i'm doing an experiment. i'm calling it "spicey hard boiled eggs". basically, i put salsa, water, chili powder and dried chilis in the crock with two eggs. put it on low and plan to cook unti tomorrow (~11 hours). i'm hoping the eggs will soak in the spices and salsa for a spicey hard boiled egg result. we'll see! will update ya'll tomorrow.

UPDATE: the results were *ahem* interesting. not amazing. it kinda tasted like it had been bbq'd, not spiced. idk if i'm gonna do it again.

Hello all!!

I've been reading the posts on this community for awhile and have really enjoyed some of these recipes. My fiancee and I work until late at night so its extremely convienent to come home to a slow-cooked dinner! 

I want to make beef stew as I haven't had it in a long time. The kicker is that I've become allergic to corn, so I can't use cornstarch as a thickener. Also, I've tried using flour, but it comes out tasting like flour, and not appetizing. Does anyone have any other ideas or a measurement as to how much flour I should use?

Also, if anyone has a cream of mushroom soup recipe for the crock pot (without using cornstarch) I'd be forever grateful. I have to stick with pretty much organic ingredients (many preservatives are derived from corn).

Thanks so much!

Oh god, tonight's dinner was sooooo good, & sooooo ghetto fabulous! Ultimate comfort food :D

1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 can cheddar cheese soup
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

chop chicken into bite-size pieces. Mix all ingredients in the crock pot & cook on low 6 - 8 hours

serve over pasta.

OM NOM NOM!!

I know it's not good for me, but it's the ultimate comfort food for me :)

so amazingly yummy. so simple. put two chicken breasts with leftover salsa, leftover pasta sauce and leftover canned tomatoes in the crock. high for 4 hours then low for two. results were amazing. love my crock.

Peachy Crockpot Chicken

* 1 fryer chicken cut up or about 3 pounds of legs and thighs
* a dash of salt
* a dash of pepper
* 1 large can of sliced peaches*
* 1/2 cup chicken broth (from bullion is fine)
* 2 tbsp margarine (melted)
* 1 tbsp dried onion
* 2 tsp curry powder
* 2 cloves of garlic (minced), or a good dash of garlic powder
* a good dash of ground ginger
* 3 tbsp cornstarch
* 3 tbsp cold water
* 1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Season the chicken with the salt and pepper and place it in your crockpot.

Get out a small bowl and pour the chicken broth and melted margarine in it. Add the curry powder, garlic and ginger. Open the can of peaches and pour out 1/2 cup of the juice and add it to the bowl. Wisk everything together with a fork, then pour it over the chicken.

Cook the chicken on high for about 3 hours or until the chicken is done. On low it will probably take about 6 hours. Remove the chicken and cover it to keep it warm.

Mix up the corn starch and cold water in a cup until you get a smooth slurry. Stir it into the liquid in your crockpot and add the raisins. Cover it and cook on high for about 10 minutes until it starts to thicken. Add the peaches and leave them in there until they are heated through. Pour the peach mixture over the chicken and serve with rice.

* You can also use fresh peaches. Peel and remove the pit, then slice the peaches. Add a little more water and a little sugar to your crockpot if you are using fresh peaches.

hey guys,
i love normal ordinary crock cooking, but my husband it on this diet where he eats no carb meals twice a day...it drives me nuts when he chooses breakfast, b/c then we can't have a nice dinner and i hate cooking all this food to eat alone. so, if i had something good to entice him, this might make things easier. normally he eats eggs or salads with cheese or lunch meat, things like that. but he can't do most other veggies.
am i crazy in thinking there should be something i can make that's not just a hunk of meat thrown into a crock?

thanks!

 Hey, guys.  I have gotten a lot of crock-pot ideas from all you creative 'crockers' in LJ land.  I just was given a Nesco electronic pressure cooker as a gift, and I went online to see if I could find a pressure cooker community for some Ideas.  Alas, there were none.  So I started a new community called ThePressureIsOn .

I do not know what to do with this contraption and am frankly a little unnerved by it. All that contents-under-pressure, and such. I have tried a couple things that I have posted, and they turned out well, especially the Spanish Pork Chops.

If any of you domestic gods and godesses out there have some recipes you can impart I'd really appreciate it.  My mom used the stovetop variety, I think it was a Mirro, but all she made in it was pot roast, spaghetti and chili.  Delicious, Economical and Boring.  

Also, the tiny cookbook that came with this machine was USELESS.  It had about 7 recipes in it that were not really that exciting (New England Boiled Dinner, anyone?  Anyone?).

Anyway, if you have any family pressure cooker recipes that you can share, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks what-a-crock community,

Gyr8or

I made Bolognese sauce in the slow cooker overnight a few nights ago. I'm so industrious, I can cook in my sleep :-) Heh :-) I love slow cooking.

What you'll need:
1kg of minced (ground) beef (convert to vegetarian by using dried TVP)
2 cans of crushed tomato (abt 400grms ea)
One sachet of tomato paste (equal to 2 tblpsn)
2 large jars of passata (italian style tomato sauce)
3 large carrots diced
400grms mushrooms thinly sliced
2 large zucchinis - diced
2 large onions – diced
2 large cloves of garlic – finely diced
1 empty tomato can of water
Dried Italian herbs, salt and sugar to taste.

