Crock Pot Recipes!
 

For lazy cooks like me.

Now that I'm on my own, I'm really just starting to cook for the first time. We were sure to register for a crock pot because I felt it seemed pretty fool proof, even for people like me :)

I'm using it for the first time tonight. We've got about 2 hours left but it SMELLS SO GOOD, I'm very excited. Here's what I'm making:

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/...ili-56214.aspx

Anyone else have favorite Crock Pot/slow cooker recipes? I think this is going to become an every Saturday or Sunday kind of thing :D

I love my Crock Pots. I use mine very frequently.

One of my favorite recipes is a spiced cider. It makes the house smell wonderful! The recipe:

Pour into Crock Pot
4 cups apple juice
2 cups orange juice

Then, in cheesecloth (or a coffee filter if you don't have cheesecloth available), assemble preferred spices. I use 3-4 cinnamon sticks, about 1.5 Tbsps cloves, and 1 whole nutmeg. Tie up the cheesecloth/coffee filter, toss into the pot, and set the pot on high. Remove spice bundle before serving.

I usually sprinkle ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg on each cupful.

Pot Roast and pulled pork bbq are also among my Crock Pot favorites. Good stuff!

I use a lot of recipes from http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup and Asian Peanut Butter Pork are two of my favorites from there.

Pinterest has lots of awesome slow cooker recipes!

This is my favorite - I go back to it over and over again:

http://www.crock-pot.com/Recipe.aspx?rid=269

Velvet Chicken with Wine/Mushroom Sauce

You may find, in time, that it is really great to use it during the work week because you can come home and dinner is ready! I like to cook corned beef in the crock pot. I toss it in there before work with some water and the spices, cook it on low all day, and it's done when I get home. It was especially convenient when the kids had activities at different times and we could all eat whenever we got home.

Here are links to a few of the pinterest recipes that I have tried and liked:

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Shredded Beef Tacos

Chicken and Corn Chili

I <3 my crockpot!
Pinterest and the 365 crock pot site that has already been mentioned! Even tonight I just did chicken tenders with some butter and seasonings in the crockpot (just over an hour on high) so I can have tasty chicken with my salads this week.

I should mention, I'm married seven years, we're on crock pot #2 - that's how much use it gets.

Here's a great recipe from Real Simple:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recip...578/index.html

Assuming you like Indian. Which I do.

We registered for one regular crock pot and one triple crock pot. We ended up with NINE of the first, but only FOUR of the triple. I'm more of a warm weather crock pot user, so they'll see their share of chili, soups, pulled pork or beef, and pot roasts. I think I have a cookbook for them, but I usually cook by sight.

Let me add that I like to make whatever one day, refrigerate overnight, skim off the grease, then warm it up again, so I don't add anything that could go goopy until Day Two.

Don't forget that you can get crock pot liners too... they make it even easier, because there is no clean up!!!

I <3 my crockpot. My parents gave it to me as a Christmas gift a few years ago, along with a crockpot-specific cookbook. It's wonderful in winter. I'll dice up some beef or chicken, give it a quick sear, and throw it in the slow cooker with some broth or water and some herbs and/or spices and some veggies, and let it sit all day on low. By evening the house smells like heaven. A bit of rice, maybe a fresh salad if you haven't already included veggies in the crockpot, and voila - dinner. I have recipes, but I usually just make something up. It's all in the spices.

I love this site! Try the skinny spaghetti - it's awesome! There are some really good recipies in the non-slow cooker section, too.

http://skinnyms.com/category/recipes/slow-cooker/

I loved using a crockpot until mine died and I got a new one. Even with newer recipes that take higher temps into account it scorches food. I returned it and got a different unit and have the same problem.

As usual, I love anything from Skinny Taste; here are her crock pot recipes
Crock pot 365 is great!

This one is a winner. I make it all the time in the winter of course!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-co...ken-taco-soup/

I'm actually making a bbq brisket in mine as I write. Smells good but it is a new recipe. I'll post if it is tasty.

Pretty sure Sunday is going to become crock pot day here....Thanks for the suggestions all!

Coq Au Vin
 

I am HUGE fan of Coq Au Vin in the crock pot.
Marinate chicken overnight in cheap red wine or whatever you have left over. Nothing fancy here.
The next morning, add mushrooms, carrots, 3 tablespoons butter, 4 slices of bacon or prescuito and 3 tablespoons flour. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Serve plain or over noodles or rice.

The best crock pot cook book I have found is America's Test Kitchen Crock Pot Recipes. It gives a lot of really good tips (which don't take that much more time) to get the best results. This is usually searing the meats (and some veggies) before putting them in the crock pot, and a lot of suggestions on what are the best cuts of meat or sizes of veggies to use in recipes.

As far as my favorite recipe (and the favorite of my husband and son) is chile verde pork. I sear some pork shoulder roast (or boneless pork rib meat), thrown that in the crock pot. Then, in the same skillet with the fat left over, soften up some chopped garlic and chopped white onion until slightly brown, throw that in, then chop up some tomatillos and Anaheim chilis, soften those up in the same skillet, and pour on a few table spoons of chili verde salsa. After it has cooked at least six hours, take out the meat and shred with a fork. In a skillet with a little oil, put in some cummin and chili powder, heat to "bloom," then put in the liquid from crock pot, reduce to a thick consistency, and serve meat and sauce with soft tortillas, shredded cheese, etc.