Crockpot meals

Roast! With potatoes and carrots and of course seasonings of your choice

Oh my where to start - if you search under crockpot recipes you'll find a bunch on here. I also google crockpot recipes & get all kinds of good stuff. I use my crock ALL the time -

Check out skinnytaste.com She has some really delicious meals

Go to: Crockpot365.blogspot.com She even has things listed in alphabetical order if you click on "index" Have fun!

Some on the boards put up a mexican chicken recipe that I tried, but am modifying:
1.75 lbs chicken breast
jar of salsa
can of rotel tomatoes
can of black beans
bag of corn (I used 3 cups)
chili powder
salt and pepper
4 oz cream cheese
Place all items except cream cheese in the crock, cook on high for 4 or low for 8. Mix in cream cheese for the last half hour. It came out to about 240 cals per 1 cup serving, and the batch made 9 cups.

Next time I am going to leave out the cream cheese, cut the corn in half, add a lot of onion, peppers, and some garlic. I like it with non fat greek yogurt and more salsa on top...a little cheddar is good, too....

Put chicken pieces of your choice (either in bone or not) into the crock pot. Add chopped or sliced onions if you like them. Cover with barbecue sauce or "mopping sauce." Check the sugar content of the sauce, though. Pour a bottle of light beer over the whole thing. Cook on low all day. This also works well with pork or beef.

Definitely check out Skinnytaste.com The other day I made her crockpot Pork Carnitas. Very, Very good and low in fat!

I usually do a whole chicken sat on top of whole peeled potatoes, sliced carrots, onion, garlic, season with salt, pepper, bouquet d'garnet, oregano & a 150mls of water or chicken stock & cook on low for 10 hrs (whilst at work). Looks terrible when it comes out but everything is so tender & tasty & the meat can be used or a couple of days for salads & sandwiches.

Another staple is meatballs in spaghetti sauce,;12 beef mince meatballs, 1 large sliced onion, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1 jar of passata, sliced mushrooms, dried basic, oregano, salt, pepper & 100mls of water. Stir it all up, coating the meatballs with the sauce & cook on low for 7 hrs. Served with spagetti or penne pasta.

Make sure when you are searching that you use the terms slow cooker recipes as they call crockpots that these days. I havr researched this method of cooking experimenting with recipes.
The thing is to remember that this method requires very little added liquid (one way to ruin the recipes is to water down the intensity of the flavour) the reason being that the slowcooking method cause very little moisture loss of the foods it is cooking. This will give you a really good idea of whether you need to add liquid or not how moist food is in its raw state is what it will be cooked.
I have gotten over my fear of NOT adding liquid so for example my slow cooker lemon garlic whole chicken with vegetables has NO liquid added.

You place the vegies in the bottom baby carrots (I leave the skins on they are real juicy) bigger carrots you may want to peel them the same goes for the potatoes baby potatoes cut in halves carrots are also quartered. Celery cut in longish sticks NOT diced. Long green beans topped and tailed. Then cloves of garlic in their papers 6 in total that means they cook till soft sweet and juicy. I also place 2 medium lemons or 1 large lemon quartered in the bottom with the vegetables. Once this is done (takes 5 mins if you are lucky).

I place the washed chicken (I use organic they taste better) on top of the other ingredients. I recommend not using stuffing in the chicken I found that a breadbased one seem to draw the juice out of the meat not good!. So once the chicken is in place all that is required is to season the chicken I get seasoned rubs from deli or special condiments shop.
Dont go crazy because you dont want to swamp the flavours and some of these use salt as their base so can be high in sodium. So I use a dry herb rub, paprika, black pepper and a little salt if Im not using a salt based rub. onto the skin of the chicken.

Then you are good to go it will take 5-6 hours on high (this will vary from cooker to cooker you may need to check on it after 4 hours) or 6-7 on low (again check it after 5 hours). To tell if it is cooked use the tip of a sharp knife to pierce the skin at the thigh joint and carefully pull meat back to check its colour.....if the juice is more red than brownish pink it needs longer if the juice is clear and flesh a little pinkish near thigh joint and another little nick with knife reveals white with slight pinkish tinge on breast its cooked ready to serve. Cut the chicken into quarters and serve with the vegetables. With this recipe it is the breast meat that everyone fights over not the leg it is sooooo juicy!

To get the correct times with your crockpot just start cooking and experimenting with the recipes and note down the times it takes for future reference. I did my experimenting on weekends when there was no pressure and a more relaxed atmosphere then once I get a recipe right then I use them during the week.

Another hint depending on the size of your family you can plan to get 2 meals out of a recipe thats what my husband and I do most recipes are for 4 serves so we get 2 meals out of one slow cook. So saves on time during the week. It is a busy persons best friend......have fun!

Cut up two apples into slices, layer in the bottom of your crock pot. Put extra lean chicken breasts on top, sprinkle w/ salt and lemon pepper. Add water to come halfway up apples. Cook on low all day while at work.

Don't eat the apples--they will be greasy
--but they will give the chicken a great flavor.

I serve it with green beans and sugar free applesauce sprinkled with cinnamon.

Enjoy!