Cheap, easy Crock Pot ideas.

[Clang]

I don't really have recipes for what I through in the crockpot....


Beef & Mushrooms

Beef stew meat
gravy
Mushrooms

I like to brown the stew meat...but if I pressed for time, I just throw it in there. I throw in fresh (if I've got them - canned if I don't) mushrooms and a jar of brown gravy...whatever I've got. Sometimes I add cream of mushroom soup...cook all day on low. Serve over noodles.


Italian chili -

Browned ground meat*
canned kidney beans (rinsed)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
Tomato sauce
chili powder
cumin
basil
Mushrooms

*I buy a big package of ground beef and brown it all up - drain it, and freeze it in "meal-size" portions.

I throw all of this in the crockpot and cook all day...

Sometimes I cut up peppers if I have them...or not....


Beef Stew

Beef stew meat
potatoes
carrots
mushrooms
can of tomato soup
jar of brown grav7

Again - throw it all in the crockpot and cook all day....

 

[ceecee]

Mmmm...wow everyone! Thank you so much for your ideas!
Tomorrow I plan on trying the Santa Fe chicken with what I have available right now.
Question, I go to work at 8 am. I won't be home until after 6pm. Will I be okay leaving the crock pot going all day without me around? Will it be okay if it cooks longer than 8 hours on low temp?
Thanks for the advice, I'm so nervous of messing this up and ruining my food (don't want to go back tot he store and spend more food money, KWIM).

Oh, and to the PP, mom gave us a regular old school one. It's the round style...not too big since it's just me and DH.

The old ones were much better in my opinion. I got a fancy new one at Christmas and can only use it when I'm home, it burns everything. I can do low for 8 or 10 hours and everything in it is burnt to a crisp! I have tried it at least a dozen times and still it burns, so now I start it at 1:00 and it's ready by 6:00.

 

[SnowWhite607]

I did not read thru the whole thread so these might be repeats:

Beef stroganoff:
one pound sirlion or round steak
mix one cam cream of mushroom soup with 1 envelope onion or mushroom soup mix. Pour over meat. When you get ready to serve, stir in one big spoon of sour cream. Serve over rice or noodles.


Salsa chicken:

chicken breasts, pour 1 jar salsa over them. Cook and serve over rice sprinkled with cheddar cheese

I have also done pork chops and poured a can of pork and beans over them.

I LOVE my crockpot!

 

[sunnyday123]

Sorry if I overlooked this, I skipped a few pages of posts
Has anyone ever cooked a whole chicken in their crockpot? If so, how? I'm always concerned about all the 'stuff' in the cavity (not the stuff in the bag) and the bones, I'm afraid I'll accidently get pieces of bones as I'm pulling the meet off...

don't know if anyone answered this since it was from January, but i've done a whole chicken breast/turkey breast in the crock pot. It was super moist and yummy. I've read since then you're not supposed to because it doesn't get hot enough quick enough, but we're still kickin'!!!

 

[bkreitzel]

Our newest and most favorite slow cooker dish ...

SLOW COOKER KALUA PIG
Ingredients:
3 lb pork butt
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
2 1/4 teaspoons Hawaiian salt, or sea salt, or kosher salt
Pierce pork butt all over with carving fork. Rub salt and liquid smoke into meat. Cook in slow cooker on low for 16-20 hours turning once. Remove meat, shred, and then add juices from slow cooker to shredded meat. Makes six servings.

We eat it on sandwich buns.

 

[csk470]

thanks so much for starting this i have some great ideas now
tracey

 

[bb1955]

I can't wait to try the Cowboy bean stew in #116...thank you

 

[extremesoccermom]

don't know if anyone answered this since it was from January, but i've done a whole chicken breast/turkey breast in the crock pot. It was super moist and yummy. I've read since then you're not supposed to because it doesn't get hot enough quick enough, but we're still kickin'!!!

We do Turkey breast and Whole chicken all the time and never had a problem. I have 4 crockpots of various sizes that we use at least once or twice a week.

