Slow-cooker recipes offer easy weeknight meals
Sometimes the same, old stove-top recipes get a little boring
and it’s hard to have time to cook a meal that requires a lot of
oven or simmering time on a weekday. But for anyone with a slow
cooker, it’s a versatile cooking method that allows users to put a
lot of ingredients in a pot before they leave for work so that when
they return, it’s all cooked up to perfection.
Slow-cooker recipes offer easy weeknight meals
Sometimes the same, old stove-top recipes get a little boring and it’s hard to have time to cook a meal that requires a lot of oven or simmering time on a weekday. But for anyone with a slow cooker, it’s a versatile cooking method that allows users to put a lot of ingredients in a pot before they leave for work so that when they return, it’s all cooked up to perfection.
When I was a kid, my mom’s main crock pot dishes included a chuck roast with spaghetti sauce, and a chuck roast cooked with beef broth and vegetables. But the crock pot can be used for much more than that as I’ve discovered in recent years.
The one thing we look for is recipes that can be cooked on low for about eight hours, since that’s about the time between when I leave for work and the first person arrives home in the afternoon. That person gets the duty of taste testing the meal and deciding if it needs any more cook time. Most of the time the meal is done and is set on warm so that it stays hot for the last person who arrives home from work. It was a great option for the chile chicken tacos we cooked last week. We used boneless, skinless chicken tenders, which my mom shredded with a fork to mix in with the rest of the ingredients. The result was a flavorful meat and vegetable filling that tasted slow simmered without all the work of cooking it in a pot.
Another day in recent weeks, my mom tried a Cajun dish of jambalaya. I’ve never made it from scratch because stews sometimes take a lot of time. We did make some changes to the recipe, eliminating the shrimp, and since the grocery store didn’t have andouille sausage, we used a tomato basil one. The stew cooked up all day, and the only thing we had to do before eating was cook up a quick pot of white rice.
The last recipe is a twist on a traditional pot roast with vegetables. The A.1. sauce adds a tangy, sweet flavor to the mix and vegetables that came out perfectly tender.
Slow-cooker chile chicken tacos
Recipe courtesy of Pillsbury.com
Prep time: 15 min.
Total time: 7 hours 30 minutes
Makes 12
1 ¼ lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (boneless, skinless chicken breast can be substituted)
1 envelope (1-oz) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix
1 tbsp. packed brown sugar
1 can (4.5 ounces) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles
1 c. Green Giant® Niblets® frozen corn (from 1-pound bag), thawed
1 can (10 ounces) Old El Paso® enchilada sauce
4 medium green onions, sliced (1/4 cup)
1 package (4.6 ounces) Old El Paso® taco shells, warmed if desired
3 c. shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped (3/4 c.)
Spray 3- to 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place chicken thighs in cooker. Sprinkle with taco seasoning mix and brown sugar; toss to coat. Mix in green chiles, corn and 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce. Refrigerate remaining enchilada sauce.
Cover and cook on Low heat setting 6 to 7 hours.
Place chicken on cutting board; use 2 forks to pull chicken into shreds. Return chicken to cooker. Stir in green onions. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 15 minutes.
Heat remaining enchilada sauce. Serve chicken mixture in taco shells with lettuce, tomatoes and warm enchilada sauce.
Nutrition Information:1 Serving (1 Taco); Calories 170, (Calories from Fat 60);Total Fat 7g, (Saturated Fat 1 1/2g, Trans Fat 1g); Cholesterol 30mg; Sodium 310mg; Total Carbohydrate 16g, (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 4g); Protein 12g
Slow cooker jambalaya
Recipe courtesy of Robin Miller
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 lb andouille sausage, diced
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 c. reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. Cajun or Creole seasoning
1 tsp. hot sauce
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 lb. frozen peeled and cooked shrimp, thawed
2 c. cooked rice
In a slow cooker, combine chicken, sausage, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, and chicken broth. Stir in oregano, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, bay leaves, and thyme.
Cover, and cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours. Stir in the thawed shrimp, cover and cook until the shrimp is heated through, about 5 minutes. Discard bay leaves and spoon mixture over cooked rice.
Slow-cooker pot roast
Recipe courtesy of Kraft
1/2 c. A.1. Original Steak Sauce
1/2 c. water
1 pkg. (0.9 oz.) onion-mushroom soup mix
1 boneless beef chuck eye roast (2-1/2 lb.)
1 lb. baby red potatoes
1 pkg. (1 lb.) baby carrots
1 onion, thickly sliced
Mix A.1. sauce, water and onion-mushroom soup mix.
Place meat in slow cooker. Top with vegetables and sauce; cover.
Cook on low eight to nine hours (or on high six to seven hours).
