Homemade Nacho Sauce, Salsa, Refried Black Beans (in the crockpot!) & Guacomole!

I love, love, love nachos!  They are so much better when the toppings are homemade!  Of course these toppings can be used for all sorts of everything, not just nachos!  

The Best Crockpot Refried Beans

All my kids will sit and eat these with tortilla chips or tortillas like crazy!  These beans are super addicting and they freeze well so I do up a big batch and freeze into 2 cup portions.

1-2 lbs dried pinto or black beans
sweet onion
garlic
chicken bouillon

1/4-1/2 c. butter
shredded cheese

Rinse beans.  Place in crockpot and fill the crockpot almost to the top with water.  You can substitute chicken broth for the water and bouillon if you like.  Add 1/2-1 sweet onion; no need to chop.  Add a couple cloves of garlic and bouillon.  Cook on high for a few hours stirring every once in a while.  If you're cooking 2 lbs of beans you may need to add more water towards the end.  Once the beans are nice and soft, remove the onion and drain most of the water. Keep the crockpot hot.  Add butter.

Use an immersion blender to smash the beans up nice and smooth.  If you don't have an immersion blender scoop the beans out a couple of cups at a time and blend in a regular blender.  A Guatemalan friend gave me the tip that you have to keep the beans hot the whole time you're blending them to have a nice texture.  When I made refried beans from dried in the past they were gritty... Blending them without letting the temperature drop keeps them delightfully smooth!  Once smooth, stir in cheese to taste! 

The Best Homemade Salsa

This recipe is my sister's... We love it!

2 cans diced tomatoes
3 fresh tomatoes
1/2 sweet onion
2 cloves garlic
juice of 3 limes
jalapeno or other pepper
1/2 bunch cilantro
salt & pepper

Blend together in a blender or food processor!  Enjoy!

Nacho Sauce

This isn't really a recipe, but a technique... It turns out really smooth and tasty!  Plus it's healthier than the processed stuff!  This is good on steamed veggies as well.  A lot of people try to start with a lot of liquid and attempt to use the cheese to thicken it up.  The trick is to use a lot of cheese and use a tiny bit of liquid to thin it down.

cheddar or other shredded cheese
liquid from bottled jalapenos
milk (optional)

Place jalapeno liquid in a saucepan to just cover the bottom.  Add shredded cheese (a couple of cups) and cook on medium whisking often until melted and smooth.  If sauce is too thick add just a tad more liquid or you can add a bit of milk.  Serve while still hot.

Guacamole

My favorite guacamole is simple and delicious!

avacodo
heaping tablespoon mayo
squirt of lime juice

Mash ingredients together with a fork.

Old Fashioned Family Dinner Tablescape w/Roll Recipe

Homemade Dinner Rolls

4 1/2 - 5 1/2 c. white flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 T yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 c. milk (I used skim)
1/2 c. water
1 T butter
2 eggs


Combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt.  Heat the milk, water and butter to warm.  Add to dry ingredients.  Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.  Add 2 eggs and beat on high for 2 minutes.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured counter or cutting board and knead for 6-8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top of the dough.  Cover and let rise until double.  Punch dough down.  Turn onto floured surface.  Divide into 24 balls of dough and place in 2 greased 9x13 pans.  Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise until double.  Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Brush with melted butter while still hot.

Cherry Jam has quickly become a favorite at our house!  I've made several batches this summer!

The crockpot dinner was a medley of ham, red skinned potatoes. baby carrots and corn in a broth of water and bacon salt.

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

I've made this a few times. It's nothing amazing, but it's good and easy to make ahead, plus the house smells so yummy in the morning everyone wakes up with tummies growling!

I don't like to cook this TOO long or the outside gets too crunchy, so I get it prepped, put it in the fridge and then put it in the crockpot right before I go to sleep.  Serve by itself or with fruit on the side for a complete meal.  You could also add in goodies like onions, peppers and mushrooms if you don't have picky eaters!

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole for a Crowd

1 bag (32 oz) frozen hash brown chunks
1 lb cooked ham, diced (leftover ham works great)
1/2 lb shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 c milk
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

Spray large crockpot with cooking spray. Place a layer of frozen hash browns on the bottom. Follow with a layer of ham and cheese. Repeat as many times as needed ending with cheese. Beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper together. Pour over the top. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Serve topped with ketchup or salsa.

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole for 4-6

16 oz frozen hash brown chunks

1/2 lb cooked ham, diced (leftover ham works great)
1 c. shredded cheese
6-8 eggs
1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Spray small crockpot with cooking spray. Place a layer of frozen hash browns on the bottom. Follow with a layer of ham and cheese. Repeat as many times as needed ending with cheese. Beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper together. Pour over the top. Cook on low 8 hours. Serve topped with ketchup or salsa.