Turkey Breast w/ herbed cheese

Take the turkey breast and rub your hand or a large spoon under the skin to loosen from the meat. Using 3-4 oz of room temp cream cheese mix in your favorite herbs (sage, cranberries, thyme, or any thing that you like with poltry. OR I just use the whipped little tubs of herb or garlic and chive cream cheese. Place in crock pot and cook on low 7-8 hours.

Crock pot Whole Chicken
Sprinkle chicken with your favorite rub. I love the new Citrus mix that I found at the grocery store.(sorry I don't remember the brand). Place chicken in the crock pot add 1/2 cup of white wine (3 buck chuck works great) or chicken stock. Cook on low 8-10 hours.

You can also add chopped potatoes and frozen or baby carrots to either of the above before cooking and have an entire meal ready to go when you get home.

 

[ncmtnmom]

I can't wait to try the Cowboy bean stew in #116...thank you

You're welcome

 

[LSU]

I have the West Bend slow cooker w/teflon that sits on a separate heating element and it is the best cooker I've ever had. The meat is actually brown when done, whereas when I've cooked w/the others - the meat looks pink and scary.
Anyway - some tried and true recipes:

1 shoulder roast (less fat than chuck)
1 sliced onion
unseasoned adolf's tenderizer
kitchen bouquet
1 gravy mix

place half of sliced onions on bottom of pot. sprinkle roast generously with tenderizer and place on top of onions. Pour kitchen bouquet over roast and add the rest of the onion slices. Cook on high for at least 3-4 hrs. (I usually cook for 5 hrs) Then add the gravy mix (after mixing it with 1 cup of water) and stir. cook for another hour. yum.

The BBQ version:

1 shoulder roast
1 sliced onion
adolf's tenderizer
1 bottle bbq sauce

1/2 onions on bottom, season roast w/tenderizer, place on onions, add 1/2 onions on top. Cook 3-4 hrs on high. Drain most of juices. Add bbq sauce and cook 1 hr. or so. Shred beef and serve on buns.

 

[LSU]

I have a question for those of you who have done the pulled pork in a crock pot. I just came home and checked it, it's really watery. I chopped up an onion trimmed the fat off a roast and tossed it all in the pot with a bottle of BBQ sauce. I only added a bit of extra water when i sloshed it around the BBQ bottle to get the last of it out. Any suggestions as to what I can do now? Or what I did wrong so next time it wont look like BBQ pork soup? :

I cook the pork roast for 3-4 hrs on high (w/onions). I then drain any excess liquid. Then I add the bottle of bbq sauce. Mine is never too runny.

When using beef roast - I use shoulder roast because there's hardly any fat at all.

 

[Magic Mom]

I didn't wade through all the previous posts so I don't know if this has been posted.
Crock Pot Rotisserie Chicken

4 baking potatoes salted and wrapped in foil. PLace in bottom of crock pot.
1 medium roaster chicken seasoned to taste. I use paprika, kosher salt, pepper, garlic, parsley and rosemary. Stuff chicken with a quarted med onion. Place chicken on top of potatoes. Cook on high for 6 hours. or low for 8 hours(Time depends on crock pot...some cook faster than others.)

 

[LanaJae]

Cream Cheese Chicken

• 
  4 chicken breasts
  1 stick of butter
  1 pkg of Good Seasoning Itailian dressing mix (dry)
  1 can of cream of chicken soup
  1 block of cream cheese

place chicken, butter and Italian seasoning in crock pot. Cook on low - 8 hours, cook on high - 4 hours.

30 minutes b/f serving, add in the soup and cream cheese.

Serve over egg noddles or rice.

Thought it was a good time of year to revive this thread. I just read that a crock pot costs about 2 cents per hour in electric cost.

I am making the recipe above right now with Hidden Valley Ranch (dry) instead of Italian.

