Crock Pot

boneless chicken, potaotes - peeled & cut in 1/4 to 1/2, fresh mushrooms,green beans, 1 can of stewed or whole tomatoes or 3-4 fresh tomatoes, cilantro (washed & chopped), two cloves of garlic (smashed or diced),sliced onion,1/2 to 3/4 cup of water, salt & pepper to taste.

place everything in crock pot and cook all day.
If using frozen green beans, you can add them 30 minutes before serving. Eat over white or brown rice.

This is one of my favorites that I adapted from a recipe I found online (allrecipes.com)... kind of like beef stew but we pour it on top of egg noodles.

Ingredients:
-2 pounds of beef sirloin cut into 2 inch strips (doesn't have to be sirloin - I found the pre-cut up beef stew beef works wonderfully and saves you a step)
-garlic powder to taste
-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
-1 cube beef bouillon (or I use bouillon paste called Better Than Bouillon)
-1/4 cup hot water
-4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup chopped onion (my husband prefers onion powder instead)
-Fresh Green Beans and Carrots - as much or as little as you want
-1 can beef broth
-3 tablespoons soy sauce
-1 teaspoon white sugar
-1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Sprinkle strips of meat with garlic powder to taste. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the vegetable oil and brown the seasoned beef strips. Transfer to a slow cooker.

2. Mix bouillon cube with hot water until dissolved, then mix in cornstarch until dissolved. Pour into the slow cooker with meat. Stir in onion (or powder), green beans and carrots, soy sauce, sugar and salt.

3. Cover and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low for 6 to 8 Hours.

When almost done, cook up some egg noodles (or any noodles, or rice) and pour on top. Feeds an army!

HINT: They sell slow cooker liners in the grocery store (near plastic wrap/aluminum foil section usually) that are wonderful. My crock pot has a tendency to burn around the edge and make for a yucky taste unless I use one of those liners. It makes for a much easier clean up too.

Bon Appetite!

A few crock pot stand-bys in our house:

Chicken ans Salsa: 4-6 boneless chicken breasts and a jar of your favorite salsa. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred chicken into salsa, then serve over white (or brown) cooked rice.

Lazy Chicken Catchatori: 3-4 boless chicken breasts and a jar of your favorite sauce (or if you make your own, about 1 cup of sause per chicken breast). Set to low for 6-8 hours, shred and serve over rice (traditional) or spagheti noodles.

Chicken and vegetable soup: one chicken cut into pieces and any/all vegetables that sound good. For best taste you should include the trinty (onions, carrots and celery). I start with about 2-2 1/2 cups of water and about a tablespoon of chicken boulion (sp?). You can always add more (boiling) water later, but if it is too watered down, it is harder to fix. I let it cook about 8 (sometimes 10) hours on low or 6-8 on high (but high cooks the veggies too fast in my opinion.)
Soup can also be made with stew beef instead of chicken. I also did shrimp one time during lent, which was okay, but not my favorite.

Here's an amazing recipe:

3-4 lbs. chicken breasts
3/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cups of lime juice (fresh squeezed, about 5 limes)
1 yellow onion
8 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
Olive oil

Dust the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Then, heat a tablespoon of olive oil (or you can use ghee, it is clarified butter for less fat) in a frying pan. Sear (brown) the chicken breasts on medium/high heat on one side for about 5-7 min., then on the other side for 2-3 min. until both sides are brown. Put them in the bottom of the crockpot. Throw garlic (minced) into frying pan with both juices and deglaze the pan on high heat, scraping up all the browned bits of chicken. Dump the juices with the chicken bits in the crock pot over the chicken. Dice up the onion and throw it in on top of the chicken and juices. Add another teaspoon of salt over the onion (this allows the onion juice to flow out of the onion as it cooks). Cook on high for 2.5 hours or on low for 5 hours... serve with rice and beans (I prefer black), fresh salsa or your favorite salsa, and voila! Gourmet Cuban Chicken! It's the best!!

Yum,
K.

Sounds like these ladies have given you some great recipes. Just wanted to throw out the bookstores do have crockpot recipe books! :)

My husband's favorite is frozen meat ball (costco) with a bottle of cheapy BBQ sauce and 1/4 SWEET (yellow) onion, add about 1/4 cup water. Cook on low for about 2 - 3 hours. Excellent finger food.

