slow cooker

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas – SRC

February 23, 2015

I have major Wanderlust right now.

I don’t have the kind of life style that lets me travel as much as I would like, but I love to daydream that I could. I think that scrapbooker & designer Kelly Purkey leads such an adventurous life with all of her travels. I love to read her blog and check out what she is up to. You know when you type in the address bar and Google provides you with suggestions from previous seraches? Well, when I type in ‘K’ her blog comes up. Yeah, I guess I go there often…

Thankfully, I have a trip planned just next month to visit my best friend in Seattle. I seriously can’t wait to go. I haven’t seen her since she visited at Christmas a few weeks after Autumn was born. I miss her terribly ever since she moved away to Seattle, but knowing that she loves it there at least helps lessen the blow. Plus, it means I get to travel to see her!! We are going to cram so much damn stuff in that long weekend. Oh, and the food! And the drinks. I can’t even…

Anyway, back to reality…

I’m sharing such a wonderful, simple recipe today as it is my monthly Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day. I just love SRC as it gives me a little bit of an adventure to check out someone’s blog to make a recipe. Searching their blog for a recipe is like searching yelp for a great restaurant. It’s just a blast, I ask myself “I am in the mood for chicken? a dessert? a dip? should I make osmething with a slow cooker?” just like how you ask yourself ‘hmm, Chinese or pizza tonight.”

This month I took the slow cooker route with these Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas from Fantastical Sharing.

I was given Sarah’s blog this month. Sara is such a rock star with her role in Secret Recipe Club as a group organizer. She is so well organized, friendly, and just all around amazing. Sarah also has a blog full of recipes. FULL of recipes.

Plus, Sarah is due any day now!! I am so freaking excited for her. Her son Mason will be here soon enough.

I bookmarked so many recipes to consider, such as these Crock Pot Baked Potatoes, Dulce De Leche Cheesecake Bars, Kahlua Cake, and Buffalo Chicken Chili. I’m still determined to make those Dulce De Leche Cheesecake Bars!!

Ultimately, I picked this recipe because it was a Whole30 recipe! YAY! It made such great tacos. Plus, it was super simple. Which is fantastic all around, but made for such a great ‘cooking’ experience. I am getting burned out from all this Whole30 cooking. It just never ends! I want take out!! But this was refreshing as it took about 2 minutes to throw together. For real. Chop an onion, open cans, combine it all in a slow cooker.

This recipe is perfect when you know are gonna have a crazy day and need to get dinner on the table quickly. It will have everyone asking for more too!!

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

2 pork tenderloins (1 lb. each)
1 jar salsa verde
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can diced green chilies
1 white onion, chopped into

Process

Place all of the ingredients in slow cooker. Cook for 8-10 hours on LOW.
Shred with two forks. Drain off excess juices if you would like. Enjoy in tacos, with rice, or on baked potatoes.

Sourced from Fantastical Sharing

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Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts this month!

And be sure to check out my 3 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

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Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce with Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

November 6, 2014

It snowed this past Sunday. #snovember

It’s the first week of November and I’m already over the winter. Done with it. But sadly it is not done tormenting me.

While I’ve written about how we are trying to eat more Paleo meals- meaning no pasta- I couldn’t resist making a big batch of sauce and some meatballs to enjoy with some – gasp- pasta!!! Sure, we could have had some spaghetti squash but I just couldn’t resist some stick to your bones food on the first day of snow.

And you know, what… it was damn good!!!

Maybe it’s my Italian half shouting from the roof tops but nothing beats homemade marinara sauce and meatballs. Seriously. Oh man, and to dip pieces of Italian bread into the pot of sauce… bliss. I think I just caught myself drooling a bit.

Side note- Autumn loves pasta and sauce. But I was working on making some garlic bread and gave her some bread that I dipped into the sauce for her. I turned back to my task at hand and .2 seconds later I hear her babbling away. The bread was gone! She just inhaled it and wanted more fast. In the end she ate a decent amount of bread with marinara sauce. Makes a mama proud!

