Fall.
We are almost there and I am so thrilled because it’s my favorite season. I keep checking the extended forecast, waiting for the first time the low temp is predicted to dip into the 60′s. When that happens, I will leap up and dance. Or at least make dance-like movements. (Dancing is not my forte.)
In addition to enjoying cooler weather, fall also reminds me of soup and Crock Pots. I love Crock Pots so much that I think they are right up there with the world’s greatest inventions–right after chocolate and Spanx.
Most of us women have a lovely fantasy of dinner time arriving and a lovely, easy, nutritious meal arriving on the table right along with it. However, usually by that time of the day, we’re tired, the kids are tired and to make it worse, everyone is hungry. And if you’ve ever noticed, hungry and tired do not make for the most joyful of combinations. (Or is it just our family that gets crabby when our blood sugar drops?)
Crock Pots To The Rescue!
A few days ago, I ran across some Crock Pot recipes that I thought were pretty cool. The only thing required is to find a brief non-stressed moment in your life, throw a few ingredients into a Ziplock bag and then put the bag in the freezer. On any particular morning when you know the evening is going to be harried (practices, homework, church meetings, etc.), you do just three things:
- Grab bag from freezer
- Cut bag open and put ingredients into Crock Pot
- Turn Crock Pot on low for 8 hours
Click on the link below for some great recipes using the Freezer Bag Technique.
DIY Frozen Meals for the Slow Cooker | Family Kitchen.
YOUR CROCK POT RECIPES?
And also, since we are entering Crock Pot Season, if you have a super simple Crock Pot recipe to share with us, please leave it in the comments.
The one I’m going to share came from one of my readers a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly what reader it was but if it was you, please let me know in the comments.
The Smith Family LOVES this recipe.
- Put 3 or 4 chicken breasts in crock pot
- Add two jars of Alfredo sauce. (I use the lite.)
- Add a can of Rotel tomatoes and stir in.
- Cook for 6-8 hour, stirring a few times. I add a little dried parsley toward the end.
- Serve over rice or noodles.
Wow, you all are making me very hungry!
Kenk does boneless beef ribs in our slow cooker…the only thing he does that I would not do is brown the ribs in a skillet first……..my take is, why mess up another dish? Anyway after he browns the ribs he pours our favorite bbq sauce over them and cooks them for 4-6 hours.
Fran, ooh, that sounds good! And I’m with you on the whole thought of not dirtying up another dish!
Becky,
2 quick questions — bone in or boneless chicken breasts?
Cook on low, I assume?
I used boneless (straight from freezer) and cooked on low for 10 hours. They were soooo tender!
Linda, I used boneless each of the times I made it but I can’t imagine why boned would work as well. As Gayle said, low seems to be the best temp, especially if you’re going to be gone all day and/or they have plenty of time to cook. I think the lower the temp, the more tender they get! Let us know how it turns out for you.
Becky, I made this recipe yesterday and served it over rice as you suggested. Everyone loved it! Definitely a “keeper” which I will be making on a regular basis! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Linda, so happy to help you find a keeper!
We’re about to have the rotel/alfredo chicken for dinner. It smells so good! Love the crock pot!
Gayle, so glad you’re trying the recipe. We absolutely love it!
It was wonderful! I just sent it to my son and daughter-in-law and they are going to try it, too!
Hooray! Hope your son and d-i-l love it, too!
My daughter must be bored with our usual dinners and found this on of course Pinterest! We are trying it tomorrow!!
Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken
Source: My Kitchen Apron
Ingredients:
3 lbs raw boneless skinless chicken breasts (the original recipe used frozen breasts, but I used them unfrozen, so it appears you can do either)
12 oz bottle of Buffalo wing sauce (I used Frank’s Wing Sauce)
1 oz packet of dry Ranch mix (I used Hidden Valley)
2 T light butter
Directions:
1. Place the chicken breasts in your slow cooker. Pour the bottle of wing sauce over the top of the chicken. Sprinkle the packet of ranch mix over the top of the wing sauce. Place the lid on your slow cooker. Cook on low for 7-9 hours until meat shreds easily.
