Crockpot BEEF STEW

How wonderful would it be to throw everything in the crockpot before you go to work, and come home to a house filled with wonderful aromas and dinner already finished?? This is a great recipe (one of the family favorites)...especially in the winter!

** DISCLAIMER: All of my crockpot recipes are prepared to fit a 6 qt. pot...you may choose to lessen the amount of each ingredient in order to make things FIT!

Ingredients:

3lbs. beef stew meat (diced into 3/4 inch cubes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons of oil
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
3-4 small red potatoes (quartered)
1/2 medium sized onion sliced
2 - 1lb pkg of fresh baby carrots
2 - 12 oz. jars of beef gravy
1 - large can of diced tomatoes (undrained)
1/2 cup cold water

Directions:

Place the flour, salt and pepper into a large ziplock bag and toss stew meat until well coated. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add coated beef and stir for about 5 minutes until browned. Set aside.

Layer potatoes, onions and carrots in the crockpot. Add browned meat and any leftover flour mixture. Top with gravy and tomatoes.

Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 10 hours. About 10 minutes before serving, blend water and 3 tablespoons of flour until smooth....stir into stew. Increase heat setting to high, cover and cook an additional 10 minutes or until thickened.

This dish goes well with a small dinner salad and warm sourdough bread with butter.

Cake mix cookies

This is one of my FAVORITE recipes because it's quick and SUPER easy to make...

Ingredients:

1 box of cake mix*
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients well - it'll be a little gummy. Drop teaspoons of dough on an ungreased** cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes (do NOT over bake). Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes, then place on a wire rack. Cookies will be completely cool in 30 minutes. Store TIGHTLY covered.

*Get creative with the cake flavors. Lemon is my personal favorite for this cookie, but you can also try yellow cake and chocolate chips, spice cake, german chocolate (just top with a little german chocolate frosting for a yummy treat.)

**To help with the mess that baking usually creates, try lining parchment paper on the cookie sheet (creates less mess, nothing sticks and if following the directions properly - NO BURNT COOKIES!)

BBQ Pulled Pork - BBQ in the winter!!

**This recipe requires a crockpot.**

Ingredients:

3-5 lbs. boneless pork shoulder (the leaner the better)
1 can of beef broth
1 teaspoon of liquid smoke
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (maybe 2 depending on your taste)

Directions:

Place meat in the crockpot first. Pour entire can of broth over meat. Add liquid smoke into the broth (not directly on meat). Cook on LOW for 6-10 hours depending on tenderness preference. (I cook it for 10 hours overnight).

When the meat is finished cooking, pull from the broth (disgard fluid) and with 2 forks separate meat in a shredding fashion. Put the meat BACK into the empty crockpot and pour in BBQ sauce. Mix well until meat is saturated. Set the crockpot to HIGH for another hour.

Spoon meat into large buns and serve with your favorite BBQ side dishes. Enjoy!

Green Chile Quiche

This is one of my favorites! I know 8 eggs sounds like a lot, but when you think a quiche can yield maybe 6 "nice sized" slices, its not as bad as it sounds! Most quiche recipes call for heavy whipping cream, but for this recipe - 2 cups of heavy whipping cream alone (in lieu of 1 c. sour cream and 1 c. half & half) equals 1580 calories (and that's not including the eggs, pie crust and cheese). Make it on Sunday...freeze one (they freeze well) and take a slice to work each day for breakfast (or lunch). Enjoy!


INGREDIENTS:

2 frozen pie crusts (not the deep dish ones)
8 LARGE Eggs (beaten)
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded
1 cup Chedder Cheese, shredded
1 cup fat free sour cream
1 cup of half & half
1 small can mild diced Green Chiles

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425. DO NOT THAW PIE CRUSTS PRIOR TO BAKING!! Combine all ingredients and evenly fill both pie crusts. Place on center rack and bake at 425 for 8 minutes. Turn oven down to 325 and bake for 45-50 minutes. Crust should be golden and quiche is done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Wait 10 minutes prior to cutting.

Gumbo

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - chopped
1/2 pound pork sausage links, thinly sliced
1 cup olive oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 quarts chicken broth
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
6 stalks celery, diced
4 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1 sweet onion, sliced
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, with liquid
2 tablespoons chopped fresh red chile peppers
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup Cajun seasoning
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

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MY CROCKPOT VERSION (6 qt): I modified this recipe to fit my crockpot, budget and taste (even though I wasn't gonna eat any).

2 lbs. boneless chicken leg meat (dark meat holds more flavor)
1 rope of Hillshire Farm Beel Kielbasa
1 lb. cooked shrimp (too lazy for dealing with fresh)
1 WHOLE shallot (because I'm allergic to garlic)
1/2 medium onion (sliced)
2 qts. chicken broth (2 - 32oz. containers of Swanson Chicken Broth)
1 - 12 oz. bottle of Heineken (DO NOT USE Old English or St. Ides!)
4 celery stalks
2 roma tomatoes
1 bunch of parsley (rince and finely chop the top off)
1 - 10 oz. can of diced tomatoes with green chiles
4 tablespoons of Old Bay seasoning (because I wasn't paying $7 for cajon spice)

The roux:

1 cup of olive oil
1 cup of flour


After I made the roux, I put everything in the crockpot EXCEPT the shrimp (which I added LAST) because it was already cooked. Set to HIGH for 6 hours (my crockpot has time settings). Top it off with some gumbo filet and a bit of season salt when its finished.

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STOVE TOP DIRECTIONS:

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat, and cook chicken until no longer pink and juices run clear. Stir in sausage, and cook until evenly browned. Drain chicken and sausage, and set aside.

In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, blend olive oil and flour to create a roux. Stir constantly until browned and bubbly. Mix in garlic, and cook about 1 minute.

Gradually stir chicken broth and beer into the roux mixture. Bring to a boil, and mix in celery, tomatoes, sweet onion, diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, red chile peppers, parsley, and Cajun seasoning. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer about 40 minutes, stirring often.

Mix chicken, sausage, and shrimp into the broth mixture. Cook, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes.