Family Food Fight
Name: Dawn Albrecht
Kids: daughter, age 10; son, age 8; son, age 8 (yep, twins!)
Works: writer, contributor to "The Morning Blend," Metroparent Columnist, foodie mom
Favorite part about being a mom: Watching my kids play nicely together, learn new things and have giggle fits!
Least favorite part about being a mom: Answering the same question 20 times. Letting go and allowing my kids to make mistakes I can see coming. I know they will learn from the mistake, but it's still hard.
Famous for: Having kids who will eat everything -- sushi and Brussels sprouts included!
January 2009 - Posts
By Dawn Albrecht
Thursday, Jan 22 2009, 12:54 PM
Well, it might not be the official Slowcooker month, but I've gotten more recipe suggestions for the slow cooker this month than I know what to do with!
Here's another resource for those of you who love to cook with your slowcooker:
http://www.cookinglight.com/food/reader-favorites/slow-cooker-favorites-00400000038588/?iid=newsletter-ck-012209&PromKey=XET
I'm a big fan of Cooking Light magazine (not trying to get you to buy it) and website. Their recipes are always a bit more healthy than some of the other resources out there.
Let me know if you try any of the recipes and I'll let you know of the ones I try! (The in-laws are going to Tae Kwon Do tomorrow night with our family. I'm thinking I should feed them after the class. I will probably do something in the slow cooker... I'll let you know how it goes. I may even post pictures from the class!)
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By Dawn Albrecht
Wednesday, Jan 14 2009, 10:20 AM
Someone mentioned they like quick/easy slow cooker recipes with fewer ingredients - can't get too much easier than this one:
1.5 lb pork tenderloin (can be bigger or smaller, doesn't really affect the recipe)
approximately 8 oz of root beer soda (I usually get a 2 liter of Roundy's root beer)
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce
Put the pork tenderloin in the slow cooker. Pour enough of the root beer into the slow cooker to come approximately 1" up the side of the pork tenderloin - this will depend on the size of your slow cooker and your pork. Cover and let cook all day.
Remove the pork from the slow cooker with a fork, leaving the root beer. Place the pork into a larger mixing bowl. With two forks, shred the pork. Add as much of the bbq sauce as you like - for a drier sandwich, add less, for a juicy sandwich add more.
That's it - you're done. We had this last night on silver dollar rolls with some coleslaw on top. Yummy!
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By Dawn Albrecht
Tuesday, Jan 13 2009, 11:10 AM
That would be me - slacker when it comes to posting. I admit, I haven't been as wordy as I should be on this blog lately. I've been busy... no excuse. For those of you who are "slackers" in the kitchen lately, I've got a couple of recipes that will help you make the ultimate "slacker" meals. Two words to start you out: slow cooker!My slow cooker broke (the ceramic bowl thingy cracked) probably from too much use. I used it for everything. So I watched for sales all through the seasonal sales and found nothing I liked that much. I finally cracked and bought one off of Amazon (if you don't have Amazon Prime - you've got to get it. Let me know if you don't know what it is and I'll post about it.)
When my new slow cooker arrived (it was on back order... grrrr), I washed it, read the manual, set it up and ran to the grocery store to get a pork tenderloin and the makings for Chili. My grocery store didn't have the pork tenderloin I wanted (no seasonings for me) so I went with the chili. I normally don't make my chili in my slow cooker, but the kids and I were going to Tae Kwon Do and I wanted something warm to come home to. So I put all of the ingredients in my slow cooker, gave it a good mix and covered it up. The kids and I went to TKD and I had a great workout. Emily laughed when I had to be paired with one of the black belt instructors because there was an odd number of adults in class. She stopped laughing when the I kept up with the instructor :P (that's a smilie with the tongue sticking out). We came home sweaty and showered and changed quickly as we were all starving. Chad had gotten home from work by then and we sat down for dinner. The chili was great - HOT - but great. It was such a slacker meal - brown the meat, open a couple of cans, shake a couple of seasoning containers, stir. Then open a bag of salad mix and your good to go. Here's the recipe I used for the chili: 3 lbs of ground beef or turkey or chicken (go for the leanest you can)
1 lb of beef cut up for stew
2 cans of diced stewed tomatoes (I use the Roundy's brand - organic if it's on sale)
1 can of tomato paste
Chili powder
Ground Cumin
Ground Oregano
Onion Powder Brown the ground meat. Strain the ground meat as you brown the beef for stew. (If you have time, chop up an onion and throw it in with the beef for stew as you're browning.) Open the cans of stewed tomatoes. If your family doesn't like stewed tomatoes, blend the two cans in the blender before pouring them into the slow cooker. Add the ground meat and the beef for stew. Stir together. A few shakes of the chili powder, ground cumin and onion powder and a couple shakes of the ground orgeano. Stir again. Cover and set on high for an hour, set on low for holding longer than an hour.
(if you're a measuring type of person, I would say 1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon of Chili Powder, Cumin and Onion Powder, 1 teaspoon to 1 1/2 teaspoon oregano.)
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