I have been asked lately by a few people about raising kids and having dinner ready every night by 5:30. It isn't super easy, but much easier with a crock pot, and if I wasn't a teacher and got off early, I for sure wouldn't have a chance to make dinner every night. So, for all the mom's and busy people that don't have an extra hour every night after work to make dinner, these recipes are my compilation that I go to when I know time is short. I am not saying that they are the best or creative at all, most are just a few ingredients, but they will feed the masses. *These recipes are used with a big crock pot, so adjust for smaller size.
Fajita Chicken
Frozen or fresh chicken breasts
1 jar salsa
1 package taco seasoning
2 onions sliced
2 peppers sliced (green, yellow, or red)
Toppings (sour cream, salsa, guacamole, shredded cheese, etc.)
Place onion and pepper slices on the bottom of crock pot. Place chicken on top. Mix salsa and tact seasoning and pour over chicken. Let cook on slow all day (6-8 hours). Shred chicken with fork before serving and return to crock pot until ready to serve. This meat and veggies can be served with tortillas, used as nacho topping, or enchilda filling if you have a few extra minutes to put them in the oven. If you were doing that, I would suggest filling each tortilla with meat and veggies, roll up and place in bottom of 9x13 pan. Cover with cheese and desired sauce (red enchilada, green tomatilla). Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and sauce bubbly.
BBQ Chicken
This is Alex's favorite dinner. He LOVES chicken drumsticks, but you can use any part of the chicken and either homemade sauce or from the bottle. I have used both and don't tell much difference, it just depends on what you have on hand.
Fresh or frozen chicken thighs, breasts, drumsticks, or whatever piece you like.
BBQ sauce, bottle or homemade (see recipe below if you make your own)
Cook on low all day in crock pot. The meat will be falling off of the bone by the time you get home and it will be yummy!!! You can also use this same thing with a cut of any kind of roast and have BBQ sandwiches for dinner. That is also a hit!
BBQ sauce from scratch
ketchup (about 2 cups)
brown sugar (1-2 cups)
Worcestershire sauce (about 1/2 cup?)
minced garlic (2 tablespoon)
liquid smoke (2 tsp)
Dijon mustard (1-2 tsp)
red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar) (about 2-3 tablespoons)
chili powder (1-2 tsp)
salt and pepper
Honestly these are very rough guesses. I never measure anything, just start dumping and tasting. So, if it is too sweet, add more worchetershire sauce and vinegar. If you like it with more of a kick add more chili powder/ liquid smoke. If it is not sweet enough add more brown sugar. You can't really mess it up as long as you don't add too much mustard.
Pot Roast
My mom always makes hers in the oven and roasts it all day. This is the crock pot version!
About 3 lbs boneless chuck roast
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 can beef broth
1 onion, chopped
1 bag baby carrots
10 yokon gold potatoes (or about 3 russet) quatered
Place onions, carrots, and potatoes on bottom of crock pot, covering with meat. Sprinkle onion soup mix and pour broth over. Cook all day (6-8 hours) on low. You can make gravy off of the liquid in the crock pot if wanted. Just bring liquid to boil on stove top and add corn starch or flour (mix with a little hot water before adding to the big pot of juice to avoid clumping) Enjoy!
When I made this last, I double the recipe and kept half of the meat and made another Alex's favorite Shepard's pie. If you want that recipe I can give it to you, just let me know.
Sloppy Joe's
1.5 lbs lean ground beef (I even used ground deer from my dad)
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 chopped green pepper
1 cup ketchup
1-2 tbls brown sugar
1-2 tbls vinegar
1 tsp yellow or dijon mustard
hamburger buns
Mix the sauce the night before. Place meat and sauce on crock pot and cook on low all day. Mix and enjoy. You really need to use lean ground beef, or it will be too greasy when it is done. You could also just buy the can sauce, but for me I just always have the ingredients on hand and can whip it up without another trip to the store.
Veggie Beef Soup
1.5 lb stew meat
Large (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
2 envelopes onion soup mix
5-8 Yukon gold potatoes (cut into bite size pieces)
1 bag baby carrots cut in half
1 can corn
1 can green beans
Place all in crock pot and cook all day on low. You can also use canned carrots or canned potatoes if you want. Or even a bag of frozen stew veggies. I usually make corn bread with this soup. Yummy!
Beef Burgundy
I just made this one tonight. It was too salty, so I am going to write the recipe as I think it should be.
1 lb stew meat
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package fresh mushrooms sliced
1/2 onion chopped (optional)
1 bag egg noodles
Mix all ingredients but noodles in crock pot and cook on low all day. If sauce is thin, thicken with corn starch or flour (mixed with a little hot water first to avoid clumping). Serve over noodles. I served steamed carrots with this and it was a good addition.
No comments:
Post a Comment