Slow Cooker Picadillo

I’ve had this one bookmarked for a long time. Finally had all the ingredients to make it. Turned out ok. Nothing fabulous.

Slow Cooker Picadillo
adapted from skinnytaste

Ingredients:

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 cup minced onion
1 cup diced red bell peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1 small tomato, diced
8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup alcaparrado (manzanilla olives, pimientos, capers)
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 bay leaves
kosher salt and fresh pepper, to taste

Directions:

Brown meat in a large deep skillet on medium-high heat; season with generously with salt and a little pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat up into small pieces. When meat is no longer pink, drain all the liquid from pan. Add the onions, garlic and bell peppers to the meat and cook an addition 3-4 minutes.

Transfer the meat to the slow cooker, then add tomato, cilantro, tomato sauce, 1 1/4 cups water, alcaparrado. add some of the brine from the jar for added flavor. then add the spices.

Set slow cooker to HIGH for 3 to 4 hours or LOW for 6 to 8. After it’s ready, taste for salt and add more as needed. Discard the bay leaves and serve over rice.

Slow Cooker Adobo Chicken with Bok Choy

I’ve made a couple adobo crockpot dishes here and here. We enjoyed them so I gave this a whirl. It was yummy! And the bok choy added a nice twist to it. Yum!

Slow Cooker Adobo Chicken with Bok Choy
adapted from allrecipes

ingredients

2 onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 bay leaf
ground black pepper to taste
2-3lbs boneless chicken breasts
2 teaspoons paprika
2-3 baby bok choy, cut into 1-inch strips
2 green onions, sliced thinly

Directions

Combine onions, garlic, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and bay leaf in slow cooker. Season with black pepper. Place chicken atop mixture. Sprinkle paprika over chicken.
Cover and cook on Low for 8 hours. About halfway through flip chicken.
Switch slow cooker to High. Add bok choy to chicken mixture; cook another 5 minutes. Garnish with green onion.

Crockpot chili

We hadn’t had chili in a long time and it sounded good so I found a recipe on Pinterest. I don’t have chili powder so I substituted cayenne and cumin so this came out super spicy. It was good otherwise! Served it with tjs corn bread yum!

crockpot chili
adapted from tablefortwo

ingredients
2 lb ground beef
1 small onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
1 1/2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce
3 oz tomato paste
1/8 cup chili powder
1/2 T sugar
1/4 t paprika
1/2 t ground pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1 can red kidney beans drained and rinsed
S & P to taste

directions
1. In large skillet brown beef, drain and place in slow cooker
2. Add in rest of ingredients and stir
3. Cover and cook on high 5-6 hours or low 7-8 hours

Top with cheddar cheese, green onions, red onions, sour cream

paleo crockpot chicken curry with peppers and cabbage

Don’t worry I’m not going paleo. Just saw a recipe that looked interesting and decided to try it. We served it over rice which I don’t think is very paleo? Anyway this was just ok nothing I’d make again! If you try it definitely use 2 cans of coconut milk not one.

paleo crockpot chicken curry with peppers and cabbage
adapted from paleopot

Ingredients:

1.5 – 2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts
1 can of light coconut milk
3 tbs thai red Curry paste
1 small yellow onion
1 medium red bell pepper
1 medium green bell pepper
1/2 head of cabbage. You could use more if you wanted to.

Instructions

Turn your crock pot on before you start your prep, and get a head start.
Pour your coconut milk into your Crock Pot and add your curry paste. Make sure you stir until dissolved in the coconut milk.
Cut your chicken into 1″ cubes. dump them into the pot and stir.
Cut your red and green peppers into similar 1″ cubes. Dump into pot and stir.
Cut your onion into similar chunks, you get the idea.
Cut your head of cabbage in half, and quarter the half you are going to use. Simply cut the wedges into thin strips and then break apart with your hands. This is much easier than using a grater, and you can always chop the cabbage to your desired shape. Add the cabbage to the top of your pot and again stir, trying to coat the cabbage with the coconut milk. It is fine if the cabbage is not submerged, it will cook down.
Cover and let cook on low for 4 hours.
garnish with red chili sauce.

Pork carnitas

I’ve always seen pork shoulder listed as an ingredient in recipes. I’ve always used pork loin instead. Every time I’ve walked past the pork shoulder in the grocery store it looked way too fatty! But this time I decided to give it a try. $.79 a lb why not? Well I’ve learned my lesson! I am not a pork shoulder fan! It did end up way too fatty for our liking. Threw more of it away than ate it! That was with trimming the fat before cooking. And trying to scoop out non-fat pieces. Never again. I’m sticking to pork loin from now on. The carnitas themselves were ok… Didn’t really taste too much besides pork

pork carnitas
adapted from a year of slow cooking

The Ingredients.

