Slow Cooker Creamy Coconut Steel Cut Oats

The perfect quick breakfast.  I love this stuff!  I add in different things depending on my mood - nut butter, jelly, coconut flakes, seeds, toasted nuts, brown sugar, honey, etc etc etc.  Makes a ton!

Slow Cooker Creamy Coconut Steel Cut Oats

Ingredients
2 cups steel cut oatmeal
1 can full fat coconut milk
8 cups water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 TBSP organic cane sugar

Instructions
Place all ingredients in a crockpot.  Turn to low and let sit overnight for about 8 hours until creamy.

Asian Baby-Back Ribs with Udon Salad

I am trying SO hard to get better at meal planning! This is the 1st entry. I got this recipe from Real Simple Magazine. The ribs turned out really good. The noodles - Ben wasn't crazy about but weren't too bad. I want to keep this recipe around for the ribs!

Asian Baby-Back Ribs with Udon Salad

Ingredients

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 TBSP rice vinegar

2 TBSP cornstarch

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled & sliced

1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

4 lbs. Baby Back ribs, cut into 8 pieces

1 8.8 oz package udon noodles

1 bunch radishes (about 8), halved & sliced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

4 scallions, sliced

Directions

In a 4-6 qt slow cooker, mix together the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, cornstarch, oil, ginger, cayenne. Add the ribs and turn to coat.

(I doubled the sauce & added the other 1/2, 1/2 way through cooking)

Cover and cook until the ribs are tender, on low for 6 to 7 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours

Twenty minutes before serving, heat broiler. Place the ribs, meaty-side up, on a foil lined baking sheet. Strain the cooking liquid from the slow cooker to a medium bowl. Brush the meaty side of the ribs with half the cooking liquid and broil, basting twice with the pan juices, until shiny and glazed, 3 to 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain and run under cold water to cool. Add the noodles to the bowl of remaining cooking liquid from the slow cooker and toss with the radishes, cilantro, and scallions.

Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken

Loved this light chicken recipe. Also, loving crock pot recipes. Super easy. Really good served over whole grain pasta and with any sort of vegetable.

Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken

Source: Skinny Crock Pot

Ingredients

4-6 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

2 14.5 oz can diced or crushed tomatoes (I think 1 would work as well)

1 onion thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tblsp olive oil

1 tsp each: dried oregano,basil, and rosemary

1/2 tsp thyme

ground black pepper and salt to taste

Another add in idea - mushrooms

Directions

Pour the olive oil on bottom of a 3 - 5 quart crock pot
Place the chicken breasts in crock pot, salt and pepper each breast
Put sliced onion on top of chicken
Then put in all the dried herbs and garlic cloves
Pour in vinegar and top with tomatoes
Cook on high 3 hours or low for 4 - 6 hours. Serve over angel hair pasta and garnish with fresh parsley or basil.

Mexican Style Pork

An easy crock pot recipe via my friend M! A get it going before work & ready to each when you return kinda thing. I am looking for more & more recipes like this! M says it's only 7 WW points~ I'll take that too!

Mexican Style Pork

Ingredients

1 lb pork roast

1 20 oz jar of salsa

1 4.5 oz can of green chiles

1 15 oz can of black beans, drained

1 c shredded Mexican cheese blend

Directions

Combine the pork, salsa and chiles in the crock pot. Cover and cook on low for about 6 - 8 hours or until pork is soft and tender ~ maybe 7 hours on low, 1 on high.

Take out pork and shred it with two forks. Place it back in the crockpot. Stir in the beans and cook another 5 minutes or until they are hot.

Drizzle some cheese over.

Buffalo Chicken Soup

An old college friend mentioned Buffalo Chicken Soup one day on Facebook. OK, this sounds good. I sent out a request & she kindly shared the recipe! So thanks, Michelle! This soup really hit the spot on a cold day. Even better it was just throwing some things into the crockpot and coming home to a good dinner!

Buffalo Chicken Soup

Ingredients
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups whole milk or half & half
2 cans cream of chicken soup (the "Healthy Request" or low sodium)
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup sour cream
1 T. dry ranch dressing mix
1/4 cup hot sauce (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a pot and heat to warm through; do NOT boil. OR combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low 4-5 hours.

Serve with garlic bread, Texas cheese toast or other crusty bread and a salad or crudites.

Option
I have started sauteeing 1 stalk of diced celery and an half an onion diced in 3 T. butter to start. Sautee until soft. Add some minced garlic (or 1/2 tsp. garlic powder), the dry ranch mix and 3 T. flour. Cook for two minutes and then add the liquid ingredients. Bring to a simmer; then add chicken to heat through. Adding some fresh time stems (bundled together so it is easier to get out later) as it simmers is nice, too.