Well, look no further than this recipe the next time you are craving some spaghetti with meatballs. Grab some Red Pack and get ready for an awesome meal. The marinara takes about 10 minutes of active cooking time and then you get to forget about it for the rest of the time.

The recipe below says to cook it for 6-7 hours total but if you can adjust your slow cooker to go at a lower temperature then you can extend that cooking time to 8+ so that you can prepare it and set it up right before going to work and then it will be ready for you when you get home.

And the meatballs are the coolest! They are stuffed with a mozzarella ball so when you cut them open you get some warm ooey gooey cheese that comes flowing out. Like lava, but you’d like this kind of lava. They might look intimidating to make but they take about an extra 15-20 seconds to make each one compared to regular meatballs. That tiny bit extra effort is so worth it.

I might just be able to survive this winter.

At least I’ll have some more marinara that I can easily prepare in the morning and it will be all ready when I get home. It will be so delightful to come up to a great smelling house and freshly made marinara.

Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce with Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

For the marinara sauce

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
(28 ounce) can Redpack® Crushed Tomatoes In Thick Puree
(28 ounce) can Redpack® Tomato Sauce
(6 ounce) can Redpack® Tomato Paste
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1 Teaspoon black pepper
1 Teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 Cup water

For the meatballs

2 pounds turkey or lean ground beef (I used a blend)
1/2 Cup instant oatmeal
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 eggs, beaten
8 ounces small fresh mozzarella balls
2 Tablespoons olive oil

Process

To make the sauce, heat the extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Saute the onion and garlic until tender and translucent. Add all of the sauce ingredients to the slow cooker vessel that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Stir to combine. Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours.
When your sauce has 1 hour of cooking remaining, begin to prepare your meatballs. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the meatball ingredients besides the mozzarella balls and the olive oil. Divide the meat mixture into 8 equal portions, then take each of those potions and divide into 2 to create 16 equal portions. Scoop up 1 portion, flatten out the ball to form a patty in the palm of your hand, place a mozzarella ball in the center and then evenly close up the meatball mixture around the cheese. Aside and repeat for all the meatballs.
In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. In small batches brown all the sides of the meatballs. Be very gentle when flipping as you don’t want to break up the meatballs. Once the meatballs are evenly browned, add them to the slow cooker and continue to cook until the sauce is done.
Serve with 1 pound of the pasta of your choice.

Adapted from Red Pack

This post is sponsored by Red Pack. I received product from Red Pack to make a recipe of my choosing. All opinions are my own.

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And now the GIVEAWAY!!

You can win a Red Pack gift pack that contains (2) 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes and (1) 28oz can of Red Pack sauce, wooden spoon, tote bag and recipe cards.

*You just have to leave a comment to the blog post. Write whatever you want. Simple as that!

To get an extra entry then tweet the following & come back here and leave another comment telling me you did.

“Enjoy!!! Slow Cooker Marinara Sauce with Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs & WIN @RedGoldTomatoes prize pack! http://wp.me/pzEAP-4Wh #giveaway”

Also, check out their Facebook page because they are giving away 2 slow cookers every day until Nov 12th. EVERY DAY!!! Plus there is a grand prize at the end too! One lucky winner will win a Slow Cooker grand prize package that includes a state-of-the-art slow cooker, a serving and braising tongs (total prize value estimated at $330).

See, they just really want to have everyone have a slow cooker so people can have a hot meal waiting after a busy school/work day. There are so many great soups, stews and casserole recipes they have on their site that you can enjoy too!

Slow Cooker Italian Style Cheesecake

February 24, 2014

Oh another Monday. I hate to see the weekends go. They always go by way too fast. Just 2 days to savor the time off from work, for all 3 of us to hang out, to relax or power through the to-do list… ah just 2 days. But the hardest part now is accepting that with every Monday it means Autumn is another week older. Gah! Stop growing up so fast!!

