Invisapeeps 2.0

We mostly do stews (diced up beef of some kind and beans, corn, baby potatoes, carrots, et cetera)

thanks for the ideas

I've made this and it was very good:
kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2007/02/slow-cooker-onion-soup.html

But I think it might fall in the "heavy" category.

Aside from some basic things I've come up with I use this site: crockpot365.blogspot.com/

A couple staples in our diet are BBQ Pulled Pork and Pot Roast. I'll share both recipes here. I use a 6qt crocpot, if yours it smaller adjust the meat sizes to about 3lb.

BBQ Pulled Pork

4-5lb pork butt or shoulder roast(I get which ever is cheaper this week)
1/2 bottle of favorite BBQ sauce
1/2 onion sliced

Take the onion slices and layer the bottom of the crocpot with them, then put the meat on top, then cover with BBQ sauce.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours, take 2 forks and shred the meat after cooking time is done, serve on buns with a dollop of BBQ sauce.

Pot Roast

4lb chuck roast
1 bag baby carrots
3-4 potatoes quartered
1 onion chopped
1 package onion soup mix
1/2c-1c red wine

Put the meat, then potatoes, then carrots and onion in the crocpot. Sprinkle with onion soup mix, pour wine over all the areas you sprinkled the soup mix to get it wet and to work it down into the mix. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Everything will be tender and tasty, and there's a nice gravy you can use if you do like me and mash your potatoes and carrots together then spoon gravy on top.

Another pot roast I do is Mississippi Pot Roast

4-5 lbs chuck roast
1 packet ranch mix
1 packet au jus
some peperoncini rings
1 stick butter

Put the meat in the crocpot, sprinkle the ranch, then au jus packets evenly over top. Carefully place pepper rings over the top, then place the stick of butter on top of that. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

I serve that with garlic mashed potatoes. If I have time I make them from scratch, if not I use instant mashed potatoes. The gravy with garlic mashed potatoes is just divine IMO.

There are TONS of things you can do with your crockpot. Check out crockpot365.blogspot.com - she has some AMAZING ideas!

I am going to look into the 360...sounds like several people have good things to say and I like that!

hummm I really need to look into that book for me and my 23yoa son he is loving his crock pot since he works long hours

thanks for the great gift idea for my kids, they are all on their own but one and have their own crockpots

One of my crock pots sits out year round on it's own little table. I have 8, yes eight, crock pots of various sizes. I like the easy, simple recipes since sometimes the flavors can be too melded together.

Salsa chicken - a few boneless skinless chicken breasts and a jar of salsa. Sometimes I add some taco seasonings. Cook for 4-6 hours on low. Shred the meat.

Stock for soups. I put the remains of 1-2 cooked chickens, cover with water and let cook for 12-18 hours. Yum. I've also done it with beef bones that I roasted first for beef stock and various roasted veggies for veggie stock.

Caramelized Onions. I will get a 5 lb bag of sweet onions. Slice them up. Add about 1-2 tablespoons each of butter and olive oil. The equivalent of 2-3 low sodium beef bouillon cubes, some herbs (pepper, dill, Italian seasoning, whatever sounds good) and sometimes a couple glugs of a decent red wine. I let that cook down on low for about 6 hours. Great on steaks or to turn into a quick onion soup.

On one of the other boards, there is a slow cooker mac & cheese recipe that is wonderful and simple. I'll see if I can copy it over later if you want it.

One other suggestion. Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners. They really do make clean up very easy. I don't use them for easy stuff like chicken soup. They are about $2 for a box of 4 at Walmart.

I have some of the crock pot liners, and have never used them, I better get them out too!