Slow Cooker Swedish Meatballs

A few years ago, I had a serving of Swedish Meatballs and fell in love.

Sadly, I have never been able to find a recipe that replicates the flavors from that first experience with the wonderful comfort food.  Believe me, I have tried.  I will also admit to many failures.  If you haven't ever searched for a Swedish Meatball recipe, go ahead and do so now .  .  .

. . . .

didja do a search?

didja?

. . . .

Aren't there some weird combos in some of them?

Yes, I tried those combos.

But - let's get away from the failures.  Let's talk about this slow cooker success!

It may not be the Swedish Meatball recipe I'm still attempting to locate but it was a nice, easy and comforting meal.

Find the Slow Cooker Swedish Meatballs recipe here.

The substitutions . . . .

As you know, there are homemade "cream of" soups.  Canned is good in a pinch . . .

I had some gravy left over from the turkey we made a few days before  So, instead of the canned beef broth and a packet of gravy mix, I just dumped in approximately 2 1/2 cups gravy.

Miss Mia insisted she was going to hate this meal . . . . so adamant was she in this belief, that I was only permitted to serve her 1 (ONE!) meatball.  A few minutes later, I was sidetracked and looked up to see her at the counter . . . my little mule-headed mija was over at the slow cooker spooning out MORE meatballs AND MORE gravy!  By the end of the evening, she had consumed close to 8 (GASP!) meatballs. 

Thoughts for the future - make this again MUCH sooner (rather than later) as the family all enjoyed it!  I think I will also slice up around 4 mushrooms (or maybe 8 . . . . I LOVE my 'shrooms) and toss them in.  For the first attempt with the 'shrooms, they'll go in with everything else . . . . and if they're overcooked, I'll see about tossing them in around hour 4 . . . )

We served this over brown rice as I had a bit of that leftover as well.  With that, we had baked broccoli and a salad. 

JIC - Vanilla Latte

I am odd - at least, in my immediate family.  My Dad and his Mom have coffee instead of blood, I would SWEAR to this.  My Husband, honestly that man really doesn't even put water in his coffee, he makes it so strong!  I think we could do away with the coffee maker and he just eat the coffee beans. 

Me - I think coffee is GROSS. 

Even doctored with sweeteners and creamers . . . meh.  Not anything I like.

BUT - I LOVE the smell of coffee shops!

Therefore, when the Vanilla Latte Candle was announced, I danced a little.  I LOVE the smell!

 

Check out My Store to purchase this WONDERFUL candle (or tart).

 

For the month of February, use coupon code ILoveYou for 15% off your purchase (excluding Scent of the Month which will automatically be 20% off).

 

Pressure Cooker Deconstructed Lasanga Soup

Thank goodness for Pinterest!  We might just starve to death without it!  I mean, I just don't know where else to get recipes - surely not from the piles of recipe books in the kitchen nor from the bag I tote with me to dance class full of all sticky-noted magazines indicating which recipes I want/need to make that upcoming week.

Sarcasm aside, I love being able to pop on my Pinterest pages and find a good recipe right away that matches my mood - and energy level.  This past week . . . it was an odd one.  I couldn't remember what day it was, and kept thinking  had had Monday off when I had actually worked.  It might be the snow days and two hour delays for the girls' schools that kept me off schedule in my head.  Whatever it was, I was beat by the end of the week. 

I knew that I needed to feed the girls something more than just cereal - especially as all of the good cereal is gone and we're down to the "if we don't eat this, I'm not buying any more cereal!" cereals.  Seriously - these girls are odd.  They DO NOT like Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal!  Who would've thought I'd be telling the to finish THAT cereal off after they ate all of the Cheerios!

But, back to the post.  I wanted soup, again, so I popped on my Under Pressure! Pinterest Page.  This time, I found one with loads of meat!  I knew it would be a big hit!

Meet Deconstructed Lasagna Soup!

Again, this is one that will go into rotation!  I am thinking of making an emergency binder as my fatigue seems to be hitting more and more frequently.  This is a quick, simple and delicious recipe that everyone enjoyed.

