Crock Pot Chicken Divan
This recipe gives me crazy flashbacks! My mom use to make this when I was a kid. She made it in the oven, but it was almost the same recipe— broccoli, chicken, rice and some sauce that had a little bit of an orange color but didn’t taste at all like oranges. It took me a few more years of life to find out that the color was from the curry powder. I think Crayola should add the crayon color “curry”.
It’s hard sometimes for my taste buds to explain the flavors to my head, but I think I’ve figured out most of my mom’s recipe. I’ve added the crock pot. Maybe the celery seed, too, but I think it adds a nice flavor. I start with frozen chicken breasts because I never think ahead to thaw it out and I don’t like when I defrost it in the microwave and then the edges get a little cooked and weird. Using frozen chicken breasts works just fine, it will defrost and cook and fall apart into the creamy goodness of the sauce and the starch of the rice and absorb all of the spices by the time it’s done.
This home cooking will serve a table full of happy tummies and happy hearts. Enjoy!
1 lb. frozen broccoli cuts
1 c. uncooked white rice
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 t. Worchestershire sauce
1 t. fresh lemon juice
2 t. curry powder
1/2 t. celery seed
1/2 t. ground black pepper
2 T. melted butter
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese sprinkles
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. mayonnaise
Put frozen broccoli in crock pot first. Sprinkle with rice. Lay chicken breasts on top. Mix remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and then pour on top of chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours. Prior to serving, shred chicken and mix everything together.
Crock Pot Beet Salad
In the midst of summer heat, I love to use my crock pot to cook the season’s ripe vegetables. My kitchen stays cool and my taste buds get to dance. This week, I had friends bring me fresh beets from their community CSA. I love roasting beets in a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, so I thought this would be a fun challenge for the crock pot.
When you roast beets in the oven, there is the chance of overcooking, resulting in a dried, wrinkled sad result for this moist and vibrant treat. With the locked-in moisture of the crock pot, I really think that beets get the chance to both marinate and cook to perfection.
Please note— this recipe calls for FRESH produce. This recipe is not intended for canned beets. When you are preparing fresh beets, be cautious that the juice doesn’t dye your hands, your counter or your cutting board. But you will benefit greatly by doing the preparation, because the taste and texture of using fresh produce for this recipe is so much better than you could ever replicate with a canned product.
6 large fresh beets, greens removed and skins peeled, sliced
3-4 fresh white radishes, greens removed and skins peeled, then sliced Read more
Crock Pot Cincinnati Chili
If you are unfamiliar with Cincinnati chili, let me explain to you how this is different from what you might think. This is more like a spaghetti sauce, than a stew. It usually has some combination of allspice, cinnamon and sometimes cocoa powder in it. There are no beans cooked in this pot and it is not meant to be consumed by itself. It is however, an amazing topper for hot dogs, spaghetti, french fries or even in a tortilla! When you eat this, there are different ways of presenting it– five in fact! Two-way would be spaghetti and chili, three-way adds finely shredded cheddar cheese, four-way diced onions and five-way would be all of the above plus some dark red kidney beans. Crazy enough– you can also top it with oyster crackers and hot sauce, if you so choose.
Skyline and Gold Star are probably the most common brands of Cincinnati Chili and you can get it at the fast-food restaurants or in cans at the grocery store. But since I don’t live in the Great Lakes area anymore, I make my own crock pot Cincinnati chili using my best friend’s mom’s recipe. Yes, it’s three degrees of separation, but it’s still so good! So to “K” and “R”— thank you for sharing your recipe with me, it’s better than the original!!
1.5 lbs. ground beef
1 29 oz. can tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz can peeled whole tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1/2 t. allspice
1/2 t. cinnamon Read more
Crock Pot Chimichurri Steak
The word “chimichurri” might make you think of that silly little ditty from Mary Poppin’s chimney sweep friend, but I assure you, there is nothing dirty or British about this recipe (not that the two are synonymous!). I think of chimichurri sauce as an Argentinian version of pesto, but with parsley instead of basil. I love it as a marinade, but it can also be used as a garnish or a dipping sauce for pretty much any meat. I challenge you to try this on as many grilled meats as possible this summer and to find any single one that it doesn’t complement.
