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[octoprof]

My husband does most of the domestic chores. He is not, however, very much into cooking. So, I've been trying slow cooker recipes as a way to get good stuff for supper (and leftovers to take for my lunch).

Do you have any recipes to share? I prefer low-fat, but am happy for all suggestions.

Here's a starter from bioteacher:

I see many more Swiss steak and rice meals in our future. This is good, because it takes NO time to make in the crock pot. They actually ate real food.

Recipe, pretty please?

Correct way: lightly flour cube steaks and brown in a frying pan before placing them in the bottom of the crock pot.
Faster way: put raw cube steaks in bottom of crock pot. :-)

Add: one can of cream of mushroom soup or cream of celery soup and spread that over the meat pile. (Soup choice depends on whether or not you LIKE mushrooms. Ew!) Don't add water... the moisture from the meat is generally enough to make gravy. You can always add more water later.

Cook on low all day or high if you had a late start.

That evening:
Make a batch of brown rice (my preference b/c I can use the steamer) or a pot of mashed potatoes (just as yummy).
Microwave a side of frozen veggies.

Serve the cube steak on a bed of rice/potatoes. Slather with the soup-based gravy. Add more color to the plate with the veggies on the side. Add salt and pepper at the table to taste.

Total time to prepare: 5 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes in the evening (for rice in steamer and veggies). I call them "dump dinners" for a reason! (Another dump dinner favorite in winter is crock pot chili. I'll post that if anyone wants it.)

I'll post my seafood-less jambalaya later!

Show us what you've got, slow cooking academicians!

[wanna_writemore]

Chipotle Chicken Tacos (adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine)

Dump in crockpot:

2-3 lbs. boneless chicken thighs (use bone-in or breasts if you like and adjust cooking times accordingly)
1 28-oz can whole or diced tomatoes
1-2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/2-1 c. salsa
1 sm. onion, sliced
1 T. chile powder
salt and pepper, to taste


Cook on high for 3.5-4 hrs and serve with taco shells.  Or over rice.  Or in a bun for a sandwich.  Since the chicken already has the tomatoes and salsa on it, we just add some greek yogurt or sour cream to a tortilla, dump some in, and eat.  If we have avocado, we add that too.

[spectacle]

Yay! I love my crockpot.

Sometimes I just throw a whole chicken in there and let it roast all day - I'll add veggies or a halved whole lemon or other stuff depending on what I have around. 

I also love this chili recipe that I've adapted for slow-cooking. It is heavenly with cornbread.


2 pounds ground beef (or fake meat crumbles, or ground turkey, or a mix.  It's great with any of 'em)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1 (8 ounce) jar salsa (I like the hottest storebought salsa I can find)
4 tablespoons chili seasoning mix (storebought, or mix your own)
1 (15 ounce) can light red kidney beans
1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the ground beef and the onion and saute for 10 minutes, or until meat is browned and onion is tender. Drain grease. Dump this in the crockpot.

2. Add the ground black pepper, garlic salt, tomato sauce, salsa, chili seasoning mix and kidney beans. Mix well, let it cook for 6-8 hours on low.

[bioteacher]

Hint: Buy large packs of ground beef, brown them all at once, freeze in 1 lb. aliquots. This make as a lot of recipes painless in the morning.


Crock pot chile.

1 lb hamburg browned.
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp chile pepper
1 small chopped onion. (Fresh onion really makes a difference here. It doesn't need to be minced. Chunked is fine!)
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 one lb cans of diced tomatoes. DICED, not crushed.
1 small can of tomato paste (the tiny cans)
1 lg can of kidney beans. (the cans that are the size of Hi-C cans.)

Dump, open cans, dump, open cans, dump. Stir.
Low setting all day.

If you have ambition: cornbread or bisquick biscuits that evening.
If you don't: Pillsbury pre-made biscuits to bake and serve
or dinner rolls!

This is a great meal for entertaining, too. It's always a hit and keeps you out of the kitchen when you are actually trying to talk to adults.

[spectacle]

Another slow-cooker tip:

Prep everything the night before and dump everything into the pot of the crock pot, cover it and stick it in the fridge.  In the morning, take it out of the fridge and set it on the counter while you shower/get ready for school (so that it can get closer to room temp).  Then stick it in the base and turn it on before you leave. 

If you're like me and the thought of handling a whole raw chicken or browning beef at 6am makes you physically ill, this will be a life-saver.

[ursula]

We love our crockpot, and use it at least once a week.  Many recipes require less cooking time, so that they would have to be turned on around 10 am or so, but we get around that by using a light timer.

[_touchedbyanoodle_]

15-bean soup!

Directions: Go to bulk section of Whole Foods. Locate 15-bean mix. Allow yourself a satisfied smirk, as you've gotten one step further than you get with a lot of recipes. Pour as many beans as you want into plastic bag. Panic a little as the beans keep pouring. Realize you didn't push the handle in all the way. Pretend you wanted enough beans to make 80 gallons of bean soup. Pay for beans without making eye contact with the cashier. Lug the beans home. Divide the beans into multiple jars and hide them at the back of the cupboard that SO never opens, because it is your cupboard, where you put things that are not to be discussed. Measure and pour two cups of beans into the crock pot. Fill crock pot with water to soak the beans overnight.

