Make Your Own [crockpot] Adventure!

[Whiskey]

I love my crock pot. I'd starve to death if it wasn't for that delicious slow cooker of love. Not only does it make food at the speed of smell (mmm.) but you can use it without burning the house down! I'll show you my recipes if you show me yours.

Step 1. Get a crock pot.
Step 2. Put water and/or broth in the pot.
Step 3. Put meat (any meat, really, but apparently I used pork sirloin or something.) in the pot.
Step 4. Wait, fuck, take the meat out.
Step 5. Grab the nearest five seasonings. Close one eye and try to focus.
Step 6. Put the three tastiest looking bottles in the pot. Three to five shakes.
Step 7. Okay, put the meat back in.
Step 8. Throw in the least choppable veggies you have. I use bell peppers, jalapenos (my eyes! shit!), maybe i'll risk it with an onion.
Step 9. Put it on high, pass out.



Eight to ten hours later, boom, food. If you're me, it comes out delicious. If you're not me, results my vary.

The internet provided me with a (from reviews) seemingly amazing White Chicken Chili recipe that is.. in progress..

INGREDIENT LIST:
2 lb package of Great Northern Beans
2 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 TBSP ground cumin
1 TBSP fresh ground black pepper (fine)
1 TBSP ground cayenne pepper (or more if you like it really hot)
1 TBSP onion powder
1 TBSP garlic powder
2 TBSP table salt
4 medium yellow onions
3 jalapeno peppers (or more to taste)
3 cloves of garlic
Canned Chicken Stock (enough to cover)
Shredded Cheese, Sour Cream, Diced Cilantro and Onions, and Tortilla chips for serving

Directions: (with my personal photos)
Open your package of beans and pick through the beans to remove any rocks, ugly beans, or other crap you don't want in your finished chili. Now, soak your beans in water overnight. The beans will double in size, so keep that in mind as you choose your soaking container. Dump your beans in the crockery liner of your 6-quart crock-pot. Don't have a 6-quart crock-pot? I guess you need to modify your recipe.

2 TBSP ground cumin 1 TBSP fresh ground black pepper (fine) 1 TBSP ground cayenne pepper (or more if you like it really hot) 1TBSP onion powder 1TBSP garlic powder

Mix until blended.


Now, get a 2 pound package of boneless skinless chicken breasts (or an equivalent amount of boneless skinless dead bird, any part will do) and use your snazzy knife to dice the bird into 1/2" cubes.


OP Note: Wash your board! No one likes Salmonella onions!


Place the cubes in a large bowl and sprinkle with 1/2 of the spice mixture. Toss to coat evenly.


OP Note: Refreshing drink time! Whiskey lost her Passion Tea Lemonade.. There must be a replacement somewhere..



Get 4 medium sized onions , 3 jalapeño peppers, and 3 cloves of garlic. If you like anus searing heat, add more peppers.


OP Note: I didn't pepper spray myself out of my own house with onions and jalapenos. I wanted to enjoy the summer afternoon.


Dice the onion and garlic into a fine mince (about 1/8" or so) and crush the garlic with 2 TBSP of salt. Put in a bowl and set aside. (this is some kind of sick joke?)


Heat a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Here I am using my 12" cast iron skillet (I happen to have the exact one!) Brown the chicken in the skillet in batches (a bit of oil between batches is a really good idea). If you overcrowd the pan, you will steam the chicken rather than brown it. I needed 4 trips to the frying pan to brown all 2 pounds of diced chicken.


After you've browned your bird, you'll note that there is a nice layer of fond (brown crusty stuff on the bottom of the pan) in the pan. Add yet more oil (a teaspoon or so) to the pan and dump in your veggies and spread evenly. The veggies will deglaze the pan for you and all that brown goodness will blend in with the veggies. Cook the vegetables until they just start to brown. This can be challenging to see as they will be tan colored from deglazing the pan. Don't yank the veggies too early as they'll develop lots of nice flavors if you let them start to brown.



Add the chicken, vegetables, and the remaining spices to the crock-pot.


Add enough chicken stock to come up to the top of the beans. Stir and put in the cooker on HIGH for 5-6 hours. Low temp will take about 2X as long. (it took all 48 ounces)


And... wait.. What will this turn into?



Tune in in another eight hours to find out! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get some sushi.



Some chili, unfortunately, could not be present for the photo. It was covered in jalapeño Munster cheese and devoured.

[Magpie]

You put the garlic to the side, because apparently that's how you get the most of the fabled health benefits of garlic. The chemicals we like (someone?) develop after it's cut, but before it's cooked.

