Sunday, April 25, 2010

Roast Beef, Baked Potatoes, and Chicken Casserole

This last week I've made some incredibly yummy dinners. But that's not a compliment to myself - thanks for these recipes from my sister, Rebecca, and my friend, Jenn. Both were awesome and I'm excited to share them!

(Though I did not originate these recipes, I did, however, make a few changes that I'll be including on here. My additions or changes will be in italics)


Yummy Slow cooker beef recipe – Rebecca Redin

Add your beef roast (or cubes, if that's what you have). I used a chuck arm roast, about 4 pounds.
pour in beef broth (about 4-5 cups).
pour in about 1/2 jar of pepperoncinis
season with italian seasoning, salt and pepper
1/2 chopped sweet onion
3 chopped green onions
3 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 Tablespoon basil
1/2 Tablespoon parsley

I rarely get to use my slow cooker, or I guess I rarely choose to,
but it is a great tool that I hope to use more often, as it made this meal easy!


Pour in both pepperoncinis and the juice. Tastes delicious,
even if you don't eat the pepperoncinis, which we didn't.





Cook on low for several hours (maybe 5-6) until beef is tender and your house smells wonderful =) 
Six hours later ...


The meat was so tender, I could hardly get it out of the slow cooker!


Yum, yum! These baked potatoes were delicious, cooked without
foil. If you would like the recipe/cooking process, please let me know.
Baked potatoes and salad on the side make a great, complete meal:)



Chicken and Wild Rice (Chicken Casserole)

10 oz uncooked wild rice (we use white rice) - I used brown: tip below.
4-8 chicken breast, boneless & skinless
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup - I strongly dislike mushrooms, but didn't realize I didn't have a third cream soup until I was cooking it. I substituted Campbell's "chicken and rice" soup and it worked great.
1/2 cube butter - I didn't even use 1/8 and it still tasted great. The butter seems unnecessary if you are looking to cut calories.
2/3 cup white/sherry or port wine (non-alcoholic cooking sherries)
1 small pkg slivered almonds (optional)
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
paprika




Soak brown rice in warm water while defrosting your chicken. (I also made the casserole the night before cooking it and allowed the rice to sit in the mixture all night. The rice turned out great - which is a first for me with brown rice!) Put rice in bottom of buttered 9x13 glass pan. 

Mix soups & wine in separate bowl.

Also, cans are recyclable. If you ever recycle, remember that these are, too!
Make money while cooking! :)

If you are at all worried that I am using alcohol to cook,
please keep in mind that I am twenty years old and did not have
to show my ID to buy it ... there is less alcohol in cooking sherry
than in Nyquil, for which you do need your ID shown and scanned:)





Melt butter. Put 1/2 soup and 1/2 butter on rice. Lay chicken breasts on top, as flat as possible. 
Put the rest of the soup and butter on top. 


Cover with Parmesan cheese. Add almonds (optional). Shake paprika over top. 
Cover with foil and bake at 275 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. Serves 4-8 (or makes great leftovers).

Very delicious! Paul said this is a "make-again meal".

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