Crockpot Southwestern Beans

Finally! Here is the recipe that I was telling you about for Southwestern Beans in the crock pot.  I love using the crock pot in the summer! Usually you think of crock pots for winter meals like soups and stews, and while it's probably true that most crock pot meals are a little on the heavier side, I love that I don't have to turn on my oven; that I can throw everything in in the morning and then spend the time before dinner outside, instead of in a hot kitchen; and that I can even plug in the crock pot outside to cook so it doesn't heat up the house at all! 

This recipe came from my wonderful sister, (who's getting married later this month, I might add!) and we both had our own ways of adapting it to fit our tastes - or really we didn't follow the directions of the recipe and it still turned out good! :)

This is a great meatless meal, good flavor and still really filling, and especially if you used dried beans, it is so super frugal.  This will probably become a regular for our Meatless Mondays.  

Southwestern Bean Medley in the Crock Pot

14 ounces vegetable broth - (I used homemade chicken stock)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 can black beans (rinsed and drained) - (I used the equivalent of cooked dried beans)
1 can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 can white kidney beans (cannellini) - (I used the equivalent of uncooked, dried Great Northern Beans, because white kidney beans are a little bit more expensive.)
1/2 C dried lentils
1 C diced tomatoes with green chilies
Copped fresh cilantro leaves

Mix all ingredients except tomatoes and cilantro in 3 1/2 quart slow cooker (or whatever size you happen to have). Cover and cook on low 6 to 7 hours.  Add tomatoes.  Cover and cook for 1 hour.  Sprinkle with cilantro.

Now for my my sister and I's personal notes:
She put the tomatoes in at the beginning and they were fine.  I didn't put the tomatoes in at the beginning, and then forgot to put them in at all! Still tasted fine, but we think it would have been even better with the tomatoes.  Next time I'll just put them in at the beginning, just so I don't forget.

The recipe suggests serving over rice, which we both did, and really enjoyed it that way.  My sister told me that it turned out more soupy than she expected, so the last hour or so, she left the lid vented to cook off some of the liquid.  I lifted the lid for maybe the last 30 minutes, and we didn't think it was too soupy, but I did use some dried beans that weren't cooked yet, so that might have soaked up some of the liquid.

If you are going to use uncooked dried beans for this recipe, you need to make sure that you soak them ahead of time.  I just soaked mine overnight and then put them in the crock pot with the rest of the ingredients the next morning.  I also added some extra chicken broth to make sure the beans were cooked through.

My sister and I both added extra seasoning toward the end of the cooking time to increase the flavor - you could add salt, pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper and/or cumin to suit your tastes.  My sister also added some chopped jalapenos, and though my hubby would have loved them, I'm not a jalapeno person, so that didn't happen at our house.  So, just taste it as your nearing the end of the cooking time and add spices accordingly.

Sorry I don't have any good pictures to go along with this post - this is why I am *not* a food blogger! :) 

Enjoy!

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Recipe Swap at Grocery Cart Challenge
Food on Fridays at Anne Kroeker

Meal Plan um... Tuesday!

After such a great weekend, I'm a little behind on the meal plan this week.  But, I still wanted to post it for my own sake and for any of you out there that like to see how I try to make most of my meals from scratch.  Are any of you out there?  Sometimes I wonder if you guys like to see my meal plan each week, or if it's something that you just skip or skim over?  I post my meal plan because it keeps me accountable and on track, and because I pull up my meal plan post on my Google Reader and click on my recipe each day when I'm getting ready to make dinner. :) That's why I had such a hard time when I didn't have internet for 2 weeks! But, if no one is really reading it or would miss it if I stopped posting it, then I might start posting something different on Mondays - what do you think?

Last week my new recipes went well.  I especially liked the Crockpot Southwestern Beans recipe that my sister gave me, so I'll have to post that recipe soon.  It is a great meal for Meatless Mondays, and Jer even approved, which is pretty rare for recipes with lots of beans and no meat!

Here's this week's menu:

Meatless Monday - had leftover Southwestern Beans - Jer had a meeting

Tuesday - dinner with our small group - making Breakfast Bake with sausage (not using homemade crescent rolls, shhh! But I read the ingredients and they have hydrogenated oils - trans fat! Ahhh! So from now on I will be making them from scratch!)

