Crock Pot Cooking

One of my favorite cooking tools for the summer months is my crock pot. It doesn't heat the house up like the oven does, I can start it in the morning and not have to worry about dinner getting started when I am out running errands or doing afternoon classes.

Food $ense teaches an amazing slow cooker cooking class and you can learn to adapt ANY recipe to be used in your slow cooker.

If standard recipe says: 
Standard Recipe       slow cooker on high heat          Cook in slow cooker on low heat
15 to 30 minutes              1½    to                                  2 ½hours 4-6 hours
35 to 45 minutes              3-4 hours                              6-10 hours
50 minutes to 3 hours       4-6 hours                            8-18 hours

From my extremely informal research, these are my top three favorite slow cooker recipes.

Beef Goulash   Or Veggie Stew  You can load this up with seasonal veggies or you can use canned or frozen vegetables in the winter time. With the addition of whole grain pasta this is a meal really worth putting on your favorites list.

Lime and Cilantro Chicken This is amazing just served with rice. But if you use the Food $ense "cook once, eat twice" program you can have amazing chicken tacos or fajitas on the second night!

BBQ Pork There isn't anything that this isn't amazing with. It is yummy on rolls and in tortillas, it is great on salads and just plain.  You can make it as spicy or as sweet as you choose with the sauce that you use.

I love my slow cooker, especially in the summer months. I urge you to pull yours out and start experimenting with it.

Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

I just love soup made with squash. It has that beautiful creamy texture but it gets all that thick creaminess with pureed squash and not cream.  I love that you can use the base for a spicy curry soup, or a hot chipotle soup. This one is full of fresh sage and topped with crispy bacon. It is the ultimate bowl of comfort. 

By putting it in the slow cooker, you don't have to stand at your stove and stir it, but if you don't have the hours to wait for the slow cooker, you can put this in your insta pot, or just boil and the simmer it on your stove top. 

Ingredients:

2 cups vegetable stock

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced

1 medium (uncooked) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced

1 sprig fresh sage

1 white onion, diced

1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper, or more to taste

pinch of ground cinnamon and nutmeg

1/2 cup canned (unsweetened) coconut milk

Garnishes – Bacon crumbles and parsley

Directions:

Add vegetable stock, garlic, carrot, apple, butternut squash, sage, onion, salt, pepper, and cinnamon & nutmeg to your slow cooker.  Toss to combine.

Cook for 6-8 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high, or until the squash is completely tender and mashes easily with a fork.  Remove and discard the sage.  Stir in the coconut milk.

Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.  (Or you can transfer the soup in two batches into a traditional blender, and puree until smooth, being very careful when working with the hot liquid.)  

Taste, and season with additional salt, pepper and cayenne if needed.

Serve warm, with optional garnishes if desired.

Slow Cooker Pumpkin Chili

I was anxious to try this recipe thinking that my kids would not be fans of it. When I served it, I just said, "chili" and left out of the pumpkin part.  All my kids loved it. It is very mild and doesn't have the spice that some chilies are famous for. 

It has a sweetness from the pumpkin and the spices are perfection. And honestly the pumpkin adds a thickness to it that makes it feel like you are eating a really substantial stew. 

It has the added benefit of being all vegetarian, and you can make it with cans that you can have on hand in your pantry. It can make a great stand-by meal that you can have on your menu, just in case. 

And although it can be made in the crock pot, you don't have to make it that way, you can easily just add the ingredients and heat it up on the stove. 

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium pepper, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 15 oz. cans pumpkin

2 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes

2 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)

15 oz. can Great Northern Beans

1 tbsp. maple syrup

1 tbsp. chili powder

1 tbsp. cumin

1 tsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp. pepper

4 oz. cream cheese

Directions

Heat olive oil in medium sized sauté pan.  Sauté onions and peppers until translucent, about 4 minutes. 

Add sautéed onions and peppers to crockpot. 

To crockpot add all ingredients except the cream cheese.  

Cook 2-3 hours on high, or 7-8 hours on low. 

Before serving, stir in cream cheese until melted. 

