I am a crock pot failure.....

[loves to dive]

DH (the cook in our family) uses ours for roasts both beef and pork and has even cooked ribs in ours (which is against the law here in the south but he didn't want to fire up the smoker for one rack). Anyway, he swears by, what he calls, crockpot condoms. Basically the same thing as baking bags just made for crock pots. Makes clean up easy and no way you are burning in one of those.

 

[kreckl]

Love this thread- thanks for sharing recipes!

 

[leebee]

Everything I've ever cooked in the crockpot comes out stringy and dry. UGH. The only success I have with the crockpot is party meatballs- a bag of frozen meatballs, a bottle of cocktail sauce (like you'd use for shrimp cocktail), and a can of jellied cranberry sauce. I throw those into the crockpot at school at 8am, on low, and they are more than ready for lunch at noon. Other than that, EVERYTHING gets all stringy and nasty. Not sure what I'm doing wrong- I have followed recipes religiously- but I am not a fan of the crockpot.

 

[North of Mouse]

Everything I've ever cooked in the crockpot comes out stringy and dry. UGH. The only success I have with the crockpot is party meatballs- a bag of frozen meatballs, a bottle of cocktail sauce (like you'd use for shrimp cocktail), and a can of jellied cranberry sauce. I throw those into the crockpot at school at 8am, on low, and they are more than ready for lunch at noon. Other than that, EVERYTHING gets all stringy and nasty. Not sure what I'm doing wrong- I have followed recipes religiously- but I am not a fan of the crockpot.

Really don't understand why some are finding it so hard to cook in the Crockpot. I have never had problems, have used them for many years, and have very tasty meals. One thing I always do (maybe this is just my personal preference) is I sear my meats and get them good and browned before putting it all in the pot. It always makes for better flavor. Being a southern girl, I always 'very' generously season also.
I don't use recipes, just put together what looks good, and from past experience tastes good too.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I use my Crock-pot quite a bit. I do lots of chili and soup in the winter. DH's favorite food is Beef Stew, so I do that in the crock-pot and he loves it.

I don't usually do chicken because we are gone too long during the day and it dries out, but if I am going to be home to put in a little later, I like to do chicken with taco seasoning for Mexican night or with broth and cream soup for the base of chicken and dumplings.

I am going to definitely try cooking up my ground beef in the crock pot that someone mentioned above.

 

[LilyWDW]

For the rest of this month I am using my Crock Pot a few times.
Creamy Italian Chicken
Cashew Beef and Broccoli
Asian style ribs
Honey Garlic Chicken

 

[Debbie]

Here are some old threads to search for recipes:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/easy-crock-pot-ground-beef-recipes-no-pre-browning-please.1998941/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/cheap-easy-crock-pot-ideas.1646479/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/crockpot-recipes.1936826/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/index-for-crock-pot-crazy-crock-pot-just-got-a-crock-pot.1915122/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/whats-your-best-crockpot-recipe.3034950/
http://www.disboards.com/threads/crockpot-and-easy-meals-index-post-372.2367027/

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I need to get a new crockpot. The programmable one I have now no longer has a lid (it slid off and broke), and DH broke off a large chunk at the top of the crock insert. I love the programmable feature, but it was also too large for us (a family of 4). Most of my recipes didn't fill it up enough and some things dried out.

What size and brand of crockpot do you guys like best?

 

[North of Mouse]

I need to get a new crockpot. The programmable one I have now no longer had a lid (it slid off and broke), and DH broke off a large chunk at the top of the crock insert. I love the programmable feature, but it was also too large for us (a family of 4). Most of my recipes didn't fill it up enough and some things dried out.

What size and brand of crockpot do you guys like best?

Well, from your post, I think you may have answered your own question!! Sounds like a 4-5 qt. would be best for you, as they need to be filled 2/3 full at least.

I have a 7qt. oval which I love - only dh & myself - but, I like making a few meals at a time and having left overs, especially in the winter with soups, stews, beans, etc. A four qt. is way to small for us. I can always freeze some if it's too much.

 

[LadyBeBop]

My problem: I'm away from the house too long for a good, slow cooker meal.

I work four days a week, ten hours a day (excludes lunch). I'm out of the house at 5:45 AM, and don't get home until 4:45 PM. That's way too long for most things.

There's only two of us now. I have a programmable six-quart slow cooker, and I picked up a non-programmable, three or four-quart slow cooker at a garage sale over the summer. I use them on my days off. But, besides bean soup, I don't use my cookers on my work days. To me, that defeats the purpose of a slow cooker.

 

[christygobar]

My DH got me that particular crock pot in questions in the OP for Christmas. I had an older style, smaller one that I wanted to upgrade. Even I noticed how much hotter this one gets! My chicken was boiling on low after a couple of hours. To the point, I only had the pot full about halfway.
Luckily I have a child care situation that allows me to have someone generally home when it is cooking so it can be monitored.
That said, it still cooked well and I still live by this thing a couple times a week. Love it for chicken, roast, pork, etc.

 

[Dakota731]

Creamy Italian Chicken
Cashew Beef and Broccoli
Asian style ribs
Honey Garlic Chicken

Recipes please!

Sounds like you are not filling pot enough - also I use cooking spray on mine before using to help prevent any scorching.