But since I don’t feel like firing up the grill and cinging my eyebrows, I’m going to cook my beef in the crock pot. Chimichurri is often served with steak, so I am using a flank steak and I sliced it into half inch sections before cooking it. I think this will help really get all the flavors into the steak. I marinated the meat overnight in the refrigerator, but that isn’t necessary. I would recommend marinating it for at least four hours, just to give it enough time to fester.
I don’t have enough fresh produce on hand to make this with the real ingredients, but if you do— use 1 c. fresh flat-leaf parsley and some fresh oregano, too. I assure you this will taste good with the dried stuff, but even more amazing with fresh herbs.
I’m serving my chimichurri steak with some steamed veggies (at least I know my kids will eat those things!), but you can also try roasting some potatoes with the meat or serving it on a nice bed of salad. Enjoy!
Meat: 2 lbs. beef (flank steak, skirt steak, London Broil, flat iron steak…. if you don’t love beef, use chicken)
Chimichurri sauce:
1/2 c. white wine
1/3. c. vegetable oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
2 lemons
3-4 cloves garlic, minced Read more
Crock Pot Nacho Fries
I remember as a kid going to diners and cute little restaurants with good homecooking and a little grease on everything. It was always a treat to get something smothered or covered or dipped or drizzled. I don’t usually eat a lot of fried and greasy, especially not in the crock pot, but today it just sounded good. I’m serving my crock pot dish with a side salad and low-cal dressing. Maybe if I wash it down with a Diet Coke it will just cancel out the bad stuff.
One of my favorite appetizers from my youth was “not-so-fries”– it was cheese and bacon and sour cream on top of silver dollar shaped french fries. The fried coins were coated in toppings and best when shared with friends! I also really like bar food like nachos— again with the cheese covered goodness! My other favorite food isn’t as unhealthy, but I really like pita and tzatziki sauce. There is something about the cold, creamy cucumber that becomes highly addictive. As you can probably conclude, I am completely food-oriented, so most of my memories include visual and culinary associations.
So, it is now my intention to combine three of my favorite snack foods in one amazing crock pot side dish. Enjoy!
1 lb. bag frozen french fries
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels Read more
Crock Pot Chicken and Quinoa
This is great sick food. Not food that will make you sick, but a food that falls into the same category as matzah ball soup, egg drop soup and homemade mashed potatoes– these foods all make you feel better! I’ll warn you that this dish is very bland, so if you’d like to eat it when you are aren’t queasy or feverish, you might want to add some more veggies and seasonings. When you read this recipe, save it to your favorites so that next time you are sick, you have a go-to recipe for an easy dish to make everyone feel better. Enjoy! (and stay healthy!)
1 c. quinoa, rinsed and drained
2 c. chicken broth
1/2 medium onion, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
6 skinless chicken thighs (about 1.5 lbs) Read more
Crock Pot Stuffing Balls
Stuffing is an under-appreciated side dish. It completely defines a Thanksgiving dinner and can sometimes be found at kitschy homecooking restaurants, but there is no reason to leave it alone for the rest of the year. Plus, it’s a great way to use leftover or stale bread. The more variety you use in your bread selection will equal a total change in the taste of the end result.
In my fridge right now, I have half a loaf of wheat bread (very dense and yeast-smelling) and half a loaf of what was labeled a “tomato bread” (tastes like Italian bread with a swirl of seasoned tomato paste in it). Here is how to prep your bread for stuffing: cut into slices and then into bite-sized cubes. For example, I would cut a normal piece of wheat bread four times each way = 16 smaller pieces. Then, lay cubes out in one layer on a cookie sheet and cook for about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees, just until the bread toasts.
