Tag Archives: slow cooker

Slow Cooker Potato Soup – Where’s The Beef?

27 Mar

My friend, Amber, a rock star working mom of three boys, helps me find recipes to feature on my blog. She found a great blog,  Vegetarian Slow Cooker, with a helpful rating system to share what worked and what needs some tweaking.

Thinking about vegetarian food reminds me that way back in the day I was vegetarian. From age eleven to 21 I did not eat red meat and I only ate chicken or turkey every once in a while to be adaptable while living and traveling abroad. I happily enjoyed meatless meals until I lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1996. I was teaching English abroad and did my very best to avoid eating beef. It really wasn’t an option. At a friend’s barbecue I was presented with a sausage and told with a wink that it was a plant. From that point on I ate meat every once in a while and enjoyed empanadas and steak. Still, I refused to eat morcilla, blood sausage. Um … no. Just, no.

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

Ingredients:

- 5 pounds potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks

- 1 large yellow onion, diced

- 4 cloves garlic, minced

- 1-2 teaspoons seasoned salt

- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

- 8 C vegetable stock

- 16 oz cream cheese

- For the garnish: shredded sharp cheddar cheese, chives or green onions, faux bacon bits (optional)

Add all ingredients into the slow cooker, minus the cream cheese and garnish. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. At the end of the cooking time, the potatoes should be fork-tender. Cut up the cream cheese into blocks and blend. You can use an immersion blender or blend the soup in a cuisinart or blender.  Top the soup with the garnish and enjoy!

I plan on making this soup this week and I’m going to see if the recipe is forgiving enough to cook on low for 9-10 hours, long enough for a working out of the home day. I’m looking forward to trying this. Thanks, Amber!

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Heavenly Slow Cooker Chicken

22 Feb

My friend, Amber, has the slow cooking fever and shared this recipe with me. We’ve had chicken three nights in a row, so I won’t be making this today. Maybe Thursday. My husband considers chicken to be a quasi-vegetable. If I make chicken too often, he complains mildly. I say mildly because he knows it’s me who does the cooking, so if he protests too much he’ll be reliving his bachelor days of a sub sandwich for dinner. I digress. Back to the recipe.

Jennie’s Heavenly Slow Cooker Chicken

  • 2 T butter
  • 1 package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
  • 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 8oz container chive and onion cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the salad dressing mix, mushroom soup, cream cheese, and wine until the sauce mixture is hot, smooth and well combined. Place the chicken breasts into the bottom of a slow cooker, and pour the sauce mixture over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

My Notes

I probably will tweak her recipe a bit by using cream of chicken or cream of celery soup instead of mushroom (just not a fan of the shroom) and using chicken broth instead of the wine to keep it G-rated for my kids. Looking forward to trying it! Thanks, Amber!

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Slow Cooker Chicken Curry from @momsatwork

17 Feb

I had no idea Twitter would be a goldmine for recipes. I found this slow cooker chicken curry recipe yesterday from @momsatwork and now it is bubbling away on my counter as I work. It took me about 15 minutes to prepare because it involved chopping vegetables and I took a work call while opening the can of coconut milk. Interestingly, I opened the can and interrupted my client to inquire, “Is coconut milk supposed to be solid?” She reassured me that it can be solid or runny and that the milk would still be good. Then, she asked for the recipe because she is also a working mom and needs new ideas.  I love it when work and life intersect.

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry from Anika Palm,  Moms at Work Blog

- 2 1/2 – 3 T curry powder

- 1/2 tsp coriander

- 1 bay leaf

- 1/2 tsp allspice

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 1/2 tsp cumin

- 2 T tomato paste

- 1 T minced ginger

- 1 can coconut milk

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 – 1 tsp cayenne (optional, I omited because my kids do not like spicey food)

- 1 small onion, chopped

- 1-2 small potatoes, peeled and cubed

- 1 carrot or parsnip, chopped

- 6-8 chicken thighs, remove skin and bones (I used chicken breasts)

Add the curry through the cayenne to the slow cooker. Add chicken, toss to cover with sauce and top with vegetables. Cook on low for 7 hours.

I plan to serve it as she suggests with rice and peas.

Update: This was delicious, fragrant and filling. This was a hit. Try it!

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Beef Diablo for Dinner

10 Feb

To save money I have started shopping the sales advertised in grocery store circulars. Tonight’s dinner is courtesy of a buy one get one sale on roasts. One went in the freezer for later and I stared at the other one wondering what to do with the big hunk o’ meat.  I called my mom a la “phone an amazing cook.”

Me: So, I have this big roast. I’m thinking of putting it in the slow cooker. What should I do with it?

Mom: What do you have? [This means, what sort of spices, condiments, extras do you have in your pantry.]

Me: Well, I have soy sauce, catsup, Worcestershire sauce, canned pineapple, garlic, canned peaches, salsa, v8, peppers, onions. Should I continue?

