Happier Holidays With My Slow Cooker
I’m starting to gear up for the holidays at my house. At this time of year, I stock up on cooking and baking staples and double check that my favorite cooking gear is in order and at the ready. I have my usual tried and true holiday recipes that I’ll be making, but I’m seriously exploring how I can use my slow cooker more efficiently over the next few weeks. It seems like such a sensible solution during the busiest time of year.
We had a birthday in the family recently, and I decided to make our celebration a little more festive by serving mulled apple cider. Of course, the vessel for the job was my slow cooker. I put the cider and the mulling spices in the slow cooker and turned it on to high around 2 pm. By the time we arrived home again at 5 pm, the cider was warm, aromatic, and ready to be ladled into mugs.
I had never done this before, but it worked out beautifully and everyone enjoyed a nice warm cup of all natural cider after a cold afternoon of walking and skateboarding at the park. The kids had been pining for sodas, but no one grumbled when they discovered mulled cider was the beverage at hand.
This simple solution tweaked my curiosity and now has me wondering what else I can make in order to simplify my holiday preparations. Maybe I could cook my mashed potatoes and keep them in there on warm. Maybe I could make a warm crab dip and serve it right from the crock. Or, maybe I could do a mulled wine for the adults…
One good resource I’ve discovered is The Taste of Home Slow Cooker Classics Cookbook. Boasting more than 300 pages, the book features recipes for appetizers, beverages, soups, sandwiches, side dishes, and meats. All of the recipes have been carefully tested by the Taste of Home editors and originally hailed from busy home cooks! Do you use your slow cooker over the holidays? If so, I'd love to hear about it...
--Melissa A. Trainer
ShanaBanana on November 15, 2009 at 03:09 AM
I love my crockpot. The meals are ready even if the diners are late. I have three recipes that I use frequently.
Recipe 1: BBQ meatballs. Frozen cooked meatballs, cranberry sauce and chili sauce. My pot easily holds 4 lbs of meatballs, 2 cans cranberry sauce (with or without whole berries) and 2 bottles chili sauce. No one believes the contents, tastes like a great bbq sauce. Great for parties.
Recipe 2: Chicken with tomatoes. Chicken pieces (fresh or frozen, with or without bones), 1-2 cans tomatoes with garlic and onion, red wine. Optional: cut up carrots, potatoes and celery. Great with a salad and hot bread.
Recipe 3: Pot roast. 1 roast (any type), 1 pkt dried onion soup mix, 1-2 cans tomatoes with garlic and onion, cut up potatoes and carrots, red wine. Great with a salad and hot bread.
Eric on November 16, 2009 at 04:26 PM
Hoppin-john for New Years Day.
This can be doubled by using 4 cans of Blackeyed peas and 2 cans tomatoes. Makes great leftovers.
2 Cans Black Eye peas - Drained and rinsed
1 Can Diced tomatoes in Tomato Juice, Not Drained
1 Can Rotel Tomatoes and chiles Not Drained
1 Small onion diced
2 Cloves Garlic Pressed
1 Pkg Healthy Choice Smoked Sausage sliced up
1 Tblspn Olive Oil
1/2 Red Wine
1 cup Beef Stock
1 Tblsp Thyme
1 Tblsp Paprika
In large skillet over med heat sweat onion and garlic in oil. Add Sausage and lightly brown. (5 minutes)
Deglaze with wine. Add Thyme and paprika. Maybe a little pepper. Throw in slow cooker. Add The cans of tomatoes and Rotel. Add Beans and Stock. Stir to combine. Cook on high for 4 hours.
Serve with cornbread. (I serve mine over cornbread)
PS its kind of sneaky spicy, so you might want to use mild Rotel if you don't like heat.
King of Chili on November 16, 2009 at 04:33 PM
2 - large cans Hunts tomato sauce
1 - can Del Monte diced tomatoes
2 - cans Bush's Chili Beans in Medium sauce
1 - lb. lean ground beef or ground turkey breast
1 - diced medium yellow onion
2 - tsps crushed black pepper
Season with Mexene to taste. (Or use cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt)
Mazeman on November 16, 2009 at 04:58 PM
6-10lb Pork shoulder
A couple onions cut in large pieces
Salt and pepper
Enough root beer to cover half the roast
Salt and pepper meat. Put onions on bottom and top of meat in pot (put meat fat side up). Pour in root beer. Cook on low for 8 hrs. Skim off fat from top. Remove pork. Discard the rest of contents except for a little juice. Put "pulled" pork back into pot. Add favorite BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's). Cook on low for another hour.
Serve on rolls with cole slaw.
Deb on November 16, 2009 at 05:46 PM
I put bone-in chicken pieces with skin in the crock pot on high with no added liquid. Then I put freshly ground lemon pepper on top or seasoning of choice. It ends up tasting like roasted chicken and the leftovers make a great chicken salad.
Sarah Natividad on November 16, 2009 at 06:59 PM
Dump a pack of country-style pork ribs in there, add one bottle of barbecue sauce. Or we do a beef pot roast with a can of spaghetti sauce and a couple bay leaves.
That being said, my all time favorite crock pot recipe is my Portuguese grandmother's crock pot-adapted version of the old Portuguese classic, arroz doce (sweet rice pudding). My grandmother got this recipe from her grandmother, but she adapted the technique for the crock pot because she said she didn't like standing over a hot stove all day.
Arroz Doce
3/4 c. uncooked white rice
1 1/2 c. water
4 c. milk
Rind of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine
Powdered cinnamon to taste
In slow cooker combine rice and water. Cook on low until water is absorbed. While cooking, scald the milk with the lemon rind and cinnamon stick. Remove and discard lemon rind and cinnamon stick. Add milk 1 cup at a time to rice, allowing each cup to be absorbed before adding the next bit. When half the milk is added, add the sugar and salt. When all the milk has been added, turn off the slow cooker and add the egg yolks and butter. Whip the egg whites until fluffy and fold them in. Serve warm or cold, with cinnamon sprinkled on top.
kentuckyliz on November 16, 2009 at 07:52 PM
Yesterday I tried out a crock pot technique so I could skip using the oven and heating up the whole house. 5 qt round crock pot, 1 qt round covered casserole, meat rack. Put 2 c boiling water in the crock pot directly. Made a rice pudding with cooked rice, fruit bits, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, milk, sugar, and that went in the little casserole pot, covered, inside the crock pot. Cooked on high 2 hours and it was just lovely. Might try some custards this way too. The pot inside a pot, with a rack and a bain marie, is just brill.
There's crockpot cheesecake recipes out there too and I even have a small springform pan for the project but haven't tried it yet.
Jenniferwhatnot on November 17, 2009 at 06:33 AM
Mashed potatoes - absolutely! I made these potatoes (with a few modifications) last year for Thanksgiving and they turned out to be the best potatoes anyone had ever tried. I will never again make potatoes right before dinner; these were made the night before and kept in the crock pot til it was time to warm them (on low).
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Mashed-Potatoes/Detail.aspx
Bryan on November 17, 2009 at 12:23 PM
My wife is a fan of the Taste of Home stuff, but I call it "Taste of Foam". But that's just me.