Travel meal: crock pot beef

Sometimes, it's worth taking up valuable suitcase real estate to travel with the crock pot.

It's chilly outside, I'm traveling all week, and a hot, safe gluten free meal after a long day is such a mood booster. There is a mini fridge and microwave in my hotel room, and that's all I need.

Well, that and the ingredients.

I have my trusty travel kit and planned ahead, so I brought a few ingredients with me to avoid buying full-size versions at the grocery store (crock pot liner, bay leaf, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce).

Crock pot beef:

Put into the crock pot, in this order...
crock pot liner
1 carrot, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
1/2 lb of stew meat
1/4 of a green bell pepper, chopped
1 big kale leaf, torn into pieces
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce, transported in a small, leakproof container
pepper
a few glugs of red wine
enough water to make the liquid level just hit the kale

Set it to low when you leave, put up your Do Not Disturb sign, and come "home" to a delicious, hot meal and a hotel room that smells amazing. The only thing missing is my cat.

I ate it with some mashed sweet potato.  Not bad for no kitchen, eh?

Pulled pork taquitos

Today I made a recipe that did not include pumpkin. It's October and I have every right to put pumpkin in everything... but I exercised my basic bitch right and chose not to.

Instead, I chose to deploy my other secret power.

I hid veggies in this.

Look. Do you see veggies?

I don't. But they're in there. Spooooky. Shredded zucchini virtually disappears in this dish and not only does it discretely spike the veggie content, it helps keep the pork moist.

I could have stopped there and made pulled pork sandwiches, but I felt like something else. Taquitos.

With extra veggies, because even though I choose to, I don't actually have to hide veggies from myself.

Pulled pork taquitos (with hidden veggies)

Layer in your crock pot, in this order:
a crock pot liner (essential.)
1/2 chopped onion
2 boneless pork chops from the freezer
a handful of shredded zucchini
a generous squirt of your favorite gf bbq sauce

Set it on low for 6 hours, until the pork is falling apart. Shred it with a fork in the crock pot.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Then, assemble the taquitos. Take a corn tortilla, stick some extra shredded zucchini on it, then add the pork. If you're feeling saucy, add a little more bbq sauce.
Roll up and place on a greased sheet pan, seam side down. Repeat until you're out of supplies, about 6 taquitos. Spray with a little cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until they get hot and crispy. I use my toaster oven for this and it works great.

Drizzle with extra bbq sauce and if you're feeling extra, some ranch dressing.

So good, so good. The cat agreed.

Travel meal: Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

On the road again.

This week I was unable to book a hotel with a kitchen, so I booked a room with a nice big wet bar, and brought my crock pot with me.

Which is why I am now sitting in my hotel room enjoying tacos for dinner.

Hotel Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

Put the ingredients into crock pot in this order:

crock pot liner
1 clove of peeled garlic, snapped in half if you can manage it
2 chicken thighs
1 stalk of torn up kale
1 package of GF taco seasoning
1 can of black beans, undrained*

Set it on low when you leave in the morning and put your do not disturb sign up. (I have no idea if crock pots are allowed in this hotel... I am normally a rule-follower but I don't care. I'm a hungry rebel.)

When you finally leave the lab and head back to the hotel, you'll be greeted by a nice hot dinner. Serve the lovely chicken-y, bean-y feast in a corn tortilla with the cutest little bowl of rice and avocado. Yum.

I know I'm not the only person out there who habitually overstuffs their tacos. Every. Time.

*The can of beans with the pull top was crucial because I do not routinely travel with a can opener, but I have ordered one to add to my travel kit.

I will easily get 2 other meals from this, and as usual, I'm thrilled to have a safe, gluten free meal that isn't a salad while I'm traveling.

21 seasoned pork chops

Hey, gf folks who still pop in now and again to see what I've been up to!

Lately, I've been content to eat a salad for dinner. Call it a combination of being busy and traveling, plus I've only got myself to feed and I've found it's not worth the trouble to cook every night.

Today, though, I was hungry and wanting something warm and nourishing. Hello, crock pot!

Super easy to pop some frozen boneless pork chops in the crock pot, with a generous dose of Trader Joe's 21 seasoning blend, juice from a lemon, a sprig of fresh thyme, and some chopped red onion.

