Cooking Crock pot crazy

[MazdaUK]

Thnaks Mel I ended up doing my normal lamb but with 1/2 the ammount of stock and it turned out just right Now I can fix anything (maybe )

 

[ButterflyJen]

Ham and Tater Tot Casserole (yummy for breakfast!)

1 lb. frozen tater tots
1/2 lb. diced ham
1/2 C chopped onion
1/2 green pepper
3/4 C cheese
6 eggs
1/2 C milk

In crockpot (sprayed with cooking spray) layer tater tots, ham, onion, green pepper, and cheese. Repeat this 2 times, ending with cheese. In a bowl beat the eggs/milk (add salt/pepper to taste) and pour over mixture. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours. (Overnight works perfectly!)

Notes: we don't like onions or peppers so I omit those and use a can of mushrooms instead.

 

[MazdaUK]

We don't have tater tots here - will hash browns do instead? (crumbled?)

 

[scotlass]

We don't have tater tots here - will hash browns do instead? (crumbled?)

great question...

 

[TigerKat]

I would think the hash browns would work just fine!

 

[ButterflyJen]

hash browns should work just fine!

 

[piratesmate]

I found this recipe in another thread & wanted to make sure it got included here. Also, the index is updated through this post.

Upside Down Chocolate Pudding Cake

1 cup Bisquick
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup and 3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 2/3 cup hot tap water

Mix bisquick, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp. cocoa, milk and vanilla. Spoon batter evenly into lightly greased crockpot. Mix remaining sugar, cocoa and hot tap water. Pour over the batter that is already in the crockpot. Cook on high 2 1/2 hours or until batter no longer looks shiny on top.

*Note* This ends up looking like a cake from the top, but when you slice (scoop) down into the cake, there is a layer of pudding underneath it. Very rich!
Optional: Serve with ice cream.

 

[Deffenm]

I just wanted to say that I made the Creamy Italian Chicken that was posted and my family really enjoyed it. I can't wait to make another receipe. Please keep sharing.

 

[MazdaUK]

Ok...this isn't even a recipe...I just take a whole chicken and put it in the crockpot with 1-2 cans of flavored diced tomatoes. (whatever flavor you want). I leave it all day when I'm at work on low. When I get home, I shred the chicken and we put it in flour tortillas with lots of shredded cheese and it all melts together and is so warm and yummy! I like it plain like that...my DH likes to add sour cream and sometimes extra salsa (or sauce from the diced tomatoes)

I'd really like to try this but I'm about all the liquid that comes out - when I do a whole chicken in the crockpot theres a big bowl of "juice" which I set and then throw - although maybe its not fat (as I skin and remove any obvious lumps) but dripping and should be kept

HAs anyone tried this and how did they keep the fat down?

 

[scotlass]

Hey...

I posted this on another thread but as its a crock pot recipe I thought youse might like it too !!

Spicy Ginger chicken with Pineapple.

4 chicken portions

1 onion,finely chopped

2 celery sticks,chopped

2 tbsp plain (all purpose) flour

150ml chicken stock

1 large can of pineapple pieces in juice

2 tsp finely chopped root ginger

2 tps chilli sauce

salt and ground pepper.



Brown chicken portions in frying pan/skillet then transfer to crockpot.

Add onion and celery to the pan/skillet and cook for 5 mins without browning.

Stir in the flour ,then gradually stir in the stock.

Add the pinapple and its juice and the remaining ingredients.

Bring to the boil,stirring continuously.

Pour over the chicken.

Cook on LOW 5-7 hours.

ENJOY !

 

[piratesmate]

I posted these on another thread where someone was looking for recipes for Apple Butter & thought someone here might use them.

Or this one from Cooks.com for your crockpot - super easy, right?

CROCK POT APPLE BUTTER

Put 3 quarts of apples, sliced thin, in a crock pot and cook overnight on high. Next morning, add 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3 cups sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cloves. Cook all day on low. Tastes like old-fashioned apple butter that is cooked in copper kettle.

You can use applesauce if you do not have time to prepare the apples. The crock pot makes it possible for apples to cook a long time without being stirred.

= = = = = = = = = = =
Or another one from About.com

Old-Fashioned Apple Butter
Makes about 5 cups.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 24 hours, 00 minutes

12 – 14 sweet-tart apples (like a Winesap)
2 cups apple cider or juice
sugar
ground cinnamon
ground allspice
ground cloves
freshly ground nutmeg

Lightly oil crockpot. Don’t peel, but wash, core and quarter apples. Put in crockpot. Stir in cider. Cover and cook on low for 10 – 18 hours (or high for 2 – 4 hours).

