The Crock Pot Blog

This is a simple chili recipe that you can be easily put together in your crock pot.

What You Need:

1 lb ground beef
1 tbsp chili powder
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes with green chilies
2 cans (15 oz size) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup water
1 tbsp oil for frying

How To Make It:

In a skillet, put oil and ground beef and brown until pink color is gone, stirring frequently.
Drain beef well and add to a medium sized crock pot.
Turn crockpot to LOW and add the chili powder, tomatoes, kidney beans, and water; stir to combine.
Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

Tips:
Serve with fresh chopped toppings like green pepper, onion, tomatoes, and a dollop of sour cream with parsley.

This is a very easy recipe to make delicious chicken wings in your crock pot.

What You Need:

3 lb. chicken wings and drumlets
2 cups honey
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup spicy marinara sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

How To Make It:

Put chicken wings on broiler pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Cook under the broiler for about 15 minutes or until browned, flipping over once.
Meanwhile, in separate bowl, mix together the rest of the recipe ingredients.
Put browned chicken wings in a 6 qt. crock pot and pour sauce mix over wings.
Cover crock pot and turn heat to LOW and cook for 4 to 5 hours.
Remove from crock pot to platter and serve hot.

Tips:

This makes a full meal when served alongside potato salad or other hearty side dish such as garden salad and sweet potato fries.

It dosen’t get much easier than this recipe to make a great tasting stew in your crock pot.

What You Need:

1 lb cooked smoked ham, cubed
2 cans (16 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
4 medium gold potatoes, diced
2 cans (15 oz size) beef broth
1/2 tsp favorite barbecue dry rub for additional flavor

How To Make It:

Put all ingredients in a medium sized crock pot and stir to combine.
Cover and cook on LOW setting for 8 to 9 hours.
Top with a dollop of sour cream, parsley, or diced fresh tomatoes to serve.

Tips:

If you find the stew is not thick enough for your liking, use a potato masher to mash a small portion of the beans and potato right in the crock pot.
Stir to combine and serve.

This is a delicious tortellini soup recipe that is hearty enough to be a meal when served with bread and a salad.

What You Need:

1 lb. mild Italian Sausage, casings removed
1 lg. onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 small zucchini, quartered and chopped
4 cups beef stock
1/2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 can (7-1/2 oz.) tomato sauce
1 can (19 oz.) diced tomatoes, not drained
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 pkg. fresh cheese tortellini
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

How To Make It:

Remove sausage meat from casings and brown in a skillet on medium-high heat.
Drain meat well and transfer to a 6 qt. crock pot.
Add chopped onion, carrots, stock, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes with juice, and mushrooms to the crock pot.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
Cook tortellini according to package instructions, drain and reserve until crock pot cooking time has completed.
Add cooked tortellini and zucchini to crock pot and cook on high for an additional 15 minutes, or untill zucchini is tender.
Serve in soup or pasta bowls and top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Tips:
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Use hot Italian sausage if you want to try a spicier version.

This is a very easy to make 4 ingredient crock pot recipe with a unique, delicious flavor.

What You Need:

4 sweet potatoes, cleaned and coarse cut
6 chicken thighs, skinless, boneless
1 cup orange marmalade
1/2 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

How To Make It:

Put prepared sweet potatoes in a medium sized crock pot (3 1/2 or 4 qt.) and add salt and pepper to taste.
Arrange chicken thighs on top of sweet potatoes and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
Mix the orange marmalade and chicken broth together in a separate bowl, then pour over the chicken.
Set crockpot to LOW and cook, covered for 6 to 8 hours.
Spoon sauce over top of chicken when serving.

Tips:

Serve alongside steamed kale and hot cooked rice for a complete meal.

This beef short rib recipe makes a complete and delicious meal.

What You Need:

3 lb beef short ribs
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup dry red wine, or if preferred, additional beef broth
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

How To Make It:

Rub short ribs with salt and pepper.
In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat and brown ribs, in batches if necessary, turning occasionally.
In a 6 qt. crock pot, combine stewed tomatoes (undrained), chopped onion, and tomato paste.
Add short ribs, broth, wine, and Worcestershire sauce.
If ribs are too large to fit into crock pot, they can be cut between the bones.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Remove ribs from slow cooker, discard bones, and cover with foil to keep warm.
Skim as much fat as possible from the liquid in the crock pot.
In a small bowl mix cornstarch and water until well blended and stir into the liquid in the crock pot.
Increase heat setting to high, cover crock pot, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until sauce has thickened.
Serve ribs and sauce.

Tips:

Mashed potatoes make a great side for this recipe.
Serve with a ceasar or tossed salad and thick bread for a complete meal.

