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So, a few days ago I posted about a big chinese dinner my Mom and I are doing together for the extended family, and got great advice. Well, the menu's been updated with the addition of wonton soup, so I thought I'd post my method of doing it.
( Wonton Soup )
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This was my first time attempting a real meal in a crock. I'd used one earlier this year, throwing some chicken and broth and whatever I had in it just to try it out, and it kept turning off in the middle of the cooking process, and I returned the crock and never got a new one. Sad. However, my new roomie has a giant oval crock so last night at midnight I decided to have a roast extravaganza.
( recipe and pics )
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Since today is Friday the 13th, we bring you this set suggested by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) awstuff4friends.
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5. Do you believe in the power of crystals?
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so, i wandered over to the book store and spent too many hours in the cookbooks section
(not news)
and looked at many many slow cooker books......
(not news)
ended up buying "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Book" at least in part because it had clear directions for translating a stovetop or oven recipe to slow cooker use.
it also had an overnight Oatmeal recipe
i have seen this before, but never tried it. so i did. i put this on last night, and between my trusty crock pot, and my "coffee pot" (tea, thank you) i woke up with breakfast already made......
4 cups water
1 cup steel cut oats (not quick cook, not rolled oats)
pinch salt if desired
cook on low 8-9 hours or overnight
i used Mc Canns, the kind you can buy in a can? (yes you can get it in a box too) and doubled the recipe because i only have a BIG crock pot.
i ate it, hubby ate it.. hubby likes it better than regular oatmeal!
no breakfast to cook while trying to run out the door!
note:
in my case, a large oval crock pot and 8 cups water to 2 cups oatmeal, i came down to find that it was VERY liquid, underneath a tougher chewy crust layer. stirring solved most of that and within a half hour it was pretty consistently thick and creamy
hubby liked the chewy top part the best though
the book has a similar recipe that calls for putting in tons and tons of dried fruit (yummmmmmm) and ladling any leftover into a pan to set up in the fridge, this to be served cold as a sort of chewy meal bar
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So when my daughter went off to college I gave her my older crockpot. That still left me with the larger one, but one of the things I hate is that crockpots only come with one crock. I use mine a lot. So I went looking on the internet for a second crock. And I found www.google.com/products/catalog I'm really thrilled. I'm going to go on and keep my other one because it is oval, and this is round, and sometimes the shape makes a difference on how much stuff you can put in, but I now essentially have 4 crockpots. Yay!
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Today, my son and I made..... wait for it.... CRAYONS in the crock pot!
I found the "recipe" on the ever-amazing Year of Slow Cooking blog and mentioned it to my kids, and my son was wild to try it. So today, since school was closed, we decided to try it.
He sorted out all the broken crayons (and furtively broke a few good ones when I wasn't looking - grin) and then we soaked them in water for a while to loosen the wrappers. Then we peeled off the wrappers. This took a while, despite the very long soaking we gave them. Interestingly, Crayola wrappers were much harder to get off while the wrappers of the generic crayons (you know, the kinds you get at restaurants with kids meals and so on) peeled off pretty easily. However, this was the least fun part of the job. We stood at the sink peeling crayons for ages!
I picked up a six-hole foil muffin tin at the grocery. It wouldn't fit into my 6 quart crock, even after trimming, so I cut it up into three pairs of two holes. We sorted the crayons by color families and ended up with red, orange, blue, purple, yellow and green - one color in each muffin hole.
I fitted them into my crock pot and cooked on high for an hour or so - we sort of forgot about it so it sat on warm for a bit after that. Then I turned off the crock and let the muffin tins sit until the crayons had hardened some before I took them out of the crock. I probably should have stuck them in the fridge to cool, but I just let them cool down on the counter for a while and then we popped them out of the foil and voila! Giant crayons!
A couple of them are kind of in layers - apparently the good quality Crayolas sink to the bottom of the crayon and the cheepo crayons float to the top. But they look really cool!
These would probably be great for preschoolers because they are so nice and big and chunky to hold. They'd be fun presents for a little kid. ;-)
My son and I decided that we would offer to take the broken crayons at his aftercare's preschool and make these crayons for them.... IF the preschoolers will take off the wrappers!
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i'm trying to use up all the ingredients in my freezer and cupboard. can i prepare pearl barley and dried lentils in the crock? thanks!