BBQ Beef Sliders with Grape Jelly Sauce

I am going to confess to you, I killed a pot roast the other day. It was so dead and it was so sad. The poor dry little thing. I made gravy to try and cover it up and serve it, and my sweet kids pushed it around on the plate, but it sat in the fridge as sad leftovers that kept getting looked over and looked over and frankly, were just waiting to die.

You know I can't let that happen. It was a challenge sitting there in my fridge - go ahead... make me something delicious. I knew I had to do it.  And now that I have confessed to you that this whole idea came from a failure, I am going to brag to you  that these turned out AWESOME!

They got me TWO full mouth hugs at the dinner table that sounded like... 'Momm... theeessse are sooooo aethomee"  Which means, Yah! I did it.  We got mad skills you guys. You and me, we are not going to be beaten by dry pot roast - Oh No!  We are making saucy sliders that our family not only devours, but comes home from school / work the next day and gobbles up until they are gone.  Pot Roast Gone!

So this is the recipe for BBQ sauce grape jelly sauce that everybody makes with the meatballs.  And I thought, hey! meatballs are cooked, and pot roast is already cooked...  Hmmm..... 

So I made the sauce ( with the homemade Chili Sauce -- and homemade grape jelly  ** You Guys! WHO AM I?!) 

And I put it all in the crock-pot to warm up. So just 2 1/2 - 3 hours.  I picked up rolls at the store, and I cut slices of cheese into 4 pieces and topped it with a pickle.  Can you believe it was that easy. 

Grape Jelly BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

12 ounce Chili Sauce -- This is the recipe that I linked to, doubled. 

32 ounces jar grape jelly

1 pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

Pot Roast or Meatballs. 

24 Slider Rolls

8 slices of cheddar cheese cut into quarters

24 pickle slices

Instructions:

Combine your sauce ingredients in the crock pot and whisk them together. Then all your already cooked meat. I added a leftover pot roast that I had cut and shredded. Lots of people make this recipe with pre-cooked meatballs.

Let your meat heat up and marinade in the sauce for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until heated through.

Then put onto slider rolls and top with cheese and pickle slice!

11 Winter Soups to Keep You and Your Budget Cozy

I love soups. I miss them during the warmer months and I love every second that I am making (and eating) them during the fall, winter and spring.

Something that I love about soups is that it can take as long or as little amount of time as you have.  You can toss your ingredients in the slow cooker and have your soup simmering all day long, or you can open a few cans, stir the ingredients around in a pot and have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.

If I have a lot of time during the day, maybe I will make fresh bread or rolls. If I am in a rush, I sometimes have Joseph pick up a loaf of french bread for 99 cents at the grocery store on the way home.

Soup makes - Amazing! leftovers, take it for lunch, or warm it up again and have a half a sandwich the next night for dinner.

Here are some of my favorite soups that will keep you full and toasty all winter long, and as a bonus, they are all as easy on the budget as they are to throw together.

Roasted Pepper Chicken Chili Soup

You can make this with any type of fresh pepper - Anaheim and pablano are my favorites.  This is a very rich brothy soup, so it is very nourishing. You can make it super spicy to clear up a cold or keep you extra warm.  Here is the Link (as well as above)

Healthy Broccoli Cheese Soup in the Crock Pot

To get the creaminess you put the soup in the blender (broccoli and all) It was so strange to make for the first time, but I trusted the process and it turned about amazing. It is not one of my kids' very favorite soups. You won't regret making this one. Here is the Link.

Lasagna Soup 

I love this easy twist on the traditional Lasagna. Let's all be honest, although lasgana is super delicious and we all love it, it is really a lot of work. This soup give you all the flavor and absolutely none of the work. It is one of the blog's most popular posts and you'll be happy to have it in your recipe book. Here is the Link. 

Chicken Noodle Soup with Ginger and Root Vegetables

I always feel like some kind of culinary genius when I make this soup. The flavors are familiar and yet the ginger makes them perfectly different. Not to mention that if you are making chicken noodle soup because someone is sick, ginger is a great health booster. This recipe is next level chicken noodle soup. Here is the Link.

Potato Soup 

This potato soup recipe is a great one to add to your skills.  You can always make a potato soup fancier if you have the ingredients, but it is delicious and complete on its own.  Potatoes are a great winter food and you can pick up a bag of them for just a few dollars. Here in the Link.

