Curry Ribs on the slow...

This recipe is so easy and so delicious, you're going to add it to your heavy rotation.

Mix
1/4 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup Orange Juice
2 Tblspn Peanutbutter (smooth)
1 Teaspoon Honey
1 Teaspoon Hot Curry Powder
1 Teaspoon soy sauce

Pour over 2 lbs of trimmed and separated pork ribs in slow cooker for 6-8 hours on low. Serve over brown rice.

Buy Slow Cooker cookbooks on ebay.

Hot Dog Baked Beans

I know it may seem like I've abandoned this blog, but really, I just haven't been cooking much for the last few months. That will change this summer. So who knows... in the meatime, this Hot Dog Baked Beans casserole sounds delicious and perfect for summer.

Ingredients

4 16oz can baked beans
1/4 ts Onion powder
1/4 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
3/4 cup diced Onion (red or sweet onion if you have it)
1/2 cup Honey BBQ Saucse
8-10 Hotdogs -- chopped
6-8 big slices of provolone cheese

Directions

Put Mix everything but cheese in crockpot. Stir gently to mix. Cool on low for about 8 hours. Add cheese for last hour. If sauce is runny, lift cover for last hour or two until thickens.

Simple and Delicious Meatballs

This simple and delicious meatball recipe features frozen meatballs and two off the shelf ingredients. Doesn't get any easier than that.

Ingredients:

* 12 oz or 1 bottle chili sauce to taste
* 1 can jellied cranberries
* 1 bag frozen meatballs, about 5 to 6 dozen small meatballs

Directions:

Using a saucepan bring chili sauce and jellied cranberry to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place frozen meatballs into crockpot and pour sauce over.

Time: Low for 4 to 5 hours.

Technorati Tags: food, crockpot, crock+pot, slowcooker, slow+cooker, foodie, meatball

Save Money In the Kitchen, Use a Crockpot

Times are tight and everyone is looking for ways to stretch their budget. Well if you're here reading this blog, you've already found one part of the solution. The low and slow capabilities of a Crockpot let you use cheaper cuts of meat and still have meals that are just as tender and flavorful as the more expensive varieties.

The other advantage of a Slow Cooker is that you can set it and forget it, usually with minimal prep time too. This will give you the extra time you need in the day to start a part time home business, grow a backyard garden, or volunteer at a local nonprofit. All great activities to consider in a time of economic hardships.


Tags: crockpot, slow+cooker, save+money, money+tips, cost+savings

Converting your favorite recipes to the slow cooker

Over at the Orlando Sentinel Heather has some great tips on how to convert your favorite recipes into delicious slow cooker masterpieces. Heather went to her test kitchen to see what worked best. Some of the tips include: cook the hearty foods longer and add the delicate stuff toward the end, Cut the liquids in half from your conventional recipes, but rice dishes will often additional more water to keep the rice from drying out before the main meat is cooked.

See her column for more excellent tips.

Crockpot Beer Cheese Dip

Here's another incredibly easy recipe for your Super Bowl Party. Turn to low heat until your super bowl party begins, stir every few minutes and it should last for 3-4 hours. I like this recipe because you can start it after the first quarter ends and enjoy it after half-time!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup beer
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce (or to taste)
1 lb. process cheese spread loaf, cut into cubes (aka Velveeta)

Preparation:
Mix all the ingredients in the crock pot and set on high for 30-40 minutes until cheese melts. Stir and scrape sides until mixture is smooth. Serve with bread, chips, vegetables, or, my favorite, freshly baked pretzels.

Tags: super+bowl, crockpot, crock+pot, slow+cooker, appetizer, recipe, tabasco

Crockpot Sweet Sour Meatballs

Okay. It doesn't get much easier than this. Take 2 lbs precooked frozen meatballs and defrost as directed, 1 cup of grape jelly and 1 16oz bottle of cocktail sauce. Put defrosted meatballs in crockpot, mix jelly and cocktail sauce then pour over meatballs. Stir well and cover. Heat on HIGH for 1-2 hours until sauce is hot. Turn to low heat until your super bowl party begins. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 lbs. precooked frozen meatballs
1 cup grape jelly
2 cups cocktail sauce

Tags: crockpot, crock+pot, slow+cooking, meatballs, sweet+sour+meatballs, recipe

Super Bowl Crock Pot Cheese Dip

Want to serve something healthy at this year's Super Bowl party? How about some yummy vegetables like carrots, celery sticks, and peppers? Maybe a few baked tortilla chips (low-salt, of course). Well then after all that healthiness you're going need something to dip it in. So don't hold back, try this yummy Cheese Dip that you can serve hot right from the Crock Pot. Oh boy.

Crock Pot Cheese Dip

Ingredients:
1 lb (two 8 ounce pkgs.) cream cheese, softened and cubed
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 cup grated colby cheese (or any white cheese will do)
3 tbsp. flour
13 oz. can evaporated milk
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1/8 tsp. white pepper (regular pepper is fine)

Directions:
In medium bowl, toss grated cheese with flour. In medium size crockpot (4-6 quart) add cream cheese and grated cheese, stir to combine. Add all remaining ingredients to crock pot then stir to blend. Cover crockpot and cook on LOW for 1-2 hours until cheeses are melted. You should only have to stir once or twice during cooking. Serves 8-10

Alternatives: try Velvetta instead of cream cheese.

Tags: super+bowl, appetizer, crockpot, slow+cooking, recipe, super+bowl+party, crock+pot

Superbowl Crock Pot Recipes

It's time to start planning for your Superbowl party. Even if you're just responsible for bringing something, the Crock Pot is a great way to make your Super Bowl food special and easy. Here are the recipes that I've posted in the past on Easy Crock Pot Recipes blog. Come back over the next few days as I post even more ideas.

