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time4tea
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| Posted: June 17 2011 at 3:05pm | IP Logged
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Hi Everyone,
I would love to use my crock pot more often, but I often have a hard time finding recipes that really work for larger families. We do not really eat red meat, so that poses another challenge for me! Does anyone have any recipes to share that would work for about 8 people and be mostly chicken or vegetarian based?
Thanks so much for your help 
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DominaCaeli
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| Posted: June 17 2011 at 4:23pm | IP Logged
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I'm not a big fan of cooking meats in the crock pot, so most of my slow-cooker meals happen to be vegetarian. A few that come to mind:
:: Refried beans - I adapt this recipe. We love these, and they feed a crowd! Served with lots of topping and chips or torillas.
:: Black bean and sausage stew - I use a recipe from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. Theirs called for pork cubes, but I usually use browned sausage instead. However, I have also used potatoes to make it meatless and it was very tasty that way as well.
:: Polenta: I make big batches of polenta in the crockpot--so easy. 7.5 cups water, teaspoon of salt, 1.5 cup polenta, high for one hour, low for five hours or so, stir each hour. Yummy topped with cheese and sauteed vegetables.
By the way, the cookbook I mentioned before (Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook) is a good option for vegetarian meals. They have lots of great ideas.
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Celeste
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seeker
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| Posted: June 17 2011 at 5:33pm | IP Logged
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I always cook whole chicken in the crock pot. I squash up 5 pieces of foil and put it in the bottom of the crock. Then I quarter an onion and put it in the chicken. I season the chicken with whatever seems yummy and put it in on low for about ten hours. You don't have to put the foil in. Sometimes after I dinner I'll pick all the edible pieces off and leave all the bones and junk in, add water and seasonings, and make a stock with whats left...
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jawgee
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I love this Minestrone Soup in the crock pot. Just throw all of the ingredients except the pasta in the crockpot and cook on low all day. Add the pasta a few minutes before serving. Serve with a fresh loaf of bread. Yum!
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jawgee
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| Posted: June 17 2011 at 5:44pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I also love doing Pulled Pork in the crockpot. Put a 3-4 lb. piece of pork loin in the crock pot with 2 cans of root beer. Cook on low all day. At the end of the day, drain the root beer, shred the pork, and mix the pork with your favorite BBQ sauce. Serve in dinner rolls.
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rcarter
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| Posted: June 17 2011 at 6:25pm | IP Logged
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This slow cooker chicken and dumplingsis a favorite in my family. You would probably need to double the recipe, and we've tweaked it to our tastes, like adding green beans, carrots, and peas. Makes a nice Sunday dinner that can easily be thrown together before Mass! 
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kristinannie
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| Posted: June 17 2011 at 9:42pm | IP Logged
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Chicken Casablanca
I have made this without the chicken and it is still great. I just add an extra can of chickpeas and a little extra veggies.
2 large onions, sliced
1tsp ground ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 large carrots, diced (I use a 1lb bag of baby carrots)
2 large potatoes, diced
3 lbs chicken pieces (I use skinless, boneless breast)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbps raisins (I use golden raisins)
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
3 small zucchini (you can also use some squash)
15 ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
2 Tbsp fresh parsley (or 1 Tbsp dried)
It says to saute onions with ginger and to brown the chicken, but I just throw it all in the slow cooker. Add chicken and veggies. Mix spices together and then sprinkle over the chicken and veggies. Add raisins and tomatoes. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4-6 hours or LOW for 8 hours. Add sliced zucchini, chickpeas and parsley 30 min before serving.
I know this sounds like it has a lot of ingredients, but it only takes about 20 min to get everything chopped and in the slow cooker. It is really good and, like I said, you don't need the chicken if you want to go vegetarian. I serve it with couscous. This is one of John Paul's favorite meals!!!
Crock Pot Vegetarian Burritos
Black Bean Soup
All three of these are family favorites.
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Dominic Michael 4.5
Katherine Elizabeth 8 months
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guitarnan
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| Posted: June 17 2011 at 11:00pm | IP Logged
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Make It Fast, Cook It Slow has many recipes for 6-quart crockpots, including cooking whole chickens. (And that recipe works, like a charm. I've tried it.) This popular book might be available at your library, as it is at mine. (I bought myself a copy...too many great recipes...)
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time4tea
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| Posted: June 18 2011 at 7:06am | IP Logged
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Thanks, everyone, for so many great ideas! And just to clarify, chicken is fine, we just don't eat a lot of red meat 
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~Tea
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anniemm
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| Posted: June 19 2011 at 11:39pm | IP Logged
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I really like this lentil stew my parents created, and it freezes beautifully if you have leftovers. This makes quite a bit - the recipe feeds my family of 6 (although my girls are still quite young) twice.
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound ground turkey breast
4 tsp garlic
1 small can tomato paste
4 cans chicken broth
1 bag lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
2 T Worcestershire Sauce
¾ t dried oregano
½ t ground black pepper
½ t ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1 bag of matchstick carrots
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained or 2 cups fresh chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
Cook turkey, onions, and garlic on stove. Sprinkle with Mrs. Dash’s Tomato Basil seasoning or something similar. When mixture is almost done cooking, add the tomato paste. This will deliciously flavor the turkey mixture! Place mixture in crock pot.
Add chicken broth, lentils, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, pepper, cumin, and bay leaves. (Everything but the veggies!) Cook on High for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, add the veggies – carrots, spinach and celery. Cook on low for about 4 hours until lentils are done!
My whole family really enjoys this dish, I usually just serve it with homemade bread.