Paired with roasted sweet potato and brussels sprouts... on top of greens because you can never force enough veggies down your throat.

Cheers!

crock pot salmon

A few nights ago I was wandering around Pinterest when I came across this recipe.
You know I love my crock pot recipes. Salmon in a crock pot?? Heck yeah! *PIN*

 

Fast forward to tonight when I got home from work absolutely over it and suggested we go out to dinner. Then hubs excitedly chose 5 Guys. Cajun french fries, while delicious, don't exactly fit into my recent healthy mindset. UGH. Plus there was plenty of food in the fridge, so I decided I'd have to cook.

Then I remembered the salmon fillets in the freezer. I hadn't thawed any, but that's what the crock pot is for. Salmon cooks quickly enough.

I followed the recipe loosely, because I used what I had on hand.

Into the crock pot I tossed:

2 4 oz (frozen) salmon fillets
1 c. water
1/4 c. red wine
1 lemon, sliced
1/4 c. chopped chives
1/4 c. chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
coarsely ground salt and pepper

Set it on high for about an hour while I sat on the couch, ate some chocolate, and took a nap.

Sides were super easy. Green beans and sauteed sweet potatoes. I added a bit of the liquid from the crock pot to deglaze the pan.

Hubs declared everything delicious. I was satisfied.

Easy crock pot chicken

This is the easiest crock pot chicken recipe. I almost feel silly calling it a recipe.

I make it when I'm stumped for dinner ideas because of two reasons:

1. I always have the three ingredients around.
2. It turns out surprisingly great every time. So good that I'd make it for company. Really. I think I even made this for a special homecoming dinner for hubby once.

Toss into the crock pot (with a life-changing liner):

• Chicken (boneless breasts or thighs)
• Rosemary (FRESH!)
• A can of *Progresso creamy mushroom soup

Cook on low until you come home from work. Serve over rice with the vegetable of your choice.

*A note about the soup: It didn't always used to be gluten free, and some of the non-gf cans are still around. Find a can that says GLUTEN FREE right on it. Then buy 5 to have in the pantry.

You're welcome for this super easy wonderful crock pot chicken recipe.

freezer dump soup

It's hot.
Did I mention it's hot?
Because it's hot.

And I don't want to cook hot things. But salads and sandwiches get old.

Enter stage left: The crock pot. And the big freezer cleanout.

Dinner is served.

This is my freezer dump soup. The recipe changes, because it consists of cleaning out the fridge and freezer and dumping anything soup-worthy into the crock pot.

And it's usually delicious.

The secret to delicious freezer-dump soup is to heavily sautee all the things you can before dumping them in the crock pot. That char gives the soup and extra depth that really makes a difference.

This particular soup starts with sauteed corn, green peppers, and onion.

It got tossed into the crock pot with chicken broth, a forgotten carrot, peas, some wine, and a freezer burned chicken breast.

It turned out wonderful. I had 2 bowls.

I usually serve with a nice big scoop of rice or quinoa to round things out.

Crock pot beef

Crock pot beef. It's what I make when I need a wholesome dinner and I don't want to fuck around. There are many different variations, but here's a basic guideline.

Before I start, if you aren't using crock pot liners, you are missing out. No, really. These are life-changing. Get some and use them often.

Step 1: Veggies. Chop them up into big pieces. Take this opportunity to use up any sad veggies that have been hiding in the crisper. Toss in a peeled garlic clove or two.

Step 2: Meat. Chop up your beef. Any cut will do; the crock pot part basically takes care of any tenderizing. I use literally whatever is the cheapest at the store.

Step 3: Liquids. Usually this involves wine. Red or white; whatever is open. I've also used chicken, veggie, or beef broth, or even water. Fill it up so that the level is just under the top of the meat. Or whatever. If you err, err on the side of more liquids.

Step 4: Optional seasonings.
Sometimes I make this plain jane, because I wanted the leftovers to be versatile.
Sometimes I also add in fresh herbs/ bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, or chili powder. One time I even added fresh cranberries because it was fall, dammit.

The end result is: Dinner.
To thicken the sauce, stir cornstarch into a small amount of cold water, then stir into the crock pot.

Serve as a stew, or over rice.

Chicken stuffed chiles

Dude, I made a really tasty dinner tonight.

