Any Crazy Crock Pot Lovin Chicken People out there? Post Recipes/Pics!

[jerryb]

lots of good shopping advice on here, I do find the keep warm feature helpful, I use it for serving buffet style all day, or for a party event.

the removable crock is a must as already mentioned.

I have 5 crock pots: one tiny one for hot dip, one 2.5q, two 5q and a new one with three 2.5q in one rack like a buffet set up. No 12-step plan needed here though, really!

I often make two or more dishes to take to family meals, and the triple I used at thanksgiving to keep green bean cassarole, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes ready to go worked out great. made beef stew just the other day, and tried that pork roast cooked in one last saturday and it turned out great.

here is my mothers best recipe ever for the crock pot: 1 slab of country stye pork ribs ( this is a cut from the loin, some markets cut up pork butt into strips and label it country style ribs) or use a loin roast cut lengthwise, I jar of saurkraut drained, most of 1 can of beer. makes a great meal.

jerry

 

[kuntrygirl]

lots of good shopping advice on here,

jerry

You are absolutely right!

Definitely crock pot experts. I'm printing out everyone's suggestions and taking it to the store with me.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I think the Crock Pot brand is the best and if you buy new i am pretty sure you can register it with the paperwork in the box and they have a helpline and what not... mostly you need to have these 3 features :
removable ceramic crock (for washing purposes) 
Make sure that it cooks from the sides and bottom ( old ones only cooked from the bottom- no good)
more than one setting ( mine has high 4 hr 8 hr or low 4 hr or 8hr) some newer ones have a warm setting but i dont see the need for it.

I have two crock pot brand slow cookers, and my ancient rival cooker.  Technically I have 3 crock pots, but one of them does not have a removable ceramic crock and I promptly cut the power cord off as soon as I got a new crock pot that was the same size (I am planning on turning it into a planter for the kitchen).  The crock pot brand cookers are ceramic, while my rival is pretty much a non-stick coated metal pan that sits on a hot plate.  I have no personal experience with any of the other brands out there, but the Crock Pot brand and the Rival brand are both really good.

Definitely make sure that whatever you get has a removable crock!  That is the number one most important feature.  Non-removable crocks are a major pain in the butt to clean because they can not be submerged in water and will make you not want to use your slow cooker.  That's why my slow cooker with non-removable crock is now going to be a planter.  And why my boss's slow cooker with non-removable crock is now sitting on the counter at work where we use it to heat water for thawing frozen medications and warming fluids.

More than one setting is important too, so that you can adjust the cooking time and temperature.  My old Rival slow cooker has 5 settings, with number 1 being pretty much a just warm and number 5 being high enough to bring the whole thing to a boil almost as quickly as the stove top.  My newest crock pot only has a high and low setting.  My big crock pot slow cooker has heat and time settings (high 4hrs, high 8hrs, low 8hrs, low 10hrs) and after it reaches the set time it switches to warm.  It's a nice concept, but I find it a little annoying and have overcooked several meals because it just sat on warm for too long before we got home to eat.  I also don't like it because the settings are achieved by buttons rather than a dial.  A lot of times we want to cook something that may only take 6 hours but we will be gone for 10-11 hours, with the rival and small crock pot that have dial controls we can plug them in to an electric timer (like the kind you would use for Christmas lights or lamps when you go on vacation) to turn on later in the day so the meal will just be done when we get home.  Because of the button controls, we actually have to be there to push the button when the power comes on in the outlet. 

For most recipes I agree that you want a crock that will cook from both the bottom and the sides.  But I also find that my rival, which cooks only from the bottom, does very well with a lot of recipes we cook in it.  I find that the rival is better for meat dishes, although I suspect that has more to do with the amount of temperature control we have than with which direction the heat is coming from.  It probably also has a lot to do with the 10 years of experience cooking with the rival vs the mere 1 year of experience cooking with the crock pot...still working the cooking times out on that one.  My big crock pot also has a small vent in the lid, right under the handle on the top, which I find very annoying because it lets too much moisture escape (I'm sure they put it there so that they wouldn't have to provide places for excess steam to escape around the edge of the lid) and I find that it leads to some of the things I cook in there drying out.  It also means that small particles of food can get trapped between the handle and the glass when we wash the lid in the dishwasher.