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stacykay
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| Posted: June 20 2011 at 6:24am | IP Logged
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How funny that you asked. I was looking for chicken recipes this weekend (my boys have been saying, "Ugh, chicken again?" when I found that very thread!
Within that topic, I found a link to a A Year of Slow Clooking blog! Not only does it have a year's worth of crockpot recipes, but also "the verdict" in which the blogger writes how well received the meal was by her family. I printed out a number of chicken recipes there. The link I gave, though, goes to her "home" page, so you can search from there, and not limit yourself to chicken! (I meant to add that she also has vegetarian or veg. adaptable recipes, too!)
In Christ,
Stacy in MI
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Erin
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Tea
How timely you question is Dh just bought me a slow cooker on the weekend, we went to price one and it was on a sale for 46% off!
I made a delicious soup for lunch, ad libbed from the recipe book that came with the pot. Such a delicious taste 
Anyone have any tips on cooking porridge overnight? With Rolled Oats?
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stacykay
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Oh, and Tea, I wanted to ask how large of a crockpot you have. Ours is a 6 quart one, and we have 8 (me and 7 men.)
I can't eat beef, but the boys can, so I have made roasts, but it seems like I'm really squeezing them in, to get enough meat for all.
For chicken, I have to use boneless and skinless breasts to maximize the space for meat.
In Christ,
Stacy in MI
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time4tea
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| Posted: June 20 2011 at 10:56am | IP Logged
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Satcykay,
It is the largest size - oval shaped - I think about 8 quarts? I wish they made them bigger
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seeker
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 12:13pm | IP Logged
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jawgee wrote:
| Oh, I also love doing Pulled Pork in the crockpot. Put a 3-4 lb. piece of pork loin in the crock pot with 2 cans of root beer. Cook on low all day. At the end of the day, drain the root beer, shred the pork, and mix the pork with your favorite BBQ sauce. Serve in dinner rolls. |
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Do you know if this works with chicken?? I've got some boneless, skinless thighs that I wanted to use this Thursday...
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jawgee
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| Posted: June 21 2011 at 2:31pm | IP Logged
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seeker wrote:
jawgee wrote:
| Oh, I also love doing Pulled Pork in the crockpot. Put a 3-4 lb. piece of pork loin in the crock pot with 2 cans of root beer. Cook on low all day. At the end of the day, drain the root beer, shred the pork, and mix the pork with your favorite BBQ sauce. Serve in dinner rolls. |
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Do you know if this works with chicken?? I've got some boneless, skinless thighs that I wanted to use this Thursday... |
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Never tried with chicken thighs - only breasts. Check www.allrecipes.com for some ideas (put chicken thigh and slow cooker in the search box). I LOVE that site!!
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time4tea
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| Posted: June 22 2011 at 3:38pm | IP Logged
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rcarter wrote:
| This slow cooker chicken and dumplingsis a favorite in my family. You would probably need to double the recipe, and we've tweaked it to our tastes, like adding green beans, carrots, and peas. Makes a nice Sunday dinner that can easily be thrown together before Mass! |
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Do you double this recipe and if so, can you give me an idea of how you do it? I am really not good at that - they just don't seem to turn out. I think I don't add enough liquid or something.
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JennGM
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Did you see This thread?
AussieAnnie wrote:
CHICKEN CACCIATORE
2 Tbls of olive oil
One whole chicken cut into pieces
2 large onions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 x 750ml Italian-style tomato cooking sauce
20 Kalamata olives, pitted
1/2 cup of white wine
1 cup of chicken stock
125g button mushrooms, quartered
2 Tbls fresh basil leaves chopped
2 Tbls fresh rosemary chopped
1 Tbl sugar
Heat olive oil in frypan and brown meat and add to pot.
Then fry onion and garlic until soft adding tomato sauce, olives, wine, stock, mushrooms, basil, rosemary and sugar.
Pour mixture over the chicken and cook in crockpot on Low for 8-10 hours or High for 4-5 hours.
Serve with crusty bread, pasta and salad of choice!
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And this thread
teachingmom wrote:
Chicken in a Pot
2 carrots, sliced
2 onions, sliced
2 celery stalks with leaves, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 lb. whole broiler/fryer chicken
2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. coarse black pepper
½ cup water, chicken broth or white wine
½ - 1 tsp. basil
Put carrots, onions, and celery in bottom of crock pot. Add whole chicken. Top with salt, pepper, and liquid of choice. Sprinkle basil over top. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours (high 3 ½ - 5 hours, using 1 cup water). Remove chicken and vegetables with spatula.
You can use leftover liquid and chicken to make soup. |
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These are the recipes I've used and liked.
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time4tea
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| Posted: June 22 2011 at 4:29pm | IP Logged
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Jenn,
Thank you for passing the links and recipes on! I had not seen them before!
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~Tea
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rcarter
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| Posted: June 22 2011 at 4:34pm | IP Logged
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I don't usually double this recipe. My kids and dh are all big eaters, and I have made it for when we have a few guests over and it is enough. However, I don't make it exactly the way that the recipe in the link says. So here's my list of ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup diced onion
3-4 carrots, sliced
1 cup froz. green beans
1/2 cup froz. peas
3 14 oz. cans chicken broth
1 10 oz. pkg ref. biscuit dough, torn into pieces
The liquid should cover all the ingredients, so if it needs more, I just add some water. I don't add any salt, though, as the broth and soups give it a lot of flavor. And other than that, I just follow the directions as the original recipe states. I like having the extra veggies, as it stretches the meal out a bit more! Oh, and one more thing that the recipe doesn't say is to shred the chicken just before you put the biscuit dough in. It should just about fall apart anyway.
If you do make it, let me know how you like it!
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Crock pot recipes?
