Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

Crockpot Overnight Breakfast Casserole via the gracious wife
1 30 oz package frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
1/2 lb ground sausage I used Italian sausage, browned and drained
1 lb bacon cooked and chopped
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 onion diced
1 red pepper diced
12 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon sugar

Grease 6 qt slow cooker w spray. Layer half hash browns in bottom.Top w half sausage, bacon, cheese, onions, and pepper. Repeat layers w remaining ingred. Whisk eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and sugar. Pour egg mix over hash brown and cheese layers. Cook on low for 6-8 hrs or low or 4 hrs on high

slow cooker cashew chicken

This one is my favorite out of all the asian crockpot chicken recipes ive tried.   Big hit with mrblocko and teenblock.  You can't hardly go wrong with cashew anything.

Crockpot cashew chicken via The recipe critic
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (About 4 pieces), cut into 1 inch pieces
3 T Cornstach
½ t black pepper
1 T canola oil
½ c  low sodium soy sauce
4 T rice wine vinegar
4 T ketchup
2 T sweet chili sauce
2 T brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 t grated fresh ginger
¼ t red pepper flakes
1 c cashews

Combine cornstarch and pepper in resealable food storage bag. Add chicken. Shake to coat w cornstarch mix. Heat oil in skillet over med-high heat. Brown chicken 2 min on each side. Place chicken in slow cooker. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, sweet chili sauce sugar, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and cashews in small bowl; pour over chicken. ( if you want more crunch, add right before serving) Cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. Serve over rice. Makes 4-6 servings.

Pulled pork sweet potatoes

This is great and makes lots of leftovers that freeze well.

PULLED PORK STUFFED SWEET POTATO via the novice chef
2 lb pork loin
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons garlic salt
6 cups coke a cola, or enough to cover pork
3/4 to 1 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ Sauce
8 large sweet potatoes

Season pork loin w garlic salt and chili powder. Pour a little coke in  bottom of crock pot and add pork . Add enough coke to just cover pork loin. Cook on low for 8 hrs. While pork is cooking, bake sweet potatoes: Preheat oven to 400°. Scrub potatoes. Bake in oven 1 hr. Remove from oven and set aside. Remove pork from crock pot and discard almost all of coke mix...leaving T or 2 juice to help moisten pork. Place meat back in crockpot and shred. Add BBQ sauce and combine. Leave slow cooker on low/warm, to keep hot until served.  Fill each sweet potato with a generous helping of pulled pork and top with an extra drizzle of BBQ Sauce.

Crockpot pierogi casserole

This was good but made waaay too much with 3 boxes.  2 boxes of mini pierogies would be a better ratio imo.

Crockpot Pierogi Casserole with Kielbasa via daily diy life
3 boxes Mrs. T's Cheddar Pierogies - Regular or mini.
4 cups chicken broth
1 8 oz. block cream cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound kielbasa - sliced
salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in your crockpot. Cook on high 3-4 hours, or on low 6 hours.

Sweet chili Asian sesame crockpot chicken

Yet another chicken crockpot recipe with asian flavors.

Asian Sweet Chili Sesame Chicken via Carlsbad cravings
2 pounds chicken breasts (thawed. Frozen will make the sauce more liquidy)
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Sweet Chili Sesame Sauce
2-4 tablespoons Asian sweet chili sauce
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons quality hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder or 3-4 garlic cloves minced
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder or 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Add chicken to bottom of crockpot. Whisk Sauce ingredients in med bowl. Pour over chicken.
Cook on low 5-7 hrs or high  3-4 hrs. Shred chicken and add 1 1/2 T cornstarch mixed w 1/4 c water to crockpot. Stir. Cook high 20-30 min til sauce thickens. Taste and add Sriracha for spicier, brown sugar for sweeter if desired. Serve with rice and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.

crockpot honey garlic chicken

Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken adapted via Diethood
3-4 chick breasts
4 garlic cloves , minced
1/3 c honey
1/2 c l ketchup
1/2 c tamari
1/2 t oregano
2 T fresh parsley
1/2 T toasted sesame seeds (or not if you feel lazy)

Arrange thighs on bottom crockpot. In a bowl, combine garlic, honey, ketchup, soy sauce, oregano and parsley; whisk until thoroughly combined. Pour over chicken. Cook 4-5 hrs on LOW, or 3-4 hrs on HIGH. You can either leave the breasts whole but i prefer to shred them and stick them back in the sauce for an hr or so on low so the chicken absorbs the goodness of the sauce.  Sometimes i will put green onion on the top and serve over rice.

