Slow Cooker Sunday -- Red Beans & Rice

We fix Red Beans & Rice at least a few times a month. It is a quick and easy staple in our house and I always have link sausage in the fridge/freezer and a packet of some brand of red beans & rice in the pantry. So when I saw a receipe on Plain Chicken I just had to give it a try, especially since it is made in the slow cooker!

I made this while my parents were visiting and we all enjoyed it. I thought it had a tiny bit of spice to it on the first night but the leftovers (which I enjoyed) didn't seem to be that spicy. The only change I made was to the sausage. 3/4 of it was plain and the other 1/4 was Jalapeno sausage -- next time I would do half and half.

(I have gotten out of the habit of taking pictures of the food we have made lately, I need to start doing it again)

Red Beans & Rice
1 pound dried small red beans
1 pound link sausage, sliced
5 cups water
1 cup tomato sauce (I used the whole small can)
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt (I left out)
1 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp cajun seasoning
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on low 8-10 hours.
Serve over hot white rice.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Smoky Chipotle Brown Sugar Chicken

I have had this chicken dish bookmarked for awhile and finally picked up all the ingredients to make it (well, almost all the ingredients). We used this chicken for our weekly taco night. G prefers a regular crispy beef taco but I do get bored with them and thought these would be perfect new dish to try.

Smoky Chipotle Brown Sugar Chicken Tacos
Adapted from: www.canyoustayfordinner.com/

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 red onion, chopped (I used white onion, all my red onion had been used up)
3 cloves garlic
15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes, drained
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, finely chopped (1 pepper pulled from a packed can)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro (I forgot this at the store and just omited)
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Place chicken in the base of your slow cooker.
Puree all remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor until well combined and smooth.
Pour over chicken breasts and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Shred using two forks.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- 3 Envelope Chicken

With the busy fall schedule starting (and the fact it is still hotter than blazes here in Texas) I will be using my crock-pot a lot more. Not only is it a time saver but it doesn't heat up the house like the oven does, which is a big plus with 100+ degree days.


I found this recipe over at Siggy Spice
and bookmarked it because it was super simple and it was items that I have on hand at all times (which is a big plus in my book).

3 Envelope Chicken
1 packet Ranch Salad Dressing mix
1 packet Italian Salad Dressing mix
1 packet chicken gravy mix
1 cup of water
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Place chicken breasts in a cold Crockpot. (mine were frozen)
Combine the Ranch Dressing Mix, Italian Dressing Mix, and Chicken gravy mix with 1 cup of cold water. Stir to combine. Pour over chicken and cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-4 hours.

We had the chicken with mashed potatoes, fresh veggies and bread. Simple and easy dinner.

We use the Ziploc steam bags, toss veggies in with butter & seasonings and steam in the microwave for a few minutes. Dinner is served in just a few mins after walking in the door.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Chicken Enchilada Soup

I love getting the Chicken Enchilada Soup from Chili's -- it is super creamy and wonderful. So when I ran across this recipe, I thought that I would have to try it soon. Even though it is still 100+ degrees here, I made a batch up to have for lunch with a sandwich. Lots of protein and something that I can re-heat easily at lunch time (plus share with my co-workers as well).

Chicken Enchilada Soup
Adapted from: http://www.givinguponperfect.com/

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 can corn rinsed & drained
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup red pepper, diced
2 can (10 oz.) enchilada sauce (1 mild & 1 medium)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups milk
2 whole chicken breasts (uncooked)
8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded (pepper jack would be good too)

Combine beans, tomatoes, corn, onion and pepper in slow cooker. Place chicken on top. Whisk together the sauce, soup and milk; pour mixture over ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 6 to 8 hours. Shortly before serving, take the chicken out and shred. Then put it back in the soup and stir it up. Yields 8 servings.

Serve with crunchy tortilla strips (I found them pre-made by the coutons, or make your own), sour cream, & pico.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Pineapple Green Chili Pork Tacos

I have had this recipe bookmarked for awhile now and finally decided to try it out. I saw it over at Let's Dish and it caught my attention for two reasons: 1) it is a slow cooker recipe and 2) it uses pork instead of beef. We use more beef that pork around here and it was nice to use something other than beef (or chicken).

