Category — Slow-Cooker

School’s in, practices and lessons are in full swing, and the weather is cooler . . . a perfect time to haul out that slow-cooker you say you never use enough.  I’m a dump ‘n’ go slow cooker recipe person.  What the heck is the point of a slow-cooker recipe if you have to cook ingredients before you throw them in the pot??  Really?  This thing is supposed to streamline my dinner processes.

I know there are many new readers since last fall, so once again, I’d like to point you to one of the most comprehensive slow-cooker recipe resources on the ‘net, A Year of Slow Cooking.  Lots and lots of inspiration there (yes, beyond creamed soups! there is flavor! there are vegetables! nary a pot roast with onion onion soup mix in sight!).  I urge you to check it out and please, do report on what you like there . . . lots of us need weekly inspiration!  For past Semi-Sweet recipes using the Crockpot, including more links to other sites, click here.

Today’s recipe is easy and tasty and makes great leftovers.  Serve it atop hot cooked rice, or if you’re jonesing for more vegetables in your belly, on top of more baby spinach.  When I reheated this for lunch on subsequent days, I put it in a bowl with a few handfuls of baby spinach and microwaved it all up . . . . and be sure to add some Tabasco to individual servings for those heat-lovers in your house.  Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Curried Chicken Stew (adapted from Better Homes & Gardens)

Lightly coat a 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray or olive oil.  Add the chicken in one layer, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add the onion, garlic, curry powder, and ginger to the slow cooker and sprinkle again with salt and pepper.  Add the chickpeas, undrained tomatoes, broth and bay leaf.  Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-10 hours.

Give the whole thing a stir, then add the lime juice into the cooked stew.  Stir the spinach leaves into the stew and let it stand for 2-3 minutes until the spinach is wilted.  Stir again and taste – adjust the seasonings by adding more salt & pepper, curry powder, some Tabasco, etc.  Serve with rice.

Serves 8.

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Today’s recipe saved my you-know-what last week.  On Thursday, we chaperoned 16 Brownie Girl Scouts through the rainy woods of an Audubon Sanctuary until dusk.  I arrived home at dinnertime with a very damp, very tired bubba who was bordering on hypoglycemia.  Luckily, I had the foresight to take some chicken breasts out of the freezer, and because I’m sorta nuts, I had all these ingredients in my pantry/freezer . . . at noon I dumped it all in the Crockpot (the chicken breasts weren’t even fully thawed).  When we arrived home at 5:45 p.m., you could smell the warm, home-cooked spicy goodness when we opened the door.    

This is from a site called Gina’s WW Recipes, which, for all you Weight Watchers devotees, is a great resource.  Gina’s got lots of good recipes, and you can even search her recipes by points value.  Even if you’re not a WW devotee, if you’re interested in healthful recipes, she’s got a lot of inspiration for you. 

D. ate this over rice, which was great.  I spooned it over shredded romaine lettuce, which was also very good.  It’s delicious stuffed into a whole-wheat tortilla (I had that for lunch the next day), with or without cheese (I abstained, mostly because I was thinkin’ of making a cheesy dinner that night).  Any way you eat it, it’s a great dump-n-go slow-cooker meal to have in your arsenal.

Slow Cooker Southwestern Chicken (adapted from Gina’s WW Recipes)

Combine all the ingredients except the chicken breasts and salt & pepper in the slow cooker. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and lay them on top. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Approximately one half-hour before serving, remove the chicken breasts and shred them. Return the shredded chicken to the slow cooker, stirring to combine. Taste the mixture and add additional salt & pepper to taste. 

Serves 8.

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I’m not sick of soup yet, and I hope you aren’t either.  While D. did request a “solid meal” when he returns end of week, even he’s been digging the soup lately.  And who wouldn’t?  They’re hearty, healthy, flavorful, warm, cheap and easy.  D. gets dinner made for him, most nights, but easy on me is easy on him.  ‘Cause as we say in our house, “if mama ain’t happy, no one’s happy.” 