Put soft fruit in food mill to remove skins. Measure fruit back into crockpot. For each pint (2 cups) of fruit add: 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 ground cloves and 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. Stir well. Cover and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. Stir every 2 hours. Remove cover after 3 hours to allow fruit and juice to cook down. Spoon into hot canning jars and proceed according to canning jar directions. Or spoon into freezer containers. Allow apple butter to cool and then store in freezer.

 

[piratesmate]

I've been going through the "Making things from scratch" thread that just got moved over here from (I think) the budget board & have found a stock recipe that I thought someone might use. She also included how to turn the stock into soup.

I will continue to cross-post recipes as I find them.

Chicken Stock

If I roast a chicken for dinner, after I pick all the meat off the bones I put the bones, a whole onion cut in half, a couple of carrots, couple of tops of celery (don't need the stalks, just the leaves, really) poultry seasoning and salt and pepper in the crockpot. Fill it up with water then put on low and go to bed! The next morning, drain it through a strainer and you have chicken stock. When it's cool I measure out 2 c. increments into quart sized freezer ziploc bags and lay them down in the freezer. When frozen, they stack up in the freezer.

I use a lot of chicken stock/broth for recipes, 2 c. is just about equal to one can, and it's practically free!

You can also make an awesome chicken soup with the stock. After it's drained, just add some new vegetables (the ones you cooked all night will just be mush) such as another diced onion, diced carrot, maybe a clove of garlic and some egg noodles or rice. Use some of the leftover chicken that you roasted, too. Cook till the carrots are tender.

 

[piratesmate]

Black beans...

I just made a big crock pot of black beans today, they were yummy...if I say so myself.

Two bags of black beans were 89 cents each at the grocery. Soaked them overnight. Drained this morning and covered with fresh water. Added 2 strips of bacon that were partially cooked to get some of the fat out, and salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion granules, cumin and chili pepper, all to taste.

Cooked on high til they were boiling, then turned to low. I let them cook about 4 to 5 hours, but you really can't over-cook them.

Served with organic brown rice I had from yesterday. Mmmm!

ps...I think the pre-soaking beans overnight reduces whatever it is that causes gas in our digestive tracts??

 

[Kirby]

I usually don't like what I cook in my crock pot. But, for once, I finally found something that both my husband and I like.

I found the recipe here somewhere, it's sort of a combination of two that were similar. I don't know who posted them because I didn't copy down the names when I printed the recipes.

I cooked it twice. I used pork tenderloin cut into 1" thick slices. Actually, at the grocery store, I didn't pay attention to what was on the label and thought I was buying a roast. When my husband went to the meat counter and asked them to cut it into 1" thick slices they looked at him like he was crazy and questioned it. Since I was elsewhere in the store, he told them to just do it and he would deal with it later. I usually will buy a roast and cut it up instead of buying pork chops already cut. It saves a little money that way.

So, when I got home and unwrapped it to separate in to meal size portions, I realized what had happened and separated it into two freezer bags. So the first time I cooked it, the chunks that were in that bag were smaller than the other bag. I placed them in my crockpot, poured a can of Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom soup and a can of water on top. I then cooked it on low for eight hours. We ate it over white rice. It was good but the meat was on the dry side. I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it again, I usually cook a recipe twice if it is okay before adding it to my recipe file.

The second time, it turned out much better. The pork tenderloin chunks were much bigger. I sprinkled onion salt on the meat before adding the soup and water. I again cooked it for eight hours and it turned out nice and tender, not dry at all. So this will be added to my recipe file.

Thank you whomever you are for posting the way you cook your pork!

 

[piratesmate]

These are great recipes. Here is a dessert one.

1 box yellow cake mix
1 can fruit pie filling (I like cherry the best)
1 stick butter or margerine
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds

Place pie filling in bottom of crock pot (spray it with pam first). sprinkle dry cake mix over top. chop up butter and put on top. sprinkle with nuts. cook on high 2-3 hours. Yummy with ice cream!
<snip>

I tried this one last nigt. Oh my! Of course, as usual, I changed things a bit. After seeing the cherry pie filling in this DD & I decided that we'd like it with chocolate cake mix instead. LOL It was outstanding!!

Something I'd missed when I first copied the recipe was that it called for an entire stick of butter and nothing else. I was half afraid to try because I couldn't imagine how it would turn out. In all honesty, I did reduce the butter to about 4 Tablespoons - I just couldn't imagine all that fat in there. Then I worried after about an hour that it was still so dry...so I added about 2 or 3 Tablespoons of water. Of course it wasn't like cake - more like an extremely moist brownie.