Next day, drain and rinse the beans. Refill the crockpot with water. Turn it on. Ask SO what you should do next. Forget what SO said. Forget about the beans. Go to coffee shop to spend half of your Sunday working on course prep. Come home to smell goodness in the house. Lift lid of crockpot to find that stuff has been added. Identify tomatoes, pepper, and chili powder. Wonder what else is in there. Stop caring. Fill soup bowl. Eat. Be happy.

[spectacle]

Divide the beans into multiple jars and hide them at the back of the cupboard that SO never opens, because it is your cupboard, where you put things that are not to be discussed.

*snort* 

My version of that cupboard probably contains twelve different kinds of rice and more obscure baking ingredients than I would ever admit in public.

[volfan]

I often use this blog http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/. It's been so useful, I ended up buying both of her cookbooks. I've made more recipes from these cookbooks, than I have from the rest of my cookbooks combined - something like 60 from the first one and 6 from the second (only been out since end of Dec.).

[octoprof]

jambalaya (non-seafood version)

Turn on crockpot (I use High, use Low if you have more time).

Cube 3 pounds (or more, I've done it with 4 pounds many times) boneless chicken and drop into crock pot.

Do not stir!

While that's starting to cook:

Mince and add:
three or more cloves of garlic. I always go for a lot more cloves, because I'm like that.

Do not stir!

Add:
3 tablespoons dehydrated parsley flakes
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (more or less as you wish; I've been known to quadruple it or even more for a bit of punch)
1 teaspoon Paul Prudhomme's poultry magic seasoning or Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning
1 teaspoon Italian seasonings

Do not stir!

When the chicken is done add these:

Chop and add:
2 cups (or more) of carrots
2 cups (or more of celery
2 cups (or more) of onion
1 bell pepper (pretty colors will look nice...)

Why "or more," you may ask? Well, put more of the things you love best. I always put more carrots. I'm weird like that. More onion is always good, too.

Note that if the crockpot is completely full (because you did "or more" a lot), no worries, as long as the lid closes, it will work. It'll cook down.

When the veggies are done, slice and add:
 3 pounds beef sausage or polska kielbasa or whatever sausage you prefer (I use low fat turkey sausage, honestly, which Dad hated for me to do to his recipe, but it saves fat from the only fatty thing going into the recipe).

Add:
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

No, you do not need to add any water. Trust me. If you can't stand it, add a cup of white wine or water but it'll be too soupy in the end...

Let it all cook for a while. When everything is getting nice and mushy, give it a stir. There'll be a lot of liquid boiling (too much if you added too much wine or water).

Bring to boil and add:
2 cups uncooked Minute Rice

Stir and cook or 5 more minutes.

Eat! With a fork, not a spoon. This ain't soup, baby.

It freezes well and it makes good lunches. It gets better each day, in fact.

And, because there is no seafood, it won't spoil ridiculously fast.

Yes, you can do all the cutting/chopping in advance and then throw it in later, like some of you like to do.

[biomancer]

Roast beef for a football party:

This is one my family makes for Superbowl parties, baby showers, and other gatherings, and has done so since before I came along.

3 pounds beef chuck roast, with large bits of fat trimmed off
2 medium onions, sliced thin
5-6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 can cola
1/4 teaspoon powdered yellow mustard
~1/2 cup store-bought barbecue sauce (mild/sweet, not hot)

Put the roast in the crockpot, cover with onions and garlic, add Worcesteshire, cola, and mustard, and add a cup or so of water to keep everything moist.  Cook in crock pot 10+ hours on low or 6 hours on high.  Shred the beef (if it’s sufficiently cooked, you’ll be able to shred this easily with just a fork in each hand) and add just enough barbecue sauce to impart a reddish tinge.  Serve on kaiser rolls or other hearty bread.

[jungle_jane]

I love all the recipe threads - very useful. (Mainly posting just to bookmark)
Jane

[octoprof]

Left out a word!

Cube 3 pounds (or more, I've done it with 4 pounds many times) boneless chicken BREASTS and drop into crock pot.

[shrubbery]

If you like (mildly to my taste) spicy food, this one is good - though my spouse found it a bit too brothy and also short on veggies. Next time, I'm going to cut back the broth just a bit and add a cup of frozen peas a few minutes before the end. Also, make sure to cut the spinach into really small pieces, otherwise it's like big green (healthy) boogers. I halved the spinach and then minced it:

http://www.oprah.com/food/For-the-Crock-Pot-Indian-Lamb-and-Spinach-Curry

And don't forget rice!

Edit: Oh! And I substituted cow for lamb.

[alastrina]

Over the weekend, we experimented with making our Irish stew recipe crockpot workable.  It turned out very nicely.

Irish Guinness Stew

2 Tablespoon oil
2 pounds cubed sirloin or rump roast
2 large onions, chopped
⅓  cup flour
2 – 2 ½ cups sliced carrots
4 stalks celery, sliced
3 ½ cups beef broth
1 bottle Guinness stout
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 Tablespoon raisins, chopped
2 Tablespoon catsup
salt, pepper
1 bag Simply Potatoes, diced potatoes

Heat ½ cup of broth in crockpot.  Brown the beef in hot oil in a large skillet.  Transfer to crockpot. Add the other tablespoon oil to the pot. Add onions and sauté them over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add flour and stir to coat onions. Stir well – scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any brown bits stuck to bottom. Add broth, stout, caraway seeds, raisins, carrots, celery, catsup, and potatoes (to warm). Season with salt and pepper.  Pour into crockpot, cover and cook on high for at least 8 hours or overnight. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.