Delicious cabbage chili soup!  Okay, this may not sound like these two things go together but trust me, they do! The taste is really awesome!

One thing I really liked about this recipe is that it was ridiculously easy ~ something that I love! Simply throw it all in your crockpot, set it and forget it!

In order to make this recipe even EASIER you can buy pre-chopped onions in your freezer section. God knows I hate chopping onions ~ this is why I got married :)

So...without further adieu...



Cabbage Chili Soup
Total Cooktime: 6-8 hours


What you will need:

3 cups coarsely chopped cabbage

1 cup chopped onions
3 cups Healthy Choice tomato juice (or any reduced-sodium)
1 (10-1/2 oz) can Healthy Request Tomato Soup
10 oz kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 tsp chili seasoning mix



Simply combine all the ingredients in your crockpot and mix well to combine. Pop on the lid and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours and POOF...a soup that is perfect for dieters, diabetics and heart healthy diets! It's also perfect for lent because this is a 100% meat free meal.

Let me know what YOU think of this recpie!

Crockpot Beef Taco Bean Soup
Total Cooktime: 6 hours


What you will need:


2 lbs. rump roast
1 pk taco seasoning
1 can Mexican style diced tomatoes (15 oz.)
1 small can green chiles
1 can tomato sauce (8 oz)
1 onion - chopped
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 cans red kidney beans, (15 oz. each), rinsed, drained
Shredded cheddar cheese

Cut roast into bite sized chunks. Roll in taco seasoning and add to crock pot. Then
add the tomatoes, chiles, tomato sauce, onion, and bouillon cubes. Cover and cook
on LOW 6 hours or until meat is tender.

Add the drained beans and cook until the beans are heated through; around 30
minutes. Serve topped with cheese, and/or the toppings that you like.

Make this fun by serving with tortilla chips for dipping!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Every year on St. Patrick's Day my mother, Rosemary Francis (Can't get much more Irish than that, huh?) used to prepare one heck of a corned beef and cabbage recipe! I can remember the scent of the spices filling the house as we all waited for dinner with our mouths watering.

In memory of my favorite Wild Irish Rose...here is today's recipe!

Crockpot Apple and Brown Sugar Corned Beef
Total Cooktime: 4-5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low


What you will need:


1 corned beef brisket
1 quart apple juice
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp prepared mustard
8 small red potatoes
2 medium carrots, pared and cut into chunks
1 onion, peeled and cut into eights
1/2 head cabbage, cut into chunks

Place all ingredients in large crock pot (cut meat in half if necessary). Stir to mix. Cook on high for 4 to 5  hours on high or 8 to 10 hours on low. Remove meat and vegetables and some  of the cooking liquid. Slice meat thinly across the grain.

Serve with the vegetables and some of the liquid.

What is the the best thing about having corned beef?  Having the leftovers the next day!  Just layer a crockpot with sauerkraut and swiss cheese. Warm it up and serve it on rye bread with 1000 Island dressing!

Enjoy!

If you are looking for a great dinner that is tasty and extravagant then try these Crockpot Beef Tips! Similar to Beef Stroganoff, you serve this over egg noodles.

This is a LONG cooker so before you go to work in the morning, set it and forget it :) Kids may not like this one - so you may want to save this for just the grownups.


Crockpot Beef Tips

Total Cooktime: 7-12 hours


What you will need:

CROCKPOT BEEF TIPS
1/2 c Flour
1 ts Salt
1/8 ts Pepper
4 lb Beef or sirloin tips
1/2 c Chopped green onions
2 c Sliced mushrooms (4 oz. can, drained) OR
1/2 lb Mushrooms, sliced
1 cn Condensed beef broth, (10 1/2 oz.)
1 ts Worcestershire sauce
2 ts Tomato paste or ketchup
1/4 c Dry red wine or water
3 tb Flour
1 Buttered noodles

Combine 1/2 cup flour with the salt and pepper and toss with beef cubes to coat thoroughly. Place in  crock-pot. Add green onions and drained mushrooms. Combine with beef broth, Worcestershire sauce and  tomato paste or ketchup. Pour over beef and vegetables; stir well. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 7 to  12 hours. One hour before serving, turn to HIGH setting. Make a smooth paste of red wine and 3 tablespoons flour; stir into crock-pot, mixing well.

Enjoy!

When I think of a glazed apple pork roast it reminds me of dinners at home when I was a little girl. 

My father loved pork roast and dumplings. The smells that waft from this recipe are intoxicating!  

You will have your family asking you "When is dinner?" every 5 minutes like mine did!

Glazed Apple Pork Roast

Total Cooktime: 10-12 hours


What you will need:

• 4 lb. pork loin roast
• 6 apples
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 3 T. brown sugar
• 1 t. ginger, ground

Rub roast with salt and pepper. Brown pork roast under broiler to remove excess
fat; drain well.

