Crock Pot foods?

[Trinitis]

I'm looking for some good crock pot recipes that are easy and take little prep to start. With my new odd working hours, the crock pot is a prime way for me to have dinner ready as soon as I get home. So far my selection is pretty slim (Roast with veggies and Pozole.) I've tried to make a navy bean and ham soup, but that failed fairly bad (the ham hock bones splintered and almost every bite of soup had bone fragments in it) and chili (which just tasted bad for some reason).

Any and all ideas welcome :)

[Stanley Burrell]

Chili, chili and chili.

And chili.

[Trinitis]

Chili, chili and chili.

And chili.

Well, like I posted before. I tried chili. But for some reason it just came out yuck-tastic. I fairly sure it was my fault, but I was flying solo, and trying to just make it up as I went along.

[Satira]

BRISKET. Put in the brisket, water or beef broth, lawry's salt, chopped yellow onions. Cook it. When it's done, have rice on the side.

[Stanley Burrell]

Yargh! Can't go wrong with garlic and onions for chili, however...

What Satira said. Brisket's awesome when slow brewed for a day.

[Trinitis]

..what the heck is Brisket? Is that some type of bread like thing?

[ViridianAsp]

It's a cut of beef.

[ViridianAsp]

A good recipe is a can of cream of mushroom soup and chicken breasts. If you don't like mushroom you can use cream of chicken.

[Trinitis]

A good recipe is a can of cream of mushroom soup and chicken breasts. If you don't like mushroom you can use cream of chicken.


So just 1 can of soup, and some chicken breasts in a crock pot? Seems ok, but almost too basic.

[Stretch]

Dude.

Buy a Foreman and a rice cooker.

<-- has been living on rice, chicken, and black beans for the past year.

[Satira]

Oh yeeeah that's a good one too.

You can also do something like chicken soup and just make noodles right before you eat it. One time I also did something like

stew meat, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, small potatoes, beef broth, BEER *KEY INGREDIENT!*, parsley, a LITTLE tomato sauce, salt & pepper

And then right at the end you mix up some butter with a little flour and throw that in.

[Trinitis]

Dude.

Buy a Foreman and a rice cooker.

<-- has been living on rice, chicken, and black beans for the past year.

I own a foreman. I've got one of the newer ones with the removeable dishwasher safe plates. :)

But I get home at midnight. My roomie has to get up for work at 6am. Me clanking around in the kitchen trying to make food is somewhat disruptive. He's been good about it and has not complained, but I'd rather find some other way to have a meal already prepaired when I get home. This way, it also helps us save a bit of money (we can stop making two different dinners each night).

[Trinitis]

Oh yeeeah that's a good one too.

You can also do something like chicken soup and just make noodles right before you eat it. One time I also did something like

So something like : Chicken stock, chopped/diced chicken breast, chopped/sliced carrots, some celery, maybe some peas. Then when it's ready to eat, we boil some egg noodles and pour over?

Two questions : If I was to do this, what would I use to make a more "creamy" soup? I prefer it that way personally.

And Second : Is it better to use chicken stock? Or Water with seasonings?


stew meat, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, small potatoes, beef broth, BEER *KEY INGREDIENT!*, parsley, a LITTLE tomato sauce, salt & pepper

And then right at the end you mix up some butter with a little flour and throw that in.

Eh, I'd try it..but I'm one of those strange people who HATES beer. I can't stand it.

As for the butter and flour..is that to thicken?

[Satira]

butter and flour is just a roux to thicken yes.

Yes to the first thing about the chicken soup, if you wanted it creamier and thicker I'd personally do the roux again towards the end (make sure it's stirred in well) and possibly pour in a little cream with that. Just make sure the soup isn't boiling when you do that.

[Sean of the Thread]

Man I use the crockpot several times a week for stews/soups and on and on.

Just goto a recipe site and go nuts. It's easy mode.

[Jessaril]

You can do southern chicken and dumplings in a crockpot.

Just buy Pioneer flour, the dumplings instructions are on the back.

Cook a chicken, portion it and freeze it in portions.

Just take 1 part chicken, 1 part water + broth that cooks off the chicken (you can use canned broth but if you do add a potato to absorb the sodium), 1 part dumplings.

If you're use to the northern style chicken and dumplings add the vegtables and prebake the dumplings and just warm them in the microwave.

It takes alittle preperation, but if you use a big chicken it can go along way.