Wednesday - Carnitas - meat in freezer from the last time we had them
Homemade Tortillas
Homemade Refried Beans

Thursday - Crockpot Chicken Parmesan and salad - hopefully from our garden!
Homemade Ranch Dressing (trying this for the first time!)

Friday - Salmon Patties, rice and veggies (New recipe, I'm trying to include fish in our menu every other week)

Saturday - Hamburgers on the grill
Homemade Buns

Sunday - Grilled Cheese and Homemade Chicken and Noodles from freezer


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

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This month's Change Challenge is Decreasing Household Waste! You can catch up on all the Change Challenge posts here. 

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Meal Plan Monday

I did a really good job the first two weeks of October with my new way of menu planning, but then life got a little busy and I got a little off. So, I'm trying to get back on board with my meal planning this week. Hopefully I can stick with it better this month.

I didn't post a meal plan last week, but I tried a new recipe Baked Chicken Chimichangas and they were SO good I wanted to share the link. Jer loved them and we will definitely be having them on a more regular basis.

Here's this week's menu:

Meatless Monday - Quiche with spinach

Tuesday - dinner with our small group, making Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Pork Chops and mashed potatoes

Thursday - Chicken with Noodles

Friday - Hamburger Curry

Saturday - Leftovers

Sunday - Homemade Mac & Cheese

And here's a few other links to things I am making this week for lunch and snacks. Just cause I like to share recipes!! :)

Whole Wheat Bread - I used the last piece of bread this morning to make Jer's lunch and I want some bread for K and I to eat sandwiches for lunch so I'm going to try whipping up a loaf of this. Cross your fingers for me, it's my first attempt at making bread not in the bread machine!

Hummus - love this recipe! It's super easy and tastes even better the next day. I use cumin instead of the curry powder.

Granola - Love this easy granola recipe!!

If I have time, I'm also going to try these Granola Bars, and Pumpkin Muffins. Wow, that's a lot - we'll see how it goes!


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

I can't believe it's the end of September. Every year around the beginning of August, I feel like time just begins to fly by. Why does fall, which I love, always go by so fast, and winter, which I do not love (to put it lightly) goes by so slowly? We're really trying to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having because we know it will not be around too much longer! And I love the transition to fall when it comes to food. Instead of trying to use the oven as little as possible, I'm looking forward to baking and casseroles, and yummy soups with homemade bread. I am loving my new (used) bread machine (thanks Mom!).

Speaking of bread, last week I made Buttery Bread Machine Rolls and I have to say that they are amazing! Some of the best rolls we have ever had! Because the recipe makes 24 rolls, I just made 8 for us for dinner and then froze the rest in two ziplocs of 8 to make later. We had some frozen ones on Friday along with steak, mashed potatoes and corn cooked by my wonderful husband and while not quite as good as fresh, they were still stinkin' good. You will probably see these rolls often on the menu in weeks to come!

And with the new month, I'm going to change up the way I do meal planning a little bit. I'm just finding that my current plan isn't working as well for me as I would like and there's some things I'd like to change. So for right now, I'm only planning meals through Friday. Look for a post about my new way of meal planning later this week.

Here's this week's menu:

Meatless Monday - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, salad, homemade bread

Tuesday - dinner with our small group - making White Chicken Chili Enchiladas

Wednesday - Tuna Salad Sandwiches

Thursday - Breakfast - waffles, eggs, fried potatoes

Friday - Homemade Pizza



Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

My wonderful hubby and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary yesterday. We got to go out to dinner and spent some time at Barnes and Noble without the kids! It was wonderful, so nice to get out and spend some one-on-one time together. Also, my birthday is on Friday! (Have you noticed we have lots of important dates right in a row in September? Jer's b-day, our anniversary and then my b-day - it's a busy month for us!) I'm hoping that Jer will come through for me on Friday so that I don't have to cook - we'll see! :)

Here's this week's menu:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with fruit
Toast and homemade jam
French Toast using up leftover bread and buns
Green Smoothies

Lunch:
PB & J
Egg Salad sandwiches
Chicken Ranch Wraps
Leftovers

Dinner:

Meatless Monday - Angel Hair Pasta in Garlic Sauce, Buttery Bread Machine Rolls

Tuesday - dinner with our small group - making No-Bake Cheesecake (didn't make last week)

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

Thursday - Eight Layer Tortilla Stack with cornbread (didn't make last week)

Friday - My Birthday!