The cake mix was a Betty Crocker Super Moist one - the Hershey's Milk Chocolate. And I used a can of sugar free pie filling that had Splenda in it. As I said...excellent! Thanks for sharing!

Index updated to here.

 

[MazdaUK]

I can see why you cut back the butter Would this work with BC Devils Food Cake mix? And fresh (frozen) raspberries? (Or do you need extra liquid again?)

 

[piratesmate]

I'm sure that Devils Food Cake would be excellent too! I just love the chocolate & cherry - or raspberry - combination. I'm not sure how substituting fresh or frozen fruit would translate though. Because although there was still some "goo" in & around the cherries, it seemed to be far less than I started with...but that could just be perception.

I went looking for other, similar recipes to see if it makes a difference on the kind of fruit used. I found this one which makes me think that using your frozen raspberries would work. It looks like the extra ingredients just thicken up the peaches in much the same way you would for a pie...aka pie filling.

Fabulous Peach Dump Cake Recipe - Crockpot

1 bag frozen peaches (2 cups sliced peaches)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Jiffy white cake mix (or 1/2 package of a 2-layer size cake mix)
4 tablespoons melted butter

Lightly grease the crockpot; place peaches in the bottom. Sprinkle with cornstarch; toss. Drizzle with vanilla and sprinkle brown sugar over all. Sprinkle with cinnamon then cake mix. Drizzle melted butter evenly over cake mix. Cover and cook on high for 3 to 3 1/2 hours.

 

[piratesmate]

A new crockpot thread just got moved over from the Budget board & I thought I'd copy some of their great recipes/ideas over here so they get included in our index.

It's not freezer, but I came across the easiest recipe that my DH loves. Just put some baby carrots in the bottom of the slow cooker, then place a "mini ham" (I get the 1 1/2 pound one) on top of the carrots and pour a cup of maple syrup over the ham. Its great, no chopping or browning or anything. Good luck at work tomorrow!

Never heard anything bad about frozen meats before, been doing it for years with no ill effects.

Recipes I do:

Meatloaf-- make the meatloaf as you normally would, spray wax paper with PAM (so the waxed paper doesn't stick) and then freeze for a couple of days and put in the crock pot on low for 10 hours. ALL the fat comes off it, it does collect at the bottom of the pot but you'll be amazed at how little fat is in the actual meatloaf.

Whole chicken, 2 onions sliced, 1 package of DRY ranch dressing mix, 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth. Put all the ingredients in the pot and cook on low for 10 hours. The chicken will be very flavorful and tender, it will fall off the bone! I serve with rice and green beans.

Frozen chicken breasts and 1/2 bottle of Newman's Italian dressing; actually most of the Newman's work great, we love the parm cheese one. Pour the bottle over the chicken breasts and cook for 10 hours on low. Sometimes I add an onion or carrots, depends on my mood.

My crockpot came with a recipe book, I sometime make the turkey soup recipe, the kids loves it!

I even make the Irish steel cut oatmeal in the crockpot, it cooks overnight so it's perfect by morning. I always make a double batch otherwise it dries out. 2 cups of the steel cut oats and 9 cups of water cooked on low for 7 hours.

Steel cut oats take about 50 minutes on the stove, I don't have that kind of time in the morning.

I love throwing some chicken breasts in with 1 can (or 2 cups) chicken broth and a can of cream of chicken soup. Then, when done, I have done a few things with it

1 - About an hour before i drop cut up biscuits in and stir for chicken and dumplings

2 - About an hour before I throw in egg noodles for chicken and noodles

3 - I make biscuits to go with it and serve it over biscuits. Chicken and biscuits! May need to thicken for this as there's lots of liquid

4 - I drained off some of the liquid and mixed it with stovetop stuffing instead of water. Chicken and stuffing! This was really yummy stuffing

Also for super easy I love to take a turkey roast and some peeled and cut potatoes and throw them in with the gravy packet dripped over top. DH LOVES the potatoes. I might get some chicken gravy and try that.

 

[MazdaUK]

We can't buy gravy in a packet - at least I don't think so, but I've never looked as I make it in the pan We can buy (expensive!!) fresh tubs

Might have to try these ideas (and the chocolate cake and fruit one )

 

[etoiles]

I didn't read the whole thread but wanted to share my favorite crockpot recipes since I LOVE using my crockpot!

- Beans - I cook all my beans from dried in the crockpot because it's effortless basically. It's much cheaper than canned beans as well. I put the cooked beans in freezer bags and then just pop them in the micro when I want to use them.

- Yogurt - I follow the crockpot lady's advice and it turned out great. So much cheaper than the yogurt I was buying.

- I like this spinach with noodles and cheese recipe. I put it on low though, not high as she suggests.