Crockpot enchilada soup

 I've been a bad blogger and not posted for years.  This recipe is a compilation of several different recipes I saw on pinterest.  I didn't want to forget what I did because we all really enjoyed this soup.

Enchilada Soup
3 small diced onions, sauteed
2 cloves garlic, also sauteed for 30 sec at the end of cooking the onions
1 10oz can green enchilada sauce
1 can drained, rinsed and pureed white beans
2 c chicken stock added to the beans when you stick them in the blender
1 lb boneless chicken
8oz can of green chilies
1-2 c salsa
1T chili powder
1T cumin
3/4 t smoked paprika
1t salt (if stock is salt free)
1/4t pepper
3T cilantro
8 oz softened cream cheese (cube and nuke 15-30 sec)
1-2c rice
1-2 c pepper jack cheese
juice of 2 limes

in large crockpot add onions through pepper. cover and cook low 5-7 hrs or high 3-5 hrs. Remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to crockpot. add cream cheese and rice.  cook on high 20 min.  Add lime, cilantro and cheese.

Crockpot Chicken Parm Soup

Chicken Parmesan soup for the crock pot via Baked by Rachael

Soup:
3/4 C carrots, chopped
3/4 C onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
30 oz petite diced tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 t salt
1 t  pepper
1 t orgeano
7 1/2 C chicken broth
6 oz spinach
3/4 C pasta

Meatballs:
1 lb gr chicken (or turkey)
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
1/2 C plain breadcrumbs
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 - 1 t red pepper flakes
1 egg

Mozzarella, shredded

To crockpot add carrots, onions, garlic, drained tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano and chicken broth. Cover and cook on high for 4 hrs. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In large bowl, combine meatball ingredients. Using sm cookie scoop, shape balls. Place on prepared baking sheet, bake for 10-15 min. Add meatballs to slow cooker, replace cover and continue cooking. When 4 hrs are up, gently stir in pasta and spinach. Cover and cook for 30 min.

Divide soup between oven safe bowls. Sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake until cheese is fully melted. If using broiler safe containers, broiler may be used to brown cheese. (I just added the cheese to the soup in the crockpot and let it get all stringy and melty as I did not have oven safe bowls.)

crock pot buffalo lasagna

Buffalo Chicken lasagna for the crock pot adapted slightly from A kitchen addiction
9 lasagna noodles
3 C chicken, cooked and shredded
12 oz buffalo sauce
1½ C spaghetti sauce
1 bell pepper, chopped
14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
15 oz cottage cheese
1½ C shredded mozzarella cheese
¾ C shredded cheddar cheese, divided
¾ C feta cheese crumbles, divided

In large bowl, stir chicken, sauces, peppers, and tomatoes. In small bowl, stir cottage cheese, mozzarella , ½ c cheddar , and ½ c feta. Spread about 1½ c chicken mix in bottom of  5-6 qt slow cooker. Layer with 3 noodles (may need to break noodles to fit). Top with 1½ c chicken mix. Top with ⅓  cheese mix. Top with another 3 noodles. Repeat with another layer of chicken mix, cheese mix and 3 noodles. On the top of the last noodles, top with remaining chicken mixture and remaining ⅓ of cheese mix. Sprinkle with remaining ¼ c cheddar and ¼ c feta. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hr or high for 2.5-3 hrs. Turn off heat and allow to sit 15 min before serving.

Brown Sugar Kielbasa

This is the easiest thing to make for a gathering of friends.  I found the recipe on Organic Glory.

All you need is:
3 packages, roughly 1 lb each, of Kielbasa
1 lb of brown sugar
a crockpot.

That's it!

