Slow Cooker Recipes

Southern Style Mac & Cheese

o 16 oz macaroni
o 2 cups grated sharp cheddar
o 1 ½ or 2 cups grated mild cheddar
o 1 ½ or 2 cans cheddar cheese soup
o 2 cans (large) evaporated milk
o 2 eggs
o 1 ½ cups whole milk
o ¾ stick butter

1) Cook pasta. Drain. Add butter and sharp cheddar. Mix well
2) In separate bowl, mix soup and 1 can of evaporated milk.
3) In separate bowl, mix eggs and other can of evaporated milk.
4) Add bowls, one at a time, to pasta.
5) Put pasta mixture in slow cooker and top with mild cheddar. Cook
on high for one hour and then on low for three hours.

I forgot to post here my absolute favorite stock recipe:

1 chicken back, raw (or 2-3 cooked chicken backs)
4 carrots (rinsed, but not peeled)
4 stalks celery (")
1 large onion, halved
10 whole peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 cups parsley (just a big handful, not chopped)
3 quarts cold water (or whatever it takes to cover everything)

Put everything in your slow cooker before you go to bed, set for 10 hours on low, and presto! In the morning, you've got a fantastic stock with almost no effort! Strain the stock through a sieve and then through cheesecloth or coffee filters, if you want (I'd do that if I were using it for a gravy, but for soup, you really don't need to.)

If you want to clarify it, put it in jars and refrigerate for about 3 days. The solids should rise to the top; you can either discard them or use them in soup or for roasting. Any particles will be at the bottom; you can suck them out of the jar with a turkey baster.

Going to be in my slow cooker tomorrow:

Braised Short Ribs

Ingredients
3 lbs beef short ribs
Salt & pepper
2 T. fresh thyme, finely chopped
2 T. flour
Olive oil
5 slices pancetta
1 small onion
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
3 cloves garlic
1 can whole plum tomatoes in juice
2 cups red wine (burgundy works best)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 lb. fettuccine, for serving.

Directions:
Trim short ribs as desired. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper; rub the fresh thyme into the meat. Lightly coat with flour. Coat the bottom of a heavy saucepan or dutch oven (NOT coated with teflon) with olive oil. Brown the pancetta in the pan until crisp; remove and reserve. (Remove excess fat or add more oil as needed, so there is enough on the bottom of the pan to make it non-stick.) Brown the short ribs evenly on all sides and reserve.

Coarsely chop the onion, carrot, celery garlic and tomatoes in a food processor (or grate/chop by hand). Add the veggie mixture to the pan and scrape up the brown bits on the bottom. Add wine. Bring to a boil and let simmer for approximately 5 minutes, or until the mixture is slightly reduced.

Place the short ribs in the bottom of the slow cooker and top with the veggie/wine mixture. Add rosemary and bay leaves. Top with pancetta, if desired, or reserve at room temperature, covered.

Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6, until meat is falling off the bones.

Remove bones and shred meat with two forks. Remove bay leaves and rosemary stems from sauce and cover the meat with the amount of sauce desired. Serve over fettuccine.

PANCAKES!!!

so i found this one in good housekeeping and it is excellent and oh so easy to make. and extremely delicious.

2 ¾ cups water
¾ cup long grain white rice
1 can (15 ounces) cream of coconut (not coconut milk)
1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut(optional)
1 tablespoon dark rum( optional)

1 In cooker bowl stir water, rice, cream of coconut, and evaporated milk until combined. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook as manufacturer directs.

2.If you like, while pudding cooks, toast coconut. Heat nonstick small skillet over medium heat until hot. Add coconut, cook five to six minutes or until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Transfer coconut to plate.

3.Remove bowl from slow cooker. Stir in rum if using. Let pudding stand ten minutes. Transfer pudding to serving bowl. If not serving right away, press sheet of plastic wrap onto pudding; refrigerate up to two days.

4.To serve, spoon pudding into dessert bowls; sprinkle with toasted coconut if using.

I just got this freebie mag in the mail about cooking, I think "Cooks Illustrated". They had a really good recipe for slow cooker beef stew. I can't type out the whole thing here right now, but the basic interesting ideas were:

Brown the meat first in a pan. Remove the meat from the pan and add chopped onion and thyme. Reduce. Put the beef in the bottom of the slow cooker and put the onion on top. Add wine and stock to cover. Put chopped carrots, potatoes, and other veggies you want in a plastic bag with more fresh thyme and a little olive oil. Create a pouch with aluminum foil for the veggies and seal them tightly. Place that package on top of the onions in the cooker and put the lid on. They also used instand tapioca in there somewhere to thicken - I can't remember the whole thing.

I thought it was a great idea to put veggies in a little pouch on top of the meat, because I've never been able to get the meat tender without the veggies falling apart. I did put the veggies in halfway once (when I went home for lunch) but they didn't have the taste of the meat.

I'm going to give this a try, maybe next week, and we'll see if I'm amazed.

Tomorrow I'm going to try a beef roast in the slow cooker. I'm going to brown all sides of a round chuck roast, then put it in the crock pot with a can of diced tomatoes, lots of garlic, italian seasoning, red wine, mini onions, potatoes, carrots and celery. Hopefully, it'll be yummy by the time we get home from the gym.

I think the key (at least for me) is not to use chicken breasts, which have always come out dry. I did dark meat chicken for 4 hours and it worked well. I'm excited to try some beef, though, because chuck is so cheap and I love the way it falls apart when braised.

In my slow cooker right now: 2 lbs. chicken thighs, 6 carrots, peeled and chopped to about 2 inch pieces, about 10 cloves of garlic, some fresh thyme, white wine to cover and about a cup of brandy.

We'll see.

go to http://www.allrecipes.com and try the slow cooker chicken and dumplings. very easy and everyone always loves it.

i usually do stewed chicken with tomatoes, onions, spiced however you like because it drenches the chicken in moisture and it doesn't dry out as much.

i always do beef stew in the crockpot, i use alot of veggies & red wine. the beef comes out sooo tender...even when using a cheaper cut of beef. i always do the 8-10 hours, 4 hours doesnt come out as well. i've also done a pulled pork recipe...there is a McCormick spice packed called pulled pork. it's really good.

lentil soup - it's a meal to me because it's so hearty. Hearty.. is that right.. i don't know. Anyway, i bought the bean mix at a health food store and i added tomatoes and chicken and of course water and seasoning and it was pretty good after a couple hours! I cooked it on high for like 4 hours, on low i'm assuming you could let it simmer all day. yums.