A fast-cooked slow cooker recipe

Cheesy Chicken-Noodle Casserole
The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes Copyright 2001

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground chicken
2 onions, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
½ teaspoon each salt and black pepper
1 can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup condensed chicken broth (undiluted)
8 oz. cream cheese, cut into 2 inch cubes and softened
1 12-ounce package of medium egg noodles, cooked and drained

Topping:
1 cup bread crumbs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons melted butter

1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, breaking up with a spoon til meat is no longer pink. Drain off liquid and set chicken aside.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Add onions and celery and cook until softened. Add garlic, paprika, mustard, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper, cook stirring for 1 minute. Blend in soup and chicken broth. Add cream cheese, stirring until cheese is melted. Stir in reserved chicken.
3. To assemble casserole, spoon 1 cup chicken mixture in bottom of prepared stoneware. Add layer of noodles. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, finishing with a layer of sauce.
4. To make topping, in separate bowl, toss bread crumbs with butter. Add cheese and spread over casserole.
5. Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours, until hot and bubbly.
I mixed the noodles with the sauce in a baking dish, topped with topping and baked until bubbly.
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I've had my eye on this recipe for a while but I just don't like the idea of pasta in a slow cooker. So I decided to do this as a baked casserole. Next time I will just make it a skillet recipe because I thought that this recipe was at its peak when the pasta was mixed with the cheesy sauce. The topping was really not necessary. I made it one day ahead of time and it was still creamy but on the verge of drying out I think.

I think this is stretching it as a slow cooker recipe. As long as you fully cook the chicken in the sauce, this is basically done before you even put it in the slow cooker so I just don't get what would happen after 4-8 hours in a crockpot.

This was rather good but of course it would be. I didn't make any healthy improvements. There are several things you could do to lighten this - use low-sodium or low-fat soup, use whole wheat noodles (I've had bad luck with whole wheat egg noodles tasting stale) or use light cream cheese - but I didn't do any of them. I suspect it would lighten up beautifully.

The younger boy liked it but my older son didn't try it. I usually don't force him to eat cheesy things but he might have liked this since it was cream cheese. It was just too crazy around the house to think straight. My husband was at the dentist and the time change really screwed up my kids yesterday. Thankfully, they seemed to be doing a bit better so far today.

I will add this to my ground chicken recipe round-up.

Question of the Day: Have you ever cooked pasta in a slow cooker? Would you?

Another new cookbook

Coleslaw with Caraway and Raisins
Real Simple Best Recipes Easy, Delicious Meals Copyright 2009

¾ cup sour cream I used lite
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 small head green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced (about 6 cups)
6 scallions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, coarsely grated
1 cup golden raisins

(I used a bagged mix in place of the cabbage and carrots)

In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, vinegar, caraway seeds, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Add the cabbage, scallions, carrots and raisins and toss to coat.
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This recipe is from a brand new cookbook from Real Simple, Real Simple Best Recipes: Easy, Delicious Meals. The title really says it all.

There's a Real Simple style that I'm not talented enough to convey with words but it's very inviting. I've been feeling particularly overwhelmed lately. I keep trying to clear out the house and streamline my life as much as I can. Yet, my son brings home several trees worth of work home from kindergarten everyday. My mother-in-law has a little hobby collecting holiday decorations for my house. I've never been one to decorate for anything but Christmas but just this year I acquired at least five new fall/Halloween decorative items (some of which are taller than my children). It takes all my effort to keep a clear path through our house lately.

So a cookbook like this transports me to a 'simpler' place instantly (although not permanently unfortunately). I love the photographs and the uncomplicated, concise recipes. They don't just throw a couple of convenience foods together and call it a recipe. This is real food, real cooking, just not overly fussy. They're supposed to be 30 minutes or under but more realistically than Rachael Ray's take on that (I love RR's recipes but sometimes you have to be a professional speed cooker to finish her recipes in 30 minutes or under.)

They don't stress the healthy aspect of these recipes but they are healthy too. This is not extreme low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb or low-sugar cooking but it's balanced and uses mainly fresh ingredients. Flipping through this book I can't help but feel like this is how we should be eating all of the time.

This book has a little bit of everything - appetizers, main dishes, side dishes, desserts. It's not the kind of food my mama served but that doesn't mean that the recipes use expensive or hard-to-find ingredients. They're just a bit more modern and fresh than what I was raised on. Check out the 'Look inside' option on Amazon to get a better idea of what this cookbook is all about. I like to hit the 'surprise me' button over and over. I think even if this isn't the kind of food you eat now, it's the kind of food you'll want to be eating soon.