Originally inspired by (I hate to admit) Rachael Ray's Cheesy Chicken and Corn Stuffed Chiles recipe. Somehow I ended up subscribed to her magazine. Still can barely tolerate her, but there's usually a couple of neat recipes. I switched up a few things and converted this meal halfway* to crock pot heaven.

Hatch chiles are a big thing in grocery stores right now. Seriously, every store flyer for the past couple of weeks has had some kind of hatch chile theme. There was a giant bin right when I walked in the store, so obviously I used those.

The best news is, the crock pot recipe made WAY more chicken filling than needed, so I can easily use the rest in enchiladas, soup, tacos, etc. I will probably end up freezing some as well.

Crock Pot Chicken Stuffed Chiles

Place in the crock pot:
3 chicken breasts, sprinkled with paprika, cumin, and pepper
1 c. salsa
1/2 block cream cheese

Cook until the chicken starts to fall apart, or until you come home from work. If necessary, shred the chicken and place back in the crock pot. Stir in 1 c. frozen corn.

Cut chiles in half and remove seeds. Fill with cheesy chicken mixture and top with shredded cheese. Bake at 450 for about 10 minutes, just until everything is heated through and the cheese on top has started to bubble.

Serve with rice.

*Full crock-pot version:
Chop the chiles and put everything in the crock pot at once. Serve over rice. I think the flavors would have a chance to mingle and this method would actually improve the recipe.

Ideas for leftover chicken:
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken Spaghetti

Crock pot bbq chicken

It's hot. It's still hot. It's going to be hot for a while longer.

When it's 100+ degrees outside, the A/C can only do so much. Cooking has become an event that literally has me sweating in the kitchen. I just can't do it.

Oven? Forget about it. Stovetop? Maybe. Toaster oven? For something quick. Microwave? Yes. Grill? Yes, but it's still hot out there and hubs has started boycotting as well. Crock pot? If you simply must eat something hot, okay. Sandwiches? Now we're talking! ...which is why I made sandwiches for dinner three times last week.

However sandwiches get old after a while and it's time for something with a little more dinner-feel.

Enter crock pot BBQ Chicken. It's stupid-easy.

Step 1. Put chicken in the crock pot.
Step 2. Pour BBQ sauce over it.
Step 3. Cook on low until you get home from work.

Serve with coleslaw, salad, spiralized zucchini, or something you don't have to heat up the kitchen for. Because did I mention it's hot?

P.S. These leftovers make great chicken sandwiches. And they're good straight out of the fridge cold. Kuz it's hot outside.

Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan

I must clarify: Crock Pot Chicken Parmesan-ISH*. That's what happens when I adapt recipes to be crock pot friendly. Because sometimes it's not as much about authenticity as it is about having dinner ready when I get home.

Skip the breading part because it would fall apart in the crock pot anyway, and simplify. I don't think you're ready for how easy this is:

Put in a crock pot:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 jar of spaghetti sauce

Cook on low heat all day, until you come  home from work. I've let this go for as long as 12 hours and it's totally fine.

Serve with brown rice and steamed vegetables. Dinner is done in no time, especially if you already have cooked brown rice in the freezer.

Typically chicken parmesan would also be served with mozzarella and parmesan cheese melted on top, but I was in NO mood for that extra step tonight. And you know what? The world did not implode.

*Even if Chris said it looked like some "slop he'd eaten in Afghanistan."
*Could also be described as chicken spaghetti. Go ahead, serve it over noodles.
I don't care what you call it, it's still pretty tasty.

Crock Pot Chicken with Pineapple and Sweet Peppers

I cannot even tell you how much I love crock pots. They are just friggen wonderful.

Here we have chicken legs cooked in the crock pot with some pineapple and sweet peppers. All amounts are relative, and crock pot recipes like this are pretty forgiving. Go nuts.

Pineapple & Sweet Pepper Chicken Legs:

chopped sweet peppers
onion
pineapple
wine- red or white, 1/4 cup or so, just to keep the chicken moist.
salt & pepper
chicken legs- stand them up with the bony side pointing up.

Set it to low when you leave for work in the morning (or leave a note for hubs), and when you get home you'll have dinner!

Thicken with a bit of corn starch before serving- 1/4 c. water mixed with 1 T. corn starch, then mix that into the crock pot. Oh and please, pick out the bones before you chow down. The meat should just fall right off.