Pineapple Green Chili Pork Tacos
Adapted from: http://www.letsdishrecipes.blogspot.com/

1 (2-3 pound) pork roast
1 (16 oz.) jar salsa verde
2 (8 oz.) cans crushed pineapple, undrained
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles
1/4 cup brown sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Flour tortillas
Favorite taco toppings

Place the pork roast in a lightly greased slow cooker. In a medium bowl, combine salsa verde, crushed pineapple, green chiles, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Pour over pork roast. cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove roast from crock pot and shred with a fork. Drain the juices from the crock pot through a colander. In a bowl, combine the shredded pork and drained pineapple/salsa mixture that remains in the colander. Serve in warm tortillas with your favorite taco toppings.

Our thoughts:
We liked this on tortillas but it was better how we had the leftovers. I had it for lunch over spanish rice & charro beans and that was good, then we put it on french bread with grilled onions and provolone cheese and it was really good. The pork is much better if you make sure to put the pineapple/chili mixture on it.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Pasta Fagioli

I found another great blog recently and have bookmarked a ton of recipes to try out from Ann over at Apples & Twinkies. When I saw this Pasta Fagioli recipe (which is what I order when going to Olive Garden), I knew I had to try it out. Not only is it an easy recipe but it is tossed in the slow cooker -- which is a major plus for me.


Pasta Fagioli - Slow Cooker
Adapted from: Apples & Twinkies
http://www.applesandtwinkies.com/






2 lbs ground beef
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, shredded
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans, drained
3 (10 ounce) cans beef stock
3 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons pepper
5 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)
1 (20 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
8 ounces pasta

Brown beef in a skillet. Drain fat from beef and add to crock pot with everything except pasta.
Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours. During last 30 min on high or 1 hour on low, add pasta.

Our Thoughts:
This was really good and easy to make BUT it makes a TON! Next time I would half the recipe for sure. And it didn't help that I didn't pay attention to the amount of pasta it called for and used a whole bag (16 oz).
Since it was a lot of soup, I took to work the next day to share with my co-workers.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Italian Beef Sandwiches

Italian Beef Sandwiches
Adapted from: Eat at Home

1 large roast
1 package Italian dressing
1/4 cup vinegar
2 Tbs. sugar
2 cans chicken broth
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 package brown gravy mix (mixed with 1 cup chicken broth -- I would use 2 pkgs next time)
1 green pepper, sliced
1 medium jar pepperoccinis with juice

Put roast in slow cooker. Mix all the ingredients and pour over the meat. Let it marinade overnight or cook it right away on low for 8-10 hours.

Shred the meat and serve on hoagie buns with the peppers and sauce for dipping.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Adapted from: http://www.eatathomecooks.com/

5-6 frozen chicken breasts
1/2 onion, diced
2 cups of any combo of ketchup or any kind of bbq sauce
8 oz taco sauce
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. dry mustard
2 Tbs. vinegar
2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. liquid smoke

Toss all the ingredients into the slow cooker. Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 7-8. Shred the meat and stir it all up. Serve on buns.


**This was a good recipe and would work great for a potluck or feeding lots of people. It was easy to toss together -- only change I would make would be to use BBQ sauce vs ketchup (I was out of BBQ sauce). Tasty and kid friendly, which was good.**



Linked up at:

Side Dish Saturday -- Baked Sweet Potatoes in Slow Cooker

I really do enjoy a baked potato but it takes so long to bake them in the oven, especially on a weeknight. So, I decided to bake our sweet potatoes in the slow cooker to save us time during the week. E just turned the slow cooker on when he was home for lunch and they were ready by the time dinner was ready.


Baked Sweet Potatoes -- Slow Cooker

2 large sweet potaotes with ends snipped
Olive Oil
Cinnamon -- optional

Rub olive oil all over sweet potatoes and sprinkle with cinnamon. Place in slow cooker and cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Once they are done, add butter, brown sugar and additional cinnamon.



***This worked out perfectly and the potatoes were cooked really good. I loved walking into the house to the smell of the sweet potatoes.***



Linked up at:
http://homeandpantry.blogspot.com

Crock-Pot Sunday -- Italian Turkey Sandwiches

I ran across this old recipe in my binder and had to share with you. It is an easy sandwich dish and great for when you find turkey breast on special for a good price.