I cook anything and everything in my slow cooker. My split pea soup, Brazilian black beans, cooking beans for every day use, baked beans, pulled pork (although mine involves making a rub and rubbing it in, then putting in more onions than will fit into the slow cooker, because it's not big enough for a double recipe and you have too much meat). Oh, and chili, although that one's annoying, because you need to use a fry pan anyhow.

I know I've already posted the black beans recipe, the baked beans is from the internet anyhow, and you already posted pulled pork, so I don't really have anything to post .

[Whiskey]

My split pea soup,

want this recipe

[Exaspera]

I'm going to dig my crock pot out of the attic and try some of this stuff.

[Magpie]

It's not so much of a recipe as it is an idea. It's pretty close to the Moosewood one, even when I add meat. (I refuse to categorise recipes as "meat" or "meatless". It's all about substitution! I'm writing it with modern levels of spicing, as opposed to the ones that haven't been changed since the cookbook was written, back in the days of "spices? What are those?" I have also altered the instructions for slow-cooker use.

3 cups dry split peas
about 7 cups water
1 bay leaf
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp dry mustard
2 cups chopped onion
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
3 stalks celery, minced
2 medium carrots, sliced or diced
1 small potato, thinly slicd
lots of freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Throw everything except the vinegar in the slow cooker, turn it on low. Cook 4-6 hours. Add the vinegar anytime after the peas are cooked. (at the end is generally the most convenient.)

Serve with sesame oil, tomato and parsley (do NOT skip the sesame oil)

If you're making the vegan version, add 2 Tbsp smoked paprika (or some liquid smoke, but I'm not sure how much).

To make it with meat, add some chopped bacon, or pork hocks at the beginning, and cook for the full time.

You can substitute parsnip and sweet potato for the celery and potato. (I needed to use up what was in the fridge).

To make it spicy, use hot mustard powder or hot smoked paprika.

I've done this as an all-day meal, but it dried out, so you might want to add a bit of extra water, and accept that it will be a little dark.

I never use only 1 bay leaf. This comes from having a bay tree, so I have a major surplus of bay leaves, and I've discovered that 3-4 big ones is almost always better than 1, especially at the size they sell them in the stores.

As a general crockpot tip, you can take most recipes that involve baking in the oven for an hour, or boiling for a few hours, and turn them into all day crockput recipes. Just never put any acid (vinegar, tomatoes, etc) in with legumes until after they're cooked.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Someday I will have a crockpot. And learn to cook stuff in it.

Someday I will have a kitchen with enough counter space to have a crockpot. And to cook stuff, with or without a crockpot.

I did make a yummy dish yesterday with one of those Hormel pre-cooked meat dishes. Beef roast au jus, with Near East Whole Wheat Pilaf and canned corn (white shopeg, if you're wondering). The meat pulls apart really easy, you barely need a knife to cut it up. Just mix it all together and yum. Meat heats up in 4 minutes in the microwave, the pilaf is however long it takes to boil water plus 15 minutes or so for it to soak it all up, and then I just dumped two (small) cans of corn into the pot (no pre-heating necessary). And the au jus keeps it from drying out in the microwave when you reheat it the next day. (And the day after that. Which will be tomorrow.)

[Magpie]

Crockpots can be left outside the kitchen to cook. I do NOT have enough space in my kitchen for it, it gets put on a table in the living room. (My mom was informed by her brother that this technique can also be used for bread machines.)

[CaroPhoenix]

I love my crock pot!

I take country style pork ribs (boneless), some chopped onions, carrots (or apples) and bbq sauce and water.

Put onions and carrots or apples with the onions (these are used mainly for flavor and not necessary to eat later on) on the bottom of crock pot.

Put ribs on top of veggie/fruit layer. (Season - I use black pepper and garlic powder - I never add extra salt as I've been told by my doc not to use any extra).

Pour whole bottle of bbq sauce over the meat (if you have a pound plus or so, for less than pound, use 1/2 bottle).

The water comes in from when you add water to the bbq sauce bottle to gret all the sauce out. Pour that over meat too.

Cook for several hours on low.

ENJOY!