Appetizers

Queso A La Crock Pot - This was very popular
Party Mix - The saltier the better
Chicken Wings - less fattening this way and just as yummy
Pizza Dip - who needs the real thing when you have this dip

Entrees

Chili The Easy Way - Chili depends on the spices, so don't skimp
Meatballs for Sub Sandwiches - This was very popular, but a little messy
All Day Macaroni & Cheese - if your team is losing, you'll want some comfort food
French Dip Sandwiches - A classic and easy to make
BBQ Pulled Pork - You'll be surprised by how well this turns out
Chicken Tetrazzini - Just like you remember. Not exactly low calorie though.

Sponsor Link: Free shipping on any Crock-Pot® order! Use code LINKAFFFR4.

Technorati Tags: crock+pot, slow+cooker, recipe, super+bowl+party, superbowl+party, party, football+party, recipe, food, party+food

Custom Family Cookbook

Some people have been calling this the iTunes of cookbooks. But I just found TasteBook.com and was impressed at how easy it is to create a personal cookbook with all your family's favorite recipes. At TasteBook.com you can publish 100 of your own recipes or favorite recipes from some popular online recipe sites in a professional binder with huge professional looking photos and recipe cards. If that's too much you can use some of the sample cookbooks they provide, some from other food bloggers, as a basis for your cookbook.

Give it a try, then come back and post about your success.


Tags: food, foodie, cookbook, slow+cooking, crock+pot, recipe, recipe+book

Crock Pot Spaghetti

Gonna try this one tomorrow. Looking forward to getting that second day spaghetti taste on the first day.

Crock Pot Spaghetti

2 (15 oz.) cans tomato sauce
3 tbsp. dry minced onion
3 tbsp. Italian seasoning
Pinch of garlic powder
Veggies (Mushrooms, Carrots, peppers to preference)
1/2 c. pre-cooked ground beef
2 to 3 oz. dry spaghetti

In crock pot, mix first 6 ingredients. Cook on low for6-8 hours. No more than an hour before serving, boil spaghetti according to package directions, drain and rinse. Mix into spaghetti sauce.

Note: The spaghetti will absorb the sauce and swell over time. It will still taste good.

Older Crock Pots have better temperature?

Marisa over on Slashfood posts about her love of crock pot cooking and throws in a few helpful tips such as this one:

The last think [sic] I recommend is seeing if you can't get an older slow cooker at a rummage or garage sale. The older models cook at slightly lower temperatures, which will prevent your food from boiling. Some of the newer cookers bring your food up to a rollicking boil even on the low setting, which is not want you want.

I've turned the comments on for this post. What do you think? Older or newer crock pot? Which is better? One concern would be safety, you don't want too low a temperature or you risk illness.

Tags: cooking, crockpot, crock+pot, slow+cooking, food, foodie

The Elements of Cooking, culinary school in a book

Michael Ruhlman's two previous books The Making of a Chef and The Soul of a Chef have helped many a chef find the passion to cook. If you're watching "The Next Iron Chef" on Food TV you may recognize him as one of the judges.

Ruhlman's latest book, inspired by Strunk and White's classic The Elements of Style, is The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef's Craft for Every Kitchen. Organized in dictionary format, the book offers short definitions of culinary terms most likely to be encountered in a Continental restaurant kitchen: à la ficelle, jus lie, lardo, mise en place, oblique cut, oignon pique, rondeau, roulade. Entries for ladle, rolling pin and other common implements seem almost superfluous, while international items such as wok, tandoor, udon and cardamom are nowhere to be found (though to be fair, nam pla, kimchi and umami are included). An opening eight-page section announces, with finger wagging, that veal stock is the essential and discourses on eggs, salt and kitchen tools.

On his blog Ruhlman claims that he wrote this book for:

Every home cook who cares about getting better and every soul who is in or about to attend culinary school. I want all the young cooks who never went to culinary school and have always been nagged by the not-knowing-what-they-missed (probably not as much as they imagine) to buy it. I want every chef to buy it for his or her line cooks. And maybe most of all, beginners -- I can't imagine a better starting reference for cooking terms to go along with other food books. I want every professional cook to buy it for the people who cook for them when they're not at work. In short I want everyone who cares about cooking to buy this book

It's not something I'd normally pair with Crockpot cooking, but I do think it will help make all your cooking better. With positive reviews from Alton Brown, Paul Kahan, Eric Ripert, and Jacques Pépin, this sounds like a book that should be in every kitchen. Right now Amazon has it for $14.40, or 40% off, so that's a lot more likely. Either way it's a great Christmas gift for that chef in your life.






Tags: food, cooking, foodie, chef, culinary school

All-Day Crockpot Macaroni & Cheese

It's getting to be cold outside again and that means one thing in my kitchen. The crockpot has a permanent place on the counter again. Here's a recipe I'm trying this weekend (but with gluten-free pasta). I'll let you know how it turns out

All-Day Macaroni & Cheese

The very easy ingredients

• 8 ounces elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
• 4 cups(16 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

The very simple Directions

1. Cook Macaroni to just shy of al-dente. Spray crock pot with nonstick spray. Add cooked Macaroni.
2. Reserve 1 cup of cheese. Add the remaining ingredients, mix well.
3. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheese over the top, cover and cook on low setting for 5 to 6 hours then step away. It's done when the mixture is firm and golden around the edges.
4. Do not remove the cover or stir until it has finished Cooking. *Just in case you missed that the first time*

If you're feeling adventurous, I recommend using some smoky provolone or guyere for the sprinkled cheese instead of the cheddar.

Tags: crockpot, recipe, food, macncheese, macaroni+and+cheese, pasta, easy+recipe