Anyway, today is the day for my monthly Secret Recipe Club post!

When I received my assignment I immediately picked out the Slow Cooker Italian Style Cheesecake that Dena had featured on her blog, Oh, You Cook!. When I read it I was intrigued about the idea of making a cheesecake in a slow cooker.

As well, I couldn’t resist an Italian style cheesecake. It’s very different compared to cheesecakes made with cream cheese, but just as good. Since it’s base is made of ricotta it reminds me of the ricotta pies, which always reminds me of my paternal grandparents. We’d enjoy ricotta pie during the holidays at their house in New Jersey. So this was a fun way to enjoy flavors similar to ricotta pie right at home.

So here is the thing, I procrastinate A LOT. So I made this recipe this weekend (and promptly inhaled it) since I waited to the last minute. (sigh!) But it was then when I realized that I didn’t have a 6″ spring-form pan. (ruh-roh!) I didn’t have time to order a 6″ pan so I had to improve and used for mini loaf pans. Then I figured out that only 2 would fit in the slow cooker. (ugh!) Well, I was going to do the cheesecake batches back to back but then I decided to conduct a little experiment and do 2 loaves in the slow cooker and 2 in the oven. Oh my gosh! Big difference! The slow cooker method was lighter in color and lighter in texture as well. I am definitely going to be making cheesecake in a slow cooker whenever possible from now on.

Go to Dena’s blog to see all the other wonderful recipes she has made. As well, she has a cookbook too! Umm, so cool!!! Something to check out if you are looking for slowcooker meals that are Kosher. Would make for a great gift for the foodie in your life.

Slow Cooker Italian Style Cheesecake

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients

1 (15 oz.) container of ricotta cheese, room temperature
6 oz (approx. 1 cup) ground almonds
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons honey
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 Tablespoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds (for garnish)

Process

Place the ricotta in a colander lined with several layers of paper towels over a bowl or in your sink. Cover with another paper towel and weigh down with a bowl. Let drain for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix together the ground almonds and butter in a small bowl.
Spray a 6 inch spring-form pan (or a similarly sized pan lined with foil or 4 mini loaf pans) with the cooking spray. Press the almond mixture onto the bottom and up the sides. Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the drained ricotta, sugar, honey, eggs, vanilla, corn starch, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt until completely smooth. Pour into the prepared pan.
Pour the cup of water into the bottom of a 4 or 6-quart slow cooker. Place a heat-safe trivet or 3 wadded-up balls of aluminum foil in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the pan onto the trivet or balls of aluminum. If using the foil balls, press the pan down to leveling balls and pan.
Cover and cook on low for 2 hours. Turn off the slow cooker and let the cheesecake at and steam for 80-90 minutes with the lid on, or until the center is firm. Remove the cheesecake from the slow cooker and garnish with the sliced almonds.

Sourced from Oh. you Cook!

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Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts this month!

Check out my 2 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

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Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

February 20, 2014

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Balsamic Pork Tenderloin – a sugary tangy twist on a classic piece of pork that you can start after lunch and enjoy for dinner

This has become one of my favorite slow cooker recipes.

And I use my slow cooker a lot. Umm, a lot a lot. Like I’m posting 2 back-to-back slow cooker recipes because my slow cooker is my new best friend.

Well that is life now, lots of freezer meals and using my slow cooker all the time. Hey, it works and it keeps things sane at night as we are settling into the schedule of things starting when I pick Autumn up by 5, Price getting home around 6.15 and a whole mess of things like taking care of the dog and baby, eating, pumping, cleaning, showers, and next day prep before going to bed before 10-10.30.

So this recipe was great before but now it’s even better because of how it makes things easy for dinner on the weekend and how we get to enjoy the leftovers during the week.

