Crockpot Pork Carnitas

I won't lie. I googled the word "carnitas". I took French in high school and college so shoot me. I just didn't want to look like an idiot by titling this "pork carnitas" if carnitas meant pork. You feel me? Good. Now that that is out of the way, I did learn that carnitas actually means "little meats" and it's meat that's been braised in oil or lard. I did nothing of the sort here. So I guess I can't technically call these carnitas, but whatever. They are darn good. You are also welcome for the Spanish lesson. 

PS - You can see from the pic below that I used this in Pork Carnitas Bowls with Cilantro Lime Caulirice!

Crockpot Pork Carnitas

adapted from The Recipe Critic

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 8-9 hours

Servings: 10+

Ingredients

4 pound pork shoulder roast

1 TBS chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

1.5 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 oranges, juiced

2 limes, juiced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

In the bottom of your crockpot, put the last 4 ingredients. Place your roast down in the crockpot. 

In a small bowl, combine your dry spices. Sprinkle these over the roast. Set the crockpot for 8 hours on low. 

Once it's done, I shred mine right in the crockpot and left it sitting in the juices for another 30-45 minutes on low. 

Now if you really want to be fancy, take the meat out of the crockpot after it's been bathing in those juices in the crockpot for the last 30 minutes and place it on a sheet pan. Put it in the oven under the broiler for about 5 minutes. This will make some of the bits a little crispier. 

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken

This was really good. I didn't get to eat it the night I made it, but it does reheat well. Hubby said it was yummy and gave it a thumbs up. I don't have a picture since I forgot to take one before I left for work. Next time I make it I will add a pic!

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken

adapted from AllRecipes.com

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 8 hours

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts

2 TBS unsalted butter

1 packet of dry Italian dressing

2 can cream of cheddar soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz light sour cream

1/2 cup of milk

Hot, cooked rice

Directions

Cut the chicken into cubes and place in crockpot with butter. Sprinkle with Italian dressing. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

 

In the last 30-45 minutes of cooking, add in the soups, milk and sour cream. Serve over hot, cooked rice (or noodles - whatever your preference!). 

 

Enjoy! 

Slow Cooker Saucy Beef Tips

So we have had a few bad runs with the slow cooker dinners. As you might know, I have class on Tuesdays from 9am-6pm and dinner is usually done in the slow cooker. Hubby and I have found that most things don't do well in the slow cooker if left in there for more than 8-10 hours. The only thing that seems to work is red meat. Chicken tends to disintegrate and soups get yucky. Yes, yucky. So I found this and we loved it!  I've made changes to the original recipe and you can definitely take out the red wine. I just thought that it might add a little 'je ne sais quoi' (that's 'I don't know what' in French, for all my mono-linguals out there).

Slow Cooker Saucy Beef Tips

adapted from Mommy's Kitchen

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 8 hours

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

2lbs stew meat, cubed

1 can low sodium cream of mushroom soup

1 packet lower sodium brown gravy mix

1 packet dry onion soup mix

1 cup Ginger ale

4 TBS red wine (I used Merlot)

Cooked egg noodles

Directions

Put everything in your slow cooker with the exception of the egg noodles. Set it on low for 8 hours. Serve over hot cooked egg noodles.

Enjoy!

Italian Pot Roast

This was very easy and yummy! It was great for leftovers the next day, too. I served mine with some oven fries as I was all out of milk to make mashed potatoes. I will definitely be making this again and with no changes. It was that delicious!

Italian Pot Roast

adapted from Southern Living

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 8 hours

Servings: 4-6 

Ingredients

1 large Vidalia onion thinly sliced
2-3 lb boneless tender chuck roast
1 tsp pepper
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
14oz can beef broth
1/2 cup red wine (I used Merlot)
8 oz can tomato sauce
1 tsp Italian seasoning
2 TBS cornstarch

Directions
Spray the inside of the crockpot with cooking spray. Place the onion in the bottom of the crockpot. Place the roast on top of the onion. Sprinkle with pepper and onion soup mix. Pour the tomato sauce, merlot and beef broth over the roast.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove the roast and roughly shred with forks. Keep warm.

Mix together the cornstarch and 2 TBS water. Add this mixture and the Italian seasoning into the juices in the crockpot. Turn to high and cook for 20-40 minutes.

You can either add the roast back in, pour the sauce over the roast or dip into the sauce.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

This was amazing! The pork was so tender and juicy. The flavor was amazing. Hubby and I both gave this two thumbs up and I will definitely making it again. You could even try substituting with turkey tenderloin or beef tenderloin <--- this would probably be amazing with the sauce! I served this with some potatoes and veggies.

Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin

adapted from Allrecipes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 4-6 hours

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

2 lb pork tenderloin

1 packet of dry onion soup mix

1 cup water

3/4 cup red wine (I used Merlot)

2 TBS minced garlic

3 TBS low-sodium soy sauce

Directions

Put the tenderloin in the slow cooker and sprinkle the dry onion soup mix over it. Pour water, wine and soy sauce over the pork. Spread the garlic over the top of the tenderloin. Splash a little of the liquid in the bottom over the top of the tenderloin. Set slow cooker on low and cook for 4 hours. It's okay if it goes a little longer - mine was in for a little over 5 hours before I turned it down to warm. 

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

This was pretty good. I personally thought it was a little sweet and had too much clove. I was eating it right out of the jar and not putting on toast or a biscuit so that might have made a difference. My sister-in-law thought it was delicious. I would probably take the sugar down to 3 cups and reduce the clove to 1/2 tsp. I would even consider eliminating the clove all together and adding another 1/2 tsp of allspice.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

from Mommy's Kitchen

Prep Time: 1 hour 

Cook Time: 12-16 hours

Makes: 11  1/2 pints

Ingredients

50 oz jar unsweetened apple sauce

3 lbs apples (I used Granny Smith)

4 cups sugar

1 cup apple juice or cider (I used juice, but I might try cider next time)

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp allspice

Directions

Peel, core and cut apples into chips. Put all the ingredients into the crockpot and stir to combine. Cook on low for 8-10 hours (best if done overnight). Remove cover and cook on high heat for 4-5 more hours. 

2 tests:

1. If you can stand a wooden spoon upright in the apple butter, then it's probably ready.

2. Spoon a small amount onto a plate. Look for a small rim of liquid around the edge of the butter. If it's there, cook for a little while longer. If not, it's ready!

Now you can just pop it in the fridge if you think you are going to eat all of it within a week. Otherwise, you are ready for canning. If you are unfamiliar with this process, check out Home Canning 101.

Enjoy!

Creamy Chive Chicken

OMG. This was so amazingly, awesomely, wonderful. I think it might be my new favorite. Initially, when I looked at the ingredients I thought it would be too reminiscent of Chicken Stroganoff. Boy was I wrong! Personally, I think it tastes sophisticated without a lot of work. I will apologize for the picture. I didn't realize until I was more than halfway though my meal that I hadn't taken one. Hence, the reason it looks kind of weird. I promise you that you won't regret making this!!

Creamy Chive Chicken

adapted from Easy Meals for Moms

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 TBS butter

1 package dry Italian dressing mix 

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 can golden mushroom soup

1/2 an 8 oz tub of cream cheese with chives

1/2 an 8 oz bar of plain cream cheese

White rice

Directions

Cut the chicken into cubes and place in crockpot with 2 TBS butter. Sprinkle with Italian dressing mix. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Add cream cheese, wine and soup. Cook on high for another 30 minutes to an hour, or until cream cheese is thoroughly melted and heated through. While waiting for this to be ready, cook the rice according to the package. 

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Roasted Chicken & Veggies

Sadly, I don't have a picture of my perfect little roasted chicken. As soon as I tried to take it out of the crockpot it fell apart. The chicken was good, but you definitely need to get the seasoning under the skin. I also put my veggies at the bottom with some chicken stock and they were tasty, but scary looking as they had turned kind of brown from the stock. Time called for me to do a crockpot meal, but next time I might just roast the darn thing.

Roasted Chicken & Veggies 

adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients

2-5 lb whole chicken (I chose 5 so that we would have leftovers)

3 TBS butter, softened

Salt 

Pepper

Salt-free all purpose seasoning

Onion

Whole carrots

Celery

Potatoes

Baby carrots

Directions

Rinse the chicken off. Rub him down with a little butter all over. The butter will harden as you rub him since he is cold. In the cavity, place 2-3 tops of the celery (like the part with the leaves), 1/4-1/2 of an onion and a carrot (unpeeled is fine) that has been quartered. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning. Obviously these are just what I like, you can pick any spices you want!

In the bottom of the crockpot, put some peeled and quartered potatoes and baby carrots. If you want to leave these out to cook later, wad up three sheets of aluminum foil into 3-4" balls and place in the bottom of the crockpot. Place the chicken on top of these.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours. 

Enjoy!

White Chicken Chili

I personally thought this was really good, maybe a little soupy. I think this might be solved by adding less chicken stock and maybe some puree of the beans. It had great flavor and was filling. Hubby wasn't as fond. He thought it was too soupy to be classified as "chili" and he didn't think it had much flavor. Granted, he has been sick for the last week so I am going to blame his "lack of flavor" comment on that.

