It doesn’t really feel like soup season right now. The weather here has been so strange lately. Normally by this time we have a lot of snow on the ground and right now, we don’t even have any snow. The … Continue reading
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This isn’t really one of those crock pot recipes you can leave over the course of the day when you go to work. It’s one of those recipes that need to be made on the weekend. It only takes 2 hours to 3 hours to cook in the crock pot.
This is a Paula Deen recipe that was originally 821 calories per serving. By leaving out the butter and finding low fat substitutes of cheese, sour cream, and milk, you too… can still have mac and cheese on a diet. Rozoni has smart taste elbow macaroni that is full of whole grains and fiber. Now the calorie count is somewhere around 400. Can you believe that? Well, believe me, and it still tastes good. It’s rich and creamy too. Almost reminds me of those velveeta box recipes that you make from the store.
Ingredients from Paula Deen
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (I used Ronzoni Heart Taste)
4 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (low fat cheddar)
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream (light sour cream)
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
1. Boil the macaroni in water for six minutes. Drain.
2. In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts.
3. In slow cooker, combine cheese mixture and add the eggs (I omitted the eggs), sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper. Add the drained macaroni and stir again.
4. Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
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Crock pot caramel apples. The recipe may seem really easy to make, considering the fact that there’s only one ingredient that you have to melt in the crock pot. However, it’s kind of hard to dip the apples and make sure the apples get all evenly coated with caramel goodness. Also, the caramel tends to harden quickly so you have to work fast in order to get any toppings on the caramel. It takes about a good hour on high for it all to melt.
When I was dipping the apples one of the sticks ended up falling out so make sure the sticks are in the apple pretty well. Use whatever topping you want to or no toppings at all. I think next time, I might try making my own caramel.
Oh yah, and since people really seem to like the Weight Watcher recipes, I’m going to try and start posting more. Maybe even try to come up with some of my own. I’ve been slacking on those recipes. Sorry!
Ingredients from A Year of Slow Cooking
Caramel candies
caramel w/ popsicle sticks
apples (one bag of caramel makes 4 large apples)
nuts/sprinkles
2 T water
The Directions.
Use a 1.5 quart or larger crockpot—I used a 4 quart.
Unwrap all of the caramel, and add them and 2 tablespoons of water to the crockpot. Cover and cook on high for 1 to 2 hours, checking every 20 minutes or so. The caramel is ready when it is shiny and can be stirred easily.
Put the popsicle sticks into the apples by the stems. Use a spoon to ladle the caramel over the apple, and swirl to completely cover the whole thing. Dip into chopped nuts or sprinkles if desired.
Let cool on parchment paper or Release foil.
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When I first heard of bacon jam, I thought it sounded pretty nuts. I didn’t know that jams could be savory and thought they were just sweet. I came across this recipe, looking for slow cooker recipes and decided to give it a try. It was really easy. I only got a cup out of it and the recipe says it makes 3 cups of this. I used my 3 quart slow cooker instead of 6 quart, because I have applesauce going in the larger one right now. The smell of applesauce cooking away, and bacon and onions makes the house smell pretty amazing.
This jam would be a really fun present to give to someone around Christmas time. It’s really good on an English muffin or crusty piece of bread. I would like to try making a grilled cheese out of this with gruyere and a couple of apple slices. That would be one awesome grilled cheese sandwich, I think.
If you don’t like the taste of coffee try using molasses or maybe some apple juice.
Here are some of my flowers from my wedding this weekend. Just thought, I’d post a picture of them because they were so beautiful!
Ingredients from Martha Stewart
1 1/2 pounds sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
2 medium yellow onions, diced small
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brewed coffee
Directions
In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet (reserve for another use); add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Add bacon and stir to combine.
Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Transfer to a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Let cool, then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks.
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I told yah, that I’d be posting some more crock pot recipes and here they are. I didn’t lie to you all. 
