Slow Cooker Bratwurst

I was craving bratwursts one day but I live in an apartment so I can't grill them like I normally like them. So I found a slow cooker recipe. My old boss made them in the slow cooker for a pot luck & they turned out really good so I thought mine would turn out just as good. They did turn out with lots of flavor but I wasn't a big fan of the color. And I think I was afraid to really brown them the way they weren't to brown...as you can see in the first picture. They barely look like they received any color at all. When they were done cooking in the slow cooker they were clearly done but I thought they weren't cooked through so I put them in the microwave for longer and I think I overcooked some of them. I ate most of them but I was uneasy eating them thinking I was eating them not fully cooked-I just wasn't used to the color of them. I'm using to eating grilled bratwurst that are charred & have grill marks. Not too sure I'll be making them in the slow cooker again, regardless of how they taste!

Find the recipe here



Browned sausages...

Ready to cook...

Ready to eat...Enjoy!...

Slow Cooker Cuban Pork

I made this a while ago. I had bought a pork roast from Trader Joe's and then I came across this recipe on Pinterest. The roast came out juicy but not as much flavor as I thought it would be considering all the juices that went into making it. It was definitely good & I made use of it. Just not sure I'd make it again.

Find the recipe here




Ready to cook...

Ready to eat...enjoy!

Slow Cooker Brisket

When I was at the butcher shop for the beef short ribs, I had to get brisket, I had to! The butcher was super nice & he cut the brisket down to size for me-I had him cut it down to 3 lb for me. I had no idea how I was going to cook it-I just knew it was going to be in the slow cooker but I figured I'd find a good recipe on Pinterest. I came across this recipe and only had to buy a couple of the ingredients. When I first looked at it, I thought it said apple cider vinegar, not realizing I had to buy a 12 pack of hard cider. I don't drink so I don't know what I'm going to do with the other 5 bottles. I'll have to look on Pinterest to see what else I can do with them for recipes. This recipe was really easy and the brisket had a lot of flavor. The size of the brisket was perfect for me too. I also put a whole onion on the bottom as well, because who doesn't like cooked onion & brisket? Yum! (I didn't get any after pictures but I can promise you it turned out good!)

Find the recipe here




Ready to cook...Enjoy!

Crock Pot BBQ Pork

I'm waaayyyy behind on posting anything on here so I'm just going to post a lot of recipes all at once over the next couple of days. I started working last year so I blame that for my reason for not posting as often. I'm still making food, just not as often. I go through spurts.

I needed something to get me through at least a couple days of work and I had a pork tenderloin in the freezer. Although I was at Trader Joe's on Saturday and I decided to just buy an unfrozen one since I forgot to thaw mine out in time for the weekend. I started searching on Pinterest for a recipe, something that I had all the ingredients for and came across this one-I've never made a tenderloin that had a dry rub before & I definitely had all the spices, thanks to my mom getting spices for me at her Co-Op in MN for super cheap. I only made one tenderloin & halved the recipes for the spices. It still made a good amount of rub. And man it made the tenderloin so moist; it literally fell apart when I took it out of the slow cooker. I was just planning on slicing the tenderloin like I usually do but this one shredded all on its own. I didn't need to add anything to it-the rub did a good job of adding so much flavor to the tenderloin but I did add some bbq sauce I had in the fridge. I ate the meat by itself last night with some mac & cheese on the side. I was going to eat it again for lunch today but there's free food at work so that will be my lunch tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to make tacos with the meat...yum! I'll definitely make this again! And the recipe calls for 6-7 hours in the slow cooker-I only cooked it for 5 1/2 hours=perfection!

Find the recipe here




Falling apart...

BBQ Sauce & Ready to Eat! Enjoy!...

Mississippi Pot Roast

I've seen several recipes for a roast like this before and it always looked good. Lately I've been on a crock pot kick so when I saw another recipe for this roast, I had to try it. I've been trying to stay away from pre-mixed packets so when this recipe said I could make my own dressing instead of using the gravy packet, I was even more interested. And man this roast soooooo good! I could not stop eating it! I made another roast shortly after this one and it really did not even come close to the flavor. This roast is packed in so much flavor it's unbelievable! Go make this roast right now!!!!!

Find the recipe here




Floured Roast

Roast is browned...

Ready to be cooked...

Dressing...

Dressing added...

Ready to Eat...

Enjoy!...

Mediterranean Beef Ragout

I found this recipe in one of my magazines and it sounded easy and healthy and good and it was definitely all three! Lots of veggies and since it was made in the crock pot, it was super easy. And the gremolata gave it that extra kick with the raw garlic. Yum! I froze most of it and kept out about 2 servings. I ate the gremolata with what I kept out so I'll have to make up some more when I take the ragout from the freezer but it's pretty easy to whip up.