I've been a bit obsessed with using raisins in salads lately so this recipe grabbed my attention right away. I did take a shortcut here and used a coleslaw mix since the cabbage heads I found in the store were just way too large. This was the first time I used sour cream for a coleslaw (without mayonnaise) and I really liked the result. The cabbage didn't wilt even after the slaw sat overnight. It looked as fresh as it did when I made it. The raisins are really key in this recipe. This was a great way for me to get more vegetables in my diet, something I've been working on lately.

Question of the Day: Do you use the 'Look inside' option on Amazon? I love it. If I'm shopping for cookbooks online, I always use that feature if I can (even if I'm not buying from Amazon).

Frankenstein marshmallow - because I aim to please

I once referred to a s'mores brownie recipe as a 'Frankenstein recipe'. So, lately I've been getting a lot of hits for Frankenstein marshmallows and Frankenstein graham crackers.

I hate to disappoint so I took a crack at a Frankenstein marshmallow. It wasn't easy since Wilton candy melts are made on the same machinery with peanuts and my white coating needs an oil-based coloring which I couldn't find. I used gel food coloring which was okay but the coating doesn't melt quite as well with it. I used chocolate for the hair, chocolate Twizzlers for the bolts, half a Sixlet for the nose and some icing for the eyes, mouth and scars. I didn't bother with ears.

I made one! I would never ever want to make a bunch of these. I am really not a fan of food that looks cute but doesn't taste that great. This is certainly edible but let's be honest, it's not exactly delicious. I doubt anyone is sitting around craving a Frankenstein marshmallow. My son got a kick out of it but after two small bites, he was done.

So if this is what you're looking for, there it is but there are much better examples out there.

The final result

I don't know if I made it clear but the last cookies that I pictured were from years gone by. After a couple of decorating disasters (sticky frosting) I gave up on the cutout cookies but I'm back in the game now. This year's cookies were a success as far as I'm concerned. The Wilton Cooking Icing set up nicely and tasted fine actually. I was worried that it wouldn't taste good.

I could only find white and orange so I tinted some of the white icing violet, black and gray. I used my Pampered Chef accent decorator bottles for the colors I tinted myself. I did try some Betty Crocker cookie icing (just for the green pumpkin stems). That brand doesn't require the brief microwave heating that the Wilton requires so it was a bit thicker. I think it would have slightly harder to work with but it set up great too.

Both lack the shine of the Toba Garrett Glacé (which is just powdered sugar, corn syrup, milk and flavoring) but the quick and sturdy drying won me over.

The premade icings are expensive (I think $4.99 for the Wilton and $3.45 for the Better Crocker). I used a coupon in Michael's for the Wilton. It says you can ice one dozen 3-inch cookies with one bottle but I only used about 1 1/2 bottles for 2 1/2 dozen cookies. If you've ever struggled with sticky frosted cookies you would probably agree with me that it's worth the money.

I really love this King Arthur recipe for cutout cookies. I've got the cookie making down. I found the right icing. Now I just need to work on my decorating skills. I see many more cutout cookies in my future.

Question of the Day: How many cookie cutter do you own? I have tons. I have one of those huge plastic sets that has a cutter for just about every occasion.

One last recipe for the week

Ham and Rice Casserole
The about.com guide to Southern Cooking Copyright 2006

2½ cups hot cooked rice
2½ cups ham, diced
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, cooked and drained I picked a corn, green bean, carrot and pea blend
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup soft bread crumbs
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup sliced mushrooms, optional I didn't add these

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, combine rice, ham, and cooked mixed vegetables.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. If you are using the sliced mushrooms, add and sauté until tender and golden brown. Blend in flour; stirring until hot and bubbly. Gradually stir in the milk. Cook the sauce, stirring constantly until mixture is thickened. Stir in cheese until melted, and then add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Stir the sauce into the rice, ham and vegetable mixture. Transfer to a 2 ½ -quart baking dish. Toss bread crumbs with the melted butter; sprinkle over the top of the casserole.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. If the breadcrumbs aren’t as brown as you like, turn on the broiler for about 2 minutes, just until browned.
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I had a few spare minutes last night so here's one last recipe for the week. I have no idea what we're having for dinner tonight. I had something planned that I never got around to making (or even thawing the chicken) so I'm going to have to wing it tonight. It's Trick or Treat night so I want something fast and easy to clean up. McDonald's is sounding awfully tempting.

I should have saved this for tonight. I made it ahead of time and we just heated it up in the microwave. It was a very tasty casserole. I like that it has the veggies right in there. The little one liked it but the older one is just not that fond of cheese. He picked out some of the ham and ate it.

I'm tired. I will be happy when this week is over. To be honest, I will be happier when this year is over. The stress of having two kids, a flu going around and only so many vacation days left for the year is getting to me.

Question of the Day: Which mixed vegetable blend do you like best?