I don't know about you, but I am always on the look-out for new crockpot recipes. I LOVE using my crockpot, but it's hard because between my workday and commute, I am gone from home for a minimum of 10 hours every day! Most crockpot recipes are for much less than that, even if I cook them on low instead of high. So far, I have only found 1 dish and 2 soups that are able to hold up to this timeframe. But then, I came across this recipe and saw that it could go 6-9 hours. I figured, I bet it could hold up a lot longer if it had just a bit more liquid and I tried it! Of course, I also had to tweak it! Here is my version:
Crockpot Salsa Chicken
from Clara Ogren, Six Food Intolerance Living
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts or thighs (can even use frozen)
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, NOT drained
1 jar salsa (chose the spiciness level that is right for your family)
2-3 tbsp lime juice
1-2 tsp of adobo powder
Half of a bunch of cilantro, chopped
Tortilla chips or soft corn tortillas
Directions:
Place chicken, salsa, corn, beans, tomatoes (with juice), lime juice and adobo powder into crockpot, mix.
Cook on low for 10-12 hours.
Just before serving, sprinkle in the cilantro, mix in.
To eat, shred chicken (this can be done in the crockpot with a spoon) and serve with tortilla chips, over rice or inside soft corn tortillas.
Tips:
A nice lettuce side salad is the perfect accompaniment to this meal or instead top the salad with the chicken mixture for a fiesta salad
Top with sliced avocado or with a dollop of guacamole
If you are able to have dairy, this dish would be great topped with sour cream and/or shredded cheese
And wouldn't you know it, it held up beautifully for 12 hours. I mixed it around a bit to evenly distribute the liquids and it was perfect as it stayed nice and moist! I took my lid off and on a lot the last 2 hours or so doing a lot of mixing. If yours is too liquidy, just take the lid off, turn the crockpot on high, watch it and mix occasionally. That'll help boil out the liquid. I don't know about you, but I'd rather it be too liquidy and moist than dry and hard! ;)
I ate this rolled up in soft corn tortillas with a side salad. Hubby ate it with tortilla chips and was plenty happy without the cheese (though I'm sure he would have prefered it!).
This dish was super easy - effortless, really and was quite tasty. And, it's pantry-friendly! What more could you ask for? :D
So, I'm sure I've mentioned in the past that I really like to make foods in bulk and freeze them. It's great for a few of reasons:
1) It's economical - frozen GDSYWP-free foods are expensive!
2) I can only handle eating so many leftovers before getting tired of them, this makes sure that I don't throw away a bunch of perfectly good food
3) It's convenient! I can just grab it and take it to lunch or grab it when we're going to someone elses house so I know that if they don't have something safe for me to eat, I am prepared!
So, what are you waiting for? You should do some bulk cooking yourself! :D
I thought I'd compile my favorite bulk cooking recipes for your use. This list is by no means complete, and I'm sure to update it from time-to-time. When I do, I'll be sure to put an "updated" date on it so you'll always know how recent it is.
Updated: 2/16/09
Stove-Top
Chili (to switch this up, you can put it on top of hot dogs for Chili Dogs or you can put it on top of a salad to make Taco Salad)
Spanish Rice (you can add ground turkey/beef to this and/or whatever veggies you have on hand to make it more of a main dish)
Curry
Turkey or Chicken Veggie soup (I take a roasted turkey or chicken carcass, boil it out to make a broth, add any leftover chicken pieces, along with chopped celery onions and drained canned green beans, corn and carrots. Yum!)
Pancakes and Waffles!
Carries Creamy Clam Chowder
Oven:
Easy Light Cassoulet
Roasted meat (I love to make a large roast, then freeze the leftover, cooked meat to use later in a recipe or to defrost and eat with sides later)
Crock Pot:
Pizza Soup
Pasta Fagioli
Burger Heaven Casserole
Things that do NOT freeze well:
GF Pasta (the Pasta Fagioli and Pizza Soup recipes above call for GF Pasta. You can tackle this 2 ways - 1: just deal with soggy, broken up pasta - which is what I usually do - or 2: make and freeze the soup without the pasta and make fresh stuff and add it when you're ready to eat the soup)
Enjoy!