If you can only get one crock pot, I would go for something 4qt or larger.  My Rival and my big Crock Pot are both 5qt (I think, the writing on the Rival that told me what size it was has long since worn off and I'm sure the box was tossed 11 years ago after we opened it) and I find that to be a good size for family meals.  My small crock pot is 2.5qt and I find it to be extremely useful for side dishes, party drinks and larger batches of dips.  I could live without it, but it was useful enough for me to deal with the non-removable crock occasionally for 10 years.  A little bitty crock pot would be fun, but is really only useful for dips and stuff like that which we don't need that often (and when we do, I find that putting a 1 or 1/2 cup glass ramekin or custard dish in a 2.5qt crock pot works beautifully).  If you can, I would highly recommend getting more than one crock pot.  I feel like I really need the two 5qt crock pots because we cook dinner in the crock pot at least twice a week most weeks, and sometimes three times a week, so having more than one means I don't have to panic when one isn't clean by bedtime.  And I have found that the different pots are better at one recipe or another than the other ones.

Awesome information!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Apple, Cheddar, and Turkey Meatballs

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey (I usually just use 1lb)
1 lrg. egg
1 tsp. kosher salt (I just use regular iodized salt)
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 green apple, peeled and shredded
1/2 C. shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 C. dried unsweetened cranberries (although I have a giant bag of craisins so the ones I use are sweetened)

In a large mixing bowl, mix the ground turkey with the egg, seasonings, apple, cheese, and cranberries. Make golf-ball sized meatballs and place into your stoneware, stagger-stacking. Cover and cook on low for 5-8 hours, or on high for 4-6 hours. While they cook, juice will collect on the bottom of the crock, and the meatballs will begin to look bright white and slimy. They will continue to cook and will brown and you will be able to separate them easily when they are cooked through.

This is my favorite meatball recipe, we make it about once or twice a month in the winter. This morning I mixed up a batch, plopped it in the crock pot and set the timer to cook for 7 hours. This evening, I came home to crusty, blackened meatballs in the bottom of my crock

The last time we used that crock pot (my old rival with no "off" setting) we had cranked it up to high to thicken some gravy and this morning we forgot to check the setting before we ran out the door. Lesson learned, at least for the next few weeks. On the bright side, I hadn't planned quite well enough to have any sides ready to go when we got home. But it would be a much brighter bright side if I liked take-n-bake pizza as much as my husband and son. At least the 2 year old had a good meal between tantrums tonight.

Incidentally, for those who have never experienced this kind of an oops, cooking something that is supposed to be cooked on low for 8 hours for the same amount of time not only ruins dinner, your cooker may never be the same. I don't know if I'll ever get the charcoal off the bottom of my Rival. Thank goodness it wasn't one of my ceramic crock pots, I'm sure the strong arming with the heavy duty battle spatula to scrape the meatballs out of the crock would have chipped them!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Put a cup of rice in the crock. Add 1-1/2 cups of water, a packet of onion soup mix. Mix well. Set chicken pieces on top. Spread a can of whole cranberry sauce on top of the chicken and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Or

Put a cup of rice in the crock with 1-1/2 cups water. Add chicken pieces.

Mix together a can of whole berry cranberry sauce, a bottle of french dressing and a packet of onion soup mix. Pour over chicken and cook on low 6 to 8 hours.

