Taco Soup (Chili Style)

If you don't have a slow-cooker or just want a fast soup. Here is a great one. You can easily keep these ingredients on hand and make this at the last minute. YUM!

Can you tell fall is upon us? The weather (rain with thunder) today put me in the mood for soup. I don't know where this recipe original came from. It's from one of our BMCC members. It must be a Weight Watchers meal because it lists the points at the end of the recipe. In any case, it's good and my kids like it! It's a keeper!

Taco Soup (Chili Style)

1/2 lb. Lean ground meat
1 med. Chopped onion
3 cans beans (black, chili, Mexican, pinto, etc.)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can stewed tomato (chopped)
1 - 7 oz. can green chilies (diced)
1 pkg. Frozen corn
1 pkg. Taco Seasoning mix
1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning mix
1 c water

Brown meat & drain fat. Add onion and saute. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a slow boil over med. Heat.

Try serving with non fat sour cream.

1 ½ cups = 2 points

Slow-Cooker Minestrone

I am pretty new with slow-cooker meals, but I can tell you I LOVE them! Cooking for a busy family doesn't get much easier than the slow-cooker (crock pot). If you don't have a slow-cooker and you work full time, my suggestion would be to get one with a timer. It might be more expensive, but they must have one on the market that you can set what time you want it to start cooking. I love mine, but I really have to be home to set it. I have found that most recipes only cook for 5 hours or so. This is not going to work if you leave your house in the morning at 7am and don't get home until 6pm. Unless I'm missing something.

Here is a great winter soup. Serve with some good french bread. It also freezes very well, so you don't have to worry about all those left overs. Save them for a night when you don't have dinner planned and don't feel like cooking. It's great to have something to pull out of the freezer!

Slow-Cooker Minestrone
from "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook" by Dawn J. Ranch and Phyllis Pellman Good

3 cups water
1 1/2 lbs stewing meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, diced
4 carrots, diced
14.5 oz can tomatoes
2 tsp salt
10 oz pkg frozen mixed vegetables, or your choice of frozen vegetables
1 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 cup dry vermicelli (angel hair pasta)
1 tsp dried oregano
grated Parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients except cheese in slow cooker. Stir well.

Cover. Cook on Low 10-12 hours, or on High 4-5 hours.

Top individual servings with Parmesan cheese.

Creamy Tomato Sauce

Here is a family favorite from one of our members. I always like trying a family favorite. It's nice to know someone else with kids likes it.

Creamy Tomato Sauce

3/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T butter or margarine
2 14-1/2 ounce cans of whole Italian style tomatoes, cut-up or 2 lbs ripe,
fresh plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 t pepper
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 T snipped parsley
8 ounces pasta

Saute onion and garlic in butter. Stir in undrained tomatoes, sugar,salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Slowly add the cream, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 3 minutes then remove from heat and add parsley.

Serve sauce over cooked pasta.

This is one of our favorites. It's especially yummy if you put some cooked Italian sausage in at the end. About 3/4lb.

Strata

This is my mother's Strata recipe. She also happens to be a BMCC member. We have always had it for breakfast or brunch, but another BMCC member makes a similiar dish for dinner. Sounds good to me! I LOVE breakfast for dinner!

STRATA

This is a great brunch dish. You can double or halve it easily. It’s my favorite for a large brunch party. It’s also good for dinner with fresh fruit or a salad.

6 to 9 slices bread (I use sliced sour French)
1 pound grated Monterey Jack cheese
10 eggs (beaten)
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Use 13 x 9 pan. Serves 10 - 12.

Remove crust from bread if you like. I leave it on. Cut each slice into fourths and line bottom of casserole. Spread cheese on top of the bread. Mix together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour over bread and cheese. Cover and put in refrigerator overnight.

Next day, take 4 Italian sausages out of their casings and cook meat in a pan. You can use ground beef or bacon or shrimp instead of you like. Put cooked meat on top of casserole. Bake 40 minutes or till set at 350 degrees. Let set 5 minutes before serving.

Salmon (Baked)

This is a recipe from one of our members. I've had this at her house before. It's delicious! If you don't like Salmon (which I didn't the first time I had this) try it! It's very good. Not as fishy tasting as Salmon usually is. The best part, it's FAST and EASY. (We LOVE that!) It also has no added fat.

Salmon

Preheat oven to 425°

top Salmon with:
lemon juice
salt, pepper
chopped basil
dried dill
tomato slices (sliced somewhat thick)
and then lemon slices (sliced thin)

Wrap in parchment paper, folding the edges so you make a "sealed" bag.
Bake for 15-20 min at 425 degrees.

I have also made this and not used the tomato. Play with it. It's so yummy!

Good, bad, save, or eat?!

Here is a great chart that will tell you how long food is good when stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/~fsg/f01chart.html

I printed the list out and attached it to the inside of my pantry door. Great reference!

Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon Salt

Oh my gosh!!! This chicken was SO easy and SO good!!!!! We all LOVED it!!!! You should have seen my daugher eating it! Since it was such a success, it will DEFINITELY go in our family favorites binder, I thought I would share it with all of you.

The recipe is from Michael Chiarello. You can print the recipe from his website.

Favorite Websites

Here are some of the BMCC members favorite websites:

www.napastyle.com
www.foodtv.com
www.familyfun.com
www.aromathyme.com/kids.html
www.wildoats.com/app/cda/oat_cda.php?pt=RecipeCategory
www.recipegoldmine.com
www.cookingbynumbers.com
www.recipegal.com
www.miserlymoms.com

History of the BMCC

Hello Moms (and Dads),

We do have one dad and we welcome more! The Busy Moms Culinary Club, or BMCC, is an email group I started with a few friends, in Nov. 2003, to exchange dinner recipe ideas and support each other as moms. We are all after new and often easy, fast dinners our family (and fussy children) will eat. Our BMCC has now grown from three busy moms to twenty-six and still growing. Our members come from all over the United States.

As the BMCC started to grow in numbers so did our purpose. We found that we not only needed dinner ideas but also a support group all around eating, grocery shopping, menu ideas, and our children. We became an email moms support group. Where if a mom needed any new idea, from a fun and fast dinner for her husband and kids to “how do I shop with my three kids?!”, she could email the BMCC and…“you’ve got mail”…she would have some ideas.

In this blog I am hoping to post all the recipes the BMCC has shared over the years. It will take a while, but I WILL do it. I will also be posting questions, problems and ideas that we have shared.

I hope you enjoy the BMCC blog.

Buon appetito!