Hi Renee,

I love my crockpot. I am a mother of four. I used mine alot.
One thing i love to cook in it overnight is smoked turkey legs with beans- (kidney or pinto) or you can mix the beans them. I cook it on slow.

You can cook smoked turkey legs witg veggies also..

Wow, you can do anything in a crock pot. I add chicken, vegees and seasonings and cook for a few hours. Taste it and see what you might want to add when the chicken is sone. You can put a roast in it and some water or broth, add some veggees when it is half cooked and you have it!

I don't have a cookbook so sometimes my experiments go awry but it is quite forgiving. I have made pinto beans, spagetti sauce, all manner of meats and soups. Seasoning is the key here. You can get great flavor by cooking a sauce or soup on low all night long. Add anything you all like. I add well cooked pureed carrots to any pasta sauce for more vegees and it takes the acid kick off.

Do you know about the Share Food program? Great way to save on your food budget. Google it for your state, they can be different.

I love my crock pot, too. I put a rump roast in 1st thing in the morning, with chopped up carrots, potatoes, and sliced onion. I cover it all with water seasoned with beef buillon (powdered or cubed). Cook on low 8-10 hours, and serve with packaged gravy and biscuits. If there is left over roast, we use it for shredded beef tacos or burritos the next day.
I also do a corned beef every St. Patrick's Day in the crock pot.
Have fun!

Hi M.,
I am an Independent Distributor for Homemade Gourmet "Helping create great tasting home cooked food, fast!". Please check out my website for great meal options and I have a whole cookbook just for your Crockpot!I also do a monthly dinner studio in my San Marcos home that you might love as well...
www.homemadegourmet.com/dena18094
D.

#1 - wrap potatoes in foil and put on low all day. when you get home, add whatever topping you enjoy for stuffed potatoes!
#2 - super easy - a roast (beef or pork), a bag of frozen stew veggies (or fresh if you have time), a can of cream of mushroom soup, an envelope of lipton onion soup. cook on low all day. that's it.
#3 - check the frozen section of your store - they have crockpot meals that you just pour in the pot and turn it on low.
#4 - chicken (whole, boneless or parts), and a bottle of bbq sauce (or caribbean jerk sauce) low - -yummmmm
#5 - frozen meatballs and spaghetti sauce, cook on low. add to breadrolls for meatball sandwiches.
You can buy "crockpot" cookbooks.

The crock pot is such a hand tool, especially for busy moms. A really easy dish is just chicken (bone-in) or pork butt with a bottle of BBQ sauce. Leave on low for up to 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. The end result will be BBQ chicken or BBQ pulled pork. You can also do the same thing with chicken and teriyaki sauce and add pineapple chunks and bell peppers for a great teriyaki chicken. Good luck and good eating!

Check out this link to the Better Homes and Garden page. They have tons of yummy recipes.
http://www.bhg.com/bhg/files/marketing/slowcooker/suppers...

Renee,
I absolutely live by the crockpot. Here is one of several tasty recipes I have and use.

Crockpot Jambalaya
Recipe from “Dream Dinners” cookbook

Serve this dish over steamed white or brown rice for a no-fuss meal. Stir in some shelled and cooked shrimp just before serving if you like. Serves 6

Ingredients

6 4-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thirds
½ lb. Turkey Kielbasa, sliced on the diagonal into 2-inch pieces
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, with juice
1cup Green or Red bell pepper, diced into 1-inch pieces
1 cup yellow onion, diced into 1-inch pieces
1 cup celery, diced into 1-inch pieces
1 cup whole pitted black olives
½ cup chicken broth
1tblsp. Cayenne pepper (might want to add less so the kids are able to eat it)
1 tsp. Dried Oregeno
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. Minced garlic

Combine all of the ingredients in the Crockpot. Cook on Low for 6-7 hours. Serve over rice.

You can also double and triple this recipe and freeze the separate batches. Make sure to place the batches, that are going to be frozen, into resealable freezer bags. Double bag each batch. Label, date and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator before cooking as directed above.