Crock Pot Wednesday

It's that time of week again.  Crock pot day.  I got this recipe from a friend a few years ago and adapted it to our tastes.

Taco Soup:
- Ground beef or turkey (cooked)
- Diced bell pepper (red, green, or both)
- Diced/Seeded Jalapeno (or a TB of jarred diced jalapeno)
- Drained can of corn
- Drained can of black olives (roughly chopped a bit)
- Drained and rinsed can of beans (I usually use black, but friend suggests any bean)
- Can of crushed Tomatoes (sometimes I use a can of diced tomatos)
- 1 pkg of taco seasoning
- About 32 oz chicken stock

Toss everything into the crock pot and stir.  I have a 6 qt crock pot so this is usually fine.  Sometimes, I'll throw in an extra can of tomatoes.  It's very easy since pretty much everything is in cans that I normally have in my pantry anyway.

I normally cook on low all day (about 7-8 hours).  When I get home if I want it thicker, I just put some in a small put and make a corn starch slurry to thicken that small pot up and then dump that back into the whole crock pot.  If you don't know how to make a corn starch slurry don't worry - just read the box it'll tell you how :)

I usually like it very thick so I make it much thicker when I get home.  Sometimes, I'll take a can of creamed corn and thicken that and add it back into the pot.  You could also probably use an imersion blender a bit to make it thicker.  Serve with some shredded cheese and sour cream.  If it's really thick, grab some chips too.

Crock Pot Wednesday

If you haven't noticed, I like simple crock pot recipes.  Since I don't have much control once all the ingredients go in, I like to keep it easy.

Today, I'm not even sure if you can call it a recipe, but I am. .

6 Chicken Legs
1/2 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (or whatever bottle is lurking in your fridge)

Put chicken legs on bottom.  Pour sauce on top.  Cook until done. 

Eat and enjoy. 

Short, simple, and tasty.  My kind of recipe.  I also saw this Crockpot curry recipe the other day that looked really good.  Of course, I didn't write it down/print it out so I'll have to go by memory and fudging it along the way.  Hopefully I'll remember and try it in a few days.

Crock Pot Wednesday

 


I used to be really afraid of my crockpot, it's true.  I think the problem was the crockpot itself.  I started out using the one my parents got for their engagement.  My parents will be married for 35 years this year.  So, as you can see, it's an old crockpot.  It's white with the lovely yellow 70s flowers on it and everything.  There's no high or low - just off and on.  I think that's why stuff used to taste terrible whenever I made it in the crockpot.

Also, I started low carbing when I first started using the crock pot.  So it was a weird mash of learning to cook differently and in different equiptment.  I'm surprised to this day that my husband has never said anything bad about my cookings because, oh boy, some gross things would come out.  Food would come out tough and overcooked (or undercooked) and just gross.  He's a good sport. 

The only thing that works perfectly in that old crockpot (that I admit is still sitting in my pantry because I feel guilty throwing it away) is candied nuts.  This works out well since I can't make candied nuts in the oven without burning them.  The recipe can easily be halved or doubled, I was just using a 5-6 qt crock pot and it tastes so good so I make a ton.

Candied Nuts

• 2 lbs nuts - I like to mix: Walnuts, Pecans, and Almonds
• 1 cup of melted butter
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup of sugar (or splenda)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (or diabetisweet) - Can use all regular sugar as well
• 1 TB cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp of ground cloves
• a bunch of fresh nutmeg 

Put nuts into crock pot.  Stir in butter.  Stir in all seasonings until everything is nicely coated. 

The trick is in heating.  I remember reading somewhere online about what to do so that's always what I've done.  I don't remember where I read it so, if it was you, please let me know so I can credit you with your trick. 

Cover the crock pot and set to high for 30 minutes.  Uncover, stir, turn to low and let cook for about another 2 hours or until tasty and done.

No matter how much I make, these are always eaten up very quickly.  Even when I would make them with Splenda my picky brother in law (who claims he absolutely hates the Splenda aftertaste) happily eats a huge portion whenever I make them.

Shrimp and Broccoli Orzo

Here is the recipe that Wanda requested.  It's a very simple recipe that I started making when I was actually trying to lose weight (which I should probably start again...)  It comes from: Weight Watchers Take-Out Tonight! : 150+ Restaurant Favorites to Make at Home--All 8 POINTS or Less.  They call it Pesto Shrimp & Orzo Salad.  Since I change things around (and am randomly out of ingredients like pesto and shrimp today) we tailored it to our tastes..

Shrimp & Broccoli Orzo (Makes 4 good size portions)

• About 1 cup Orzo
• 1/2 lb Shrimp or Chicken
• 1-2 small heads of Broccoli (I chop up the stems too)
• 1/3 - 1/2 c of Mayo (fat-free if you're being healthy could probably sub for yogurt or something simliar as well)
• 1/2 TB dried basil (or 1 TB fresh if you have it around)
• 1 TB olive oil (If you have pesto around - use that instead of basil/olive oil)
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• Dash of crushed red pepper (optional)

Cook orzo.  When there is a few minutes left, I throw the broccoli in with the orzo so they can cook together.  Drain and reserve 1/3 c of the cooking water.  Cut chicken/shrimp into bite size pieces and then sautee in a pan.

Stir together the rest of the ingredients along with the cooking water.  Add in the orzo, broccoli, and chicken/shrimp and stir so everything is coated.  Sometimes I throw in pine nuts (to make up for the lack of pesto) or additional vegetables if I want it to be a bit different.  The other night I threw in some toasted walnuts for a bit of crunch.

We like it warmed but not too hot.  I do tend to like it peppery too so I'm generous on that end.  It's also good as leftovers and served cold.

Crock Pot Wednesday

I needed something to make for dinner tonight and since Debbie runs Crock Pot Wednesday, I figured why not just throw something in the crockpot and see what happens. 


Buffalo Chicken
 2 chicken breasts (that's all I have)
 1/2 pkg of ranch dressing mix
Maybe 1/3 c hot wing sauce

The measurements came about because that's just what I had laying around.  Apparently, even though I thought there was more chicken in the far reaches of my freezer, there isn't.  There's been an opened package of ranch dressing mix sitting in my cabinet for longer than I'd like to remember.  As for the hot sauce, well can you really go wrong with hot sauce?  There was proabbly around 1/3c left so I just added a bit of water to thin it out (and get the rest out of the bottle). 

I mixed the hot sauce and ranch dressing mix together and just poured it on top of the chicken.  I'll cook it on low for probably around 4-5 hours.  Then I'm thinking it'll be shreddd and we'll have Buffalo Chicken Nachos or Tacos tonight.

Healthy?  Could be better could be worse.  Depending on spiciness, I might add a little butter when I shred the chicken in order to cut back on the spice. 
Tasty?  I think it will be.. hopefully..

Honestly, crock pots generally worry me and I always feel like I'm going to do something wrong.  I  have no idea why I feel this way, I just do.  I always follow recipes to the "T" with crock pots (except leaving out onions and garlic for the husband).  So, this is my first time just kind of winging it and hoping for the best.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed. 

Do you have any good recipes for me to try out?

Update: It was pretty good.  Probably could've used more hot sauce because I was expecting it to be spicier.  I think in total it was in the crockpot for 4 hours on low.  I may have taken the lid off twice to check for doneness though (I know you're not supposed to do that but I just couldn't help myself).  I shredded it and we made the Ultimate Buffalo Chicken Nachos.  We still have a bunch of leftover chicken which I'll probably freeze so we can have it again in a few days/weeks. 

I'll try and update with a photo because my phone for some reason won't email it to me right now.  It was very tasty though.