Italian Turkey Sandwiches
Adapted from: Taste of Home Slow Cooker Classics

1 bone-in turkey breast (approx 5.5 lbs), skin removed
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup chili sauce
3 Tablespoons white vinegar
2 Tablespoons of Italian Seasoning
4 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
Kaiser or hard sandwich rolls, split


Place turkey, green peppers and onion in slow cooker (at least 5 quart) coated with non-stick spray.
Combine chili suace, vinegar, italian seasoning and bouillon. Pour over turkey & veggies.
Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until meat juices run clear and veggies are tender.

Remove turkey with slotted spoon, reserving cooking liquid. Shred turkey and return to cooking juices.

Spoon 1/2 cup of meat onto each roll.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Glazed Cinnamon Apples

I haven't made these in years but they are great to fix if you have company coming over. Make a batch of these apples up and serve over vanilla ice cream. It is a simple dessert that will impress anyone.






Glazed Cinnamon Apples -- Slow Cooker

6 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut in eight wedges
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons butter, melted
Vanilla ice cream

Place apples in the slow cooker; drizzle with lemon juice.

Mix granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
Sprinkle mixtue over apples; stir gently to coat apples.

Drizzle with butter.

Cook on low for 3 hours OR high for 2 hours until apples are done.

Serve warm apples topping over ice cream.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Garlic Chicken

Another quick and easy chicken dish for the slow cooker!

Garlic Chicken

4 chicken breasts (4 oz each)
1 large onion
10 cloves of garlic (remove peel)
2 tsp lemon pepper
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.

Slice the onion and place in the bottom of slow cooker. Mix the lemon pepper, paprika and salt together. Rub all over the chicken. Place chicken on the onions. Place garlic on top of the chicken.

Cook on low 5-6 hours or until juices run clear.


Linked this over at Mommy's Kitchen Potluck Sunday

Side Dish Saturday -- Sweet Potatoes & Apples (Slow Cooker)

Sweet Potatoes & Apples in the Slow Cooker
Adapted from eatathomecooks.com


3 sweet potatoes (medium size)
4 small apples
1/2 cup apple juice
4 Tbs. brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
dash nutmeg

Clean, peel and chop the apples and sweet potatoes. Put them in the crock of the slow cooker. Stir the apple juice, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Pour over the apples and sweet potatoes, stirring to coat. Cook on low for about 4-6 hours.


We had this last night and it was a good side dish -- it cooked a bit longer because I was a bit later getting home that I planned to. I wouldn't cut the apples in quarters like I did, they were a bit too small and cooked down a bit too much.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- BBQ Short Ribs

A few weeks ago I ended up with a few packages of boneless short ribs that were on sale. I purchased them and had no clue what I was going to do with them! But after a bit of searching and chatting with MIL, I decided that I would pop them into the crock-pot. They turned out really good and the only thing that I would have done different was to have some extra BBQ sauce.


BBQ Short Ribs

3 lbs short ribs (I used boneless)
1 bottle of favortie BBQ sauce (I used Meyers, which is from Elgin TX)
1/2 cup honey
3 T mustard
Flour

Dust the short ribs with flour and place into the crock-pot. Mix bbq sauce, honey and mustard together and pour over short ribs.

Cook on low for 8 hours.

I served with pasta salad and baked beans.

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Taco Chicken (It's My Birthday!)

Here is a quick slow cooker idea that I would like to share with you today. I am finishing up my BFF Birthday Weekend and can't wait to get home to my boys. :) I hope everyone has had a great weekend.





Taco Chicken
4-6 chicken breasts
1-2 packets of taco seasoning (2 packets if they are large breasts)
1 can chicken broth

Place chicken in slow cooker, mix taco seasoning and broth together and then pour over chicken.
Cook on low 8-10 hours.

Use for tacos, burritos, enchaladas, etc. It is a quick dinner idea and has a good amount of flavor too.





Linked up at:

Slow Cooker Sunday -- Buffalo Chicken

I have posted this before but it one of our go to favorites and I just had to share it again. It is great for potlucks, tailgate parties or for a quick week night dinner.


Buffalo Chicken
4-6 chicken breasts
1 can chicken broth
2 packets ranch dressing mix
1 bottle of your fave buffalo sauce

Put chicken into crock pot. Mix chicken broth, ranch mix and buffalo sauce, poor over chicken.
Cook on low 8-10 hours.

