Crock pot ideas/Recipie

Shefly,
Yes, I can hardly wait! I don't plan on putting it in the oven. It cam eyesterday and looks like a nice one! The size seems just right for a nice roast pork or some chicken soup or a veggie stew.
I'm actually a very good cook and I don't usually even need recipes, but crock-cooking will take some adjustment as a short learning process for me. Especially in the solid/liquid proportions and the timing of things like veggies compared to my "usual" routine. I can't wait to make some hearty soups for DH- soups are his FAVORITE. :p

So, my new crock pot is doing it's first trial run. I took my leftover chicken from Thanksgiving and threw it in with some water and onion and will let that cook for a few hours. Then will add carrots celery parsely noodles etc the last 2 hours, for chicken soup. Can't go wrong with that recipe I figure! ;)
After the weekend hubbub and visiting is over, I'll try some "real" recipes. Maybe BBQ pork. and a wild rice dish of some sort.

Sounds yummy, Lisa! How did it turn out? I find that carrots take a pretty long time to cook in the crock pot...

SheFly

The soup came out great, thanks for asking!
We actually got an impromptu dinner invite tongiht, and also are going away tomorrow, so the whole finished soup had to go into the fridge until we eat it on monday! :eek: Chicken soup is pretty forgiving though...

I cooked the chicken and liquid and onions for 3 hrs, then added the veggies for 3 hours, then the noodles at the last 20 minutes. Made about 4 qts of soup and it turned out fine. Of course, not much you can do to ruin chicken soup as long as you have some nice roast chicken leftovers to start with!
I did get the vegetarian slow cooker book that uses only fresh ingredients, it looks wonderful, and will write more about it later on, but must go to bed and will not be online much tomorrow...

I cooked a 3 or 4 pound chicken in my Crock Pot this week (all this Crock Pot talk has made me very excited to use it!), it came out amazingly. I couldn't take it out of the pot when it was done, because it just fell apart. So tasty. I'm hoping the soup from the leftovers will be just as nice. Anyone else try this?

I made a very nice wild mushroom and barley thick soup with lamb in my slow cooker a couple of days ago. Had some carrots and onions in it too. I browned the onions and lamb chunks first in olive oil, and that was pretty easy. I read that that is one of the keys to bringing out the best flavors- the browning sort of caramelizes the natural sugars and fats, giving them a better flavor, and of course they look nicer too.
The whole house smells so GOOD with the slow cooker going all afternoon.
It was very hearty and aromatic. DH is VERY happy about my getting a crockpot, because he LOVES soup. :p

Right now I have a 3 lb. pork roast in the slow cooker with sauce for the past 5 hours, making bbq pulled pork tonight! DH is from Iowa, and of course he is nuts about pulled pork.

(Can you tell I'm having fun?)

never used a crock pot before! never left a post outside of apparel before!

We have a crockpot in our house, and it always seems in the way. Maybe it is time to put it to use. I am a novice cooker but I do okay. i feed my self seven times a week (big thing for a college student). I think it is time to crock pot.

what are some guidelines? Like times for various ingredients. Is it really okay to leave home while it is crockpotting? This seems like fun!

Madscot,
You can find a lot of info and recipes free on the web for slow cookers.
I got this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Cookers-D...e=UTF8&s=books
"Slow Cookers for Dummies" and it has all the info you'll ever need to know, written in an easy to understand way. Look to the right of the page for used copies which are cheaper (i got a used one myself). It has some good recipes too, using FRESH ingredients.
And yes, it IS safe to leave cooking while you are out. (as long as you follow the instructions, and the pot is at least half full but not more than 2/3 full) That's really why I bought mine, becasue I love to make soup for my husband but I always felt uneasy about leaving a pot simmering on the stove when I went out.

I've got a turkey carcass in the freezer just begging to be thrown into a crock pot and turned into soup, yum!

Perfect for this cold northwest weather too.

my favorite crockpot recipe:

brown rice squash "risotto"

it's super easy to make and very tasty. don't be put off by the fact that it's from "fatfreevegan.com" - i brought this to thanksgiving at my very traditional, omnivorous family get-together and everyone loved it. they didn't even guess that it's vegan, or so good for you!

and for the record, i got my crockpot at value village for $5 and it's been great. nothing fancy, but neither am i....

