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Mozzarella-stuffed Turkey Meatballs {Freezer Meal}

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This week I lucked out and found some major markdowns on ground turkey and mozzarella – so I stocked up and I made the best of the deal by turning it into Mozzarella-stuffed turkey meatballs – one of our favorite freezer meals. It’s a super easy recipe and adding the mozzarella takes barely any extra time at all.

This recipes will make about 48 meatballs – for us this is about 4 meals. Each meatball is about 2 inches in diameter.

Mozzarella-stuffed Turkey Meatballs {Freezer Meal}
 
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Recipe type: Meatballs
Ingredients
  • 3.75 pounds of ground turkey (this is three (3) 20 oz containers) - I used Jennie-O Italian Seasoned variety because it’s what I found on sale. Any variety will work. I prefer the leaner meat.
  • 12 oz mozzarella block, cut into ½ cubes, about 48 (this is usually how the round mozzarella loaves are sold) - I had a little bit of cheese left over, but not much! You can also use string cheese – cut into little squares.
  • 2 Cups bread crumbs
  • 4 eggs beaten
  • 4-5 garlic fresh cloves, minced - Add more if you really love garlic, less if you don’t!
  • 2 Tablespoons dried Oregano or italian seasoning
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • Other ingredients you could consider – minced fresh onion, fresh or dried parsley or fresh parmesan cheese.
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with foil or Silpat baking sheets. (I didn’t do this and didn’t have too many issues with sticking).
  2. Toss ground turkey and all ingredients into a very large bowl.
  3. Using your hands (clean hands), gently mix the ingredients together. Try to mix as little as possible. The more you mix, the more likely your meatballs are to fall apart.
  4. Once ingredients are evenly combined, take a small handful of turkey and make a little patty. Press your thumb into middle of patty and place a piece of cheese inside indentation. Wrap turkey around cheese, sealing edges.
  5. Place meatball on cookie sheet (with edge) or broiler pan or on oven-safe grate inside cookie sheet (especially if you have higher fat content meat).
  6. Bake for about 25 minutes at 375 degrees, until thoroughly cooked through and lightly browned.

Serve your turkey meatballs with a homemade spaghetti sauce or a homemade roasted marinara sauce or with sauce from a jar (I won’t judge), pasta and some fresh mozzarella or parmesan cheese. These would also make great meatball subs! They’d also make great appetizers – just stick a toothpick inside hot meatballs and serve with marinara dipping sauce!

Freeze meatballs for up to 3 months. I usually just place mine in freezer bags in groups of 12. To thaw, take out the morning or evening before you plan to serve. Heat in marinara sauce or in the oven until heated throughout.

How do you make your meatballs?

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Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup

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Oh my goodness. If you like lasagna – you must try this recipe for Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup. It is creamy, rich, cheesy and just like a homemade lasagna – without all the layering and work that comes with making a lasagna. Not that I’ve ever made a lasagna before, I should confess to that. But now that I’ve made lasagna soup – in my slow cooker of all things – I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to make a labor intensive lasagna! Why bother! I think this would be a perfect meal to make on a Sunday and invite all your family over for dinner. They’ll be super impressed and you’ll be happy because you spent so little time in the kitchen.

Okay, I’ll stop raving about it now and just get right into the recipe.

Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Ingredients
  • 19 ounces italian sausage links, cut into bite-size pieces - This is the typical size for the Johnsonville italian sausage packages. If you have more, or less, it won’t matter much. Just add what you have or however much you want.
  • 1 onion diced finely - My husband could live without this all together. They still have a bit of crunch even after 8 hours in the crockpot. Your call.
  • 5 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 Tablespoon dried Oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • One (1) 6 oz can of tomato paste
  • Two (2) 14 oz cans diced tomatoes - I used oregano, basil flavored tomatoes. Most recipes call for a 28-oz can of fire-roasted tomatoes, but I didn’t have this on hand. So I added a 4-oz can of fire-roasted chilies for that smokey flavor. If you use the fire-roasted tomatoes, you could probably leave out the 4 ounces of chilies.
  • One (1) 4 oz can of fire-roasted green chilies
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 6 Cups chicken broth
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 10-12 ounces uncooked pasta - I used shells, but you could use whatever kind you have on hand!
  • Ricotta and shredded mozzarella cheese for topping
Instructions
  1. In a large slow cooker (6 quart or larger probably) combine all the ingredients except pasta and cheeses. Cook on low for 8-9 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
  2. For the last 30 minutes of cooking, add in your uncooked pasta.
  3. When ready to serve, ladle into bowls and add a dollop of ricotta and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. If you want to get fancy you can put it under the broiler for 3-5 minutes until the cheese has melted and started to brown. I admit – I tried this and nearly burned my cheese and the bowl was so hot, it was difficult to manage. I recommend just adding the cheese and stirring it in to melt. It won’t look as pretty, but it’s a lot less work.

