Slow Cooker Apple Cobbler {and Slow Cooker Giveaway}

Cool fall days call for warm dessert.  This simple apple cobbler fits the bill and it's made in your slow cooker!

Slow Cooker Apple Snack Mix

A fall-inspired snack mix filled with bite sized cinnamon sugar coated snacks and drizzled with white chocolate.

Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Soup

This hearty soup is filled with chicken, potatoes, and vegetables, and then topped with flaky puff pasty rounds.  It's a warm soup, sure to please on a cool fall day!

Fiesta Chicken

Fiesta Chicken is an easy and delicious versatile slow cooker dinner!

Since going back to work almost 3 months ago, I have come to realize how much I love my Programmable Slow Cooker . Let's face it, if I don't have dinner planned or in the slow cooker before dinner, I will end up taking the easy way out and ordering a pizza.

And that adds up quickly...both in cost and calories! I have a baby who needs clothes and diapers and I am trying to lose the baby weight, so those are two things I would like to reduce. Thankfully I have some good crock pot recipes, like this one!

I have made Fiesta Chicken at least a dozen times in the past year. It is so easy; just open a few cans, add a few chicken breasts, sprinkle in some seasoning, turn on the crock pot and walk away. After a few hours, your house will smell amazing and dinner will be ready.

This Fiesta Chicken is extremely versatile. The recipe can easily be adapted. Don't like beans? No problem, leave the out! Love corn? Add another bag! Like it more soupy? Add another can of tomatoes or some chicken broth! There are also multiple serving options. I typically serve the Fiesta Chicken over brown rice, but it is also good on its own, over noodles, or even on a baked potato!

Fiesta Chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts

1 bag sweet corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 packet taco seasoning
Salt

Place ingredients in crock pot on low for 8 hours.  Shred chicken and serve, adding salt as needed.

Applesauce

The added ingredients in this applesauce take it from everyday to gourmet!

Have you ever been apple picking? Until 3 years ago I hadn't! Considering that Michigan is one of the top apple growing states, I am surprised it took me so long! Last year unseasonably warm temperatures followed by a freeze damaged the apple crops so severely we were unable to pick apples because there weren't any! This year the weather cooperated and there are plenty of apples to be picked.

Mike, Summer, and I headed out to a nearby apple orchard with some of our friends and their baby girl.  Of course our daughters are much too young to help (or remember our adventure!), but we wanted to include them in our families' tradition.  We picked 3 kind of apples: Honeycrisp, Cortland, and Empire.  The Honeycrisp are my favorite for eating.  The Empire apples were enormous and perfect for this applesauce; I threw in a few Cortland apples as well.

This applesauce goes beyond my typical applesauce recipe which includes one ingredient: apples.  I really enjoyed this recipe because it seemed extra special.  The best part about this recipe is that it's made in the Crock-pot. No standing over the stove stirring a pot of apples.  Just put everything in the slow cooker, turn it on and walk away.  Your house will smell amazing!

Applesauce

Serves 8

Ingredients:
6 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1 cup apple cider
2 Tablespoons butter
3-6 Tablespoons honey (adjust for how sweet you prefer your applesauce)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1.  Combine all the ingredients in your slow cooker.

2.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours, until apples are soft.

3.  Using an immersion blender, mash the apples to your desired consistency.  (You can also use a blender, food processor, or a potato masher.)

Serve warm.  Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Ingredients source: Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Chunky Chili

Chili.  It seems to be the favored meal this time of the year.  And everyone tends to have their own take on chili.  Some like it mildly spicy, some like it burning hot.  Some like it with lots of tomato chunks, some like it completely smooth.  Maybe that's the reason chili cook-offs are so popular, so people can try all the different varieties of chili out there.

One of the great things about chili is that I've found it really doesn't matter what you put into it, the chances are it's going to taste great!  My dad recently made a chili with spaghetti sauce in it.  Surprisingly, it was pretty good! My go-to chili recipe calls for some unique ingredients like cocoa powder and beer.  Since I didn't either of those ingredients in the house, I just combined the ingredients I did have and came up with this chunky chili.  Mike and I both enjoyed it, and the leftovers were delicious the next day!