Trashalicious,

That's a nice website! I recognized the Chipotle-kissed recipe as also being in the book I just book:
http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Vegetari...e=UTF8&s=books
I really like this book, it gives a lot of good tips for cooking with FRESH food in the slow cooker. I wonder if there are other recipes shared between your link and my book...
I do eat meat, but I like the "freshness" of the vegetarian cooking style and I figure I can always throw a few bits of chicken or fish etc into any dish if I want to.
When I was looking for a slow cooker recipe book a couple of weeks ago, I browsed through WAY too many books of recipes calling for canned cream of mystery soup or dried onion soup, canned chicken(!), canned mushrooms, etc. Pretty mushy sounding concoctions to me. Reminded me of the scary recipes from 30 years ago, when I last had a crockpot! :eek:

I will be exploring some of the other recipes on the link you gave. Thanks!

This morning I put together a pretty good hearty veggie stew in the slow cooker and we ate it this evening. DH has been sick with bad cough and cold and I am slightly sick now, trying to fight it off. So I figured all the vegetables would be good for that.

My older daughter (28) wanted to know all about my new slow cooker over the phone and she sounded very enthusiastic, wanting to know how she should get one... She actually IS a vegetarian, and on a very low budget too. She loves beans and soups and such. So for Xmas I am getting her a smaller crock pot (3 1/2 qt) and the same book I got. It would be ideal for her and her partner's lifestyle. I told her perhaps Santa would read her mind and know just what she wanted. ;)

Tomorrow DH and I are going to be pretty busy. First ride (hopefully) on his NEW BIKE down to town for breakfast, then perhaps a longer ride afterwards if weather permits. Then on to play music at a friend's pottery show and sale. Then after that about 6 friends are coming over to play more music at our house and I said I'd have some sweet potato soup with crusty bread, and a fire in the fireplace. :p
Knowing I wouldn't have much time to cook tomorrow, I pre-peeled and chopped all the veggies this evening and refrigerated them in a covered bowl overnight. I sauteed the onions already & have organic veggie stock that I buy and keep on hand.

In the morning before we head out on our bikes I'll just throw all this stuff in the crock pot on low, it'll be ready by 4:00 or so:
4 large sweet potatoes & 1 small butternut squash, peeled & cut into 1" chunks
1 small chopped onion browned in olive oil
4-5 cups veg. stock (start with 4, add 5th if needed at end)
4 Tablespoons brown sugar
some cumin and some sage
salt and pepper
chopped raw onion and red pepper for garnish
crusty bread loaves

I have a nifty immersion blender-stick to blend the soup chunks into a thick creamy consistency, right in the crockpot, before the guests come. Handy for making black bean soup too.
This was sort of a combination between two similar sweet pot. soup recipes I found and my own ideas. This will be only my 4th slowcooker dish since i got it a couple weeks ago. So far everything has come out well. :rolleyes:
Hope this one does!

I am glad you got the 5 quart lisa. It is just my dh and I and it is the right size for us any smaller does not work. I do a lot of chicken recipes as well. my favortie fast one is throw in a cleaned whole chicke ( skin removed) and a large can of enchilada sauce cook all day. remove bones. we then make our own tortilla's and put the meat inside for either taco's or enchilada's. left over goes in freezer for next meal. it makes so much! NOw here is my all time favorite very healthy very yummy. It is called Mama's chicken stew. Oh my gosh this is the best!

2 pounds cut up skinless chicken breast
2 cups of water
1 cup frozen small onions
1 cup celery
1 cup carrots
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt, pepper, sage, thyme
1 can fat free chicken broth
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 6 oz can tommatoe paste
1/4 cup of water mixed with 3 table spoons cornstarch. I always forget to add this and it doesn't seem to matter
2 cups frozen pea's put in last hour
put all ing in order given give a quick stir close lid cook on low all day at least 8 hours. Serve with warm crusty bread .So yummy!

All of these recipes sound yummy! I will need to start printing them off. Thanks everyone. :D

Lisa, Brandi........both your recipes sound so yummy. Lisa, I love sweet potatoes ,and butternut squash. I could do without the cumin ,but the rest sounds great. Brandi, I also like yours...I have a crock pot (pretty new which I never use.) Hey, Lisa tell me about that sweet potatoes soup.