Step 1:  Slice the meat into coins.
Step 2: Toss in the slow cooker.
Step 3: Toss the brown sugar in the crock pot too.
Step 4: Cook on low 5 hrs or high for 2.5 hrs.

The juices from the kielbasa mingle with the brown sugar and make this insane glaze for the meat.  Just like the blogger on organic glory said, no one will believe you that the sauce is so simple.

I'll be making this for potlucks for a long time to come!

Beer Chicken Tacos

Crockpot Beer Chicken Tacos via Tablespoon
2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 beer (use your favorite)

1 red onion, diced

4-5 jalapeno peppers, diced, seeds removed

3 cloves garlic

1 packet  taco seasoning mix or 3T your favorite taco spice blend

1 (4.5-ounce) can  chopped green chiles

taco shells

Shredded cheese

Salsa

Sour cream

Lettuce

Add chicken, beer, onion, jalapeno, garlic, taco seasonings, and green chiles into a slow cooker. Mix well and turn on low for 6 hrs.Once meat fully cooked, shred meat right in slow cooker with a fork.
Serve in either soft or hard taco shells and top with cheese, salsa, sour cream, and lettuce.

Pumpkin Lentil Chili

Pumpkin lentil chili via Healthy Delicious
1 can (15.9 ounce) Black Beans, rinsed and drained (1 1/2 c cooked)
1 can (15.9 ounce) Pinto Beans, rinsed and drained (1 1/2 c cooked)
1 can (15.9 ounce) Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Green Chiles
1 can (15.9 ounce) Pumpkin
2 c Water
1 c Lentils
1 Onion, minced
1 Green Bell Pepper, finely diced
1 Carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 T Chili Powder
1 T Ground Chipotle Chile Pepper

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on High 4 hrs or Low 8 hrs.

This is another dish that tastes great served over a baked potato!

Sweet potato chicken quinoa stew

 SWEET POTATO, CHICKEN, AND QUINOA SOUP via Chelsea's Messy Apron
1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c quinoa
2 large sweet potatoes
1 can (1.5 c cooked) black beans
1 can (14.5 ounces) petite diced tomatoes
1 t minced garlic
1 packet (3T) chili seasoning mix
5 c chicken broth
Optional: fresh parsley

Spray slow cooker with nonstick spray. Remove fat from chicken and put into slow cooker along with rinsed quinoa. Remove sweet potato skins and cut into bite size cubes. add to crockpot. Drain and rinse black beans and add. Add undrained petite diced tomatoes, minced garlic, chili seasoning mix, and chicken broth. Cook on high for 3-5 hrs. Shred chicken and stir.  Add salt, pepper and parsley to taste.

Crockpot lentil and beef sloppy joes

Because I like to torment my daughter, I told her that I renamed these sloppy joes, Sloppy Johanns, after her teacher,  She loves her teacher and was thus thoroughly offended.

It's the little things!

Lentil and beef sloppy joes via The recipe rebel
1 lb  gr beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small zucchini, shredded (could substitute a carrot, other veg, or just leave out)
¾ c split red lentils, dry (I've used regular lentils)
1½ c water or broth (beef, chicken or veg)
1 c ketchup
1 t salt
4 T apple cider vinegar
½ c BBQ sauce
½ t minced garlic
2 T Worcestershire sauce
⅓ c brown sugar
1-2 pinches red pepper flakes

In large pan, cook ground beef and onion over med heat until browned. While meat's cooking, add remaining ingredients to slow cooker (I used a 6qt, and it was about half full). Add ground beef and stir. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.  

The leftovers taste especially good over a baked potato, topped with cheese!

Crockpot Creamy Taco Chicken

This is a great way to make chicken for tacos!

3 Ingredient Crockpot Taco Chicken via The Pinning Mama
3 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Can Original Rotel Tomatoes with Green Chilis
4 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese (can sub light)

Place chicken in slow cooker and cover with Rotel . Cook on low 6-8 hrs. 30 min before end of cook time,  shred chicken. Place cream cheese on top of chicken (do not stir). When final timer goes off, stir cream cheese into meat. Serve as tacos, on a salad, in quesadillas, over rice, in a casserole, as enchilada filling, etc.

