Crock pot ideas/Recipie

[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...

[Meaux]

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?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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.

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?)

[madscot13]

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!