Core and quarter apples. Place apple quarters in bottom of crockpot. Place roast on
top of apples. Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and ginger. Spoon over top surface
of roast, moistening well.

Cover and cook on Low for 10-12 hours, until done.


I would love to hear your experiences with this recipe including anything you have done to alter it to suit your family's tastes!

Enjoy!

This great beef stroganoff recipe reminds me so much of the one that my mother used to make. When I first made this recipe I couldn't believe how close it was taste wise to hers. I know that she probably added some other ingredients (like caraway seeds) that made her stroganoff so memorable to me

 Enjoy!



Beef Stroganoff I

Total Cooktime: 9 hours


What you will need:


2 lbs top round steak, sliced thin across the grain
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 tsp thyme
3/4 cup dry sherry
3/4 cup beef broth (Swansons)
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp garlic salt

Put all this in the crockpot, stir well and cook on low for 8 hours. Turn heat to
high and mix 1-1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup Wondra flour, cake flour works too, heat
on high for 40 minutes.

Serve over rice or noodles.

I would love to hear your experiences with this recipe including anything you have done to alter it to suit your family's tastes!

Enjoy!

If you love Cajun cookin' you will love this Cajun Sausage and Rice recipe!

My husband's Nana was from Louisiana. For years I've heard all about her gumbos and stews and that real Creole cookin' she used to do.  Unfortunatly, we lost Nana last year but the wonderful memories of meals around her kitchen table still live on in the hearts of my husband and his father.

So, when I found this recipe I knew I needed to write it down. We haven't tried it yet - but it sure looks good!

Cajun Sausage and Rice

Total Cooktime: 8 1/2 hours
Makes 5 servings



What you will need:

• 8oz Kielbasa sausage, cut in 1/4" slices
• 1 (14 1/2oz) can diced Tomatoes with liquid
• 1 medium Onion, diced
• 1 medium Green Pepper, diced
• 2 Celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 TBSP Chicken bouillon granules
• 1 TBSP Steak sauce
• 3 Bay leaves or 1 tsp dried Thyme
• 1 TSP sugar
• 1/4 to 1/2 TSP Hot Pepper sauce
• 1 cup uncooked instant Rice
• 1/2 cup chopped Parsley (optional)

 
Combine sausage, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery bouillon, steak sauce, bay leaves, sugar and hot pepper sauce in crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

Remove bay leaves; stir in rice and 1/2 cup of water. Cook an additional 25 minutes. Stir in parsley if desired.

This crockpot black bean recipe sounds absolutely yummy!  I've never heard of turtle beans before but I'm going to head to our local Trader Joes and look for them. If you've ever tried them - I'd love to hear what your thoughts are!  I also like that there are only 2 ingredients to this dish which makes it a good one for us budget conscious moms.

You will need to soak the beans overnight so keep this in mind when you plan to make this recipe. This is also a long cooker (8-10 hours) so I'd start cooking this before you head out to work in the morning and by the time you get home you will have a delicious batch of black beans!  Wow...that's a LOT of B's!

This would be the perfect side dish to go with your taco or burrito night!

Aztec Black Beans
Total Cooktime: 8-10 hours


What you will need:

1 lb. dried black beans (or turtle beans)
16 oz. jar of salsa (your favorite kind)

Rinse your beans to remove any stones or foreign objects.  Put the beans into a shallow bowl and cover with water. Soak the beans overnight.

In the morning drain the beans and place into your crockpot with the salsa. Add just enough water to cover the beans. Cover and cook for 8-10 hours on low.

I would love to hear your experiences with this recipe including anything you have done to alter it to suit your family's tastes!

Enjoy!

Superbowl Crockpot Chicken Wings

Total Cooktime: 7-8 hours


What you will need:

• 12-18 chicken wings
• 1/3 c soy sauce
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 green onions minced
• 1 TBS honey
• 2 tsp. oil

Easy instructions for this crockpot recipe! Just combine all the ingredients in your crockpot, cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Make sure you stir your wings every now and then to make sure each piece is completely covered in sauce.

We ended up tripling our batch and I'm glad I did! These were a hit at our Superbowl party and these were the first thing to go. I found using boneless chicken wings worked well with this recipe. It also prevented me from having to clean up the bones that are usually left over.

Make sure you have some wet-naps around as your guests hands will get a little sticky. A good suggestion would be to serve these with toothpicks for less mess.




I would love to hear your experiences with this recipe including anything you have done to alter it to suit your family's tastes!

Enjoy!

So after searching I came across this gem!  It takes quite a long time to make but I promise you, the results are absolutely worth it!  And, it was so EASY!  The canning?  Well...let's just say it was NOT so easy :)

If you aren't a canner - don't fret. The good news with this recipe is that you can make up a batch and keep it in your fridge. I wouldn't feel safe keeping it longer than 7 days.