Saturday - Burgers on the grill - gotta get at least one last time of grilling in!

Sunday - Quick, Easy Stir Fry with beef (need to use up some steaks in the freezer)


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

For some unknown reason our meal plan got completely thrown out last week. After Tuesday, I didn't really make anything according to the meal plan. Oh well, now I have stuff in the fridge and pantry to make for dinner this week!

We're having trouble planning Sunday dinners because we now have church at 6:00 and usually try to be there around 5:30 since we are leaders for this church plant. Which means we need to be trying to leave the house around 5/5:15 and makes it hard to eat dinner before we go. I think we're going to try just eating a late breakfast and then late lunch/early dinner.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with fruit
Rice Krispies
Green Smoothies

Lunch:
PB & J
Leftovers
Salad w/grilled chicken
Grilled Cheese or Ham and Cheese sandwiches

Dinner:

Monday - Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken (we'll do Meatless Monday later in the week because I need to use the stuff for this meal!)

Tuesday - dinner with our small group - making Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Wednesday - Hamburger Curry (from last week)

Meatless Thursday - Eight Layer Tortilla Stack with cornbread and No-Bake Cheesecake

Friday - Chicken Cordon Bleu and rice

Saturday - Our anniversary! We'll either being going out to dinner or going away for the night - ALONE!!! :)

Sunday - Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (look for this recipe later this week!) with veggies and homemade bread

Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

Another week, another meal plan! Last week the Homemade "Hamburger Helper" was pretty good. I did add some cheese to it, and Jer said that it was way better than the box kind! Which is a success in my book. K thought it was macaroni and cheese. :) It also made pretty good leftovers for lunch.

Also, the Crockpot Pork Chops we made yesterday turned out really well. I didn't care for the potatoes, but Jer thought they were okay. If I were to make it again (which I probably will) I will just make the pork chops in the crockpot and make mashed potatoes on the side.

Also, I decided that Meatless Monday is much more appealing when I make things to go with our main dish. Having the quesadillas, plus corn bread and cookies for desert this week made for a much better meal. So, I'm going to try to plan side dishes and deserts for Meatless Monday from now on. The only hard part about it is often the type of meatless main dish that we eat is usually served as a side dish to meat, so it's hard to come up with some other kind of side dish to serve. I'm thinking I'll often be making bread in the bread machine, because homemade bread is always yummy!

Here's this week's menu:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with fruit
Rice Krispies
Waffles and fruit
Green Smoothies

Lunch:
Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
PB & J (the J being homemade apricot Jam - Yum!)
Egg Salad Sandwiches
Chicken Ranch Wraps
Leftovers

Dinner:

Meatless Monday - Lentil Tacos, cornbread, brownies

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken topped salsa and cheese

Wednesday - Chili

Thursday - Dinner with our small group, I'm making yummy Chocolate Cake!

Friday - Thai Lettuce Wraps

Saturday - Hamburgers or Brats on the grill

Sunday - Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

I'm a little late with the meal plan this week, but better late than never, right!

So last week the Curried Lentils and Rice were actually pretty good. Especially considering I only had about half the amount of curry powder called for. Even K had a few good spoonfuls, and normally she is very picky! I think it could be a 'make it again' meal!

This week we're going to do Meatless Monday on Wednesday because we are bringing dinner to friends, and she is a vegetarian, that just recently had a baby. So, I'll just be doubling up the amount I make and taking half over to them!

Also, I'm going to start planning breakfasts and lunches. I wanted to do this before Brenden was born, but just didn't have the motivation. We want Jer to bring his lunch for work - brown bagging your lunch is a very frugally green thing to do - and it's better for your waistline too!

