Crock Pot Love ~ Six Great Crock Pot Meals

Reasons why I love my crock pot:
1. It's one dish.
2. It's easy.
3. It makes my house smell good.
4. Great leftovers.
5. Great for feeding crowds.
6. Wonderful comfort food.
7. I can make it in the morning, and forget about it!
8. Meat is tender and cooked just right!
9. The flavors!
10. I haven't had a complete flop with the crock pot!

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: 

GET SOME! Crock Pot liners are the best invention! It makes clean up so easy! No more soaking or scrubbing, just throw it away! They are found next to the foil. 

Here are some of my favorite recipes: 

Pot Roast 

Spaghetti Sauce

Corned Beef

BBQ Pulled Pork ( you can turn this into tacos! or enchiladas!)

Chili

Jambalaya

I'm working on 2 more... stay tuned!

Halloween Chili

For Halloween, the neighbors and I gathered to pass out candy to all 22 Trick-or-Treaters.  I made us chili for dinner.  When I make chili, I sorta make it up. This Chili Seasoned Ground Pork with Jalapenos was my inspiration this time! Don't laugh at some of the ingredients... I'm not sure where the beer came from. I also had a request from Mary Anne, NO beans, I didn't totally listen! Jay, this one is for you, so you can make your own chili! :) 

Ingredients: 

1 pound ground beef

1 pound HyVee Chili Seasoned Ground Pork with Jalapenos

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 poblano peppers, diced

1 can kidney beans, drained

1 can tomato sauce

1 can corn

1 28 oz can whole tomatoes

2 T Chili 9000 spice from Penzeys

1 t chili powder

1 can beer (I used Schlitz Tall Boy)

Directions: 

Cook ground beef and pork, until browned. 

Add onion and peppers and cook for 2-3 more minutes. 

Add meat and veggies to the crock pot. Add all remaining ingredients. 

Cook on low for 2-3 hours. 

Crock Pot Decorations

The school chili cook off is today. I am making this chili. I hope it's a winner!

In order to get all of our belongings back, they ask that we label everything. I whipped up these on my Silhouette!

On a side note these are the best invention. Quick and easy crock pot clean up.

Chicken Chili

This chili is one of the easiest ever! Most of it involves opening a can and dumping it. If your name is Jessica Smith, the whole thing involves opening a can and dumping it in, more on that later!

I got this recipe from Niki, a colleague at Pawnee. Not only is she a great teacher, she is funny, stylish, and has such a huge heart for her students.  I think the original email that she shared with us, said I'm almost embarrassed to share this with you, because it is so easy! 

I have made this for new moms, Grey's dinner, and shared it with my friends who don't like to cook. It freezes great too!

So here it is.....

Niki Neal’s Chicken Chili

• 1 can chili Ro-tel
• 1 can Mexican Ro-tel with cilantro
• 3 cans of any white bean (pinto, butter, navy, great northern etc…) Drained
• 1 rotisserie chicken (Jess likes to use canned chicken, because it is easy. She LOVES her canned chicken!)
• 1 can of Stagg chili*…this adds thickness.

Mix together and simmer for 30 minutes. SO easy!! Serve with sour cream, cheese, and any other chili toppings you like.  This chili is kind of spicy! 

*Stagg Chili is the chili in the can, if you can't find Stagg any bean-less canned chili will do!

Poblano-Italian Sausage Chili

It was a cold rainy day in September and I wanted chili & cornbread for dinner.  It just so happened that a new issue of Cooking Light was in my mailbox that day with a new chili recipe to try! We had almost everything we needed to make it, except for the peppers, beans, and cilantro.  So we ran up to the Mexi Chopper and spent $6.55 (we bought jalapenos for cornbread & chocolate chunks for cookies too!).  I love going to the Mexi Chopper for peppers and produce because it is so cheap! Cilantro was $0.50 and the peppers were $1.00.

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
8 oz chicken/pork mild Italian sausage with casings removed
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 poblano chilies, seeded and finely chopped
1 bay leaf
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken stock, divided
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes, not drained
1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup light sour cream

*Adapted from Cooking Light- they call for a different kind of sausage, and salt free everything

Directions: 

1. Heat a large pan with canola oil.  Add onion & garlic and saute

 2. Remove casings from sausage, add sausage to pan.

 3. Stir in chili powder, oregano, cumin, poblanos, and bay leaf.  (Poblanos are big and green peppers, they took a while to dice! Thanks Erica!)

4. Cook until sausage is browned, stirring to crumble sausage. 

5. Add 1 cup stock, tomatoes, and beans.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 25 minutes. 

6. Combine flour and 2 tablespoons of chicken stock, stirring with a whisk to form a slurry. 

Note: I used context clues and prior knowledge to figure out that word, but in case you were wondering it is defined as  semiliquid mixture, typically of fine particles of manure, cement, or coal, and water. I also used a spoon instead of a whisk, because I didn't want to dirty another dish.

7. Add slurry to chili, stirring with a whisk.  Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute or until thickened.  Remove from heat; stir in cilantro and black pepper. Discard bay leaf and serve with sour cream. 

Serve with cornbread! We added jalapenos and Mexican cheese to the Jiffy Mix.