Need Help--Best, Easy Slower Cooker Dinner

[Mrs Twain]

Please help.  I need easy slow cooker recipes that kids will eat.  

Do you have one you could share?

 

Here is my best one:

 

Mongolian Beef:

 

4-5 lb boneless chuck roast

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1 cup soy sauce

1 cup water

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp minced ginger or 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 cup hoisin sauce

 

Place roast in slow cooker.

Mix all other ingredients together, and then pour over roast.

Cook on high 5 to 5.5 hours or until adequately cooked.

Shred the beef.

+/- Thicken the sauce (Mix 1-2 Tbsp flour in 1-2 Tbsp water, and then mix into sauce.)

Serve with rice, potatoes, bread, or whatever you like.

 

 

[MaryMak07]

I do EASY slow cooker stuff:

 

Chicken and salsa - shred and use in tacos

Chicken and pesto - shred, add tomatoes and mozerrela and serve over pasta

chicken and BBQ sauce - shred and goes on a bun (you can do the same with buffalo sauce for spicier)

[Alice]

Spinach lasagna. So easy. Pour some tomato sauce on the bottom. Then layer noodles (uncooked), ricotta, mozzerella, spinach and more tomato sauce. You don't have to be super neat about it. You can get fancier and mix in herbs in the ricotta but usually I'm going for quick and just do it plain. Takes about 4 hours on high. 

 

Roasted veggies. Toss a bunch of veggies (onions, bell peppers, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli...whatever you like) with olive oil, salt, pepper and some herbs. Cook on low for about 4-5 hours. I usually make this and then serve with rice and sausages. I have one vegetarian kid so I make the sausage separate but you could probably add it to the crockpot. 

 

I like a lot of the recipes on Budget Bytes. https://www.budgetbytes.com/?s=slow+cooker. The carnitas are delicious for tacos. The coconut curry lentils are also very good. 

 

We do lentil tacos in the crockpot often. 

 

Soups or chili are very easy...just throw in a bunch of beans and veggies and spices. I never measure, it's always just what we have. Black bean soup or veggie chili are favorites here. 

 

Baked potatoes are also very easy. Rub with oil, sprinkle with salt, wrap in foil. Cook on high for 4-5 hours. Serve with whatever toppings you like for a baked potato bar. 

 

 

[cjzimmer1]

We do enchilada casserole. It is very easy to customize to your tastes.

 

Thin layer of red or green enchilada sauce, taco sauce, or salsa in bottom of crock.  Put a tortilla down (you can rip it to fit the shape of your crockpot if desired.  Layer of filling (I'll get to that below), layer of tortilla etc.  I usually do two layers of each filling type, cover the stack with more sauce and then sprinkle with extra cheese.

 

For layers, I try to have 2-3 different layers and then repeat each one twice.  I also try to combine one wet ingredient and one drier ingredient in each layer but you can customize to your desire.

 

Drier ingredients

meat, beans, chopped onions, peppers, corn, rice, olives

 

wetter ingredients

cheddar cheese, monterrey jack cheese, pepper jack, salsa or enchilada sauce, nacho cheese sauce, sour cream.

 

So I might put hamburger, onions and salsa on the first layer, then beans, corn, olives and cheddar cheese on the second layer, then peppers, rice and sour cream on the third layer, and the repeat everything for a total of 6 layers with an extra tortilla on top, covered by salsa and more cheese.  I have no idea how long it cooks, I just turn it on it he early afternoon and let it cook on high, till everything is heated through and then turn it down until we are ready to eat.

 

 

[alisoncooks]

I use my crockpot soooo much.

 

Soups: taco soup, potato, broccoli and cheese, chicken taco chili, beef stew, Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli

Chicken with salsa, black beans, corn, cream cheese served over egg noodles

Balsamic & brown sugar mixture over chicken or pork (with pork, I include sweet potatoes)

Pot roast (traditional and balsamic)

Eastern NC bbq copycat

Shredded bbq chicken

Lasagna

Mexican: sweet mex. pork, carnitas, salsa verde chicken, Bajio chicken (copycat)

[Rebel Yell]

Chicken- whole, parts, boneless, whatever you like/have

Dump in a bottle of BBQ sauce

 

Serve with rice, potatoes, noodles... some sort of veggie...

 

Note to self: I haven't made this in a long time... need to buy chicken 😋

[Mrs Twain]

A great thanks to everyone!

And thanks for reminding me about chicken and [fill in the blank] sauce.  I need to do that about once a week.

Then I am going to start with the spinach lasagna and work my way down!

(This thread made me very hungry, by the way.)

[ScoutTN]

Pot roast, cream of mush soup, package of onion soup/ dip mix, splash of red wine or worcestershire.

[AK_Mom4]

Sticky chicken - very kid friendly and cheap too!

 

Chicken thighs or drumsticks

Package of dry onion soup

Bottle of French Catalina dressing

Small jar of orange marmalade or Apple jelly(cheaper the better)

 

Dump it all in and let it cook. This is also a great Dutch oven meal.

[kubiac]

I just use my crockpot for overnight oatmeal or "baking" sweet potatoes, but all these ideas are terrific. This is a great thread. Thank you.

[bettyandbob]

Various simmer sauces and bbq make stuff easy.

 

Yesterday I cubed chicken breast and put in frozen cubed butternut squash. Dumped an Indian masala sauce on top. I had that on for six hours. We served it over riced cauliflower. It could easily have been served with rice or pasta.

[emzhengjiu]

My younger daughter makes chili lime chicken in the slow cooker.  It's very easy and delicious.  Cover chicken breasts with as much chili power as you like, then add the juice of 5 or so limes.  Cook on low for about 5 hours.  Remove the chicken and shred.  Return the chicken to the slow cooker and add either canned or frozen corn.  Serve on tortillas with sour cream, lettuce & cheese. 

[UmMusa]

Thank you! I'm trying the Mongolian beef today.

[Mrs Twain]

I went to a speech tournament recently, and I found two new, extremely easy recipes that taste delicious.

 

Slow Cooker Ravioli

 

Spaghetti sauce, 2 large jars

Frozen Ravioli (meat or other variety), two 25-ounce bags

2 cups Mozarella cheese, shredded

 

Pour 1 cup sauce in bottom of slow cooker.

Place 1 bag of ravioli on top.

Spread 1 cup cheese over ravioli.

Place 1 bag of ravioli on top.

Spread 1 cup of cheese over.

Pour rest of sauce over the top to cover.

 

Cook on Low for 5-7 hours.

(This was very good and very popular.  Even my dh liked it.)

 

 

Costco Macaroni and Cheese

 

Buy two trays of the prepared macaroni and cheese at Costco.

Place in slow cooker.

Heat on low for 5-7 hours.

(EASY!)

[2_girls_mommy]

Mine is going right now with chicken breasts and a can of rotel (as opposed to the salsa mentioned above.) That will be shredded chicken tacos tonight. 

 

Tomorrow, the leftover chicken will be added to rice in the rice cooker and some chopped veggies for lunch with soy sauce. 

 

Then the rest will go back in the crock pot the next day for chicken taco soup: 

shredded chicken

2 cans of diced tomatoes

2 cans of chili beans

1 can of corn, drained

1 pack of ranch dip seasoning

taco seasoning (packet if you use them. I just put in my own cumin, chili powder, and fresh garlic)

1 diced onion

1 diced bell pepper if you have it