 

[ahecht]

Cream Cheese Chicken

• 4 chicken breasts
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 pkg of Good Seasoning Itailian dressing mix (dry)
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1 block of cream cheese

Wow, there's almost 200g of fat in there! Assuming this feeds 4 and you serve each breast with 1.5 cups of noodles that's over 52g of fat (80% of daily value) and 960 calories (48% of daily value) per serving. I'd replace the butter with 1/2 cup of fat-free chicken broth and use low-fat cream cheese and cream-of-chicken soup, which brings it down to 16g of fat (25%) and 600 calories (30%).

 

[kath1210]

Easy Crock Pot Steak

1 to 1-1/2 lbs. any kind of steak (cheap cuts are best)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (can use low sodium, 98% fat free)
1 soup can of water
1 package dry onion soup mix

Remove visible fat and cut steak into serving size pieces. Place in the bottom of the crockpot. Mix other ingredients and pour over steak. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Serve with rice, noodles or mashed potatoes and a veggie.

We just had this tonight with mashed potatoes and broccoli. It was great comfort food on a cold, rainy day, and so yummy!

 

[kathianne]

All these recipies sound great!

One suggestion I've learned through trail and error---I don't use anything with a high sodium content with roast and chicken because it dries the meat out. I used to make a pot roast and just use the seasoning bag herbs in the crock pot, but the meat would come out somewhat dry. I also used beef or chicken broth, same dry results.

So now I use low sodium soup, or just water.

Here's my pot roast

2-3 pound chuck roast brown on all 4 sides

peeled, quartered gold yukon potatoes (white potatoes dry out the meat!)

Onion, chopped into quarters

carrots

1 can beef broth, use the low sodium

1 can low sodium tomato soup

pepper, garlic salt, other seasonings you might like

crock on low for 8-10 hours, add salt at end if necessary, I just add 1/2 tsp, it really works and the meat isn't dry

also layer the pot with the vegetables first, the meat on top

 

[JillandFamily]

If I can cram it in my crock pot, that's where it gets cooked. This is my favorite soup to make in it:
Tortilla Soup

5 boneless chicken breasts ( although I've used less/more)
1 28oz can tomato sauce
2 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes
3 pckgs of taco seasoning ( change depending on how spicy you like it)
1 bunch of chopped cilantro
2 tblspn soy sauce
1 tspn minced garlic ( I always use waaaaay more)
2 cans corn
1 lrg can of chckn broth

put it all in the crock pot and cook overnight, or until chicken is done.
Then take it out and shred with a fork ( it will just fall apart ) Put it back!

Top soup with sour cream, shredded cheese, crushed tortilla chips or whatever you want.

Sounds Yummy I am making this today!!!

 

[pumpkinfish]

It's good to see the thread revived again! I pulled out my cooker the other night and made DH's fave Santa Fe Chicken

Our newest and most favorite slow cooker dish ...

SLOW COOKER KALUA PIG
Ingredients:
3 lb pork butt
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
2 1/4 teaspoons Hawaiian salt, or sea salt, or kosher salt
Pierce pork butt all over with carving fork. Rub salt and liquid smoke into meat. Cook in slow cooker on low for 16-20 hours turning once. Remove meat, shred, and then add juices from slow cooker to shredded meat. Makes six servings.

We eat it on sandwich buns.

I am absolutely going to try this recipe this weekend! Thank you for sharing with us

 

[pumpkinfish]

I hate to post back to back, but since we have been experiencing some chilly weather, I thought it was prime time to try the pork butt.

It was on sale at our grocery so I stopped last night. I had it cook overnight as I didn't want it to dry out while I was at work today. OMG! My house smells amazing and I am SO EXCITED to shred it when I get home and eat ton of sandwiches!
Question: Is there anything else that I put on the shredded pork/bun? Or just the meat and juice?

Thanks again to the pp for posting this idea!

 

[carone0318]

Question: Is there anything else that I put on the shredded pork/bun? Or just the meat and juice?

Thanks again to the pp for posting this idea!

We like to put cheese on our sandwiches...