A Better Bag of Groceries

Slow-Cooker Recipe: Beef and Pumpkin Soup

Thursday, October 28, 2010 at 07:24 AM

It’s Pumpkin Week here at A Better Bag of Groceries!  Pumpkin gets an incredible NuVal score of 94 and it certainly is the season, so today I have another fantastic recipe that I just made this week in my own kitchen. 

The winds of change are blowing for my family this autumn.  Not only did we move just three short weeks ago, but back in September, I switched from working part-time for NuVal to working full-time again.  It’s been about four years since I’ve been a full-time working mom, so it’s been a bit of an adjustment for me and my family these past few weeks. 

There are some secrets to being a successful Full-Time Working Mom.  (Since I’ve done a few different working arrangements since becoming a mother, I can tell you that these secrets work very well for moms who work part-time, moms who do not work outside the home and for women who do not have children too!)

Melissa’s Seven Secrets to Being a Successful Full-Time Working Mom*

*The asterisk means that this applies to the other working and family arrangements mentioned above.

1. Plan as Much As You Can
2. Try Not to Freak Out When Things Don’t Go as Planned
3. Get Really Organized
4. Find Solutions for Things that Make you Disorganized
5. Get Really Good Help
6. Outsource Stuff You Just Can’t Do (You Do Make Money, After All)
7. Get a Slow-Cooker or Crock-Pot and Learn How to Use It

Those first 6 items are definitely a blog post for another day.  But today’s blogpost is about how I am trying to find new ways to use my crock-pot.  Because these days, we find ourselves coming in the door after 6 pm – four people with backpacks, lunchboxes and work bags to empty and put away.  The stove is cold.  Dinner is not even started.  There is so much to do – homework, lunches to make for the next day – how to get it all done?  So this weekend, when I was Menu Planning (See Melissa’s Secret to Success #1), I unearthed my ancient slow-cooker cookbook.

The Low Carb claims are a pretty good indication that this cookbook is dated!  The copyright is 2003.

I love the part where they say, “these slow cooker recipes will save the day.”  So true!

So, I flipped through and of course, it being Pumpkin Week and all, this recipe caught my eye.

This looked easy and the cooking time looked just right.  One thing to check for when using a slow cooker is to match your recipe with the number of hours you will be away from home.  For example, if you will be out of the house for 10 hours, don’t choose a recipe that requires only 7 hours of cooking time.  Or you will be eating mush.

Beef and Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes (the NuVal score for Beef Stew meat ranges from 24 to 34 depending on whether it’s chuck, shank or tips)

1 10 ounce package frozen whole kernel corn (NuVal score of 91 for Bird’s Eye frozen corn)

1 1/2 cups 1/2 inch pieces peeled and seeded pumpkin or butternut squash (NuVal score of 94 for Pumpkin, 100 for Butternut Squash)

1 1/2 cups water

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce (I used The Chateau Marinara Sauce by Pastene, NuVal score of 66)

3/4 cup chopped onion (NuVal score of 93)

1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper (NuVal score of 94)

1 clove garlic, minced (NuVal score of 91)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 ounces dried whole wheat macaroni or other small pasta (I used Dreamfield’s Rotini, NuVal score of  87)

1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley (NuVal score of 99)

Oops, I forgot to use the parsley.  And I bought it for the recipe when I went grocery shopping!  Oh, well (See, Melissa’s Secret to Success #2 – Do Not Freak Out When Things Do Not Go As Planned).  No big deal, right?

Directions

1. In a 3 1/2 – to 5-quart slow cooker combine meat, corn, pumpkin, water, tomato sauce, onion, sweet pepper, garlic, salt, black pepper, and nutmeg.  (Note:  I actually browned the meat with the garlic and onions first.  I like to brown things!  Then I put everything in my slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5-6 hours.
3. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.  Stir pasta into the soup.  Ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle each serving with parsley.

Well, the claim on the back of the cookbook was true.  This recipe did save the day!  It took me just a little time the night before to assemble the ingredients into the crock pot (probably longer than necessary because of my Browning Habit).  Then, in the morning, I just placed the crock pot on the burner, set it on low, and went to work.  When we all walked in after 6 pm, the aroma of beef, pumpkin and tomatoes was wafting through the house.  So delicious!  The best thing about this recipe?  The kids loved it.  They gobbled it up and asked for seconds. 

Question of the Day

What is your Secret to Success?

