Cheesy Tortellini Crockpot Soup

This recipe is in Joanna's writing.  I have been looking forward to making this for a long time, and found tortellini on sale at Aldi last week, so I made it!  Yay!  The only problem was that I didn't notice all the other expensive ingredients involved in making this.  Eek!  Expensive!  Ah well.  I lasted for three meals, so it wasn't that bad after all.

Cheesy Tortellini Crockpot Soup

Ingredients:
16 oz frozen tortellini
1 lb. sausage
1 small bag fresh spinach
2 cans (15 oz) Italian style diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1 block (8oz) cream cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Put all ingredients in the crockpot, chunking up the cream cheese.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours, until tortellini is done.

We loved this.  It was creamy and very filling.  I served it with breadsticks and we were very happy.  If I can find cheap sausage and cream cheese sometime, I will definitely make it again.

Gingerbread Pudding Cake (Slow Cooker)

This is a Taste of Home recipe that I have had my eye on for awhile because it is a pudding cake and it is a slow cooker recipe. I thought it would be a win, win recipe, but it wasn't.

Gingerbread Pudding Cake

Ingredients

Photo from Taste of Home

1/4 cup butter, softened
  1/4 cup sugar
  1 egg white
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  1/2 cup molasses
  1 cup water
  1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  1/4 teaspoon salt
  1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  1/2 cup chopped pecans
  TOPPING:
  6 tablespoons brown sugar
  3/4 cup hot water
  2/3 cup butter, melted

Directions
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg white and vanilla. Combine molasses and water. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, allspice and nutmeg; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with molasses mixture, beating well after each addition. Fold in pecans.
Pour into a greased 3-qt. slow cooker. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Combine hot water and butter; pour over batter (do not stir).
Cover and cook on high for 2 to 2-1/2 hours or until a toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean. Turn off heat. Let stand for 15 minutes. Serve warm. Yield: 6-8 servings.

So, usually with pudding cakes, you put the hot water on top, and it magically bakes up a cake in pudding. This ended up being a weird gelatinous cake, reminiscent of the strawberry bread I made once, and no pudding. The taste was very rich, most likely due to the abundance of butter. I don't recommend this recipe, but it for some reason you feel compelled to make it, cut back the amount of butter in the topping. I also didn't take my own picture because pudding cakes generally look like a gloppy mess, and this one wasn't any better.

Slow Cooker Chicken

This recipe called to me, because I make slow cooker chicken ALL THE TIME.  It is so stinking easy.  It comes from the Successful Farming Magazine from a lady in Lebanon, Indiana.  That's close to me.  The recipe has some odd things in it, so read on.

Ingredients:
2.5-3 lbs. chicken breasts, thighs, or legs
1 T oil
1 16 oz can whole cranberry sauce
1/4 cup spicy-sweet French salad dressing (Catalina)
2 T dry onion soup mix
1 T cornstarch

1. Rinse chicken; pat dry.
2. In large skillet, brown chicken in hot oil.
3.Place chicken in crockery cooker.
4. In small bowl combine half the cranberry sauce, salad dressing and soup mix. Refrigerate rest of cranberry sauce.
5. Pour mixture over chicken. Cover; cook on low heat setting for 6 hours or high heat setting for 3 hours.
6. Stir cornstarch into remaining cranberry sauce.
7.  If cooking on low, turn to high. Stir in cornstarch/cranberry sauce mixture. Cover and cook on 30-45 minutes more or until thick and bubbly.
8.  Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked noodles or rice.  Serves 4.

I just now realized I didn't make it like it said to. I always just assume most slow cooker recipes are throw everything in, so I didn't do the part where I mixed the cornstarch in and added the mixture later.  I imagine that just changed the consistency some, the taste should be the same.  It was pretty good.  Maybe just a little too sweet for me.  Hungry Runner Boy liked it, but said it wasn't his favorite.

tl;dr--eh, okay.

