Tag Archives: CrockPot

Oct62013

Posted in CrockTober • { Recipes } • Crockpot • Pork

Moo Shoo Pork Recipe – A Month of 365 Slow Cooker Suppers

By Comments:

Moo Shoo Pork Recipe

Adapted from:  365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O’Dea

 

Crock Pot Moo Shoo Pork

Crock Pot Moo Shoo Pork

Ingredients:

2 lbs boneless pork loin, cut into 4 pieces
1 cup hoisin sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground ginger
white rice and/or corn tortillas
Cabbage Slaw:
½ head green cabbage, shredded
4 carrots, shredded
½ onion, chopped
2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 small garlic clove
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar

creamy peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame seeds, honey, olive oil, rice vinegar, sirarcha, ginger and pork

creamy peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame seeds, honey, olive oil, rice vinegar, sirarcha, ginger and pork

Directions:

  • Use a 4 quart slow cooker
  • Place the pork into the insert and add hoisin sauce, garlic and ginger
  • Using tongs, flip the pork pieces to completely cover in the sauce
  • Cover and cook on low for 8 hour, or until the pork shreds easily with two forks.
  • Meanwhile combine the slaw ingredients in a skillet over medium heat.
  • Shred the pork completely and serve in tortillas with a spoonful of cabbage slaw and a little more hoisin sauce or spoon over a bed of rice.
serve with slaw, warmed tortillas, cilantro and sirarcha

serve with slaw, warmed tortillas, cilantro and sirarcha

moo shoo pork

moo shoo pork

carrot, onion and cabbage slaw with fresh garlic and ginger

carrot, onion and cabbage slaw with fresh garlic and ginger

Stephanie’s Verdict:

“Delicious.  If you have a hard time tracking down gluten-free hoisin sauce, you can make your own.”

My Verdict:

I didn’t have hoisin sauce, so I followed Stephanie’s recipe that she included (below), and I made my own.  I didn’t have sesame oil either, so I just used a little bit of olive oil and some sesame seeds.  The recipe was really easy to put together and as it cooked, it smelt great as it was cooking.  I added a few more ingredients to the slaw (ginger, onion and garlic), but the flavors went really well together, and D.J. loved it!  The sauce was delicious, I think it was a great idea to make your own by following the recipe Stephanie provided instead of buying a store bought sauce.  I also garnished my pork with a little bit of fresh cilantro.  This meal kind of reminded me of an Asian taco – I was looking for the cheese.  I found that the pork got a little bit dry, so maybe  next time, I would buy a fattier cut of pork, or I would maybe cook the loin whole, like you would a pulled pork.  We also found it to be a little bit salty, next time I would try a low-sodium soy sauce, but overall, like Stephanie said:  Delicious!

 

Hoisin Sauce:

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sirarcha
-           whisk all ingredients together in a bowl.

Oct42013

Posted in CrockTober • { Recipes } • Crockpot • Poultry • Soups

Snowy Day Squash and Chicken Stew Recipe – A Month of 365 Slow Cooker Suppers

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Snowy Day Squash and Chicken Stew Recipe

Adapted From:  365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O’Dea

 

squash and chicken stew

squash and chicken stew

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
½ jalapeno, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
1 cup dried white beans, soaked and drained
1 cup pinto beans, soaked and drained
1 cup frozen corn
1 large can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup chicken broth

salt, pepper, chicken, tomatoes, pinto beans, white beans, squash, onion, red pepper, garlic and spices

salt, pepper, chicken, tomatoes, pinto beans, white beans, squash, onion, red pepper, garlic and spices

Directions:

  • Use a 6 quart slow cooker
  • Place the squash pieces into the insert and add the onion, chicken, peppers and garlic
  • Sprinkle in all of the seasoning, salt and pepper and stir well
  • Add beans, corn and tomatoes.
  • Stir in the broth.

    mix all of the ingredients together

    mix all of the ingredients together

  • Cover and cook on low for 10 hours or high for 6 hours.
  • Stir before serving and garnish with a little bit of parmesan cheese.

