tina

You are going to have a lot of fun.  Happy cooking.....

Do a google search and you will find more recipies than you could ever try.

 Let us know how you make out.

Oooo, Tina, I want your recipe!

Love, Columbine 

Ooo, I love recipie threads!  Especially for the crock pot, because they're so easy!  I'm not exactly chef material here.  Here's one of my favorites, it was one of my grandmother's recipies.

Greek Chicken

Place 4 or 5 chicken breasts in the crock pot. (I use the boneless, skinless, flash frozen kind.)

Pour one 20 ounce can of spaghetti sauce on the chicken.  (You can experiment with different flavored sauces, but be careful of flavors with a lot of meat.  They tend to be greasy and separate the sauce,)

Add one can of whole black olives and one 8 ounce package of feta cheese (crumbled).

Cook on high for 4 hours.  Serve over noodles.  Yummy!!

I am basically a stove top cook, so having a new crock pot is very exciting to me!

I am, even now, cooking my very first pot roast and my very first crock pot dish; they are one and the same! After reading through a bunch of crock pot recipes here and online, I decided to inaugurate the appliance with a pot roast, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Yes, I added liquid too, which I'm a bit embarassed to say is a package of powdered gravy with 1&1/4 cups water - will that work? Anyway, it's an experiment.

I hope it turns out as I am challenged at following recipes i.e. I don't like following instructions and invariably do not have some of the listed ingredients in the house. I'm great at improvising. Hubby is sooooo excited about pot roast. ... Men. Simple pleasures.

I did follow recipe instructions enough to brown the roast before slow cooking it. I hear that keeps it cook in its own juices...yummy. As I said...first pot roast...amateur. 

ETA - Dinner was a big hit. 

 Ok this one is a big hit at parties or as an appetizer. You're going to think this sounds digusting but trust me.

BBQ - Meatballs

Equal parts ketchup and Coke, wisk together - cook on low for about 6 hours. Cook the frozen meatballs seperately and add to the mix any time during the 6 hours. It's that easy - people will freak out when they learn it's coke and ketchup.

I'm still new to crock pot cooking, so everything is an experiment. I tried Hot Wings on the weekend. It's a recipe that came with the crock pot.

We had some friends over to go skating in the harbour and I wanted to put something on early in the day that would feed several adults. The wings were good, but the texture, because they were slow cooked, wasn't crispy. I might do a couple things differently next time...

Hot Wings (for a 6L crock)

8lbs/just over 3kg wings - I used just under 3kg of wing drumettes = no wing tips, more meat

250ml/1 cup Apple Cider Vinegar 

500ml/2 cups BBQ Sauce - I used one standard 455ml bottle

2 T Hot Sauce

There were tons of leftovers! 

Although the recipe is called "hot", they aren't really. In order to achieve a nicer texture next time I think I would remove all skin on the wings prior to cooking. That's pretty easy to do with drumettes. Then, maybe I would brush them with BBQ sauce and broil them for a few minutes afterwards. Does anyone have any other ideas for making the wings crispier without frying?

I finally bought myself a crockpot when I got everything else I could ever need for Christmas (breadmaker, blender with spout for smoothies, mixing bowl, and hotplate, kettle and rice cooker last year).

As I'm vegetarian, my recipes are a bit different. I'm still working on perfecting the apple crisp, it still has too much of the sugar mixture.

Vegetable Soup

chopped/sliced veggies (potatoes, carrots, celery, peas, corn, mushrooms, etc)

beans (canned or dried beans that have soaked overnight)

1 can or 1 cup of vegetable broth

chopped green onions (optional)

parsley, mint or other herbs (I've just used the parsley and mint so far)

water to cover the vegetables.

cook on low until the potatoes are soft, around 8 hours. I like to put salt and pepper on my soup, but Granite just eats it plain.

Next time I'm going to try adding some pasta, alphabets or small shells. I also need to figure out how to make a tomato based one... My grandmother used to have a vegetable soup on the stove all the time, but no one got her recipe before her Alzheimers got too advanced.

