Slow Cooker Crock Pot

To make that onion soup of yours stand out from the rest, you need to utilize a slow cooker, as it will help bring out the extra flavors inherent in the dish. Here are some recipes to get you started on the right track.

Onion Soup with French Bread

The ingredients for this simple slow cooker recipe include large onions (4 pieces, sliced), butter (about ¼ cup), a tablespoon of flour, half a cup of Mozzarella cheese (shredded), beef broth (6 cups), toasted French bread (6 pieces or more), and some pepper sauce.

Start by cooking the sliced onions in the butter, adding some flour when the onions achieve a transparent look. Cook it some more until the flour and butter are mixed in together, and then transfer the whole mixture into the slow cooker. Pour in the pepper sauce and the broth.

The final step is to adjust the slow cooker setting to high. After 4 hours, ladle the onion soup into a bowl, and sprinkle on the bread, plus the Mozzarella cheese. Broil up to the point when the cheese melt and then serve.

Onion Soup with Mozzarella Cheese

This slow cooker dish is even easier to prepare. You just need some Mozzarella cheese, 3 lbs of sliced onions, butter (4 oz.), a cup of water, a couple of cans of beef broth and some croutons.

Begin by sautéing the onions in the butter. Next get the rest of the ingredients and cook everything in the slow cooker (except for the bread and the Mozzarella cheese). Be sure to set it to low (this will take about 6 hours to cook). After it is broiled you can spray some more of the onions, cheese and the bread. You may slice the bread into smaller pieces if you like.

Traditional French Onion Soup

If you want to make a French onion soup with your slow cooker, you’ll need these: a pound of onion (sliced), butter (2 tablespoons), bay leaf, salt (1/8 teaspoon), pepper (1/8 teaspoon), chicken stock (2 and half cups), a cup of shredded cheddar cheese and about 5 slices of French bread.

As with all onion soup recipes start by cooking the butter with the onions; usually this will take about 8 minutes, or until the onions turn brown. Pour in the chicken stock, salt, pepper and the bay leaf to flavor it. You may broil it now, and afterwards place the onion soup into the slow cooker. At a low level, it’ll take anywhere from 7 to 10 hours to cook. When it’s cooked, spray some of the cheese, and serve with the bread.

Onion soup is easy to prepare, and the comfort food for a lot of people. Although these are what you may call classic recipes, there’s nothing to stop you from using your slow cooker to come up with your own inventions.

Tags: Crock Pot Cooker Parts, Cooker, Cooking, Rival Crock Pot, Slow Cooker

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Cooking vegetables with amazing slow cookers is among excellent alternatives to a vegetarian food preparation that cooks food well and preserves their nutritious quality without overcooking them. Vegetarian slow cooker meal options are healthier and safer.

A vegetarian diet is mostly of raw ingredients or partly blanched. This is to preserve the nutritious quality of vegetables, especially green leafy ones. But sometimes, raw vegetables are not tummy-friendly, especially to first-timers. And some vegetables need to be exposed more to cooking than mere blanching with boiled water. But the concern here is that nutrients can quickly evaporate into the air with cooking. This is where a vegetarian slow cooker meal comes into the picture.

Slow cooking or simmering does not involve exposing food, especially veggies, to too much and too abrupt heat. This kind of heat creates too much evaporation that damages food quality, specifically flavor and nutrients. Slow cooking introduces heat very gradually and carefully cooks food until they’re cooked just enough. The automatic timer mechanism then shifts from simmering to warming once the vegetarian slow cooker meal is done, maintaining warmth just enough to preserve the crisp and nutritious qualities of vegetables.

All-vegetarian slow cooker meal varieties often take a mere hour or two to cook, depending on the kind of veggies used. When tough veggies like squash, carrots, radish, and beans are concerned simmering will have to be adjusted to prolong the tenderizing process. In cases where soft green leafy vegetables are combined with tough textured ones, longer time may be needed to cook food on very low heat.

In other instances, tough vegetable ingredients of a vegetarian slow cooker meal are slow cooked and other ingredients easy to cook are merely blanched or kept raw, added only when the whole recipe is cooked and the slow cooker is adjusted to warming the food.

