Crock Pot Tacos

It's been a long time since I last posted.  Life has been busy.  Work is stressful, and it's hard to make dinner when I come home.  I've been getting by on lots and lots of takeout.  I also never feel like blogging after sitting in front of a computer screen all day.

It's my day off and dinner is in the crock pot, so I thought I'd write about it.

1 pkg chicken breasts
1/2 jar Salsa of your choice.  I used Salsa Verde when I made a similar version of this recipe.  Today I used Newman's Own regular red salsa
juice of one lime
handful of cilantro
Spices (I used cumin,  onion powder, chili powder, and a chili garlic salt)

It's been in the crock pot all day on low and smells terrific!

Baked Potato Soup

This is another recipe that I got from Pinterest.  The original pinner pinned it from Pearls, Handcuffs & Happy Hour.

I threw it in the crock pot this morning, and it made a great lunch.

A few adjustments I made/ideas for next time:

- I used a 32 oz. carton of  stock instead of 3 cans.  (could use veggie instead, to make it vegetarian-friendly)

- Next time, I might try cream of celery or cream of broccoli soup instead of cream of chicken.  (thinking of my vegetarian friends)

I didn't have time to cook some bacon to put on top, but I did add some cheese and scallions.

Delicious!

Crock Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken

I made another crock pot meal tonight!

I started by using this recipe and adding some of my own flair.  Instead of regular salsa, I used salsa verde.  In place of a packet of taco seasoning, I made my own seasoning blend: cumin, chili powder, turmeric, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and a southwest seasoning blend.  I like the one by Pampered Chef.  It has red pepper flakes, onion powder and garlic salt.

cook on high for 4 hours.

It makes a great fajita filling or you could just have it as is.  I served it with spanish rice (I like the one by Knorr's), roasted broccoli.  (Prepared the same way as the Roasted Asparagus) and Lime flavored tortilla chips.

Crock Pot Chicken Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)

I love Indian food.  I order it a couple times a month, but for a long time was unable to replicate it at home.  I found several recipes that were plenty tasty, but just didn't taste like the Indian food that I was used to ordering.

Chicken Tikka Masala is one of my favorites.  Turns out, it's not an authentic Indan dish, but one that Curry Houses in the UK have made to replicate the Indian Butter Chicken that one might find in India.  (Pretty sure my college English professor would kill me for that sentence.  He always hated when we said things like "One might find".  He was vehemently against using the word "one" in such a context.  I'm getting off topic.

I've been blogging a lot about my crock pot and how I want to use it for more than just soups and stews.  I figured, why not look for an Indian recipe that I can make in the crock pot.  I found this one and made it today.

The recipe calls for cardamom pods.  I didn't want to go through the trouble of sewing cardamom pods together, so I googled to find out what the equivalent would be for ground cardamom (1 pod = 1/6 tsp ground cardamom)  That's much easier!

It also calls for tomato paste.  I used the one that has basil in it.  Yum!  For the yogurt, I used Greek Yogurt.  I actually prefer Icelandic yogurt, but I haven't been able to find an unflavored one.  There are plenty of brands of Greek Yogurt that make a plain version so I used that.

all the ingredients ready to go!

To juice the lemon, I used this handy gadget.  It makes squeezing and measuring much easier, and a lot less messy:

I wish blogger would let me rotate images.

After letting everything cook in the crock pot all day, I returned to this:

yum!

For side dishes, I made Roasted Asparagus, of course!  And I cooked up a box of Rice Pilaf with Lentils.  I added some cumin and cilantro (in a squeezable tube!)

I thought everything came out really well.  Here's a look at the finished, plated project.  (I'm really trying to work on my food photography skills):

a delicious and flavorful dinner!

Crock Pot Sesame Chicken

Lately, I've been addicted to Pinterest.  In addition to planning my imaginary wedding, and furnishing my imaginary house, I've been collecting recipe ideas.  Tonight, I made honey sesame chicken in the crock pot.

I found the recipe on pinterest. It was originally from this blog.  Instead of ketchup, I used an orange ginger marinade that I found in the international foods section of Stop and Shop.

sixsistersstuff.com

It came out really well!  I used to only make soups in the crock pot.  This recipe inspired me to do more with it!

Crock Pot Beef Stew

I got this one from cooks.com, but modified it slightly.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs. beef stew meat
5 lg. potatoes, chopped
1 med. carrot, chopped
3 lg. ribs celery, chopped
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup quick cooking tapioca  (I bought "small pearl" instead of "quick cooking" and it worked out just fine)
2 tsp. salt
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. pepper
1 box Kitchen Basics beef broth (I accidentally left this out last time, and it worked fine, as the meat made its own stock)

Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-9 hours

Crock Pot Chicken Soup

1 lb chicken, cut into bite size pieces (I liked the "stir fry pieces" purchased at my local stop and shop)
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup white wine (any white wine will do.  If you don't want to use up your regular wine, cooking wine is great.  I used Holland House white cooking wine with lemon, because I wanted extra lemon flavor)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped onions and peppers
1/2 cup rice
a few shakes each of ground ginger, cumin, cardamom, coriander, and lemon pepper

Cook in the crock pot on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours

Feel free to play around with different veggies and spices.  The ones listed above worked well for me, but experimenting with different flavors is fun.