You can also serve with garlic bread. I burned mine, so the chickens are eating it now. ?

Thanks to Back to Her Roots for the inspiration for this recipe!

Come back and tell me what you think about it! I hope you like it as much as we did!

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Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta

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Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta is a delicious, hard-to-ruin, everyone-sits-at-the-dinner-table kind of recipe. It uses lots of pantry staples that frequently go on sale.

Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta
 
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Recipe type: Pasta
Ingredients
  • 1 Package of Italian Sausage links or Italian Ground Sausage (fresh meat department- the spicey variety adds a lot of depth)
  • 1 Chopped Onion
  • 3 Cloves Minced Garlic (or 1.5 teaspoons of jarred minced garlic)
  • 14.5 – 16 oz. can Diced Tomatoes with Italian Herbs
  • 8 oz. can Tomato Sauce
  • ½ Tub of Italian Cheese & Herb PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme (or 1 cup heavy cream)
  • 3 tsp. dried basil (Or 5-6 leaves of fresh chopped basil)
  • 12 oz. Penne Pasta (Use ¾ 16oz. box)
  • Grated Parmesan
Instructions
  1. Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente, drain and set aside (don’t rinse).
  2. In the mean time, remove those clear outer casings on your sausage if it has them. Start cooking your sausage on a low-medium heat and crumbled it with your spatula. Once it’s browned and almost completely cooked, add onions and garlic. Keep your heat on low medium to avoid turning the garlic bitter.
  3. Saute until onions start to look translucent. Add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir and heat through.
  4. Add cooking creme and basil, heat through.
  5. Add your pasta and serve with Parmesan. Yummy!

Side dish suggestions:

Make up a batch of Grandma’s Roll Recipe. Mix up 1 stick softened butter with garlic, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning to taste.  Add a bit of mayo to make this super rich. Cut your rolls into halves and spread the butter mixture on generously. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan, set on a cookie sheet and broil until the cheese looks just slightly light, light brown.  Steamed peas compliment this dish and stirs in well for those who mix their plates.

No need to shout for the family, they’ll already be crowding you in the kitchen from the taunting aroma. Serve and enjoy.

(This recipe is adapted from “Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta” on The Girl Who Ate Everything)

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Slow Cooker Pot Roast

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This isn’t the first crockpot pot roast recipe that I’ve made, but it is now my favorite. The way this browned up and seasoned was amazing for being in a slow cooker. It was incredibly easy and my entire family loved it.

This recipe was sent in by Karri. She said she found the crockpot pot roast recipe on Pinterest so I did some digging and discovered this is also called Mississippi pot roast and apparently it’s a very popular crockpot pot roast recipe! I could not find an original source but did find that it is on many, many blogs. It’s now on my list of favorite beef pot roast recipes!

Slow Cooker Pot Roast
 
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Recipe type: Beef
Ingredients
  • Beef roast 3-4 pounds - I used a bottom round roast that was 2.5 pounds
  • Butter, a whole stick
  • Package of Ranch dressing powder
  • Package of Au Jus mix
  • 5-7 pepperoncinis
Instructions
  1. Put pot roast in bottom of crockpot.
  2. Sprinkle with ranch dressing powder and Au Jus mix.
  3. Put the butter on top of the roast. I quartered mine. But I don’t think it matters.
  4. Cook on low in slow cooker for 5-7 hours.
  5. Serve with mashed potatoes, on a sandwich, or just plain (like we did!)

