Crock pot ideas/Recipie

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 It just seems kind of outdated and not very nutricious.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

[SheFly]

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

SheFly

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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! 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...

[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.

[suzieqtwa]

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.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well, the sweetpotato/butternut soup was a big hit. Everyone loved it. The immersion blender stick worked GREAT, and I stopped blending just at the point where there wer a few nice little chunks of potato still here and there in the soup. A few chunks are nice. I had plenty left over after 6 people ate it as a dinner. I love sweet potatoes too.

I just threw some stuff in at noon today to start a lentil soup dinner.
First I cooked a few cut up bacon strips in a pan until crisp, and then added some leftover chopped ham and 1/2 chopped onion and 1/2 chopped red pepper and some garlic to the bacon- I browned this mess all together, then threw it in the crockpot along with:
1 pound of cleaned dry lentils
1 large carrot chopped
6 cups water
3 chicken bouillion cubes
salt & pepper
a few shakes of cumin (sorry Suzie!)

I'll leave it on low for about 6 hours and check after about 4 hours to see if it needs more water.
This was a really easy one for me, because the ham was from someones potluck a few nights ago that I took home, and the chopped onion and red pepper were already chopped as previous topping for the sweet potato soup, and I always keep some cut pieces of bacon in the freezer to use like this, and then toss in a pan frozen and the bacon separates and cooks up quickly. What I do is i'll buy a package of sliced bacon and with a big knife just cut it into thirds or fourths right without even taking it out of the package. Then I put each 3rd or 4th into a small ziplock bag (don't bother separating the strips at all). Then I put the smaller bags into one larger ziplock bage and keep it in the freezer for when I need some bacon pieces in beans or something but don't need a whole package of bacon. It's very handy, you just put the frozen chunk in your skillet and it starts cooking and separating into little mini bacon strips.

I guess I'm really lucky in that my DH loves having soup or stew for dinner as often as possible! Salad gives me indigestion, so this is such a good way for me to get my vegetables.

[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!