favorite crock pot recipes?

Red beans and Rice (w/ optional turkey)

Soak entire bag of small red beans over night.
Drain in the morning.
Refill with 7-8 cups water.
Add 1 1/2-2 cups whole grain brown rice.
Add 1lb lean ground turkey (optional).
Add 1 small jar taco sauce (or salsa - for flavor).
Season to taste (I used pepper, garlic, crushed red pepper, cayenne and a few other spices)

Set on low for 8-10 hours.

Makes approx. 10 cups - using my recipe, MFP calculated 173cal/serv. 2g Fat, 39g Carb, 22g Fiber, 22g Protein

On the suggestion of a friend, tonight I put some chicken (I used about 600g skinless, boneless chicken thighs) with a jar of salsa into the crockpot and let it cook on low for about 8 hours. I added a can of black beans about half an hour before the end (added half the can directly, and pureed the other half with a blender before adding it). When it was done cooking, I shredded the chicken with a fork (it basically fell apart) and served it with a choice of either crunchy taco shells (for those who wanted tacos) or with tortilla chips to scoop it up (so it was kind of like a nacho thing, but without the cheese.) Easy, yummy and very light. (Mine worked out to be 200 calories per serving without the taco shells/tortilla chips.)

Have to give this one a *bump* I love my crock pot too and the poor thing hasn't been used in so long because I got tired of making the same ole stuff...

Hormel Maple Bourbon Pork Loin with baby carrots and red potatoes....delish!

Chicken Breast browned with any lowfat cream soup (cream of chicken, celery. mushroom) low fat cream cheese 4oz crockpot all day over whole wheat noodles.....yum!

http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1601
http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1537
http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/1284

Love crock pot recipes but can't ever find good ones! BUMP

Hi,
This is a pretty basic stew with lots of options for variations; less a recipe and more a technique. NOTE: I use a 6 quart Slow cooker, and this recipe essentially fills it, so adjust your amounts accordingly. I've only just reciently started counting my calories again and I just made a batch of this stew and calculated the per serving calories at 360 for a ~450g serving (I'll list the ingredients that I used this time at the bottom) - I was really impressed!

Bottom Layer (mirepoix – Celery, Carrots, Onions, approximately equal amounts, chopped into small slices/chunks, they will not survive the cooking process intact):
o 3 Celery Stocks
o 3 Carrots (I sometimes add parsnip here in addition to the other vegetables.
o 1 Large, or some combination of smaller onions, you can go a bit heavy here, traditional mirepoix uses 2 parts onion to 1 part carrot and celery, I tend toward equal parts especially in the stew.
o Sprinkle with some combination of Pepper (avoid salt, you can add it when it’s served, if it needs it); green herbs (especially ones that go with the type of meet you are cooking), Mrs Dash (I like original or the garlic and herb mix here), garlic etc. and stir to mix in with vegetables.

Middle (Meat) Layer – I generally use 3 lbs of whatever I’m using: Stew Beef, Boneless Skinless Chick Thighs, Pork Loin, etc this should form a complete layer across the crock. Over this I sprinkle:
• A couple of handfuls of Barley or Rice (use whole grain or unhulled – they are going to be cooking for a long time) I wouldn’t put more than ½ to 2/3 of a cup this will help to absorb moisture given off by the other ingredients, but you don’t want to over do it, you can add more later if it is too watery.
• You can sprinkle some flour over the meat here as well – use a flour duster and I wouldn’t put more than a couple of tablespoons here, this will help thicken the sauce.
• 2-3 packets of OXO powder chicken or beef
• Now pour ~cup Soup Stock (Chicken or Beef, whatever you have) try and get the whole surface area.
• More herbs here, the same as above, you could add the OXO at this point if you like, For Beef Epicure Selections sells a Beef and Steak herb spice mix that’s really good here, also Montreal Steak spice is good here too.
• For Beef (you could use it with any meat though) use a healthy dose of Worcestershire Sauce. You could use soya sauce here for any meat as well, again sprinkle over the whole surface. For chicken or Pork I often spread 1 -2 bottles of Alfredo Sauce over the meat. For beef I sometimes add tomato paste (not too much) or sauce here (this would work for the other meats too…)
• I tried mushrooms here once, be careful, they give off a lot of moisture and take up a large amount of space before they cook.

