365 Days of Crockpot's Steel Cut Oats with Cranberries

So I found this recipe in the 365 Days of Slow Cooking cookbook, but you can find the same recipe here.  This is a great recipe, but I still am disbelieving that you can let this cook overnight.  I think if you have a small enough crock pot, and are willing to give up sleep (which I am not), you could maybe make this work for an overnight thing.  I let mine cook for 5-6 hours, and it was done and over cooking a little at the edges.  So yeah, no overnight thing for me.  If someone has luck cooking steel cut oats overnight, let me know, I would love to have hot oatmeal overnight without having to get up and make it in my morning fog.  Regardless, this is wonderful oatmeal, and still easy, just not in the morning.  We gave this a perfect 10, and each serving (5 servings) was 352 calories.  Here's what I did:

1 c steel cut oats
1 c Craisins
1/4 c brown sugar
3 1/2 c water
dash of salt

Spray your crock with cooking oil.  Add all the ingredients in, and cook for about 5 hours.  Serve with more brown sugar, milk, etc.

Garlic Caesar Chicken

This is such an easy meal, but you have to be a little careful with the cooking of it.  This Garlic Caesar Chicken in the crockpot is one of my family's favorite meals, they want it all the time.  The boys give it a perfect 10, Aaron gives it a 9, and I give it an 8. 

 

I found this in the 365 Days Of Slow Cooking cookbook, and I follow the recipe exactly.  The only thing is you can't over cook this at all, the Caesar dressing separates if you let it go too long, so towards the end of cooking time you have to monitor to make sure you remove it from the heat as soon as possible.  We serve this over pasta as the recipe suggests, and it's great.

 

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks and seasoned to taste

1/2 c Caesar dressing (the better the quality, the better your meal will taste, we really like Litehouse)

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 T garlic, minced

1/2 lb pasta, cooked

 

Spray crock, then place chicken, dressing, green pepper, and garlic in the crockpot.  Cook on low four hours, and check to make sure it doesn't over cook.  Serve with the cooked pasta.

 

This makes six servings for us, and the calories per serving are 327.

365 Days of Slow Cooking's Crock Pot Clam Chowder

This was good, easy, and a nice way to eat clam chowder.  We gave this an 8, and although I thought it was a little bacon-y, this was great.  I found the recipe in the cookbook 365 Days of Slow Cooking, and our family liked it.  I felt like the white sauce wasn't as successful as it could've been, the way the author made the recipe didn't make a great white sauce, but it was ok.  The calories for 1/10 of the soup were 242 calories, and this was very filling.  You can find the recipe on the 365 Days of Slow Cooking website, click here.

365 Days of Slow Cooking's Yummy Ravioli

We had Yummy Ravioli from 365 Days of Slow Cooking cookbook.  This was an easy crockpot recipe, that my family of course loved.  Aaron and I gave it an 8, and the boys gave it a perfect 10.  The calories per serving, and we had 6 servings, were 513.  This is how I made it.

1/2 lb hamburger
1/2 medium onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
Italian seasonings, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
3 c marinara sauce
1/2 c beef broth
20 oz cheese filled ravioli
8 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 c parmesan cheese, grated

Cook meat, seasonings, onion and garlic together in a skillet.  Drain off grease, then add in the marinara sauce, beef broth, and a little water.  Simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Pour one third of the sauce in the slow cooker, then add in half of the ravioli, top with half of the cheeses, then repeat process, ending with the last 1/3 of the sauce.  cook on low for 5-6 hours (mine should've cooked less time), and serve.

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Pork

We had this Creamy Black Bean Salsa Pork the other night, but if you follow that link, you'll see it's supposed to be chicken.  Either way, this turned out really well, and everyone liked it.  I think it got 8's all around.  We made at least 16 servings out of this, and the calories are 85/serving.  I'll post the recipe the way I made it, it really is great for nachos and tacos.

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Pork

2-3 lb pork loin
2 cans kidney beans (or any beans you want)
1 can cream style corn
1 packet taco seasoning
1/2 c chicken broth
1 c salsa (I used homemade)
4 oz (a little less) cream cheese

whatever you want to serve it with

Place pork and all other ingredients except cream cheese in crockpot.  Cook most of the day on low.  1/2 hour before serving, stir in the cream cheese and let the crockpot cook on high with the lid off.  If desired, thicken the sauce with cornstarch and water and let cook on high with the lid off.  Serve.

Super easy and delicious!

