Showing posts with label crock pot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crock pot. Show all posts

Sunday, March 3, 2013

9 Tried & True Crock Pot Freezer Meals

Here is a collection of crock pot freezer meals that are tried and true for me.  They are easy to prepare and the ingredients are reasonably priced for the most part.  Most of them serve around 4.  The soups serve more like 6-8.  Most of the recipes can be cooked for much longer than the suggested time.  Most days it ends up cooking for about 10 hours on low just because of our schedules.  I really don't know where I found these recipes and most have been tweaked.  Enjoy!

Serrano Pork Tacos with a side of brown rice
Serrano Pork Tacos
3-4 pound pork roast or loin cut into chunks
2 onions
6 tbsp canola oil
2-4 serrano chillies
3 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste
2 c. water
Divide all ingredients into two bags, label and freeze.
Thaw in refridgerator the night before and then dump all ingredients into crock pot.  Cook on low 8 hours.  Serve in taco shells or tortillas with toppings of your choice.
 
Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:
4 cups shredded, cooked chicken
2 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes,
mashed(you can do this with a potato masher right in the bag, be careful that you don’t break the bag)
1 large can rosarita red/mild enchilada sauce
2 medium onion, chopped(about 1 cup)
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chiles
4 cloves garlic, minced or 4 tsp. minced garlic
2 cans chicken broth
2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 can corn
1-2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
6 chicken bouillon cubes
1 can black beans
Split the above between two gallon freezer bags and remove as much air as possible seal and then double bag into another freezer bag.
Freeze
When ready to enjoy place in fridge to thaw the day before. Pour into crockpot add an additional 1 cup water to crockpot. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours.


Chicken Noodle Soup

Makes 2(4-6 serving dinners)

Ingredients:

3-4 cups chicken cooked and cubed

2 cups sliced carrots

2 cups celery, sliced

2 cups onions, diced

3 tsp. poultry seasoning

4 cloves garlic, (or 4 tsp).minced

12 chicken bouillon cubes

2 cans chicken broth

Split the above between two gallon ziplock bags,remove as much air as possible and seal.

Also needed: 2 cups uncooked egg noodles

Tape one bag of uncooked egg noodles onto each filled gallon bag.  Freeze.

When ready to place in crockpot take out the soup mixture and add 6-7 cup water directly to the bag, Pour into crockpot and cook on low for 5-6 hours or High 3-4 hours. (Low is best and can be cooked longer than 6 hours if needed. Reserve Noddles in freezer.  Place noodles in soup 30 minutes before serving.
 
Ranch Chicken
4 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 dry packet ranch dressing mix
Add ingredients to ziplock bag, label and freeze.

Preparation:  Thaw the night before in refridgerator and place in your slow cooker with about 1 C of Water or Chicken broth for 3-4 hours on High, or 4-5 Hours on Low. Serve whole or chop up for tacos or sandwiches.
 
Pulled Chicken
1 1/2 BBQ sauce
3 whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts.
Combine in ziplock bag, label and freeze.
Thaw the night before in refridgerator and place in your slow cooker with about 1/4 C of water for 3-4 Hours on High. Shred chicken and mix back in with sauce, serve on crusty rolls with a slice of cheese. This recipe is also pretty flexible and can be baked or grilled if you don’t want to slow cook.
 
Italian Chicken
4 whole bonless skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 c. italian dressing
Add ingredients to ziplock bag, label and freeze.
Place in refridgerator the night before and dump into your slow cooker with about 1/2 – 1 C of water or Chicken broth for 3-4 hours on high or 4-5 hours on low.
 
Beef Fajitas
1-2 lbs. flank steak
1 medium onion chopped
1 medium green pepper chopped
1 packet fajita mix
1 can Rotel tomatoes and chilies
Add all ingredients to ziplock bag, label and freeze. 
Thaw the night before in refridgerator, dump in crockpot and cook 4-5 hours on low.
 
Tortellini Soup

1 Medium Green Bell Pepper, Chopped
1 Cup Yellow Onion, Chopped
2 Teaspoons Minced Garlic
2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
1 (8 Oz.) Can Tomato Sauce
2 (14.5 Oz.) Cans Crushed Tomatoes
1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
1 Teaspoon Dried Basil
2 (14 Oz.) Cans Chicken Broth
1 chicken boullion cube

Place above in gallon ziplock bag and remove air and seal.
Tape 1 frozen meat tortellini package to the filled gallon bag.  Freeze.

Thaw in refridgerator the night before. Place soup and one cup water in crockpot cook on
low 5-6 hours. Put in tortellini 30 minutes before cooking time is complete.