Rootbeer Pulled Pork

I don't know if I've seen an easier slower cooker recipe. The hardest part was I had to go buy rootbeer! Turned out great! And another version of one of our favorites - pulled pork.

Rootbeer Pulled Pork
Source: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
Average size pork shoulder or pork butt
Root Beer
Your favorite barbecue sauce

Directions
Place pork into crockpot.
Pour in root beer until it just covers the pork.
Cook on low - 7 hours or so - until it shreds easily.
Take pork out of crock pot, pour out the rootbeer - reserving a cup or so if needed to thin sauce out a little bit.
Shred pork and return to the crock pot.
Add in your favorite barbecue sauce, if necessary, thin out with the root beer.

Serve with your favorite buns.

We also served oven baked fries & coleslaw. Got a big thumbs up as a meal from the husband!

Tangy Slow Cooker Pork

'The Other White Meat' always seems to serve us well. This was no different. So easy & really good.

Tangy Slow Cooker Pork
Source: All Recipes.Com

Ingredients
1 large onion, sliced
2 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin roast
1 cup hot water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 dash hot pepper sauce, or to taste

Directions
Arrange onion slices evenly over the bottom of the slow cooker, and then place the roast on top of the onion. In a bowl, mix together water, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ketchup, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, and hot sauce; pour over roast.

Cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours, or on High for 3 to 4 hours.

The only addition I made to this recipe - I made a couple slits in the meat and stuffed it with garlic. I threw a couple cut up red potatoes and carrots in which also turned out well.

Crockpot Green Chili Chicken and Rice with Blue Corn Chip Crumbles

I love a good crockpot recipe.  And a Mexican one to boot!  The Picky Palate is a great go to blog for excellent recipes!  This is worth a try.  Who doesn't like - throw it all the crockpot & come home to work to a nice dinner.

Crockpot Green Chili Chicken with Rice with Blue Corn Chip Crumbles

Source:  Picky Palate

Ingredients

3-4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed

2 cans 98% fat free cream of chicken soup

4 oz. can chopped green chiles

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/4 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper

1/4 tsp. Lawry's garlic salt with parsley

6 cups steamed rice

Blue Corn Tortilla Chips, crumbled for garnish

Directions

Place chicken, soup, cumin, salt, chiles and garlic salt in crock pot on low.  Let cook for 6-8 hours or until chicken is fork tender and falls apart easily.  With 2 forks, shred the chicken in the sauce.  Season with any additional seasonings, if desired.  Spoon over bowls of rice then garnish with crumbled tortilla chips.

4 servings.

Kalua Pork

For mothers day, I took my mother and mother in law to a cooking class with Rania Harris.  This was a great class as we learned many usable recipes (more to come!!)!  We had some guys coming over to do work at our house tonight so I was looking at something to have ready, easy.  A crock pot meal was perfect.  Sandwiches ready quickly went I got home!  And they liked them :)  PS ~ I know, I know I have to work on getting pictures with this blog.  I'll work on it!!

Kalua Pork

Source:   Rania Harris

Ingredients

1 boneless pork butt - 6-7 lbs. (pork shoulder)

1/4 cup sea salt (Hawaiian sea salt preferred)

3 TBSP. garlic powder

2 TBSP. freshly ground pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup liquid smoke (found near the ketchup in the grocery store)

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

Directions

Warm your slow cooker on high for 15 minutes before placing the pork shoulder inside.  Season the pork with salt, garlic powder, pepper and fresh garlic and place it in the slow cooker (fat side up).  Combine the liquid smoke, soy sauce and water and pour over and around the pork.  Cook the pork on high for one hour.  Reduce the temperature to low and continue to slow cook the pork for about 6 hours.  Check the liquid level from time to time (try not to open the lid too often, as the heat will escape and the cooking time will be longer) and add 1/4 cup water, if needed.

Remove the pork from the slow cooker ~ it will be very tender.  When cool enough to handle, shred the pork (using two forks) and combine toss with the remaining liquid in the slow cooker.

Notes:  Can cook in the oven at 250.

Serve with rice or as a sandwich.  

Can also be a good base for pork barbecue ~ just shred & put back in the crock pot to warm with your favorite barbecue sauce.

Crock Pot Monterey Spaghetti

I have no idea where I dug up this recipe. I made it once for some friends and it got requested again. That's a good sign. It'd make a good dinner with a salad or a good side dish.
Crock Pot Monterey Spaghetti

Ingredients

4 oz. spaghetti, broken into pieces (I cooked about 1/4 box a whole wheat spaghetti)

1 egg

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp. crushed garlic

3 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained (I ran warm water over the spinach. After thawed rolled it into a tea towel wringing out the water)

1/2 (6oz.) can french fried onions

Directions

In a large pot with boiling salted water cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain.