If you like it thicker corn starch or wondra will thicken it but you have to add it in the last 30 minutes or so.

[Trinitis]

You can do southern chicken and dumplings in a crockpot.

Just buy Pioneer flour, the dumplings instructions are on the back.

Cook a chicken, portion it and freeze it in portions.

Just take 1 part chicken, 1 part water + broth that cooks off the chicken (you can use canned broth but if you do add a potato to absorb the sodium), 1 part dumplings.

If you're use to the northern style chicken and dumplings add the vegtables and prebake the dumplings and just warm them in the microwave.

It takes alittle preperation, but if you use a big chicken it can go along way.

If you like it thicker corn starch or wondra will thicken it buy you have to add it in the last 30 minutes or so.

While this sounds good..I'm looking for very easy things to cook. Stuff with little to no prep time. :) I wake up about noon, I leave for work at 2:30, I get off work and get home by midnight. I really don't wanna spend my 1 free hour or so before work cutting up chickens and such.

[Skeeter]

Paella is a good seafood variety. If you want something good you're going to to need to spend at least some minimal prep time.

I enjoy a pork roast slow-cooked. Pull it when it's done add bbq and you have at least 2 days worth of meat.

Also try this. http://southernfood.about.com/library/crock/blcpidx.htm

[Jessaril]

While this sounds good..I'm looking for very easy things to cook. Stuff with little to no prep time. :) I wake up about noon, I leave for work at 2:30, I get off work and get home by midnight. I really don't wanna spend my 1 free hour or so before work cutting up chickens and such.

You could maybe just put the chicken in raw, i've never tried it though. Most beef stock stews use raw meat though.

chicken + milk + mixed vegtables + cream of chicken soup might be decent as well. Might need alittle water as well.

Actually...

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice, rinsed thoroughly
2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 large yellow onion, chopped
5 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons Chicken Flavored Bouillon Granules (cubes would be alright too probably)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

If you opposed to preping vegtables just buy frozen mixed stew/soup vegtables. Avoid anything with brocolli or cauliflower though as they tend to get mushy if you cook them to long.

In large (6-quart) slow cooker, combine all ingredients with the exception of the heavy cream and flour. Cover and cook on the LOW heat setting for 4 hours or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender. Just before serving, combine the heavy cream and the flour. Slowly stir the cream mixture into the soup. Cook and stir constantly for 5 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened.

[Seran]

Someone mentioned brisket earlier and I thought I'd expand on that with a similair cut.

One of my easiest recipies is simply tossing a tri-tip into the crock-pot fat side down with half a cup of water. By the time you get home, the thing will be falling apart. At this point, add a can of cream of mushroom and half a bottle of KC Masterpiece and you have some of the most delicious barbeque beef.

Another favorite is taking a 1lb bag of beans and covering them with water to soak overnight. Add half an onion, turn it on and let it cook all day. When you get home, add a can of hormel tomales (without paper) and you have a delicious ad-hoc pot of beans.

[Seran]

Another favorite is taking two pounds of extra-lean ground beef, adding onion power/garlic salt, a can or ortega chilis and about eight yellow or russet potatoes. Makes one hell of a soup.

[Trinitis]

Someone mentioned brisket earlier and I thought I'd expand on that with a similair cut.

One of my easiest recipies is simply tossing a tri-tip into the crock-pot fat side down with half a cup of water. By the time you get home, the thing will be falling apart. At this point, add a can of cream of mushroom and half a bottle of KC Masterpiece and you have some of the most delicious barbeque beef.

Another favorite is taking a 1lb bag of beans and covering them with water to soak overnight. Add half an onion, turn it on and let it cook all day. When you get home, add a can of hormel tomales (without paper) and you have a delicious ad-hoc pot of beans.

Cream of mushroom and BBQ sauce? Oi..that sounds very odd.