In LARGE 6ltre crock pot throw in crushed tomatoes, passata, tomato paste, mushrooms, carrots and zucchini – switch crock to HIGH whilst you brown the beef. Stir occasionally with lid off whilst you cook the beef.

Brown beef in large wok or frying pan with onion and garlic and a little olive oil over high heat. Brown in small batches so it doesn’t braise in it’s own juices. Drain off any excess fat before tossing the browned meat in the crock.

If using TVP for vegetarian version – just add everything into the crock straight away.

After adding the meat, mix everything up, add enough water to make a sauce like consistency. Taste and add your herbs and a little salt and sugar (sugar reduces the acidity of the tomato) until it suits your tastes. Pop lid on and switch to low. Go to bed and wake up to several litres of slowly cooked rich Bolognese sauce. Ladle into containers to freeze or donate to family (like I did)

Yum!

I tried this sauce last night over al dente penne – it was delicious and will make for a brilliant stand by sauce in the freezer. I think this would also be good for a sauce for a pasta bake as well. Just mix through pasta, toss into baking dish, top with cheese and bake until the top is golden brown.

Hi there! Been lurking for awhile, but haven't posted til now. I love crock-pot cooking; I have three crock-pots! However, it's just my husband and me in our home, so I'm always looking for recipes suited for smaller families.  I thought I would share a VERY simple recipe for pulled BBQ pork that doesn't feed a huge crowd. We usually have it for dinner and then have just enough left over for lunch the next day, so it's perfect for us.

1 boneless pork tenderloin (about 1 lb)
1 18-oz. bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (I've used Kraft Spicy Honey the past few times for this and it was great. I have also used Sweet Baby Ray's and Open Pit, as well)
1/4 cup brown sugar

Cut the pork tenderloin into three pieces that are roughly equal in size. Pour a little bit of the BBQ sauce into the bottom of the crock, place the pork on top, and sprinkle the pork with the brown sugar. Then, cover the pork with the rest of the BBQ sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours. When it's finished cooking, shred the meat with two forks. Serve on sandwich rolls.

I have a 5-qt crock pot that I make this in, and even though this doesn't fill the crock up, I've never had any issues with it burning or cooking too quickly. It's turned out wonderfully every time.

I plan on throwing some chicken breasts, corn and salsa in the crock tomorrow for tacos. Should I add a pack of taco seasoning? I've also read some people add cream cheese at the end - What does that do for the tacos?

Hi - first time poster here (and a very novice crocker), so I hope it's okay to ask for a recipe and not actually post one...

I'm having my 92 year old Dad over for Father's Day tomorrow and I remember how much he loved my Mom's Swiss Steak. Of course, that was 40 years ago, before crock pots and she isn't around so I can ask how she made it. All I remember is that she used a wooden mallet to pound flour in the meat to make it tender - so wouldn't the slow cooker do the same? Now what else do I do? The easier the better.

1. what kind of meat?
2. what kind of sauce/broth?
3. potatoes? carrots?
4. help please????


Thank you for any advice you can send my way!

--5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
--1 teeny onion, diced
--4 cloves garlic, minced
--1 teaspoon seasoned salt
--1/2 teaspoon black pepper
--1/2 teaspoon red pepper
--2 quarts chicken broth
--2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, to add at the end
--crumbled bacon and green onion or chives as garnish (optional)

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart or larger slow cooker. Peel and dice the potatoes, and put them into the stoneware. Add onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings, and pour in the broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. The potatoes should be fork-tender. You can use a potato masher to mash the potatoes in the soup, or a hand-held immersible blender. I suppose you can also leave the potatoes in chunks, if you really wanted, but I wanted a smooth soup.

After smashing the potatoes, crumble in both packages of cream cheese, and put the lid back on. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times during the 30 minutes.

Garnish with crumbled bacon, green onion or chives, and I'd assume cheddar cheese would be just delightful.



*Verdict* We loved this soup, would make it again. Topped with Cheese and bacon. Next time I would def get chives and also not use as much pepper...it had too much of a kick

In the Crock Pot right now, I have:

1.5 lbs potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces before being cooked in a frying pan
1/2 leek, which was cooked in the bacon grease before being added to the pot
the very centre of a celery stalk, sliced thin
1/4 green pepper, chopped
2 carrots, sliced thin
1 small onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
various other herbs & spices
~3 cups beef broth

It's on high and will be switched to low once the carrots and potatoes are tender.

This was an attempt to get rid of some sad-looking veggies in my fridge, as well as use up the remainder of a box of beef broth before it expired. I had potatoes already and wasn't sure what to do with them, then I thought I could make a soup, but I have no milk products right now except some skim milk powder (for baking bread in my bread maker), a can of condensed milk (eww), some blueberry yogurt (eww), a brick of cheddar cheese (probably wouldn't work very well), and vanilla ice cream (eww). But potatoes, onions, and bacon makes a good combination, so I figured I'd mix 'em with the sad veggies and the broth and see what comes out. It might be disgusting, it might be wonderful - that's the beauty of cooking! :)

I will edit this post later (probably tomorrow, as I'm babysitting tonight) and let you all know how it comes out!

