Need your slow cooker recipes....

[twoponys]

I am going back to school this fall and will be getting home late and don't want to have to cook but want to provide a good meal to Mari and Jeff. I would love it if you shared your favorite slow cooker recipes. I am sure we will get pretty tired of the usual pot roasts and beef stews. Inexpensive ideas would be great, too. Also let me know approximate cooking times. My slow cooker is kind of funny. It does ok on low but on high it's like turbo heat.

Thanks in advance. Mari and Jeff will appreciate your help, too.

[Coyote]

Somewhere on this forum is a book recommendation that Linda made. It's a book about slowcooker recipes. I don't know any but always think it is such a good idea!

[janepain nli]

Get the book "Fix it and Forget it" - tons of great recipes - some have very few ingredients, some have lots of ingredients! I use it all the time in the winter.

There's a great recipe for cola ham, and make sure you look at the post a couple down about cola chicken.

Here's a quick one:

1 turkey breast
1 packet lipton onion soup mix
water (not more than 1 cup)

Or - if you don't have the soup mix - onion powder and garlic powder work great.

[Trailpal]

I like Chili, the longer it cooks on low the better.
1 pound ground beef
1 can red kidney beans
1 can tomato sauce
2 cans of cut tomatoes (or one bigger can)
1 med-large onion, diced
1 Tablespoon chili powder

Put all of that in the pot and stir. Salt to taste. Add 1 bay leaf if you have it. You'll want to remove it before serving.

Cook on low at least 5 hours, 10 hours won't hurt at all.
I serve it over rice or elbow macaroni. I like cheese on top, hubby doesn't.
I vary the amounts all the time, depending on what I have on hand, it is not a very critical recipe

BTW, I cook up a lot of burger and freeze it into 1 pound ziplocks. That makes putting something like this together really fast and easy! I use the burger in other sauces or recipes too.

[AmberC]

I do my chili like trailpal except I HATE kidney beans. I use two cans of Bush's Mild Chili Beans. I also use V-8 juice in it. I like my chili a little thinner, more like soup. I just put all the ingredients in and then add V-8 until it "looks right."

I also don't add salt at all, if whoever is eating it wants salt they add it to their own dish (I hate salt).

The only way I'll eat pork chops is cooked in the slow cooker. I put a jar of gravy (yes a jar, i stink at making gravy) in, add chopped veggies (usually carrots, potatoes, and onions for us), and hte chops on top and cook on low for at least 6 hours. Yummeh!

But pretty much any meat is going to do great in a slow cooker. You can also save money because the cheaper cuts of meat tend to be more tough, but it's not going to be tough after 6-8 hours in a slow cooker! But the basic rule is to put soething on the bottom that will cook more slowly (carrots, potatoes, even celery to get the meat up off the bottom), some liquid like gravy or broth, and the meat goes on top. And don't take the lid off very often.

[Mary Ann]

Amber, you make me laugh! No wonder you're so thin; there are very food groups you approve of. ;D

[AmberC]

Yeah but I eat immense amounts of food at a time! I can eat a double meat footlong chicken bacon ranch sub at Subway, and STILL be hungry enough to eat whatever DD doesn't eat of her 6" sub!

I gotta stop doing that though, I'm starting to gain more wieght. I'm up about 10 pounds in the past 6 mos!

[Mary Ann]

Whoa, no kidding??? That's a pile of food! I don't think I've been that hungry in a long time!

The good news is you look just fine. Strong and healthy.

[AmberC]

For a while I was putting away one of those every day, in addition to at least one other meal a day. If I like the food i can EAT!

[dawnh]

Cheesy Chicken is a fav of mine.

**3-4 boneless/skinless breasts or can use bone in just let it cook longer (thighs work good too have used those...well I pretty much use what I have handy, LOL)

**1 can cream of chicken or cream of celery soup, it will be a thicker broth with the cream of chicken a bit more water with teh cream of celery

**1/2-1 can cheddar cheese soup (only campbells seems to make this haven't seen it in an off brand). I vary the amount based on how much chicken and flavor I want, if you use a whole can it will be much cheesier tasting, or if you are using more chicken you will want the whole can

** 1/2 teasponn garlic powder

Put in chicken, add the rest of the ingredients and let it cook, 6 hours or so if your chicken was thawed, 8-10 if you started out with frozen But the longer you cook it the more the meat will just fall apart.

To go with this I like to do a little instant rice or even better wild rice, put my chicken out and then ladle some of the broth over the top, a little broccoli on the side (because that cheese sauce is very good over broccoli too) and you are good to go. Oh and for my veggies I do tons of frozen and just saute in a bit of butter on the stove while I am preparing whatever else I want that way in less than 20 minutes I can have supper on the table.

[dawnh]

Next one:

Get a piece of flank type steak (it is a longer thinner type cut of beef most of the time you see this used for fajita type beef and the like). season your fav way then lay some potato/carrots in it, roll once, add some more, roll again and so on till you have a nice little rolled up bundle. Add this to your slow cooker on top of even more veggies if you didn't get enough in your rollup. Also add some beef broth or beef gravy whatever you desire and again let it go.
Shortly before you are going to serve say 20 min or so you can also add some noodles to soak up the extra broth if you used that and those are oh so yummy.

ok this thread is making me hungry!!

[Laura]

I didn't like too many of the recipes out of the Fix it and Forget it book (though I didn't try too many). Most of them had ingredients like cream of chicken or mushroom soup and other various nasty ingredients and I prefer lighter, fresh food. I don't like the way a lot of vegetables come out in the slow cooker -- sort of overdone and have lost a lot of flavor.

What I like to do is cook a pot roast and then make shredded beef tacos, burritos, or enchiladas out of it. Or pork, chicken, or turkey work well too. Just cook the meat with some onions, salt and pepper and a little water. When it's done, you can use it as is or mix with a half a jar of salsa.

Or, mix it with barbeque sauce for pulled pork or beef sandwiches.

[Trailpal]

I make Pork Chops "Hunter Style" in the slow cooker with lots of veggies.

Add the pot in this order:
Pork chops, put in the bottom, it's ok to crowd them or over lap a bit.
Season with pepper and salt.
12-16 ounces mushrooms, cut up as you like
1-2 green peppers cut into strips
Large can of diced tomatos
Basil and Oregano to taste. Put a bayleaf in the top.

Cook at least 5 hours on low.

It makes a lot of juice, we serve with rice - put the veggies/juice on the rice with the chop beside it. Sometimes the chops are so tender they just fall apart!

[Trailpal]

Oh, and here's another. A local fellow told me about this, they call it "Chicago Beef" but I never heard of it when I lived in Illinois.

4# beef roast - pull off any big chunks of fat.
Pour a jar (about 12 oz?) of pepperonchini over it. Cook on low for 12 hours.

Pull the meat apart with forks (to shred it). Makes a sandwich filling - use the sub-type buns. Kind of hot (spicey) but the guys really like it!

[dawnh]

Oh we can't forget meatballs! And I am so very very sadly cooking deficient that I buy the premade ones at the store in the frozen section, throw them in the pot, put my fav barbecue sauce over them and just heat through using the crock pot for a few hours.