We had this for dinner tonight. The chicken was fall off the bone delicious. I used skinless leg quarters (for some reason I remember this saying skinless chicken pieces although now that I look at it again it doesn't!) and they were perfect. I wasn't keen on the cranberry sauce when I put it in this morning, I don't know if it was just the brand I used or what but it seemed to be mostly jelly with only a few whole berries in it and it was difficult to spread...next time I may try heating it first to at least make it easier to spread. And I'm still not sure that I like how the rice turned out (I have never had good luck with cooking rice in my crock pot...it always seems to come out overdone or not quite cooked). It reminded me of rice stuffing, so it wasn't bad but I usually prefer my rice to be a little firmer. My 2 year old who has been having texture issues with rice for the past few months on the other hand loved it. He ate all that I put on his plate and asked for more! He also ate all of his chicken! This meal has made me a very happy toddler mommy. My husband liked the chicken, and he didn't really comment on the rice but I suspect he wasn't crazy about it either. We'll definitely be trying this one again. I might play with the cooking time to see if we can get the rice to a "better" consistency, or maybe try the second option that includes a bottle of french dressing in addition to the onion soup mix and cranberry sauce.

 

[gardendufus]

Here's one I tried last night from a new cookbook.

Chicken Sweet Chicken

Sweet Potatoes (recipe says 1/4" sliced, but next time I would make thicker slices)
Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs (wash and pat dry) (my favorite)
8 Oz Orange Marmalade
1/4 C Water

Layer In order given. Cook on High 1 Hour then 5 hours on low. Easy Peasy

Comment: Loved the flavor this gave, but next time I will eliminate the water as I got entirely too much moisture out of this which I think diluted the flavor.

I love my crockpot and even thought I'm single and retired with lots of available time, I love to cook large batches and then freeze for later.

 

[gardendufus]

OK, Here's one from the same Book (Fix-It- And Forget-It Slowcooker Magic) that I'm going to try later today or maybe tomorrow....

Upside-Down Chocolate (who doesn't love chocolate, raise your hand) Pudding Cake

1 C Bisquick (or other baking Mix)
1 C Sugar
3 Tbsp dry baking cocoa
1/2 C Milk
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/3 C dry baking cocoa
1 2/3 C Hot Water

1. Spray inside of slow cooker with cooking spray.
2. Combine baking mix, 1/2 C Sugar, 3 Tbsp cocoa powder, Milk and Vanilla in a mixing bowl, stirring until well blended. Spoon batter evenly into slow cooker.
3. Combine remaining 1/2 C Sugar, 1/3 C cocoa powder and hot water, stirring with a wisk until blended. Pour over batter in slow cooker. Do NOT stir.
4. Cover and cook on high 2 - 3 hours or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

ETA: I'm going out today to buy a second pot so I can cook dinner and desert on the same day, LOL

TIP: The batter will rise to the top and turn into cake. Underneath will be a rich chocolate pudding.

 

[oldcrowfarm]

I have two crock pot brand slow cookers, and my ancient rival cooker. Technically I have 3 crock pots, but one of them does not have a removable ceramic crock and I promptly cut the power cord off as soon as I got a new crock pot that was the same size (I am planning on turning it into a planter for the kitchen). The crock pot brand cookers are ceramic, while my rival is pretty much a non-stick coated metal pan that sits on a hot plate. I have no personal experience with any of the other brands out there, but the Crock Pot brand and the Rival brand are both really good.

Definitely make sure that whatever you get has a removable crock! That is the number one most important feature. Non-removable crocks are a major pain in the butt to clean because they can not be submerged in water and will make you not want to use your slow cooker. That's why my slow cooker with non-removable crock is now going to be a planter. And why my boss's slow cooker with non-removable crock is now sitting on the counter at work where we use it to heat water for thawing frozen medications and warming fluids.

More than one setting is important too, so that you can adjust the cooking time and temperature. My old Rival slow cooker has 5 settings, with number 1 being pretty much a just warm and number 5 being high enough to bring the whole thing to a boil almost as quickly as the stove top. My newest crock pot only has a high and low setting. My big crock pot slow cooker has heat and time settings (high 4hrs, high 8hrs, low 8hrs, low 10hrs) and after it reaches the set time it switches to warm. It's a nice concept, but I find it a little annoying and have overcooked several meals because it just sat on warm for too long before we got home to eat. I also don't like it because the settings are achieved by buttons rather than a dial. A lot of times we want to cook something that may only take 6 hours but we will be gone for 10-11 hours, with the rival and small crock pot that have dial controls we can plug them in to an electric timer (like the kind you would use for Christmas lights or lamps when you go on vacation) to turn on later in the day so the meal will just be done when we get home. Because of the button controls, we actually have to be there to push the button when the power comes on in the outlet.