Crockpot Hamburger Patties with Gravy

This is a crockpot dinner that only takes 3-4 hours, which makes it nice because it's made ahead of time, but you don't have to prepare it first thing in the morning.  It also uses up leftover hamburger patties and you know, it's almost bbq season!  (Wishful thinking!!!)  It's not the pretty dinner, but it tastes yummy!

 Crockpot Hamburger Patties with Gravy

2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can (14oz) evaporated milk
2 tsp beef bouillion
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Cooked hamburger patties, leftover grilled patties work great!

Whisk the soup, milk, bouillon and sauce together in crock pot.  Top with cooked hamburger patties and cook on low for 3-4 hours.  Serve over hot cooked noodles, rice or mashed potatoes.  I served mine with macaroni noodles just because that's what I had handy.

Crockpot Baked Potatoes... REALLY

Baking your potatoes in the crockpot is so easy and they come out amazing!

 Wash your potatoes, poke them, wrap them in tin foil and cook them on low all day in a slow cooker.  It's that simple!!

They come out perfect and soft and delicious!  We have baked potatoes for dinner probably once a week.  We top them with butter, light sour cream and cheddar cheese.  Sometimes ham and broccoli will be potato toppers too.  With fruit on the side we consider it a meal.  Sweet potatoes work great too!

Crockpot BBQ Beans

These beans are super yummy! They aren't authentic pioneer beans, but they sure are good and your family won't know... I promise! These are good as a main dish or a side dish for your pioneer dinners or every day. We eat a lot of beans at our house. The kids love them like this. They don't even mind the green beans. I usually make my pinto and kidney beans from dried and freeze them in 2 c. containers for recipes.

This dish can be made several hours ahead of time, which is really nice! You can even make them a day ahead, keep them in the fridge and just heat them in the crockpot.

BBQ "Pioneer" Beans

Place in your crockpot:

1 can (2 c.) kidney beans, drained
1 can (2 c.) pinto beans, drained
1 can pork and beans
1 can green beans, drained
1 pkg real bacon bits or about a cup of crumbled cooked bacon

Mix together and pour over beans:

1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1 c. ketchup
1 1/2 T vinegar
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Cook on low for 4 hours (longer if refrigerated first) or on high for 1-2 hours until hot.

Pioneer Cabbage Soup & Soda Bread

We made this yummy soup for St. Patty's Day this year, but we will also use it as a simple pioneer dinner. We LOVE having pioneer themed meals (yes, we know we're odd). I made the soup in a crockpot, but for more authenticity it could also be made on the stove top. All three of my kids GOBBLED this soup up and had seconds... even Caleb who doesn't like bacon ate heartily. I was worried about the salt pork since it's mostly just fat, but it almost dissolved into the soup and was fabulous! The Irish Soda Bread is a favorite of my kids.



Cabbage Soup

1 pkg salt pork (1/2-1 lb, I'm sure bacon would work too)
carrots
potatoes
cabbage
water

Cut the salt pork into small pieces. Brown the pork in a frying pan. Place in a crockpot (drippings and all) with diced potatoes and sliced carrots. Add enough water to cover. Cook on low all day. 30 minutes before serving stir in diced cabbage and add more water if needed. I added another two cups.


Irish Soda Bread

4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 to 1 ½ c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425. Mix together dry ingredients. Gradually add buttermilk, mixing with a large spoon until dough is firm enough to be gathered into a large ball. If the dough is crumbly, add some more buttermilk, a tablespoonful at a time, until it all adheres to the ball. Place on a lightly floured board. Pat and shape it into a flat circular loaf, about 8 inches around and 1 ½ inches thick. Set on a floured baking sheet. With the tip of a knife, cut a ½ inch deep cross into the dough, dividing it into quarters. Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove from the oven and wrap in a clean dish cloth. Let cool about 20 minutes.

Green Bean Chili

I love Green Bean Chili. It tastes delicious and it's super easy to make. Leftovers taste just as good as the day it was made and it freezes really well!

Green Bean Chili

1 lb turkey burger (or hamburger), browned & drained
2 cloves garlic
1 can (14 1/2 oz) Italian or Mexican diced tomatoes
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 c salsa
1 T chili powder
salt & pepper
2 cans green beans, drained

Combine all ingredients except green beans. Simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in green beans, heat until warm. Top with sour cream and cheese to serve. I've also made this in the crockpot and just added the green beans right before serving.

Hamburger Patty Crockpot Dinners

I must have hamburger patties on the brain. Saturday night I dreamed about hamburger patties. I dreamed I was cooking hamburger patties at work (and I work in an art center, not a restaurant... lol) and there were platters piled high with cooked hamburger patties. Tables and tables full. It was really random and weird.