I didn’t touch the pot roast the entire time it was cooking. I didn’t flip it or move it and I left the lid on the slow cooker the whole time. The top caramelized similar to how I’ve seen on prime ribs and it smelled like my mom’s prime rib. Nom nom.  You can probably serve with the juice to keep it moist or I bet you whip up a pretty good gravy with it!

I couldn’t find the original source of this recipe, but Food.com is one of many, many places I found it online.

Have you tried a pot roast recipe like this before? What did you think? Anything you would add?

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Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup

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We had a pot roast for dinner last night. It turned out delightful. I’ll tell you more about that soon, but I couldn’t wait to tell you about this Slow Cooker Beef and Barley soup that I made today with the leftover pot roast! Next time you have leftover pot roast – give this recipe a try – I think you’ll love it!

This recipe calls for leftover cooked pot roast – but if you buy raw stew beef – just dice into 1/2 squares and throw it into a large skillet with a little oil and onions – and cook it up before throwing it into the crockpot.

Oh I’m a certified member of the I love chunky soup club – so if you prefer your soup a little less full of stuff,  just use 1 cup each of the carrots, celery and mushrooms (instead of suggested 2 cups each).

Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Ingredients
  • 1 to 2 pounds of leftover pot roast, diced small - Or cooked stew meat
  • 7 cups beef broth - If you have Au Jus from the pot roast, you could sub 1-2 cups of broth with Au Ju, but you don’t want it too greasy – so consider cooling the Au Jus overnight in the fridge and removing the hardened fat from the top, using the less fatty, liquid Au Jus for the soup.
  • 2 cups carrots, sliced thinly
  • 2 cups celery, sliced thinly
  • 2 cups mushrooms, sliced thinly
  • ½ – 1 cup dried pearl barley
  • 1 can of stewed or diced tomatoes (14.5 oz can)
  • 1 can of sweet corn, drained (15 oz can)
  • 1 onion, diced finely
  • ½ Tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ½ teaspoon dried parsley
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
  1. In a medium skillet, add olive oil and sauté onions until tender
  2. In your crockpot – add all ingredients, including cooked beef and cooked onions. Give it a goods stir and get those seasonings mixed up.
  3. Cook on low for 8-10 hours (or high for 4-6 hours) until barley, beef and veggies are tender.
  4. Serve with warm bread. If you’re up for it – make my Grandma’s Rolls.

I’d love to hear what you think of this recipe! Leave a comment and let me know! 

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Crockpot Corned Beef and Guinness

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I didn’t grow up eating corned beef – the first time I made it was a few years ago in the crockpot. This recipe for Corned Beef and Guinness in the crockpot is so incredibly easy and super delicious. I won’t pretend to be a corned beef expert – but this recipe sure seems to get the job done.

If you have other corned beef recipes or cooking methods – I’d love to hear from you, please leave a comment on this post!

Here’s how I made Crockpot Corned Beef and Guinness . . . 

Crockpot Corned Beef and Guinness
 
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Recipe type: Beef
Ingredients
  • 2.5 pound corned beef
  • 12 ounces Guinness Stout beer
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • One bay leaf
  • One onion, quartered
  • Two carrots, chopped
  • Horseradish dijon mustard when served
Instructions
  1. Rinse corned beef off well (I read this helps with saltiness, which I don’t care for, so I figured I’d give it a try). Pat dry.
  2. I trimmed off some of the fat. Since I’ve never made it before I didn’t want to trim off too much – since I’m guessing it’s going to help tenderize it a little, but it was fattier than I expected.
  3. Rub the beef with the seasoning packet that comes with the meat.
  4. Rub ½ cup brown sugar around meat – more or less sugar depending on what’s needed to cover the meat with a nice coating.
  5. Place in crockpot and pour one 12 ounce Guinness Stout beer around the meat. Add water until it reaches top of meat. Or you can add two beers, but I didn’t want it to be too bitter – and Guinness isn’t cheap.
  6. Throw in your garlic and chopped onion. I added a couple carrots for extra flavor.
  7. Cook on low, for a LONG time – like you know, slow cooker style.
  8. Bump your crockpot heat up to high and throw in potatoes and carrots about 90 minutes before you plan to serve. I quartered my potatoes so they would cook quickly.
  9. We ended up eating it with horseradish dijon mustard – yum!