For most recipes I agree that you want a crock that will cook from both the bottom and the sides. But I also find that my rival, which cooks only from the bottom, does very well with a lot of recipes we cook in it. I find that the rival is better for meat dishes, although I suspect that has more to do with the amount of temperature control we have than with which direction the heat is coming from. It probably also has a lot to do with the 10 years of experience cooking with the rival vs the mere 1 year of experience cooking with the crock pot...still working the cooking times out on that one. My big crock pot also has a small vent in the lid, right under the handle on the top, which I find very annoying because it lets too much moisture escape (I'm sure they put it there so that they wouldn't have to provide places for excess steam to escape around the edge of the lid) and I find that it leads to some of the things I cook in there drying out. It also means that small particles of food can get trapped between the handle and the glass when we wash the lid in the dishwasher.

If you can only get one crock pot, I would go for something 4qt or larger. My Rival and my big Crock Pot are both 5qt (I think, the writing on the Rival that told me what size it was has long since worn off and I'm sure the box was tossed 11 years ago after we opened it) and I find that to be a good size for family meals. My small crock pot is 2.5qt and I find it to be extremely useful for side dishes, party drinks and larger batches of dips. I could live without it, but it was useful enough for me to deal with the non-removable crock occasionally for 10 years. A little bitty crock pot would be fun, but is really only useful for dips and stuff like that which we don't need that often (and when we do, I find that putting a 1 or 1/2 cup glass ramekin or custard dish in a 2.5qt crock pot works beautifully). If you can, I would highly recommend getting more than one crock pot. I feel like I really need the two 5qt crock pots because we cook dinner in the crock pot at least twice a week most weeks, and sometimes three times a week, so having more than one means I don't have to panic when one isn't clean by bedtime. And I have found that the different pots are better at one recipe or another than the other ones.

OMG!!!!!! This one simple line made me drop my mouth wide open! I have not been using my crock pot for workday cooking for years, since my older model has the dial settings of low, high, and warm-and my poor food was ALWAYS overcooked by the time we got home. DH smacked himself on the forehead when I read this to him, saying "how could I NOT have thought of that!" You solved my problem with such a simple fix!
Thank you, thank you!

 

[JP101010]

In My Crock Tonight :
Home style Mini Steak & Cheese rolls

thin cut Steak Rounds- trimmed fat off- with lemon juice as a tenderizer
1 can cream of mushroom condensed
fresh shredded onion & garlic
Lemon and Pepper Marinade -enough to cover meat

end of cook time:
add chick peas
shred steak with fork

served on toasted rolls with melted cheese

It was delicious!

 

[OCpeep]

I just made this creamy chicken "pot pie" and it was delish. Recipe from Real Simple magazine (Feb. 2012)

8 oz. crimini mushrooms (sliced or cut any way you'd like)
1 medium onion, chopped
baby carrots (1/2 bag) or 4 carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup water
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
kosher salt and pepper
1 sheet puff pastry (half a 17.3 oz. package), thawed (or I substituted ready-to-bake biscuits)
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen green beans
1/3 cup heavy cream

In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, mix together mushrooms, onion, carrots, flour, thyme, bay leaf and 1/2 cup water. Place the chicken on top; season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Cover and cook until the chicken and vegetables are tender, on low 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.

Thirty minutes before serving, heat oven to 425F. Using a 4 1/2-inch cutter or large glass, cut the pastry into 4 circles. Place on a baking sheet and bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Or bake the biscuits per instructions on package.

Ten minutes before serving, add the peas, green beans, cream and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the chicken mixture and stir to combine. Cover and cook on high or low until heated through, 5 to 10 minutes more. To serve, place the chicken mixture in bowls and top with the pastry rounds or biscuits.