The oven in our apartment suddenly has only two setings off and 600 degrees fahrenheit. Of course the landlords know but have informed me it may be a week or two before I can get my new gas oven and they double check the lines etc. (I actually live on the converted top floor of a 1920's house) Neither the oven or the stovetop can be used until then. So, I have a new 4 qt crock pot and a standard/convection toaster oven. I know there are a million recipes out there, and I have copied several, but that is really the problem.. I don't have a lot of money or time for experimentation I really need tried, true, failsafe recipes from moms who have done this before.
I also have a small microwave, and I am only cooking for three.
As always I am grateful for your time and knowledge!
T.
I am a huge crockpot fan!! Fix it and Forget it is a great cookbook for crockpots - you can buy it halfprice books (the complete set of cookbooks in one) for around $8!!
Also www.recipezaar.com and search "crockpot" in the search bar...
I can pm some of my faves if you need some recipes!
consider cold foods too. tuna salad, egg salad with fruits and vegies. Also, buy a already cooked chicken in the grocery. Leftovers can be chicken salad. The week or two will go quickly.
Toasted cheese sandwiches or homemade burritos in the toaster.
Homnemade vegetable beef stew works great in the crock pot.
Get tenderized stew meat, can diced tomatoes, can of green beans, can of niblet corn, can of green peas, can of carrots, 4-5 potatoes and a pack of vegetable stew seasoning mix or pot roast seasoning mix (same place where the taco seasoning mixes are). Put the stew meat in the crock pot early in the morning and oook almost all day-then add the tomatoes and all other ingredients. Drain the juice from the vegetables Cook until the potatoes are done. Serve with saltine crackers since you have no oven at the moment.
Cost about $10 to make and usualy you have enough for 2-3 meals. I haven't tried freezing it yet. Never have enough left! Kids always want to take the leftovers home with them for lunches the next day. Good for the cool nights we are about to start having!
I make my pot roast, beef stew, chili etc on top of the stove and let it simmer most of the day.
I'm not a huge fan of my crockpot and love to cook on top of the stove. I have a small toaster oven and I use it all summer.
I RARELY use my oven, especially in summer.
Let me know if you want my recipes and ideas.
My favorite crock pot recipe is for bbq sandwiches.
Ingredients:
pork tenderloin (around 3lbs)
garlic salt
onion powder
bbq sauce
Put pork loin in crock pot and dash some garlic salt and onion powder on top of it. Add your favorite bottle of bbq sauce. Cook on low for 8hrs. Then get two forks and it will shred apart. Put on hamburger buns for bbq sandwiches.
I do Chicken soup int he crock pot. I get a whole chicken cut up and put it in the crock pot with water(about 4-6 cups) add some salt, a bay leaf and any other seasonings. You can also chop up an onion and celery to help flavor the broth. I put that on in the morning on low around 10 and about 3 I take the chicken out to cool and add potato carrots onion and celery(if I haven't added them already) then de-bone the chicken and throw it back in there. Add some more salt and pepper to taste and about 1/4 cup lemon juice(or some lemon pepper)turn it up to high and it's ready by 6pm. Sometimes I will add dumplings- that's a cup of flower, teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and then some broth from the soup to make a biscuit batter. Drop those in about 30-45 mins before serving so they can cook- they are also great with fresh rosemary mixed in.
Hope that helps! It's really tasty and super easy.
~C.
You could always do a pot roast that easy enough, and very traditional. You could put some ribs in the crockpot with BBQ sauce and either apple sauce, grape jelly or apple jelly. The ribs turn out wonderful! Another very inexpensive option would be a pork shoulder you can usually get them on sale and are very inexpensive and will feed a LOT of people with tons of left overs. Here is a good recipe for that:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30890488/ns/today-today_food_...
Kroger is always running specials on a complete dinner meal. I think this weeks was if you bought a ready to eat meal (like the kind you microwave) you get a 2LTR of coke, a side, salad and rolls for free. You would just have to check their ad.
There are tons of soups and stews that you can make. They also make crockpot meals in the freezer section of the grocery store. Everything that you need is in the bag, just throw the ingredients in and your are done =) Since you are cooking all of these crockpot meals I would HIGHLY recommend the crockpot liners they save so much clean up time... Love them!
Good luck and hope this helps.
Taco Soup (I've done this stove top, but there's no reason you couldn't do it in the microwave)
2 cans chicken breast (large cans, w/juice)
1 can diced tomatoes (w/juice)
1 can Rotel (w/juice)
1 can pinto beans (w/juice)
1 can kidney beans (w/juice)
1 can corn (drained)
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
1 pkg. dry ranch dressing (1 oz)
¼ t salt
½ t pepper
1 ½ c water
Mix everything in a single pot. Heat and serve. Serve with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, sour cream, etc.
Good luck!
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