2. Remove meat and shred it using two forks. Return shredded meat to the sauce and add the butter. Stir to combine. Continue to cook on low for another hour so the meat can soak up the sauce. Serve however you like!
Yields 12 (1/2 cup) servings. WW P+: 3 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Nutrition Information per serving from myfitnesspal.com: 175 calories, 1 g carbs, 5 g fat, 28 g protein, 0 g fiber
Shari, I can never get enough of chicken recipes and anything with added dry Ranch mix has got to be good. I was also excited to see nutrition info. (I’ve been using Fitness Pal for several weeks and LOVE it!)
We had the Buffalo chicken for dinner yesterday and it was very good, on a nice crusty bun! I had mine with a Salad, she had hers with french fries!
Shari, I made the chicken and wing sauce yesterday for Sunday lunch; I didn’t shred the chicken but left it in small chunks and served it over rice. Delicious!!
Hope, thanks so much for that link; I had never heard of her but she sounds like a woman after my own heart.
I will definitely check out her recipes! The Freezer Bag TV Dinners sound especially wonderful.
I don’t know if you have found this blog yet, but I have gotten tons of great slow-cooker recipes from it. Stephanie O’Dea started this blog when she made a New Year’s resolution to cook for a whole year, (365 days) in her slow-cooker. She did it and now has published two cookbooks with the recipes. The original 365 recipes are still on her blog. This particular blog post was earlier this year and it gives a list of recipes that are easy to prepare as “freezer bag tv dinners”. I prefer pork and beef over chicken in the slow-cooker, but all of the ones I have tried have turned out well. Here’s a link to the post: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2012/02/slow-cooker-tv-dinners.html
I have a few “go to” crock pot recipes! They are my favorite…especially during busy times of the year.
Chicken chili: 1lb boneless chicken (can be frozen), 1 can corn (drained), 1 can black beans (drained), 1 can rotel (NOT drained), and 1 package cream cheese. Cook on low 6-8 hours. I like to stir this one every so often after it’s cooked for a couple of hours just so everything gets nice and combined.
Pulled Pork (or chicken) BBQ: I use 1 bottle of BBQ sauce (I like the brown sugar hickory flavor) and add about a half cup of vinegar and a couple tablespoons of brown sugar and a little olive oil. Mix well in the crock pot and add in a pork tenderloin or chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours and then remove meat and pull apart — pour BBQ sauce over it.
I’ve also just started cooking dried beans in the crock pot — they turn out wonderfully. I use 1lb of beans with about 7-8 cups of water and a tablespoon of salt. I cook on high for about 4 hours then drop it down to low for the last 2 or so. My favorite is pinto beans, but black beans turn out delicious as well.
Baked potatoes can also be cooked in the crock pot — especially nice when you are feeding a crowd. Just coat them in butter and salt, wrap them in aluminum foil, place in crock pot on low for 6 hours. I like to make them with a pot of chili and have all sorts of topping to go on both!
If you haven’t already, you should consider joining pinterest. There are a plethora of recipes, craft ideas, and basically anything you can imagine there. You can view my “main dish” pins here: http://pinterest.com/angie_lindley/it-s-what-s-for-dinner/ I haven’t made all of these recipes yet, but love having a place to go when I need dinner inspiration.
Angie, these are GREAT. Thanks so much for taking the time to share them. I especially loved learning about the dried bean recipe; I’ve always been a bit intimidated by dried beans.
I have joined Pinterest but am still in the “getting my feet wet” stage. I’ll check out your boards.
I forgot to mention that we like to serve the chicken chili with soft flour tortillas for dipping! So yummy…and we use the leftovers for soft tacos. (I love it when you can get 2 meals out of one cooking session!) My parents tried the dried beans last week and theirs didn’t turn out — we weren’t sure if it’s because they cooked a smaller amount (it’s just the 2 of them, compared to 5 of us) or if it was a difference in our crock pots. I would recommend going ahead and cooking the whole pound bag and saving the leftovers for another meal (or for lunches). Mine have always turned out beautifully. I’m thinking I might do black beans the next time I make beans in the crock pot, then using those for my chicken chili instead of canned black beans!
