Long simmering crock pot recipes

[Veronica]

It's not a crock pot recipe, but I just finished prepping jambalaya to cook on the grill. The prep is easy and the cook time on the grill is pretty fast.

Veronica

[Owlie]

Pulled pork is my favorite. Pork shoulder is cheap, especially if you get it on sale. Put shoulder in crockpot, add liquid (I like beer or broth; I've seen some recipes that use soda and have tried one--it's still pretty good and not overly sweet or anything) and seasonings of your choice. Put lid on crockpot, turn crockpot on, wait. I've left it in overnight and it's been good.

Serve with salad or something.

[thekarens]

Veronica all suggestions are appreciated!

Ollie, sounds awesome. Reminds me of beer butt chicken, which I occasionally make.

[indysteel]

I like crockpot pulled pork, too. I use root beer as my liquid. Just don't cook it for 12 hours. That would be serious overkill. Oh, and it's not particularly healthful!

But here's the thing. Yes, it's easy enough to make, but in the time it takes you to pull the pork apart, you could grill a lean pork tenderloin. Crockpots are not necessarily time savers in my opinion.

[Veronica]

I LOVE pulled pork. I can tell you it's not good pre ride up a mountain food though.

Veronica

[Irulan]

Alternatively, you can set a crock pot out and let it *start* cooking mid-day, so that it's ready before you get home. I don't have a timer on mine, but I use a cheap plug-in timer for those occasions when I need it (which isn't too often, I grant you).

So everything sits out, in the crockpot, at room temperature, on the counter for 4-5 hours before it turns itself on? I don't think I'd do that if there's any meat product in the pot.

[maillotpois]

When you say "turn itself off," do you mean that it goes from hi/low to "warm"? Mine goes to a warming feature when the alloted time or temp is passed/reached, but I've never used that feature for more than a half hour or so. I'm too paranoid about food staying at or above a certain temp to totally trust it.

It stays warm and I have used that for a while. It seems to work ok and doesn't cook the stuff too much.

[Dogmama]

When it's over 100 degrees, anything hot seems unappetizing. I make salads in the morning for evening meals. Here is one I love:
2 cans of beans (kidney and/or black)
1 chopped bell pepper
3 slices of red onion, chopped
1 cup slices green olives
1 cup frozen corn
2 tomatoes, diced
~ 1/2 - 1 cup sharp shredded cheddar (top dressing)
~1/2 cup fat free Catalina dressing

The longer it marinates, the better it is. I put the tomatoes on top & mix them in at the last minute since they can get a bit "mealy" sitting in the dressing. I put the higher calorie cheese on top before serving. You'll use less cheese = lower calories. The salad is fine without cheese also. Serve with tortillas, baked tortillas chips, a nice loaf of bread or cornbread.

[mariacycle]

Not sure if 15-20 minutes is too long for you but that's how long most dinners take for DBF and/or I to cook for two. Rice takes 10-15 minutes and so does cooking chicken and vegetables. Then you can decide if you want to make rice/chicken/vegetables for a Mexican, Chinese, or Thai meal! For Mexican, we add a can of Cuban style black beans and guacamole. For Chinese we add some sort of sauce (General Tso's probably) and peanuts. For Thai we just add curry paste with coconut milk or a curry sauce from a jar. Once we got into the swing of regularly cooking dinner it became astounding how quickly we could turn around a really satisfying dinner.

[tangentgirl]

You know, it seems like a lot of dinner is prep work. So if in the morning, you chopped stuff and got chicken (or other meat) marinating, just to toss it in a pan or on the grill when you get home, you could be eating pretty quickly.