Slow-cooker recipes adapt well to homeschooling schedules
Schoolchildren have left the buildings at least for the remainder of the semester.
Parents, grandparents and guardians will continue the task of seeing that their kids stay up-to-date on schoolwork and, yes, teach subject areas the students haven’t learned.
This puts a continued change in the home routine. Checking homework always has been a daily task, but now, throw in teaching, and schedules are topsy-turvy.
Adults must plan meal prep around homeschooling. Yes, students can help with the prep and receive more math, science and reading lessons in the kitchen. Sometimes adult cooks just want a meal that is easy to fix and low in calories or a one that can be tossed in the slow-cooker and not bothered with until dinner. Those pandemic pounds mount up.
The slow-cooker once again is getting its workout.
My daughter suggested that most families of schoolchildren or teens could use less stress, and a slow cooker certainly can provide that.
“Do some slow-cooker recipes, Mom,” said Elyssa. “It makes life so much easier.”
I had to agree. I have one slow-cooker that can cook three different dishes at one time, which is what I did last week.
Missing my Mexican food fixes at my favorite restaurant, I decided to make tacos. Elyssa and I like beef tacos with the works. Lilly prefers chicken tacos with cheese only. In my three-pot slow cooker, I could make beef and chicken fillings and still have room for queso, another Lilly favorite.
Zippy beef tips are a five-ingredient, low-calorie dish. It doesn’t take much time to put in the slow-cooker and is ready in eight hours. Serve the tips over rice and mix up a fresh green salad for a side. This recipe is a “keeper” in my book.
Try some home-grown Mississippi sweet potatoes mixed with chicken breasts, orange juice and mushrooms for only 337 calories a serving, a plus when some have added quarantine pounds.
Chefs that I know prefer using chicken thighs in some of their dishes; I can’t. I don’t like chicken thighs; they never taste done to me. It’s a hangover from my grandmother. She didn’t like them either, so rarely prepared them.
Chicken with applesauce is another low-ingredient, yet high-flavored dish with only 301 calories. Yes, it uses boneless, skinless chicken breasts. This dish cooks in 2 to 3 hours on high. Another plus for this dish: Kids love the applesauce.
Zippy beef tips
2 pounds stewing meat, trimmed of fat, cubed
2 cups fresh mushrooms
10 3/4-ounce can cream of mushroom soup
1 envelope fat-free dry onion soup mix
1 cup sugar-free 7UP or other sugar-free lemon-lime carbonated drink
Place meat and mushrooms in slow-cooker.
Combine mushroom soup, soup mix and soda. Pour over the meat.
Cover. Cook on low for 8 hours.
Serve over rice.
Nutritional values per serving: Calories, 166; total fat, 7 grams with 2 grams saturated fat; cholesterol, 58 milligrams; sodium, 340 milligrams; carbohydrates, 7 grams; dietary fiber, 1 gram; sugar, 2 grams; protein, 19 grams.
Orange chicken and sweet potatoes
2 (5 1/2 ounces each) sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
3 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved, all visible fat removed
2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
10 3/4-ounce can condensed, 98 percent fat-free, reduced sodium cream of chicken soup
4-ounce can sliced mushrooms, drained
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
2 teaspoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
Place sweet potatoes in bottom of slow cooker.
Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry. Combine flour, nutmeg and cinnamon. Thoroughly coat chicken in seasoned flour mixture. Place on top of sweet potatoes.
Combine soup with remaining ingredients. Stir well. Pour over chicken breasts.
Cover. Cook on low 8-10 hours or 3-4 hours on high.
Serve over rice and salad or green vegetable.
Nutritional values per serving: Calories, 337; total fat, 5 grams with 1.4 grams saturated fat; cholesterol, 88 milligrams; sodium, 335 milligrams; carbohydrates, 34 grams; dietary fiber, 3 grams; sugars, 8 grams; protein, 36 grams. – “Fix-It and Forget-It Diabetic Cookbook”
Chicken with applesauce
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons oil
2 cups applesauce, unsweetened
Cut up chicken into 1-inch chunks and transfer to slow cooker
Combine remaining ingredients. Pour over chicken and mix well.
Cover. Cook on high 2-3 hours or until chicken is tender.
Serve over rice or noodles.
Nutritional values per servings: Calories, 301; total fat, 10 grams with saturated fat 1.5 grams; cholesterol, 84 milligrams; sodium, 199 milligrams; carbohydrate, 19 grams; dietary fiber, 2 grams; sugars, 16 grams; protein, 32 grams. – “Fix-It and Forget-It Diabetic Cookbook”
Andrea Yeager can be reached at ayeager51@cableone.net/ and Cooks Exchange, 205 DeBuys Road, Gulfport, MS 39507.