30 Days of Pumpkin-Day Two: Crockpot Chili

There's no better way to start your October weekends off than with a big bowl of chili.  Crockpot Pumpkin Chili from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice is a great way to put a new spin on a classic meal.  Adding pumpkin to your chili is a great way to sneak in an extra veggie in an already rich veggie dish. 

I suppose you could make this chili with ground beef, but that would make the dish a lot more complicated since it is prepared in the crockpot.  If you use chicken you can stick the meat in the crockpot frozen.  Using ground beef will require you to brown the meat in a skillet first.  We used chicken cause it is a leaner meat, and I'm lazy.

The chili is supposed to have corn in it.  I forgot!  As it is, the recipe made 9 servings for us!  The original says it only makes 6.  Those must have been some HUGE serving sizes.  Even if your family is a bunch of hearty eaters this batch of chili still feeds a goodly amount of hungry folks.

Crockpot Pumpkin Chicken Chili from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice
14 oz diced tomatoes
1 can (14 oz) pumpkin puree
2 c chicken broth
1 lg onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, mince
1 T chile powder
1 t cumin
1 heaping t dried oregano,
1/2 t black pepper
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, seeds removed, minced, (we used 1 with the seeds)
1 1/2 lb chicken breasts or cutlets, skin and visible fat removed (this is about 3-4 breasts)
2 cans (14 ounce each) chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I used 1.5c each cooked pinto and black beans)
1 c corn kernels, if frozen, thawed
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped (I used 2t dried)
sour cream, shredded cheddar, guacamole/avocado, green onions and/or tortilla chips, for serving

To a 4-5 qt crockpot add tomatoes, broth and pumpkin. Stir til combined; add onion, garlic, chile powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper and chipotles; combine well. Add chicken, beans and corn. Cook 4-5 hours on high or 6-8 on low. When ready to serve remove chicken and chop into bite-size pieces or shred with two forks. (we shredded ours) Add back to pot, stir in cilantro and serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar, green onions, guacamole and/or tortilla chips.

Crockpot Fruity Ham

I made ham in the crockpot!  Like most crockpot recipes, it was super mega easy.

Here's what you need:

8or so lb bone in ham
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c maple syrup
2 c orange peach mango juice

Put the ham in the crockpot, flat side down.  Slather on the brown sugar.  Pour syrup and juice over the top.  Cover and cook 8 hrs, basting every few hours.

The fruit juice gives the ham a fun fruity flavor, while cooking the meat in the crockpot makes it tender and moist. 

Crockpot Ravioli

I think this just might be the easiest recipe for dinner ever.  It only requires 3 ingredients! 

Frozen Ravioli, pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Here's what you need to do:
Take a bag (about 25 oz) frozen ravioli.  Dump it in the crockpot.
Take a jar of pasta sauce. Repeat.

Stir.

Cover and cook on high 2 1/2-3 hrs.  20 min before serving top with cheese.  Cover and let the cheese melt.

THAT'S IT.

I doubled the recipe using 1 bag of cheese ravioli and one bag of cheese and mushroom ravioli. 

Super yum!

via

Recipe found over at Crystal and Co.

Basil Parmesan Tomato Soup

This Basil Parmesan Tomato Soup, from Today's Mama, is the BEST tomato soup I've ever had.  Oh who am I kidding, it's the ONLY tomato soup I'll ever eat.  Even Blockette said it was rockin awesome.  And she is a fellow tomato hater.

One great thing about this recipe is that you can make it on the stove top or in the crockpot.  I forgot to toss the ingredients into the crockpot in time so I opted to make it on the stove.  I chopped all the veggies and had the ingredients all ready to go before I left work.  The whole thing, including simmering time, took about 1 hr from start to finish.

I used veggie stock and skim milk instead of chicken stock and half and half.  I thought the soup was rich and flavorful as it was, but I bet it would be even more insane if you used half and half. 

