a pinch.  They often save the day!

Ingredients (Makes around 20 large cookies)

2/3 cup Butter, softened
2/3 cup Brown sugar
2 large Eggs
1 1/2 cups Old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries (or any kind of dried cranberries or raisins)
1/2 cup Baking chips - white (vanilla) or chocolate or whatever!  Adjust to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Using an electric mixer (ideally), beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. 
3. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. 
4. Stir in dried cranberries and baking (vanilla or chocolate) chunks.
5. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 
6. Cool on wire rack.

Enjoy & repeat!

Hungry Girl Brownies

We have started making these incredibly easy brownies that are a bit better for you. So maybe it is not like eating carrots and celery - but if you need a treat - this is definitely a great way to go.  We have taken the basic recipe from the Hungry Girl website.  We have played with the add-ins that we like and think that we have a good basic recipe here to match our tastes.  This is super easy and very delicious!  It is more 'cakey' than we normally like - but with fewer calories - it is a good trade off.  

Ingredients

Cooking Spray
1 box moist Devil's Food Cake
15 oz can, Pumpkin puree (do not use pie mix)

1/2 cup-3/4 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup-3/4 cup Pecans or walnuts, loosely crushed

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Spray the bottom of a 9"x13" plan with cooking spray.

3. Add the mix to a large mixing bowl.  Add the pumpkin and slowly blend both ingredients.

4. Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans and mix thoroughly.

5. Bake 25-27 minutes.  Be sure to check that a knife inserted comes out clean.

6. Let cool 1-2 hours then serve.

Enjoy!

Thick Red Lentil Soup

I have long enjoyed red lentil soup when I see it on a menu, but I have never tried to make it at home.  Given how easy it was - I feel a bit embarrassed - but I will definitely make this again.  I borrowed a recipe from thekitchn.com for Red Lentil Soup, but thickened it up to make more of a stew.  I am thinking this will be great for lunch, especially over roasted veggies.  I am set for the next two days already in the new year.  This is a something that can be made as a very nice vegetarian entree - especially on a cold winter's day.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 2-3 Carrots, peeled and diced (multi-color carrots would be good here)
• 2 large stalks Celery, diced
• 1 medium Yellow (or white) onion, diced
• 1 tbsp Parsley (dried)
• 1 tsp Oregano (dried)
• 1 tsp Spice mix (I used Epic Spices Citrus Pepper)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, adjust to taste
• 1 1/4 cups Red lentils (dried)
• 5 cups Broth (chicken or vegetable)
• 2 whole bay leaves
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium (2- to 3-quart) saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, onions, and spices (parsley, oregano, spice mix and Kosher salt).  Saute for 5-7 minutes.  
2. Add the lentils, broth and the bay leaves.  Bring to a boil.  Then reduce to low and cover.  Cook for around 20-23 minutes.
3. Remove pot from heat and stir in lemon juice.

Enjoy as a thick soup or over a starch (such as baked/roasted potato or rice)

Zhender's Cranberry Relish

If you live in Michigan, there is a good chance that you have been to Frankenmuth.  That is a lovely city about an hour and a half Northwest of Detroit where they have cultivated a beautiful German themed community and have the best fried chicken in the Midwest.  The places for chicken are two huge competing restaurants that are owned by members of the same family (if you go back far enough).  Zhender's and the Bavarian Inn both have similar, but not identical menus.  Both offer the family style chicken dinners (all you can eat) which are one of the best ways to get insanely full anywhere in the state of Michigan.

One of the fun sides that come with the meals is a cranberry relish - especially if you go to Zhender's.  I have seen a few recipes on the web, and I have tweaked it a bit to lower the sugar.  This is a member submission on epicurious.  Here is one shared from The Flavors of Frankenmuth (from John Zhender). Love the way this turns out.

Ingredients
1 lbs Cranberries, fresh
2 Granny smith apples
2 Naval oranges
1 3/4 cups Sugar

Directions

1. Freeze cranberries overnight.
2. Clean apples, then core into large sliced (leave skin on).
3. Add half the frozen cranberries and apples to a food processor.  Chop until they are around a 1/4" large pieces.  Move to a mixing bowl.
4. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.  Move those to the same mixing bowl.
5. Clean the oranges.  Remove the tops and bottoms of the oranges and cut into sliced.  With the rest of the peel, add to the food processor and lightly chop until the peel pieces are around 1/4" large.  Add to the mixing bowl with the cranberries and apples.
6. Add sugar to the mixing bowl and blend.
7. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

Enjoy!

Basic Roasted Chicken Breast

Here is a very basic way to cook chicken breast. We have been cutting these thinly to add to salads and use for sandwiches. Not gonna lie - we were inspired by our love of salads at Panera! This is a simple recipe, but one I want to record so I can keep going back to it.

Ingredients (for 3 chicken breasts)
3 Chicken breasts (skinless and fat trimmed)
1 tbsp Olive oil
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp Black pepper
1/2 tsp Paprika

Olive oil spray or cooking spray

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Place the chicken in a mixing bowl.  Add olive oil, Kosher salt, black pepper and paprika.  Mix to coat the chicken.

3. Spray the bottom of a cooking dish with olive oil spray.

4. Bake for 26-28 minutes (more for larger breasts) until a meat thermometer registers 165°.

Enjoy!  If you are using it for salads, let cool before slicing.

NOTE: For very large chicken breasts, cut in half and cook for 35-40 minutes.  Use the meat thermometer to be sure it is cooked through.