The second one sounds doable..and worth a try. That first one I'm not so sure on =P

[Jayvn]

If you really wanna cheat there's those banquet crock pot frozen premixed things.. I guess you just pour the whole damn frozen bag in the crockpot and cook it...
I love chili, you should try it again..make sure it's on low... maybe use a diff brand of beans or something this time + add a little can of those green and red chilis. :)

[Beguiler]

A litte work, but great for a weekend:

CROCKPOT Chili, Serves 6

1-1 1/2 lb Ground beef
2 15 1/2oz Dark or Light Red Kidney Beans
1 28 oz Tomatoes -- petite diced
1 6 oz Tomato paste
1 1/2 c Celery -- chopped
1 c Onion -- chopped
1/2 c Pepper, green -- chopped
1 4 oz Diced green chili - Ortega/Old El Paso
1 tbs Sugar
1 Bay leaf
1 tsp Salt
3 tbs Chili powder (texas or new mexico)
2 tsp Cumin, ground
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/4 tsp Pepper

In crockpot combine beans, undrained tomatoes,
celery, onion, tomato paste, green pepper, green
chilies, sugar, bay leaf, salt, chili powder, cumin,
garlic powder and pepper. In skillet brown ground
beef; drain and stir into tomato mixture. Cook on low
for 8 to 10 hours. Skim off excess fat. Remove bay
leaf; stir before serving.

Note: I like to jazz this up with a cup of frozen corn
kernels, and some black beans, adjust spices to your taste.
Serve as is, or with cornbread or over rice.

[Tsa`ah]

A good recipe is a can of cream of mushroom soup and chicken breasts. If you don't like mushroom you can use cream of chicken.

The great thing about cream of mushroom and a crock pot ... you can do anything with just a few simple food stuffs.

1 can of cream of mushroom
1 can of (insert stock)
1 lb of (insert meat to match stock, with the exception of pork ... then use veg stock)

Turn it on low ... go to work ... come home and have dinner.

I'd either make mashed potatoes and a fresh veg to go with it, or throw in some potatoes and carrots in the crock with everything else.

A good crock pot chili is a bit trickier. The cheaper your ingredients and the more "boxed" they are ... the crappier the chilli.

1 diced med white onion
1 12oz can of V8 (spicy if you like, big can if you like broth and crackers)
2 diced jalapeno peppers (fresh and seeded unless you like heat)
1 diced pablano
1 diced large tomato (seeded)
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs worcestershire
2 large cloves garlic (minced)
3 tbs of whatever chili powder floats your boat
1 tbs paprika
1 tbs cumin
1 tsp coriander
salt to taste
1 lb ground lean beef (sirloin unless you want 2 inches of beef fat)


Turn on low and go to work.

That's as simple as I get with a crock pot chili.

[CrystalTears]

There are dozens of crock pot recipe sites that are bound to have a lot of quick and easy recipes.

Probably the easiest would be beef stew. Buy already cut beef stew chunks, and stores sell already chopped vegetables that you can throw in there, chop up some potatoes. Add water, worchestershire sauce, put on low for about 8 hours. Serve with rice.

[Sylvan Dreams]

Over 1400 crockpot recipes here:
http://southernfood.about.com/library/crock/blcpidx.htm

There's even a mailing list that will email you new ones.

Just go to google and search for "crockpot recipes"

[Trinitis]

Ok, folks, really.

I know there are millions of recipes on the internet. Thank you. I'm not looking for millions of recipes from a bunch of random people. I was asking for a few small and easy recipes from folks I know and like, and who can answer any questions that may crop up if/when I try them.

There was a reason I asked on PC. :)

[CrystalTears]

You kinda made it harder when all you want is to throw some stuff in a pot and call it. For the most part, some chopping or cutting is involved somewhere along the way.

You can always try throwing some chicken thighs and breasts into it and spread some BBQ sauce on it. Cook it on low for 8 hours. Serve it with some corn and taters. If you don't want to prep stuff, the recipes will be simple and a bit boring.

[grenthor]

Here is one of my favorites. Jambalaya



1 pound cut up spicy sausage
1 pound boneless skinless chicken - cubed
1 pound bag of frozen cooked tail-off shrimp
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 chopped onion
1 chopped bell pepper
1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Add celery if you want - I don't like it in this so I leave it out

Step 1) Put everything in slow cooker set on low
Step 2) Come back in 8 hours and eat

Obviously, the standard way is to serve it with rice. I always make a big pot of rice to go with it.

[Trinitis]

You kinda made it harder when all you want is to throw some stuff in a pot and call it. For the most part, some chopping or cutting is involved somewhere along the way.

You can always try throwing some chicken thighs and breasts into it and spread some BBQ sauce on it. Cook it on low for 8 hours. Serve it with some corn and taters. If you don't want to prep stuff, the recipes will be simple and a bit boring.

Cutting up a chicken breast is fine. Chopping a couple carrots is great. I just don't want what a lot of the recipes are on the net.

