For weeks I have been resisting pulling out the crockpot. Because once I do, that will mean that we are fully into the swing of autumn, with all that that implies. I was not quite ready to admit that summer was over!
But the other day we had choir, followed by football, followed by back to school night, so having left the house at 3pm we were going to arrive home at about 8pm all starving and hungry. Thursdays are crockpot day from now on.
I looked through some recipe books but I had the hardest time finding an actual crockpot recipe, where you can throw it in and walk away. Everything that sounded tasty needed pasta or vegetables added in in the last half hour.... I'm not coming in at 8pm and waiting an extra half an hour to feed everyone! We needed instant food!
At first I was quite surprised by how hard it was to find a proper recipe; and then I was just annoyed. I don't want to have to babysit my crockpot! I want it to work for me, not need constant attention through the cooking process!
I did eventually find a recipe; and it was really good. But I clearly need some new recipe books, because we can't eat the same thing every Thursday until Christmas....
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4 comments:
I love my crockpot! I seriously feel like I use it at least 3 times a week. At least! I love making chicken noodle soup, do the whole frozen chicken breasts+bottle of BBQ sauce and 4 cups of water. Low all day and then when you come home shred it and put it on a bun. Instant BBQ chicken sandwiches and soooo yummy! I also love the spaghetti sauce you can make in the crockpot which makes enough to freeze for another meal. Email me if you ever need ideas and if you find any good ones please share!! Good luck!!!
I have several recipes, some that need side dishes and some that don't. I just pinned a few to my Pinterest food page too. I'm going to try to put a bunch of freezer/crockpot meals together so I can just pull them out and go. My favoirtes right now are chicken breasts in bbq sauce for shredded bbq sandwiches, or cooked in soups (Campbell's Golden Mushroom, Cream of Chicken, etc.) to be poured over mashed potatoes or white rice. We use minute rice so it's five minutes tops. You could also make the mashed potatoes ahead of time and warm them up. We've also done chuck roast in salsa and shredded it for burritos or tacos. My girls will eat that plain with chips or rice on the side too. Hope that helps.
Hi Again! Totally thought of you yesterday. I put 4 frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot, put some season salt over them, and covered them with fresh salsa from the grocery store. Cooked on high for 8-10 hours, and my family went bananas over it. We just added some flour and/or corn tortillas, cheese, black beans and lettuce. I made a pot of Spanish rice because I had the time, but it was all so yummy. Super simple.
OK, here is my copycat on the cafe rio shredded chicken. Cafe rio cooks the green chiles with the rice, rather than the chicken, but since we don't always make rice for our burritos/salads, I cook it in with the chicken, because I like the flavor.
CAFE RIO CHICKEN
1 to 1.5 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (normal grocery store package with 3-4 breasts, depending on size)
3/4 cup fat free zesty italian salad dressing
1 heaping tbsp cumin
1 heaping tbsp chili powder
1 small can diced green chiles
1 tsp hot sauce or 1/2 tsp chipotle powder (optional)
pour dressing in bottom of crock pot. whisk in chili powder and cumin. add green chiles. If you like a little more heat, add a few dashes of hot sauce - the choula chipotle sauce is good, or if you have it, powdered chipotle powder - both give it a nice smoky flavor. Add chicken and stir around to coat. Cook on low setting for 6 hours or high for about three. About an hour before serving, open up the pot and use forks to shred the chicken (or if you are lazy like me, use kitchen shears to chop it up roughly). Replace top and continue cooking.
CAFE RIO TOMATILLO DRESSING
This is the house dressing on cafe rio salads - it's also better than sour cream as a topping for burritos and other goodies...
1 regular-size bottle ranch dressing (or make a batch of hidden valley per the directions)
2 green tomatillos, husks removed, roughly chopped
1 jalapeno pepper - with seeds removed, roughy chopped
dash hot sauce
Mix above ingredients in a blender.
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