We served the corned beef with the cooked vegetables but NO cabbage. I waited until the last minute and my local store was out of cabbage.

My husband kept saying “this is so good!” so he was certainly happy with it, which means we’ll be having it again in the future. I had a hard time with the fatty parts of the meat, but I think as a “tradition” this meal is definitely worth making again, super easy to make, extremely frugal.

I’d love to hear from you – will you be making Corned Beef? What is your favorite way to make it?

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Slow Cooker Coca-Cola Beef Roast

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I don’t know what it is, but people love pouring Coke on meat in the Crockpot. I think the Pioneer Woman is probably to thank for this sweet trick – so thank you Ree. Next time you’re in town, I’d love to have you over for dinner and oh, sure – you can cook, that would be awesome!

Truth be told, I actually ended up making this recipe up – it’s very, very simple. I had received different variations of beef roast recipes from some of you – so I ended up adding ingredients that I had and leaving out ingredients that I didn’t. This roast was incredibly tender and I liked the slightly sweet flavor that came from the Coke. It was a big hit with the handsome husband.

Slow Cooker Coca-Cola Beef Roast
 
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Recipe type: Beef
Ingredients
  • Beef roast of some kind. I look for cheap cuts. They will be in the slow cooker so long they usually tenderize just perfectly. Ask your butcher if you’re uncertain what kind of roast to buy.
  • 2 cans of Coca-Cola (I bet Dr. Pepper would be good, too)
  • Lipton Recipe Secrets, Onion - Amazon actually has a pretty decent deal on these –Lipton Recipe Secrets, Onion, 2Count 2Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6)
  • Onions, quartered
  • Carrots, roughly chopped (or use baby carrots for ease)
  • Potatoes, quartered
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Place beef roast into crockpot. If it has a fatty layer on it, I usually try and put that on top, so it drips down through meat to moisturize.
  2. Sprinkle chopped vegetables around the roast in the slow cooker.
  3. Pour two Coca-Colas over roast into slow cooker.
  4. Sprinkle one package of Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion on top of the roast.
  5. Cook on high for 8-10 hours or until meat is falling apart and your vegetables are tender.

What is your favorite way to make beef roasts in the Crockpot? I’ve also made a similar recipe, but instead of Coca-Cola you can add a can of crushed tomatoes.

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Slow Cooker Country Style Pork Ribs

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Country-style pork ribs are one of the most frugal meats you can buy. This Slow Cooker Country-Style Pork Rib recipe is simple and so easy. It’s a fantastically simple base recipe that you can add to or serve with a variety of sauces.

Slow Cooker Country Style Pork Ribs
 
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Recipe type: Pork
Ingredients
  • About 5 – 7 pounds of country-style pork ribs
  • Water, 1 Cup
  • Sherry, ½ Cup
  • Barbecue sauce, ¼ Cup
  • Worcestershire sauce, a few shakes
  • Garlic salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Season country-style ribs with garlic salt and pepper, to your liking.
  2. Put ribs into slow cooker. Whisk together water, sherry and barbecue sauce and pour over the ribs in the slow cooker
  3. Shake worcestershire sauce over the top of it. I did a few shakes.
  4. Cook on low for 8 hours. Don’t stir too much, just leave it be, with the lid on. Over stirring will break apart the ribs.
  5. Remove with tongs and serve with your favorite toppings. We served with barbecue sauce!

What’s your favorite rib recipe? In the oven? Crockpot? Barbecue?

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Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

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Yesterday while wandering around Safeway I spotted a pork shoulder roast for 50% off! I figured it would be a good time to try Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches which I’ve never made before. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. I made up a little rub, tossed it in the slow cooker around 8 a.m. and by 5 p.m. we chowed down on sandwiches.

Disclaimer – I’m no pulled pork expert. This was my first time making it. But we thought it was delicious, so we hope you enjoy our recipe. ?

