Crockpot Round Up

During the school year I cook in the crockpot a lot.  It is not fun to come home with a little one that I've missed all day and have to put her down so I can cook.  Not to mention, I am beat by the time I get home usually and the last thing I want to do is cook sometimes.  One of my friends and co-workers asked me about 3 months ago to put together a list of all my crockpot meals… so, I hurried to put one together!  I'll try to update with pictures as I make the recipes again, but don't hold your breath!

Beef Meals

Pasta Soup (I modified this recipe)
1 lb of browned ground beef
1/2 an onion
1 can of diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can of red kidney beans, undrained
2 cups of beef stock OR 1.5 cups of water + beef bouillon cube
3 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. pepper
5 tsp. parsley
1 tsp hot sauce
1 jar of traditional pasta sauce

Put everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.

Chili
1 lb of browned ground beef

1 packet of chili seasoning

1 tsp of chili powder

1 tsp of garlic powder

1 can of red kidney beans, undrained

1 can of diced tomatoes, undrained

2/3 cup of ketchup

hot sauce, salt, pepper to taste

Put everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.  Serve with your favorite chili toppings like cheese and corn chips!

Beef Tips & Rice
1 lb beef tips
2 cups of water
2 brown gravy packets

Put everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.

Pot Roast (I use this recipe from Joyously Domestic)

1-2 lb roast

Olive oil

Carrots

Potatoes (you can use a can of potatoes if you don't have time to prep)

1 cup beef broth OR 1 cup of water + beef bouillon cube 

1 tbsp corn starch

2 tbsp steak seasoning

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp rosemary

You can put everything in the crockpot, or you can put the seasoning on the roast and brown it first.  I just put everything in the crockpot on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.

Chicken Meals

Fajitas (I modified this recipe from Allrecipes.com)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1.5 cups chunky salsa
2 packages of fajita seasoning mix

Put everything in the crockpot on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.  Then, serve with flour tortillas, shredded cheese, and whatever other toppings you love.

Tex Mex Chicken
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 can of diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can of black beans, undrained
1 can of corn, undrained

Put everything in the crockpot on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.  Thirty minutes before serving, cook 1.5 cups of rice separately.  Then, mix it in with the Tex Mex chicken and serve with cheese and tortilla chips.

Zesty Italian Chicken & Pasta (I modified this recipe from JamieCooksItUp)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 packet of Italian dressing seasoning
8 oz cream cheese
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
Pasta noodles (I use the spiral or penne pasta)

Put everything in the crockpot on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.  Thirty minutes before serving, cook pasta noodles separately.  Then, serve together.

Cranberry Chicken
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 bottle of barbecue sauce (something sweet)

1 cup of cranberries

Put everything in the crockpot on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.

Crockpot Chicken & Stuffing (I modified this recipe from iSaveA2Z.com)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 box of stuffing

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 bag of frozen green beans

Put everything in the crockpot on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.

Chicken & Rice

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

Enough chicken broth to cover the chicken in the crockpot

Salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in the crockpot on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.  Thirty minutes before serving, cook 2 cups of rice separately.  Then, mix it in with the chicken and serve.  It's even better as left overs! :)

Other

Sweet Pork Tenderloin
1 pork tenderloin
1 cup of brown sugar
Enough white vinegar to dissolve the sugar (it won't take much!)
2 tbs molasses
2 tsp mustard
3 good squirts of ketchup

Put everything in the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.  This can also be cooked in the oven at 350* for and hour and 15 minutes.

Slow Cooker Spiral Ham (I use this recipe from Blissfully Domestic)
1 small spiral ham
2 cups of honey
1 cup of Dijon mustard
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp of garlic powder

Pour the ingredients over the ham in the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours OR on high for 4-5 hours.

To learn how to cook your sides in your crockpot at the same time, check out this post I wrote a while back! 

Rosemary Honey Grilled Pork Chops

Last week, we had pork chops that we planned to grill, but I didn't have a marinade, so I made one up with stuff I had in the pantry/fridge and it turned out DELICIOUS.  Check it out:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup of honey
1/4 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of of apple juice
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 tablespoon of corn starch
1 tablespoon of rosemary
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 little squirts of mustard
Salt & pepper to taste
3-4 pork chops

What to do:
Salt & pepper the pork chops and set them aside.  Then, mix the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl. Pour half of the sauce onto the pork chops and toss them around, coating both sides.  Grill the pork chops as usual and use the rest of the sauce when serving.

Yummy!

Crockpot Trick

So Monday is the day I've been dreading for months... the day I have to go back to work.  :(  I have loved my maternity leave and feel so blessed to have had a little extra time to be a mom and wife without going to work (even though I've worked way too much this summer, but that's a whole 'nother story).  Anyways, I knew that school work, house work, being a mommy, being a wife, and still having time to make myself look halfway decent meant that I needed to figure out some things to make life easier.  As convenient as take out is, it's just not in the budget with the in-home daycare costs... and it's not healthy... and I can't guarantee that I don't accidentally eat dairy... which would cause sleepless nights and a pitiful baby unless Ava Kate magically starts tolerating cow's milk protein soon.

So... I meal planned.  I broke out my Google Calendar and planned meals Monday-Saturday from now until Thanksgiving.  I've learned that if I don't do this, I end up not going to the grocery store because I don't have a list made, and when I don't go to the grocery store, I have nothing to cook.

