Crock-Pot Recipes

[hezzier]

Cook book recommendation...  My nephew has graduated from college, is working long hours at his new job and is living in an apartment with 2 other guys.  My sister sat in B&N and read through lots of crock pot cookbooks looking for one that was simple but also had relatively healthy dishes.  She just read me lots of the recipes and they sounded pretty good.

Get Crocked Slow Cooker 5 Ingredient Favorites: Simple & Delicious Meals by Jenn Bare

looks like she has a soups and stews crock pot book as well

[becca]

Get him the new little Instant Pot!

[hezzier]

I thought of that but between the 3 guys who work all different hours I think being able to turn on the crockpot in the morning and having food ready when they walk in at night is the goal.  Plus, who knows if they will really use it.

[Janelle205]

Hezz, I'd mention to him, since you said long hours, that there are some things that just don't do well in a crock pot for a long time, even if you have one that switches to warm after a certain period of time.  Chicken breast and pork loin will generally end up pretty dried out if they are cooked all day.  Meat wise, you'll have better luck with things with a higher amount of fat like chicken/turkey thighs or legs, pork butt (shoulder), fattier cuts of beef.  I do whole chickens in mine with good results - leave the skin on to help keep it moist during cooking and then remove afterward.  Soups and stews generally do well for long periods of time as long as they don't have pasta or rice - but rice or smaller pasta can be thrown in for about half and hour when you get home and they will get soft.  Recipes with dairy will sometimes curdle if you leave them for long periods of time as well - cheese and 'cream of' soups usually hold pretty well, but if you are adding regular milk, cream, or sour cream it is better to do it at the end.

If they want to do something that requires watching a little bit more to keep stuff from drying out or going wonky, they could do it on the weekend and then pack up meals for the week.  I will sometimes do a bigger piece of meat on Monday (shredded beef, pulled pork, whole chicken, turkey breast) and then use the leftovers to make meals for the rest of the week - sandwiches, quesadillas, pulled pork pizza, soups, etc.

I made a LOT of slow cooker meals when I worked late so that DH and DSD would have dinner ready when he picked her up.

[gargano]

I never pulled my crock out once all winter.  Then yesterday I remembered seeing an interesting recipe in a FAAN newsletter, and I was going to be home late.  It was fantastic!

Chicken Fricasee

Chicken legs and thighs (I used a whole chicken cut in 1/8's, since it was what I had on hand)
1/2 green pepper chopped
1 onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
3 potatoes cut into chunks
15 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 tsps. cumin
1 leaf fresh sage (I couldn't find any locally, so I omitted this)
salt/pepper to taste

Place chicken parts in the bottom of the crock.

Place chopped pepper, onion and garlic on top.

Place potato pieces on top of that.

Combine the rest of the ingredients, and pour over.

Cook on low for 6 - 8 hours.

Even the white meat came out great - I removed the skin from the dark meat, but left it on the breasts so they wouldn't dry out.    Also, since I was using a kosher chicken which is already quite salty, I just added a dash of salt.

It was a big hit with everyone, and the sauce is divine.  I can't wait to have some for lunch.  Next time I'm going to experiment and substitute some Goya Adobo for the cumin.  How bad could it be?

Awesome recipe I tried it and love it thanks

[hezzier]

Making Hawaiian BBQ pulled chicken in the crock pot to be ready when we get home from swim team.  Will report back if good.

[hezzier]

https://cleanfoodcrush.com/clean-eating-slow-cooker-chicken-stew/

This looks good

[GoingNuts]

That looks fantastic, though I might substitute thighs since breasts can dry out and get rubbery.

OF course, in order to try it I'll replace my crock since DH dropped it a few weeks ago.  But that's OK, because it gives me an excuse to get a fancy one that I can program to stop cooking after 8 hours, and not come home to over-cooked food. 

[becca]

That does look good.  I see zucchini in the photos of the ingredients and of the soup/stew but not in the actual recipe.  Would be a good addition.

[hezzier]

So this is in the crock pot now...hoping it cooks in time, but now that our schedule changed it can have another hour to cook.  I subbed in sweet potatoes instead of red ones which ended up being a little more than it called for, same with the chicken so I used two cans of tomatoes and a more stock.  Hope it's edible because there's a lot of it.  Was temped to throw in some kale too, but want DS to eat it so skipped it this time.

[becca]

It's got to be edible!  Lots of great ingredients!

[hezzier]

No flavor, overcooked veggies...so I fished out the rest of the chicken and pureed the liquid and veggies...now I just need to come up with some soup to make with it.

Was thinking turkey sausage, kale and garbanzo beans...

Anyone have any good ideas?

[becca]

I actually make veggie soup with turkey sausage and kale or cabbage.  I think with the sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, you could do turkey sausage.  Maybe even a spicy sausage. Cannellini beans are good in it.  I go heavy on garli and onion in my soups. 

[hezzier]

Crock pot question...if I make a double batch of chili on the stove, then throw it in the fridge overnight, can I warm it up and serve it from the crockpot? Suggestions as to what to put it on and for how long?

[SilverLining]

Crock pot question...if I make a double batch of chili on the stove, then throw it in the fridge overnight, can I warm it up and serve it from the crockpot? Suggestions as to what to put it on and for how long?

No. Reheat/warm up on stove. You can then put in slow cooker to keep warm.