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So, I threw all my usual chili ingredients in the crock this morning before showering. Turned it on low (10 hours) and gave it a little taste after about an hour, right before I left for work. Umm.. HOT! Guess I was a little too heavy on the cayenne/chili powder/crushed red pepper... I like it pretty dang spicy, but this had LOTS of kick to it already, and I know it's only going to get spicier while cooking all day. And I've got company to eat this tonight! They're like me--they enjoy the heat--but I'm thinking this is going to be close to nuclear by the time it's ready. I'd really rather not kill my company with this stuff.
Any suggestions on how to tone down the heat a bit? I've heard adding sugar helps, but I'm so afraid I'll add too much and it'll be gross. Anyone? Anyone?
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http://feeds.blogthings.com/whatsyourfashionstylequiz/ 
What's Your Fashion Style? - Are you classic or trendy? Find out how someone would describe the clothes you wear. |
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Hello, I noticed this community on one of my friend's journals and decided that it must be a wonderful place. I've been watching for a few days and snagging recipes, and seeing as I made my chili up tonight for the next few days' dinner I figure I'd share it with you.
2 lbs of lean ground beef browned and drained
1 large onion or two small coursely chopped or quartered and split
2 bell peppers (I used red and green, but yellow or orange are nice too) coarsely chopped.
1 jalapeno sliced, seeds in (because we like it hot)
If you like it really hot, add one hot banana (cubanelle) pepper too.
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cans of tomato sauce
1 can of red kidney beans
1 bottle of Heinz Chili sauce
1/2 pound of white mushrooms sliced
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Dried chili peppers to taste
2 tbsp of chili powder
1 tsp of onion powder
1 tsp of celery salt
Pepper to taste
Sometimes I throw in a can of kernel corn as well if there is one in the cupboard.
On medium or low all day (depending on what your "day" length is) and it's perfect, serve with texas toast, garlic bread, or dinner rolls. It's also nice over rice or nachos. This recipe has evolved in my house over the years because i was tired of chili that tasted like spaghetti sauce with kidney beans and chili powder. The flavour is hot and tangy, and it has a chunky consistency. In the crock pot the flavours soak through everything, and it's yummy. Enjoy!
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wanted to have some soup tomorrow... so:
i bag of 16 bean mix from the grocery store
1 chopped onion
2 potatoes chopped
1 portabella mushroom, sliced
3 (more like 2) carrots
4 bouilion cubes (chicken)
wash beans
throw it all in a pot
we will see how it urns out tomorrow, but i PLAN to serve it with some steamed spinach and some noodles or something.....
yes, its lacking in spices right now.
i prefer my soups BLAND so i can season them up to go with different stuff ....
after all, if i am going to serve it over rice, with cheese? different seasoning than by itself in a bowl
however i am almost certain to toss some small amount of seasoning in before morning.
EDiT: yes, most people would add garlic, sadly i am allergic to it.
Vegan? this could easily be vegan with more vegetables and without the chicken bouillion
UPDATE: as of his morning its thick, dark brown, and smells great. i actually think i will have some plain in a bowl for breakfast (peas porridge hot...) and possibly an added bunch of greens.
my sniff and nibble test says that for plain soup, no cheese or other stuff, i want to add a pepper mix (probably Mrs Dash) and a bit of paprika.
This is going to be removed from the crock pot and put in containers in the fridge as a "quick food base" for the next few days.... it will mostly be used as a side dish, or an ingredient, but its nice to know i have some on hand to heat up fast as plain soup.
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I made this for dinner tonight, along with some white rice and sour cream. It turned out wonderfully, so I figured I would share. I'll definitely be making it again!
Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken
Courtesy Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Serves 8 / Points: 4.25 ww points
* 24 oz (1 1/2) lbs chicken breast
* 14.4 oz can diced tomatoes with mild green chile peppers
* 15 oz can black beans
* 8 oz frozen corn (I used canned, it worked just as well)
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
* 14.4 oz can fat free chicken broth
* 3 scallions, chopped
* 1 tsp garlic powder (I added extra before serving)
* 1 tsp onion powder (I added extra before serving)
* 1 tsp cumin
* 1 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
* salt to taste
Combine chicken broth, beans, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, scallions, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt in the crock pot. Season chicken breast with salt and lay on top. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Adjust salt and seasoning. Serve over rice (extra pts).
