What's Cookin'?.....SOUP!

Well, being pregnant has put a hold on my cooking. At first we were just eating out all.of.the.time! Then, my amazing husband stepped up to the plate. You see, when I am pregnant if I prepare food or smell food while it is cooking, it makes me sick and I can't eat it. Thankfully, Wes likes to cook, so he has saved us.

My original plan was to make crockpot meals, thinking that since there would be a gap of time from the time I "prepared" the meal until the time I ate the meal. I cooked a yummy (wishful thinking!) roast with carrots and potatoes in the crockpot and let it cook all day. By 5 o'clock the smell was so strong that it made me sick, so Popeyes chicken it was. :(

Plan B....we will see how this works! Next week I am going to plan several soups for dinner. I am going to try the first one in the crockpot. I am thinking that since soups are not as strong smelling as roast is, hopefully it will be ok. If not, I will just have everything ready for Wes to cook the soups on the stove.

Beef Stew             http://www.southernplate.com/2009/09/ground-beef-stew-with-a-secret.html

• 1-2 lbs ground beef, cooked and drained  (I am going to use stew meat)
• Carrots, diced
• Onion, peeled and chopped
• 5-6 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2-3 Cups frozen green beans
• 29 ounce can diced or crushed tomatoes
• 1-2 Cans Spicy Hot V-8 juice (I use two)
• 2 C water
• 4 Beef Boullion Cubes
• 1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)

Instructions

1. Place everything in a pot except for ground beef. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmering. Cover and cook for an hour until vegetables are tender. Add ground beef, cook for another thirty minutes.

***I am going to cook mine in the crockpot (hopefully). I will brown the stew meat just a little and then add it into the soup with everything else so that it can continue to cook without getting too tough.

Potato Soup

• 1 block of cream cheese (regular not reduced fat. It makes a difference in the texture)
• 1 bag of diced frozen hash browns
• 1 can (16 oz) chicken broth
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup

Cook all ingredients in crockpot on low all day. Serve & top with real bacon bits, shredded cheese & chopped green onion.

***My kids LOVE this!

Puerto Rican Stew

• 1 T. Recaito cilantro cooking base
• 1 pkt of Sazon Goya
• Adobo Creolo to taste
• 1 lb stew beef seasoned with Adobo
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 can tomato sauce
• Carrots cut up
• Potatoes cut up
• 1 can light kidney beans
• 1/2 tsp vinegar
• 1 T. olive oil

Cook in pot for 1 hr (or crockpot all day). Serve over rice with cornbread. YUMMY!