French Dip Sandwiches

As everyone probably knows, I love my crockpot. Roast was on sale the other day, so I picked up two. In attempts to expand my cooking knowledge (I only know how to make pot roast with a roast) I found this recipe for French Dip Sandwiches. This turned out great! It only took five minutes in the morning before work to put it all together and all I had to do was shred and load up on a hoggie when I got home. Now that is a quick dinner!!

French Dip Sandwiches Recipe

by OurBestBites.com

Ingredients

2.5-3 lb. beef roast (I used a frozen roast )

2 Tbsp. olive oil, salt and pepper

2 1-ounce packages dry onion soup mix

2 c. water

2 cans beef broth

6-8 large buns (or more...6 would be VERY generous servings!)

Swiss, provolone, or mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced. (I used mild cheddar slices)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and rub roast with salt and pepper.

When very hot, carefully place roast in pan and sear on all sides. You're not cooking the meat, you're just browning it quickly on all sides to add flavor and seal in the juices.

Place in crockpot and sprinkle with onion soup mixes. Pour water and beef broth over roast.

Cook 8-10 hours on low or cook 4-5 hours on high and another 3-4 hours on low. It's hard to screw this part up; basically, the longer it cooks, the more tender it will be. But you know it's done when you pop a fork in it and the meat just falls apart. (I put on low for about 10 hours)

When meat is ready, shred with a fork. Place meat in crusty rolls. Top with cheese and broil open-faced in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes, until bread is golden and cheese is melty.

Ladle juices into small cups for dipping and enjoy!

Mexican Chicken and Rice Casserole

This recipe was super easy to make and turned out great! I has one of my husband's favorite ingredients-Cream of Mushroom soup. So I knew he would love it. The only bad part is that it does take awhile to bake. While I had it in the oven, I took advantage of the down time and did some reading. It is pretty filling and low in points! Give it a try.

Mexican Chicken and Rice Casserole
Recipe and Picture from: http://happytexans.blogspot.com/

6 Servings

Approx 6 points

Ingredients
1 can fat free cream mushroom soup

1 can fat free cream chicken soup

1 can water

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with chilies

1 1/2 c rice1 pkg taco seasoning

cilantro and green onions chopped (optional)

frozen boneless,skinless chicken breasts

shredded cheddar cheese

1. 13x9 in glass casserole dish with cooking spray.

2. Whisk soups, water and taco seasoning in bowl then pour into bottom of dish.

3. Sprinkle rice over soups.

4. Place chicken breasts FROZEN over soup and rice.

5. Pour beans and tomatoes over chicken, cilantro and green onions sprinkled on top.

6. Cover with foil, bake 350 degrees 1 hour,40 min. remove foil, sprinkle shredded cheese over to melt.

Enjoy!

BBQ Meatball Subs

I know, I know-its been forever since I have posted any new recipes. I am so sorry. I really don't have an excuse except I have been on a hiatus of cooking lately. My poor husband! But I'm back and with tons new recipes. This one we just had tonight.
I loved how simple and easy it was to make and definitely was a hit with the husband's taste buds to boot. To be completely honest I am not sure where I got this recipe, but chances are it was from someone on Tastykitchen.com. I love that site! I should also mention that the recipe is really for them to be an appetizer but I decided to make it a meal by putting into hot dog buns. I used turkey meatballs instead of the beef ones to make it a little healthier and point friendly. I served mine on a 1pt hot dog bun and the husband got the regular ol white kind. Per my husbands request, we will be having this one again in the future!

Super Secret Grilled Meatballs
Aprox 4pts (3 meatballs) (*Points will vary with choice of meatballs and buns)

Ingredients
1 cup Your Favorite BBQ Sauce
2 Tablespoons Cajun Seasoning
1 bag (20-24 Oz. Bag) Frozen Meatballs (Plain, Not Italian-style)

Hot Dog Buns

Preparation Instructions
Open the bag of still-frozen meatballs, pour in the bbq sauce and sprinkle the seasoning on top. Close the bag and shake it around to coat the meatballs with the sauce and seasoning. If you need to add more sauce, go ahead now.
Return the bag to your fridge and allow the meatballs to thaw overnight. Turn the bag a few times, if you remember to.
When the meatballs have thawed completely and you’re almost ready to eat, heat your grill to medium/medium-high.
Skewer the meatballs, leaving no space between them.
Cook until the sauce has caramelized, turning once.
Remove from skewers, put on a bun and chow down!