Vegetarian slow cooker meal options may be mixed with tofu or soy curds or those processed meat-looking vegetable loaves called vege-meat. Furthermore, sautéed garlic and onions can do so much wonders to the taste of vegetarian dishes, as well as curry powder and coconut milk. String beans, garlic, onions, tofu, coconut milk, and salt and pepper, for instance, result to a luscious vegetarian slow cooker meal when simmered for an hour or two on low heat.

Aside from being a very healthy alternative diet, vegetarian slow cooker meal selections can be done with variety. From steamed, to stewed, to sautéed and simmered with sweet and sour sauces or cooked with Chinese black beans or “Tawre,” and many more.

Tags: Crock Pot, Crock Pot Cooker Parts, Food, Slow Cooker, Crockpot

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Preparing beef stew in a slow cooker may not be as quick as grabbing something from a fast food joint, but once you’ve made the effort to create them, you won’t be disappointed, and neither will your companions at your meals.

Beef Stew Mixed with Beans

Prepare the following: a cup of lentils (washed and dried), navy beans (2 cups, cooked), a couple of cups of celery, onions (1 cup, minced), barley (1 and ½ cup), carrots (7 pieces), sugar (brown and light, ½ cup), half a teaspoon of leaf thyme, and 2 pounds of beef.

You will also need black pepper (1 teaspoon), red wine (2 cups), 3 cups of vegetable juice, and a cup of water.

Start by putting the beef stew in the slow cooker, and spray some pepper, barley, thyme, sugar and carrots. Pour in the red wine. Press low on the crock pot, and permit 10 hours to pass before the meat softens. When it is set, get rid of the bay leaf. Take the beef stew in the slow cooker and put on a plate.

Beef Stew with Apple Cider

To make this recipe, you will need several carrots (10 pieces), 8 potatoes (chopped), 3 pounds of lean meat, a couple of diced apples, a teaspoon of thyme, salt (1 teaspoon), a cup of sliced onion and apple cider (3 cups).

Take the carrots, apple cider and the potatoes and mix them well before throwing in the pot. Now put the beef stew in the slow cooker and sprinkle some salt, thyme and the sliced onion. Pour in some cider. Close the lid and set to low. Wait about an hour before it is cooked, and add flour and water (2 tablespoons each) and after a few minutes, it’s set.

Beef Stew Mixed with Beer

You will need 4 pounds of steak, a can of beer, onion and gravy mix (1 package each), and half a cup of flour.

Open the crock pot and pour in the beer, onion and gravy. Next cut the beef and dust it with some flour, and when coated put the beef stew in the slow cooker. Stir so that the four mixes in with the other ingredients.

After 10 hours the meat will be tender. In the meantime prepare some rice. Remove the beef stew in the slow cooker and set on a serving bowl with the juices.

A blend of vegetables, meat and seasonings make these recipes ideal for both adults and children. With plenty more varieties available, cooking beef stews in a slow cooker will be something you’ll look forward to.  

Tags: Slow Cooker, Crock Pot Cooker Parts, Food, Cooking, Rival Crock Pot

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Ground beef gives off more beefy flavors than whole beef pieces. Being made more easily affected by cooking due to its broken up characteristic and thus more chemical reaction in cooking is achieved, ground beef oozes out more quality. Particularly slow cooking brings out the best in ground beef. So try more ground beef slow cooker recipes for family dinners.

Moreover, with ground beef, cooking is made more affordable. With just a few, whole recipes can be prepared and cooked. Ground beef slow cooker recipes of mixed vegetables consisting of a half chopped cabbage, some carrots, red and green bell peppers, peas, beans, and onions can be super charged with beef flavor by merely adding a fourth of a pound of ground beef with a cup of water.

Broccoli mixed with cauliflower tastes better with a beef broth and a handful of ground beef plus some water in a slow cooker. Ground beef slow cooker recipes with cruciferous vegetables make great dinner meals, especially when topped on brown rice. Try mixing a whole ball of cabbage (chopped) with minced garlic, chopped onions, a cup of water, salt and pepper, and a half pound of ground beef cooked on low heat for 4 to 5 hours.

