Creamy Carrot Crock Pot Soup

I have recently found myself in possession of a rather large amount of carrots, so naturally I have been looking for ways to use them up.  This soup turned out delicious!  This recipe is enough to make a family sized batch.  If you don't need as much, you can cut the recipe in half and still have plenty.

Creamy Carrot Crock Pot Soup

10 cups carrots - peeled and sliced
6 cups water
6 bouillon cubes
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 - 8 oz packages of cream cheese
8 strips of cooked bacon

Place carrots, water, bouillon cubes, butter, Italian seasoning, and cayenne pepper in crock pot.  Stir to mix the spices in.  Cook on high for approximately 5 hours, or until carrots are soft.  Using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend together the ingredients until smooth.  Cube the cream cheese and add to the mixture.  Blend well.  In another pan, cook bacon.  Cut into small pieces, add to the soup and mix well.

Ranch Zucchini & Tomato Crockpot Recipe

Every year, my neighbor seems to grow an abundance of zucchini.  Not just any zucchini - these are ginormous zucchinis!  She often sends some of these zucchinis my way.  In years past, we have made tons of breads, and I am always on the lookout for new ways to use them.  My garden this year happens to be putting out quite the crop of tomatoes (well, for us anyhow!).  With the abundance of tomatoes and zucchini around here, I wondered if I could come up with a yummy recipe that incorporates both.  It turned out wonderfully delicious!  I was able to get two different batches of this recipe made out of one of my neighbor's gifted zucchinis (seriously, they are huge!), so I figured one large zucchini, or even several smaller ones, would be just about enough to make this dish.  I hope you like it as much as we do!

Ranch Zucchini & Tomato Crockpot Dish

24 oz Sour Cream
1 oz package of Ranch Dressing/Seasoning Mix (such as Hidden Valley)
8 oz Shredded Cheese
1 lb Hamburger, browned
1 Large Zucchini, peeled, de-seeded, and sliced
5-6 Large Tomatoes, sliced

Mix sour cream and ranch dressing/seasoning together.  In bottom of crockpot, spread a little bit of the ranch sour cream, enough to cover.  Layer zucchini, tomato, hamburger, ranch sour cream, and cheese - lasagna style.  Keep layering ingredients, ending with the ranch sour cream and cheese on top.  Cook on high crockpot setting for around 5-6 hours, or until zucchini is tender.

Crockpot Salmon, Veggies, and Rice

We were recently gifted some lovely salmon filets.  I have been mulling over exactly how I wanted to cook them.  I did a little internet search and discovered that they can be baked in a crockpot.  The nice thing about this is that it is a crockpot dish that can be put in the crock in the afternoon, and ready by dinnertime.  It only takes a few hours to cook.  My husband, who thought he would not like salmon, really enjoyed it.  This meal is one that bakes the side item and the main course all in one dish (convenient!).  For the veggie part, I had just recently harvested from our garden, so I chopped up those veggies and utilized them for this recipe.  We had green beans, pea pods, some white eggplant, and a few carrots.  Plus I added an onion to the mix.  I think this dish would turn out well with just about any veggie combination.  As for the salmon, I had a very large salmon filet, which was enough fish to feed five people.  I am fairly certain that this recipe would also work with several smaller filets together as well.  For this recipe, I put the salmon in tin foil and placed it on top of the veggies and rice as it baked.

Crockpot Salmon, Veggies, and Rice

2 cups brown minute rice, uncooked
2-3 cups chopped fresh veggies
1 cup water
1 cup Italian dressing, plus a little extra to drizzle on fish
Salmon

Place 2 cups of brown minute rice in the bottom of the crockpot.  Place chopped veggies over the top.  Pour one cup of water over veggies and rice, followed by pouring one cup of Italian dressing evenly over the top.  Place salmon filet/s on a piece of tin foil (large enough to wrap fish in).  Drizzle desired amount of Italian dressing over fish.  Wrap in foil and place on top of veggies and rice.  Bake on high for around 3 hours.  Fish is ready when it flakes easily with a fork, and veggies are tender.