Plus, once you make something that is so good it’s hard to shake. It’s just that the layers of flavor on the pork tenderloin is so dang good. The combination of the spicy, savory, sweet, and salty flavors just work so well. Well, I’ve tweaked it enough to find the perfect combination at this point.

This pork tenderloin recipe is the 2nd to last post missing from my Sprint Cup Snacks series. When I was trying to think of yet another recipe to signify Virginia for the last race held there I was starting to get stumped. Seriously NASCAR, 4 races in Virgina?!?! Trying to kill me?!?! ha! Well, the Ham and Cheese Sliders I shared for the first race held at Martinsville Speedway were a HUGE hit. One of the most popular posts from last year. So I was thinking along those lines and ended up with another pork recipe to share.

I hope that you’ll try this recipe and fall in love with it as much as I have.

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Makes 12 servings

Ingredients

6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
1 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth or water
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 1/2- 3 lbs of pork tenderloins

Process

Combine the garlic, mustard, brown sugar, Worcestershire Sauce, balsamic vinegar, water, and pepper together.
Place the pork tenderloins into a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Then pour the mixture over the pork tenderloins.
Cook on high for 4 hours. Flip the pork half way through the cooking process (but if you’re not around it’s not a big deal). Remove from slow cooker and enjoy!

The Simplest Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

February 19, 2014

Besides the cheeseburger (and Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich), I think the a pulled pork sandwich is one of the best warm sandwiches out there. Load tons of saucy pulled pork between 2 buns and I am a happy girl. So happy. Pharrel William’s Happy.

A pulled pork sandwich can be as simple as slapping some pulled pork between two slices of thick white bread before you sloppily dive in. Or a pile of pulled pork can be loaded up with a vinegary crunchy slaw and topped off with a toasted seeded bun. Either way, you are going to be satisfied and happy.

And that is why Price makes us pulled pork pretty regularly. Maybe, every 6 weeks. We spy the meat department for sales on pork butt/pork shoulders and grab them up when there is a great deal. And then have delicious meals for a few lunches and dinners. And maybe even breakfast since adding pulled pork to some hash browns and throwing an over easy egg on top is a killer brunchy meal.

This is one of those recipes that isn’t really a recipe, which is why I haven’t actually shared it before, although we eat it ALL THE TIME. Just 3 things. That is all you need. Perfect kind of ‘recipe’ to me… pork butt, beer, and BBQ sauce. And you can’t really get bored eating it as you can change it up every time! Use a different beer (or if you don’t drink beer then use soda- Dr Pepper is pretty good in it) or a different BBQ sauce. Sometimes I combine a few different BBQ sauces. We typically have like 6 different BBQ sauces open at any given time so I often combine some favorites (Dinosaur BBQ’s, Sweet Baby Ray’s, anyone of Kraft‘s sauces) to create the ultimate smokey, honey, spicy sauce. Or a spicy, mustardy, tangy sauce. Or a hot, sweet, peppery sauce. Well, you get the picture…

But here I go finally sharing a favorite of ours as wrap up the (sadly) overlooked last races of my Sprint Cup Snacks series. I was thinking this would be a perfect dish to make for NASCAR’s second race held at Talladega Superspeedway. The second race of the season is held in October and I think we’re all really starting to crave some easy, comforting meals as the weather starts to get cooler. Well, it might not be that cold in Alabama then but at least the October race is cooler than May race (when I shared awesome BBQ Chip Shake and Bake Drumsticks). to be honest, this recipe is great year round so just dig in and enjoy!

The Simplest Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Makes 10-12 servings (sandwiches)

Ingredients

6-8 pound pork butt
1 12-ounce beer, such as a Stout or an IPA
1 18-ounce bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Process

Place the pork butt in a 5+ quart slow cooker.
Pour the beer over the pork butt. Then slather the pork butt with just enough BBQ sauce to cover it.
Cook for 8 hours on low heat.
Remove the bone and any areas that are too fatty. Then shred the pork with 2 forks. Add the rest of the BBQ sauce and then enjoy. The pulled pork is great in a sandwich, in hash, on top of mashed potatoes, or on some cheesy fries. NOMS!

Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy Stew

February 5, 2014

Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy Stew is a hearty, healthy dinner that will comfort you throughout the cold winter months. It’s coziness in a bowl.

Post from 2/5/14, Pictures updated 12/30/18

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

We’re getting snow again in Boston today. Big surprise! It’s the year of snow!

Well, it’s the year of the horse but whatever.

…

Crock Pot Baked Apples- SRC

January 27, 2014

Every night Price and I are up between 2 am-4am, depending on when Autumn has fallen asleep. Ideally, we get her down between 9-10.30 and then we immediately brush our teeth and drive into bed as well. Gotta maximize on our sleep! Anyway, there are some pretty interesting things on TV in the middle of the night.

Sometimes we watch something we’ve DVR’d but other times we’ll find some random thing to watch while I’m pumping and he’s feeding Autumn. Lately, we’ve been watching the Australian Open. So weird to be watching live tennis in the middle of the night. But to change it up, the other night we watched the first episode of Wahlburgers, a reality show about the burger joint run by the Wahlberg family. Made me want a burger in the middle of the night. Hello… always hungry now!

Other nights we turn on Weatherscan and just so happen to leave it on for like an hour as we sometimes are zombies in the middle of the night. There is just something so relaxing about their music in the middle of the night. no?

Anyway, besides the TV we watch in the middle of the night, I often end up browsing Pinterest. My pins are pretty varied but lately I’ve been thinking about slow cooker recipes. I have fallen deep in love with my slow cooker. It just makes things so much easier now with a new baby. Between feeding her, changing her, snuggling with her my time gets sucked up pretty quickly. And it’s not like I have any problem with that but that is the way things go. Basically it just means it’s time to reinvent how we typically get meals on the table.

Since slow cooker recipes are a big part of our life now, it made perfect sense that Price picked out these Crock Pot Baked Apples for this month’s Secret Recipe Club. This month I had Emily’s blog called Life on Food. Emily has lived all over, including Iowa, Maine, and Connecticut, and her travels are reflected in the recipes she features on her blog. Totally jealous she gets to Disney every year too!!

These Crock Pot Baked Apples are killer. Well, actually, I don’t like baked apples. So I took Price’s word for it when he said they were really, really good. I know, how can I not like baked apples?!?! It’s a texture thing that has to do with the skin. But Price wanted them so I made them. That’s what happens when you love someone… you make them baked apples! And then your house smells amazing!!

Make these for yourself, or at the least for someone you love!

Crock Pot Baked Apples

Makes 6 apples

Ingredients

6 Gala or Macintosh apples
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup diced walnuts
3 tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice
2 tablespoons orange liquor (optional)

Process

Remove the stem, core, and seeds from the center of each apple while keeping the bottom of the apple. This basically creates a bowl shape.
In a large bowl, mix brown sugar, walnuts, butter, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Fill the apples with the filling and place them in the crock-pot. Pour in the liquids into the bottom of the crock pot.
Cover and cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours on high heat until the apples are soft and begin to collapse.

Adapted from Life on Food

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Check out my 2 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

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Crock Pot Cool Ranch Chicken

July 29, 2013

Easy peezy amazing crock pot tasting cool ranch chicken dish that is sure to satisfy any family member. Makes enough to top your lunch the next day

So, besides my continual summertime interest in looking up grilling recipes, right now I’m addicted to looking up great slow cooker recipes. I figure I should get somewhat prepared/ inspired, for when The Bean comes this winter. Gotta find some simple tasty meals that we can whip up instead of eating pbj or pasta 24/7 or getting take out. The Bean is costing us enough now so constant take out is out of the question anyway.