More to come too. I don’t know what went wrong with the crock pot apple butter recipe that I made last year?? I had sticky/messy burnt apple goo stuck to my crock pot for the longest time and it was hard to get out. I was thinking that the recipe was wrong and there was no liquid. Nope… that wasn’t it. This recipe didn’t have any liquid in it either and I was surprised after it started cooking in the crock pot how much liquid came out of the apples after mixing in the sugar. Who ever knows what happened to my crock pot the last time I tried making this, will never know.
I’ll be making some more of this, this week since I have a whole week and a half off. I’m so excited for a vacation, but it really won’t feel like one. We’ll be so busy in a couple of days that I won’t be able to put up my Halloween decorations on October 1st. Sad, story. I know. Future husband won’t even let me put them up because he thinks that it’s too early. Well then, why the heck does Wal-Mart already have Christmas trees up? That stinks.
Ingredients from allrecipes.com
5 1/2 pounds apples – peeled, cored and finely chopped
4 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
Place the apples in a slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well.
Cover and cook on high 1 hour.
Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.
Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness.
Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze.
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Fall season is when I start taking out the crock pot and start using it more. I sometimes will use it in the summer to make pulled chicken or pork. That’s it. Making some kind of stew or soup in the crock pot seems weird to me, during the summer. I don’t know why people associate crock pots with Fall or pumpkin with Fall. I think that, you can cook with your crock pot any time of year. In the summer time it’s great, because you don’t have to heat up your stove.
I’m going to try and feature some more crock pot recipes on here, since people really seem to like those recipes. Beef Stroganoff is really easy to make in the crock and the hardest thing to do was find the Golden Mushroom soup. One grocery store that I went to, didn’t have it, but another did. You could substitute ground beef instead of beef cubes if you want. I didn’t add in all the cream cheese the recipe called for, just half of it. I’d definitely make this recipe again, I can see why it had so many reviews. It’s good and easy to substitute ingredients with.
Ingredients
2 pounds cubed stew meat
2 cans Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
1 largish onion diced
2-3-4 tabls of Worcestershire (this stuff is so awesome I always add more)
1/2 water
8 oz of cream cheese (the first time I made this with just 1lb of meat I still added 8 oz’s, sshh don’t tell my lactose intolerant hubbie)
couple of dashes of Garlic Salt
couple dashes of Hot Paprika
In the slow cooker stir in all the ingredients, except the meat AND the Cream Cheese, together. Once combined add the meat and mix together.
Cook on Low for 8 hours. Cut up the cream cheese into cubes just before serving and turn crockpot on high. Stir the cream cheese in until all combined. You might have to put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.
Serve over egg noodles. Or mashed potatoes
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This dish was ok, just ok. I give a C+. I had high hopes for it, and in the end I just wasn’t satisfied. I will post the recipe on my blog still, because I think maybe there’s someone else out there that will actually like it. The house smelled really good and when I got home from work it reeked of garlic. My hands also reeked of garlic for a while too.
If I were to make this again, I’d brown the chicken in a pan first so that it looked purty. Even though it was still moist, I thought that it could have used a little brown for coloring. Brown food is good right? If you like keeping the vampires away, then make this. If you’re wondering how many garlic heads you should by, there’s about 10 in one, I ended up buying 4 of them.
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Nutrition Info: Calories 283 | Fat 11.15g | Carbohydrate 10.35g | Fiber 0.7g | Protein 34.55g
Serves 4
Points Plus: 7
Ingredients from Crepes of Wrath
3 1/2-4 pound fryer chicken (chicken cut into serving pieces)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
40 cloves of garlic, peeled but still whole (about 3 bulbs of garlic)
3/4 cup white wine (optional, but highly recommended)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon butter
1. Spray the inside of your crock pot with non-stick spray. Rub the chicken generously with salt and pepper. Place in the crock pot.
2. Heat your olive oil in a small skillet and add the peeled, whole garlic (here’s a short video demonstrating how to peel garlic easily and quickly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th1YOvG5VgQ). Cook for 5-8 minutes over medium heat until the garlic is golden, then add the white wine and stir until the liquid has mostly evaporated, another 3-5 minutes over medium heat.