Crockpot Meatloaf and Rice

We haven't had meatloaf in a long time, and I have never made it in the crockpot before.  Being summer and all, I would rather use my crockpot because it doesn't heat up the house like the oven does.  It has been so hot around here lately!  I decided to try my hand at coming up with a crockpot meatloaf recipe.  I must say that I am certainly glad that I had a meal in the crockpot!  We had unexpected company this evening, and it worked out perfectly that I had a meal ready to go with plenty to share.  I formed the meat mixture in a ring around the edges of the crockpot, and filled the center with rice.  I had a main dish and a side dish all in one pot!  Here's the recipe!

Crockpot Meatloaf and Rice

Meatloaf:
2  pounds ground beef
2 cups oatmeal
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 onion, diced
2 eggs

Rice:
2 cups brown minute rice
1 cup water
1 cup italian dressing

In a large bowl, combine all meatloaf ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Place meatloaf mixture in the crockpot and form into a ring around the inside, leaving an open space in the center.  In the center of the crockpot, pour two cups of brown minute rice.  Pour one cup of water over the rice.  Take one cup of Italian dressing and pour evenly over the meatloaf and rice.  Cook on high setting for 5-6 hours.

Cabbage and Bacon Crockpot Soup Recipe

I was looking to use up a few grocery items and came up with this crockpot recipe. It was yummy! My six year old (who thinks she is allergic to vegetables) exclaimed after eating it, "Even though it had vegetables, I ate it anyway, and it was good!" I served this soup with buttered toast on the side.

Cabbage and Bacon Soup

1 small head of cabbage
1 bell pepper
1 15 oz can pinto beans - drained
1 onion
4 thick cut bacon slices - cooked and chopped into small pieces
6 cups water
6 chicken bouillion cubes

Chop vegetables and place in crockpot. Add the beans, water, and bouillion cubes. Stir in the chopped bacon pieces. Optional - to add more bacon flavor, add the leftover bacon drippings as well. Cook in crockpot on high for 5-6 hours.

Yummy Crockpot Split Pea Soup

This recipe is rather unique, unlike any split pea soup I have ever had before. I really don't care for traditional split pea soup all that well, but this split pea soup I find to be quite delicious! It is different, but oh so yummy!

Split Pea Soup

2 cups green or yellow split peas, sorted and rinsed
6 cups water
1/2 cup dry sherry or apple juice
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves finely chopped garlic
6 bouillion cubes
3 cups firmly packed spinach leaves
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons fresh dill weed

Combine split peas, water, sherry/apple juice, sweet potato, onion, garlic, and bouillion cubes in crockpot. Allow to slow cook on low for 10-11 hours, or on high for 5-6 hours. Stir in spinach, cream, and dill. Cook for an additional 1/2 an hour.

I have also used a few substitutions in this recipe when I didn't have all the ingredients on hand. Sometimes I have used carrots in place of the sweet potato (about 2 cups), sometimes I have used regular milk or plain yogurt in place of the cream. It always ends up tasting great to me!

I adapted this recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook entitled "More Slow Cooker Recipes".

Great Crockpot Chicken

I made up this simple, easy crockpot chicken recipe yesterday and thought I would pass it along. The family loved it!

Crockpot Chicken

1 whole chicken

1 onion

Carrots

Potatoes

1 - 12 oz bottle of Italian dressing

Place chicken in the crockpot. Next, cut up your onion, potatoes, and carrots (chop up as much as will fill the crockpot surrounding the chicken). Then, pour the bottle of Italian dressing evenly over the top of the chicken and vegetables. Cook on high setting for 5-6 hours.

The nice thing about using the Italian dressing is that it seasons the chicken and vegetables nicely. You can also use the remaining dressing/drippings as a gravy for your vegetables. It is quite yummy!