Here's this week's menu:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with fruit
Rice Krispies (got a item for a free box!)
Waffles and fruit
Green Smoothies

Lunch:
Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
PB & J (the J being homemade apricot Jam - Yum!)
Chicken Ranch Wraps
Leftovers

Dinner:

Monday - Breakfast for dinner (didn't do last week - would be meatless too, but Jer ran to the store last night to pick up a few things and bought sausage patties!) :)

Tuesday - Homemade "Hamburger Helper" - I'm excited to try this recipe - I really want to eliminate convenience type foods (like Hamburger Helper) and replace them with homemade, healthier versions.

Meatless Wednesday - Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas, cornbread and salad - taking dinner to friends

Thursday - Dinner with our small group

Friday - Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza - made this a few weeks ago and it was so yummy I want to have it again!

Saturday - not sure yet...

Sunday - Crockpot Pork Chops


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

We had a great time on vacation last week - it went by too fast!! We have to get back in the swing of things though, luckily we have a pretty easy week this week as far as meals go.

So far we're really striking out with Meatless Mondays. Most of the meals I have made are either just okay, or really not very good. I've only found one meatless recipe so far that we both enjoy, but Jer said it would be even better with chicken. :) We're still going to stick with it though, and Jer has been such a good sport about at last trying everything that I have made.

Here's this week's menu:

Meatless Monday - Curried Lentils and Rice (If this is any good I'll post a link to the recipe next Monday.)

Tuesday - Dinner at friend's house

Wednesday - Breakfast for dinner - waffles, eggs and hashbrowns

Thursday - Dinner with our small group

Friday - Grilled Tilapia with veggies and rice

Saturday - Burgers on the grill

Sunday - probably a crockpot meal - not totally sure yet.


Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

This week my sister-in-law and nieces are in town visiting from Oregon, so we'll want to spend as much time as possible with them. I'm planning meals so we will have something to eat if we are home, but we might not stick to the plan to closely this week.

We're still trying to use up stuff from our pantry and freezer - just trying to keep our grocery bill as low as possible right now.

The BBQ Chicken Pizza from last week was a big hit! We had friends over for dinner and everyone enjoyed it. I followed a recipe from This Week for Dinner (you have to scroll down the page to see it). Super easy and very yummy!!

Okay onto this weeks menu:

Meatless Monday - Monterey Spaghetti

Tuesday - Chicken and Noodles

Wednesday - Sloppy Joes (from last week)

Thursday - Egg Salad Sandwiches or Eggs and toast

Friday - Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

Saturday - leftovers or freezer meal

Sunday - freezer meal

Check out more great meal plans at The Happy Housewife this week!

Meatless Mondays

In June, I decided once a week we should try eating a vegetarian meal for dinner instead of eating meat as the main dish, which is our typical dinner. And just to make it a little more fun, I chose to have our vegetarian meals on Monday so that we could call it Meatless Monday.

There basically two reasons I thought this would be a good idea for us to try.

1. It is frugal. Meat is expensive. Beans, veggies, eggs, and other things that make for good vegetarian meals are cheap. I thought it would be good for our grocery budget to have one less meal of meat during the week. Plain and simple.
   
2. It is better for the environment. The meat industry creates greenhouse gases - lots and lots of them. In fact, according to the Environmental Defense Fund eating one less meat meal per week is the same as taking half a million cars off of the road in the U.S. in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The meat industry is also one of the largest producers of the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. So, reducing meat consumption helps to reduce these gases in our environment.
   

Because we had so many meals provided for us after Brenden was born (which was such a huge blessing!) we've only been eating meatless meals for about 4 weeks. In that time I've also been thinking about all of the people in the world for whom meat is either a luxury that they just can't afford, or something that they don't have access to at all. They eat vegetarian meals out of necessity, not by choice, and I think that it is so important for us to remember just how fortunate and blessed we are to be able to eat what we want, when we want.

Also, I have been trying to be committed to not eating meat for breakfast or lunch when at home with Kaelyn. This is partly because K doesn't like to eat meat, but also came from a suggestion by my friend, Jenica, as a way to reduce our meat consumption. We do eat meat sometimes for lunch, usually when eating leftovers from dinner, but it has at least made me more aware of trying to find meatless alternatives for lunch time.

All in all I think it's been a good thing for us so far, although my hubby may disagree with you, he's not a huge fan of the vegetarian meals. If you have any good meatless meals, I'd love to hear about them, please leave a comment with a link or a recipe!