Posted by: Melissa 2 comments

Posted in: Dinner Recipes, Dreamfield's, Pumpkin

Tags: Dinner Recipes, Dreamfield's, Pumpkin, Slow Cooker

Lifesaver Recipe: Pepper Steak

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 07:32 AM

It’s officially Crunch Time.  I can tell.  I took my favorite Kettle Bell class at the gym this morning.  It is usually packed – at 5:45 a.m., mind you – because Gail, the instructor, is incredible.  But this morning, there were less people than usual.  Christmas Eve is only 1 week from tomorrow and the heat is on.  That means that people are staying up late, trying to finish up the shopping and wrapping.  It is so hard to get up early when you’ve been up late.

Now that my kids are getting older and more aware, I’m feeling the crunch too.  It used to be that I could wrap gifts from Santa almost under their nose and they wouldn’t really notice.  Now, however, we have everything very well-hidden, we have to stealthily buy different wrapping paper that is not like the paper used to wrap Grandma’s gifts, and we can’t wrap the kids’ gifts until well after bedtime.  That means that bedtime needs to be early.  And that means that dinner needs to be quick.

So, it’s time to bring out the Big Gun.  That’s right – Pepper Steak!  You can make it in 10 minutes, cook it in the Crockpot all day, and it takes just a few minutes to finish it up prior to mealtime.  Pepper Steak has been in my family for years.  My grandmother (a working mom) taught it to my mother (a working mom) who taught it to me (a working mom).  It’s what I make when I have late meetings or if I have to travel for the day.  I cook it ahead so that my husband can just put it on the slow cooker when I go out of town.  It is truly a lifesaver.  It is also cheap!  You can use a very inexpensive steak (like London Broil), but the meat will come out so tender, almost falling apart.

Pepper Steak

1 Tbsp. canola oil

1 tsp. Gravy Master (you find it in the spice section of your supermarket and it helps to brown the meat)

1 1/2 lbs. London Broil (or Top Round) steak, sliced thin against the grain

1 envelop onion soup mix

3 cups of water

2 Peppers, red or green, or one of each to make it Christmasy, sliced into long strips

1 Tbsp. corn starch

1/2 cup water

Heat the oil and Gravy master in a large frying pan.  Add beef and saute until brown. 

Add water and onion soup mix.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer on low.  At this point, you can transfer the mixture to a slow cooker if you are using that option.  Simmer anywhere from 3 hours (in pan) to 8 hours (in slow cooker).  Just before serving, add peppers and cook until they are crisp-tender. 

Mix corn starch and water in a measuring cup or small bowl until corn starch is dissolved.  Add the corn starch mixture to the pepper steak to thicken.  Sometimes, I do this last step twice in order to achieve the desired consistency.  Serve over rice.

So how does this recipe score on the NuVal scale?

The family recipe calls for “London Broil”.  When I was researching beef and NuVal scores, I had to check what type of beef London Broil is because the scores vary by cut of beef.  I found a helpful site, www.askthemeatman.com, which states that London Broil is technically a cooking method, not a cut of beef.  Supermarkets usually sell Top Round, Bottom Round or Chuck as “London Broil.”  Top Round and Bottom Round are the more nutritional choices, both coming in with NuVal scores of 34.  Chuck only gets a score of 26.  This time I used Top Round, and believe me, it was super-tender and falling apart.  The peppers are NuVal superstars:  Red Peppers, score of 96 and Green Peppers, score of 94.

Historically, this recipe was served over white rice.  My grandmother (who also drank instant coffee) served it over Minute Rice (not my favorite).  My husband and I own a rice cooker and for years we’ve made Jasmine Rice to accompany Pepper Steak.  That is until we learned that Jasmine Rice only scores a 48 on the NuVal scale.  That’s much lower than other rices:

• White Enriched Rice:  57
• White Parboiled Rice: 82
• Brown Rice: 82

When I visited Price Chopper last week with my new colleague, Tina, she suggested that I try Success Brown Rice. 

It takes only 10 minutes to cook and it scores the same as regular brown rice:  82!  I tried it out and there were no complaints from my Peanut Gallery. 

We haven’t scored the Lipton Onion Soup Mix or the Corn Starch yet.  Truth be told, I never think of Pepper Steak as a super-healthy meal.  It’s comfort food to me.  However, you can make it with the leaner cut of beef and the peppers are great.  What makes it healthy is that it’s quick, which leads to earlier bed-time for the kids, which means that you can finish up your night-time Christmas to-do list earlier, which means that you will be able to roll out of bed early to make that 5:45 am Kettle Bell Class.  That is what makes it a Healthy Dinner!

Congratulations to the Winner of yesterday’s Oatmeal GiveAway!

Commenter #11, Maria of TwoPeasandTheirPod.com.  She will be getting some Oatmeal in the mail to keep her warm!

Posted by: Melissa 4 comments

Posted in: Uncategorized

Tags: Beef, Dinner Recipes, Peppers