I don’t have any recipes to share but I am sharing these with my daughter who is a busy single mom of a 3 year old boy and she has been searching for quick, tasty, low calorie (if possible) crockpot meals. She avoids fast food at all cost and it is difficult at the end of a busy day to cook for a little guy. She will love these and I am goin to try some also. I used to cook in the crockpot all the time when my family was home but I have since forgotten all the good recipes. This is fun.
Mary, oh yes, these will be perfect for your daughter; easy to do ahead of time and pretty healthy! Glad you’re enjoying the revisiting of the Crock Pot!
Hi! I, too, am a crock pot fan! The following recipe can be used with boneless pork or chicken.
Place 4 boneless pork chops (or 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, halved) in the crock pot. Top with 1 can hominy, drained, 1 can of black beans, drained, and 1 can of diced tomatoes with or without chilis, not drained. Season with 2 tbsp cumin (a packet of taco seasoning will do in a pinch). Cook on low for 8 hours, on high for 4 hours. 20 minutes before serving, change setting to high and stir in 1 cup of hot water and 1 cup of instant rice. Serve when rice is tender. Top with fresh cilantro and lime wedges.
Kristy, ooh, that sounds good! I have actually never before had hominy–to eat, or to cook. I’ll have to buy some and give it a whirl. This recipe sounds easy and delicious.
Country-style pork ribs (you can brown them or not) – Sprinkle w/ garlic powder. Put in crock pot, and drizzle w/ bottled barbeque sauce. Cook on low for about 7 hours.
Laurie, well, that’s about as easy as it gets. And it sounds delicious, too!
This is probably cheating a bit, but I buy a bag of Mrs. Wyler’s Homemade Chicken Soup Mix. Add the 8 cups of water (as per the directions) ….. then I also add 2 cooked, chopped chicken breasts (I do many ahead of time and freeze) add 1 can of Campbells Double Noodle Chicken Noodle Soup, and one can water. Its basic chicken noodle soup, but with tons of noodles and meat. We go through an entire loaf of Kings Hawaiin (Sp?) with it and its one thing that every person in my family will eat.
Kristie, cheating a bit when it comes to cooking is okay by me.
And I love a bowl of good chicken noodle soup so this sounds great perfect. I’ve never bought the King’s Hawaiian bread but will have to give it a whirl since it is Kristie-recommended! Hugs to you and your sweet family.
I don’t know if you’re on Pinterest Becky, but i’ve got a recipes board that contains loads of easy to cook meals (I’m lazy, I hate cooking at the end of a long day!) – http://pinterest.com/zippstar/foodiness-deliciousness/
Specifically for crock pots though, my personal favourite is Chicken taco chili…only about 200 calories a serving and makes approx 8 servings! 1 can black beans, 1 can kidney beans, 1 can corn kernels, 16 oz tomato sauce, 28 oz diced tomatoes, packet taco seasoning, 1 tbsp chili powder, 3 boneless chicken breasts. 6 hours high or 10 hours low in the crock pot. serve on white rice or plain doritos
Also for any stroganoff fans: http://www.heathersbytes.com/beef-stroganoff/
Rebecca, your boards are amazing! I could spend the next year just trying all those wonderful recipes you’ve posted!! I will definitely be making the Chicken taco chili soon–low calorie is always a plus. It also sounds like it would be a great recipe to take to an event like a Church Soup Supper. Will be stopping by your Pinterest page some more in the future.
Thanks
my other half, who is a truly picky eater, called the chilli amazing, which from him is a high accolade. I ended up adding a few extra tinned tomatoes than the recipe above, because I wanted it to ‘go further’.
Pinterest is amazing! It’s my new addiction. I thought afterwards though, it would have been easier if I’d made separate crock pot, low cal, comfort food etc boards because the Foodiness Deliciousness board is becoming a bit messy now. So I’ll probably separate it all out soon. Same with the wedding board unfortunately *smile*!