 
 

Chicken Fajitas

3 whole boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into strips

1 medium onion sliced

1 medium green pepper sliced

1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies

1 packet fajita seasoning


Add all ingredients to the ziplock bag, label and freeze.  To prepare, thaw the night before in refridgerator and dump into the crockpot – cover and cook 4-5 hours on low



Wednesday, November 21, 2012

A Day of Firsts

It's my day off!  So of course I want to make the best of it.  After sleeping in a little, I rolled out of bed and started in on some baking and cooking. 

First up: Tonight's dinner prep for Homemade Chicken Alfredo Roll Ups so I simmered up some homemade alfredo sauce & sauted some chicken.  This is what it will look like in just a couple hours...mmm.


Now onto my "firsts"...

I got to try out a new Pinterest recipe called Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies.  I've never tried to make any kind of pumpkin cookie before.  Pretty easy and healthy as far as cookies go.  Bonus: They are delicious! 

Combine:
1 c. canned pumpkin
1. c. sugar
1/2 c. applesauce
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

In seperate bowl, mix:
2 c. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

**Dissolve 1 tsp. baking soda in 1 tsp. milk and stir into wet mix. 

Add dry mixture to wet and mix well.

Add 1.5 c. chocolate chips.  Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 365 for 10-11 min.
Note:  These are cakelike cookies and will be soft inside.


My second "first" of the day was making my own bread from scratch.  
My co-worker friend gave me a super easy recipe for crock pot bread.  I was really excited to try it out and today was the perfect day.  Plus, now I get to cross off another item from my 30 before 30 list.  YAY!



My third "first" of the day was what I ate for lunch. 
Ironically, with all my baking and cooking I didn't make myself lunch.  My partner teacher gave me a coupon for a free chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a and since I had yet to go today was a perfect day to try it out.  I'm happy to say it was a success and I would definitely go back.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Freezer Meals


Stress has tried to get the best of me this week with migraines, trouble sleeping and fatigue.  Due to my stress-induced migraines, I had to miss my Bible Study, a wedding coordinator meeting with a bride, and a half day of work.  This cannot continue, so I have decided to take action.  First and most importantly, I'm doing a lot of prayer and Bible reading.
Then my grandma gave me a book by Dale Carnegie about ridding your life of worry called, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Right up my alley. 
 I'm on chapter 4 and so far it's been pretty helpful with giving real strategies that I can apply to my daily life.  I'm also considering letting go of my responsibilities as wedding coordinator for my church.  I think that will help my stress level.  My mom came and helped me with my classroom after school yesterday for 2 hours so we got 4 hours worth of work done.  YEAH!  I feel so much better about my upcoming work week now.  Also, we go to dinner with Tom's parents every week so we decided to change that to every other week.  It was a hard decision, because family is very important, but it's hard to rush home from work, rush to their house, rush to Bible Study and rush home to bed.  Too much rushing in one day.  Finally, I have decided to make better use of my weekends so I can better enjoy my weekdays.  As a result, I decided to take three hours of my Saturday morning to make as many freezer meals as possible.  That is exactly what I did this morning. 

Here's what I made...
8-10 servings of Mom's Turkey Chili
5 servings of turkey and mushroom spaghetti
8-10 servings of 1 Skillet Chili Mac


That equals approx. 40 servings of food!!!  How exciting!  Our week night dinners and week day lunches are DONE for TWO WEEKS!  All we have to do is warm them up.  Praise the Lord for the invention of the microwave! :)

This is what made it so easy...
  • I chose recipes that are SIMPLE.
  • I used recipes with similar ingredients to make grocery shopping easy (ground turkey, diced tomatoes, chili powder, etc.)
  • I only used 3 pans-1 skillet, 1 medium sauce pan, 1 dutch oven (just kept rinsing them out and resusing).  This is SUPER important for not having a hige pile of dishes afterwords.
  • I never had to turn the oven on for the stuffed peppers because I just boiled the peppers, pre cooked the meat and rice then mixed the stuffing.  It will all cook together when I warm it up in the microwave.
  • Choose one recipe to put in the crock pot so it does the work for you.
**Happy Dance**

Sunday, September 2, 2012

3 ingredient crock pot tacos

It's been a while since I posted a recipe or even tried out a new one.  This weekend I got a chance to try out a crock pot recipe.  I have NO idea where I found this recipe, but I definitely can't take credit for it.  Super easy and delicious.

Here you go...
Crock Pot Chicken Tacos (makes 10-14 tacos)

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 jar of salsa
1 packet of taco seasoning or make your own like I do (see below for homemade taco seasoning mix)

Throw all ingredients into crock pot and stir to coat evenly and mix in seasonings.  Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 7-9 hours.  Shred with fork or use Pampered Chef's "Mix 'n Chop"...this works amazingly well :)

Homemade Taco Seasoning

  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder (I don't have onion powder so I substituted minced onion)
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
Mix all ingredients together and store in air tight container.  I used 2 tbsp in place of one seasoning packet.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Pulled Pork, Spaghetti Aglio & Banana Bread

The other day I threw a pork roast in the fridge to thaw that had been in the freezer for a couple of months.  I was so pumped to make my first crockpot pulled pork.  I got a great recipe at my wedding shower for it, so I couldn't quite remember what the recipe called for.  Well, I definitely should have taken a peek at the recipe BEFORE I defrosted it.  It calls for a can of beer, onion soup mix and worchestershire sauce.  The latter two ingredients contain sugar and alcohol is an inflammatory food too.  Bummer.  Well, needless to say, my house smells fantastic and Tom can eat it so it's not a total loss.  It's not sugar free, but for those of you who don't care about that here's the recipe...