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches
 
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Recipe type: Pork
Ingredients
  • Pork shoulder roast, mine was a big roast at almost 7 pounds!
  • Beer, any kind will do, I used a Redhook IPA
  • Onion, about 3-4 slices
  • Lime, 3-4 slices
  • Whole garlic cloves, 3-4, minced
Rub/seasoning - You can adjust based on size of roast. I had a 7 pound roast, so just adjust accordingly.
  • 2 – 3 bay leaves
  • Cumin, 2 teaspoons
  • Garlic powder, 2 teaspoons
  • Dried oregano, 1 teaspoon
  • Coriander, 1 teaspoon
  • Salt, 1 teaspoon
  • Cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon
  • Brown sugar, ¼ cup
  • Pepper, to taste?
Instructions
  1. I rinsed the pork shoulder under cold water and patted it dry with paper towels. Set it on cutting board.
  2. Mix together rub/seasoning ingredients – leaving out the bay leaves for later.
  3. Rub pork shoulder with seasoning mix. You could, if you planned ahead, wrap the shoulder in plastic wrap and let the rub infuse into the meat overnight. I didn’t do that because frankly I’m not that organized this week.
  4. Place the 2-3 bay leaves in the base of your slow cooker. Place the seasoned roast on top of your bay leaves inside the slow cooker.
  5. Place onion slices on top of roast. Then top with your lime slices. And sprinkle your minced garlic on top.
  6. Pour beer around roast. Don’t be tempted to add more liquid – the roast will produce a lot and you don’t want it to boil over.
  7. Cook on high for about 8-10 hours. Basically until it falls apart. I turned my roast upside down about half-way through, so all the meat got a chance at a beer/seasoning bath.
  8. After meat seems to be falling apart – carefully move roast to cutting board. Pull off any large pieces of fat – it should just peel off. If it’s bone-in, remove bone.
  9. Attack the roast with a couple forks until it’s completely shredded. It shouldn’t be hard at all to do. If the meat does NOT pull apart easily, it probably needs to be thrown back into slow cooker.
  10. Strain out any fat pieces from liquid in slow cooker. Add shredded pork back into slow cooker juices until it’s time to serve. I served with a slotted spoon, so you could strain out some of the liquid before plopping on bread.

Per Mr. Queen Bee’s suggestion we enjoyed on kaiser rolls with sliced pickle, shredded lettuce and barbecue sauce. I had no idea how to make a pulled pork sandwich – but he has had his share – so I took his advice, it was delicious! I’m also thrilled that this roast was large enough to have a ton of leftovers – so I won’t have to make dinner tonight!

I also heard that the Pioneer Woman has an amazing spicy pulled pork recipe in her cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Have you tried that one?

What’s your favorite way to make pulled pork or use a pork shoulder roast?

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Slow Cooker Chicken with Rice Pork Chops

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This recipe easy Slow Cooker pork chop recipe sent in by Bonnie was her grandmother’s recipe. Barbara wrote in the email about the recipe, “. . .My grandmother taught me (this recipe) years ago before she passed when I was a young mom a tight budget. She called it ‘Chicken-licking Good Pork Chops’ and this recipe is now part of our fall/winter rotation of meals. .  .”

I love that this simple pork chop recipe was Bonnie’s grandma’s recipe and that she passed it along to her. Some of my favorite recipes have come from my Grandma, too. This recipe is so easy, the ingredients are simple and it really was “Chicken-licking good!” My kids and my husband raved about this easy pork chop recipe, which we ended up serving over a bed of white rice.

Slow Cooker Chicken with Rice Pork Chops
 
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Recipe type: Pork
Ingredients
  • 1 package of boneless pork chops, about 2-3 pounds
  • ½ cup flour
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • salt/pepper to taste
  • 2 Tablespoons cooking oil
  • 1 can of Campbell’s condensed chicken with rice soup - If you want more “gravy” when you serve it – I would add two cans of soup.
  • Optional: Sliced carrots
Instructions
  1. Mix flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper and spread it out on a plate.
  2. Dredge pork chops in the mixture, coating both sides
  3. Head cooking oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, cook floured pork chops on both sides just long enough to brown, but not enough to cook through.
  4. Place pork chops in the bottom of the slow cooker, evenly spaced out. Pour the can of Campbell’s condensed chicken with rice soup over the top. If you have sliced carrots or baby carrots, toss in at this time.
  5. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours or cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.
  6. Serve pork chops over hot rice or even mashed potatoes. Pairs nicely with a green salad and crusty bread.

What’s your favorite pork chop recipe? 

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