2 pounds pork shoulder
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
7 cloves garlic (whole intact)
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 cup beef broth
corn tortillas

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the salt and cumin. Rub mixture all over the pork, then plop into the slow cooker. Add whole garlic cloves. Squeeze on the citrus, and pour the beef broth evenly over the top.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until the pork shreds quite easily with a fork. If your meat is still fully intact after 8 hours, remove and cut into chunks, then return to the crock and flip to high for about an hour or two.
Shred meat fully and serve on warmed corn tortillas with desired toppings.

Slow cooker chicken saag

Brave yourself for the picture I took of this dish.. I won’t even say what the munchkins said it looked like! This smelled soooooo good while cooking, but definitely didn’t live up to the delicious aroma while cooking. We tossed the leftovers… Better luck next time!

slow cooker chicken saag
adapted from bevcooks

* 2 pounds baby spinach
* 2 red onions, roughly chopped (I used one red, one yellow)
* 5 serrano peppers, stems removed (I only had one jalapeño)
* 1 head garlic, peeled
* 4-inch piece fresh ginger, roughly chopped
* 1 can of diced tomatoes
* 4 Tbs. cumin
* 2 Tbs. garam masala
* 1 Tbs. turmeric
* 1 Tbs. chili powder
* 2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
* coarse salt & freshly ground pepper
* cooked white basmati rice and garlic naan for serving
* fresh cilantro, for garnish

Layer half the spinach along the bottom of your slow cooker. Then add the onions through the chili powder. Add a big pinch of salt and pepper. Then press down the other half of the spinach on top of everything. It will practically be falling out everywhere. Press the lid down.

Now turn the slow cooker on to low and let it simmer for 3 hours. Check on it a couple of times and give it a stir. After three hours, pour the saag into a blender and purée it. Pour back into slow cooker.

Then let it simmer another two hours.

THEN, sear your chicken cubes in a large skillet until nice and browned on both sides. Season them with salt with pepper. Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker for the last hour of slow cookering. (for a total of 6 hours)

Serve over a bed of cooked white (basmati or jasmine) rice and some torn toasted garlic naan! And oh! Some good cilantro! And oh! Maybe some fresh lime juice if you want to wake it up a little.

Crockpot chicken korma

This was eh.. Not enough flavor for me. Munchkin #1 loved it though!

crockpot chicken korma
a year of slow cooking

ingredients

2-3 pound boneless, skinless chicken, cut in chunks
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes and juice
2 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup greek yogurt (to add later)
cooked white or brown long grain rice for serving

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the chicken into the bottom of your pot. Add onion. Pour in the tomatoes, and add garlic and all spices. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3 to 4. stir in the yogurt. Serve over rice.

Citrus Chili Chicken

This one looked so pretty in the crock! If you follow on Facebook you saw that picture! The chicken was good a bit dry though. I served with couscous!

Citrus Chili Chicken
adapted from momswithcrockpots

Ingredients
4-6 Whole Chicken Breasts
1 Lemon sliced
2 Green onions chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp chili powder
½-1 tsp seasoning salt
¼ cup lemon juice

Instructions
Place chicken breasts in crockpot (frozen is fine)
Pour the lemon juice over the breasts and then sprinkle with seasoning salt, & chili powder.
Top with lemons, green onions, and garlic.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4.

Slow cooker pork and green chile stew

Made some pork in the crock over at townmouseandcountrymouse

Smothered Chile Colorado Burritos

I found this recipe on pinterest. The picture made it look delicious! The original recipe called for beef but I had already defrosted pork, so pork it was. This came out kind of dry, not particularly smothered at all. Maybe I’ll try it with beef and more enchilada sauce next time.

Smothered Chile Colorado Burritos
adapted from chef-in-training

INGREDIENTS
1-2 lb pork loin
1 can red enchilada sauce
2 chicken bullion cubes
1 can refried beans
5-7 tortillas
1 cup shredded cheese more or less depend ending on personal preference

INSTRUCTIONS
Put pork into crock pot. Top with crushed bouillon cubes and enchilada sauce. Cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until meat is very tender.
When pork is done (very tender and flakes off when stirred), taste and add more salt, if desired.
Make sure beans are warmed through.
Smear about 2 heaping spoons worth of beans on to the center of each tortilla. Add about 1/2 cup of pork, give or take, and roll into a burrito.
Place burritos into a greased 9×13 baking pan until it fills the pan. Pour some of extra sauce over the tops of the burritos to smother them. Place cheese on top.
Broil until cheese becomes bubbly, approx. 2-4 minutes.
This recipe makes about 5-7 burritos depending on how big you make them.