This soup takes a bit longer to prep than the Slow Cooker Taco Soup I made the other day – but not too long.  It’s about 40 minutes of your time, total – that includes rolling up the little meatballs, which are so cute, and so tasty, you’ll be glad you made the effort.

Slow Cooker Escarole Soup With Turkey Meatballs

 In a large (mine is 6-qt.) slow cooker, combine the carrots, escarole and chicken broth.  Cook on low for 4 hours, making sure your escarole gets submerged in the chicken broth.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the turkey, 1/3 c. cheese, breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, eggs and some salt & pepper (best way to do this is with your hands).  Rinse your hands and fashion the turkey mixture into 1-inch meatballs.  Place on a plate or cookie sheet and cover.  Keep in the refrigerator until it’s time to place the meatballs in the soup.  After your veggies have cooked for 4 hours, carefully put the meatballs in the soup, recover the slow cooker, and cook on high for another 3 hours, until the meatballs are cooked through.  Stir and taste for seasonings, adding more salt and pepper as needed.  Serve topped with additional Parmigiano-Reggiano sprinkled on top.

Serves 6.  You could add some small cooked pasta to this just before serving if you like.  Good with a crusty loaf of bread, and if you’re L., slather that with LOTS of butter.  Mmmmmmm.

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It’s Friday!?  It’s the last weekend before Christmas . . . breathe deeply.  I’m looking for ways to cut corners with dinner right now.  That, and the fact that very chilly winter weather has finally settled into the Boston area has me rediscovering my Crock-Pot.  I’ll be honest, I have a love-hate relationship with the thing.  Love the convenience, hate a lot of the recipes that are out there . . . mmmm, canned cream of mushroom soup, anyone? 

So where does this girl go for inspiration? 

• The number one resource I’ve found on the ‘net for slow cooking recipes is this one.  This mother set out to prep something in her slow cooker every single day for a year – so there’re lots of recipes to choose from here.  At the end of every recipe she gives a (sometimes very funny) report on what the family thought about the recipe, including the kids’ reactions.
• For more inspiration, the Better Homes & Gardens site has a whole section devoted to slow cooker recipes.
• Here’s a good thread from the Chowhound Home Cooking board re interesting slow-cooker recipes.
• This Lora Brody recipe for Moroccan Chicken With Couscous in the slow cooker is fantastic – I took the book out of the library years ago, made this, and it went immediately into the recipe box.
• Some of these recipes might be a little more complicated than what you want to make in a slow cooker, but they look very tasty – the veggie leek beef barley soup is one I want to make soon.
• OMG!  There’s an app for that . . . Crock-Pot has its own iPhone appthat’ll allow you to search for recipes.  I’m going to add this to my phone for comic relief - “look how far I’ve devolved from my lawyer-days now, people!”  You can also search recipes on the Crock-Pot site itself.
• Here are two of my own favorites, from this site – if you haven’t tried them, now might be the time.
• Or, you can take the easy way out like I did on Wednesday.  For some reason, we’d accumulated 3 open jars of spaghetti sauce in the fridge.  I took a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, dumped them in the slow cooker, poured the various spaghetti sauces on top, set it to low, and left for a few hours.  Later I cooked up some whole wheat spaghetti and made a couple tossed salads and we had a super quick, hot, and reasonably tasty meal.  See?  We’re not always uber-creative and fancy over at chez Semi-Sweet.  Some nights you just need to get the job done.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

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This is easy, cheesy, carby lusciousness . . . 20 minutes to put together and you’re crockin’.  This was adapted from a recipe in Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

Directions

1. Rinse and drain beans. In large bowl combine beans, 2 tablespoons of the pesto, the onion, garlic and Italian seasoning.

2. In a slow cooker, layer half of bean mixture, half of polenta, and half of cheese.  Add the remaining beans and polenta. Cover and cook on the low heat setting 4-6 hours or on the high heat setting 2-2-1/2 hours. Add the tomato, remaining cheese, spinach, and radicchio. Combine the remaining pesto and 1 tablespoon water. Drizzle the pesto mixture on casserole. Let stand, uncovered, 5 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

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