Crock pot ideas/Recipie

[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.

[MyLitespeed]

When I get in a real cooking mood, I use all three of my Crockpot's, I have something cooking in the oven (usually lasagna) and have a couple of skillets going with black bean & rice and a recipe for barley mulligan. I try and cook enough for an entire month and then freeze it all. My husband has gotten really picky about what he will eat, so usually I get to enjoy my cooking all to myself. It's not that I'm a horrible cook, he just has a VERY sensitive stomach. He usually ends up eating chicken and veggies.

[7rider]

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.

I have sort of a multi-step process.
I have a carcass from a 12-pound turkey in my freezer, destined for the crockpot (a 3 qt one - I hope it all fits) sometime soon.
Step 1. cook down the carcass with onion, carrot, celery, bayleaf (from a jar, sigh) and S&P in the crock pot.
Step 2: strain the broth, pick the meat and save from the pile of rubble which is discarded, use fresh carrots, onion, celery for the soup, throwing in wild rice, white rice, egg noodles, or whatever I think of at the moment.
It's time consuming I guess, but I can't figure out another way to not have bones and the thought of "re-using" the veges kind of freaks me out.

[KnottedYet]

I usually toss the whole shebang in, and it holds together enough that I can pull it out whole. But the last time i did it, the ribs and spine came apart. It was miserable, bones in every spoonful.

Next time I'm just pulling off the good stuff and throwing out the ribs and spine. Ick.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I regularly make a whole roast chicken in the oven for DH and myself.
We eat chicken dinner two nights in a row (with stuffing and cranberry sauce ).
Then there's usually a bunch of meat pickings left on the carcass. I take the time to pick of all the meat and good bits I can off the carcass, which is usually a nice bowlfull. I throw out the bones. Then I divide the meat bits in half, and put them in two freezer bags in the freezer. Whenever I want to make chicken soup, I just grab a bag out and throw the frozen bits in the crockpot with maybe 6 cups water and let it get going for about 3 hours. Then I throw in carrots, celery, onion, and seasonings and let it go another 3 hours or so. I turn it up to high and put in some egg noodles 15 minutes before serving.
I find it's usually worth the time to pick the meat bits off the bones otherwise the gazillion bone parts tend to fall apart into the soup.

[Kimmyt]

Lisa, do you make stock from the bones for your soups?

I have a leg of lamb that is leftover, some scraps on it but mostly bone and I am contemplating making Scotch broth with it. I've never made a stock, though... can I put any amount of water in? It's a smallish leg bone, but I was going to buy some bouillion in case the stock came out weak.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hi,
No, i don't use the bones for anything. Call me lazy. I put the chicken pickings (mostly meat, a little roasted skin bits too) in a pot with several cups water to start my soup. I did buy some pre-made organic vegetable stock and sometimes I use that 1/2 and 1/2 with water if I want a really rich soup, but mostly I find my soups rich enough if I add plenty of veggies and whatever meat I choose or not. Seasoning works well for me rather than making and storing stocks.

I often use the crock-pot tip of quickly browning stuff like meat, onions, garlic, or peppers in a pan before dumping it into the pot...this REALLY adds a great flavor and is well worth the extra few minutes in my opinion. It makes a huge flavor improvement.

The other day I made ham hocks & beans. First I trimmed the skin and outside fat off the hocks...then browned the ham hocks in olive oil in a skillet. The taste of the browned hocks is very different from just simmered hocks. Then I took them out and browned some onions and fresh garlic. All that then got dumped in to crockpot along with 2 LARGE cans baked beans, a big squirt each of molasses, ketchup, and bbq sauce, also 1/2 cup brown sugar and some pepper. I put it on low for 7 hours and it was INCREDIBLY yummy, and the hocks melted in your mouth.

[Trek420]

I'm discovering I like this crockpot thang.

This one an experiment, no recipe just thought it'd work....and it did.

Large'ish tri tip cubed
1 1/2 large red onion diced
4-6 tomatoes wedged
4 very beeeeg portobello 'shrooms
water & red wine near to top cooked over night.

turned out nice, portobellos in beefy tomato'y goodness.

Next time I think lots of garlic, more wine, less H2o ...

[Brandi]

I'm discovering I like this crockpot thang.

This one an experiment, no recipe just thought it'd work....and it did.

Large'ish tri tip cubed
1 1/2 large red onion diced
4-6 tomatoes wedged
4 very beeeeg portobello 'shrooms
water & red wine near to top cooked over night.

turned out nice, portobellos in beefy tomato'y goodness.

Next time I think lots of garlic, more wine, less H2o ...

Not everyone in the united states has or even knows what a tri tip is. I have found with all my traveling with work that only the west die of the rockies seems to have tri- tip! My friend in florida iwh moved there is always saying how he misses tri- tip.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Made some black bean soup in my 3 qt crockpot today, and it came out great.
Here's what I did, if anyone is interested:

Preparation time about 20 minutes.

Cut about 4-6 strips of bacon into pieces and fried them up in a skillet. (I always keep some cut up bacon pieces in little bags in the freezer for this purpose). Take out bacon and put aside. Drain off "most" of the bacon fat but leave a bit in skillet to brown the onion in. Roughly chop 1 onion and about 5 cloves fresh garlic and quickly brown on high heat in the skillet. Put aside with the bacon.
Now, open 3 large cans of Progresso black beans and put in crock pot along with all the liquid from the beans. Whiz the beans with a blender stick right in the crock until mostly smooth but with some whole beans reamining here and there for texture (this takes about 10 seconds). Add the onions bacon & garlic. Chop a generous bunch of fresh cilantro and throw in. (save some cilantro for garnish). Add some freshly ground black pepper and any other favorite seasonings if desired, but don't overpower the cilantro as the main herb flavor. Stir, cover and cook in slow cooker for 6 hours on low. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some fresh cilantro on top.
If you hate cilantro leave it out...maybe put some green pepper into the browning onions instead, and use sour cream and onion as garnish.
This, and my chicken noodle soup are my DH's faves.

[emily_in_nc]

That sounds delicious, Lisa! I'm forwarding the idea on to my DH, who does nearly all the cooking (he's retired) and LOVES BB soup. Since we're finally going to get some winter (starting tomorrow) after all this unseasonably spring-like weather, soup sounds perfect!

Emily

[KnottedYet]

Dinner at Lisa's house! I'll bring the gluten-free beer!

I love cilantro and black beans, so I want to try this recipe! Thanks!