Controlling what goes into a meal is key to healthy crock pot cooking. Here are a few ideas for ingredients that can be eliminated from your recipes in order to keep your crock pot cooking as healthy as possible:

Canned Condensed Soups
The ‘Cream Of … ‘ soups are often a staple of crock pot recipes. You’ll find many crock pot dishes call for cream of mushroom, chicken, or celery soup to make a dish thick and creamy. Canned soups are often loaded with additives you can’t pronounce and don’t want to feed your family. These chemical additives are avoidable when you learn a few simple methods to whip up an alternative for the creamy base. A quick whisk of flour, butter or oil, and milk or broth in a saucepan will produce the same ingredient without the additives.

Salted Butter
Most serious cooks know that salted butter is another thing you can do without. Unsalted butter is the best way to go, giving you the creamy flavor while still allowing you to control what goes into your crock pot. Using unsalted butter keeps your food from sticking better than salted butter and also keeps your sodium content at your discretion, not the food manufacturer’s.

Processed Canned Foods
Processed canned foods; vegetables, fruit, and meat, can be over-processed and may contain extra ingredients that just don’t do well in the crock pot. This leads to disaster, both in terms of nutrition and texture. In order to get the healthiest meal possible in your crock pot, ban food items that have been processed and canned in oil, sugary syrups or, even worse, artificial additives to keep the colors bright. There is no room for these kinds of foods in your healthy crock pot cooking.

The tangy cranberry gravy adds a unique flavor to this pot roast recipe.

What You Need:

3 lb. beef chuck roast
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/4 cup diced green onion
1 can (16 oz) whole cranberry sauce
3 tbsp water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp cornstarch

How To Make It:

In a large heavy skillet, brown all sides of the chuck roast in hot oil over medium high heat.
When browned, turn off heat, remove meat to a plate and set aside.
In the same skillet with heat off, mix in the green onion, cranberry sauce, water, salt, and pepper, stirring until mixed well and the brown bits on pan bottom are loosened, then spoon mixture into a 6 qt. crockpot.
Put a small roasting rack (if available) in your crockpot and place the browned meat on rack or on bottom of the crock pot.
Cover and set crockpot to LOW and cook for 7 to 8 hours.

When pot roast is done cooking, remove meat and rack from crockpot; put meat on serving platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
In a small bowl, mix together the cold water and cornstarch until completely dissolved.
Slowly drizzle the cornstarch into the liquid in the crockpot, stirring constantly; continue stirring until mixture thickens and forms gravy.
Serve the gravy over mashed potatoes alongside the beef roast.

With just 4 ingredients and a little salt and pepper, this crock pot chicken recipe is easy to make and tastes delicious.

What You Need:

3 lbs. chicken thighs
4 oz. fresh mushrooms
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

How To Make It:

Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper, then brown in oil in heavy skillet over medium high heat.
Place browned chicken in a 6 qt. crockpot.
In same skillet, add mushrooms and saute over medium high heat until browned slightly.
Add the wine to skillet and scrape browned bits from bottom.
Pour mushroom-wine mixture over chicken in crockpot and sprinkle Italian seasoning over the top.
Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.

Tips:

Serve over hot cooked rice.

Getting kids to eat healthy is similar to trying to herd cats. There are so many reasons that kids can give as to why they don’t want to, or should not even take a single bite of this “good” food.

Spanning from not tasting good – even though they have never tried it – to the fact they think they may be allergic to the food in question, kids are masters at dodging the proverbial ball of health food. There are, however, a few ways to get your kids to try new foods. After all, they have an arsenal of reasons why not to eat it, why not keep your own stockpile of weaponry to get them to eat the food they don’t want to.

Be a Role Model
Children’s minds are like a piece of bread, soaking up all of the oil surrounding it. Being a role model and continually trying new foods in front of and with your child can help to shape their ideas about trying new things. It is important to let your kids see that it is ok, and even fun, to try new things from time to time. Demonstrating the adventure and intrigue of trying new foods will stick in your child’s memory for the rest of their life.

Meal Plan Together
Kids are more apt to eat something they made, or at least planned to make. Letting your kids design the weekly meal, and even help cook the meals increases the chance they will try and like foods you are preparing.

Children are stimulated and become completely engrossed when they have the opportunity to get into a hands-on position. By allowing them to help plan the meals and to prepare and cook the food, children see exactly what goes in to the pot and there are fewer surprises for them to come up with the excuse they don’t like what is in it.

Keep Healthy Options
Nothing is worse than watching your kid look for a snack, finding nothing healthy and heading right for the ice cream with chocolate sauce and whip cream. Children learn from, and rely heavily on the ability to make their own decisions, whether it is on what clothes they want to wear to the types of foods they want to eat. It is important to offer a wide variety of choices to your kids. Just remember to respect their likes and dislikes and change the different options up frequently so they don’t get bored.

Conclusion
Getting your children to eat healthy is as simple as letting them get involved. Interacting with all of their senses, suddenly trying new foods becomes fun and intriguing. Allowing children to help out in preparing the meal builds a sense of pride and accomplishment. If all else fails, throw some new fruits and veggies in the blender with a little honey and they will never know the delicious smoothie they are drinking is actually good for them. Hiding the foods they don’t like, inside of foods they love, is a great fail-safe weapon to keep locked and loaded.