Mom: OK. This is what you do. Put the chopped peppers and onion on the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the roast. Rub a mixture of the catsup, v8, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, a dash of cayenne pepper for spice, salt and pepper to taste. Close the lid and cook for 6 hours on high. When you slice it, cut against the grain.

Then we talked about my daughters, their shoe sizes, and our schedule for the rest of the week. I won’t bore you with the rest of the conversation.

She’s amazing. I adore her. The roast is bubbling away. I plan on serving it with baked potatoes, some sort of veggie and rolls.

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Trying Another New Recipe – Indian Spiced Lentils

20 Jan

Our family loves Indian food, so here’s hoping the slow cooker Indian Spiced Lentils will be a hit.

I modified the recipe somewhat from the crockpot365 blog.

My version

- 2 cups dried lentils (not pre-soaked, rinsed)

- 3 cups chicken broth

- 3 cups water

- 1 cup diced onion

- 1 cup diced celery

- 1 tsp cumin

- 1/2 tsp coriander

- 2 tsp curry

- 1/2 tsp dried mustard

- 1 tsp kosher salt

- 1 tsp chopped garlic

- dash of cayenne

- 2 frozen chicken breast halves.

 

- Add all ingredients (except chicken) into slow cooker, mix, and add chicken breasts on top. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 7 hours.

- Close the lid. (Sometimes I forget to do this.)

That’s it! I plan on serving it over brown rice.

Update: Results are in and we have a happy family! It was delicious, healthy, easy, and a crowd pleaser. My husband had seconds and my oldest daughter said, “Oooh, great dinner, Mommy!” The recipe makes a lot. I could have easily had our neighbors over for dinner. Happily, we love leftovers. I highly recommend this recipe.

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Split Pea Soup

8 Jan

For a while I had a mission of searching for slow cooker recipes that cook for 8 to 10 hours while I’m at work. This one definitely fits the bill. I can make it easily and quickly before work and come home to a yummy, healthy dinner. I adapted a very simple recipe from www.tasteofhome.com. My version substitutes turkey ham (optional) for the ham hocks.

- Chicken broth – 49 1/2 ounces. (I use gluten free chicken bouillon and add 49 oz of water)

- 2 cups chopped turkey ham (optional)

- 2 cups each: onions, celery, carrots. [Note: I frequently use whole baby carrots and diced frozen onions for super speediness. And, I frequently forget the celery.]

- 1 package (16 ounces) dried green split peas

- 2 bay leaves

- Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. Don’t forget to discard the bay leaves. This recipe adds a step of blending the soup in batches until smooth. I don’t think it’s necessary at all.

This was our Thursday night menu. I added cheesy bread (bread, butter, shredded cheese on a cookie sheet for 2 min on high under the broiler) and fruit for the girls.  I love this meal because it is super easy, healthy, and very frugal – I’m guessing $10 or less to feed our family of four plus leftovers.

If you have more time, I will also share a recipe from my mom. Her’s is similar, but adds potatoes and has an extra step of simmering on the stove before adding the soup to the slow cooker.

- 1 lb bag split peas

- 4 cups chicken broth

- 2-3 cups water

- 4-6 potatoes diced

- 4 carrots sliced

- 1 onion diced

- 2 stalks of celery sliced

- 1 ln diced ham

- 2 bay leaves.

- Combine in large stock pot and simmer on stove for 45 minutes. Add soup to crock pot on high for 3 – 4 hours. [Note: You could skip the slow cooker step and just keep it on the stove until the veggies are tender.]

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Hot Soup Makes Me Sleepy – Navy Bean Soup!

4 Jan

My husband worked with a guy that nearly fell asleep at a staff meeting. Boss said, “Hey, Guy, are we keeping you awake?”  Guy said, “Oh, I had soup for lunch. Hot soup makes me sleepy.”  I love that story. 

Anyhoo, we love soup at our house, especially on bitterly cold, snowy Minnesota nights.  I am so happy we came home to hot soup ready to eat.

Here’s our recipe for navy bean soup.  This is an economical way to feed our family of four plus leftovers.

 2 pounds Smoked Turkey Keilbasa sausage sliced (or I also use cubed turkey ham)

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 cup  onion chopped

1 cup celery chopped

1 clove minced garlic

Dried navy beans 1 pound bag

1 T dried thyme

1/4  tsp black pepper

3 cups water

3 cups chicken broth

Put every thing in the crock pot.  Cook on low for 10 hours. 

A couple notes. I made this before work and I was in a hurry (per usual), so I used baby carrots instead of chopped, frozen diced onions instead of chopping a fresh onion, and I omited the celery because the celery did not make it into my grocery cart. Oops! It was still delicious, the girls loved it, and we served it with bread and sharp cheddar cheese. A perfect winter meal.

Enjoy!

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