White Bean Chicken Chili

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 35 min. Cook: 3 hours MAKES: 6 servings

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/white-bean-chicken-chili

Ingredients
3/4 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cans (15 ounces each) white kidney or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained, divided
3 cups chicken broth, divided
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
Daisy Brand® Sour Cream and minced fresh cilantro, optional

Directions
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. In a large skillet over medium heat, brown chicken in oil.
Stir in the onion, garlic and jalapeno; cook 2 minutes longer. Sprinkle with oregano and cumin; cook 1 minute longer or until chicken is browned and vegetables are tender. Transfer to a 3-qt. slow cooker.
In a small bowl, mash 1 cup of beans; add 1/2 cup broth and stir until blended. Add to the slow cooker with the remaining beans and broth.
Cover and cook on low for 3 to 3-1/2 hours or until chicken is tender. Stir before serving. Sprinkle with cheese. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro if desired. Yield: 6 servings.
Editor's Note: Wear disposable gloves when cutting hot peppers; the oils can burn skin. Avoid touching your face.

Brian and I liked this soup. C LOVED this soup. She has seen the leftovers in the fridge both days since we had it and asked for it, including once at 9 am. The slow cooker definitely isn't necessary, but it was convenient to use it on a Sunday.

I'm really lazy. I took a picture on my phone, but I don't want to bother getting it over here, so here's Taste of Home's picture.

Orange Chicken with Sweet Potatoes (slow cooker)

This was an award winning recipe from a slow cooker contest in Taste of Home. It didn't win any awards around here. I probably won't be making it again.

Ingredients

source

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
2/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)
2 tablespoons butter
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
Hot cooked rice



Directions
Layer sweet potatoes in a 3-qt. slow cooker. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine 2/3 cup flour and seasonings; add chicken, one piece at a time, and shake to coat.
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook chicken in butter for 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Arrange chicken over sweet potatoes.
Place remaining flour in a small bowl. Stir in the soup, pineapple juice, brown sugar and orange peel until blended. Add mushrooms; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until meat is tender and potatoes are tender. Serve with rice. Yield: 4 servings.

I never seem to be able to make recipes as they are because I'm stingy and lazy. I didn't add the sliced mushrooms and I didn't brown the chicken. I don't think it would have mattered anyhow. It just wasn't that great of a recipe. I like sweet citrus-y sauces, but there was just something missing from this one. You can try it if you like, but don't blame me if you don't like it. I posted the picture from Taste of Home. Don't be fooled into thinking mine looked like that. I didn't bother taking a picture because it looked (and tasted) so unappetizing They must have tried to make their photo look better by not adding any of the brown goopy sauce.

Denise's Creole Black Beans (from Crock-Pot)

This recipe is right up my alley. In fact, I have a similar one from Emily, without the meat.

Denise's Creole Black Beans

2 lbs smoked sausage, cut in 1'' pieces.
3-15 oz cans black beans, drained
1 1/2 c chopped green pepper
1 1/2 c chopped onions
1 1/2 c chopped celery
4 cloves garlic
2 t leaf thyme
1 1/2 t leaf oregano
1 1/2 t white pepper
1/4 t black pepper
1 chicken bouillon cube
5 bay leaves
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 c water

Brown sausage in a skillet over medium heat. Drain fat and transfer to Crock-pot. Combine remaining ingredients in Crock-Pot. Cover and cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours. Remove bay leaves. Serve over cooked rice. Serves 6-8.

I changed a few things out of necessity and convenience. This recipe makes A LOT of beans, so I didn't make the whole amount. I used dry beans instead of canned, and I omitted the celery and bay leaf since I didn't have any and don't like celery anyway. I really need to start reading the recipes better. I kept having to add water because the liquid kept cooking out of the sauce, but now I realize that I never added the water from the ingredients list. Oops.

It was good and cheap. Poverty stricken people can omit the sausage and have an even cheaper, flavorful meal.

And here is the actual magazine ad this came from. Someone is trying to sell it for $9.99. It's too bad my copy isn't in as good condition.