So, do you remember how I told you about the crock pot challenge that my Sister and I tried back in the Fall of 2007? Well, I remembered that there was ONE good recipe that came out of that experiment! Burger Heaven Casserole. I thought that it was pretty tasty, Hubby thought it was just okay ... probably because it had lots of veggies in it. I think I need to make it again. ;)
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Crock Pot Burger Heaven Casserole
from http://www.dietsinreview.com/recipes/crock-pot-burger-heaven-casserole
Serves 6
Ingredients:
16 oz. extra lean ground beef (or turkey)
2 cups sliced raw potatoes
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup frozen peas, thawed (I don't like peas, so I replaced them with green beans)
1 cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1 10-oz. can Healthy Request Tomato Soup (this has gluten in it, so I would just use 10 oz of tomato puree or sauce)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1 can mushrooms
Salt and pepper
Cooking spray
Directions:
Spray a Crock Pot container with cooking spray
In large skillet, brown meat, onion, celery and mushroom mixture
In Crock Pot container, combine meat mixture, potatoes, carrots, peas and corn
Stir in tomato soup, water, parsley flakes, salt and pepper to taste
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours (Mine was in there for 10-11 hours while I was at work and it was still fine).
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If you can have cheese, I think that would set this off nicely. Probably a nice sharp cheddar. For those of us who can't ... well, break out the Lawrys or Old Bay and smile because it still tastes great! :D
Enjoy!
I don't know about you, but I've never really been *in love* with my crockpot. I mean, in theory, it sounds like an awesome thing - a meal that cooks itself, set it and forget it - sounds great, right? Well, it never really worked that way for me. The main factor in this is that between the time it takes to get to/from work, plus the time that I'm at work, I need a recipe that can sit in the crock pot for like 10 hours. That's a lot to expect from any one appliance, and of course, your food. A year or so ago, my Sister and I even tried making one recipe a week each to try out some different recipes and find out which ones could handle our schedules ... yea, that only lasted a few months. Everything we made in there comes out tasteless and boring. And all beef tasted like pot roast, no matter what we put in there! The only recipe that we tried during that time that came out really good was this one.
Well, then came along the Crockpot Lady. She made a New Years Resolution to use the crockpot once a day everyday in 2008. What a daunting task! But boy, do I love her for it! I love how *she* does the testing for me! :D She inspired me to make Smoked Beef Brisket a while back. And lately, she has been inspiring me to make soup in the crockpot! Now, why didn't I think of that? I must confess that I LOVE soup. I'm not sure why, but it's so comforting to me. Hubby on the other hand? Well, he indulges me. But hey, it's a meal that's yummy, hearty and can withstand hours in the crockpot, what more can you ask for?! So far, I have tried her Pasta Fagioli and her Pizza Soup. Both came out beautifully. I think next, I will try her Tomato Soup, subbing coconut or hemp milk for the heavy cream, of course! :D
So, if you don't LOVE your crockpot, try out a soup recipe and see if you get that warm, fuzzy feeling like I did! Yes, Mr. Crockpot, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship! ;)
I have decided that I need to use my crock pot more. Aside from the fact that it produces a quicker/easier meal, most stuff that goes in there are whole, simple foods and are healthier for you.
I was inspired by the Smoked Beef Brisket recipe that I saw over at CrockPot365, but couldn't find mesquite wood chips (I guess because it's not summer anymore?), so I searched the internet for a Crock Pot Smoked Beef Brisket recipe that called for liquid smoke (which I nearly always have on hand) instead. Then, I found this recipe (also typed out below):
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Ingredients:
3 to 4 pound beef brisket
1/4 cup liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Preparation:
Sprinkle brisket with liquid smoke and seasonings.
Wrap well in large piece of aluminum foil. Refrigerate overnight if desired.
Place wrapped brisket in slow cooker; cover and cook on low 9 to 12 hours (high 5 to 6 hours).
Serve brisket with juices.
Serves 8.
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Mine was altered just a bit though (I know, it seems that I rarely can make a recipe as-is anymore!):
I did not refrigerate mine overnight with the smoke and spices.
The smallest beef brisket I could find was 4.5 pounds
I used celery seed instead of celery salt and granulated garlic, not garlic salt
I doubled the spice mixture (using 1 teaspoon of everything versus 1/2) just because it didn't look like enough for my huge piece of meat.
I had mine in the crock pot on low for 10.5 hours.
The Result:
YUMMY! It was very "smoky" flavored, EXTREMELY tender and SO simple! Hubby and I had it with a GF macaroni salad and I gobbled it up as-is. Hubby thought it was a bit bland/dry and wanted to put some BBQ sauce on it, but we were out, maybe next time.
Bonus: This meal it was pretty economical. My 4.5 pound brisket cost $18 and produced enough meat for at least 3 meals - dinner that night, lunch the next day and the next night we had it again in corn tortillas with salsa and guacamole, and I STILL had some left over!