3. Pour the garlic and white wine over the chicken in the crock pot, and sprinkle the thyme and rosemary over everything. Add in the bay leaf. Turn the crock pot to low and cook for 3-4 hours (I did mine for 3 1/2 hours). When ready, remove the chicken and place on a separate platter, then cover with foil to retain its heat. Set aside.
4. Pour the juices from the pot through a mesh sieve into a pot, then press the garlic through the sieve to form a paste. Cook the gravy with a tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat until slightly thickened, about 5-8 minutes. Serve over the chicken with potatoes, vegetables, or crusty bread and enjoy! Serves 3-4.
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This baby goose is hissing at me for not posting any recipes for awhile. I tried a new crock pot recipe for pork last night, but had no time to take a picture. I was at the salon for almost 3 hours getting my hair colored. By the time I got home, I was starving. If I made this glaze again, I’d cook the pork roast in the oven for however long it needed. The pork wasn’t so great and was really dry, however the glaze was really good. If you care to try the crock pot recipe, I posted that part too.
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Serves 6 to 8 people
Calories 312 | Fat 11.47g | Carbohydrate 15.5g | Fiber 0.1g | Protein 35.25g
Points Plus: 8
I love you crock pot salsa chicken, will you marry me? You’re quick and easy, and you don’t mind what I do with you. I like to make nachos with you, and cover you in cheese, sour cream, and onions. … Continue reading
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This recipe is so easy. I let the chicken defrost for a little while (not all the way) and threw all the rest of 3 the ingredients into the pot. You can’t go wrong with your favorite bottle of BBQ sauce and a can of pineapple. If you don’t like onion leave it out. That’s the only hard part to this recipe, chopping the onion.
I didn’t used to like onions myself. I liked green onions so I used those in recipes for awhile. Then I gradually started trying onions in different recipes. Roasted onions are the best, I think because they come out very sweet.
I believe there’s a whole wheat bun from Sarah Lee out there that’s only 2 points so with the bun it would a 9 point sandwich. I had some grapes with mine and it was very filling. So far I’ve lost 1.6 pounds! Only 13 left to go. 
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Calories 203 | Fat 5.05g | Carbohydrate 18.26g | Protein 19.42g | Fiber 1.2
Points Plus 5 (without bun)
Serves 12 (I had mis read my recipe for this last time and thought it had said only 8 serves, it’s actually 12) I fixed the points for this.
Ingredients adapted from the Tasty Kitchen Blog via My Retro Kitchen
3 pounds Boneless Chicken Breast, Thighs Or A Combo Of The Two
1 whole Onion (large), Sliced Into Chunks
1 can (20 Oz. Size) Pineapple, I Recommend Nibblits Or Crushed, Drained But Reserve The Juice If Using (See Note Below)
1 bottle (18 To 20 Oz. Size) BBQ Sauce Of Your Choice (Our Favorites Are Sweet Baby Ray’s Or Open Pit If We Want To Give It A Little More Of A Kick)
Hamburger Buns Or Kaiser Rolls
Directions
If you use frozen chicken, make sure it is completely defrosted. If you cook it frozen, it will indeed cook but it will make a very “wet” sauce. Place your chicken in the bottom of the crock pot. Top with onions, then pineapple. Pour the entire bottle of BBQ sauce over the whole thing.
Note: If you want a sweeter BBQ, add up to half a cup of the pineapple juice you drained, depending on how sweet you want it. This is optional.
Turn your crock pot on LOW and cook for 8–10 hours (or on HIGH for 4–6).
An hour or two before it is finished cooking, carefully remove the chicken from the crock pot and shred it using two forks. Watch out, it will be hot! Place chicken back in the crock pot and stir well to combine. Finish cooking an additional hour or two so the chicken can absorb most of the sauce. Serve on hamburger buns and top with coleslaw if desired.
Note: When I had made it with Sweet Baby Ray’s and pineapple juice, it was a very sweet Pulled Chicken. It was great, and everyone loved it. But I have to say, using Open Pit BBQ Sauce and no pineapple juice was hands down our favorite! It had just the right amount of sweet and vinegar that we love in a good BBQ.
If you are making this for kids, children tend to like the sweeter variety.