Slow Cooker Ground Beef Lasagna Soup

Review

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion, chopped

10 3/4 oz. tomato soup, canned, condensed

14.5 oz. tomatoes, canned, petite diced

15 oz. tomato sauce, canned

2 chicken bouillon cubes

2 beef bouillon cubes

4 c. water

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

1 1/2 tsp. basil

1 tsp. parsley

2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

8 oz. Ricotta Cheese

8 lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces - UNCOOKED

12 oz. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Combine all ingredients except for ground beef and mozzarella and ricotta cheeses in the crock pot.  

Recipe said to add RAW ground beef over top, however I added cooked ground beef.

Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours (or high for 4-5 hours).  Half an hour before done, stir in the ricotta cheese.  Serve with the mozzarella cheese on top.

Our Review

This was pretty good.

Source

Slow Cooker Chili

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef, cooked

2 cans (16 oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained ****

2 cans (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (8oz) tomato sauce

2 medium onions, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbs chili powder

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Garnishes (shredded cheese, corn bread, tortilla chips)

Add all of the ingredients, except for the garnishes, to a crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  

***I used almost 3 pounds of ground beef and half way through the cooking time I realized there was way too much beef and not enough beans.  I added a HUGE can of kidney beans and 4 more ounces of tomato sauce because I'd originally opened a 12 ounce can.

Our Review

I'm not sure why I make a face and shy away from making and eating chili.  This is the third time that I have made it, and each time I have eaten it and thought it was pretty darn good.  Apparently I have a mental block.  My only other review is that it definitely needed more beans, even if I hadn't used more beef.

Source

Easy Crockpot Salsa Chicken

Ingredients

2.5 lbs chicken breasts

1.5 C of salsa

2 limes

2 tbs chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

salt and pepper

Add the chicken, salsa, juice of both limes, and chili powder to the slow cooker.  Place the lime halves in.  (We did not do this.)  Cook on low for 8 hours.  When it is done cooking, pull out and discard the limes, shred the chicken, and add the other seasonings.  Set the cooker to warm and continue cooking 30 more minutes.

I added the seasonings in the first step and did not do the additional 30 minutes on warm.

Our review

This was great as a burrito stuffing with lettuce, salsa, cheese, and guacamole.  I was surprised that the next day it didn't taste as good when it was reheated.  It wasn't bad, but it tasted more bland than the night before.  Perhaps it's because the next day I didn't add guacamole and salsa.

Source

Philly Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients

1 large sweet onion, sliced

2 green bell peppers, sliced

3 chicken breasts, sliced

2 tbs Dale's Steak Seasoning ***

salt and pepper

sliced Mozzarella cheese

Hoagie rolls

Add the onions, peppers, chicken, steak seasoning, salt, and pepper to a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.  Serve on hoagie rolls with a slice of cheese on top.

*** I could not find this seasoning, and while I was going to look in other stores or create a "copy cat recipe" I ran out of time and ended up adding asian BBQ sauce that I had in the fridge.

Our review

It could be blamed on the seasoning, but I wasn't totally impressed.  It tasted fine, but definitely not like a Philly Chicken sandwich.  In fact, don't those usually have chicken cubed pieces?  Anyway, I would try it again with some tweaks on the seasoning, but I'm not in any rush.

Source

Cafe Rio's Sweet Pork Barbacoa

Holy cow this was good.

So I was looking online for a recipe like Cafe Rio's Pork Barbacoa because the salad they have is really good, and I found one.  I had to adjust it slightly, really I just had to adjust the measurements and I had to come to terms with using soda since I haven't had soda in over 17 years.  I'd like to try to find a way to do this again without the soda, if that's possible.

Ingredients

2 lbs pork (okay so maybe I used 5ish pounds of Wegmans' bone in pork shoulder blade roast $1.29 a pound)!

2 cans of coke - not diet (okay so maybe I used two bottles)

1 and 1/2 cups of brown sugar

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/4 c water

1 four-ounce can diced green chilies 

1 10 or 14 ounce can enchilada sauce (See below)

Okay so this recipe has two steps.  Step one is to marinate the pork.  Mix 1/2 cup of the brown sugar and 1 can of Coke and then marinate it with the pork.  You can marinate it for a few hours or overnight, I did it overnight.  Also, since I used a bottle of Coke I poured in about 2/3 of the bottle.  I put all of this in the crockpot.

Step two is the next day.  Drain the liquid from the crock pot and then pour 1/2 a can of Coke (I did about 1/3 a bottle), water, and garlic salt into the crock pot and cook for 3-4 hours on high.  I did 4 hours and it was fine.  

