Crockpot Cranberry Portabella Mushroom Meatballs over Cheesy Smashed Red Potatoes

This is a comfort food coma-in-a-crock-pot kind of meal but with way fewer calories, sodium and fat. Meatballs in a velvety mushroom-cranberry sauce with tender portabella mushrooms, served in a nest of cheesy smashed red potatoes.Yum. You've noticed that I've been creating a lot of crockpot meals lately? No, this isn't becoming a crockpot recipe blog. I'm just re-discovering ways to cut down my cooking time (like using my crock pot, my bread machine, and freezer meals) while still making healthy, inexpensive, satisfying meals for my family. And, of course, passing on my re-discoveries to all of you.

All you need for your meatballs

Crockpot Cranberry Portabella Mushroom Meatballs
14 oz canned cranberry sauce
14 oz low-fat and low-sodium cream of mushroom soup
28 oz package frozen turkey meatballs
1/3 cup craisins
8 oz sliced mushrooms like portabella
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion

1.) In a saucepan heat the cranberry jelly until it starts to look more liquid. Add the soup and stir together.
2.) Place all of the other ingredients in a crockpot. Pour the cranberry sauce over top.
3.) Cook the meatballs on low for 5 or 6 hours until the onions are tender.

Cheesy Smashed Red Potatoes
5 medium red potatoes washed and quartered, skin still on
3 Tb light butter spread
1/2 of an 8-oz container of reduced fat sour cream
1/2 cup shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese like Cabot's
salt and pepper to taste

1.) Boil the potatoes until tender. Drain.
2.) Smash the potatoes with a potato masher or fork leaving large chunks.
3.) Add spread, sour cream, cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue to mash together until combined. I like to leave big, tender lumps of potato.

Putting it all together...
Scoop out a serving of mashed potatoes and use a large spoon to press down the center into a "bowl" shape. Spoon meatballs and sauce over top. Serve with steamed corn or other veggie or salad. Enjoy!

Crockpot Italian Chicken (and leftover ideas)

I love easy. I love healthy. I also love anything using Italian dressing because my boys will gobble it up. Make your own dressing for this recipe with either the dried Good Seasonings packets from the salad dressing aisle of any store or the Penzey’s Italian dressing mix. That way you can reduce the amount and control the type of oil you use. A prepared light dressing might work too. Just make sure it’s not too sweet since they usually add sugar to enhance the flavor.

Serve Crockpot Italian chicken hot over a bed of brown rice (your freezer rice perhaps?) and with a few veggie sides for a complete meal. Leftovers freeze and reheat well. Just add a little more Italian dressing if the chicken gets too dry. You can also use the leftovers to make a Ranch Chicken Flatbread. Spoon the meat onto warmed flatbreads and top with chopped fresh tomatoes (or prepared tomato bruschetta from the store), lettuce and ranch dressing.

Crockpot Italian Chicken
6 boneless chicken breasts
1 standard-sized bottle of Italian dressing (see note above)

1.) Place the chicken in the bottom of a medium crockpot. Pour the dressing on top.
2.) Cook the chicken on low for around 5 hours.
3.) Turn the crockpot off when the chicken starts to fall apart and let the meat absorb the leftover juices.
4.) Serve over brown rice and with a veggie. Even my boys love this stuff.

Crockpot Rosemary Steak Sandwiches

Hello readers. It's been a while, but I haven't forgotten you. Between my kindergartener's very long trackout (winter break lasted almost 5 weeks) and a bout of stomach flu this week I'd all but given up on blogging. But don't feel too badly for me, we also squeezed in a long Christmas week off and a Jamaican vacation. Sigh...still thinking about it.

Did I mention that our resort package came with a nanny? See, I told you not to feel too bad for me.

We may be home but I find myself reluctant to go back to washing dishes, cooking, all that mess. It's the funniest thing though--everyone's still hungry. So I'm embracing my crockpot this month. I love being able to toss a few ingredients in the crockpot in the morning and have dinner done with very little fuss that afternoon. And fewer dishes to wash. Plus this time of year is perfect for crockpot meals, which, compared to how we normally eat, tend to be a little heavy on the meat and sauce.

So Crockpot Rosemary Steak Sandwiches are a mix between two of my favorites--Philly Cheesesteaks and au juice beef sandwiches. Tender, juicy meat cooked all day on a low temp with plenty of onions and fresh rosemary, layered on a baguette and smothered in Provolone and spicy, crisp banana peppers. If you’re feeding little ones you can omit the peppers and serve the bread and meat separate with a veggie. The meat and sauce also freeze and reheat great for later.

Crockpot Rosemary Steak Sandwiches

2 lb beef (I’ve used skirt steak and top round)
1 yellow onion, sliced in strips
1/2 cup A-1 steak sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tb fresh rosemary, chopped, or 1 Tb dried
1 French baguette, lightly toasted
Provolone cheese
1/2 cup Banana peppers, drained

1.) Cut the steaks into four large sections and place the steak, onions and steak sauce in the crockpot. Turn on low heat and cook for 5-6 hours or 3-4 hours on high.
2.) Remove the meat from the crockpot and cut into thin strips. Put back in the crockpot with the rosemary and add the soy sauce. (You can also do this at the very end if you aren't home during the day. Just let the meat cook in the soy sauce and rosemary a bit first.) Continue to cook meat for another 2-3 hours. The meat is ready when it’s tender.
3.) Slice the toasted baguette open and cut into four large sections.
4.) Place the Provolone on the bread and spoon the meat over top. Add the banana peppers to taste and ladle the remaining sauce from the crockpot over the sandwiches. You can also serve the sauce au juice style in a side dish to dip the sandwiches.
Enjoy!