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Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

12 Aug

I already have a few versions of this soup posted here on my blog, but today I did it in the slow cooker, and I wanted to write it down to save for the future. This is one of my all-time favorite soups!

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

Slow Cooker Enchilada Soup

What you need:

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 onion (red, yellow, or green), diced
4 cloves garlic
4 cups chicken broth
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 14.75-oz can whole corn kernels, drained
1 10-oz can Ro-Tel (or 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 small can diced green chiles)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup masa harina (This is corn flour. You can use corn meal, but it will may have a grittier texture)
2 cups milk or chicken broth
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese

How to make it:

Place chicken in a slow cooker. Add diced onion, garlic, chicken broth, black beans, corn, Ro-Tel, and tomato sauce. Sprinkle in chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Cover with lid and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil over medium heat and stir in the masa harina (mixture will be thick). Slowly pour in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick and it reaches a gentle boil. Pour mixture into slow cooker and whisk until smooth.

Shred chicken and stir in shredded cheese. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste, if needed. Allow to cook about 10 minutes until all ingredients are heated through. Garnish with cilantro, lime wedges, shredded cheese, sour cream, or tortilla strips as desired.

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Burritos with Pork Carnitas

2 Aug

We love a good burrito in my household. I’ve tried lots of different combinations, most of which I have shared on here. Tonight, we did a new combination and here it is!

Burritos with Pork Carnitas

Burritos with Pork Carnitas

– Large, burrito-size flour tortillas
– Cilantro-Lime Rice
– 1 can black beans
– Pork Carnitas (My pork butt wasn’t boneless, I didn’t cut it up, and cooked it in the slow cooker on low for 8 hours. Still did the broiler part, the crispness is the best part!)
– Shredded cheese
– Salsa (I really wanted pico de gallo, but wasn’t up to making it and couldn’t find it at the store I went to today!)

Heat each tortilla for a few seconds on each side in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Remove tortilla, and spoon in some of each of the fillings listed above. Roll the bottom of the tortilla over the fillings, fold in the sides, and continue to roll. I made 8 burritos, although the last 2 were a little skimpy on the black beans.

Finished Burritos with Pork Carnitas

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Honey Mustard Chicken

16 Feb

A friend of mine posted this recipe a couple of nights ago, and it just sounded so good. And, it definitely was. I did make a few of my own substitutions, based on what I had on hand at home. This one will be made again soon! I may try it in the slow cooker next time, I think it would work well in there as well.

Honey Mustard Chicken

Honey Mustard Chicken

What you need:

1/2 cup Dijon mustard (I used spicy brown because that is all I had)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon or fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried seasoning (I used 1 teaspoon of Tastefully Simple’s Rustic Herb Seasoning)
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, either pounded thin or sliced in half through the thickness if they are very thick

How to make it:

Combine the mustard, honey, soy sauce, and your choice of seasoning in a bowl.

Oven-baking method:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with cooking spray or oil. Arrange chicken breasts in a single layer in the dish, and pour the sauce over the chicken. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 170 F.

Slow cooker method:

Spray the inside of the slow cooker crock with cooking spray or oil. Arrange chicken breasts in slow cooker, and pour sauce over the chicken. Bake on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4-6 hours.

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Slow Cooker Chicken and Green Bean Casserole

20 Jul

My husband went to the store a couple of days ago, and brought home 2 big cans of cream of mushroom soup, 4 cans of green beans, and 2 bags of fried onions as a “suggestion”. I guess it has been a while since I made Green Bean Casserole, and really, it’s just not something I tend to work in to our meal rotation much. So, as I woke up this morning, I had a thought. What if I used the ingredients for Green Bean Casserole and put it over chicken in the slow cooker? I have cooked chicken with cream of mushroom soup before that turned out well, why not add the green beans and onions too? It turned out great, and got rave review from my parents, who are here visiting, and my kids! I doubled the amount of everything to have enough to serve 6. I made mashed potatoes and brown rice to go with it. Only reason I made both was because I didn’t have enough of either to serve everybody, but had plenty with making both! Oh, and the Cheddar Garlic Biscuits were a great addition, too. This was a super easy meal, that came together very nicely.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Green Bean Casserole

Slow Cooker Chicken and Green Bean Casserole

What you need:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 10-3/4 oz cans cream of mushroom soup
2 14.5 oz cans green beans, drained
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2/3 cup fried onions, plus more for garnish
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

How to make it:

Mix cream of mushroom soup, green beans, milk, soy sauce, fried onions, and ground black pepper in a slow cooker. Place chicken breasts into the mixture, making sure they are fully covered.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours.

