Vegetable Garden Soup

Add to the crock pot:

2 15oz cans red kidney beans, undrained
2 14oz cans cut tomatoes or fresh tomatoes, chopped
4 carrots, sliced or shredded (my kids prefer shredded)
2-4 small potatoes, diced (I leave the skin on)
2 small zucchini, diced
2 small yellow squash, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced - no seeds (optional)
1/2 cup dry lentils (optional)
4 TBSP parsley
10 shakes of paprika
4 shakes cayenne pepper (red pepper)
4-6 TBSP Au Jus Gravy powder or 2-3 1oz packets

Pour over the top: 4 cups boiling water
Cover and cook on HIGH for 5-6 hours or LOW for 7-8 hours, or until your veggies are tender.

During the last hour, add:

1 cup frozen peas and/or 1 cup frozen corn
(We prefer the frozen corn)

*My pickiest eaters will not touch this with a ten foot pole. However, I HAD to include it. It's one of my most favorite vegetable soups on earth, and sooooo easy to do in the crock pot. All your chopping and dicing is done and cleaned up well before dinner time, you know I LOVE that! This soup just speaks "summer garden" and makes me feel so healthy...haha! Just make sure you cook it long enough to get all of your veggies tender. It's a FULL pot. You could cut the recipe in half and still have tons of soup.

African Peanut Soup

Blend well in VitaMix Blender:

1 14oz can cut tomatoes with juice
2 red bell peppers - no seeds
4 cups chicken broth

Pour into the crockpot and then add:

1 yellow onion - chopped (um, onion powder for us!)
2 green onions - chopped (again, not for us)
4 cloves minced garlic
4 more cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1 more 14oz can cut tomatoes with juice (this can be blended at the beginning with the other can if your kids will NOT go for a few tomato chunks in the soup)
2 cups diced or shredded chicken, optional (I had leftovers from Sunday dinner)

Cook on LOW 5-6 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.

20-30 minutes before dinner, add 1 CUP PEANUT BUTTER (I used creamy)

Once it's incorporated into the soup...it's time to eat. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a small dash of Tobasco Sauce if you like. (We liked it this way.)

*This was REALLY GOOD! I was nervous all day that the flavors would be too strange, (peppers and peanut butter?!) but we liked it! The rice disappeared and just thickened the soup. It would have been perfect with a grilled cheese sandwich. With the chicken in it, it was a great little meal. The youngest...no go, he had peanut butter and jelly again. *sigh* He wouldn't even TRY it.

Sweet and Sour Chicken - Cantonese Style

Put into the crockpot:

2 lbs chicken breasts, boneless/skinless - I used frozen of course (about 6)
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced (I didn't have this, so just did the 1 green pepper)
1/2 med onion, thinly sliced - oh hahahaha, not in my family - I left this out
1 20oz can pineapple chunks or tidbits - save the juice in mixing bowl

In mixing bowl, combine:

the saved pineapple juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt - 1tsp if you use low sodium soy sauce

Pour sauce over the chicken, veggies and pineapple

Cook on LOW 7-8 hours or HIGH 5-6 hours

Before serving, remove chicken breasts and cut into bite size pieces, return them to the sauce and veggies in the crockpot. Serve over cooked rice. (we made 8 cups, 4 cups raw)

*For a thicker sauce, mix 1/4 cup water and 3 TBSP cornstarch and add to the sauce about 30 minutes before serving.*

Optional garnishes: slivered almonds, green onion, chowmein noodles

*I know that this recipe calls for 2 bell peppers, but one was plenty for my picky eaters. I did sprinkle some onion powder over the chicken since I didn't add the onion. Also, the recipe called for 1/4 cup water, but it was too watered down, so I left it out of the recipe. I might add a bit of lemon juice next time. Overall...this was yummy, and we gobbled it up. I didn't have any garnishes, maybe next time.

Beef Enchiladas - Stacked

Brown in skillet:

1 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped onions (I did NOT add these, I used onion powder)
1/2 cup green bell peppers, chopped - no seeds (optional, I think next time I'll blend them and add them to the meat mixture that way - for the kids)

When peppers are soft, add:

1 14oz can drained kidney beans
2 14oz cans drained black beans
2 14oz cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
2/3 cup water
3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

In slow cooker:

Layer the meat mixture with 6-8 flour tortillas and about 2 cups of cheese. Layers:

1 cup meat, 1 tortilla, abt 1/3 cup shredded cheese, 1 cup meat, 1 tortilla, abt 1/3 cup shredded cheese...and so on. Top layer should be last of the meat, sprinkled with cheese.

Cook on LOW 5-7 hours, or until heated through. To serve, reach to the bottom with each spoonful to get all the layers. Serve with sour cream and/or guacamole.

*Holy moly this was good! It was spicy, so if you don't like that - cut down on the chili powder and use regular cut tomatoes. It seemed like a lot of work when I looked at the recipe, but it wasn't too bad. Getting all the work done at lunchtime made dinner a snap.

Corn Chowder

In VitaMix Blender:

1 quart chicken broth (4 cups)
1 red bell pepper, no seeds
1 peeled carrot
1 16oz bag frozen corn
2-3 med potatoes, peeled if you like

If you don't have a VitaMix blender, just chop your veggies by hand.
When chopped, pour mixture into the crockpot and add:

1 more quart chicken broth (4 cups)
1 more 16oz bag frozen corn
1 TBSP Sugar or honey
salt, pepper, onion powder to taste
1-2 cups diced cooked chicken (optional - I DID add this, I had leftover chicken from Sunday dinner)

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours, then add 1 15oz can evaporated milk and cook 1 more hour.

*Sweet, salty, yummy corn. We had this with cheddar cheese biscuits. It was a hit.