Stephanie’s Verdict:

“This is a great stew to come home to after a day out in the cold – it’ll warm you up without weighing you down – allowing plenty of room for seconds and thirds.  This makes a lot, but freezes and reheats beautifully.”

My Verdict:

This dish took a little bit longer to put together than the others that I have made so far – but only about ten to fifteen minutes.  I would suggest prepping everything the night before while you’re preparing your beans to be soaked, so that all you have to do is dump the ingredients into the crockpot and turn it on.  Stephanie’s original recipe calls for canned beans, canned corn and Rotel tomatoes.  I didn’t have any of that on hand, so I substituted with the dried beans, regular tomatoes and a jalapeno and some frozen corn.

This dish was perfect to make today, because we woke up to snow!  Snow in October…oy!  Thank you Colorado!  I originally didn’t have this dish on my menu of recipes to cook through in 365 Slow Cooker Suppers, but the snow, and the name of the recipe just called out to me to SLOW cook it.

The flavors in this dish were so complex.  It was sweet, and smoky and even a little spicy, and definitely warmed me from the inside out.  Like Stephanie said, it was very light, so I was able to eat and not feel like I ate a brick after.  This was a great meal for a cold day.

 

Oct32013

Posted in CrockTober • { Recipes } • Soups

Vegetarian 16 Bean Soup Recipe – A Month of 365 Slow Cooker Suppers

By Comments:2 Comments

Vegetarian 16-Bean Soup Recipe

Adapted from:  365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O’Dea

Vegetarian 16-Bean Soup Recipe adapted from 365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O'Dea

Vegetarian 16-Bean Soup Recipe adapted from 365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O’Dea

Ingredients:

1 – 16 oz pkg 16 bean soup mix, soaked over night
1 – 14.5 oz can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 bay leaves
8 cups vegetable broth

Directions:

  • Use a 6-quart slow cooker
  • Open the bean package and discard the included flavor packet
  • Soak the beans overnight in water to cover, and then discard the water.
  • Place the drained beans into the insert
  • Add the entire can of tomatoes, the onion, garlic and spices.
  • Stir in vegetable broth
  • Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or until the beans have reached desired thickness.
  • If you’d like you can smash the beans with a potato masher to make the broth thicker

Stephanie’s Verdict:

“This smoke, delicious bean soup is light in calories and quite filling.  I like to eat it for lunch – this soup freezes and reheats well (you may need to thin it with a bit of water because the beans swell).”

My Verdict:

First of all, this soup was extremely easy to put together.  I like to prep my veggies early in the week, so all I have to do is grab and go for dinner; so all I had to do for this soup was open up a can of tomatoes, and toss in the veggies and spices.  For the beans, I used a 10-Bean soup mix because I didn’t have a 16 bean mix on hand.  The differences are subtle, mostly just the addition of more white beans, and different sized beans.  As the soup cooked, the whole house smelt absolutely amazing.  I couldn’t wait to eat.  I topped my soup with just a little grated parmesan cheese, and when I took that first bite, I felt like I was stepping into autumn.  This soup was so warm, and comforting and bursting with flavor.  The beans still had a little bite to them, which I really enjoy.  I cannot wait to have this soup for lunch for the next couple days.  Again, Stephanie created an amazing recipe that I will definitely be adding to my repertoire.

Oct22013

Posted in CrockTober • { Recipes } • Crockpot • Poultry

Sesame Honey Chicken Recipe – A Month of 365 Slow Cooker Suppers

By Comments:1 Comment

I’m cooking my way through Stephanie O’Dea’s new book 365 Slow Cooker Suppers.  Today, I made my first slow cooker meal for the month, and made Sesame Honey Chicken.  It was simple to make and absolutely delicious!