Serve with mashed potatoes or rice. Garnish with fried onions, if desired, to give it some crunch.

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Slow Cooker Apple Butter

17 Nov

Jars of Apple Butter

Since I haven’t had much success with making jams and jellies, I’m glad to have had success with making apple butter.  Mid-October, my family made a trip to Apple Annie’s Orchard to pick apples.  At that time, what they had for harvest was lots of Granny Smith and some Rome Beauty.  So, we got around 8 pounds to bring home.  We won’t really eat Granny Smith plain, but, with a little added sugar, we like them prepared in things.  Now, mine never turns out as pretty as other pictures that I have seen, but it works out well enough for us!

I used 6 1/2 pounds of the apples we picked, a mix of Granny Smith and Rome Beauty varieties, and used my peeler/corer/slicer  to prepare all the apples, then used a hand chopper to chop them into smaller pieces.  This filled up my 6 quart slow cooker pretty much to the top.  Then, I added sugar and spices, skipping the salt and vanilla extract, according to this recipe for Slow Cooker Apple Butter:

– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 1 cup light brown sugar
– 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
– 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
– 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Normally, I wouldn’t add sugar, but with as many Granny Smith apples as I had, it needed the sugar to balance out the tart.  I cooked it on low overnight, about 10 hours.  In the morning, I removed the lid and used my hand mixer to smooth out the apples in the slow cooker.  I left the lid off and continued to cook it on low for another 2 hours, until it had gotten a thicker consistency.

We love to eat this on toast and waffles, plus it’s a nice addition to a peanut butter sandwich instead of the grape jelly I buy at the store.  It’s a wonderful fall treat!  The prep takes some time and effort, but then you can let it cook all day while you work on other things.

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Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

13 Aug

I got a lucky a few weeks back and was at Fry’s while they were putting out manager’s special whole chickens.  So, I got 2 whole chickens, each just a little over $3.  I put them in the freezer until I had time to get to them.  Since it’s still rather hot here, I decided to try making it in the slow cooker instead of the oven.  It was pure torture smelling this cook a ll day, and luckily, it tasted great.  I used green beans and carrots as the vegetables and ate them as a side to the chicken, but you could use any vegetables you prefer, or just do carrots and celery to add flavor while it cooks.  What’s nice about the slow cooker is that it keeps the chicken nice and moist.  You don’t even have to add any liquid at the beginning, the juices off the chicken will be enough to keep it moist while it cooks.  When it’s done, it just falls off the bone.  Yum!  After I got all the meat off the chicken, I put the bones back in the slow cooker and filled it with water to make chicken broth!

Chicken served with carrots and green beans, plus dinner roll

 

Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

What you need:

1 whole chicken, 3-5 pounds
Vegetables of your choice, I used frozen carrots and frozen green beans
1 onion, diced
1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic
Fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper

How to make it:

Put vegetables and diced onion in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Remove neck and giblets from inside of chicken, and rinse both inside and out.  Generously salt and pepper inside of chicken.

Cut open garlic cloves and rub over all the chicken.  Place inside the chicken.  Set chicken breast side up on top of vegetables.  Squeeze lemon over the chicken and place the rinds inside chicken.  Then, place a few sprigs of rosemary inside the chicken, and place some rosemary leaves on top of chicken, along with salt and pepper.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until a thermometer inserted in the breast reads 180 F.  Chicken should be moist and falling off the bone.  Serve with some of the vegetables, or sides of your choice.

Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

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Slow Cooker Spicy 9 Bean and Pork Soup

4 Jun

Last fall, on my trip to Willcox, one of the stops was the Bonita Bean Company.  I have been using the pinto beans I purchased to make Refried Beans, but I also had gotten a 9 bean mix I still needed to use.