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Meal Plan Monday

I'm back to Meal Planning after the new baby. We were so blessed to receive meals for about 3 weeks after Brenden was born, and we've just been kind of taking it day by day since then, but now it's time to get back in the habit of having our meals for the week planned out. It makes life so much easier - just one less thing to have to worry about and spend time figuring out during the week. I love knowing what we're going to eat for dinner each night, and being able to prepare as much as I can ahead of time to keep dinner time as simple and stress free as possible. I have enough on my hands with my two babies now!!

Also, we're trying to eat out of our pantry as much as possible to use up the food we already have and buy as little as possible at the grocery store this week.

Meatless Monday - pasta with marinara sauce and veggies

Tuesday - hamburgers or brats on the grill

Wednesday - sloppy joes

Thursday - tuna salad sandwiches

Friday - BBQ Chicken Pizza

Saturday - meal from the freezer or leftovers

Sunday - meal from the freezer

Check out more great meal plans at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

I'm having a hard time being motivated to plan meals this week. My baby boy is due on Friday, and I am hoping and praying that he makes his entrance into the world before then, but I'm not exactly counting on it, as my daughter was a week late. Anyway, I'm don't have the energy to think about planning and cooking this week. I'm going to try to use the crockpot and make easy, no fuss meals this week. We'll see how it goes.

Oh, and I'm definitely not planning breakfasts and lunches like I talked about last week. I guess I was feeling ambitious last week, not so much this week!! That will have to wait 'til after the baby arrives! (Like I will have more energy then, than I do now?!? What am I thinking??)

Meatless Monday - Red Beans and Rice, corn on the cob.

Tuesday - Spaghetti

Wednesday - BBQ chicken sandwiches in the crockpot

Thursday - another crockpot meal

Friday - My due date - I'm thinking we'll go out to eat or order something so I don't have to cook. You definitely shouldn't have to cook on the day your baby is due if he or she hasn't arrived yet! (Just my humble opinion) :)

Saturday - I don't know - any ideas? Or anyone want to invite us over for dinner?!? (I am shameless at this point!)

Sunday - Burgers on the grill - Jer will be in charge of this one!

Hopefully before next Monday we'll have an update about our newest member of the family - stay tuned!!

For more menu plans visit Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

We're counting down to the arrival of Baby Boy McClements! Just two short weeks 'til my due date! I want to make sure we have food in the fridge and meals planned so we don't go hungry when we come home from the hospital.

Also, Jer was not so excited about Meatless Monday last week (it wasn't a shared decision, I just kind of threw it at him). :) Sooo, I'm going to have to be creative with my meatless dishes to try to keep him happy. This week he will be at the Young Life golf outing on Monday, so it will just be K and I for dinner.

Meatless Monday - Eggs-either scrambled or cheese omelet, and toast

Tuesday - Homemade Pizza (carry over from last week)

Wednesday - Dinner at a friend's house

Thursday - Crockpot Sour Cream Salsa Chicken

Friday - Grilled Tilapia

Saturday - Leftovers or TBD

Sunday - Sloppy Joes

Also, I'm going to start to try planning breakfast and lunches for the week. Too often, I go to the grocery store and come home and seem to have nothing to really eat! I want to start packing lunch for Jer to take to work - which is much healthier, cheaper, and greener than eating out! So, I need to plan to have things to make and for him to take to eat. I'll post more about that on next weeks meal plan, as I'm just getting started with it.

For more great meal plans visit Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

My first Meal Plan Monday from the new house!

It has been great getting back in the groove of cooking dinner and planning meals for the week.
This week we are starting Meatless Mondays. Not only are vegetarian meals generally much cheaper (and better for you) than eating meat, but raising livestock is one of the largest producers of greenhouse gases. So, cutting back on your meat intake one day a week is good for your wallet and the environment!

Meatless Monday - Vegetarian Quesadillas

Tuesday - Turkey Burgers

Wednesday - Hamburger Curry

Thursday - Dinner at a friend's house

Friday - Homemade Pizza

Saturday/Sunday - leftovers, TBD

Check out more Menu Plans at Organizing Junkie!