Mediterranean Beef Ragout (6 servings) (Better Homes & Gardens):

1 1/2 lb lean beef stew meat
1 tbsp olive oil
2 med onions, cut into thin wedges
3 med carrots, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 c beef broth
1 med zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
6 oz fresh green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
2 c hot cooked whole wheat couscous or brown rice
Gremolata

*Gremolata: In small bowl stir together 1/4 c snipped fresh parsley, 1 tbsp finely shredded lemon peel and 2 cloves garlic, minced.

In large skillet, cook meat, half at a time, in hot oil until browned. Drain off fat. Transfer meat to a slow cooker. Add onions and carrots. Sprinkle with garlic, thyme, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Pour tomatoes and broth over all in cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours or on high 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours.

If using low, turn to high after 7-9 hours (I turned to high after 7 hours). Stir in zucchini and green beans. Cover and cook 30 minutes more. Serve over hot couscous. Top each serving with gremolata.




Ragout ready to cook...






Gremolata getting ready to mix...






Green beans and zucchini added...






Gremolata ready to serve...






Enjoy!...

Southern Pulled Chicken

I found this recipe in a magazine titled Freezer Meals. I ended up halving the recipe because I didn't have 6 lb of chicken and I wasn't sure I could fit 6 lb of chicken into my crock pot either and I wasn't sure if I'd like it. I think I can though so when I make this again, and I will, I'll make the entire recipe. This recipe was really good and really easy. And pretty healthy too. It called for cider vinegar and cider vinegar is supposed to have all these awesome health benefits so I figured it's a win win. And of course I added more garlic than called for because it's me and more garlic is always good. I used chicken breasts because it's what I always keep on hand. I used the low heat setting but I only cooked it for 6 hours because I don't like how chicken tastes after it cooks too long in any slow cooker. This recipe had a really good flavor-just a simple basic flavor. I like that you can add as much bbq sauce as you want or as little as you want. And I also like that you can put the chicken on pretty much anything. I put it on toast, in my eggs, on nachos and in a salad. It would really be good in a quesadilla too. When I make this again, I'll make the whole recipe and freeze it in serving sizes to use as necessary. Yum! I'll post the entire recipe.

Southern Pulled Chicken (Freezer Meals):

2 med onions, quartered
6 lb skinless boneless chicken thighs
1/2 c cider vinegar
1/3 c Worcestershire sauce
1/4 c packed brown sugar
4 tsp dry mustard
2 tsp mild chili powder
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 c bbq sauce

Place onions in slow cooker. Top with chicken. Combine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, dry mustard, chili powder, garlic, salt and pepper; pour over chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Remove chicken and onions with a slotted spoon. Using two forks, shred chicken. In large bowl combine chicken and onions. Skim fat from cooking liquid in slow cooker. Stir enough cooking liquid (about 1/2 cup) into chicken mixture to moisten. Stir in bbq sauce.

Divide chicken mixture into serving portions. Cool and freeze. Enjoy!




Sauce whisked together...






Sauce poured over chicken in crock pot...






Shredded chicken...






BBQ added...






Loaded on toast...Enjoy!...

Italian-Style Pot Roast with Gremolata

So for an early Christmas present, when my parents were in town for Thanksgiving, they bought me a chest freezer. I've been wanting one for a while now so I could prepare my own freezer meals. And start cooking a lot more, putting any leftovers in the freezer. I found this recipe and it sounded good and it made a lot, so I knew I could freeze the leftovers. I'm not sure if I liked it a lot but it was decent and the gremolata added some needed extra flavor. I froze half of so I'll definitely eat it when I'm hungry for it. The only thing different that I did was that instead of using all-purpose flour, I used gluten-free flour (tastes the same). I found this recipe in the Cuisine Tonight magazine.

Italian-Style Pot Roast with Gremolata (8 servings) (Cuisine Tonight):

2 tbsp olive oil
1 (4-5 lb) boneless beef chuck roast, trimmed, seasoned with salt and pepper
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 c flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp anchovy paste
1 tbsp beef base (bouillon)
1 c dry red wine
1 (14.5 oz) can whole tomatoes in juice, quartered
2 dried bay leaves
1 tsp dried rubbed sage
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lb small white potatoes, halved
4 carrots, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
12 oz pearl onions, blanched, peeled
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 tbsp minced fresh garlic
2 tsp minced lemon zest

Heat oil in large skillet over med-high until it shimmers. Brown roast on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer roast to a slow cooker.

Stir chopped garlic, flour, tomato paste, anchovy paste and beef base into skillet and cook 1 minute. Deglaze skillet with wine and reduce by a third, scraping up any browned bits. Add tomatoes, bay leaves, sage, rosemary, nutmeg, salt and pepper flakes; bring to a boil and cook until thick, 3-4 minutes. Pour wine mixture over roast in slow cooker.