Pulled Pork by The Rupes

6 lb. boneless pork roast
1 can beer
1 pkg Lipton onion soup mix
2 tsp worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp season salt
1 tsp garlic salt
dash pepper

Cook 6 hours in crock pot on high. Shred and return to juice in crockpot.


Here's what I made for myself for dinner tonight...
a fancy-shmancy sounding Italian dish that is super EASY! 

Boil the noodles...dash on the spices...toss and voila!

Spaghetti Aglio
Ingredients
7 ounces of spaghetti
2 large or 3 small garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons of chili pepper flakes
1/4 to 1/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1.     Cook spaghetti according to the directions on the package, until it is al dente.
2.     Strain spaghetti and place in a large serving dish.
3.     Add minced garlic, chili pepper flakes, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and toss.
       Serves 2 to 4.

       Tonight I also baked some banana bread with no sugar...I snagged a little piece when I pulled it out of the oven and it was really moist and yummy.
Coziest Banana Bread
Ingredients:
¼ cup milk of your choice (I used almond)
6 Tbsp. olive oil
6 Tbsp. maple syrup (I used about 4 Tbsp)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups mashed ripe bananas (approximately 5 medium bananas)
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts or seeds ( I didn't use this)
¾ cup chopped dark chocolate (1 standard 100 g bar) – optional  ( I didn't use this)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line an 8” x 8” cake pan or loaf pan with baking paper, or lightly oil and dust with flour, shaking out excess.
3. Put the milk, oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and bananas in a blender and blend until smooth.
4. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. Add banana mixture and combine using as few stroked as possible. Fold in nuts and chocolate.
5. Pour into a cake pan and smooth the top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (I baked mine 55 minutes)
 

Oh and here's the update on the Great Migraine Battle:
Year to date:
Laura : 42  Migraines : 7
As an added bonus I've lost 12 1/2 inches and 11 1/2 pounds since starting this "no sugar so I don't get a migraine lifestyle" at the beginning of the year and these results definitely help me out when I'm craving chocolate. 
No migraines and more health!  Woot!


Saturday, February 4, 2012

Cilantro Crock Pot Chicken & Homemade Taco Seasoning

I have been getting frustrated with my hair lately and just don't know what to do with it.  Limp, no umph, no real style, too many layers, blah, blah, blah...you know what I mean.  Anyway, I have been toying with the idea of getting a perm. 
The style now is long, sleek and straight, but eventhough my hair is straight, it takes a lot to get it sleek.  I need a wash and go type of style so I finally decided just to go for it and got a textured wave, which uses the biggest curlers a perm can have. 

Here's how it turned out...



I love it!  It's fun and fresh...just what I needed.  Wash, gel, scrunch and go!  YES!



Here's kind of a cool shot of the back.

Another huge plus on the textured wave is that I didn't have to get my hair re-highlighted.  The curls hide the roots.  YAY for saving money! :)



In other news, tonight's dinner is Cilantro Lime Crock Pot Chicken.  My house smells awesome!  I think I'm going to serve it up on tortillas with some rice.  Mmmm...here it is cooking in the crock pot.


Whew...just had a lil' taste and it is spicy!  Tom will be happy. :)


Oh Mexican food...I love you.  That's some spicy chicken dip over in the right hand corner.  I made it for girl's night on Friday and it went over REALLY well...I will have to post that recipe later.

Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken
Ingredients:

12-ounce jar medium salsa
Juice from one lime
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1.25-oz. package taco seasoning
1 jalapeno pepper
3 boneless chicken breasts, defrosted

Directions:
1. In a slow cooker, mix together the salsa, lime juice, cilantro, taco seasoning and jalapenos.
Add the chicken and coat with the salsa mixture. Allow the chicken to cook, covered, in the
slow cooker on Low setting for 6 hours. Serve chicken with salsa mixture spooned over top,
or shred and use as a taco filling.


I'll try to add more pics of when it's done and has a nice presentation. 

Also, the only taco seasoning I can ever find has sugar so I made my own today.  Here's the recipe for taco seasoning.

Homemade Taco Seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
1. In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.
Enjoy!

The Great Migraine Battle:  February Edition

Laura : 4   Migraines : 0