Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches
As seen on The Girl Who Eats Everything

Ingredients
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2-1 C creamy Caesar dressing
1/2 C shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
Ground Pepper
Fresh Romaine
4-6 hamburger buns

Directions:
-Place chicken in slow cooker with 1-2 cups of water and cook on low for 4-6 hours
-Remove chicken, drain water, shred chicken, and put it back in the crock pot. Discard any fat.
-Add dressing, cheese, parsley, and pepper to chicken.  Mix it up and cook on low for 30 minutes or until mixture is hot.
-Serve on burger or slider buns, topped with Romaine lettuce and leftover cheese.

Coca Cola Slow Cooker Ribs

Don't have the time (or a smoker) to smoke your own yummy ribs? Here is an easy recipe for the crockpot! I will definitely be making these again during the summer months!
Coca Cola Slow Cooker Ribs
Ingredients
3 lbs. country-style boneless ribs
1/2 C Coke
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder
BBQ Sauce of your choice (this time we used Open Pit because it was on sale)

Directions
-Season ribs with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Layer in crock pot and add Coke to crock pot. Cook on low for 7 hours.
-Drain juice from ribs. Slather on the BBQ sauce and let cook on low for 30 more minutes.
-Serve with some yummy side dishes, such as some corn on the cob!
-Easily adaptable to serve more people!

Slow-Cooker Chili

What better to eat before heading out to trick or treat than a hot, steaming bowl of homemade chili? I will admit that most of the time I just dump a bunch of stuff in my crock pot and hope for the best; this time, I paid attention to what I was doing and you know what? This was the best damn pot of chili I have ever made. It seemed to have the perfect balance of sweet and spicy, which is exactly what I was going for! My favorite thing about chili is that you can completely tailor it to your own needs and heat level!


Slow-Cooker Chili
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef, browned (I used 90/10)
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
Can of Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with chili (the small can...10 oz?)
14 oz can dark red kidney beans with juice
14 oz can light red kidney beans with juice
1/3 C brown sugar
A few splashes of worchestershire (maybe around 1 tbsp?)
A few splashes of hot sauce (depending on how much heat you want)
1 tsp paprika
Dash of crushed red pepper

Directions
Toss it into a crock pot and let it cook on low for as long as possible. The longer it simmers, the better!

Day 21: A Recipe

Cabbage Rolls:
extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups steamed white rice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large heads green cabbage, about 3 pounds each

1. Saute onions and garlic in oil, add the tomato paste and sauce, let cool
2. Bring to boil a large pot of salted water and blanch the cabbage heads whole. Let cool, peal the leaves off and cut back the large vein in the middle.
3. in a large bowl mix meat, rice, salt pepper, onion mix, and parsley. Fill each leaf with mix and roll.
4. There are two methods to cook these: Put them in the crock pot, in a single layer and cover with crushed tomatoes, you can season it is you like, but you do not need to, just set for 8 hours and they are done. You can also put them in a baking dish and bake at 350 for about an hour or until the meat is done
To freeze: line them up in large ziplock bags and lay flat till they are frozen.

Taco Junk

Looking for an easy, filling crock pot meal for the week?  Well, here is an excellent one!  Full of ground turkey and beans, a small serving is super filling!  I like to serve it over tortilla chips and lettuce, like a taco salad or in tortilla shells with light sour cream, salsa, and reduced-fat cheese.

Taco Junk

a Weight Watchers-friendly recipe from somewhere on the internet

2 points for 1/2 C

1 pound ground turkey, cooked, rinsed, drained if necessary

1 (11 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained and rinsed

1 (15.5 oz) can Great Northern (or any white) bean, drained and rinsed

2 packages ranch salad dressing mix (the dry kind); I only use one package

1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies

1 (16 oz) jar salsa (whatever heat you like)

Mix all ingredients together.  Place in crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours (or low for 6).  Serve with tortilla chips, in a taco salad, over refried beans, with sour cream and lettuce...however you want!  Makes a TON, so have containers for leftovers.

With cheese...yum!

Easy Crock Pot BBQ Pork

Easy Crock Pot BBQ Pork

Serves 12-15

Ingredients

3-4 lb pork cut of your choice (I used pork tenderloin, my aunt swears by pork butt.)

1/4 C water

1 package Lipton onion soup mix

3-4 celery stalks, chopped

2 C shredded cheddar cheese

1 bottle Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (any flavor)

Mix water and soup mix together and pour into crock pot with pork and celery. Cook on low 6-7 hours. Shred pork and add barbecue sauce and cook on low for another hour. Before serving, add cheddar and allow to melt. Serve on kaiser rolls. Pairs perfectly with Cheesy Potatoes!

Recipe: FAIL

I am posting this because, well, we have all had these.

You stumble across an amazing recipe. Pork and apples are an amazing combo. You are positive it is going to be a sure-fire hit.

And disaster strikes.

I had stumbled across this recipe probably two years ago, and since I am attempting to incorporate new recipes each week, I decided to give it a whirl.

This was the result:
A mass of pork and apples, blackened on the sides and a giant ball of mush within. Not to mention totally and completely flavorless.

I am posting the recipe to see if anyone has suggestions for ANOTHER recipe (and it does not have to be a crock pot recipe) involving pork and apples. Or perhaps an idea of where the hell I went wrong.

Crock-pot Pork Tenderloin with Apples

Ingredients:
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. lean pork tenderloin

2 large Granny Smith apples, chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 bunch green onion with 3" greens, thin sliced
2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoon balsamic or cider vinegar

Directions:
Trim excess fat from the pork and slice in 1 1/2-inch pieces.
Place pork slices in the crock-pot with the remaining ingredients, mixing to combine.
Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours (and I turned off my crockpot at 6.5 hours).

Recipe: Salsa Chicken

This is one of my family's favorite meals and it is SUPER easy! Very Weight Watcher's friendly! I serve the salsa chicken with Chipotle-style rice and corn!

Salsa Chicken
Ingredients:
3-4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 jars chunky salsa
1 package taco seasoning

Spray your crockpot. Toss everything in and cook on low for 6-7 hours. I usually shred the chicken. Serve with a dollop of low fat sour cream ( I use LF because I hate fat free sour cream!)

Chipotle-style Basmati Rice:
Ingredients:
1 tsp oil (I use olive, although the recipe calls for vegetable)
2 tsp fresh cilantro (I keep the frozen cubes from Trader Joe's in my freezer, because I usually forget to buy the cilantro)
2/3 C white basmati rice
1 C water
1/2 tsp salt
1 lime

In a 2 quart heavy saucepan, heat oil over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Add rice and lime juice; stir for one minute. Add water and sald, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover and turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed. Add cillantro, fluff and serve.