Shred chicken and put on rolls, potatoes, pizza, wraps, etc. Add more buffalo sauce, ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing.

Linked up at:

Slow Cooker Sunday

We use our Slow Cooker at least once a week and it really saves me a lot of time once I am home from work, especially on the nights that G has football practice or something is going on at his school.

This is one of our go-to chicken dishes. I do like that I can just toss everything into the pot and it is all done when we get home, heat up some green beans and you have a full meal.


Sunday Chicken Dinenr in the Crock-Pot

4 chicken (boneless or with bones)
4-6 potatoes, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, sliced
1 can of chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
salt and pepper

Place the chicken on the bottom of the crockpot. Put the veggies on top of the chicken. Stir the broth and soup together with the salt and pepper. Pour over the veggies and chicken. Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 7-8 hours.

You can thicken the broth to make gravy. Remove the chicken and veggies from the pot. Turn the heat to high. In a container with a tight fitting lid, add several Tbs. of flour. Add some water and shake to make a thick paste. You want it to pour, but still be thick. Slowly whisk the flour mixture into the broth.

Creamy Chicken & Noodles -- Crockpot Receipe

Found this while I was searching for new crockpot ideas.

Creamy Chicken & Noodles
2 large frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 small can of Chicken Broth (the whole can of Swanson makes it a little soupy)
Dry Ranch Dressing Mix (2-3T)
4 oz Cream Cheese
Wide Egg Noodles

Place the chicken into the crockpot and sprinkle with the dry Ranch Dressing Mix.
Mix together soups and chicken broth and pour over the chicken breasts.
Cook on low 8-9 hours.

Cook egg noodles according to package.

When chicken is done, remove from crockpot and cut into bite size pieces.
Dice cream cheese and put into the gravy in the crockpot. Stir together and let the cheese melt. Add the chicken back into gravy and mixture.

Pour chicken mixture over noodles.


****************
This is a great receipe! It was really yummy and super simple. This will be a great one for once football practice starts up on Monday nights.

Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

Recently, I did a google search for crock pot receipes. I wanted something a bit different than our normal crock pot meals. I ran across a receipe for Beef Stroganoff and added it to our menu. I did tweak the receipe a bit from the original to suit our tastes and what I had in the pantry.

This is an easy receipe and really good! Both E and I really enjoyed it (G didn't have any).


Crockpot Beef Stroganoff

2 pounds cubed stew meat
2 cans Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
1 meduim onion diced
3 or 4 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup beef stock
8 oz of cream cheese
1 or 2 teaspoons of minced Garlic
couple dashes of Paprika
Salt & Pepper

Put the meat into the crockpot and season with salt, pepper & paprika. In a mixing bowl mix the soup, beef stock, garlic, onions and worcestershire sauce together. Pour over the meat and stir together.

Cook on Low for 8 hours. Cut up the cream cheese into cubes just before serving and turn crockpot on high. Stir the cream cheese in until all combined. You might have to put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles or mash potatoes.



**I linked this to Mommy's Kitchen Potluck Sunday and The Grocery Cart Challenge Receipe Swap**

Turkey Breast in Crock Pot

Last week I found 1/2 of a bone-in skin on turkey breast for under $6 - it was approx 4 lbs, so I bought it. Wasn't sure what I was going to do with it at all but it sounded good and it was a good price for just the breast. So for a week I thought about it and looked online for ideas. I decided to use the crock pot and went with a simple receipe. It was very tender and moist but could have used a bit more seasoning.


Turkey Breast in Crock Pot

1 turkey breast
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 stick of butter (really could have used 1/4 of a stick)
1 can chicken stock/broth
1/2 of an onion

Pat turkey dry with paper towels, season with salt & pepper (or any other seasonings). Place with bone-side up in crock pot. Add butter, onion & broth to crock pot.
Cook on low 6-8 hours.

We served with mashed potatoes, whole wheat stove top stuffing, green beans and turkey gravy. Dinner came together really quick and it was a comfort food that reminded me of Thanksgiving with a fraction of the mess and since I use the crock pot to "roast" the turkey it didn't heat the house up which is great since it is over 100 degrees today!

We will do this again but will season the turkey more and might use lemon pepper or a cajun seasoning.