Any amazing crockpot ideas/recipes out there?

[princessv]

I''m cooking with the crockpot tommorow night and making vegetable beef soup hehe I hope it turns out well even though I''m going to be the only one eating it

FG how about bringing me a mug of cider too?

I''ll let everyone know how it turns out tommorow night.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 1/8/2006 9:15:00 PM
Author: princessv
I''m cooking with the crockpot tommorow night and making vegetable beef soup hehe I hope it turns out well even though I''m going to be the only one eating it

FG how about bringing me a mug of cider too?

Want some rum in your cider?

I hope the soup turns out delicious!!!!

 

[aljdewey]

Ok, I haven''t tried this one, but it sounds yummy!

Bayou Chicken
2 (1 oz) pkgs Bearnaise sauce mix
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 tsp tarragon
1/2 tsp dried turmeric
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 shallots, minced
1 pound cooked ham, cut in 1-inch chunks
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 pound red potatoes, scrubbed, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1 (9-oz) pkg frozen artichoke halves and quarters, thawed
1 pound skinless chicken breast tenderloins, cut in chunks
In a crockpot, mix both packages of
bearnaise sauce mix, wine, tarragon,
turmeric, and garlic powder until well
blended. Add shallots, ham, red pepper,
potatoes, artichokes and chicken. Stir gently.
Cover, set heat on low setting, and cook for 6
hours.

 

[aljdewey]

I''m pretty sure I''m going to try this one this weekend....

Crockpot Beef and Beer Stew

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds stew beef or round steak
• 3 to 4 tablespoons flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 can beer (12oz)
• 1 pkg. regular or beefy onion soup mix
• 1 pkg. brown gravy mix

Cut stew beef or steak into 1-inch cubes. Combine flour with a little salt and pepper in a bowl or food storgate bag; add beef cubes, a few at a time, and toss to coat. In a large skillet with a little oil, brown beef over medium heat, stirring to brown all sides.

In slow cooker, mix beer, soup mix and gravy mix. Add browned beef. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours. Serve with hot cooked noodles or potatoes.
Serves 4.

 

[princessv]

FG: Lots and lots of rum please!

My low carb vegetable beef soup turned out great!

I used:

1 1/2 lb. beef stew meat
olive oil
some garlic and browned the meat

Next, sauteed about half an onion, and some sliced portabella mushrooms added my vegetable medley (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower) use whatever you want, added 1/2 cup red wine. Lastly I added some canned diced oregano garlic flavored tomatoes.

Pour 4 cans beef broth in the crockpot add a bay leaf and combine the meat and veggies in the pot set for 4 hours and walk away.

 

[Kaleigh]

Glad it turned out great princessv, I will have to try that. Al both your recipes sound yummy. I am going to make the beef"n beer stew this weekend. Yummmm.

 

[Mara]

we haven''t used the CP too much lately...here''s why...

it seems like everything we make in there ends up coming out a bit bland....

anyone have suggestions on how to liven things up a bit? or spicy recipes or similar? i haven''t really looked around but am curious. trying to use more things like spices for flavor rather than adding fatty items for flavor, aka i won''t really use cream of anything soups etc etc.

suggestions or recipes appreciated. oh and we mostly eat chicken or turkey rather than beef...

 

[lilyinct]

Mara, try this one....I''ve added spicy salsa and black beans at the end of the cooking time, and it came out great...



California Fresh Chicken Fajitas
2 pounds boneless chicken
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 red or green bell pepper, sliced
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 sliced lime
8 to 10 warm flour tortillas
1/2 cup nonfat Cheddar cheese, grated
lettuce and tomato as desired
Cut chicken across the grain into 1/2 inch diagonal strips. Place in a crockpot. Top with onion, bell pepper and lime. In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, salt and broth. Pour mixture over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or until chicken is tender. Spoon several slices of chicken mixture with sauce into center of each warm tortilla. Fold over. Top with nonfat sour cream, nonfat cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Remove lime before serving.

 

[Mara]

OOH that sounds great Lily....we will definitely try it very soon!! Thanks!