 

[LilyWDW]

Recipes please!

Will do!

Ribs: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipe/braised-pork-ribs-with-bok-choy/ (These are one of my favorite slow cooker meals. I ate them for 3 days straight and was sad they were all gone)
Italian Chicken: http://life-in-the-lofthouse.com/crock-pot-creamy-italian-chicken/ (Easy, warm, tasty, and filling. I like it on both noodles and rice. Nothing fancy, but very good.)
Honey Garlic Chicken: http://www.mamalovesfood.com/2015/03/slow-cooker-honey-garlic-chicken.html (Not tried these yet.)
Beef: http://therecipecritic.com/2015/04/slow-cooker-cashew-beef-and-broccoli-stir-fry/ (Not tried this yet.)

I have a bunch more recipes on my Pinterest. Let me know if you would like a link and I will send it to you. I don't like posting it on the boards since it has my real name on the account.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I'm not a fan of crock pots, but I've never had anything get ruined. My problem is that I'm too much of a control freak in the kitchen--I need to have my hands on the food every step of the way. However, I do have a small crockpot that I use to cook meats. I prefer lean cuts of meat and they are too easy to cook into leather in the oven or even on the stovetop. I've found that, when cooking lean cuts of meat, it's best to put them in with a lot of liquid, either stock or water that is well seasoned. The water should come up to at least 2/3 of the way up the sides of the crock. Then at the end of the cooking time I take the meat out of the crock and I'll use the cooking liquid to make rice, or soup, or gravy. In fact, I have 6 cups of chicken flavored rice sitting in my fridge right now, I made it with the stock that resulted from cooking a chicken in my crock pot yesterday and I'll use it for meals for the next couple days. Mmm...fried rice.

 

[KKB]

Just made some pulled chicken in the crock pot. Used frozen tenderloins and a frozen breast. Threw it in crock with McCormick's seasoning, ketchup, hot sauce and brown sugar. Cooked on high and in 2 hours they were cooked from frozen. See how hot my crock gets? If I didn't take the lid off to check they would have burned. The tenderloins were more tender than the breast. What good is a slow cooker if you have to keep an eye on it all day? It wasn't a complete failure this time but only because I kept my eye on it.

I am not sure why you put it on high--try low. I practically never use high.

Yesterday I tossed cooked chicken, can of black beans, bag of frozen corn, can of tomatoes & chiles, 3 C. water plus boullion, chili powder & red pepper flakes to make chicken tortilla soup (add tortillas, crushed tortilla chips, cilantro and/or avocado when serving). Was in the crock pot about 9 hours. Fantastic.

 

[Pesky]

Not your imagination! I got the America's Test Kitchen crockpot cookbook a couple years ago and it talks about the different crockpots and how some do cook hotter than others and almost all cook hotter on one side than another. They have a solution though. To figure out which is your hot side, fill with some water and watch which side starts to boil or boils more rapidly. Then you can make an aluminum foil sleeve to put between the pot and the cooking element and that will help reduce the heat. Might be worth checking that book out.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

For those looking for some ideas about crockpot cooking

http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I use my crockpot at least 2 times a week. I love making soups and stews this time of year. I almost never use high, and I am home all day so I can turn it to warm when I think it's ready. I read somewhere that you should use an acidic ingredient to help meat get more tender. I make crockpot chicken tacos at least once a month using the recipe someone already posted. When I use boneless chicken I start with frozen even though it's not recommended by the food safety experts. :/

Some of the things I make regularly

Kalua pork (skinny taste website) you can't mess this up. It's so simple! Although I only cook it 8-10 hours on low.
Bbq pulled pork with the leftovers
Bourbon street chicken (spark people)
Chicken and barley stew
Crockpot jambalaya
Potato soup
Chicken tacos
Teriyaki pork chops
Porcupine meatballs

I'm trying a quinoa chili recipe today. I found it on Pinterest. I've never made quinoa in the crockpot so I'm not sure how it will turn out...

 

[Dakota731]

Kalua pork (skinny taste website) you can't mess this up. It's so simple! Although I only cook it 8-10 hours on low.
Bbq pulled pork with the leftovers
Bourbon street chicken (spark people)
Chicken and barley stew
Crockpot jambalaya
Potato soup
Chicken tacos
Teriyaki pork chops
Porcupine meatballs

Recipes please! Especially the pork - it's so cheap here lately so I'm always looking for good ideas.

 

[smiths02]

Wow! Thank you so much for the recipe's. Cannot wait to try them now. I notice you didn't use any chicken breast so maybe that is where I go wrong. They always turn out like rubber.

I have used chicken breast without burning it, but it always tastes like stewed chicken. This is okay in some soups or to then use as a filling for tacos/enchiladas/burritos, but never tastes as good as if I had grilled/sauteed/roasted it. It's disappointing to put $20 worth of meat and veggies and expect to get teriyaki stir fry...and you really have teriyaki flavored stewed chicken. Maybe I'm doing it wrong too, but that has been my experience.
(My DH won't eat dark meat chicken...I really don't know why.)

I have tried lots of recipes, and really only like big roasts (beef and pork) or soups and stews. I usually only do recipes that are cook on low for 8 hours or more, I set the slow cooker when I leave for work, it goes for 8 hours, then turns to warm until we get home.