Slow Cooker Chocolate and Caramel Cake

I tried baking for the first time in the crockpot!  That is always an adventure, one I'm glad I tried.  I followed the recipe for Moist Chocolate and Caramel Cake exactly, and the only criticism I have of this recipe is that mine was a tiny bit overcooked, and I cooked it for the least amount of time listed.  Oh well, it was a big hit with the boys and myself, and I like the cream cheese flavor it had.  Aaron gave it a 7, Owen gave it an 8, I gave it a 9, and Noah gave it a perfect 10, big surprise there :)  That kid loves his desserts.  This was fun to make with the kids, and again, I like that I could make it in the crockpot.  We got at least 16 servings out of the cake, and the calories/serving were 388.  Here's the recipe:

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup milk or cream

1 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream--I used sour cream)

1 egg

1 (16.5 oz) yellow cake mix, unprepared

1/4 cup cocoa powder (I used 1/2 c)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 T butter

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup evaporated milk 

 

In small microwave safe bowl, combine cream cheese and milk. Microwave on 50% power for 1 minute; remove and stir. Continue microwaving for 30 second intervals until cream cheese melts; stir with wire whisk to blend.

Place in large bowl; stir in yogurt, cocoa powder, chocolate chips and egg. Mix well. Add cake mix and stir just until combined.

Spray a 6 quart slow cooker with nonstick baking spray. Spread batter evenly in slow cooker.

In small saucepan, combine butter, sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk; heat to boiling, stirring until blended. Carefully pour over batter in slow cooker.

Cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Uncover, turn off slow cooker, top loosely with foil, and let stand for 30 minutes.

Gently run a sharp knife around the edges of the cake and invert over serving plate until cake drops out. If any sauce remains in slow cooker, spoon over cake. Cool for 30-45 minutes before serving.  

Smothered Pork Chops

I found this Smothered Pork Chops crockpot recipe at the blog 365 Days of Slow Cooking, and I also have it in her cookbook, which is a great crockpot cookbook.  This probably received the highest score of any crockpot recipes we've ever had, besides taco meat, so I was super happy.  Owen gave it an 8, Aaron and I gave it a 9, and Noah gave it a perfect 10.  He's been really happy with the meals we've had recently :).  The calories for 1 serving are 207, and we had this with corn and baked potatoes.  Yum!

4 slices crispy bacon, crumbled
1 onion, diced
1 T water
1/2 t brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t dried thyme
1/4 c flour
1/2 c chicken broth
2 T soy sauce
1 bay leaf
4 bone-in pork chops, dredged in flour, browned (about 1 minute on each side) and seasoned with salt and pepper (I didn't use bone-in, and I didn't dredge them in flour)
1 1/2 t cider vinegar
1 T dried parsley flakes (I didn't use this)

Place bacon in bottom of slow cooker.  Microwave the onion, water, brown sugar, garlic and thyme for about 3-4 minutes (stirring every minute) until onions are softened.  Stir the flour, broth and soy sauce into the onion mixture.  Pour into slow cooker and add in the bay leaf.  Nestle the pork chops into the sauce and cover and cook on LOW for 3-5 hours.  Transfer pork chops to serving platter and tent loosely with foil.  Remove fat from braising liquid with a large spoon.  Discard bay leaf and then stir in the vinegar and parsley flakes.  Spoon sauce over pork chops and serve.

Since I didn't dredge them in flour, and they were not bone in, we had more pork chunks rather than pork chops.  So rich and delicious, I will definitely be making this again!

Snickerdoodle Donuts, Crockpot Mexican Pulled Pork, Pioneer Woman's Watermelon Granita

Breakfast was found http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/breads/snickerdoodle-donuts/
and they were the best baked donuts we've ever had. So good and easy. 231 calories/donut, and I had to tweak the recipe a bit to make only 6 donuts, so if you made the full recipe the calories would be less.  We give the donuts an 8, and that's only because Aaron scored them less because they don't taste like Krispy Kremes :)

 

http://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/2012/03/slow-cooker-mexican-pulled-pork.html is the recipe for dinner, but I used canned creamed corn, Rotel (10 oz) tomatoes, and Kidney beans rather than black beans.  I also added cumin to the spices, and kept some of the onions with the pork.  The tacos we made were delicious, the pork was a little sweet and spicy, and we topped it with avocado, homemade salsa, and cheese.  The taco meat we split into 16 servings, so per serving it was 122 calories and we gave it a 9.  So delicious!

We also tried the Pioneer Woman's Watermelon Granita from her new cookbook, and I liked the flavor and the texture, but Aaron thought it was too cold to eat like ice cream, so he added pop to his and drank it.  He gave it a 4, and I give it a 6.  I think we'll stick to ice cream :)  Tomorrow we're trying Jack crusted Pork with a spinach salad.