Green Chili Enchilada Soup

This soup is one of my family's most favorites. I can toss it together in almost no time, and by the time it has heated up, I will have my boys wandering around the kitchen asking when it will be ready. I can also guarantee that the leftovers will get eaten up, and no wasting is always always a great idea for the budget. Here is the Link. 

Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup

Although this soup has a kinda fancy name, it is basically leftover stew.  I hope that doesn't turn your off of making it, but a little bit of chicken, a little bit of ham and you have a fancy soup.  My kids love the flavor combination of this and it is different that what we have a lot of times.  Here is the Link. 

Tortellini Soup

When you make this, you can use boxed or fresh tortellini. It makes it lots different than the pasta that you are used to using. I always am able to cram lots of veggies into it - I especially love using zucchini or summer squash. Plus if you have some frozen from the summer, you won't even notice that it has been in the freezer for a few months. Here is the Link. 

Irish Beef Stew

Beef stew has got to be on of the kings of comfort food. This one is a simple recipe with just potatoes and carrots. You don't have to use a ton of beef to make it, and when I want it to go a little further, I will serve the stew over mashed potatoes as gravy.  Here is the Link. 

French Onion Soup

You can make this in the crock pot and then broil your cheese on your bread separately in the oven.
Here is the Link. 

Pantry Noodle Soup

This recipe uses canned chicken and big egg noodles. It has carrots and celery from the back of the fridge but everything else is from the pantry. You can keep the ingredients for it on hand and use as one of your menu planning Go-To recipes. The simple chicken and noodles with familiar vegetables is always a comfort around our house. Here is the Link. 

Green Chili Enchilada Soup

Ingredients: 

1 onion, chopped

1/2 TB olive oil

3 cups chicken broth

3 15-1/2 oz. cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

1  5 oz can chicken, drained

2  4 oz cans diced green chilies

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

1-1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp  pepper

6 oz container sour cream

Shredded Pepper Jack cheese for topping (optional)

Instructions:

In a large stockpot over medium heat, sauté onions in oil until tender.

Stir in remaining ingredients except sour cream and cheese.

Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until heated through.

Shortly before serving, add sour cream and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted.

Slow Cooker Bacon Ranch Chicken

This is one of the most popular recipes on Pinterest - ever. 

Of course, over there it is called Crack Chicken. Because anything with bacon and a package of ranch mix has to be called Crack.  I don't like it, but here I am saying it anyway.  Don't be afraid to try this recipe because you want to be different than everyone else (I was), or feel like you are promoting addiction (I HAD to change the name). This chicken really actually is very very good. It is insane how easy it is. And if you don't want to eat it on sandwiches, you can use inside enchiladas, on chicken salad, for tacos, on top of rice...  the list is almost impossibly long. 

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts

2 (8 oz) blocks cream cheese

2 (1 oz) packets dry Ranch seasoning

8 oz bacon, cooked crisply and crumbled

Instructions:

In a slow cooker combine place chicken, cream cheese, and Ranch seasoning.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours, until chicken shreds easily.

Once chicken shreds stir with a large fork or spoon, so the chicken shreds and all the ingredients combine.

Add in crumbled bacon and stir to incorporate.

Serve warm.

Thai Sweet Chili Chicken Rice Bowls

I am in love with the flavor combination of sweet and spicy. You can throw the words Thai and Sweet in front of any recipe and then I'm for sure going to be making it. 

This dish was a wild success on all fronts at our house. I was able to use a lot less chicken that I would have normally because I could stretch the protein with the addition of the black beans. It had two fruits in it - and with the exception of the cilantro and the jalapeno that I added for fresh taste and garnish, the entire thing can be made from my pantry and freezer. 

If you wanted to boost the healthy factor, you could serve it over brown rice instead of the jasmine rice that I used. You could also add additional veggies like bell peppers in various colors, fresh spinach or other greens. 

Ingredients:

1 (20 oz.) crushed pineapple in juice

1 (15 oz.) can black beans 

1 medium mango (I used 1 cup frozen mango chunks)

3 cloves garlic, minced 

2 inches fresh ginger, grated

1 medium lime 

¾ tsp salt

¼ cup sweet chili sauce 

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

6 cups cooked jasmine rice 

¼ bunch fresh cilantro (optional) 

1 jalapeno, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions:

Add the crushed pineapple (with juice), black beans (rinsed and drained), cubed mango, minced garlic, grated ginger, juice from the lime, salt, and sweet chili sauce to the slow cooker. Stir to combine the ingredients.