Pull the pork out and shred the meat.  Again, I cheated and just cut it into chunks.  Empty the crock pot juices and put the pork back in.  In a bowl or blender (I used a blender) mix the other half of the can of Coke (I used 1/3 the bottle), the can of chilies (I used about half a can because I don't like spicy things), 3/4 of the can of enchilada sauce (I used about 3/4 of the 14 ounce can but the original recipe said to use 3/4 of a 14 ounce can - which is about 10 ounces if you get a 10 ounce can), and the last cup of brown sugar.  Pour this mix over the pork and heat it in the crock pot until it is warm.

We made burritos with it (pictured above) and gave some with chips, cheese, and salsa to the neighbor to make nachos.  Next time I'd like to make the salad and I'll be prepared with guacamole.

Our Review

This was good.  The mix in the blender didn't smell anything like what I'd eaten at Cafe Rio so I wasn't very optimistic about it, but once I took the first bite of the meat, I was sold.  It's sweet, and ours really wasn't spicy, probably because I barely used any of the chilies.  We will definitely make this again.

Source

Chicken Cacciatore Crock Pot

Chicken

Ingredients

1 lb chicken breasts

26 oz chunky vegetable-style spaghetti sauce

1 green pepper, chopped

1 sweet onion, chopped

Place all ingredients into the crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Can be served with spaghetti noodles and garnished with olives and Parmesan cheese.

Our Review

I was not expecting this to taste good.  Partly because the only chunky spaghetti sauce that I found was a can of Hunts brand spaghetti sauce and I'm not a fan of tomato things coming out of cans.  I was surprised, this was really good.  I don't even like bell peppers but I ate everything from this dish.  

*** You can put all of these ingredients in a ziplock bag and freeze them for an easy meal later.

Source

Crock Pot Taco Soup

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef (cooked with the onion)

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 c water

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces

14.5 oz can Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can V8 vegetable juice

1 c chopped celery

1 c sliced carrot

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp dried parsley flakes

2 tsp dried basil

1 bay leaf

Add all ingredients to a crock pot and cook on low for about 4 hours or until vegetables are tender.

Discard bay leaf before serving.

Our Review

I wasn't thinking this would taste as good as it did.  I went back for more.  The V8 had me worried and this was a bit tomato-ey but it wasn't bad.  I made it a second time and added beef broth in place of half of the water.  It also needed to cook longer than 4 hours both times.  I think it ended up being about 6 hours.

Source

Old Fashioned Sunday Supper Crockpot

Ingredients

2.25 oz onion soup mix

3.5 lb rump roast

2 lb potatoes cut in half

3 c sliced carrots

2 celery stalks sliced

7 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp garlic pepper seasoning

2 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

1.5 c zinfandel

14.5 oz beef broth

1/4 c flour

Put half of the potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and garlic pepper into the crock pot with the bay leaf.

Mix 1 cup of wine and the broth and then pour it into the crock pot.  Rub onion mix all over the pot roast and then put the roast and the loose onion mix into the crock pot.  Add the remaining potatoes, carrots, celery, thyme, garlic, and pepper.

Cook on low for 9-10 hours.  Remove bay leaves.  Remove all solid contents.  Pour liquid mix into a pot on the stove.  Over medium/high heat add the rest of the wine and the flour and stir for 3-5 minutes until it is thickened to a gravy.  Serve with the meal.

Our Review

This was good, but far more work than my usual “drop everything in and go” recipe.  

I will admit that I cheated on the recipe a bit…  I didn’t measure out any of the ingredients besides the wine and the broth.  I didn’t see any garlic pepper so I used garlic salt and then used pepper (I probably have garlic pepper but wasn’t going to search for it since I was already late for work).  I didn’t have zinfandel since I don’t drink wine, but I had some sherry so I used that.  Even with all of these adjustments it still tasted good.

Source

Crock Pot Taco Soup

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef cooked and drained

1 onion chopped

28 oz diced tomatoes with juice

14oz kidney beans with juice

15 oz canned corn with juice

8 oz tomato sauce

1.25 oz taco seasoning mixed with 1 cup water

1 C cheddar cheese

Tortilla chips

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.  Serve with cheese and chips.

Our Review

Everyone said this was great.  One person said it was even better after she added salsa to it.

Slow Cooked Chicken and Mushroom Stew

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breasts

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

salt and pepper

2 cups celery, cut in 1.5 inch pieces

8 oz mushrooms

1 C baby carrots

Stir soup and half a can of water in crock pot.  Cut chicken in 2 inch chunks and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add chicken, celery, mushrooms, and carrots in the slow cooker and stir.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 

Our Review

This was quick, easy, and the kids liked it.