In the meantime wanted to just say really quickly that I have recently discovered the ''stuffed'' breasts at Whole Foods, it''s not a crockpot thing (though maybe it could be?) but it''s divine and great for a quick meal. They have 1/2 or whole turkey and chicken breasts and they stuff them with various types of ''stuffing'' aka there is a wild rice and mushroom one and we tried the cranberry one last nite, it''s a traditional stuffing but is a little healthier, aka lots of spices and then the mix. You bake it in the oven in some white wine in a dish, and I baste it every 15 min or so with a chicken broth and olive oil, and put some new orleans spices on top of it and it turns out divine! So if you are a WF addict like me, check to see if your local one has it in the meat section. We typically buy something like 1.5 lbs (stuffed of course) and it''s about $14.00 and it''s our entire meal and totally fills us up...unless you want to add a green salad to it.

 

[princessv]

So I''m making roast beef today. I just popped in a 3 lb. roast with two boxes of that Campell''s Golden Select Portabella Mushroom stuff, a bay leaf and some sprigs of thyme. I set the CP for 10 hours and will add veggies around 3pm. I just hope it turns out well!

 

[Mara]

that sounds yummy, let us know how it turns out PV...

i think we are going to grill steaks tonite and have something like a wedge blue cheese salad to accompany! we both love a good steak!

 

[princessv]

MMMmmm Mara what you are making sounds delish too! I love salad but T. doesn''t.

Well my roast beef turned out great! I''m so glad I decided not to use regular cream of mushroom soup (I think its too fattening and creamy) so I think that Campbell''s Select Mushroom soup in the box is much better. I''m waiting for it to cool off so I can skim the fat off the top.

Next time I make this I''m going to rub the roast the night before with some garlic powder and pepper and the lipton''s onion soup mix.

Oh yes I forgot to say that I had to add some water about 2 cups beef broth and lipton''s onion soup when I added the veggies. It smells soooo good right now

 

[Mara]

Dinner sounded fab PV...

We actually ended up doing grilled rib-eye, twice-baked potatoes and broccoli...YUM. Though it was alot of food and I felt a little green later but that''s okay!

 

[Kaleigh]

That sounds delish princessv. You are really getting good at this crock pot cooking. Mara, nothing like a great steak. I love steak!!

 

[FireGoddess]

From msn.com - the Top 10 Slow Cooker Recipes (according to them) can be found HERE.

 

[Mara]

ooh is anyone going to try any of those FG recipes?

the mexican minestrone looks interesting and of course the italian chili but it''s sooo fatty!

 

[FireGoddess]

I just made turkey chili last week but I think the Italian chili could be lightened up by using lowfat or nonfat sour cream and part skim cheese. Of course, you could omit the sausage but I think that''s part of the ''Italian''-ness of the dish. I''m not a big sausage fan so I''d probably leave it out anyway, but do they have lower fat versions of sausage like they do pepperoni and salami?

 

[Mara]

I just wanted to update this thread with something I am trying today....I found it online and thought it sounded VERY TASTY, which is my biggest beef with crockpot cooking, much of the stuff is way too bland for me..I like lots of spices and tastes going on. So we'll see how this turns out. I doubled the lemon juice, mustard and rosemary and added a bit more garlic.

Lemon-Herb Turkey Breast

INGREDIENTS:
• 1 (2 to 3) lb turkey breast
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cloves garlic

PREPARATION:
Put all ingredients (turkey skin-side down) in Crock Pot and cook on low 6 to 8 hours, basting turkey occasionally, if possible.

ETA: I just opened it to smell it and its only been 2 hours and it smells and looks DIVINE....GOSH I'm hungry already!

 

[fire&ice]

I agree that many of the stuff I tried were rather bland - nothing like roasting to bring on the flavors.

How was the dish?

Did any post an old Western NC barbeque recipe. If not, I can post - the best Shreded pork Western Style NC BBQ pork.

 

[Mara]

oh please post a BBQ shredded pork dish, F&I, greg would LOVE that.

well okay so the turkey recipe i posted above actually only took about THREE hours to cook on low, not 6-8 like the recipe said!! but unfortunately greg wasn''t home til around the 6 hours so i had to keep it warm til then. it was so dry when he got home.

i hated it. it was horrible and tough. like a good hubby he ate it all and said it was great but it SO wasn''t.

anyway i think the FLAVOR of it was good if you could get around the dry chewit50timesbeforeswallowingthendrinkaglassofwater feel, so i will try it again next week and only cook it for 3 hours MAX. if it had been tender and juicy i think it would have been great, flavor wise!! i could definitely taste the mustard and lemon, two of my fave things.

we had it with YUMMY rosemary and garlic roasted potato slices...loved those.