Add the chicken breasts to the slow cooker and cover it with the fruit and bean mixture. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for four hours (or low for 8 hours).

After cooking the chicken will be very tender. Use two forks to pull the chicken apart into shreds (it will fall apart simply upon touching it). Stir to evenly distribute the shredded chicken throughout the mixture.

Spoon one cup of cooked jasmine rice into a bowl followed by one cup of the sweet chili shredded chicken. 

Add fresh cilantro and slice jalapeno on top and serve.

Healthy Broccoli Cheese Soup in the Crock Pot

I know that the idea of a healthy broccoli cheese soup doesn't make sense in your head. It really doesn't - how can all that cheese and the creaminess be healthy. And then I tell you that you can make it in the crock pot, it sounds like it couldn't even be possible. 

But it is!

And I'll be honest with you, it is delicious. The process is Strange! You are going to read this recipe and gasp... "Kerry! this is insanity, what are you having me do?!?"

Trust the process, this soup is amazing. I couldn't believe how good the flavor was and the texture was spot on. You're going to be making this soup twice a week before you know it. 

Ingredients:

5 cups chopped broccoli florets, they have to be fresh not frozen

1 cup sliced carrots 

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 ounces reduced fat cream cheese (do not use fat free)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 1/2 cups reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth

1 (15-ounce) can 2% evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 (8-ounce) block sharp cheddar cheese, grated (Please grate your own cheese for this - It's worth it!)

Directions:

Place the broccoli, carrots, onion, and garlic in the bottom of 5-to-6-quart slow cooker. 

Top with the cream cheese, oregano, nutmeg, and chicken stock. Stir to mix all the ingredients. Cover and cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4-6 hours, until the broccoli is tender.

Remove the lid and stir in the evaporated milk.  Then with an immersion blender, puree about 3/4 of the soup, so that it is mostly smooth but still has a few chunks of broccoli remaining. If you don't have an immersion blender (like me), you can do what I did and puree the soup in 1 cup-sized batches in a food processor or blender. (Be careful—it's hot and prone to splatter!)

Recover the soup and let cook on low for 10 minutes until warmed through. 

Stir the salt, pepper, and grated cheese. ** Do you remember when I told you about This and how cheese that buy grated in the bags can be coated in starches to keep the shreds separate, while that is awesome and convenient, it will prevent your soup from melting into a smooth and creamy joy and leave you with a clumpy lumpy mess -- and trust me -- when you are putting broccoli into a blender, you don't want to have to worry about your cheese ** 

Recover and cook on high until the cheese is fully melted and the soup is hot, about 5 additional minutes. 

Serve warm.

Creamy Salsa Chicken in the Slow Cooker

Don't forget how amazing it is to use your slow cooker in the summer months. During the months that we are feeling like we would rather die than turn the over / stove on, the slow cooker can keep us eating hot and hearty meals. 

This is a quick mix of S.O.S. a bottle of salsa and some chicken breasts. I cooked it all day, and then just before dinner, I shredded the chicken and cooked the rice. And prepared the toppings.  

Ingredients: 

S.O.S. Mix  2/3 Cup dry mix added to 2 1/2 Cups Water
1 Jar medium salsa.
6 chicken breasts

Toppings:
Cilantro
Jalapeno Rings
Sliced Avocado

Served Over:
Cooked Rice - I used a wild / brown rice mix.

Directions: 

Prepare your S.O.S. by dry mix with cold water. Whisk until  well blended.

Cook and stir on stove top or in microwave until thickened.

Add thickened mixture to casseroles as you would a can of soup.

Then add creamy mixture to 1 jar salsa and top chicken that has been seasoned with salt and pepper and placed in the crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours, medium for 6 or high for 4.

1/2 before you are wanting to eat, start and cook your rice according to directions.

Remove the chicken from the slow cooker and shred or dice the chicken breast. Add it back to the sauce.

Serve over rice with the fresh toppings of your choice.