Serve over brown rice with slivered almonds on top and a bit of fresh parsley.

Crock pot Chicken & Peppers

Here's a recipe for a simple, delicious meal. Throw it all in the crock pot and dinner pretty much makes itself. I was worried it wouldn't be flavorful enough, but it's right on the money.

I hate recipes with no pictures. So here's a blurry cell phone picture of it all portioned out into lunch leftovers. I do not claim to be a photographer, but I promise this food tastes good.
At least you can see what it ends up looking like...

Easy Crock Pot Chicken & Peppers

Add to the crock pot:

• 3 chicken breasts (still frozen are A-ok)
• 3 sweet mini peppers (they usually come in a bag with red, orange & yellow. I snag them when they're on sale), roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• enough white wine to cover it all

Set on low heat until the chicken falls apart. I've left it in for 10 hours before; just make sure you add enough liquid to keep it moist.

Season with salt & pepper. Serve over noodles.
Another easy delicious crock pot meal.

Honey Sesame Chicken

For the record, this is really good. I got the recipe from a pin, which takes you to Six Sisters' Stuff:

Even though I made a few changes, the sauce is solid. This is one of those recipes that will be saved.

(See my notes in GREEN) 

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
Recipe adapted from: Baby Center
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thighs would be fine too) (I used pork)
Salt and pepper (I felt that soy sauce added enough saltiness and omitted salt)
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce (of course I used gluten free)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or canola oil) (I used sesame oil for extra sesame flavor)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water
Sesame seeds

Directions:
Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

Currently eating...

There's nothing like a good meal.

The past few weeks have been takeout, Amy's, cereal, and random snacky meals.

I've been craving something substantial and hearty.
So last night I set up my crock pot with a frozen cornish game hen, some sad back-of-the-fridge celery, the last of some white wine and leftover chicken broth, a squeeze of lemon, a sprinkle of thyme, and some fresh oregano. ASH: I PUT IT BACK IN THE FRIDGE OVERNIGHT. haha

I set it on low when I left for work this morning, and came home to the smell of delicious chicken. And a frantic cat who must have been going berserk smelling chicken cooking all day.

Chopped some carrots and added them to a small pot on medium heat. Splashed in a little of the chicken broth from the crock pot, and after it started to boil I turned it to low and covered it. Meanwhile I took the meat off the bones and seasoned it with pepper. I squeezed a little honey over the carrots when they were tender, and enjoyed a simple meal of chicken and carrots.

I love putting chickens in the crock pot because you really can't go wrong. Just throw it in there, even frozen, with a little bit of seasonings and liquid. I usually let mine go for 10-11 hours so I add a little more liquid to keep it from drying out. Then, since it's just me, I have enough for leftovers the next day. I'm thinking chicken salad.

Currently enjoying a dessert of chai tea and cookies.

Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken cacciatore is a super easy dish that ends up tasting like you spent hours cooking it.

It's kind of like a spaghetti sauce with chicken. Kind of. At least this version is.

I love to use my crock pot for this dish, and I either use chicken breasts or a cornish hen, because a real chicken is too big to fit in my little crock pot. I don't brown the chicken before tossing it into the crock pot, because I hate doing extra dishes. It tastes great without it, but feel free to add this step.

Also. This does not make a large amount of food, since I'm just cooking for one person.

Ingredients:

1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
4 fresh basil leaves, picked fresh from your herb garden. Don't have one? Start one. It will change your life ...cooking... life.
1 tsp dried (or fresh!) oregano (My oregano didn't grow so I used dried)
2 chicken breasts or 1 frozen cornish hen
salt and pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes
Most chicken cacciatore recipes call for mushrooms, but I don't like them so I don't use them. I love being able to do that.

My crock pot directions are all the same: Toss everything into the crock pot the night before, put it in the fridge overnight, and set it on low when you leave for work in the morning. I can't stress this enough: Don't forget to plug it in and turn it on!

When you come home hungry, it will be ready. If you've cooked a whole bird, fish it out and remove the bones.

Serve over rice or pasta, or not.

Chicken and Corn chili

I tried this dish a few weeks ago at my friend's house. It was SO good that I just had to make it myself. Turns out it is ridiculously easy. I love love crock pot recipes.