I know that a ton of people are going "freezer meal" crazy right now, which is great, but I haven't really gotten into that, nor do I have enough space in our freezer to do a ton of freezer meals at one time thanks to my breast milk stash.  Occasionally I'll double a recipe and freeze half of it, so currently, we have about 5 meals in the freezer.

Anyways.

While I was searching the world wide web to spice up our menus - because let's be real, we pretty much eat a variation of the same meals over and over - I came across the most awesome crockpot trick I've ever seen.  Why haven't I ever done this??

First, put your meat on the bottom.  Chicken, pork, beef, whatever.  Then put the saucy stuff, whether it be BBQ sauce or your famous whatever you wanna call it saucy stuff.

Then, put a sheet of aluminum foil over it.

Then, wrap up your sides - corn, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, whatever tickles your fancy.

Throw those on top...

Cook like normal.

Take it out when you're ready to eat and enjoy!

Seriously.  How brilliant is that?  Does the rest of the world know this?  How did I not know about this?  AND it's really good!  AND it's only one pot to wash!  O.M.G.  ::Mind blown::

So far I've done carrots (w/ cinnamon) and corn (w/ salt & pepper)... but Friday I'm trying gold potatoes and broccoli.  Pinterest says I can do lots of different sides, so I'm excited to try some other things.

Wow!  Still can't get over it.  Haha!

Yummy Shrimp

Source: http://www.couponclippingcook.com/grilled-shrimp-with-brown-butter-and-rice/

This is seriously the best shrimp you've ever had.  I usually don't love grilled shrimp (I use to prefer fried... but now I prefer this recipe, haha).  It's a Pinterest find and it is so worth trying.  We didn't do exactly as the recipe instructed us... so here's what we did.

Ingredients:

Shrimp (We removed veins/shell/tails on about 30-40 shrimp)

Garlic Powder

Chili Powder

Salt & Pepper

Rice

Water (for rice)

Butter

Green Onions

Our Recipe

First start the rice.  While the rice is cooking, mix shrimp, garlic powder, chili powder, salt, & pepper.  (Use enough to cover the shrimp pretty well).  Then get your hubby to grill the shrimp for a couple minutes on each side.  While he's doing that, cut the green onions into small pieces.  Then, melt about 4 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan.  When the shrimp and rice are done, pour the rice onto a large plate and put the shrimp on top.  Then sprinkle with the green onions and pour the butter over everything.    See?  Super quick and easy!  We had enough for dinner, leftovers for lunch, and a little more.  I'd say it serves about 4.5 people.  :)

It is yummy to your tummy!  I promise!

Sausage and Cheese Muffins

Source: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sausage-cheese-muffins

So, I love Pinterest and I've even made some of the things that I've pinned (Imagine that!).  One of the recipes that is definitely a hit (and not a miss) is Sausage & Cheese Muffins.

Ingredients:

3 cups of baking powder (like Bisquick, but I used store brand)

3/4 cups of water

1 can of cheddar cheese soup

1 1/2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese (use the already shredded, it works better)

1 lb of hot sausage

Recipe:

Mix the ingredients.  Spray your muffin pan.  Bake for 23 minutes (perfect timing) at 350 degrees.  It makes about 24 medium size muffins that are delectable!



Strawberry Orange Sorbet

On our honeymoon, we had lots and lots of sorbet.  We ordered it at almost every meal because we loved it so much.  Not long ago, I found a pin on Pinterest for strawberry orange sorbet. 

Source: http://deliciousshots.blogspot.com/2012/03/strawberry-orange-sorbet.html

Unfortunately, it called for an ice cream maker, which we do not have.  So today, I decided to improvise.

Ingredients:

4 cups of strawberries

1 cup of fresh orange juice and zest

1 cup of water

1/2 a cup of sugar

My Recipe

First, I cleaned the strawberries and cut the stems. 

Then, I boiled the orange juice, water, and sugar until the sugar was melted.  Then I added the cut strawberries and boiled for about 8 minutes.

After it boiled, I poured the mixture in the blender and let it cool.  When it had cooled some, I blended it and then poured it into a pan.

I put it in the fridge to cool some before freezing.  I don't have a good reason for that, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.  :)

After its been freezing for about an hour, take it out and run a fork through it to make it more like shaved ice.

It kind of looks like raw beef in the picture above, but let me tell you what - it is DELICIOUS!  Definitely try it out!

I should add that when you scoop it out with a spoon, it looks just like the first picture at the top! :)

Green Punch

Because I've told a bunch of people that I'd let them know the punch recipe that I used at Candice's shower (pink & green themed) and Katherine's shower (purple & green themed)...

What you need:
2 packages of lemon-lime KoolAid mix
1 pound of sugar
2 quarts of water
1 large can of pineapple juice
1 bottle of Ginger Ale

What you do:
1. Boil the water in a large pot and dissolve the sugar. Then dissolve the KoolAid mix.
2. Add the large can of pineapple juice.
3. Freeze until slushy.
4. Add the Ginger Ale to punch bowl when serving.

*You could also make this the day of and put crushed ice in the bowl to cool it off if you need to

Serves: At least 40...

Enjoy!