Add potatoes, carrots and onions to the slow cooker. Cover slow cooker and cook roast until fork-tender on high, 4-5 hours, or low 8-9 hours. Transfer roast to a platter. Using a slotted spoon, arrange veggies around roast. Strain sauce; skim off any fat from the surface. Serve sauce with the roast.

Combine parsley, minced garlic and zest for gremolata. Garnish roast with gremolata. Enjoy!




Roast browned and smushed into the crockpot...






Sauce being cooked...






Veggies piled on top of the meat and sauce...






Cooked and ready to serve...






Pot roast sprinkled with gremolata...






Enjoy!...

Crock Pot Honey Pork & Apples

About a month ago, I bought several different kinds of meats to cook up in the slow cooker and a pork tenderloin was one of the meats. I started looking around on Pinterest and came upon this recipe. It sounded different from anything I've ever made before so I decided to try it. I came home yesterday from work and my apartment smelled amazing! I didn't get an after picture because it wasn't very appetizing to look at right away lol. I think the top part burned a little in the slow cooker because it was all black when I opened the lid. Once I stirred things around, the meat looked okay though. And then I started eating it and forgot to post an after picture! I would definitely make this recipe again! The pork was very tender and tasted sweet. I think the apples fully cooked down though because I couldn't find any in the broth, which was okay because I could taste hints of them in the pork. The recipe says to cook it for 8-10 hours but I checked mine after 7 hours and it was completely done, so it may depend on the slow cooker.

Crock Pot Honey Pork & Apples (6 servings):

1 (3-4 lb) pork tenderloin
2 large Granny Smith apples, sliced
1/2 c honey, divided
2 tbsp cinnamon

Slice slits in the pork tenderloin. Place 1-2 apple slices per slit into the pork tenderloin. Place 3/4 of remaining apple slices in bottom of crock pot. Drizzle 1/2 of the honey over the apple slices. Place pork on top of the apple slices. Sprinkle cinnamon over everything. Place remaining apple slices on top and drizzle the remaining honey over everything.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove from slow cooker, slice and serve with apples on top.




Apples at the bottom of the slow cooker...






Pork stuffed with apples...






Honey poured in...

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

I'm from MN and I've been living in Las Vegas for exactly two months today. Back home at Panera I could easily get chicken & wild rice soup-at the Paneras out here, that's not one of the soups. So I've been craving it. I have a couple bags of real wild rice that I've been wanting to play around with but I've never really made anything with it before. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it had a mixture of long grain rice and wild rice so I thought I'd try it out and if I liked it, I would find a soup that didn't have the long grain rice but only the wild rice. I did like this soup but I wasn't sure I liked the leftovers. It was really thick after sitting in the fridge so I had to add about 1/2 to 1 cup of chicken broth to water it down so I could eat it. If I made this again, I wouldn't add as much flour in the roux and hopefully it won't make the soup as thick. I made two substitutions in this recipe-it calls for Rice-a-Roni long grain & wild rice but I used Uncle Ben's. And I also used gluten-free all-purpose flour. The soup was good and it tasted similar to the Panera one so I'll probably make this again.

Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup:

4 1/2 c chicken broth
2 c water
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg Rice-a-Roni long grain and wild rice
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c butter
2 c half-and-half
1 c grated carrots
1 c diced celery

Combine broth, water, carrots, celery, chicken and rice (along with seasoning packet) in large slow cooker. Cook on low 6 hours or on high 4 hours. Take chicken out and shred with two forks and then add them back into the slow cooker.

In small bowl combine salt, pepper and flour. In med saucepan over med heat, melt butter. Stir in flour mixture by tbsp to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Stir cream mixture into slow cooker and then let cook on low 15 more minutes. Enjoy!




The roux...






Enjoy!...

Crock Pot Coke Baby Back Ribs

I've been on a crock pot kick lately and I wanted to make a bunch of meat meals to freeze. I've never made ribs before and this recipe sounded pretty easy to me. I found the recipe on Pinterest and it was so easy to make. And the ribs were so tender, they were falling off the bone. The coke added a neat flavor to the ribs. I've never used a broiler before either and this recipe made it easy. I will definitely make this recipe again!

Crock Pot Coke Baby Back Ribs:

1 rack Pork Baby Back ribs
1 can Coke
Salt and pepper
1/2 bottle of BBQ sauce of your choice

Cut the ribs down if your slow cooker is smaller. Rub both sides of the ribs with salt and pepper. Place the ribs or wrap them around the outside of the slow cooker. Pour the coke over the ribs and cook 8-10 hours on low.

Place foil on a rimmed baking sheet. Carefully transfer the ribs to the prepared sheet, meaty side up. Cover the ribs with the BBQ sauce and place under the broiler until sauce starts to sizzle and caramelized, no longer than 5 minutes. Remove from oven and serve. Enjoy!