Red chili can be a tasty and spicy ingredient of a lot of ground beef slow cooker recipes. Better yet, why not use lots of chili as the main veggie portion of a ground beef slow cooker recipe? Just slice lots of red chili (about 10 to 15 pieces or more) and de-seed. Mix in a fourth or half pound of ground beef, chopped onions, mined garlic, some Worcestershire sauce, a cup of water, 3 spoons of cooking oil, and then cook everything in a slow cooker on low heat for 3 to 5 hours. Add in hot chili sauce and some grated cheese.

Lots of ground beef slow cooker recipes are actually sauces, like a spaghetti sauce or a lasagna mix. Or, they may be fillings for a roll or pie or baked recipes. Ground beef slow cooker recipes may be individual recipes or supplementary recipes. Some people try them as stuffing for soft and puffy Chinese buns or Spanish empanada pies steamed in slow cookers.

Finally, in Asia, some folks use ground beef slow cooker recipes to stuff white rice breads with. Once the raw sticky rice flour lumps are formed they insert slow cooked ground beef with all the spicy ingredients and steam-cook the whole rice bread lumps back into the slow cooker.

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You can use different kinds of beans when cooking in your slow cooker, but red beans will truly provide each meal with a distinctive zest. If you’re still unsure, make the following dishes and the difference will be apparent.

Bacon Strips with Red Beans

For this dish, you should have 4 lbs of stripped bacon, 2 lbs of red beans, chopped onions (1/4 cup), half a cup of bell peppers and celery, and a cup of vegetable cooking oil.

The red beans should be washed and rinsed overnight, placed in the fridge and dried before being used. Begin by baking the beans in an oven, making sure to use some water. After letting it simmer for 80 minutes, put it in the slow cooker, along with the onions, peppers, bell pepper and celery. Set this to high (90 minutes). Prepare some rice and sprinkle the mixture over it.

Red Beans with Mustard

It is necessary to have 3 cups of water, bacon (5 pieces, diced), 2 cups of red beans, a pound of salt pork, tomato juice (2 cups), 1/3 cup of ketchup, sorghum molasses (1/2 cup), and brown sugar (1/3 cup).

This slow cooker recipe also needs dry mustard (1 and a half cups), salt (1 and a half teaspoons), black pepper (1/3 tablespoon), and a teaspoon of chili pepper.

Set the red beans in the stockpot, and put the sliced bacons on top of them. Pour in the cups of water you had prepared. Let this simmer for about one hour, and then remove the liquid.

Put the beans inside the slow cooker and set it aside. Get a frying pan, and cook the bacon and / or salt pork. When it has turned brown, add them to the crock pot, and toss in the other ingredients as well (the molasses, ketchup, onion, mustard, pepper, salt, chili, etc.). Stir this for a couple of minutes and close the lid.

Set the slow cooker to high. After 6 hours, scoop the mixture and put in a large bowl. Sprinkle more chili powder to give it more spice. Some prefer to spray a little more mustard before serving it up, but hat is only optional.

This is good for 4 to 6 servings.

It doesn’t take a lot to give ordinary meals a different twist; in this case, you can sprinkle some red beans and your typical, run of the mill slow cooker servings becomes something you can relish.

Tags: Cooker, Recipes, Rival Crock Pot, Slow Cooker, Crockpot

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If you want to keep your weight down but don’t want to deprive yourself of all the good eatin’ that you can have , don’t despair. People who are involved in Weight watchers are lucky because there are ton a of healthy and delicious crock pot recipes that they can eat guilt-free. These recipes are especially made for those who follow the weight watchers program, that is why these Weight Watchers crock pot recipes are chock full of nutrition but low on WWA points.

With the use of your trusted and handy crock pot you can prepare delicious food ion a matter of minutes and sit down to a warm and delicious home-cooked meal later. One good thing about the crock pot is that you do not have to stay and watch it cook in the kitchen all day long. Some weight watchers usually cannot stay in the kitchen long before giving into the urge to eat something. With a crock pot you can prepare your dish, put in on, and leave it on low to cook.