My additions and thoughts for this soup -
~ ADD MORE WATER!  I followed the recipe and it was good.  REALLY GOOD.  But if I want a soup, more water will be needed.  This turned out to be Pressure Cooker Lasanga for us!  SERIOUSLY!  AND it was still very good as a Lasagna!  but, if I want soup, more water!
~ noodles.  I added 1 cup of flat, broken lasagna noodles.  I think this might have been some of the soup vs lasagna issue.  I will try for another type of pasta, or just add 1/2 cup pasta next time.
~ cheese.  I must remember Miss Picky does not like ricotta.  So, she ended up not putting a cheese ball in her "soup" and just sprinkled with Parmesan.  The other two girls, they loved the mozzarella and ricotta balls and thought it was soooo neat watching the cheese melt all through the lasagna.  I made the cheese balls with 16 oz ricotta and about 2 handfuls of mozzarella cheese.  Just enough for everything to stick together.  I included granulated garlic (more is better in my book, but add to your own liking), 1-2 T Italian Seasoning and mixed it all in a pyrex bowl. 
~ Chopped Green Pepper - yes, I added a veggie!

Really, it doesn't matter if this turns out as a Pasta Dish or a Soup, I will be making Deconstructed Lasagna Soup in my Pressure Cooker again!

Pressure Cooker Chunky Potato and Cheese Soup

Lately, I have been in a soup frame of mind.  This doesn't sit too well with the girls as they don't care for soup.  They will eat it, after they have expressed their displeasure and requested they be served waffles in lieu of the soup.  Instead, I remind them that I am the Mommy and they are the pesky little things that enjoy messing with my mind and they will eat the soup so there is a fighting chance they will get all of their vitamins!

The soup frame of mind also lends itself well to two of my favorite pieces of kitchen equipment: 
1.  My Slow Cooker
2.  My Pressure Cooker
Both make meal planning sooooo much easier.  Dump and Done! 

Both of my two favorite kitchen toys also have alarms - as I forget EVERYTHING, these alarms are great.  Then again, I have two growing kiddos.  I don't need an alarm.  It seems we live in the kitchen as they are always STARVING to DEATH (no melodrama here!).

This past week, I tried out a new recipe I had pinned to my Under Pressure! Pinterest Recipe Board.  I wanted something fast as well as something "soup" and something that could go sans meat since I didn't want to dig and unearth some of what is left of the 1/2 cow we'd purchased in the fall.  And, I just didn't want to bother thawing the meat and cooking it.   

Chunky Potato and Cheese Soup

YUP!  Cheesey Goodness Comfort Food!

If you pop on over to the site where the actual recipe is located, you'll see that it called for bacon.  Meh, we omitted this as, again, I was not in a meat of any type sort of mind.

This recipe was a big hit here!  The girls ate it - and Miss Mia actually went back for seconds.  My parents enjoyed it as well.  Oh!  and do NOT omit the Red Pepper Flakes.  They make the soup!  They are not enough to make the soup painfully hot, just a little "hiya!" as you go about eating this delicious and comforting soup!  If my Mom can eat it, anyone can eat it!

As usual, there were some additional changes to the recipe.
1.  No bacon (next time, I will probably add as we do love bacon here)
2.  I just dumped the potatoes in.  I didn't have a steamer basket and one of our family recipes of potato soup uses mashed potatoes, so smooshed potatoes are a "comfort" food for us.
3.  I used a full onion. 

Some thoughts as to the next time I make this:
1.  add diced carrots - again, family recipe.   potato soup always had tiny piece of carrots
2.  add chopped celery - again, family recipe.
3.  sub out some of the potatoes for chopped and peeled radishes (seriously, did you know this trick????  no one knows the difference!)
4.  sub out some/all of the potatoes for cauliflower (what?  this makes is Cauliflower and Cheese Soup????)

And remember - These raw potatoes need no cooking, just chop and dump in the Pressure Cooker!  You will have your meal, prep to table, within an hour (I am not making any "in just a few minutes" promises.  I have two kids.  Emergencies only happen when I am making one of those "fun and faboulous meals in 30 minutes.  But, even with the emergencies, this Comforting Potato and Cheese Soup was on the table here within an hour!

JIC - Limitied Edition

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