Recipes & Your Crock Pot

[smlewis00]

I absolutely love my crock pot! I use it very frequently! What recipes do you use most when cooking in your crock pot?
My crock pot favorites are homemade chili, green beans, potatoes & smoke sausage, and pork BBQ.
For the chili, I begin by frying my hamburger. I then put the fried hamburger in the crock pot. I add chili powder, tomato juice and tomatoes from the garden or canned. (I have a garden and can my own tomatoes and tomato juice.) I also add kidney beans, onions, and occassionally I add green peppers. To thicken the chili, I sometimes add tomato paste. I leave the crock pot on the lowest setting, and occassionally stir it. (As a side note: I only make chili in my crock pot if I am going to be home for the day-or if I will only be away for a short while. The reason for this is because the chili will stick if you do not stir it.)
For the green beans, potatoes and smoked sausage I begin by peeling my potatoes. I do like to leave some of the skin on for the nutritional value. (I grow my own potatoes in my garden, so I usually use the yellow potatoes I grow.) I then add green beans. (Also from my garden-I can them as well.) I then chop up Ekrich smoked sausage. (Ekrich is just my personal preference.) I sprinkle a little onion powder for flavor, and chop up a small onion. I then cover it all in water and leave it in the crock pot on low for the day. It is so tender and delicious!
For the pork BBQ, I usually allow my pork to cook in water overnight. In the morning, the meat is tender. I shred the pork with a fork. I then add seasoned salt and honey BBQ sauce. I allow it to cook for a few hours stiring it occassionally. I then serve it on hamburger buns. It is very good!
What about you? What recipes do you use? How often do you use your crock pot?

 

[OhioTom76]

I just recently watched a ton of videos on Cooks Illustrated and it's sister sites on cooking with slow cookers and pressure cookers. Their biggest advice that they demonstrate over and over in their recipes is to not rely on the slow cooker as a dump it and forget it cooking device. Almost all of their recipes call for some sort of preparation outside of the slow cooker, before adding the ingredients in it. However, the results they got out of it looked fantastic. They also emphasized to go heavy on the garlic and spices to compensate for the loss of flavor that occurs during the slow cooking process. Many of their recipes are tested heavily before they share them on their site.

 

[sillylucy]

I just started realizing how amazing my crock pot is. It is so easy to set something in the morning and then come home to warm and yummy dinner. It is the best money I have ever spent on an appliance and I feel like it is the lease utilized in the modern kitchen. Mmm crockpot lasagna!

 

[smlewis00]

I just started realizing how amazing my crock pot is. It is so easy to set something in the morning and then come home to warm and yummy dinner. It is the best money I have ever spent on an appliance and I feel like it is the lease utilized in the modern kitchen. Mmm crockpot lasagna!

I agree! Crock pots are fantastic! There is SO much you can do with them! I absolutely agree, it is wonderful to be able to come home to a warm dinner! There are many terrific and easy recipes you can use! I love that the crock pot is so versatile! You can make everything from dinner to desserts in a crock pot!
I recently bought a 3 pot crock pot! Yes, literally three pots all in one device! I can make three different meals at once! I love it! It is also perfect for family get togethers! Each pot can keep foods warm. Green beans in one, mashed potatoes in one and a beef roast in the other! Delicious and perfect to serve a big family!

 

[Arch]

We've just made the jump and bought a slow cooker, so I'd love to hear people's recipes. A workmate has one and raves about it, she roasted a chicken in it and said she'd never had meat so tender.

We had one when I was a kid, but I've never had one for myself. Looking forward to stews and casseroles, and having a go at pulled pork.

 

[smlewis00]

We've just made the jump and bought a slow cooker, so I'd love to hear people's recipes. A workmate has one and raves about it, she roasted a chicken in it and said she'd never had meat so tender.

We had one when I was a kid, but I've never had one for myself. Looking forward to stews and casseroles, and having a go at pulled pork.

My sister buys a whole chicken. Rinses it, then rubs salt on it and rinses it again. She then places the whole chicken in the crock pot with no water. She pour a pack of Liptons Onion dry soup mix (you can find this at most grocers in the U.S.) on top of it. She then puts the lid on the crock pot and allows it to cook for 7 hours. It comes out so tender and juicy every single time! I love it! She made it for me just this past week and I thought it was amazing! She said it is so simple to make and takes hardly any time! (except for the time it takes to cook in the slow cooker-but you don't have to do anything special like stirring or anything.) Anyway, I highly reccommend this recipe! So yummy!

 

[Arch]

Cheers for that! I'm in the UK, but maybe I'll find something similar to the soup mix. My friend said she just stood the chicken on a couple of carrots to raise it off the base and let the juices drain.

I guess my Mum still has the slow cooker cookbook from when I was a kid, I'll have to have a look next time I visit her. I remember we used to have a pork belly and lentil casserole which was nice.

 

[ally79]

If you don't have onion soup mix you can just use chicken or beef bouillion instead. There are tons of awesome slow cooker recipes online and if you can find it the "Fix it and Forget it" cookbooks are wonderful!