Well, I think I found a real winner that we will enjoy repeatedly when our little Bean arrives. The Crock Pot Cool Ranch Chicken from Erin’s blog Our Table for Seven was such a hit for this month’s Secret Recipe Club post. Isn’t it just the best when you come across a recipe that you really enjoy? 🙂

A recipe with 4 ingredients that takes about 2 minutes to prep is my kind of recipe. The thing that sets this apart from a typical pulled chicken recipe for tacos is the ranch seasoning. It really out the taco flavor and gives it a bit of a kick. Which, for me, meant that my taco didn’t need much added to it since the meat was so flavorful so just some arugula, tomato, and a bit of sharp cheddar.

Crock Pot Cool Ranch Chicken

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

1 1/4 lb of boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 envelope dry taco mix
1 envelope dry ranch dressing mix
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, perferably low-sodium

Process

Place the chicken in the crock pot.
Add the taco mix, ranch dressing, and chicken broth on top of the chicken.
Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.
Shred the chicken, cover again, and cook an additional 30 minutes.
Serve as tacos or taco salad. Enjoy!

Source: Our Table for Seven

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Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

February 25, 2013

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken will quickly become one of your weekly recipes when you realize how easy it is to make at home.

Every month there I have Pricer pick out a recipe he would want me to make for my Secret Recipe Club post. Sometimes I give him a few suggests or restictions, like I’m not feeling like making cookie or pizza then, but other than that he gets pick. I love having him involved and I love to see what intersts him.

Well, this month I sent him over to check out the recipe index for Erin’s blog called the The Spiffy Cookie and he picked her Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken. It sounded good to me so I was looking forward to when I’d make it. We love to get Chinese food take out but 99% of the time I order shrimp as I do not like the quality of chicken dishes at Chinese food places so this would give me the chance to have some good Honey Sesame Chicken. Plus much cheaper, fresher, and healthier than take out.

This recipe was so super easy. There was very little prep and active cook time and the rest of it was just letting it do its own thing in the slow cooker. I got it all started by mixing up the sauce, adding it to the chicken, and let it be for about 3 hours. Around that time I cut up my brocolli and got my rice going in my rice cooker. When I needed to take the chicken out I added some corn stach to the sauce to thicken it and while I was cutting up the chicken I added my broccoli in my steamer basket to my rice cooker. Perfect for a great Sunday night dinner. Plus, I had very little clean up which is always a win as well.

I just about made the recipe exactly as Erin wrote it, with the exception that i steamed the broccoli instead of sauteeing it, and it came out exactly as described. Don’t you just love when that happens?! Plus it was super tasty. Overall, I think it was a little sweet to me but I typically LOVE really spicy Chinese food. If you do then maybe you can increase the amount of red pepper flakes or add some Siracha to the sauce. While this is a slow cooker meal I think it can be converted into a week night super meal by cutting up the chicken and cooking it in the sauce in a skillet while you cooke the rice.

I only wish I made a double batch so I would have had leftovers for all week. This def beats spending too much money on a sandwich or salad for lunch.

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (1.25 lbs)
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1/2 onion, diced
2-1/2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp sesame seed oil or extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced, pressed or grated
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup dry brown/white rice
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb broccoli florets

Directions:

Put the chicken breasts in crock pot.
In a small bowl, combine the honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic, and redpepper flakes. Pour over chicken in the slow cooker.
Cook the chicken on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through.
Cook the rice according to package directions.
Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet until hot. Add broccoli and saute 5-6 minutes or until cooked but tender. Or steam the broccoli instead of sauteeing.
Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Whisk the cornstarch into liquid in the crock pot. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened.
Shred chicken or cut into bite size pieces, then return to pot and coat with sauce. Serve chicken over rice with broccoli, garnish with sesame seeds.

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Check out the rest of the reveal day posts!

Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts

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Beef and Mushroom Hot Pot

April 24, 2012

I love my slow cooker. It has been there to pull me out of some tough weeks when I don’t have the time to cook but don’t want to get take out. I realized that I was neglecting it this year so I pulled out the Semi-Homemade Slow Cooker Recipes 2 and went right to a recipe I had bookmarked for a while now. I was always drawn to it because it was affordable, quick, and flavorful… sign me up!

I really enjoyed this slow cooker meal. I know I’ll make it again because it was so flavorful and was so simple. I made some changes to the recipe to suit out palate and what we had on hand. For example, since we always have carrots around I used fresh instead of the frozen as specified. My advice for the recipe to come out well is use low-sodium beef broth and to not cook it for too long. The broth concentrates so it would be way too salty if you use regular broth. Because of my schedule I actually had to cook it for 10 hours. I wish I could simply tell work I need to leave early to manage me slow cooker… imagine! ha! The rice was a bit gummy/mushy at the bottom. It didn’t ruin the meal at all but just something I noticed comparing the rice at the top verse the rice at the bottom.

Beef and Mushroom Hot Pot

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 pounds stew meat, cut into small pieces
1 pound of mushrooms, sliced (2 80z packages)
4 carrots, cleaned and sliced into 1/4″ thick rounds
1 box (6 oz) of wild rice blend
2 14 oz cans of low sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon ground black pepper

Process

In a small bowl combine the Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Mix together well and set aside.
In a 5-6 quart slow cooker, combine all of the ingredients together.
Set slow cooker for 6-8 hours.
Mix halfway through, if the mixtures looks like it is drying out or too soft in areas.
Enjoy!

Slow Cooker ‘Roast’ Chicken

April 13, 2012

You know when you have one of those moments of “well, like, duh!” because something you never considered before made perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of that moment. Well, that happened to me when I was hopping around on Julie of The Little Kitchen and I saw in her sidebar a recipe for ‘Whole Chicken in a Slow Cooker‘. I kept going “that makes sense! Why haven’t I thought of this? It has to be so good! I have to make it!!”

This was one of the juiciest chickens I have ever had (other was beer can chicken- OMG!). It was so moist, flavorful, and cooked perfectly. Any rub on the chicken would work, even just salt and pepper with some lemons in the mix. This is more about technique, not about the ingredients. Don’t want sweet potatoes- fine… just throw some fingerlings in there. I think the biggest thing to consider is how long to cook it. I would not do this on a week day since I am away from home for 10 hours. This would just fall apart too much then. I suggest this on a nice weekend when you want to relax and do nothing or if you have errands up to your eyeballs and you have no time to cook and just have dinner (almost) appear in front of you.

Slow Cooker ‘Roast’ Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 onions
2 large sweet potatoes
4-5 carrots
3 1/2 -4 1/2 pound whole roasting/frying chicken
Preferred seasoning blend

Process

Remove giblets bag from chicken to discard and rinse entirely. Pat chicken dry completely with paper towels.
Cut all vegetables in large pieces, such as carrots in 2″ long pieces, and the onion in 8 large wedges.
Rub the chicken with your selected rub to completely coat it.
Place onions, carrots and sweet potatoes inside the slow cooker to create a layer on the bottom. Then put chicken on top of the vegetables.
Set slow cooker for 6 hours. Check the internal temperature of the leg, if it is 160 degrees F then it is done. If you used a chicken with a pop up thermometer then remove the chicken when it has popped.
If you crock pot is broiler safe (consult your product information) then put the entire crock pot into the oven for 4-5 minutes. If your crock pot is not broiler safe then carefully remove the chicken and place on a glass baking dish or a large baking sheet. Allow the chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes prior to cutting.

Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

October 26, 2009

This Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Chili will keep you warm & cozy all winter long. It’s hearty & healthy, but without all the fuss. The perfect, easy dinner!

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I love our slow cooker. We use it all the time!

Do you have a slow cooker? If not, you need one!!! It’s so awesome.

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