Kitchen Testing Crock Pot Recipes...

I love the idea of cooking with a crock pot..but I don’t like many of the recipes I’ve tried. Why? Because they often come out mushy or bland and boring.  I’ve looked through my Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook: 700 Great Slow Cooker Recipes any times, but most of the recipes just didn’t sound all that appealing to me. What about you? It looked like there was a lot of repetition and not too many ingredients..and lots of cream of something soup.

Well, after relying on a roaster oven at speech and debate tournaments while feeding several hundred people x 3 days x 8 tournaments, I’ve discovered that it’s amazing what you can cook in a slow cooker! My favorites?  Baked potatoes, Meatloaf, Pot Roast, Beef Stew, Roasted Chicken, Potato-Corn Chowder and Macaroni and Cheese.  To be able to use a crock pot for these everyday staples makes it my favorite kitchen appliance! 

Until now, though, I had never tried to recreate what we did in huge quantities in my small crock pot at home. In fact a roaster oven, though it can slow cook, works rather differently in that it can get up to oven high temperatures..like 450 degrees! You can easily saute chicken breasts in a roaster oven.

This month, Rebekah, my daughter, and I decided that we are going to get over the learning curve and start experimenting with the crock pot. Sure, we may make some mistakes along the way, but I’m pretty certain we have not even begun to explore the many wonderful options available for crock pot cooking.

One thing I had always wanted to try, which I DID try this week, with STUNNING results..was baked potatoes. I don’t believe they are in the crockpot cook book.  Oh my goodness!! They turned out just fantastic!!  I didn’t even fill the pot, I just put in our usual five potatoes (one for each person). I cooked them on high and in about two hours, they were done to perfection.

They were a little moist on the outside, but almost browned on the bottom. I didn’t add water, just rubbed them with a wee bit of butter, poked them with a knife, and popped them into the pot. Voila! Perfect baked potatoes!  They were supposed to be for last night’s supper, but the boys got a  hold of them before I could stop them. 

So I threw three more into the empty pot, and they were perfect before my daughter got home for work just a couple of hours later. No more running the oven just for five or six potatoes! Hurrah!  Just in time for summer’s heat.  You gotta love not running that oven in the summer.

My next plan is to fill the pot with potatoes and see how long it takes to cook them. What a great thing to take to our weekly potluck supper at church! And it’s the perfect start to homemade baked potato soup.Yummy!

Rebekah and I have picked out sixteen recipes to ‘kitchen test’ this month.  We've got the freezer and pantry stocked with ingredients..and we're ready to go!

Even though I haven't gotten excited about most of of what was in the cook book before, I spent the afternoon yesterday pouring over the recipes and realized that just about ANYTHING that you cook at home, has a crock pot version of a recipe in this book. (Even baking bread!!..This I have to see.)

I decided to try only recipes that seemed unique or had lots of people recommending them.   I figured that if so many people liked the exact same recipe then that should be a pretty safe one to try.
Frankly, it’s hard for me to imagine being able to make a casserole in a crock pot..but we’ll try it!

Here are the sixteen different recipes we will be testing this month…

Tex-Mex Chicken Chowder

Rigatoni Casserole

Steak Stroganoff

Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken and Stuffing Supper

Beef Minestrone Soup

Cabbage and Sausage Dinner

Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Beef Enchiladas (Meat)

Cranberry Pork Roast
Scalloped Ham and Potatoes

Sweet Italian Sausage and Spaghetti

Tater Tot Casserole

Beef Napolean

Cola Pot Roast

  

Next week, I’ll include a list of the great crock-pot cooking tips listed in this book. Here are three of my favorites…

• You can use a roasting bag in a crock pot! Just use it according to the package directions.
• And of course, don’t open the lid while cooking..as it takes 15-20 minutes to build back up the heat.
• You can make ahead any casserole the day before serving, put it in the fridge overnight, move it to the crockpot and cook on high for an hour before leaving and then turn  it on low for four hours to heat through.  (Perfect for church lunches!) 

I’ll keep you updated on our progress over the next few Wednesdays! Hopefully, I’ll have some new ideas and some great recipe recommendations for you to try.  

Have fun with your crock pots friends! 

Say, what’s your favorite tried and true crock pot recipe? Just add it in the comments and perhaps I can try it out next month. I’ll even give the credit where it’s due…to you!

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