Chunky Chili

Serves 8

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground turkey
1 small onion, diced
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 can red kidney beans (don't drain!)
32 oz beef broth
1 Tablespoon chili powder

1. Brown the ground turkey and drain the fat.

2. Add diced onion and minced garlic and cook until the onion is translucent.

3. Pour the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, kidney beans, and beef broth into your crock pot.

4. Add the meat mixture and chili powder and stir to combine.

5. Cook on low heat for 8 hours.


This recipe is entered in:   

Crock-pot Cheeseburger Soup

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday with our extended family.  My mom's family lives in Canada, so we made the trip to visit everyone.  It's about an 8 hour drive ...depending on how much of a lead foot your husband has and how long the baby wants to nurse for.  The trip went really well, we stopped every couple hours to feed Summer and it worked well because I felt like our stops made the trip not feel like it was so long.  Summer traveled well and only cried during the last 30 minutes of the trip when we were in stop & go traffic around Toronto.

My Grandma was so excited to meet her great-grand-daughter! She had balloons and a sign that read Welcome to my little sweetheart Summer Joy!  Of course, as soon as we walked into the door she took Summer out of my arms.  It took her a few minutes before she said hi to Mike and I.  It was so precious to see Grandma's excitement over meeting Summer.

On Saturday, we had an open house and then a family dinner to celebrate.  Grandma should have been the star of the show, but I think Summer was, and Grandma didn't mind a bit!  Summer got passed around and met about a hundred people, she was mostly smiles the whole time!  Mike and I had to come home on Sunday so we could go back to work today, but the celebration in Canada goes through today!  They sure know how to party!

Over the weekend, the weather took a drastic change.  It definitely feels like Fall is here to stay now!  These Cheeseburger Soup is my new favorite fall food.  It was so easy to make, I just put the ingredients into the Crock-pot before work one day.  Then when Mike got home, he added the Velveeta cheese.

I used an entire bag of shredded potatoes, so I thought that it needed more liquid so I added extra chicken broth.  I think that addition made the soup a little less thick than the original recipe.  However, I really enjoyed the soup's texture this way.  This recipe made about 8 servings, so Mike and I had plenty of soup for leftovers.  It heated up well and we enjoyed a few more delicious lunches!

Crock-pot Cheeseburger Soup 

Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 pounds (1 bag) shredded hash browns
64 ounces (2 boxes) chicken broth
2 pounds (1 box) Velveeta cheese, cubed

1.  Put ground beef, crumbled bacon, shredded hash browns, and chicken broth into your Crock-pot.

2.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

3.  About 30 minutes before serving, add cubed Velveeta cheese to the soup and stir.  The cheese will melt on its own.

4.  Cover the Crock-pot again and cook about 30 more minutes.  Stir before serving.

Source: Well Cooked (original source site unavailable)

3 Ingredient Crock Pot Beef Tacos

Hi everyone!  I've spent the last 2 weeks cuddling with the most precious baby ever (I might be just a little biased), and even as I'm writing this post, she's sleeping peacefully on my chest.  It's the most incredible feeling in the world to have a baby--my baby--cuddling with me.  I'm so in love with her!

While I'm spending time with Summer, I have some great blogger friends who will be sharing recipes with you.  Today, my friend Carrie is sharing a recipe that anyone can enjoy--especially us new moms.  These tacos look delicious and I'm sure I'll be using this recipe often!

Hello all!  I am Carrie and you can typically find me over at Frugal Foodie Mama sharing my budget friendly recipes and my anecdotes about my life as a stay-at-home mama. 
But today I am over here visiting with my good friend Melissa as she spends time with her little one.

My daughter is now 17 months old, but I do vividly remember those first few months after bringing her home... a tired, blurry wonderful mess of pure bliss and exhaustion. ;)
So today, I am sharing with you all one of my most easiest, delicious Crock Pot recipes that you would literally have no problem throwing together even on less than 3 hours of sleep...

My 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Beef Tacos!
Yes, just 3 ingredients, folks.  
No chopping.
No pre-cooking.
Just dump it all in, mix, and walk away. 
Easy, peasy! :)

3 Ingredient Crock Pot Beef Tacos

by Frugal Foodie Mama

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 5-6 hours

6050518

Ingredients (12 tacos)

• 1 lb of beef
• 1 envelope of taco seasoning
• 1 10 oz can of tomatoes and green chiles (like Rotel)

Instructions

Just dump all 3 ingredients in your Crock Pot, mix, and cook on Low for 5-6 hours.

If you can, stir every couple of hours to break up the ground beef. But if you are not home, you can just break up the meat into smaller chunks right before serving.

Serve with taco shells and/or flour tortillas and your favorite taco toppings.

Enjoy!

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This recipe is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser with my family from my almost 15 year old son to baby girl.  Plus, you can easily double this recipe if you need to feed a larger crowd.  In fact, I did just that when I made these while we were at the beach last week! ;)

You can also use a pound of chicken breasts in this recipe instead of the ground beef.  Just shred the chicken with two forks before serving! 

