Homemade Minestrone Soup (Crock Pot)

Crock Pot Minestrone Soup
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 8 • Size: 1 1/2 cups • Old Points: 3 • Weight Watchers Points+: 4 pt
Calories: 190 • Fat: 3 g • Carb: 32 g • Fiber: 8 g • Protein: 9 g • Sugar: 4 g
Sodium: 483 mg • Cholest: 0 mg Ingredients:

• 1 (15 oz) can white beans, drained, rinsed (cannellini or navy)
• 32 oz container reduced sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarians)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (28 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
• Parmesan cheese rind (optional)
• 1 fresh rosemary sprig
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt and fresh black pepper
• 1 medium 8 oz zucchini, diced
• 2 cups chopped fresh (or frozen defrosted) spinach
• 2 cups cooked small pasta such as ditalini or elbows (al dente)
• extra parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

Crock Pot Version:

Puree beans with 1 cup of the broth in a blender. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion, garlic and saute until tender and fragrant, about 15 minutes.

Transfer to the crock pot along with the remaining broth, tomatoes, pureed beans, parmesan cheese rind, salt and pepper. Add the rosemary, basil and parsley, cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Forty minutes before the soup is done cooking, add zucchini and spinach. Cover and cook 30 more minutes. Remove bay leaves, rosemary sprig, parmesan rind and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Ladle 1-1/4 cups soup into 8 bowls with 1/4 cup pasta in each and top with extra parmesan cheese if desired.

Pumpkin Spice Cake (egg free)

1 box Spice Cake mix
1 can pumpkin puree
2 spoonfuls of unsweetened apple sauce (more as needed to moisten batter).

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together, pour in 9x13 pan (I sprayed the pan with coconut oil spray). Bake for 25 minutes or until done. Once cool, top with cream cheese frosting.

This worked great!

Pineapple BBQ Chicken Sliders (Crock Pot)

Put frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot. Top with a bottle of BBQ sauce and a can of pineapple chunks. Cook on high until done.

Shred chicken and serve on slider rolls or Sweet Hawaiian rolls.

Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (15 ounce) can peas or green beans, drained
2 (10 1/4 ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 (16 ounce) package tater tots

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef and drain fat.
3. Stir in garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, peas (or green beans), and condensed cream of mushroom soup. Stir well to combine all ingredients.

4. Pour the mixture into a medium-sized casserole dish. Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese evenly over beef mixture.
5. Top mixture with tater tots.

6. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, until tater tots are crispy.

Skillet Rosemary Chicken

This looks great!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/skillet-rosemary-chicken-recipe.html

Sausage Balls

My go-to appetizer:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sausage-Balls-2/

Healthy Cookies

Healthy cookies!

Ingredients
3 mashed bananas (ripe)
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 cups oats
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup good chocolate chunks
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
preheat oven to 350 degrees
bake for 15-20 minutes
Cool and Enjoy!

No-Yeast Pizza Dough

I made 2 of these pizzas and I have to say... not great. Definitely leave out the salt if you're using baking soda. I'll keep looking for a better recipe though.

No-Yeast Pizza Dough

2 1/2 c. flour
2 3/4 tsp. baking powder (can sub or mix with baking soda)
1 tsp. salt
1 tbs. olive oil
3/4-1c. water (more as needed)

Mix dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Stir until it forms a ball - add water as needed.

The dough will be soft, not sticky. Kneed on a floured surface for 3-4 minutes. Roll out flat.

Bake at 400 for 5 minutes. Take out and add pizza sauce and toppings. Bake another 8-10+ minutes until done.

Apple Crisp

Maple Apple Crisp

Rated: Submitted By: Crystal Photo By: VeggieBalls Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cook Time: 35 Minutes Ready In: 55 Minutes Servings: 8

"Sliced apples are slathered in syrup, arranged in a baking dish and covered with a wonderful crumble made from brown sugar, butter and rolled oats. The crisp is then baked and served warm with scoops of rum raisin ice cream."

Ingredients:

5 apples - peeled, cored, and sliced 3/4 cup maple syrup 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar 1 pinch salt 1/2 cup butter, softened

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2.	Place apples in an 8x8 inch baking dish. Toss apples with syrup. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, oats, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture evenly over apples.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, until topping is golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sausage Gravy

Ingredients

• 1 pound roll of bulk pork breakfast sausage (like Jimmy Dean)
• 1/2 cup of butter, bacon fat or vegetable/canola oil
• 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
• 3 to 4 cups of milk, more or less, as needed
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, or to taste

Instructions

Brown sausage in a large skillet, breaking up and crumbling the meat as it cooks, then start your biscuits. By the time the sausage in browned up, you'll be ready to pop the biscuits in the oven, and get the gravy going. Once the meat is fully browned, stir in the butter or bacon fat to the skillet until melted. Sprinkle the flour on top of the meat and bring the pan up to a medium high heat. Cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

Slowly begin whisking in the first two cups of milk until fully incorporated and mixture begins to bubble. This will provide a fairly thick gravy. Continue whisking in additional milk a little bit at a time, until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Grind plenty of pepper directly into the gravy, add salt to taste, mix well and serve over hot, split biscuits.