[Aethian]

Crock Pot Lasagna (cottage cheese style)

Ingredients:

* 1 lb lean ground beef
* 1 onions, chopped
* 2 garlic cloves, smashed
* 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
* 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 (12 ounce) cottage cheese (we like 2%)
* 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese or asiago cheese (I like a mix of both)
* 1 (12 ounce) lasagna noodles, uncooked
* 1 (16 ounce) shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1 Brown ground beef, onion and garlic in frypan.
2 Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt and oregano.
3 Cook long enough to get it warm.
4 Spoon a layer of meat sauce onto the bottom of the slow cooker.
5 Add a double layer of uncooked lasagna noodles (break to fit) and top with cheeses.
6 Repeat with sauce, noodles and cheeses until all are used up.
7 Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Crockpots can be left outside the kitchen to cook. I do NOT have enough space in my kitchen for it, it gets put on a table in the living room. (My mom was informed by her brother that this technique can also be used for bread machines.)

Hmm..maybe for my birthday..

[Sliceanddice]

mine mine mine!!!!

Ok get your crock pot, if your me, find the pot part curse clean it then set up your crock pot.

Now get...
- 2 and a half cups of liquid, i prefer a 1-1/2 cup broth plus worchester sause, half a cup of juice orange and oh i dont know lets say lemon and the rest water
-Cut up some Celery, onions, bell peppers and carrots ive never measure it but its about a cup of each with only a half cup of the peppers
- crush two gloves of garlic and toss it to a bowl with some basil oragano lemon zest and for bite paperika, mix real quick together with a spoon.
-Get 2 cups of rice
-3 pounds of cut up into cups turkey or chicken.

Take a half cup of that liquid mix in that garlic mixture and mix it with the chicken.
Pour half of the remain liquid in the pot. Pour in the rice and veggies.
Add the Chicken you can cook it ahead of time if oyu want, i dont notice any problems with letting it slow cook, it just gets really tender.
Pour in the remaining liquid.
cook for about 8 hours on high.
When done you should have a nice veggie filled rice and chicken bit thing that needs allittle pepper added to taste that tastes yummy on pitas or tortillas.

You can serve it with a little yogurt, lemon avacoda sause and have a greek-mex taco.

[Seshat]

I don't have a crock pot, but I do a slow pea and ham soup.

1 bag split peas.
1 ham hock.
Spices and herbs to taste (bay leaf almost essential)
Other veggies as desired
1 suitable-for-cooking cotton bag, eg pudding bag

Rinse the peas, and soak them as instructed on the packet. Usually overnight.
Come back, and rinse them again, then put them in the pot.
Put the spices in the pot too.
Put the ham hock and the bay leaf/leaves in the bag, put those in the pot.
Add enough water to cover everything.
Simmer or very-slow-boil for several hours, until the ham is falling naturally off the ham hock.

Take the pudding bag/ham hock out of the soup, and put on a big plate. Get all the yummy, edible bits off the hock, and put them in the soup. Put the rest back in the pudding bag - you'll use this as stock. Put it all back in.
Now is a good time to put the chopped other veg in.

Simmer or very-slow-boil until you can't stand it and have to start eating, or until the peas have become this thick soupy-thing rather than distinct peas. At this point, take out the pudding-bag and put it in a sieve over a bowl. Eat a serve of the yummy-food while the puddiing-bag is draining (I can never resist), then put the contents of the bowl back in the pot and stir it in.

Discard the bones, bay leaves, and other contents of the pudding bag. Wash the bag in hot water & dishwashing detergent, or run it through the dishwasher, let it dry, and store it till next time.




My other good one is barley and lamb shank.

1 bag pearl barley
1 (or 2) lamb shanks, cut so they'll fit
spices and veg to taste

Again, soak and rinse the barley as instructed.
Put the barley and spices and lamb shank into the pot, add water till it fully covers it.
Put the veg in as well.

Simmer until the lamb shank comes away easily from the bone. Serve with mashed potato, or as a quasi-soup-stew-thingy.

[Victory Sabre]

I don't have recipes for the slow cooker.

The way I cook is by the seat of my pants. One time I threw some venison, potatoes, onions, hot sauce and water in it (along with various spices), and had one hell of a meal many hours later.

I really have to get it out again and do some more cooking. Out of venison, pork chops anyone?

[Whiskey]

I don't have recipes for the slow cooker.

This is essentially what I use my crockpot for. Just throw some shit in it and pray for the best.

edit: all i can say about my white chicken chili is mmmmmmmm. Even with the dumbed down tastebuds, its spicy. Full report in the morning.

[TelephoneAngel]

Whiskey's crockpot looks like mine, it's an oval black one.

Beans and lamb

open a couple of cans of any kind of beans (blackeyedbeans, cannaloni, or lentils)
Put in crockpot
put any lamb pieces on top
fill with water top just covering lamb pieces
put in some lamb stock, or mixed herbs, salt etc

cook for 6 hours on slow

the lamb is really tender after.