Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs

Recipe taken from https://diethood.com/crock-pot-honey-garlic-chicken/

Serves 4-6

6 chicken thighs (We did bone-in and removed the skin, but recipe calls for boneless skinless thighs)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 C. honey
1/2 C. ketchup
1/2 C. soy sauce
1/s tsp dried oregano
2 T. fresh parsley
1/2 T. toasted sesame seeds

Arrange chicken thighs in crock pot, set aside
In mixing bowl combine all but chicken and sesame seeds.  Whisk together.
Pour sauce over chicken.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
When serving place chicken on plate, spoon a little sauce over the top and sprinkle the sesame seeds over top.

WW smart points: 7 (for 6 servings total)

Britney's Rotel Sausage dip

I served this at the 2017 Progressive Dinner

1 tube ground sausage (not spicy)
(1) 10 oz can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies (mild)
1 package cream cheese (I used 1/3 lower fat)

Brown sausage and drain.  Add other ingredients.  Cook over medium until cream cheese is melted.  Serve immediately or put in fridge and warm up in microwave when ready to serve or put in crockpot on warm until ready to serve.

Serve with tortilla chips or crackers or celery.

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

From Mikael S. from June 2014 RS Newsletter

Serves 4-6

4 chicken breasts

2 C. salsa

2 packages taco seasoning

Cook on low in crockpot for 4-5 hours on low.  Remove chicken and shred with 2 forks.  Return chicken to crock pot.  Serve in tortillas, over taco salad, on nachos, over rice, quesadillas, etc…

I did 1 C. mild salsa and 1 C. medium salsa and it was perfect.  But if you don't like spicy things then just stick with mild salsa all around.

Easy Crockpot Fiesta Chicken

From Mikael S. from May 2014 RS Newsletter

Makes  5 cups.  Serves 4-6.

4 chicken breasts (I did 1 lb.)

15.5 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz frozen or canned corn, if canned then drain first

15 oz salsa (I did ½ hot and ½ mild and it was a little too spicy…so maybe medium and mild or just mild)

8 oz cream cheese

Take 4 frozen or thawed chicken breasts and put into crock pot.  Add remaining ingredients except cream cheese.  Cook on low for 4-5 hours.  Remove chicken and shred it with 2 forks.  Put chicken back in crock pot.  Add cream cheese, just put it on top.  It will look a little weird at this point.  Let it cook for another ½ hour.  Then stir in the cream cheese and serve over rice or in tortillas.  Recipe from recipezaar.com

Easy peasy potato soup

From Shannon A.

1 30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns {I used Ore Ida}

3 14oz. cans of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese {don’t use fat free. It WON’T melt!!!}

In a crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese. Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat. About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted. Serve with cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, green onions, or whatever else you think would be good!!
**EASY, DELICIOUS and AMAZING!

Easy Crockpot Fiesta Chicken

Makes  5 cups.  Serves 4-6.

4 chicken breasts (I did 1 lb.)

15.5 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz frozen or canned corn, if canned then drain first

15 oz salsa (I did ½ hot and ½ mild and it was a little too spicy…so maybe medium and mild or just mild)

8 oz cream cheese

Take 4 frozen or thawed chicken breasts and put into crock pot.  Add remaining ingredients except cream cheese.  Cook on low for 4-5 hours.  Remove chicken and shred it with 2 forks.  Put chicken back in crock pot.  Add cream cheese, just put it on top.  It will look a little weird at this point.  Let it cook for another ½ hour.  Then stir in the cream cheese and serve over rice or in tortillas.  Recipe from recipezaar.com

Crockpot mexican chicken

I am on a crockpot spree trying to find healthy easy yummy crockpot meals that my family (AKA kids) like also.  Here is really good one I got from my former college roommate.

Crockpot Mexican Chicken

Serves 4-6

4 chicken breasts

2 C. salsa

2 package taco seasoning

Cook on low in crockpot for 4-5 hours on low.  Remove chicken and shred with 2 forks.  Return chicken to crock pot.  Serve in tortillas, over taco salad, on nachos, over rice, quesadillas, etc…

I did 1 C. mild salsa and 1 C. medium salsa and it was perfect.  But if you don't like spicy things then just stick with mild salsa all around.

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

by Sheryl Punter in the Taste of Home magazine
August and September 2010
Prep:25 min  Cook: 5 1/2 hours
Yield: 9 servings(2-1/4QT)

1 large head cauliflower, broken into florets
2 celery ribs
2 large carrots
1 large green pepper
1 small sweet red pepper
1 medium red onion
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups(8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups half and half cream

Place cauliflower in a 4 -qt slow cooker. Chop the celery, carrots, peppers, and onion; add to slow cooker. Stir in the broth, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until the vegetables are tender.
In a blender, process soup in batches until smooth. Return all to slow cooker; stir in cheese and cream. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This soup was really good and easy to make. My family enjoyed. A few things I did different were, substituting red onion for yellow onion, using almost half the amount of cheese, and using whole milk instead of half and half. I probably would have used the right ingredients if I had them all. Enjoy:)

Crock Pot Taco meat

So yesterday a tried a cool new trick...