So then Sunday morning I get a knock on my door. It was one of my neighbors asking if I wanted some hamburger patties they had left over from a fundraiser dinner the night before. They had been thawed out so they were trying to find people to help them use them up. Soooo crazy!!!

I wasn't really in a hamburger mood (maybe after dreaming about so many of them he he he), so I used the patties to make a couple of meals. I cooked the patties for these meals, but they would work great with leftover cooked hamburger patties from all those barbecues I'm sure you're throwing :)


Hamburger Patty Stroganoff
You know how sometimes you have the early afternoon free, but the hours right before dinner time are packed with this activity and that? This meal comes in handy because you prep it in the afternoon, but it only cooks for 2 hours in the crockpot :)

hamburger patties, cooked
can of cream of mushroom soup
1 c. water
1 T soy sauce
1 c. sour cream
egg noodles

Cook the egg noodles for about half the time directed on the package and drain. Place hamburger patties in the crockpot. Top with soup, water and soy sauce. Stir in the partially cooked noodles and make sure they're covered with liquid. If they aren't covered, add a bit more water. You can stir in sour cream at this time, but it will get kind of curdled. I don't really care because it still tastes fine, but if you want it to look prettier, don't add the sour cream until right before serving. Cover and cook on high for 1 1/2-2 hours. If you left the sour cream out, stir in before serving. Give each person a hamburger patty and top with noodles. My kids LOVE this dinner.

Hamburger Veggie Stew
My daughter said this is the best stew she has ever had. All three kids gobbled it up, so it must be good. It's also really simple and healthy. I broke up the raw hamburger patties and cooked them just for this meal, but it would be a great dinner to use up a couple of leftover grilled patties.

4 hamburger patties, cooked and broken up
4 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 cans beef broth
2 c. water
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper

Place everything in the crockpot and cook on low until veggies are tender. Mine took about 6 hours.




Now I'm just hoping for no more weird food dreams... LOL

Crockpot Black Beans

I've made a goal to use up as many beans, rice, etc that I can from my food storage before I move. It will help save grocery money during these next six weeks and it will be less obnoxious boxes for me to move. Juice and pop bottles are how I store my rice, beans, sugar and other food storage items. You can see, even a 20 oz pop bottle will hold a pound of dried beans. These bottles are bug proof and cheap :)

Crockpot beans need to be started the night before. Beans made this way are so simple and are so much cheaper than canned. The first thing you want to do with your beans before you cook them is sort them and wash them in cold water. Look at all the "stuff" I found in this little bottle of beans. You definitely wanna sort them. LOL

After you've sorted and rinsed your beans, put them in some sort of container with a bunch of water. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, drain the water off, rinse them well and place in your crockpot. Fill the crockpot up most of the way with water and cook on low all day. That's it! Beans are so easy and they freeze super well. You can sort them into can-sized portions, place in ziplock bags and freeze. This pound made enough beans for dinner (with leftovers) and a good-sized bagful for another meal.

Taco Soup- Dinner for now & Dinner for later

Taco Soup

Mmmm... I made taco soup for dinner often and it's so simple, yummy and really healthy! You can make it on the stove or in the crockpot. Either way it turns out great. This recipe makes enough for two meals. One for now and one to put in the freezer for another day. There are lots of recipes out there for taco soup. Here's how I do it:

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato soup
1 pkg taco seasoning
2 pkg ranch seasoning
frozen corn
beans (I like kidney, black or pinto)
2 lb ground turkey, browned
1 c barley
4 soup cans of water (If you aren't using the barley, cut the water in half)

sour cream, shredded cheese & tortilla chips to top

Mix all ingredients except toppings together in a crockpot or large pot. If you cook it on the stove top, simmer until nice and hot and barley is done (probably about 15-30 minutes). In a crockpot, set on low for 4-8 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. Top and enjoy! All three of my kids gobble this up.

Canning Apple Butter with No Added Sugar

Apple butter is easy to make overnight in your crockpot AND you can make it with no added sugar!

Slice and peel enough apples to fill up your crockpot.

Add about 3 cups of juice and a couple tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice.

Using a knife, chop up the apples in your crockpot. As it condenses them down, add more, chopping until it looks nice and full like this:

Set your crockpot to low and leave overnight.  In the morning it should be nice and browned and smell delicious!  Turn your crockpot to high and crack the lid a bit.  Cook for 5-7 more hours.


Using an immersion blender or a regular blender blend until smooth.  Take the lid off and leave on high while preparing your canning equipment.

You should get around 9 half-pints of apple butter with no added sugar!  It makes a great gift.


You can also can pears in unsweetened apple juice instead of syrup!