Here are a few delicious weight watcher crock pot recipes that you can try.

Au Grautin Ham and Potatoes

2 cups of extra lean ham, diced  4 cups of raw potatoes, diced
1 cup onions, chopped  ¾ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 can of cream of chicken  1/8 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon parsley flakes, dried 1 teaspoon yellow mustard

First spray your pan with butter flavored cooking spray to avoid any sticking. Put in the potatoes, ham, and onions. Then sprinkle cheese over the whole thing. Mix the chicken soup, pepper, mustard, and parsley together in a small soup. Add this to the potato mixture in the pan. Mix well. Cook this on low for eight hours. Mix well again before serving.
This recipe will serve six in small cups, with 3 WWA points per cup.

Another recipe is the crock potato chowder, and you will need the following:

2 cups ½ inch potato cubes  1 large diced carrot
1 cup leeks, white part only, chopped 1 clove minced garlic
4 cups chicken broth  ½ cup pearl barley
1 piece bay leaf       ¼ teaspoon thyme, crushed and dried
¼ teaspoon pepper 4 ounces 1/ 4 inch pieces of Canadian bacon
½ cup fat free evaporated milk  ¼ cup fat free half and half

Put in the potatoes, carrots, leek, garlic, chicken broth, barley, thyme leaf, Canadian bacon, and pepper. Cover, set the crock pot on low for 6 hours or until the veggies are tender. Next stir in the evaporated milk and the half and half and heat uncovered for ten minutes.

Enjoy!

Tags: Rival, Crock Pot, Cooking, Rival Crock Pot, Food

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A staple at Mexican dinner plates, fajitas generally refer to meat flavored with corn tortilla. But there are other ways you can enjoy this delicacy, such as the ones below which you can make in a slow cooker.

Fajitas Laced with Cheese and Salsa

To create this dish you will need to assemble the following: sweet red and yellow pepper, beef sirloin, a couple of chopped sweet onions, a cup of water, ground cumin (1 and a half tablespoons), 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar, a teaspoon of lime juice, half a teaspoon of salt and garlic and chili powder (a teaspoon).

This fajita slow cooker dish also needs a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 5 flour tortillas, cheddar cheese (2 cups), 4 teaspoons of cilantro, and a cup of salsa.

The directions are as follows: Open the slow cooker and put inside the peppers, onions, and the beef sirloin on top. Pour in order: the red wine vinegar, water and lime juice, spraying some salt and garlic too. Allow it to cook for 9 to 10 hours.

Now take a spoon and scoop up some of the mixture into each tortilla, and layer it with the salsa, cheese and cilantro. Roll gently and it’s ready to serve.

Jalapeno Flavored Fajitas

This slow cooker recipe needs 2 lbs of flank steak, a couple of jalapeno peppers (chopped), some garlic, a can of tomatoes (do not dry), 2 tablespoons of ground coriander, onions, a teaspoon of cumin and half a teaspoon of chili powder.

Also, a teaspoon of salt is required, 1 green pepper, 2 red peppers (sweet), crushed fresh cilantro, cornstarch (2 teaspoons), water (1 tablespoon), a dozen warmed flour tortillas, a cup of salsa and half a cup of sour cream.

To make the fajitas cut the meat into thin slices, and set in the slow cooker. Toss in the tomatoes, coriander, jalapeno and chili powder. Add some salt to give it extra flavor, and the garlic too. Put the timer on to low. After 8 hours, add in the rest of the onions, cilantro and sweet peppers. Close it and allow another couple of hours to pass.

About half an hour before it’s fully cooked, mix in the flour and water. After the half hour has passed, spoon a generous amount into each tortilla, topping it with helpings of salsa and sour cream.

Fajitas are the perfect meals for those family get-togethers, with the spicy food providing more life to an animated dinner table. With its rich texture these are the type of slow cooker meals worthy of a second helping.

