Crock pot ideas/Recipie

[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 It just seems kind of outdated and not very nutricious.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

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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.

[Brandi]

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!

[Bikingmomof3]

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

[flash]

Just came across an interesting blog ... with enough crock pot recipes to keep everyone going for a long, long time! My favorite for the crock pot is roasting a whole turkey breast (in fact, I'm cooking one right now!). It always comes out juicy & freezing the sliced leftovers in single-serve packages means many, many sandwiches ... cheaper & healthier than deli meat. Here's the link:

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

(Apologies if someone already posed this link ... I didn't look through all of the past links.)

[MauiRockHopper]

Great idea, thanks for sharing. Dontcha love the way the house smells when you come home from a long ride and some delicious food is waiting for you?

[Dannielle]

the first page of this post got me giggling with regards to what size crockpot is good for making soup for a family for 4 with leftovers. I make soup for just me in a 6qt crockpot several times per week and eat the whole thing that day...by myself. Gosh, if I were going to make soup for the whole family and have leftovers I'd need one of those big Nesco roasters lol!

[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.