I put a chunk of frozen hamburger meat (never cooked) in the crock pot with some water and taco seasoning and it thawed the meat and then cooked it.

It was not faster than cooking it on the stove, but it saved on the dinner-time rush.

2 lbs taco meat (frozen---but I think you could do fresh/thawed also)

1 1/2 C. water

2 packets taco seasoning

Place all ingredients in crock pot about lunch/nap time. Cook on high until dinner. Every few hours break up meat and stir. When ready to eat...drain fat and water.

Here is the blog post I googled and found the info on http://www.aroundmyfamilytable.com/2010/10/slow-cooker-taco-meat/

Onion Soup

p. 29 in my new crockpot cookbook.

3 cups thinly sliced onions (I did 1 1/2 white onions) (Next time I will do yellow...I think the white ones made it too sweet. Or I will do white, but omit the sugar)

half a stick butter

3 T. sugar

2 T. flour

1 qt beef broth (I did 4 cups water and 4 beef boillion cubes)

Cook onions in butter in frying pan. Cover and saute 15 minutes stirring frequently. Add sugar and flour mixing well.

While onions are cooking, put broth in crockpot on high. Add onion mixture to broth.

Cover and cook on LOW 6-8 hours.

Serve topped with toasted bread and grated parmesan cheese (we broke untoasted french bread and grated swiss cheese into ours).

I doubled the recipe for my family of 5 eaters and had a lot left over, I probably shouldn't have doubled.

I gave it 4/5 stars.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

P. 47 from my new crockpot cookbook.

I gave this 4.5 out of 5 stars.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts.

1/2 lb deli-sliced cooked ham (I just did lunchmeat in a package and I chopped it)

1/2 lb. baby swiss cheese (I just did grated swiss cheese)

1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of chicken soup

1 box dry stuffing mix, prepared according to box directions (I didn't read this...so I put it on dry...Dry was good, but I think this way would be better)

Layer all ingredients in the order listed in your crockpot. cover and cook on low 6-8 hours of until chicken in tender but not dry.

Macaroni and cheese

J gave this 4 out of 5 stars and I gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Kids didn't like it as well as the adults.

1 T butter (up to 3 T) (I did 1)

1 1/2 cups uncooked macaroni (I did elbow)

1 qt (or 4 C.) milk (I did skim)

8-12 oz grated sharp cheddar cheese or cubed velveeta (not the low fat kind) (I did 16 oz-1 lb- velveeta because I wanted to get rid of it.)

1/2-1 tsp salt (I did 1/2)

1/4 tsp pepper

Stir everything together in crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.

Mine took about 5 hours. Do not turn up to high. I tried and it started burning.

Apricot Stuffing and Chicken

p. 46 in my new crockpot cookbook.

1 stick of butter (divided)

1 box of cornbread stuffing mix

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

6-8 oz jar apricot preserves

In a mixing bowl make stuffing using 1/2 stick butter and the amount of water asked for on stuffing. Set aside

Cut up chicken into 1" pieces. Place chicken in bottom of crock-pot. Spoon stuffing over top.

In microwave melt remaining butter with preserves. Pour over stuffing.

Cover and cook on high for 2 hours or on low for 3 1/2 hours or until chicken is tender, but not dry.

The stuffing will not be like stuffing...it will be mushy. It sounds gross, but it was good. I might try next time pouring the jam on the chicken, then put the stuffing on top to see how that tastes. But I liked it this mushy way also.

J gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars. I gave it 4 out of 5.

Honey Mustard Chicken

From p. 33 in my new cookbook

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 1/2 C. honey mustard dressing (It was exactly 1 bottle of Kens Steakhouse dressing from Smiths) (16 oz)

1/2 C. water

Spray inside of crockpot with non-stick spray. Cut chicken into 2" pieces. (I did whole chicken breasts...but it would have been better to follow the recipe and cut them into pieces...I was just lazy). Place chicken in crockpot. In separate bowl mix dressing and water. Pour dressing over chicken. Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours or on low 6-7 hours.

We gave this a 4 or 4.5 out of 5 stars. Parents liked, kids didn't.

Chicken Delicious

This was on p. 44 from my new crockpot cookbook.

10 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I did less)

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice (I did lemon juice from the fridge...not freshly squeezed)

salt and pepper to taste

2 (10 3/4 oz) cans cream of celery soup (I did cream of chicken)

1/3 C. sherry or wine, optional (I omitted)

1/4 C. grated parmesan cheese (I just did the cheap stuff in the green can)

Place chicken in slow cooker in layers. Season each layer with a sprinkling of lemon juice, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl mix soups and wine. Pour soup over chicken. SPrinkle with parmesan cheese. Cover and cook on Low 8-10 hours or on high 4-5 hours until chicken is tender but not dry.

We gave this 4.5 out of 5 stars. I couldn't taste the parmesan. I would try fresh parmesan next time.

