Spaghettio's - Adult Style!

The other day I walked into my friend Meredith's house and smelled the best dinner cooking. I asked her what it was and she said - just a recipe she throws together all the time in the crock pot. I told her I had to have it and went out and bought the ingredients that day and made it the next. It did not disappoint!



Isn't she adorable. She is my neighbor and I can call on her for ANYTHING - and I just about have!



Meredith didn't really have a name for it - so my girls and I came up with "Spaghettio's - Adult Style"! To me, it tastes like what I thought Spaghettio's tasted like as a kid. (Although I have had them as an adult, I think they are disgusting - however, this stew tastes nothing like Spaghettios of old)!

Spaghettio's- Adult Style!
1 pound stew meat
1 (46 oz) Vegetable Juice
1 (29 oz) can "Veg-All" Vegetables, drained
1 sweet onion
1/2 teaspoon dried Basil
1/2 teaspoon dried Rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried Thyme
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup dried noodles



Douse meat with worcestershire sauce. Toss meat in flour and fry on all sides. This takes about 10 minutes.
Cut sweet onion in small pieces and place in bottom of crock pot.
Place seared meat on top of onions.
Pour bottle of vegetable juice all over meat.
Pour whole can of vegetables in crock pot.
Put dried herbs and minced garlic in crock pot.

Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Thirty minutes before serving, put 1 cup of dried noodles in the crock pot.
I had 2 hot dogs in my deli drawer and I cut them up and threw them in the crock pot at the same time I tossed in my dried noodles. This is a great recipe to use up some of those extra cans of veggies in your pantry!

Enjoy and get ready to relive a taste from childhood!

Denise's Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is my sweet, sweet friend Denise! We have known each other for 8 years now-and our friendship just keeps getting better. This picture cracks me up. It was taken this past year when we went down to the National Mall and did the "Walk for the Cure". We had just run into "Carlos" from Desperate Housewives in a store downtown. Denise - my crazy, always up for anything friend wanted to get our picture with him. She had remembered that he had lost his mother to breast cancer and wanted to use me (her breast cancer friend) as a decoy to get a picture with him! I love her - and on any given day I probably would have been up for it - but I was literally having a panic attack on the spot. My inside voice kept saying, "Your hair looks like a guy, you're 20 pounds over weight, and you would look like an idiot in the picture anyway - so what is the point of taking a picture you wouldn't show any one anyway!" I HATE that little voice. I have since stopped listening to it. Needless to say - today I wish I had thrown myself into "Carlos' " arms and told Denise, "Take a picture". Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda's!! Doesn't she have cheek bones to die for? By the way, she is an AMAZING tennis player and just went to the national level with her Ashburn tennis team.



Denise's Chicken Tortilla Soup
2-3 Chicken Breast Cubed (you can use raw or pre-cooked chicken)



2 Cans of Cream of Chicken Soup whisked with 2 cans of water
2 celery stalks chopped
1 onion chopped
1/4 cup of Fresh Cilantro chopped (I do this in the food processor with the onion)
1 Red Bell Pepper finely chopped
16 oz of Corn
1/2 cup of Cheddar Cheese or Mexican Cheese mix
Tabasco to taste (you may want to add that to only your own portion since it can be too spicy for kids)



4 to 6 hours in Crock Pot (my kids have fun topping the soup) with the following that make the soup a success:

Favorite Tortilla Chips broken
Dollop of Sour Cream
Fresh Salsa (Giant has the best)
Shredded Cheese
Guacamole (if you like)
Tabasco


I love this soup. Denise brought it to me the day after my surgery and I have been hooked ever since. Hope you enjoy it too!