Once a Month...Cooking part 1

Monday night, I feel sick.  In fact I cancelled my class, which I try not ever to do.  I get home and figure I may as well start the first recipe, because it's a crock-pot recipe, so it won't take too long right?

Per the instructions I started with Mom's Pasta E Fagioli...which I still have no FREAKING idea how to pronounce...

 The recipe for 5 servings is as follows:

5lbs browned ground beef I used 3lbs
1.5c chopped onions
1.75c diced carrots
2/3c diced celery
2 cans Fire Roasted tomatoes with garlic
2 cans Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic, and Oregano
1 can red beans
1 can white beans
10c beef broth
25oz spaghetti sauce
10oz uncooked pasta I used bow tie
4t oregano
2 1/2t pepper
6t fresh chopped parsley
2t Tabasco sauce

Basically you brown the ground meat, which I did in my prep, and dump all the ingredients except pasta in the crock-pot.  So I started to do this, but by the time I got to the beans, I realized that my 5qt crock-pot was too small for this recipe!

Apparently, this recipe makes 2 servings per person, so my 5 servings became 10!

So I redistributed half of the contents into a soup pot, and decided to slow cook half, and cook the rest on the stove-top.  The crock-pot portion, I cooked on low for 4 hours, then added the pasta and cooked for another 30 minutes, when the pasta was tender.
On the stove-top, I brought it to a simmer, then cooked on medium heat for about 2 hours, then added the pasta and turned off the heat when it was tender.

 

The best way to describe this dish is Italian chili.  I prefer sweeter Italian dishes, and this was on the spicy side.  My husband loved it, but told me to ditch the pasta next time.  I found the crock-pot version was too soupy, the sauce way too thin.  I liked the consistency of the stove-top version better, and so I mixed the two together when I stored it.  The only big complaint about this recipe is the amount it made!  I filled 5 quart size Ziploc bags to the brim, and still filled a large storage container(the biggest one that comes in the Rubbermaid multi-pack).  I froze 4 bags, gave one away to my mom, and my husband ate half of the container full for dinner on Tuesday.

While waiting for my soup to cool, I decided to make the next recipe,Tutti Fruitti cups.  

1.5c frozen orange juice concentrate

2.5c crushed pineapple drained if I make this again, I will not drain it

2 bananas 

3/4c strawberries

3/4c blueberries 

3/4c raspberries 

3/4c lemon-lime soda I used Sprite Zero

6T frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

1/4c sugar

Put ingredients into a blender and blend until desired consistency.  Pour into 8oz cups, and freeze.  Once frozen, take out of cup and place into a gallon size Ziploc bag and put back in freezer.

Ok, so first off this is listed as a breakfast item!  This is a dessert at best, if it tasted better.  It is too sour.  I think this would be off set by leaving the pineapple juice in, and maybe another banana and for mommy, rum, lots of rum...  It is a good afternoon snack for the kids...they think they are getting a slushie treat, and they are getting lots of fruit!

In the next post I will be writing about my adventure of trying to finish this project, but being thwarted by the summer heat, and 3 kids!