Crock Pot

[dcjlkplus3]

I have decided I have to start using my crock pot more.

 

What is your favorite slow-cooker recipe or cook book?

[*********]

I'll start with an easy one.

 

Take a hunk of beef or pork. Put it in the crock pot. Put in some of your favorite bbq sauce. Turn it on low for 8 hours. Take the meat out, shred it with a fork. Put it back in and stir it up with all the juices.

 

Makes bbq beef or pork sandwiches. A FAVE around here. :001_smile:

 

ETA: Oh, I forgot! I've also made this with boneless, skinless chicken breast, and it is good as well; and a bit healthier that way. And, if you cook it on low for 8-9 hours, you can even put the meat in frozen, if you want. I serve bbq meat sandwiches with rosemary garlic roasted potatoes and a green salad.

[athena1277]

Here's one of my favs. It is good for days you will be out until time to eat - like Sundays when you are starving when you get home from church.

 

Put a couple steaks in the bottom of the crockpot (however many your fam will eat). Season however you like and add some beef broth (I use about 1/2 cup in a small crockpot). Then wash some potatoes and wrap individually in aluminum foil. Wrap some little corn cobs in aluminum foil, with a small pat of butter in each, if desired. Place the corn and potatoes on top of the meat. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for about 4 hours.

 

When it's done, all you have to do is serve! You can always add a side salad or rolls if you want also. It did kinda freak me out the first time I left the foil in the crockpot with the food, but I promise it will not damage it.

[BMW]

Fajitas: Inexpensive steak, cut into strips... cook for a few hours (with a bit of broth) and then add in sliced onion and bell peppers. After another hour, serve with tortillas and rice.

 

Chicken Cordon Bleu... very yummy... Place cubed or shredded leftover chicken into bottom of crock pot, layer sliced ham and swiss cheese over that, cover (I like to poke this through in several places) with cream of chicken soup, then top with stuffing (I used the boxed kind for time saving). I do this about 1pm and we eat at 5pm. My crock pot cooks with higher temp than I like, so I use the low setting. Oh, I need to go make this now!

[haysmommy]

Chicken Tacos: boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen), a jar of your fave salsa, and a package of taco seasoning. Shred the chicken on tortillas and add your fave toppings. Our sides are rice and refried beans.

 

 

Cube Steak: take thawed cube steak and just brown each side-add to the crockpot with a couple cans of golden mushroom soup. Add 1/2 can of water. Mashed potatoes are a must with this so you can use the extra gravy.

 

 

Chicken/Rice: boneless, skinless chicken breasts (frozen) cooked with either cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup. About 30 minutes before eating add rice to crockpot (even amounts of rice/water).

[gingersmom]

These are the 3 cookbooks I use all the time-

 

Mable Hoffman's Crockery Cookery

Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two (more like 4-5 people)

Better Homes & Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes

[whitestavern]

Well, LOL, I only have one crockpot cookbook and nothing I ever made was good! So here's a big "don't buy": Fix It and Forget It Lightly.

 

I'll be watching this thread for some ideas on good cookbooks.

[creekland]

Pork and sauerkraut:

 

Any pork will do - buy cheap. We buy boneless whole loins on sale and have the butcher slice it into 3/4 inch slices since I prefer easy without bones...

 

Take a large can of sauerkraut - or more if you like it a lot... use juice and all.

 

Layer the pork and sauerkraut and put it on low for overnight. By morning it's done, but we resist the desire to eat it for breakfast and instead take it to church covered dish meals or have it for lunch. If started in the morning it would be ready for supper. Sometimes I add green beans or cut potatoes if I want a whole meal out of it.

 

Swiss deer:

 

Hubby cuts deer roasts into cubes.

1 or 2 teaspoons of dry mustard (to taste)

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons flour

2 cans worth of whole or diced tomatoes with juice

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large onion sliced

2 stalks celery sliced

1 green pepper sliced

2 cups water

optional... but we like them added

3 or 4 hard boiled eggs sliced

a handful of almonds

 

I mix this all together and cook it on low for 8 hours or so. Then, usually after church, I add dry noodles. Once we've finished changing clothes and getting drinks, it's all ready to eat and is very, very tasty. I've served it to those that say they don't like the taste of deer and they've never noticed... (yes, I'm bad...) It's essentially a swiss steak recipe modified a little for our tastes and done in the crock pot. If you like crunchier celery and onions, add them at the same time as the noodles... don't ever put the noodles in at the beginning - yuck!

[Mrs Mungo]

I have not found a crockpot cookbook that I thought contained enough decent recipes. We do the BBQ chicken thing a lot, as described above.

 

Other things that work well in the crockpot:

 

Chili

 

Pot Roast

 

Sloppy Joes

 

Crockpot Lasagna

 

Meatballs

 

Stroganoff

[gingersmom]

Well, LOL, I only have one crockpot cookbook and nothing I ever made was good! So here's a big "don't buy": Fix It and Forget It Lightly.

