Anyone out there have favorites to share? I really love being able to throw everything into the pot in the morning and have dinner waiting whenever we want it.
A few caveats:
- Not a lot of prep work, please. Chopping veg is fine; pre-cooking is less so. The whole idea of this is it for not to be a lot of work!
- Recipes that combine meat, veg, and brown rice or wheat pasta (or at least two out of the three) are the spiffiest! I’m all about the one-pot meal.
- I can modify to lowfat if needed. For example, recently I used lowfat cream of chicken soup and fat-free cream cheese in a recipe, and it turned out smashingly well.
- Any kind of meat is fine. We’ve cut back a lot on beef, but do eat it occasionally (or frequently substitute ground turkey for ground beef). Chicken (esp. boneless, skinless breasts), pork, lamb is all good. As much as we love it, game such as venison and ostrich is more expensive and harder to come by for us, though.
- Seafood (e.g., shrimp, scallops, etc.) recipes are highly encouraged! I find I’m less and less fond of fish when it’s cooked (sushi is another matter entirely!), but I’m willing to try.
- No mushrooms. If you have a fabulous recipe that contains mushrooms, please send it along; I’ll modify it on my end (I’ll substitute baby carrots or extra onions or something). Just no fabulous vegetarian dishes based on mushrooms. (Besides, we’re carnivores—our teeth and digestive systems say so!)
- I’m not fond of savory and sweet in the same dish, so no recipes containing gobs of fruit. (Maybe a little fruit, if the dish is also spicy. Convince me!)
- Hot-n-spicy is yummy. We’re not afraid of fire…
- I already have good recipes for boeuf bourguignon, beef stroganoff, and Sloppy Joes.
8 comments:
Courtesy of my friend Priscilla, aka Parsley:
A bit mild, but pleasant. I like a dash of lime juice as well as the orange.
Chicken with Thyme and Garlic Sauce
• 6 cloves of minced garlic
• 1.5 teapoons crushed, dried thyme
• roughly 2.5 lbs of chicken breast (no skin, no bones)
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
First, I cut the chicken into thirds - but that was not in the recipe... Back to the instructions: Put Chicken in slow cooker, put garlic and thyme over chicken, OJ & Vinegar over everything. Set Slow Cooker to Low for 5-6 hours (or High for 2.5-3)
Later... Remove Chicken, skim fat from cooking juices, strain juices into saucepan and reduce to about 1 cup (simmer gently for about 10 minutes), then dribble juices yummily back over chicken. Garnish with Parsley, just because. :)
This recipe makes 6-8 servings.
Per Serving: 178 calories, 2g fat (0 sat), 3g carbs, 34 protein.
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I'll be interested to see what you get, because I've had an awful time finding decent-looking crock pot recipes. (I don't like ones that involve Minute/converted rice, canned soup or most anything else from a can, other than tomatoes and beans and chipotles in adobo.)
Sounds very yummy! Garlic is goooood.
My beef stroganof doesn't involve anything you find verboten, unless canned beef stock is a problem. (I use Oxo cubes anyway.)
INGREDIENTS
3 lb. beef round steak, ½ inch thick
½ c. flour
2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
½ tsp. dry mustard
2 med. onions, thinly sliced and separated into rings
1 (10½ oz.) can condensed beef broth
2 to 4 tablespoons dry white wine, optional
1½ c. sour cream (I use low-fat or fat free)
¼ c. flour
PREPARATION
Trim all excess fat from steak and cut into-3 inch strips about ½-inch wide.
Combine ½ cup flour, the salt, pepper and dry mustard; toss with steak strips to coat thoroughly.
Place coated steak strips in crock pot; stir in onion rings.
Add beef broth and wine; stir well.
Cover and cook on low setting for 8-10 hours.
Before serving, combine sour cream with ¼ cup flour; stir into slow cooker.
Serve stroganoff with hot cooked rice or noodles.
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The book that came w/the crock pot is great. I also get a lot of my recipes online (e.g., search for "low fat crock pot recipes") (not in quotes, of course).
Okay, this is one of those recipes that uses soup in it to make soup, but I swear, it's awesome.
Taco Soup
Brown whatever kind of ground meat you like (about a pound of it.) Pour off fat and put in the crock pot.
Add:
2 cans cream of potato soup
1 can tomato juice
1 can kidney beans, drained/rinsed
2 15 oz cans tomato sauce
1 envelope taco seasoning
Stir. Cover. Cook as long as you like on low/high. Soup gives it a nice creamy quality. Serve with shredded cheese and tortilla chips.
Addendum to Taco Soup:
One can of beef broth...
Sorry I forgot that!
I've never tried stroganof in a crockpot because it's relatively quick to cook on the stove (the slowest part is slicing the beef into nice thin strips). Perhaps I'll try it sometime--although for me it's all about the mushrooms, which of course you omit. (I've been known to make it without meat, just mushrooms. Stop making that cat-with-hairballs noise!)
Well, I won't recommend my mushroom chili then :)
Do you do thai? I have a one-pot thai chicken soup with squash, sweet taters, peas, peppers, etc. It's super easy (I even use frozen, pre-cut squash) but it's a stovetop instead of a crockpot. Let me know if you want the recipe :)
Best, s.
Teresa: The thing about the stroganoff (or many crock pot recipes) I've found is that the longer slower cooking makes the meat so very tender and flaky, in a way I've never achieved on the stovetop.
Also, I feel like I have to constantly watch what's on the stovetop, whereas I can walk away from the crock pot and forget about it (except for the amazing smell!).
Shanna: Thai, yes! Yum! And your recipe sound both yummy and super-easy; please send it along!
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