[Gummy-Bear]

For the rest of the week it's going to be so cold here in Texas!!! We're looking at 50 degrees!! That's almost freezing! Okay, so maybe not freezing, but we're going to have a cold front and I'm looking for some new Crockpot ideas. It would be much appreciated if you could drop me off a few recipes for yummy and warm Crockpot recipes.

And for those of you rolling your eyes, I swear I don't have my fur coat out yet. I save that for the 40s.

[CatheyJ]

I made this tonight.. and I am in Texas.. I KNOW what you mean.. anything below 80 is winter.. LOL BTW I LOVE my crockpot! This recipe is not like what you think of with Southern dumplings, its closer to a pot pie than traditional dumplings.. anyway, its good!

Irish Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
3 chicken breast halves ( cut into bite size pieces)
1 yellow onion, diced
1 celery stalk, sliced
2 to 6 cups chicken stock
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 springs marjoram
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup frozen or fresh peas

DUMPLINGS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup milk
¼ chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions:
1 combine flour and salt in a resealable plastic bag. Add chicken to the bag, several pieces at a time, and shake to coat completely.

2. Heat a large saute? pan over medium high heat and add 2 tbsp of the oil. Add the chicken and cook, turning until brown on all sides. Place chicken in stone cooker.

3. Add onion and celery to the remaining flour in the bag and shake to coat. Set the saute pan over meduim-high heat and add the remaining oil. Add onion and celery and saute? for 10-15minutes, until browned, stirring frequently. Gradually add the stock, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook 10-15 minutes, until the sauce is somewhat thickened, stirring frequently. Stir in carrots, marjoram, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour over chicken.

4 Cover and cook on low for 3 ½ hours, then on high for 30 minutes before dropping in the dumplings.

5 To prepare dumplings: combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Stir to blend. Bring butter and milk to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Drizzle into the dry ingredients and mix well. This will be a fairly dry dough.

6 Using a large spoon or your hands, form dough into small flattish rounds. Add peas to the slow cooker and mix well. Place dumplings on top of the stew.

7 Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes, our until a toothpick inserted in a dumpling comes out clean. Remove and discard marjoram.

8 Spoon stew into shallow bowls, dividing chicken and dumplings evenly. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately

[CatheyJ]

this one is DELICIOUS! I have tons more.. just let me know if you want them!

Beef Bourguignon

Ingredients:
1-2 boneless beef top sirloin steaks ( about 3 pounds)
½ cup all-purpose flour
4 slices bacon
2 medium carrots, diced
8 small new red potatoes, unpeeled, cut into quarters
8-10 mushrooms, sliced
20-24 pearl onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. Dried marjoram leaves
½ tsp. Dried thyme leaves
½ tsp. Salt
Black pepper to taste
2 ½ cups burgundy wine or beef broth ( I prefer beef broth)

Directions:

1. Cut beef into ½ inch pieces. Coat beef with flour, shaking off excess. Set aside.

2. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until partially cooked. Add beef; cook until browned. Remove beef and bacon with slotted spoon.

3. Layer carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, bay leaf, marjoram, thyme, salt, pepper, beef and bacon mixture in slow cooker. Pour wine ( or broth) over all. Cover; cook on LOW 8-9 hours or until beef is tender. Remove and discard bay leaf.

.

[Gummy-Bear]

Thank you so much for all of these Cat! I am planning on cooking those dumplings sometime this week, I can't wait!

[teamfat]

Here's something I did the other night, it was pretty tasty. It could easily be adapted to a crockpot. The cherries may lose some texture after a long cook, but the flavor should be the same.

mjb.
------

Beef and cherry stew

2 - 3 lbs. beef chuck roast
1/2 lb bacon
1 medium onion
1/2 lb dried cherries
2 - 3 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine

1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
cooking oil


Cube beef into 1/2 inch or so chunks. Mix flour, salt, pepper and
garlic in a large bowl. Toss beef cubes in flour to lightly coat.

Dice bacon, coarsely chop onion. Fry bacon in a large skillet over
medium heat until a few tablespoons or so of fat has rendered out.
Add onion, continue to cook for 5 - 6 minutes until onion softens.
Transfer bacon bits and onion to a large pot, reserving bacon fat in
skillet.

Brown beef in skillet in batches, don't crowd. Add more oil to
skillet if neccessary. Put browned beef in pot with bacon and onion.
Add stock and wine to skillet, bring to a boil, scraping up bits of
browned beef. Add stock mix to pot. Simmer on low heat for about an
hour. Add dried cherries, simmer until beef is tender, adding more
stock, salt, pepper or wine if needed for your desired result.

