crock pot: a love story

Before I moved, my mom was all, "You should get a crock pot!" and I was like, "Meh." But you guys, I got a crock pot for $12 a couple weeks ago, and it is FANTASTIC! I love my tiny little crock pot. If something ever goes awry, and I have to actually cook a dinner when I get home from work, I think I'll starve. I love walking in my front door and smelling the lovely smells of dinner. I also love how when I try and take the chicken out of the pot with a fork, it all falls apart! So wonderfully tender.

Anyway, if YOU have a crock pot, here are some of my favourite recipes.

(I've tried and tried to change the teeny tiny "Read More" button, but I can't figure out how to make it bigger. You have to really want to see the recipes to find the button.)

1. Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

Ingredients

Chicken pieces

1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon-lime pop
2-3 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp pepper

Mix everything together except the chicken, stick the chicken in the crock pot, and pour the stuff over top. I didn't have any lemon-lime pop, so I used chicken broth instead. It was amazing! I am falling in love with soy sauce.

 

2. Crock Pot Lasagna

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef 

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 jar spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce

1 package no-cook lasagna noodles

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 500ml container ricotta cheese

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt

Pepper

  

Directions 

1. Spray a large skillet with cooking spray. Brown beef, garlic and onion then stir in spaghetti sauce and water (the noodles will absorb some of this liquid during cooking) .

2. In a separate bowl combine ricotta, milk, and egg. Stir until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Oil slow cooker and cover bottom of pot with sauce mixture. Cover with a layer of noodles, 1/3 of cheese mixture, 1/4 of meat sauce and top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Continue two more layers depending on the size of your pot. At this point I messed up in a few respects. A) I used cheddar instead of mozza, because it's what I had, and it did not melt like mozza would have, so it was kind of disgusting. B) I forgot to include it between all the layers, and only added it on the top. Which ended up being a good thing, since I scraped it off anyhow.

4. Top with remaining meat sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

5. Cook on low for 6 hours or until noodles are cooked and liquid has been absorbed but lasagna is not dry.

3. Honey Chicken

Ingredients 

honey

chicken

garlic and/or curry powder

mustard

butter

chicken broth

Directions

 I forget the actual measurements and stuff, but here's how I did it. Put the chicken in the crock pot. In a little bowl or cup, melt some butter, maybe like 2 tbsp or something. Add in a giant squirt of honey, and a small squirt of mustard, and a sprinkle of spicy powder of your choice. Stir that all up together, and pour it over the chicken. Add in chicken broth until the liquid is mostly covering the chicken. Then put it on low for about 8 hours or so. (I turned it on when I left and turned it off when I got home from work.) SO GOOD.