Crock-Pot Mondays: Slow-Cooked Meatball Stew

 

 

Mondays are busy.  They always have been.  Mondays are the get back to the routine and the try not to pull your hair out trying to get everything done day.  Monday is the day I say to myself, “I really have to get out of bed at 5:45am for the next 5 days?!  Ugh!  I don’t think I am going to make it!”  Ok, so I don’t say that out loud, but that is how I feel, especially on Mondays.

 

Monday shall now be a little bit better.  I have discovered the long lost art of crockpot cooking.  It is so easy to get everything together and just throw it in a slow cooker, set the timer, push the button and walk out the door.  The only trick to crock pot cooking is making sure you have the ingredients in the right order.  The longer cooking ingredients need to be on the bottom, closest to the heat source.  Ingredients such as potatoes and carrots and meat.  Ingredients that are already cooked need to stay near the top because they don’t take long.

 

 

I want to find slow cooker recipes that are easy to put together and that there isn’t a lot of prep work involved.  I think Slow-Cooked Meatball Stew is just the recipe to get me started.  I found the recipe for this amazing smelling stew in another Pillsbury cookbooks (Slow Cooker, Feb 2005 issue 288).  It has a whole chapter of recipes that only call for five ingredients!  What an economical way to feed a family of five!  My favorite part of crockpot cooking?  The smell!  Walking in the door after eight hours of work and after picking up three children from school and after piano lesson, the best thing is the smell of the house.  A home cooked meal already done for me!

 

Carbohydrates per serving:   37 grams

Slow-Cooked Meatball Stew

 

1 bag (1 pound) ready-to-eat baby carrots

1 pound small red potatoes (2 1/2 to 3 inch), cut into quarters

1 jar (4.5 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained

1 small onion, cut into thin wedges

1 bag (16 ounces) frozen cooked meatballs (about 32)

1 jar (12 ounces) beef gravy

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

Freshly ground pepper, if desired.

1.  In a 4- to 5- quart slow cooker, layer all ingredients in order listed.  See pictures below.

1.  Carrots

2.  Potatoes

3.  Mushrooms

4. Onions

5.  Meatballs

6.  Beef gravy

7.  Crushed tomatoes

2.  Cover; cook on Low setting 8 to 10 hours.  Before serving gently stir stew.