Instead of just pouring the stuffing into a pan, I love the idea of hand rolling the stuffing into balls. It cooks into nice individual servings and leaves lots of surface area to crisp. These balls also freeze really well, so make a full recipe and then save what you don’t consume. Enjoy!
6 cups homemade stuffing cubes
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. water
1 16 oz. can cream-style corn
1 T. parsley
1 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
1 t. celery seed
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
10 little pads of butter or margarine
In a bowl, mix together all ingredients, except butter or margarine. After combined, mixture should be moist, but not dripping wet. Form 10 balls, using your hands and mush it together so that it can stand on it’s own. Coat oval-shaped crock pot with non-stick spray. Place stuffing balls side by side in crock pot. Place one little pad of butter or margarine on top of each stuffing ball. Cook on low for 3 hours.
(The original inspiration from this dish came from crock pot maven Mable Hoffman’s Crockery Cookery Cookbook. No offense, but her recipe was bland and suggested using packaged stuffing mix; my adaptation takes it up a notch and makes it flavorful and heartier.)
Crock Pot Tuna Casserole
OK, so this one might seem a little like ”school lunch”, but I like the combination of creamy noodles and easy protein. Anytime I make this in the oven, I always wind up burning the edges. When I make it in the crock pot, it keeps the meal warm and creamy and doesn’t get crispy crusts. (Although, if the crispy crusts are your favorite part, feel free to use this recipe and just shove it in the oven for an hour instead.)
One of the things that is really unique about my tuna casserole is that I used diced water chestnuts. I like the surprise burst of these moist, crunchy morsels. They keep to the neutral color of the dish and add a little bit of jazz that is pleasing to the palate. I also suggest using tuna from a foil packet, not from a can. The canned fish is great for tuna salad, but I like that the foiled fish has better texture and bigger chunks. If you are not a fan of peas, you can try any frozen vegetable– corn, green beans and mixed veggies are good ones to try, too.
One last big difference in my version is that most tuna casseroles call for cheddar cheese and mine adds something extra. While I think melted cheddar cheese adds to the creaminess, I think including something like feta actually gives the whole dish more flavor and an overall better success. With these modifications, we are taking “school lunch” into the adult world. You could serve this to family or friends on real plates.
The only thing that could be better than this tuna casserole would be if the school lunch ladies could be here to serve and clean everything up. Enjoy!
1 lb. broad egg noodles, cooked and drained
1 6 oz. foil packet of albacore tuna Read more
Crock Pot Vegetarian Chicken Chili
Did you catch the title?? Does it sound like a contradiction to say “vegetarian” and then “chicken” in the same meal?! It is not. Thanks to modern day culinary creativity, I can make chicken chili for friends that don’t want to eat meat. This is a pretty easy recipe, but I like that it is a crowd pleaser and still meets certain dietary limitations.
Give this chicken chili a try next time you host a friend that is vegetarian or keeps kosher– they will be so happy that you honored their wishes and still served tasty dishes. (yes, that rhyme was intentional.) And don’t think this meal is for light weights— you can serve this at your next party or sporting event and even the men will be raving about your soup– it’s spicy, it’s filling and everyone will enjoy!
4 c. vegetarian chicken broth
2 cans great northern beans (do not drain)
1 4 oz can diced green chiles (do not drain)
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 c. frozen corn Read more
Crock Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole
One of my favorite dishes that my grandmother made is cabbage rolls, but honestly– who has time for all the steps?! I have made them before in the crock pot (use the search function to see my recipe) but today’s version is even easier. It has almost all the same components, but only takes a cutting board, a knife and a spoon to get everything into the crock pot.
I really like that this casserole is thick, there isn’t much broth left in the pot. I suggest serving it over some mashed potatoes. It’s like a complete meal in one bowl!
1 lb ground turkey, not cooked
1 c. brown rice, not cooked
2 c. spaghetti sauce
1 c. vegetable juice
1/2 head cabbage, chopped fine
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. apple cider vinegar Read more
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