Top Layer – this is the most complicated part – I cut up a Turnip in largish chunks (1 inch square) and fill the remainder of the crock, then a quick sprinkle of Mrs Dash and/or pepper. (I was kidding about the complicated part :-) You can try potatoes here if you insist but they will likely disintegrate during the cooking… If you really want potatoes, I’d suggest that you pre-cook them and stir them in at the very end or close to the end when you add the final batch of vegetables.

If you want you can prepare this all the night before and put in the fridge… Or you can cook overnight…

Now put this on low for 8 or 10 hours, this part you can’t really overcook 

About 2 hours before it finishes just look and see if it looks too liquidy (this is a judgement call, but you do want some liquid. Here you have to decide if you want to try and thicken the sauce: make a slurry of some water and flour and add it here or add a couple more handfuls of rice or barley. If you decide to thicken things up, be sure to keep the lid off for a minimal amount of time, Slow cookers are just that slow and it will take longer to get back up to temperature. You will have to stir in the slurry or the grain; be careful not to slosh the stew out the pot 

About 1 hour before it is done you can add more veggies, I tend to use frozen veggies here (Green/Yellow Beans, peas, carrots, etc) there are many nice mixes available, just make sure you have pre-thawed them first, or you can add fresh. I would avoid things like broccoli or cauliflower (which could work, but I’ve never tried them here), and more leafly veggies (Brussels Sprouts, spinach, chard, etc) but feel free to experiment.

I generally eat dinner and then package up the leftovers into individual servings – I usually get at least 10 servings from a batch…

Don’t be afraid to experiment, but in general, it is easier to add salt to taste afterward, and, in general, it is easier to make it thicker later than thin it down… The vegetables give off a lot of liquid. You may need to experiment to get a sense of how much spice you can add, I would suggest caution with peppery spices to start, but this is a large amount of food so you will have to add healthy amounts to get enough flavour…

Good Luck!
Mike

Recipe name: Slow Cooker Beef Stew (Example)

Number of servings 10 largish servings (amounts are approximate)

Generic - Beef Stew Meat (Updated 8/8/2010), 1.5 container (32 oz ea.) 1,800
Carrots - Raw, 3 large (7-1/4" to 8-1/2" long) 89
Onions - Raw, 1 large 63
Celery - Raw, 3 stalk large (11"-12" long) 26
Knorr - Beef Stock Powder, 3 pouches 93
Great Value - Beef Stock, 1 cup 25
Barley - Pearled, raw, 0.5 cup 352
Lea&Perrins - Worcestershire Sauce (Canada), 3 tbsp 45
Boursin - Garlic and Fine Herbs, 2 tablespoons 120
Turnips - Raw, 1 large 51
Green Giant Valley Selections - Baby Blend Vegetables, 2 container (4 cups ea.) 560
Lundberg Wild Blend - Wild and Whole Grain Brown Rice, 0.5 cup dry 300
Robin Hood - All-Purpose Flour, 1/4 cup 100

Total: Cals:3624
Per Serving: Cals: 362; Carb: 35; Fat: 9; Prot: 32; Fiber: 7; Sugars: 7; Sodium: 583

BTW: what does "bump" mean?

bump...oh, I so need to use my crockpot more often! thanks

On the suggestion of a friend, tonight I put some chicken (I used about 600g skinless, boneless chicken thighs) with a jar of salsa into the crockpot and let it cook on low for about 8 hours. I added a can of black beans about half an hour before the end (added half the can directly, and pureed the other half with a blender before adding it). When it was done cooking, I shredded the chicken with a fork (it basically fell apart) and served it with a choice of either crunchy taco shells (for those who wanted tacos) or with tortilla chips to scoop it up (so it was kind of like a nacho thing, but without the cheese.) Easy, yummy and very light. (Mine worked out to be 200 calories per serving without the taco shells/tortilla chips.)

We do this one alot, sometimes i'll substitute a roast for the chicken. It's also good over brown rice. Another good one is cover a roast with a jar of horseradish and cook on low for 8 hrs (OMG)!!!!