 

[momothree]

My crockpot is cooking away as I write. I am trying a Barbecued Bean Chili recipe from Weight Watchers. It smells delicious but I''ll know for sure in about 7 hours. It''s got ground sirloin (supposed to use ground chicken but that''s what I had..), baked beans, red bell pepper, onions, shredded carrots, BBQ sauce, tomato paste and lots of spices. If it''s worthy, I''ll write back later.

 

[Kaleigh]

I think the thing with Crock pots is that it's hard to know exactly how long the dish will take to cook. Like Storm did a turkey and it cooked much faster than he had anticipated. How do you judge it correctly. I'm confused!!

 

[momothree]

Kaleigh, I mostly make stew-like dishes, soups or chili and figuring out the cooking time isn''t so important for those things because they can''t really dry out. In fact, the recipes I use all give a pretty wide range for cooking times; for example the chili recipe I am now cooking says 4-5 hours on high, 8-10 on low. If I throw everything in after breakfast, I cook on low, if I do it after lunch, I cook on high. My crockpot switches automatically to a "warm" setting when the cooking time is over.

 

[fire&ice]

Sorry about your meal. It''s hunt and peck with these recipes - you have to see what works best for you.

O.K. here''s the Western NC pulled/shredded pork BBQ recipe. I hope you can get a pork cut called "Boston Butt". It''s a shoulder type cut that is more of the center.

The brew to cook the Boston Butt:

1 cup vinegar (I use white wine vinegar)
1-2 tablespoon Worchestshire sauce
teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground if possible)
dash or so of Cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons of Sugar
About 1/2 teaspoon of Liquid Smoke.

Ya stick the Butt in and cook on low for at least 8 hours.

Spoon it out and it nearly shreds itself. I use on of those gravy juice separators to separate the fat from the "brew". I use the brew as BBQ sauce. Some prefer to make "fresh" - if you want to do that 1/2 the recipe for the ''brew'' above.

This is a recipe for true Western NC BBQ which is a vinegar base. Eastern NC has more of a tomatoey ketchup base. Hubby eats it straight W.NC. I add a tad of regular BBQ (red) sauce.

 

[FireGoddess]

Date: 4/11/2006 1:26:07 PM
Author: momothree
My crockpot switches automatically to a ''warm'' setting when the cooking time is over.

So does mine - I think it''s critical or the heat will dry everything out. I usually do my thing on low all day since I''m at work. Since the chicken ends up soaking in juices it''s okay, but if the recipe is off-wack or something it can turn out dry for sure. I will try some recipes from my cookbook to post. These recipes are a little more work at the end, but it''s worth it - a lot of them require maybe 15 min or so before dinner''s ready to make a sauce, or add seasonings or spices, but this alleviates the ''bland'' thing, because everything gets the final seasoning touches at the end!

 

[Mara]

Mine switches to warm too but it didn't matter, after 3 hours on warm the turkey was just DONE and DONE some more. Plus it wasn't submerged in liquid at all so I think that contributed to it. The problem was just that the recipe said 6-8 hours and really it was done in 3...so that's a huge difference in timeline...and I had planned for 6 hours so Greg wasn't going to be home for 3 more hours!

 

[momothree]

Well, I think the key might be to use the crockpot for "wet" dishes only (sounds delicious, no?). Cooking meat correctly is an exercise in precision and I don''t think a crockpot can really do that. Too bad, though...

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 4/11/2006 1:18:12 PM
Author: kaleigh
I think the thing with Crock pots is that it''s hard to know exactly how long the dish will take to cook. Like Storm did a turkey and it cooked much faster than he had anticipated. How do you judge it correctly. I''m confused!!

experence, that was my first turkey so I errored too far on the time.

Also its best with wet foods if your not going to be home to watch it.

 

[strmrdr]

bbg chicken legs
how ever many checken legs you want to throw in. I usualy buy the family packs of 18
Mix favorite bbq sauce with 50% water cover up between 1/2 and 3/4 of the chicken.
4 hours high, 6 on low.
if your home stir every 2 hours.

 

[Linda W]

I make this and cook it over night in the crock pot. It actually tastes better the next day, so I serve it the next night for dinner.


Chuck Roast

cut up carrots

red potatoes

sprinkle of worcestershire sauce

can of cream of mushroom soup (sometimes I use 2 cans)

Splash of Red Wine. I use Merlot for full flavor

One package of Lipton Onion Soup


This is delicious and makes a GREAT gravy. My hubby likes it over noodles too.


Linda