Tags: Cooking, Rival, Crock Pot, Recipes, Crock Pot Cooker Parts

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Many people invest in kitchen appliances such as crock pots or slow cookers to make cooking easier and more convenient, especially wives who are working and have to prepare dinner after arriving from work. Crock pots are a good addition in one’s kitchen since it can cook a variety of meals such as stew, pot-roast or other dishes without watching over them for many hours.

However, many people do not know how to maximize the functions and features of crock pots. There are tips and advice that one should remember in using crock pots.

For meats, it is better to choose meat cuts that are tough since crock pots cook very slowly and you do not have to worry about the meat not getting cooked enough. This kitchen wonder makes the usually tough and rubbery meat tender. Also, one should try to make the meat brown. This method lessens fat and enhances flavor.

One can also cook vegetables using crock pots. Freshly-picked vegetables take much longer time to cook than meat. What you can do is to cover the vegetables with meat while inside the crock pot. This way you can cook them at the same time which can save you time, electricity, and money. But keep in mind that you can only do this in dry recipes or recipes that do not usually have water.

If you want to cook frozen vegetables, consider the fact that these vegetables have been slightly cooked already. Frozen vegetables require less number of hours to cook since they are already partially cooked. You can even add the frozen vegetables in the crock pot about an hour before time.

In cooking, people often use seasonings or spices to add flavours to what they are cooking about halfway to the end of the recipe. However, if you are cooking in crock pots, make sure to add the flavour or seasoning about an hour before the cooking ends. This is observed especially in herbs. Long cooking in crock pots affects the taste or the effect of some spices and flavour to the food they are cooking. This also applies for cream, milk, and sour cream.

Another tip is to prepare everything the night before such as chopped vegetables, cut meat, etc. this could save you time the next day when all you have to do is to toss everything into the crock pot.

These are very basic tips on how to use your crock pots efficiently. If you follow them diligently, you will have great and delicious crock pot-cooked meals and dishes.

Tags: Slow Cooker, Crock Pot Cooker Parts, Rival Crock Pot, Recipes, Food

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A 1.5 quart slow cooker has mostly been marketed for making dips and sauces given its capacity for small amounts. But how much can this specific cooker really accommodate?

Considering normal conversions, you can fit, at most, 6-7 cups of dry or liquid ingredients in one. But considering that it is advisable not to fill it more than three of a quarter full, let us just say that 5.5 cups would be a fair estimate. So given that familiar measurement, here are three examples among the many uses for 1.5 quart slow cooker.

Dip for Chips

This is one option that proves very useful for group gatherings like parties, barbecues, or for just hanging out. A 1.5 quart slow cooker is just the right size for serving party dips for nachos or chips and it keeps it warm too. For instance, dump cheese sauce in this mini pot, heat it up for about an hour and leave it on the counter on low so that it will stay smooth and temperate for you and your guest to enjoy.

Sauces

You can make tomato or cream sauce with this mini cooker that is enough for 2-4 persons. Since it is the perfect size for small families, students and individuals, it permits one to enjoy sauces for pastas that one would not even consider having unless there is a huge pot boiling on a stove-top.

You can also make fruit sauces with a 1.5 quart slow cooker like cranberry sauce in stead of having one from a can or only on Thanksgiving. With equal portions of cranberries, water and orange juice, and double the amount of sugar that are cooked on high for about four hours, you can make home-made cranberry sauce any day of the year.

Small One-Pot Meals

Of course, you can also make one-pot meals with a 1.5 quart slow cooker. Yes, it is possible to create a roast with this little thing. Just think smaller portions like 1.5 pounds of roast chuck or cubed pork and about three pieces of chicken breast to name a few. You can flavor these up very well with appropriate portions of other ingredients and have appropriate servings of a slow-cooked cooked meal for 2-4 persons.

A 1.5 quart slow cooker is versatile and is a compact piece of equipment that makes an excellent addition to any home. Its uses includes (and are not restricted to) making dips for chips, sauces and small one-pot meals. Also, its size makes for easy cleaning and it fits properly inside dishwashers as well.

Tags: Slow Cooker, Rival Crock Pot, Food, Recipes, Rival

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