[Gummy-Bear]

Sounds delicious. Is it a very sweet dish from the cherries or is it a savory dish due to the beef?

[teamfat]

It isn't as sweet as one might think from the cherries, mostly savory from the beef and onions, and I tend towards using very dry red wines.

mjb.

[shel]

When I first saw the title to this thread, I read it as "crackpot" ideas, and got very excited. I thoight, "Hey, I've got a millon of 'em ..."

shel

[bughut]

When you said crock pot, i thought you meant the terracotta 2 peice mediterranean style and thought woo hoo. at last i'll find out how to use it. I've had one for at least 10 years and never used it...Never mind. If anyone knows, Do tell.
By the way,We had to scrape the ice off the vans windscreen this morning

[Jo913]

1 can jellied cranberry sauce
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1 c. water
1 2 pound roast....pork, beef, turkey breast
chicken parts, or anything else that you think
would work.
Mix cranberry sauce, water & soup mix. Place meat into crockpot & pour sauce over. Cover & cook on low for 6-8 hours.

[LiLChefYoojah]

Aww these recipes look great! I will have to try them soon. It's getting quite cold here.

[Jo913]

chicken parts, whatever ones you like
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 c. chicken soup stock or broth

Mix soup & stock, pour over chicken parts in slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove chicken & keep warm, Remove liquid & make your favorite dumplings, I use Bisquick. Drop into hot liquid I cook 10-12 minutes, or until done. Remove dumplings and thicken liquid, season with salt & pepper, if needed.

[DoryD]

Originally Posted by Gummy-Bear

For the rest of the week it's going to be so cold here in Texas!!! We're looking at 50 degrees!! That's almost freezing! Okay, so maybe not freezing, but we're going to have a cold front and I'm looking for some new Crockpot ideas. It would be much appreciated if you could drop me off a few recipes for yummy and warm Crockpot recipes.

And for those of you rolling your eyes, I swear I don't have my fur coat out yet. I save that for the 40s.

Totally rolling my eyes at you! It was -1 here last night, LOL! I had to snowblow myself out of a foot of snow yesterday morning to get the kids off to school (because these masochistic Mainers don't cancel or even delay unless we get 2 feet , where in VA we would close for 2 inches), and I ended up driving them to school literally coated head to toe in snow and ice with STEAM...STEAM coming off of my clothing, LOL! (And thinking about the meltwater on my leather heated seats wondering if I could manage to electrocute myself that way, ha!)

But I digress...

This one is so easy it's laughable, but the kids like it and it's good for a couple of meals. I take a pork tenderloin and throw it in the crock pot with some Stubb's Chicken Marinade (in the BBQ/Ketchup aisle...and I like the Chicken one better than the Pork one for some reason) and sliced, halved yellow or sweet onions. Let it cook all day and then use a fork to shred it in the crock pot. Serve with fresh made cole slaw on rolls with good BBQ sauce.

Easy, warm and comforting on a (ha!) cold evening. (And now this is making me wonder why on earth I never found my crock pot when I unpacked the last kitchen box last year...hmm...)

[pastrycake]

Don't underestimate this vegetable. This is the only time I would make this stew (I love the fall season). I even got my daughter to eat some. It is tasty when it is slowly cooked in a crock pot or regular pot over the stove. Just cube some butternut squash with some 1 inch baby back pork ribs, salt, pepper seasoning, and cook for 3 hours on high or 5 hours low. The pork will fall off the bones and the squash has a natural sweetness. You can throw in some green onions at the end if you like. Comfort food!

[Gummy-Bear]

Originally Posted by DoryD

Totally rolling my eyes at you! It was -1 here last night, LOL! I had to snowblow myself out of a foot of snow yesterday morning to get the kids off to school (because these masochistic Mainers don't cancel or even delay unless we get 2 feet , where in VA we would close for 2 inches)

Driving to school, I noticed some white stuff on the ground. I asked with disgust "What is THAT" and after informing me that it was a thin layer of frost, my dear mother told me I should never move north of Texas.

DoryD, I am proud to tell you that I survived that massive cold front although if I were in Maine, I would be a Texan ice cube. Our schools close if there is any ICE on the roads... I've seen snow once when I went to Tennessee.

As for all of the new recipes, thank you. Our cold front has passed now (we're back in the 80's) but I'm almost wating for the 50's again so I can try some more recipes.