P.S. The picture came from http://www.dir.coolclips.com/ .

My Standard Crockpot Chili Recipe

I have a standard crockpot chili recipe that I often use. Depending upon the ingredients on hand, I will sometimes deviate from this recipe for something a little bit different. But usually, this is the main one that I use. It has sort of evolved into its own after years of making chili. The family always enjoys it! As a side note, I should inform you that I have a family sized crockpot, and this recipe has been created using that, rather than a regular sized crockpot.

Crockpot Chili

1 - 46 oz can of tomato juice
2-3 cups cooked beans (black beans or kidney beans), drained if from a can
1 pound cooked ground beef
1 - 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or pressed through a garlic press
1/2 cup of uncooked brown rice
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tbsp Creole seasoning
1 tablespoon cumin

Place all ingredients in crockpot and stir well. Cook on high for 5-6 hours.

To make this a vegetarian chili, omit ground beef and add extra beans. For a slightly different flavor, try adding a bit of barbeque sauce to the mix. If I have extra veggies on hand, like bell peppers, sometimes I will dice those up and add those as well. For the diced tomatoes, you could always try canned diced tomatoes that come with the green chilis (yum!). Be creative!

Crockpot Lasagna

This recipe has quickly become a family favorite. To me, it is easier to make than conventional lasagna, mostly because with the crockpot I can leave it be and not worry about it until dinnertime. I have a larger size family crockpot, so if you use a smaller one, adjustments to the amounts of the ingredients may have to be made.

Crockpot Lasagna

1 pound cooked ground beef

1-2 packages uncooked lasagna noodles

22 ounce container cottage cheese

2 - 26 ounce cans or jars of spaghetti sauce

4 cups shredded cheese

1 cup water

Place enough sauce inside of crockpot to lightly cover the bottom. Place a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles on top of that (I do have to break some of the pieces to get it to fit right). Place some sauce, ground beef, and cheese on top of the noodles. Add another layer of noodles, then add sauce and some cottage cheese. Alternate layers until ground beef and cottage cheese are used up. Then add another layer of noodles, remaining sauce, and remaining cheese on top. Pour 1 cup of water evenly around the edges of the lasagna. Cook on high setting for 1 hour, then cook on low setting for around 4-5 hours.

If I happen to have mushrooms on hand, I have added them as well. I also prefer to use the whole wheat lasagna noodles. Hodgeson Mills brand makes a really good one! This recipe also makes enough for us to have a couple of meals out of it.

Crockpot Turkey & Noodles Recipe

I made up this recipe using things I had around the house. My family really seemed to enjoy it, so I am passing it along!

Crockpot Turkey & Noodles

1 16 oz package of elbow macaroni

2 cups cooked turkey (or chicken) cut into smaller pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots

1 6.5 oz can of mushrooms

1 10.5 oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 jar alfredo sauce

3 cups water

Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on high setting for an hour, then cook on low setting for four hours.

Crockpots Are Our Friends

I LOVE my crockpot! When trying to be thrifty, you will find that a crockpot most definately is your friend. There are many advantages to using the crockpot vs. using the stove or oven. The energy used to cook with the crockpot is less than using the oven or stove, thus saving money on your energy bill. Using my crockpot also allows me to plan ahead for busy days and have a meal ready to go for supper instead of eating out when I know there is going to be a time crunch in the evenings (that saves lots of money too!). It is also easier to eat healthy using the crockpot.

My favorite part about using the crockpot is that it allows me to prepare dinner for my family in the mornings (my most productive part of the day) rather than in the evenings, when I am starting to get tired. If I plan ahead and use the crockpot, it is easier to resist eating out or feeding my family convenience food that really isn't that healthy. Plus, my house smells good all day from the food cooking!

Some things I make in my crockpot regularly include lasagna, chili, pea soup, pot roast, chicken and rice, lentil soup, and pork ribs. In the near future, I will be posting some of my crockpot recipes, so stay tuned!