Apple Butter Crock Pot Recipe

Total Cooktime: 8-11 hours

What you will need:

• 4 qts. unsweetened applesauce
• 7 C. granulated sugar
• 1-1/3 C. brown sugar
• 5-1/3 T. cider vinegar
• 5-1/3 T. lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon. cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon. allspice
• 1 teaspoon. ground cloves

Family Verdict: I really liked this recipe but you really need to make sure that you don't cook all of the moisture completely out of the apple butter or you'll have something that doesn't spread or taste very good.

You can use just about any applesauce you want. If you want to make this more diabetically friendly, replace the sugar with Splenda, the brown sugar with Splenda brown sugar and the regular apple sauce with no sugar added or homemade applesauce.

Now if you really don't want to drag out the cooking, you CAN use a *gulp* roasting pan and your oven and cook your mixture for about 3-5 hours instead. But, why heat up the house if you don't have to, right?

*wink*
I would love to hear your experiences with this recipe including anything you have done to alter it to suit your family's tastes!

Enjoy!

The best crockpot recipes feed the cheese lovers in your house!

If you have a little mouse-in-training in our house like I do, mac and cheese is probably a staple in your household too! My 4 yr old Jack LOVES cheese! So, the first time I saw this recipe I new that I had to give it a try.

Parts of me were worried about the "all day" part of the recipe. I worried about burning the cheese and ruining my hard work and all day wait. But I was pleasantly surprised by this recipe!


This is a great easy side dish recipe although you could also consider it a meal (Jack sure does!). If you do you should probably double up the recipe depending on how large your family (or your appetite) is. You can add or delete from the recipe depending on your family’s taste.

Jack's Favorite All Day Mac and Cheese

Total Cooktime: 5-6 hours

What you will need:

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

Cook the macaroni noodles until they are al dente. (al dente is just a fancy word that means cook the noodles until they are firm but not hard). This is important - you do not want to overcook the noodles too much because we want them to soak in the cheezy goodness! Drain the macaroni and put aside.

Spray down your crockpot with Pam or some other non-stick cooking spray.   In your crockpot combine the all of the ingredients except 1C of the cheese and mix well.

Sprinkle the remaining 1C of cheese over the top and then cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours or until the mixture is firm and golden around the edges.

This recipe is almost like a crockpot bake because you do not stir or lift the lid for the entire 5 to 6 hour time period.


Family Verdict: This was a good recipe but it lacked some of the true cheezy quality that we love so much about mac and cheese. This is why I have altered the recipe that we use at home to include about 3/4C of Velveeta cheese. We also like to add crumbled turkey bacon and cooked polish sausage to create a complete meal.

I would love to hear your experiences with this recipe including anything you have done to alter it to suit your family's tastes!

Enjoy!

Today we are estimated to get a foot of snow here in northern Illinois. Not what I wanted to hear but that is what I get for choosing to live near Chicago!  Since I'm expecting a snow day tomorrow, it is the perfect time for today's recipe: Beef Stew Delight.

My husband will be thrilled because this is his absolute favorite crockpot recipe that I make on a regular basis. Momma always said the way to a man's heart is through his stomach and Momma was always right!

Don't worry - it cooks down so that your kids won't get tipsy :)

This is a slow cook recipe which takes all day to cook. I typically set the timer to start cooking around 10:00 in the morning. It is the perfect crock pot recipe for chilly winter days. It takes a little extra effort but you'll see that it's completely worth it! You can delete or add from the recipe depending on your family's taste.

Beef Stew Delight

Total Cooktime: 6-8 hours

What you will need:

•  2-3 lbs. boneless chuck, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. butter
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 c. beer
• 1/4 c. flour

Fill a ziplock bag with 1/2 cup of flour. Dump in the beef cubes and coat thoroughly.

Get out a saute pan and melt the butter. Brown the beef cubes just until all sides have been seared. Drain off the excess fat.

In your crockpot combine the meat, onion, salt, pepper, garlic and beer. Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours (all day) until the meat is tender.

Crank the crockpot up to high. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup flour in a small amount of water (about 4T). Stir into the crockpot and cook on high for an additional 30-40 minutes.

Complete the meal by serving this over egg noodles or rice.

Family Verdict:  My husband loves this recipe! The meat turns out so tender it practically is falling apart when you lift it on the fork. One thing we tend to do with the recipe is to add 3/4 C. baby carrots, 5 peeled and cubed potatoes and 4C. of beef broth. This really gives you more of a beef stew consistency that our family just loves. It's really up to you - cooking is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Add the ingredients you like and odds are you'll have a winner!

As for the type of beer you should choose: get creative!  Try a wide variety of beers from light beer to Guinness. A good rule of thumb is if you would drink it - it will taste good to you when you cook it. I'd love to hear how your batch went!

Enjoy!