Sun-dried Tomato Chicken & Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes

We had this for dinner tonight and it turned out great! The chicken was juicy and flavorful. I liked that there were so few ingredients to make the chicken too. I have never been good about making mashed potatoes from scratch, but these were so easy! My husband couldn't stop raving about the meal. These two recipes definitely made into the recipe book. :)

Sun-dried Tomato Chicken
From:myrecipes.com
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1 (4-lb.) package chicken pieces (3 breasts, 4 thighs, 3 legs) (I used drumsticks)
1 cup sun-dried tomato vinaigrette
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
Toppings: chopped sun-dried tomatoes, sliced fresh basil (I omitted)

Arrange chicken pieces in a single layer in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Pour dressing evenly over chicken pieces, and sprinkle with ground pepper.

Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 1 hour or until done, basting every 15 minutes. Sprinkle baked chicken with desired toppings.

*Sun-dried Tomato Chicken Breasts: Substitute 6 skinned and boned chicken breasts for chicken pieces. Prepare recipe as directed, decreasing bake time to 30 minutes.

** Looking back on the recipe, I didn't measure out the salad dressing and probably used more than a cup.


Garlic Mashed Red Potatoes
From: Weight Watchers website
3 pts per serving
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
8 uncooked red potatoes, cut into 2 inch segments
4 medium garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
1/4 cup fat free milk
2 Tbsp chives, fresh, minced
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Combine potatoes and garlic cloves in a saucepan and pour in enough water to cover; set pan over high heat and bring to boil. reduce heat slightly and boil until potatoes are fork tender, about 8 minutes; drain water from saucepan

Add sour cream, milk, and chives to pan (and butter if you use it); mix until combined. Mash mixture with potato masher (or electric mixer) until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Yields 1/2 cup per serving.

Asian Beef & Noodles

I found this recipe on the WW community board and it looked great! We buy our ground beef at Sam's club in bulk and I have a hard time coming up with different ideas on what to make with it. I thought I would give this one a try. We both loved it and I will be making it again!

Asian Beef and Noodles
From: WW Community Board

Serves 4
~10pts

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef or turkey

2 packages (3 ounces each) Oriental ramen noodles, crumbled

2 ½ cups water

2 cups frozen broccoli stir-fry vegetables

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 Tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (I omitted)

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until no longer pink; drain. Add the contents of one ramen noodle flavoring packet; stir until dissolved. Remove beef and keep warm.

In the same skillet, combine the water, vegetables, ginger noodles, soy sauce and the remaining flavoring packet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Return beef to the pan; cook for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Stir in green onions.

Foil Pack Chicken

This is one of my go to meals. I like it for several reasons. One it is delicious and healthy. The clean up is minimal and pretty much a full meal in one packet!

FOIL-PACK TACO CHICKEN
From: Kraftfoods.com
6 ww points
4 servings, one packet each

Ingredients
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
4 tsp. Taco Seasoning Mix
1/2 lb. red potatoes, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup Salsa
3/4 cup 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Four Cheese Mexican Style Cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F. Sprinkle chicken with seasoning mix. Place 1/2 cup of the potatoes on center of each of four large sheets of heavy-duty foil; top each with chicken, salsa and cheese.

Bring up foil sides. Double fold top and both ends to seal each packet, leaving room for heat circulation inside. Place in 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

Bake 30 to 35 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165°F). Remove packets from oven. Let stand 5 min. Cut slits in foil to release steam before opening. Serve with sour cream (optional-extra points)

Cooking Know-How: If the chicken breast halves in your market are larger than 4 oz., they will take longer to cook. Be sure to cook them long enough so that they are cooked through (170°F).Cooking Know-How: To prevent potatoes from sticking to foil, spray foil with cooking spray or use nonstick foil.

Cajin Chicken Pasta

This was a meal that I just kind of threw together. I think it turned out well and can definitely be made a little lighter. The store didn't have a light Alfredo sauce so we went for the full fat kind! I think I will definitely make this one again. I love quick, yummy meals! I am not 100% on the exact ingredients-sorry about that. I just eyeballed it.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Ingredients

Frozen Grill precooked chicken strips

Jar of Alfredo Sauce

Pasta (I used bow tie)

Cajun seasoning of your choice

Heat the chicken strips in a skillet adding the seasoning to your liking. Boil water and cook pasta according to directions on packet. Drain. Add cooked pasta with Alfredo sauce and a dash of Cajun seasoning to warm.

Serve pasta with chicken strips on top!

Now, how easy is that!