"Bone the chicken.."

"Sear the meat in a frying pain.."

etc.

[Deadelf]

>>Over 1400 crockpot recipes here:
>>http://southernfood.about.com/library/crock/blcpidx.htm
>>Sylvan Dreams

Great link, thanks. I need to see if they make larger crock pots, ours isn't really large enough to do larger servings in my opinion. Trying to feed six including two teens means more food required.

What I like about using the crockpot is that you dont heat up the whole house with the oven. Even with air conditioners running at times for longer oven use it gets a bit warm. So I tend to use the crock pot more in the summer months and more oven cooking in the winter.

[Drew2]

Everything that comes out of a crock pot (except Chili) is usually gross to me. I can understand it being "easy", but there are a BAZILLION things you can cook from start to finish in like an hour and taste MUCH better and are probably healthier.

Edit: it does require you have a modicum of cooking ability, however. But seriously it's not hard.

[CrystalTears]

He wants it ready when he gets home, which is the appeal of crock pots. It works just like anything else that's simmering for a while on a conventional stove. Not sure how it's less healthy than cooking it faster as long as the ingrediants remain the same. If it came out bad, the recipe/ingrediants were bad, not because they were made in a crock pot.

[Drew2]

I guess my mom sucks at crock pots. I've never done it myself.

And the previously mentioned recipes included a lot of starchy ingredients (flour, potatoes, cream of's, etc.) which is why I said healthier. I tend to use fresh vegetables, herbs, meats, whole wheat pastas, rice (yeah, starch, but not bad) and stuff when I cook.

edit: And lately I've been using lamb in leiu of beef. You can do some amazing stuff if you like the taste of lamb!

[Trinitis]

I guess my mom sucks at crock pots. I've never done it myself.

And the previously mentioned recipes included a lot of starchy ingredients (flour, potatoes, cream of's, etc.) which is why I said healthier. I tend to use fresh vegetables, herbs, meats, whole wheat pastas, rice (yeah, starch, but not bad) and stuff when I cook.

edit: And lately I've been using lamb in leiu of beef. You can do some amazing stuff if you like the taste of lamb!


Again like stated before, the more fresh foods you use, the better it tastes. Some things use "cream of's" and such to cut corners. You can make everything in a crock pot from scratch, if you have the time, and they normally come out better then the cut corners. But, the cut corners normally taste great too, and take less effort.

Edit to add : As an example - I'm making Pozole tonight in the crock pot. There is a way to make Hominy "home made" involving corn and water and such. But I *really* don't want to spend that much time. So a couple cans of Hominy it is. =P

[CrystalTears]

Yep yep.

Drew2 is stating ingredient preferences, which really don't have anything to do with the crockpot itself. It's just a pot, just that it cooks really slow.

My husband has preferred to cook chicken thighs in the crockpot all by themselves, and then come home and bake some BBQ sauce on them for flavor. It's awesome.

I've always sworn by crock pots. They are the cat's meow.

[grenthor]

I need to see if they make larger crock pots, ours isn't really large enough to do larger servings in my opinion. Trying to feed six including two teens means more food required.

Here is the one we have and it's great. Use it for large groups all the time

http://www.amazon.com/Rival-6%252dqt%252e-Smart%252dPot-Little-%2528SCVP609KLS%2529/dp/B000E65366/ref=sr_1_18/103-9033311-5015834?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1187220423&sr=1-18

[grenthor]

If youre talking about slow cookers, this item is must have! Slow cooker liners. Put it in the cooker and when you are done just throw the thing away. Wipe out the cooker and you are done. Get them at a grocerystore.

http://www.amazon.com/REYNOLDS-CONSUMER-PRODUCTS-00504-COOKER/dp/B000RUAV16/ref=sr_1_2/103-9033311-5015834?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1187220557&sr=1-2

[Deadelf]

Wow thanks Grenthor, that one looks quite a bit larger than the standard sized ones that I see when I happen to look around at the stores when were there, which is the same size as the one at the house. That one you listed looks like it would quite well and damn that's a cheap price. Gonna ask the better half if we can order it. heh.

[Artha]

edit: And lately I've been using lamb in leiu of beef. You can do some amazing stuff if you like the taste of lamb!
You should try buffalo meat. It tastes better than beef but is more lean and also is usually organically raised. It's only $5/lb at the Ukrops here.