 

I'll be watching this thread for some ideas on good cookbooks.

 

I don't like Fix It and Forget It either. I don't understand how it has sold millions of copies.

 

I think it should be renamed dump several cans of soup and some canned/frozen vegetables in your crockpot and call it a meal.

[LG Gone Wild]

Well, LOL, I only have one crockpot cookbook and nothing I ever made was good! So here's a big "don't buy": Fix It and Forget It Lightly.

 

I'll be watching this thread for some ideas on good cookbooks.

 

:iagree:

 

Total waste of money and I had two of those Fix It and Forget It books.

[Kanga]

Here is one of my favorites: http://premeditatedleftovers.blogspot.com/2009/07/orange-chicken-from-crock-pot-to-stir.html

[Quad Shot Academy]

Cabbage Patch Stew

[ConnieB]

http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com

 

I can't say that I loved most of her ideas, but I did find a few keepers.

 

Also, check out your library....most have a shelf of crockpot/slow cooker books. I haven't found a lot of any cookbook that I find enough useable to actually purchase....instead I read them through, write down the handful of recipes that sound good and toss them when they don't turn out, lol.

 

Favorite receipe been making for years:

 

Cheap cut of meat/roast type

cover with cheap red wine (if you prefer less strong flavor add equal amount of water)

one package of Lipton Onion Soup Mix (I now make my own, cheaper, less salt and unpronounceables).

Some quartered potatoes (I prefer red potatoes but any will do)

Fresh mushrooms

Carrots cut into large chunks

 

Cook all day.....use juice to make gravy......serve with a salad, maybe some french bread. Cheap meat yields fork tender meat.

 

Leftover meat/gravy over mashed potatoes the next day.

 

 

[dcjlkplus3]

So many good ideas I can't wait to try.

 

I have done the bbq chicken or beef before (the kids don't eat it well unfortuneately)

 

I'm experimenting tonight - boneless, skinless chicken breasts with cream of chicken soup and seasonings - planning it with mashed potatoes and salad probably (maybe peashes or applesauce instead).

 

I'm hoping the cream of chicken soup works as well with chicken as the cream of mushroom does when I make pot roast.

[Quad Shot Academy]

I have done the bbq chicken or beef before (the kids don't eat it well unfortuneately)

My hubby and I eat this mixed together with beans, but the kids prefer it on a hamburger bun with beans and veggies as a side. I call it a BBQ burger. Anything with the word burger makes them happy! :D

[freetobeme]

lasagne recipe, please?

i tried one last week that didn't quite work out but almost. . .

[Miss Peregrine]

 

I found this book at my library. It looks pretty varied and not the same old stuff.

[6packofun]

Yep, we just made baked potatoes in the crock pot last night...each individually washed, pierced and wrapped in foil. MAN, that's the way I'm making them from now on! Delicious.

[Mrs Mungo]

lasagne recipe, please?

i tried one last week that didn't quite work out but almost. . .

 

I don't use a recipe; I basically make it the same way I make regular lasagna.

 

I cook some ground beef and ground pork with some onions on the stove, cook until meat is brown. Turn the heat down and add 3 or 4 (or 5...) cloves of crushed garlic, cook until you can smell the lovely garlic. Add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and whatever seasonings you like; if you use Italian sausage instead of ground pork, you'll want to use less seasoning. Sometimes I add carrots, zucchini and/or eggplant when I cook the meat, sometimes I don't.

 

In a separate bowl mix 1 tub of cottage cheese, 1 egg, kosher salt and pepper, a little parsley, a cup of mozzarella cheese and some parmesan cheese (Firefox, why do you want Parmesan capitalized and not the names of the other cheeses, that makes no sense).

 

I break up the noodles into big chunks, then I put in some of the sauce, noodles, cheese, sauce, noodles, cheese, noodles, topping with sauce and putting some more mozzarella on top. Sometimes I add layers of baby spinach in there.

[i.love.lucy]

I don't like Fix It and Forget It either. I don't understand how it has sold millions of copies.

 

I think it should be renamed dump several cans of soup and some canned/frozen vegetables in your crockpot and call it a meal.

 

:iagree:

 

Total waste of money and I had two of those Fix It and Forget It books.

:iagree: I also have 2 that I can't ever use because the few recipes I've tried are kind of bleh.

 

We make beans pretty often. 16oz of pinto beans washed and soaked covered in water overnight. Drain in the morning and throw them in your crock pot with a large "box" of chicken broth, a bunch of ham or even a section of smoked sausage cut up (I don't know, maybe 6 oz or something - I don't measure), 1 1/2 Tbsp of cumin, a diced onion and a large can of either RoTel or diced tomatoes. It's very soupy and I serve over rice or as a soup with cornbread on the side. Talk about cheap! And it freezes beautifully so if you don't want to have them 2 nights in a row, freeze it for later.