Here is my recipe for veggie three bean chili,

Three Bean Vegetarian Chili

28 ounce can of pureed tomatoes

16 ounce can diced tomatoes

8 ounce can tomato paste

1 can small red beans

1 can cannelloni beans

1 can black beans

½ green pepper diced

½ white onion chopped (coarsely)

3 dried hot red peppers

1 ½ teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon Cayenne   pepper

½ teaspoon hot pepper flakes

2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoon hot sauce (or more depending on mood)

Salt (sea salt)  and black pepper to taste

In crock pot add pureed tomatoes, diced and sauce with bay leaf. Rinse beans off with water and place into crock pot. Dice pepper and chop onion, add to container. With three dried hot peppers, place in small microwave safe dish and cover with water. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes. Let stand for 5 – 10 minutes after cooking. Drain peppers and remove seeds, and mince/ chop peppers and place in with ingredients.

Add dry ingredients (chili powder, cayenne pepper, hot pepper flakes). Mince garlic and add to crock pot. Chop cilantro and add to chili.

Let chili cook for 6 – 8 hours on low.

I'm going to make that one, keltoi. Or, something very similar, depending on what kind of beans I can find. It sounds delicious. I've never heard of cannelloni beans. Do they go by another name?
 

Tina, Im not sure, but they are white in color if that helps.....enjoy the chili, it is very good if you cook some basmati or texmex rice and spoon the chili over it......

have a good one and take care

Keltoi

Cannelloni beans are large, white Italian kidney beans. Great Northern beans, which look like white lima beans, can be substituted for Cannelloni ...
Tina, here you go,,,man do I love google....

Keltoi

TinaCap:

.

 The wings were good, but the texture, because they were slow cooked, wasn't crispy. I might do a couple things differently next time...

. Does anyone have any other ideas for making the wings crispier without frying?

We  microwave a lot  at  my  house and  when we want to  crisp  up  breading etc,  we  get  out the  electric skillet,  give it a spray  of  cooking  oil  and  set on low to medium heat. You could then serve the  food from the  skillet  as  it would  keep the  food warm  like the  crockpot. Putting the  wings under the  broiler  would crisp them up  as well.

BTW  these sound  yummy, cant wait to give them a  try  next time  I need to feed  a  group.

Eily - Hmmm, I don't have an electric skillet BUT that gave me an idea.

What if I put them in my grill for a few minutes. I could grill lots of wings simultaneously because they are so small and the grill does both sides at once. With small wings they would basically be completely enveloped inside the grill. They would definitely crisp up, wouldn't they? I wonder if that would overcook or dry them out...? I must try it.

keltoi - I'm embarrassed. I'm Italian (sort of). I know what white kidney beans are. Hangs head in shame.   ... okay, over the shame now.  Thanks for clearing up the mystery!

Tina, dont be, I was not sure if they went by another name either and to be honest, I had to google cannelloni to find out what they were. Hope the recipe comes out well....take care

Keltoi

My favourite crockpot recipe is Morrocan Beef Stew.  I like it because (1) it tastes good and (2) my husband makes it.

Moroccan Spiced Slow Cooked Beef Stew

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

·     2 pounds boneless beef (chuck) , cut in 2 inch cubes (1 kilos)

·     3 Tbsp. all purpose flour (45 ml)

·     3 Tbsp. olive oil (45 ml)

·     4 shallots, peeled and cut in half , lengthwise

·     1 large carrot, peeled and sliced

·     2 garlic cloves, chopped

·     One 19-ounce can tomatoes, chopped with liquid

·     1 cups beef stock (250 ml)

·     1 cinnamon stick

·     1 tsp. sweet paprika (5 ml)

·     1 bay leaf

·     1 ½ cup dry red wine, (375 ml)

·     2 sprigs fresh thyme

·     ½ cup golden raisins (125 ml)

·     Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1.   Trim beef. Dry well on paper towels. Dredge in flour and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in large skillet over medium heat. Making sure not to over crowd your skillet, brown beef evenly on all sides. Transfer to bowl.

2.   Add another tablespoon of olive oil to skillet and sauté shallots, carrot and garlic 4 to 5 minutes until lightly golden. Deglaze pan with wine, scraping browned bits from bottom.

3.   Transfer this mixture with browned beef to slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients and cook according to manufacturer's directions , on low until beef is tender- about 7 hours.

Far more detailed and firm instructions than I usually give.  But this is my husband's recipie we're talking about.  He doesn't do anything without a well thought out plan.  His motto in the kitchen is:

"Plan your work, work your plan."

You can imagine how crazy it drives him to watch me throwing together ingredients and 'substituting.'