Sesame Honey Chicken Recipe

Adapted from:  365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O’Dea

Sesame Honey Chicken; recipe adapted from 365 Slow Cooker Suppers

Sesame Honey Chicken; recipe adapted from 365 Slow Cooker Suppers

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2-inch pieces (original recipe calls for chicken thighs)
1 cup honey
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup ketchup
6 garlic cloves, diced
2 ½ tsp sesame seeds, divided
1 green onion, sliced

Directions:

  • Use a 4-quart slow cooker.
  • Put the chicken into the insert, and then add the honey, soy sauce, ketchup, garlic and 2 tsp of the sesame seeds.
sesame honey chicken ingredients

sesame honey chicken ingredients

chicken in sesame honey sauce

chicken in sesame honey sauce

  • Stir well.
  • Cover, and cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.
  • Stir in the remaining ½ tsp of sesame seeds and the sliced green onion.
  • Leave the lid off and heat on high for 30 minutes before serving over a bed of white rice.

Stephanie’s Verdict:

“Sweet and sticky – just like it should be.  My kids could eat this 24/7; it’s one of their absolute favorites.  I’ve switched it up and used chopped pecans or almonds instead of the sesame seeds and that also goes over really well.”

My Verdict:

This recipe was extremely easy to put together.  I had all of the ingredients already in my pantry, and I was able to prepare the meal in five minutes which is great for the morning.  By the time my coffee was done brewing, I was done measuring, chopping, pouring and all cleaned up.  Instead of white rice, we served the chicken over a mix of brown and black rice.  I can see why Stephanie used chicken thighs in the recipe, because the chicken breast was a little dry.  However, the flavor was absolutely amazing.  Like Stephanie said in her verdict, it was sweet and sticky.  The greatest part of this recipe was the fact that Anthony devoured it.  Two year olds can be picky little eaters, and he LOVED this meal.  I will definitely make this meal again – but next time with the thighs.  Thank you, Stephanie for making our first meal from your new book an incredible one!

Anthony eating Sesame Honey Chicken

Anthony eating Sesame Honey Chicken

Join me as I cook my way through this new cook book for CrockTober, and join in the fun on Twitter  by using the hashtag #365slowcooker and following Stephanie O’Dea @StephanieODea

365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O'Dea

365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O’Dea

Oct22013

Posted in Blog • CrockTober • features

Slow Cooker Suppers – Slow Cooking My Way Through 365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O’Dea – A Month of CrockPot Recipes

By Comments:2 Comments

Last week I received a digital copy of Stephanie O’Dea’s new book,

365 Slow Cooker Suppers.

I was ecstatic when I got the book and couldn’t wait to get slow cookin’!

read more

Sep222013

Posted in { Recipes } • Potatoes, Grains & More

Recipe: Potatoes, Grains & More – CrockPot Refried Beans

By Comments:3 Comments

crockpotrefriedbeansIngredients:

2 cups pinto beans, soaked overnight and drained
1 cup black beans, soaked overnight and drained (or use all pinto beans)
6 cups water
1 tbsp cumin
1 clove garlic

Directions:

  1. Place all ingredients in crockpot and stir
  2. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
  3. Remove garlic clove from crock pot and disgard.
  4. Drain ¾ of the remaining water into a separate container
  5. Using a potato masher, smash beans to desired consistency, adding remaining water as needed.
  6. Serve warm as a side dish, or use in burritos or tostadas.

Sep92013

Featured • Posted in features • { Recipes } • Crockpot • Kid Approved • Tart, Pie & Fruit Desserts

Recipe: Tart Pie & Fruit Desserts – Crockpot Apple Sauce

By Comments:3 Comments

crock pot apple sauceIngredients:

2 lb apples, peeled and cored
2 tbsp brown sugar or honey
¼ cup water
2 tsp cinnamon, oprional

Directions:

  1. Cut apples into big chunks and place in crock pot
  2. Add honey or brown sugar, cinnamon (if using) and water and give a quick stir
  3. Turn crock pot on low and cook for 8 hours
  4. Once cooked, used an immersion blender, and puree to desired texture.