Ribs and coke added to slow cooker...






And they are done...






Before the BBQ sauce...






Enjoy!...

Crock Pot Kielbasa

I've been craving sausage lately for some reason so I searched Pinterest for an easy idea. I came across the Sausage, Potatoes & Peppers recipe, which I've already blogged about, as well as this one. I had to make this one during the weekend since I work longer than 4 hours during the day. Super easy to make and only 2 ingredients! I did notice that one the brown sugar starts to melt, it's key to start stirring the sausage, otherwise you wind up with some over-done sausage! I also didn't cook it for the suggested 5 hours. I think I only cooked mine about 3 hours and even then some of the sausage was too well done. When I make this again, I'm going to keep a better eye on the brown sugar and start stirring it right away so everything gets even cooking. But other than that, the sausage turned out really tasty! I found this on Pinterest via www.crockinmoms.blogspot.com.

Crock Pot Kielbasa:

3 lb kielbasa
1 (2 lb) box of dark brown sugar

Cut up kielbasa into 1/2 inch chunks, put into crock pot. Add whole box of brown sugar. Cook on low 3-5 hours. Enjoy!




Cut-up sausage...






Brown Sugar covering the sausage...






Enjoy!...

Oriental Chicken Wings

I got this recipe from my friend Leigh's mom. I've had it once or twice when Leigh made it and when her mom made it a couple weeks ago I knew I wanted to make this for myself. The chicken becomes so tender that the meat just falls off the bone. There's no set time for how long to keep it in the slow cooker but the longer you do, the more tender the meat becomes. I left mine in the slow cooker for 4 hours tonight and it was so good! I will be making this recipe over and over again!

Oriental Chicken Wings:

20-25 chicken wings, cut tips off
1 c water
3/4 c soy sauce
1 c sugar
1/3 c sweetened pineapple juice
1/4 c olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground ginger

Mix everything together except the chicken wings. Place the chicken into a 9x13-inch glass dish. Pour the sauce over the wings. (I had to use another smaller dish since not all of my chicken fit in the regular dish.) Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Either wait for the glass dish to come to room temp or transfer to a shallow roasting pan. Bake for about 1 hour, turning the chicken once halfway through the cooking time. Transfer to a slow cooker with the juices and cook on low for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

*Note: If you don't use a slow cooker, bake in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

I served my chicken with some sticky rice, to mop up the juice. So good!




Soaking in the marinade...






The rest soaking in the marinade...






Fresh from the oven...






Enjoy!...

Smoked Chicken-Banana Pepper Soup

I found this recipe in the book from below. It's taken me a while to actually make it but tonight I decided to. And I made several substitutions. I couldn't find the prechopped celery, onion and bell pepper mix and I was out of celery so I just used one whole white onion and an orange bell pepper. I didn't saute the veggies in the bacon grease before because I didn't want them to turn into mush in the slow cooker. I did still add the bacon grease to the soup after the bacon cooked. I used 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut up into bite-size pieces instead of the smoked chicken. For more of a smoky flavor, right before I served the soup, I added about 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika and it worked for the smoky flavor. The recipe calls for 8 plum tomatoes to be put in with the soup to be cooked for the 6 hours but I didn't want the tomatoes to be mush so I added them during the last 10 min of cooking time. I also substituted a cup of quinoa instead of using the rice. And I only cooked the soup for 5 hours instead of the 6. I don't really like how the texture of chicken changes during the time in the slow cooker so I cooked it for less and it did taste a little better. I also added 2 more tbsp of the juice from the banana peppers. All in all, the soup tasted really good. It has a different flavored broth than most soups and I would definitely make it again.

Smoked Chicken-Banana Pepper Soup (8 servings):

4 bacon slices
1 (8 oz) container refrigerated prechopped celery, onion and bell pepper mix (here I used 1 white onion and 1 orange bell pepper)
6 c chicken broth
2 c sliced pickled banana peppers
2 tbsp juice from pickled banana peppers (I used 4 tbsp)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
8 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 lb pulled smoked chicken
1 (14 oz) pkg boil-in-bag white rice (I used 1 c cooked quinoa)
Garnish: Fresh oregano

Cook bacon in large skillet over med-high 5-7 min or until crisp; remove bacon and drain on paper towels, reserving drippings in skillet. Coarsely crumble bacon.

Ad celery mixture to drippings in skillet; cook, stirring constantly, 5 min or until tender. Add chicken broth, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Transfer broth mixture to slow cooker. Stir in bacon, peppers and next 7 ingredients (again I didn't stir in the tomatoes at this time). Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours. Stir in rice (and tomatoes if you wish) during last 10 min of cooking time. Cover and cook 10 min or until heated through. Garnish.




Ingredients added...






Tomatoes & Quinoa added...






Enjoy!...