Here's the link to the recipe on Allrecipes.com. The recipe says to cook 8 hours, but I didn't come home until after 10 hours and it was just fine. Not dry or anything. Of course I didn't drain the corn or the beans, for extra moisture. I also used black beans instead of pinto beans. NOM.

Please, be sure every ingredient that you use is gluten free. :o)

I originally wanted some avocado to go with it, but it had sat too long on my counter and was funky. Too bad, it would have really made this dish rock. Horray for leftovers! Lunch is going to be good tomorrow.

Pot Roast

There's not much better than coming home after a long day of work to a hot meal.
Remember this post? Well, I learned how to make pot roast. And it's friggin' delicious.

I've made it a couple of ways. I like this basic recipe, and then I can change it up as I feel like it.

Needed:

• Chuck roast (Use roughly 1/2 pound per person)
• 2 peeled Garlic cloves
• Bit of red wine (Whatever I've got open) (Or GF beef broth) (Appx 1 c.)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Onion
• If my plant is still alive, a sprig or two of rosemary

My favorite, no fuss, least-amount-of-dirty-dishes way to cook it:

The night before, place everything in the crock pot. Eyeball the amount of liquid. You want enough to keep things moist, but you don't want the meat swimming in it. Keep in mind the meat will also release liquids as it cooks.

I feel like I have to mention that I keep it in the fridge overnight. In the morning when I leave for work I set it up on low heat, and come home to amazingly tender, falling apart, flavorful pot roast.

If you don't mind the extra dishes (I know, I have a complex), browning the meat & onion before placing it into the crock pot helps punch up the flavor. After it's browned, take a little wine and pour it into the hot pan and get all the drippings loose. Add that to the crock pot too.

I also have found that I prefer my pot roast to be cooked vegetable-less. I like to cook the meat by itself, and add veggies as sides.

Regardless, there are a billion ways to cook pot roast, and this works for me!

Cube Steak in the Crockpot

Last week I ended up with some cube steak in my fridge. I've never cooked cube steak and have no idea what to do with it. Thankfully, a quick google search helped me out.

I found out that cube steak is a piece of meat beat the hell up to make it tender. It's budget-friendly and it's usually used in chicken fried steak. However, I was not feeling chicken fried steak. I wanted something a little lighter. I also wanted to use the crock pot. Coming home after a long day to a hot, cooked dinner is totally underrated.

As I searched the internet for recipes involving cube steak and a crock pot, it was hard to find one that didn't call for several cans of condensed soup. Gross.
Besides, most are not gluten free.

I decided to make it up as I went along. And it turned out pretty tasty!

Crockpot Cube Steak

1 cube steak
1 c. chopped spinach
1 chopped stalk of celery
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
1 minced clove of garlic
1/4 c. red wine
1 T. Worcestershire sauce (Lee & Perrins is GF)
1 1/2 c. beef broth (check to make sure it's GF)
Green bell pepper strips (I wanted to add some but didn't have any. I think it would taste great with them)

Flour coating:
1/4 c. tapioca starch
1 T. oregano
1/2 t. pepper

Preheat a pan on medium high heat. While it's preheating, chop the veggies, parsley and garlic, and add them to the crock pot. Cut the cube steak into strips and dredge them in the tapioca starch/ oregano/ pepper mixture. Spray some cooking spray onto the pan to prevent sticking, and brown the meat on both sides. Throw it in the crock pot. Pour the wine into the pan to dislodge any leftovers from browning the meat, and add that liquid to the crock pot. Take a sip or two of wine for good health. Stir in the Worcestershire and beef broth. Cover and set at low heat for 4 hours. Serve over rice, mashed potatoes, or quinoa.

Makes 2 servings. If you make this small amount, it will probably be done sooner but leaving it in there longer doesn't hurt it. It just makes the meat more tender.

Crock Pot Chicken Stew

Apologies for the picture. My camera lens is jacked up and now everything's slightly blurry.

Today I made chicken stew. It's so easy, especially in a crock pot.

Chop and add to the crock pot:

1/2 onion
1/4 green bell pepper
1 carrot
1 potato (I used a leftover baked potato)
1 tsp potato starch
2 chicken breasts

Add a sprinkling of thyme, and add chicken broth to just cover the ingredients.

Mine was done on low in 2 hours.
Season with salt and pepper, and I like to serve it over rice.