Edit: Well, it was a success! The best part about making soup is that you can really put in nearly anything you have lying around the kitchen. Next time I would add another cup of straight water, as there wasn't quite enough liquid for the last two servings to be proper soup. It made four servings, by the way. And it was really filling!

The crockpot chicken I made last night was tasty. Granted, I cheated. I mean, this was my fancy-schmancy recipe:

1 package of four boneless, skinless chicken thighs, thawed (from Costco)
1 jar "Thai green curry" simmer sauce
2 cloves garlic, whole (but peeled)
1 Yukon Gold potato, quartered (because that's all we had that was edible-- I would've added more of 'em)
all-purpose flour
butter

Rice:
1 cup rice
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cups boiling water plus one chicken boullion cube OR 2 cups heated chicken stock

Place chicken thighs in crockpot. Add simmer sauce, garlic, and potato.
Cook on "low" for 8 hours.

About half an hour before meal-time, heat up the water (or chicken stock) for the rice. When the water or stock is hot, set it aside briefly. Put the rice in a 2-quart saucepan and add the olive oil. Over medium heat (and on a medium-sized burner), toast the rice for about a minute until it smells slightly nutty but not burned. Carefully add the hot liquid to the rice and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute, cover, and reduce heat to the lowest setting. Set timer for 17 minutes. After the 17 minutes are up, do not open the lid. Turn off the burner and set the saucepan aside on a trivet for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, open the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Add a pat of butter, if desired.

Shortly before meal time (during the 5 minutes that the rice is off the heat, for instance), make a roux with equal parts flour and butter (or, alternately, equal parts oil and butter).
To do that, melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan. Add a tablespoon of flour; whisk to combine, then use a wooden spoon to stir for a minute or two, to ensure that all flour particles are coated with butter, and to cook out the "flour" flavor.

Whisk a little of the roux into the sauce to thicken. (a little goes a long way.)

To serve, place rice in a bowl and serve chicken with sauce over the top.

Devour.

Hi all, I said I'd give you an update on how this recipe turned out. It was alright. Not fabulous, but ok and I made several meals out of it.

The only vegetables that survived were the carrots and mushrooms - the sweet potato & pumpkin dissolved into the beef broth, which was still nice to ladle over the beef itself.

The butt of beef easily broke apart and shredded with tongs and a fork. So I had a bowl full of shredded beef with the broth ladled over it. My fiancee ate his fill and then with the leftovers, I took out what beef was left, shredded half of it for sandwhiches and then shredded the other half and returned it to the vegetable/beef broth. Wondered what the hell to do with it, so I threw in a handful of yellow split peas, some dried shitake mushrooms, a bit more water and made a second dish of a  beef, mushroom & vegetable soup. Popped the lid back on, switched it to high and let it bubble away for a few more hours.

So from one crockpot recipe, we had two meals, leftovers for sandwhiches and now a large container of soup in the freezer. Not bad!

What would I do differently? 
I'd use wholegrain mustard to smother over the beef - there was not enough of a mustard flavour in the beef using dijon mustard.
I'd use less water to begin with when dissolving the Massel Beef stock cube, it was too 'soupy' after the water in the meat and vegetabels cooked out of it (hence why I decided to make a soup).
And lastly, I'd use more robust vegetables - potatoes and carrots in LARGE chunks to withstand 10hr+ of cooking.

I bought Beth Hensperger's Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook and am so far on my Dud #3 recipe.

Her recommended timing seems to be off, (even at the maximum timing, two of the recipes haven't cooked the potatoes properly) and I'm perplexed as to why all three of the recipes looked so fabulous on paper, but the finished product didn't taste all that great . . .

Meat Loaf on a Bed of Potatoes p. 347
Roast Pork with Apples p. 359
Lazy Day Braised Pot Roast p 316

I'm getting discouraged, and am reluctant to try another recipe that leaves me throwing away $10-$15 of meat . . .or scrambling to try to fix it.

Has anyone else had problems with this book? Can anyone guide me to a decent recipe in it?

I want to make meatballs in my crock pot. I have such a taste for some, and it is getting hot out I do not want to slave over the stove, or bake anything in the oven.
What are your favorite meatball recipes?

I bought a whole fryer chicken the other day because I'm broke and it was cheap and looked good. Sadly, I haven't got an idea on what to do with it. I know I want to make it in the crock-pot because I don't have a roasting pan or anything and I'm already grossed out enough knowing I'll have to take the "giblets" out, so I don't really want to try and cut it up. I'm not even really sure what a giblet is XD

If anyone has any advice on how I should cook it or any recipes I'd really appreciate it :D

Oh, and should I thaw it out, since my stupid man-thing stuck it in the freezer?

The recipe is for use in an oven, but I made it in the crock pot, and it came out just fine. I'm going to post with the oven directions, but I just put mine on a medium heat until the cream cheese melted, and then turned it down to low. I made it earlier in the morning for later in the evening, but I'm sure it didn't take too long to heat up.

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