White Chicken Chili

adapted from multiple recipes

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 oz can of chopped green chiles

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

32 oz Kitchen Basics unsalted chicken stock

1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, shredded (approx 3 cups)

2 cans white beans (Northern or Cannellini)

Monterey Jack cheese

sour cream

Directions

Put all ingredients with the exception of the cheese in the slow cooker. Turn on low for 8 hours.

Top with a dollop of sour cream and some Monterey Jack cheese. 

Enjoy!

Swedish Meatballs

So I tried to do this in the slow cooker, but it did not want to cooperate. The meatballs got too brown and I ended up adding the soups and cream half way through. If I had actually left the house that day I probably would have come home to little brown golf balls in my slow cooker! Another option would be when you prep the night before to just brown the meatballs a little and then put the soups in with it the next morning. Dairy products don't tend to do well long term in the slow cooker so it might be better to add an additional soup to make sure the meatballs are completely covered. Beyond all of this these were so yummy! Perfect fall or winter meal.

Swedish Meatballs

adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey

3/4 cup plain bread crumbs

2 TBS cream

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried parsley

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup of cream

1/2 cup of fat-free half-and-half

8oz container of low-fat sour cream

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the bread crumbs with 2 TBS of cream and stir, allowing the crumbs to absorb the cream. Add the turkey, onion powder, egg, salt, pepper and parsley. Mix well and form into golf ball sized meatballs. 

In a skillet over medium heat, brown the meatballs slightly. Transfer the meatballs to the slow cooker. Add the cans of soup and garlic. Put on low for 8 hours.

30 minutes before you are ready to eat add the cream, half-and-half and sour cream to the slow cooker. 

Serve over egg noodles.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Chicken & Stuffing

So this is a combination of a couple of recipes and my own culinary genius. Just kidding - I think it's mostly pure luck. It was very yummy and perfect for our rainy night. Next time I will probably go with the low-sodium Stove Top or a different stuffing all together. The regular stuff was kind of salty in my personal opinion. As usual my SIL and hubby loved it! I served this with mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls. 

Slow Cooker Chicken & Stuffing

adapted from multiple recipes

Ingredients

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 sticks of butter 

2 cans cream of chicken soup (I used the 98% fat-free)

1 cup sour cream (I use Daisy Light)

2 boxes of low-sodium Stove Top Chicken stuffing

1 cup water

Directions

Cut up the chicken into large chunks. Put it into the slow cooker with 1/2 stick of butter and salt, paprika, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Cook on low for 6-7 hours. 

30-45 minutes before you are ready to eat, add in the cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Prepare the stuffing with a stick of melted butter and 1 cup of water. You want it to be moist, but not soggy or mushy. Put it in on top of the chicken mixture. Cook on high for 30-45 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Chicken Stroganoff

This is hands down one of my favorites. It's so easy and yummy. I can eat it year round, but it's perfect on a cold winter day! I use all reduced fat/sodium or fat free product with great results. Well with the exception of the butter, that's full fat. Yummy! This meal is also great too because you just toss it in the crockpot to cook all day and your house smells delicious when you get home.

Chicken Stroganoff

adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 TBS butter

1 package dry Italian dressing mix

1 - 8oz package reduced fat cream cheese

1 - 10.75oz can of reduced fat/sodium cream of chicken soup

1/2 package of wide egg noodles

Directions

Cut the chicken into cubes and place in crockpot with 2 TBS butter. Sprinkle with Italian dressing mix. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Add cream cheese and soup. Cook on high for another 30 minutes to and hour, or until cream cheese is thoroughly melted and heated through. While waiting for this to be ready, cook the egg noodles according to the package.

Top egg noodles with chicken and sauce. Enjoy!

French Dip Sandwiches

French Dip Sandwiches
adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
3 pound sirloin tip roast
1 -10.5 oz can beef broth (I use Kitchen Basics)
1 - 10.5 oz can condensed French onion soup
1 - 12 fluid oz can or bottle beer (I used Fat Tire)
2 TBS Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
6 French or sub rolls
2 tablespoons butter

Trim excess fat from the roast and place in a slow cooker. Add the next 6 ingredients. Cook on Low setting for 7 hours. Remove the roast and slice it down. Add the meat back to the juices for another hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Split the rolls and spread with butter. Bake 10 minutes or until heated through. Add the sliced meat and top with cheese (we used provolone). Place in the oven under the broiler until the cheese is melted.

I served the au jus on the side in little ramekins with mashed potatoes. Yummy!

Enjoy!