9 Bean mix from Bonita BeanIt is a 20 ounce bag containing pinto, cranberry, light red kidney, yellow, black, small red, pink, navy, and Great Northern.  I had a pork tenderloin in the freezer to use, along with some green chile and onion, and decided that all would make a good soup.  And, with beans taking so long to cook, I decided the slow cooker was the way to go to make this.  My older daughter and I thought it turned out really well, in fact, we both had a second helping!  Even though I have it labeled as spicy, it’s a  low level of heat, but still a little on the spicy side.  If you don’t have a bean mix, you can make a mix of your own, a great way to use up small amounts of different kinds of beans!

Slow Cooker Spicy 9 Bean and Pork Soup

Slow Cooker 9 Bean and Pork Soup

What you need:

3 cups of a dry bean mix
1 1/2 pounds pork roast or tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced green chiles
2 cups diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt

How to make it:

Put beans in a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker.  Add pork next, then the remaining ingredients.  Cook on high for 5-7 hours, or until beans are tender.

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Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

2 May

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

 

This is something I have made for a long time.  But, my challenge tonight was to make it gluten-free for my friend’s kids that I was watching tonight.  Normally, I make the Bisquick biscuit recipe on the box and drop it in, but tonight I used a biscuit recipe using flour so I could substitute in the gluten-free all-purpose flour that I have.  With the Bisquick, the dumplings end up pretty fluffy and it’s almost more like a chicken pot pie.  This time, it turned out more like dumplings, and was pretty good!  So, now this can be made with regular flour or gluten-free flour with good results.

 

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

What you need:

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 bag (12 oz) mixed vegetables (I used a mix of carrots, corn, green beans, and peas)
1 cup diced onion
8 cups water
6 chicken bouillon cubes (make sure to use gluten-free, if needed)
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour with xanthan gum or 2 cups all-purpose wheat flour, depending on your need
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk

How to make it:

Spray slow cooker with non-stick spray. Add chicken, vegetables, onion, water, chicken bouillon, and poultry seasoning. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Remove chicken, shred, and return to crock pot. If cooked on low, turn to high for 15 minutes.

Mix together flour, baking powder, oil, and milk.  Drop dough by spoonfuls into the slow cooker.  Cook on high 30 minutes more or until dumplings have cooked.

Note: For the dumplings, you can also use regular or gluten-free Bisquick to make biscuit dough according to the box, then drop by spoonfuls into the slow cooler. If you don’t need gluten-free, you can use a can of refrigerated biscuit dough. Cut each biscuit into fourths and roll into balls, then drop then into the slow cooler.

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Slow Cooker Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

28 Apr

Slow Cooker Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

 

I know this picture doesn’t make it look very appetizing, but it really turned out very good!  The roast was a chuck roast that I had purchased from Starbar Farm & Ranch.  When I used to make this, I would use a packet of onion soup, but since I didn’t have any on hand, I found a blend of spices online that was similar and without all the extra stuff too.  After the meat was cooked, I shredded it and mixed it in with the potatoes and carrots, making it like a beef stew.

 

Slow Cooker Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

What you need:

4-5 lb beef roast
2.5 lb potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces (I left the skins on)
8 oz peeled baby carrots
1 onion, cut into wedges
4 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
3 tablespoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups water

How to make it:

Place roast in slow cooker.  Place potatoes, carrots, and onions around the roast.

In a small bowl, combine beef bouillon, minced onion, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Sprinkle over roast and vegetables.

Pour the water over the vegetables that are around the roast.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until meat can be pulled apart easily with a fork.

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Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

29 Nov

Recently at Bountiful Baskets, we got some HUGE russet potatoes.  We love baked potatoes in my house, but potatoes that big can take forever to bake.  Well, I discovered there is a pretty easy way to get a baked potato – in the slow cooker!  So, here is what you need to do!

First, wash and completely dry your potatoes.  Poke with a fork around the potatoes.  Wrap them in aluminum foil and place in the slow cooker.

 

Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or high for 5-6 hours.  Remove from foil and serve.

 

Here is how we had ours, fully loaded with shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, sour cream, and chives.  I know, not the healthiest, but so good!

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