In a large bowl, mix together sour cream, grated Parmesan cheese and minced garlic. After beating the egg in a small bowl, transfer to the large bowl and blend together. Transfer to a greased crock pot.

Mix cooked & drained spaghetti, 2 cups grated monterey jack cheese, thawed spinach and half of the french fried onions and add to the crock pot. Stir contents of the crock pot until just blended. (I did all of this the night before.)

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. (I was going to be gone for 10 hours so I set my crock pot to low.)

In last 30 minutes of cooking, turn to high if cooking on low. Add remaining grated monterey jack cheese and french fried onions to the top of the casserole. Serve when the cheese is melted.

Sloppy Jo Jo's

My friend Jo Jo is a great go to girl for deceptively healthy recipes. Her Sloppy Joe recipe didn't disappoint. A whole bag of carrots slyly included!

Sloppy Jo Jo's

1 TBSP Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup green bell pepper
1/2 cup carrots
1 1/4 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 TBSP chili powder
1/2 salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
dash hot pepper sauce

Heat Crisco in large skillet on medium heat. Add onion, celery, green peppers and carrots. Cook & stir until tender.

Add meat, cook until browned, stirring occasionally. Drain. Stir in ketchup, water, chili powder, salt, black pepper & hot pepper sauce. Reduce heat to low.

My notes
That's how the original recipe reads. I used olive oil to cook the veggies. I made a huge batch like 3 lbs. of ground of beef, an entire pound bag of carrots (I shredded it into oblivion in the food processor). Add a whole stalk of celery. I loaded up with a whoe lot of ketchup - for 3 lbs of meat about 2 1/4 cups of ketchup. I also added about 1/4 of brown sugar to take the zing out of the ketchup. I cooked over high heat in the crockpot for 3-4 hours. Then lowered on low for a couple hours.

Easy Crockpot Meatballs

This has been being talked about quite a bit recently. When my work decided to have a 'tailgate' I thought this would be the perfect chance to try it out. Thanks to Erica's Kitchen Adventures for providing the recipe. Very easy and very good.

Crockpot Meatballs

Ingredients

3 lbs frozen meatballs

1 jar grape jelly

1 bottle chile sauce

Directions

Place ingredients in crockpot and set to High 3 hours or Low 4-6.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

I am trying to find some crock pot meals to add to my repertoire to be able to have dinner ready when I get home from work. This is a Sparkpeople.com - so it's healthy too. Plus salsa is by far my favorite condiment. We served this over rice today. I could also see it wrapped up in a tortilla or even used to make chicken nachos.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken
Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup salsa
1 package reduced sodium taco seasoning
1 can reduced fat cream of mushroom soup (I used cream of chicken)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

Directions:
Add chicken to slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken. Pour salsa and soup over chicken. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Serve with rice. I shredded the chicken - it fell right apart.

Pulled Pork

One of my favorite things - pulled pork. We made it one day for a Steeler game - the Steelers won that day so it will become part of our game day rotation.

Marinade:
2 lbs boneless pork butt
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP hot sauce

Sauce:
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp smoke-flavored salt (I didn't have this so I used a couple drops of liquid smoke)
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

Cut the piece of pork into 2 or 3 equal sized pieces.
Whisk together the ingredients for the marinade, and rub into the pork.
Let set in the marinade overnight.

In morning, mix together the ingredients for the sauce, adjusting amounts of sugar and vinegar depending on your preference for sweet or tangy sauce.

Put the pork and the marinade in the slow cooker and pour the sauce over it.

Cook on low for about 8 hours, then shred with two forks and cook another hour.

Served with coleslaw.

Slow Cooker Carnitas

After our honeymoon, I was in the mood for all things mexican/taco. I dug around for a recipe for good pork tacos. This recipe was dug up from allrecipes.com. So, not quite as good as in Mexico - but that may be the missing ambience of the seaside grill. But a good recipe to feed a crowd. It got good reviews.

1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (4lb) boneless pork shoulder roast
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth (I used 1 cup beer, 1 chicken broth)

(I tripled the spices, except for the cinnamon which I only doubled)

Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pou the chicken broth/beer around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.

Cover and cook on Low until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 10 hours. If there, turn the meat over after it has cooked for 5 hours. When the pork is tender, remove from slow cooker, and shred.

With a little help from my friend Lucas, we used the liquid & reduced & spiced it up a bit - adding brown sugar and a bit of chili sauce.

Served with tortillas, salsa, cheese. Sauteed up some veggies - red and green peppers & onions.