Here's how to make this rockin tomato soup:

Tomato Basil Soup from Today's Mama
2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 c finely diced celery
1 c finely diced carrots
1 c finely diced onions
1 t dried oregano or 1 T fresh oregano
1 T dried basil or 1/4 c fresh basil
4 c chicken broth
½ bay leaf
½ c flour
1 c Parmesan cheese
½ c butter
2 c half and half, warmed (or skim milk if you’re trying to cut some calories)
¼ t black pepper
 Add tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, oregano, basil, and bay leaf to lg slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 5-7 hrs, til flavors blended and veg soft.
 30 min before serving prepare roux. Melt butter over low heat in a skillet and add flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 5-7 min. Slowly stir in 1 c hot soup. Add another 3 c and stir til smooth. Add back into crockpot.  Stir and add Parmesan , warmed half and half, and pepper. Add additional basil and oregano if needed.  Cover and cook on LOW 30 min til ready to serve.

Stove-Top Version:
 Heat oil in 4 qt pot. Add celery, onions and carrots. Saute 5 min. Add basil, oregano, bay leaf, tomatoes, and broth. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. While simmers, prepare a roux. Melt butter over low heat, add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 5-7 min. Slowly stir in 1 c hot soup. Add another 3 cs and stir until smooth. Add back into soup pot.  Simmer, stirring constantly, until soup thickens. Add Parmesan and whisk to blend. Stir warmed half and half. Simmer over low heat 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cheeseburger Soup in the Crockpot or Not

It's about time for me to forget to take a picture of an amazing dish!  It's soup, so it's not like it would have looked different from any other soup I've made in the past.  I even thought about swiping a picture from an old post, but then I felt guilty.  Ah, that stupid guilt.  It sticks to you like doggie doo doo on the bottom of your tennis shoe.



Anyhow...Cheeseburger soup.  This recipe hails from the blog Kitchen Meets Girl.  Blockette has declared it to be her FAVORITE SOUP of ALL TIME.  She's been talking about it weeks later about how great it is, and when am I going to make it again because it's her FAVORITE! 

The soup is pretty amazing.  It's rich and creamy, cheesy and meaty, just like a cheeseburger in soup form should taste.  The seasonings really do remind you of a grilled burger, another one of Blockette's favorite dishes.  We eat burgers at least once a week in the summer.  The winter is too cold and windy for our grill to heat up properly so I'm sure a lot of the love for this dish is wishful thinking for warmer days. 



The recipe calls for the soup to be baked in a crockpot.  I'm sure it would be faster if you just made it on the stove.  However, if it's one of those nights were you have time to prepare dinner before you do the mad crazy dash of after school activities, the crockpot would be your friend when you come home with a starving family.

I added a few diced carrots and a few handfuls of corn to amp up the veggies.  The original recipe also calls for Velveeta.  I detest Velveeta, so I used a bag of shredded cheddar cheese.  It was the kind from Kraft with the cream cheese in it.  I think it made the soup extra creamy without a ton of actual milk.  I also increased the chicken stock from 3 to 4 cups, only because I store my chicken stock in 4 cup containers and I didn't want to re-freeze a cup of stock.




Cheeseburger Soup adapted from Kitchen Meets Girl
1 T olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 medium onion, diced
3-5 medium celery ribs, diced
1-2 c diced carrots
1-2 c frozen corn
1 lb ground beef
2 T flour
4 c chicken broth
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk ( low-fat is fine)
heaping 1/2 t paprika
1/2 t garlic powder
2 T Worchestershire sauce
1 T yellow mustard
1/4 t kosher salt
1/2 t black pepper
8 ounces cubed or shredded cheddar cheese (I used shredded with cream cheese)
additional cheese for topping, if desired

Preheat olive oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add garlic, carrot, onion and celery to skillet and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from skillet and place in bottom of your slow cooker.
In same pan, brown hamburger. Drain, and add meat to slow cooker. Leave a few T of the fat in the skillet. Sprinkle flour over fat and cook for 1 min.  Slowly add broth about a 1/2 c at a time. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and allow to cook until just thickened. Pour over meat in slow-cooker.
Stir in your remaining ingredients, through the black pepper, including corn. Cook on low for 2-4 hours. Just before serving, add cheese and stir until it is melted. Top with additional shredded cheese, if desired.