Mommy, It's yummy! (#5)

I know I know this is getting a bit crazy, more of a food blog than anything! But it's fun. Today's meal was a great CPM (Crock Pot Meal) I swear these are my favourite meals! I love them. I love putting it in the CP and then heading out to do whatever the heck I want and having fun and then chilling out. At supper time there is a wonderful meal! And best of all, it makes the house smell good.

I love the smell that my CPM's make so much I even offered to make chili for the Superbowl Party on Sunday at church, but ONLY if I could make it in the CP at home, let it cook all day and have Arnold bring it in later so my house could smell like chili! I love it!

OK back to topic! Today meal is not only smells good, and is 'yummy' (as deemed by Q, which is a BIG deal right now with his non-eating habits) but it also is a great meal for a day like today. For those who don't know it's snowing outside. Not alot but enough to reassure me that the groundhog was right. More winter is on the way.

Beefy Minestrone

Prep 20 minutes
Cook - 8 hours (low) or 4 hours (high)
Slow Cooker size - 3.5 to 5 quarts

1 pound of lean ground beef
1 - 14 oz can of reduced-sodium beef broth
1 and 1/4 cups of water
1 - 10 oz package frozen mixed veggies
1 - 14.5oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, undrained, cut up
1 - 10.75 oz can of reduced-sodium and reduced-fat condensed tomato soup
1 Tablespoon of dried minced onion
1 teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning, crushed
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder

1 - In a large skillet, cook beef until brown. Drain off fat. Transfer meat into slow cooker. Stir in broth, water, vegetables, tomatoes, tomato soup, dried onion, it seasoning, and garlic powder.
2 - Cover and cook on low heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high heat setting for 4 to 5 hours. If desired, top each serving with crackers. Makes 4-6 servings.

Per serving: 346 cal, 15g total fat (6g sat. fat), 71 mg chol, 684 mg sodium, 26 g carbo, 4.6 g fiber, 27 g pro.


So I did just about what it said. I used normal ground beef (it just happen to be what I grabbed out of the freezer this morning), the right beef broth but a bit more than normal; about 2 cups of water; the veggies were about half a bag; the tomatoes were whole tomatoes peeled, but I was too lazy to take them out and cut them up so I just mushed them around with a sharp knife in the can and it worked just fine; normal can of tomato soup; dried flaked onions (couldn't find minced at the grocery store); it seasoning - wasn't crushed; and a bunch of shakes of garlic powder.

All in all it turned out really really well. I took photos of the boys dishes as they were done first, and I needed some time for it to cool down.

Enjoy