Crock pot ideas/Recipie

[kaybee]

For those of you who have a crockpot that does not have a removable ceramic liner, look for plastic crockpot liners at the grocery store. My store has them in the aluminum foil/plastic wrap section. They are a disposable plastic bag (like those oven cooking bags) that you place in the crockpot before you put the food in. It works like a charm!

KB

[bambu101]

From Mable Hoffman's Crockery Cookery:

Cranberry Wine Punch (makes 6 to 8 servings)

2 cups cranberry-raspberry juice
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 (750-ml) bottle Burgandy wine
1 lemon (unpeeled), thinly sliced
2 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves

Combine juice, water, sugar, wine, and lemon in a slow cooker. Tie cinnamon and cloves in a small cheesecloth bag: add to cooker. Cover and heat on LOW for 1 to 2 hours. Remove cheesecloth bag. Punch may be kept hot and served from slow cooker on the lowest setting.

Padre Punch (makes 7 to 10 servings)

1 (6 oz) can frozen orange juice, partially thawed
3 orange juice cans of water
4 cups (1 quart) apple cider
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
5 whole cloves
Orange slices

In a slow cooker, combine orange juice, water, cider, nutmeg, and ginger. Tie cinnamon and cloves in a small cheeseclth bag: add to cooker. Cover and heat on LOW for 4 to 6 hours. Remove cheesecloth bag. Garnish with orange slices. Keep hot and serve punch from slow cooker.

VARIATION: Recipe may be doubled if your slow cooker is large enough.

[Meaux]

I have a wonderful stainless steel Crock Pot that is digital and that switches to the warming setting after the cooking cycle is gone. It came with a cookbook that had this recipe in it. It makes fantastic leftovers and is great served with rice or couscous. And it's totally vegan!

Creole Black Beans
3 15 oz. cans black beans, drained
1 1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t. dried thyme
1 1/2 t. dried oregano
1 1/2 t. white pepper
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 cayenne pepper
1 vegetable bouillon cube
5 bay leaves
1 cup water

Combine ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover; cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours. Remove bay leaves before serving and serve over cooked rice.

Yum!

[KnottedYet]

Those Thanksgiving leftovers are coming up, which means:

Turkey Peanut Soup!!

*turkey leftovers
*1 cup or so 100% NATURAL (just peanuts and salt) peanut butter (crunchy is best)
*1 or 2 big cans of seasoned diced tomatoes, juice included
*large thumb-sized knob of gingerroot, peeled and sliced thin
*2 or 3 heads of garlic, cloves peeled but left whole
*salt and cayenne to taste
*chopped onions if you like them
*water as needed

cook until you feel like eating. The peanut butter will thicken the soup quite a lot, so go easy on it until you know what consistency you're getting.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

OK, after MUCH research, I finally ordered a crock pot! I got this 5 quart one:
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B0007W0...945325-5402446
I wanted to be able to cook a whole small chicken in it, or a pork roast, so I thought the 4 qt. was a bit small. But the 6 qt ones I felt would be too big for most meals or soups. The 5 qt sounded just right- it's equal to my stainless regular stock pot that I use a lot.

Last week I got a bestselling crock pot recipe book, but I don't like it much. I don't see the logic in buying canned beans and vegetables (which are already overcooked) and then cooking them for ANOTHER 6 hours in a crock pot. I have nothing against canned beans, but why not start with dried beans if they are going to cook all day anyway? I also can't get into dumping canned cream of mushroom soup, canned mushrooms, ketchup, or dried onion soup powder into everything. Why not just chop some fresh onions or mushrooms instead? Not much more trouble than opening a can. It just seems kind of outdated and not very nutricious. Also, in the book i got they actually used CANNED chicken and then added canned cream of chicken soup for some chicken casseroles. Ooh, YUMMY! Another recipe called for a half chopped onion PLUS 2 tablespoons of dried onion flakes. Didn't know anyone bought dried onion flakes anymore...
So anyway, I found a couple of books that seemed to emphasize using fresher ingredients for slow cooker meals. Hopefully I'll like them better.

Will post when I do my first crock meal!

[Bikingmomof3]

I take the recipes as guidelines and substitute all the time. Now for my friend who does not have time to chop and dice fresh, the canned goods are a life saver. I have time, so I use fresh.

[SheFly]

That looks like a great find, Lisa! Just a question/warning - is that a plastic knob on the glass lid? If so, I would be cautious about putting it into the oven (if you were ever planning this, of course)....

Oh - an you don't need recipies for the crockpot - make it up as you go! One of my favorites is a frozen pork roast (usually a loin), a bag of baby carrots all covered with a can [DOH!] of sauerkraut. Another is a beef roast, carrots, potatoes, red wine, onions and garlic - instant dinner! Oh, and in March, a corned beef covered with a head of cabbage is also good (I think I usually add apple juice or cider to this for a "broth").

Enjoy, and have fun experimenting!

SheFly

[Brandi]

I have a wonderful stainless steel Crock Pot that is digital and that switches to the warming setting after the cooking cycle is gone. It came with a cookbook that had this recipe in it. It makes fantastic leftovers and is great served with rice or couscous. And it's totally vegan!

Creole Black Beans
3 15 oz. cans black beans, drained
1 1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 cup green pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 t. dried thyme
1 1/2 t. dried oregano
1 1/2 t. white pepper
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 cayenne pepper
1 vegetable bouillon cube
5 bay leaves
1 cup water

Combine ingredients in the slow cooker. Cover; cook on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours. Remove bay leaves before serving and serve over cooked rice.

Yum!

I made these yesterday and they were soooooo good! I made them and had spicy pork loin chops ,and spinich. My dh and i were in heaven. Highly recommended recipe!!!!

[doc]

Ooooh. I can't wait to try some of these recipes. I will admit to using cream of "what the...." soup when I cook in my crock pot. Otherwise it's all fresh. I'm going to try the creole beans first. I am so lucky my 8 and 10 year old love dinners of beans and rice (usually served with a salad).

[Trek420]

Knotts famous chicken stew recipe

Step 1) roast a chicken or pick up roasted chicken ie: at Costco we got one at Berkeley Bowl.
Step 2) enjoy roast chicken with whatever you enjoy roast chicken with, beer, chocolate...

Step 3) take remainder of roast chicken and toss it in crock pot. You have the option of removing the skin. I left it on...then skimmed the crock pot goodness. More flavor that way and still removes the fat. Don't worry about prep, the chicken will simply fall apart.

toss in
1 whole onion diced
lots of carrots diced
1 whole bunch of celery diced small
think it was about 2 potatoes cut up
about 4-5 or so large brown mushrooms cleaned, cut up
1 Bay Leaf (don't tell anyone, it was from Samuel P Taylor State Park)
add water near top of contents, not over
walk the dog, let the dog out, turn crock pot on, leave for work.

come home to yummy chicken stew goodness

Note I have a ginormous crock pot (hey, it was on sale!) so will be freezing this. I have been told that the 'tatoes don't freeze well but on thawing will just result in a thicker stew like a cream of chicken soup type thang.

[maillotpois]

So you/Knot use the bones and all to make a stock - how do you then pick the bones out? That's what turned me from putting the entire carcass in, but I'd be interested to hear what you do with it.

I do the whole prepared chicken re-cooked in crock pot thing, having gotten the idea from Knot. But what I do is strip the edible parts off the chicken and throw them in the pot with onion, broth, potato, carrot, spices. Then I will put in some coucous at the end. That way I don't have to worry about picking the bones out of the bowl.