I added some shredded sharp cheddar to each serving, along with a blob of sour cream. Yum! If you're not a rice fan, this would also go well with warmed tortillas, or on top of a baked potato. Taste-wise, it's a lot like chicken tortilla soup, but more hearty. Enjoy!
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Does anyone have a tried and true recipe for a really custardy pain perdu? I had a craving for it last night & made some baked french toast, but it didn't come out right. The leftovers are rock hard & I have them soaking in milk.
I usually think of regular french toast as something really yummy when it's hot, but that I choke on when it starts to cool & get tough. Is thicker bread the secret? I thought it might come out better if I did it in the crockpot.
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I love this community -- you've given me some seriously great advice. So now that my Mother has a question I can't answer, I'm passing it on to you: can we do a big batch of rice in a crock pot? We're going to be doing chinese food for about nine people, so we figure we need 9-10 cups of cooked rice. We're really not up for buying a rice cooker (since it would be used only about once every two years, and there is no more space in the cupboards for rarely used appliances), but we've got options when it comes to crocks (2, 4, or 6 qts); we'd even be happy enough to make it on the stove and store it in the crock to keep warm, if that's the only way to do this. I know it's possible to do smaller quantities of rice this way, but I haven't seen anyone post about doing so much, and I'm a little worried about how long before dinner we'll need to put it in.
( The rest of the proposed menu is under here for the curious... )
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Looking for a crock pot recipe for the above item in my freezer. Although I think something with sweet potatoes or apples or fruit glazes would be good... my husband is not in the mood for a recipe with any sweet/sugary stuff. So please share any non-sweet recipe you have!
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I made chicken in the crock for dinner tonight - my son's request for his birthday dinner. I did my usual thing - put some cut up carrots and onions in the crock and set a whole chicken on top. But I thought it seemed a bit boring - same old, same old, you know. So I cut up an apple, stuffed half of it inside the chicken (it was a BIG apple) and put the rest around it. (This turned out to be a VERY good idea because when stuffing the apple into the chicken, I discovered I'd forgotten to take out the giblet package... OOPS!)
Then I rubbed the chicken with some lemon juice and a bit of olive oil, and then I sprinkled paprika liberally over the whole thing. I added a cup or so of water and a chicken stock cube (since I'm temporarily out of homemade) and cooked on low for about 8 hours or so.
I served it with a salad, noodles, and crusty french bread. Somehow the apple and lemon juice really perked up the chicken. And the paprika gave the skin a nice reddish brown color and some extra flavor. My husband said the chicken tasted even nicer than usual, and my mom-in-law (who isn't really a huge chicken lover) even had seconds! In fact, there is very little in the way of leftovers (which is both good and bad - I was rather counting on having enough leftover chicken and noodles to make a casserole for dinner tomorrow, darn it!)
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Italian Beef (slightly adapted from a recipe found online)
Ingredients:
3 c water
1 t black pepper
1 t oregano
1 t dried basil
1 t onion salt (this is the only salt I used in this recipe)
1 t dried parsley
1 t garlic powder
1 bay leaf
1 (.7 oz) pkg dry Italian salad dressing mix
1 3-to-4# rump roast (I used a sirloin tip roast)
Italian sub rolls
Will make 6-8 servings.
Combine water, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, onion salt, parsley, garlic powder, bay leaf and salad dressing mix in a saucepan. Stir well and bring to a boil.
Place roast in crock pot, and pour mixture over roast.
Cover and cook on LOW for 12 hours (I went 13 hours). Remove bay leaf and shred meat. Turn off crock pot, recover and let stand for 1 hour. Serve Italian beef on Italian sub rolls and top with sauteed peppers if desired. Use the Au Jus as you wish: dip the sub, soak the sub, spoon some onto the sub, or eat the sandwich 'dry'.
Yum.
Not the most healthy of dishes, but I cooked mine overnight, refrigerated it in the morning, so when I got home from work, the fat had all hardened on the top and I was able to remove almost all of it. Plus I added no salt beyond the onion salt and what may have been in the Italian dressing mix, to help keep the sodium levels down.
It was pretty tasty. The Italian dressing mix gave it a kick other It. beef recipes I've tried didn't have.
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