Crock Pot Chicken

The first six years of my marriage, I only used my crock pot once.  The last six months, though, I've become a bit obsessed with it (1:00 church may have something to do with it...).  My "go-to" dish is to throw in 3 pieces of chicken (you can do more, but that works for my little family), a can of cream of chicken soup, cubed red potatoes with the skin on (russet is fine, too), and carrots cut into bite size pieces.  I throw the chicken in still frozen and let it all sit for about 7 hours.  I've tried a new dish recently, though, and wanted to share it.  It's been crazy popular over on Pinterest and it's called Hawaiian Barbeque Crock Pot Chicken.  Here is the original link.  Basically, you take 4-6 pieces of (frozen) chicken, an entire bottle of BBQ sauce, and a 20 oz can of pineapple chunks...throw it all in the beautiful crock pot and let it sit for 2-3 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low.  Shred the chicken with two forks and stir it all up to get lots of saucy goodness, then serve over rice!  It's SUPER easy and SO delicious!

I forgot to take a picture, so I stole this from the original blog where I got the recipe.  :)  Enjoy!

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

Pork Roast (Mine was a Pork Sirloin Roast Boneless--but it doesn't have to be this kind)
1 jar salsa (I used about 2 cups of mild Pace Picante---but can use any kind)
1-1 1/2 C. Packed Brown Sugar
1 can rootbeer (I've also hear you can use coke or other pops)

Cook about 4 hours on high in crock pot until roast falls apart and you can shred it.  Pull roast out, shred it, place meat back in sauce.

Note:  My meat didn't fall apart quite like a thought it should.  It was good, just not quite as tender as I would have liked.  Maybe next time I would cook it for 6-8 hours.  Or buy a different kind of roast.

For salad:
start with a fresh cooked tortilla (buy raw ones at the store by cheese)
top with lettuce
beans (Black or pinto) (rinse first)
Mexican rice (from a box)
meat (from above)
buy a small container of cafe rio's tomatillo dressing (there are also recipes on the web, but I haven't tried any...let me know if you have a good one!!!!!!)  It is a little spicy, so if your kids (or you) don't like spicy I wouldn't try it.

Note:  I took some shortcuts tonight...I did not cook any tortillas (we just had it without), I did not do mexican rice (I just used white rice from the night before)

For a smothered burrito
Fresh cooked tortilla
beans (Black or kidney)

Mexican rice (from a box)

meat (from above)

Wrap up in tortilla

Place on oven safe plate (or on a cookie sheet or cake pan).  Smother with store bought green chile enchilada sauce.  Top with mozarella cheese.  Broil in oven for a minute or two until cheese is melted.

While visiting Utah recently, I sampled a yummy crockpot lasagna from my favorite Grocery store of all times.... MACEYS. (I sure miss Western Family products!!)

Check out my RECIPE BLOG to find the recipe that

captured my heart and what I'm making right now for dinner tonight!

Fall-Apart Roast with gravy and mashed potatoes

This is the way my Grandma, my Mom and now me do roast.  It falls apart rather than slices.

1 chuck roast (you can use other kinds, but this is the cheapest and I think the best)
Prepared mustard
1 pkg Dry Onion Soup Mix

Smother roast with mustard, then sprinkle whole pkg of onion soup mix over top.  Cook in crock pot on high for 5 or so hours.

To make gravy...
remove roast from crock pot and place on plate or platter.  Pour drippings into a pan.  Put roast back in crock pot to stay warm.  Add as much water to the drippings as you want to stretch it.  (I only do a cup or 2, but you could do much more).  Heat until boiling, then lower temperature to medium.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  It will take quite a bit of each.  It will taste good when you taste it.  If it is blah---then add more S&P.  In a cup mix some water and either cornstarch or flour, use a whisk to get rid of lumps.  Add some of the hot drippings to the cornstarch or water mix to warm it up a bit.  While stirring drippings with a whisk, slowly pour in the cornstarch or flour mixture.  Over the next few minutes it will thicken.

To make mashed potatoes...
Boil potatoes (or use pressure cooker for 3 minutes---my favorite way because it is soooo much faster).  Drain.  Put in large bowl.  Always add butter/margarine and S&P.  Then add other dairy products like milk, sour cream, cream cheese, etc...  Start mashing.  I do mine by hand, but you can use a mixer instead.  I like mine a little chunky, but just keep mashing until the are the desired consistency.  For creamier potatoes use more of the add-ins, for healthier potatoes use less of the add-ins.  You can also add shredded cheese, garlic powder, etc...

Crock Pot Zesty Chicken

This is a favorite at our house. We had it last night for Sunday dinner with salad and strawberries. Leftovers can be frozen.

*about 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (3 regular sized breasts)

*16 oz. Kraft Zesty Italian dressing

*1 cup water and 1 chicken bouillon cube

large crock pot (5 or 6 qt. )--
Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours until chicken shreds easily with 2 forks.  Shred and then add:

*1 8 oz. block cream cheese

*2 cans cr. of chicken

Cook 30 min. on high or 1 hour on low.

Serve it over rice.  Soooo Yummy!

Serves: at least 6-8

All of the ingredients can be changed more or less to your liking.