Main Meal Recipes

All recipes tested and approved in the TFB kitchen. Slow Cooker and One Pot Feeds All are my favorites (any way to mix vegetables into the meal that my son cannot avoid!

If I know the source, I will give credit, but in some cases things have been emailed around so much I no longer know the origins!

Italian Meatball and Cheese Tortellini Soup

Pictured above – from allrecipes.com – 20 mins prep time, 25 minutes cook time – 45 minutes total to serve.

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon mince fresh garlic
• 2 quarts beef stock
• 1 (12oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 package frozen spinach
• 1/2 cup diced carrot
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound frozen, cooked Italian style meatballs – thawed
• 1 pound fresh cheese tortellini
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat; cook the onion and garlic in the melted butter until tender (5-7 minutes)

Pour beef stock into the pot; add tomatoes, carrot, Italian seasoning and bay leaf. Bring mixture to a boil.

Stir in the meatballs, spinach and tortellini; return to a boil and cook another 5 minutes.

Ladle into bowls and top with cheese.

Creamy Sauteed Shrimp

(Adapted from a 1990’s era Simply Delicious recipe card collection)

• 1/13 lbs -1.5 lbs medium shrimp (cooked or raw, tail on or not, your preference)
• 1 small white onion
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp curry powder OR paprika
• 1 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp tomato paste or puree
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• Dash Tabasco
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Dash white pepper
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

* Step 1 – clean and peel shrimp if needed. Or thaw. Peel and finely shop onion. Chop parsley.
* Step 2 – Saute onion in butter until soft. Add curry powder (or paprika). Saute a few minutes more.
* Step 3 – Sprinkle with flour. Stir in tomato paste or puree. Blend. Add water and cream. Blend again. Let cook – around medium low heat – for a few minutes
* Step 4 – Season to taste with Tabasco, salt and pepper. Blend. *taste*! Make sure the tomato or salt are not too overpowering and splash in a little more water or cream if needed. For some reason I always have to play with the sauce at this stage. Maybe I just don’t know how to measure properly 🙂
* Step 5 – Add shrimp and parsley and heat through. Serve immediately. I always serve it over rice and it’s the perfect blend.

Probably the best sauce I’ve ever made. This is fast and easy, but you cannot step away from the pan once you get rolling from steps 2-5. Gather all the ingredients around you before you start so they are at your fingertips.

Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili – from Skinnytaste.com

That’s a mouthful eh? The fantastic thing is that while the title is meaty, the flavor is mild unless you really kick up the spices and the calorie/fat content is low low low. Heck, with turkey, white beans and pumpkin puree is the main ingredients, this meal is downright healthy and balanced!!

A 1 cup serving converts to the following: CALORIES = 183 * FAT = 2.3g * CARBS = 10.9g * SUGAR = 2.1 * SODIUM = 429.8 (w/o added salt) * FIBER = 8.8g

Ingredients:

• 2-2.5 lbs lean ground turkey
• ½ tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp chili powder (adj to taste)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 (15oz) can white northern or navy beans, rinsed and drained.
• 1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
• 4.5oz canned chopped green chile
• 2 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth
• Fat free sour cream for topping (optional, I don’t use)
• Chopped cilantro and chives for topping (optional, I do use if I remember!)
• Salt and pepper to taste

SAUTEE: ground turkey, onion, garlic & cumin in oil until meat is cooked. Add to crock pot.

Add beans, pumpkin puree, green chiles, chicken broth, chili powder, oregano and bay leaves. Stir to blend well. COVER and COOK on HIGH for 4 hours or on LOW for 8 hours.

I serve this with tortilla chips and sprinkle a little cheese on top.

From start to turning on the crock pot it takes about 15-20 minutes depending on how fast you can chop your onion.

 Slow Cooker Roast Beef

From Cooks.com – this is the one I make on Christmas and we LOVE it!

• 4 lb boneless roast meat (chuck, sirloin etc. Whatever is on sale will do!)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1 envelope brown gravy mix
• 2 cups ginger ale

Coat roast in flour. Place in crock pot. Blend the rest of the ingredients including the remaining flour in a bowl and pour over roast. Cook on low 8-10 hours or on high 4-5. I stirred the gravy around the roast a couple of times while it was cooking since I was home, but I am sure it would be just fine totally left alone. The meat is ridiculously tender, the gravy is perfect right out of the pot and this makes amazing leftovers.

Beef Broccoli and Pasta Alfredo

Origin unknown – I think it was in a coupon insert in the newspaper a long long time ago!

• 1 lb ground beef
• 10 oz jar prepared Alfredo sauce
• 2 cups uncooked rotini pasta
• 2 cups water
• 3 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

Entire meal can made in one large stew pot.

Brown beef and pour off drippings. Stir in Alfredo sauce, water and pasta. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer gently for 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add broccoli & cook, covered for another 8-10 minutes or until broccoli and pasta are al dente. Top with cheese and serve.

Slow Cooker Minestrone

Origin unknown – this basic recipe serves 6 – I didn’t want a bunch of leftover open containers of ingredients so I doubled it froze 1/2

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 1 & 1/2 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 28oz can of tomatoes, undrained
• 1 8 oz can of red kidney beans – drained
• 1 8 oz can of white kidney beans – drained
• 15oz of beef stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 1/12 teaspoons pepper
• 2 1/2 teaspoons parsley
• 1o oz of spaghetti sauce
• 4 ounces pasta (I used mini pinwheels)
• salt to taste – start with 1/2 tsp

Brown beef in a skillet & drain. Add all ingredients into the crock pot except pasta. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. In the last 45 minutes add pasta.

Per my tips above – the ingredient sizes are odd – I honestly don’t know where this recipe came from yet it is a fairly new one I printed out. But really – 10 oz of jar spaghetti sauce? 15oz beef stock? 1/2 an onion? And of course I couldn’t find an exactly measure 1lb package of ground beef either. Hence the doubling and NO leftover items 🙂 The recipe itself doesn’t call for salt, but we found it did need it. Otherwise – YUM! Fabulous winter day meal!

Man-Pleasing Chicken

From wittyinthecity who has a lot of great recipes – sorted nicely by main ingredient! Some day I will be able to pay for hosting and such and upgrade to a theme that will allow for proper recipe sorting!

• Boneless, skinless chicken thighs – can support up to a 2lb pack (I had 10 thighs in my last batch) – if you want more sauce per thigh, the limit the meal to 6 thighs.
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• Salt and Pepper
• Fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 450. Line an oven proof baking dish with foil. In a bowl, mix together the Dijon mustard, Maple syrup and rice wine vinegar until well blended. Place the chicken thighs into the baking dish. Salt and pepper them to your taste. pour the mixture over them turning the thighs so they are fully coated. Put the thighs in the oven and bake for 40 mins. Baste the tops of the chicken with sauce half way through.

Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with fresh rosemary. (SO worth it!)

I am not entirely thrilled with the gender biased title of this recipe, but I can promise you it is really really good. I made it with some rice pilaf and peas. Leftovers the next day were just as good. I am not a fan of dijon mustard but the blend of the three main ingredients is REALLY good!