I hope you all will stop by and visit on the blog or any of my various social media outlets!  All the links are below to make it super easy for you. ;)

Thank you for having me over, Melissa!

  Hello all! I am Carrie and I blog over at Frugal Foodie Mama about my life as a stay-at-home mom to a toddler and a teenager, my family's journey to become a little more eco-responsible everyday, and how I still manage to stay a foodie on our one income budget.  Please stop on over and say hi! 

Blog~Facebook~Twitter~Pinterest~Instagram

Crock-pot Chicken Spaghetti

Set it and forget it. 

These days, that seems to be the best dinner plan I can think of.  Mike's been working 10-12 hour days and because he starts at either 4 or 5 in the morning, that means we go to bed pretty early.  By time I get home from work, if it takes me an hour to prep dinner, we'll have about 1 hour to relax before getting ready for bed.  As you might guess, that just doesn't fly.  That's where Crock-pot meals come in so handy!

I first made this recipe after seeing a similar one on Pinterest.  I didn't have a lot of the ingredients in the house for the original recipe, so I adapted it to use what I did have in the house.  I had Mike start the spaghetti noodles so they would be almost done when I got home and within 15 minutes of walking in the door, we were eating dinner. 

My friend is expecting a baby girl any day now, and so a couple weeks ago we spent a Saturday afternoon stocking her freezer with meals.  This Chicken Spaghetti was such a hit with Mike and I that she made it as well.  It freezes wonderfully and one recipe makes 8-10 servings.  We were able to fill 3 large containers for her and her husband to enjoy while they spend time with their precious newborn.

Crock-pot Chicken Spaghetti

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:
2 uncooked chicken breasts (frozen is fine)
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1-1/2 cups milk
1 small onion, minced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pound Velveeta cheese
1 pound spaghetti noodles

1.  In a medium bowl, combine the condensed soup, milk, minced onion and minced garlic.  

2.  Place the chicken breasts in your Crock-pot and pour the soup mixture over them.

3.  Cut the Velveeta cheese into cubes and place in the Crock-pot.

4.  Cook on low heat for 8 hours.

5.  Around 30 minutes before you're ready to eat, cook the spaghetti noodles according to the directions on the box.

6.  While the pasta is cooking, shred the chicken in the Crock-pot with 2 forks.

7.  Add cooked noodles to the chicken mixture.

Adapted from: Crockin' Girls

White Chicken Chili

Was it just me or was it super hard to get out of bed this morning?  After 4 days of sleeping in, I did not want to get out of my cozy warm bed this morning!  The colder the weather gets, the more reason I have to stay in the warmth!

I did have some motivation to get out of bed this morning though.  Today is Mike's birthday!  I wanted to surprise him by bringing him and his co-workers doughnuts from his favorite bakery.  He started work at 5 this morning, so I left the house around 6:30 to pick up the doughnuts.  He was quite surprised when I showed up at his work with a box of doughnuts!

Anyway, we had our first snowfall of the season on Friday.  The snow actually stuck and really made it feel like the Holiday season has started.  We continued to get flurries on Saturday and though the accumulation was minimal, it was a beautiful sight.  Of course, with the cold weather comes the desire for cold weather food.  Foods like chili, stew, and other soups sure hit the spot when it's so cold!

I adapted this recipe to be made in the Crock-pot so the hands-on time was minimal.  Mike shredded the chicken when he got home from work, and when I got home, supper was ready to eat.  We both loved this soup and Mike added a couple dashes of hot sauce to really give it a kick!  You could even substitute leftover Thanksgiving turkey and cook this on the stovetop to make a fast dinner.

White Chicken Chili

Serves 8

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
2 (15 ounce) cans white northern beans, drained and rinsed
32 ounces chicken broth
1 cup water
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles (don't drain)
1/2 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder

1.  Place all ingredients in your Crock-pot. 

2.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

3.  Shred chicken before serving.

Serve hot.  Top with shredded cheese or crushed tortilla chips.

Slightly adapted from:  Alli 'N Sons

Roasted Cinnamon Almonds

(I shared this post last week at Lady Behind the Curtain and now I'm thrilled to share it with you!)

Can you believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow?  The beginning of the holiday season.  A time filled with food, friendship, food, fellowship, food, gifts, decorations and did I mention, food?  It seems that from Thanksgiving until New Year's our lives are based around food.  Party after party, celebration after celebration.  Not that I'm complaining...I love food! 

I love to give gifts too.  There are few things in life that make me happier than giving a gift to someone and seeing their appreciation.  That's one of the reasons why I love the Holiday season so much.  Being a food blogger, you already know that I love to make food.  I enjoy making food for gifts for friends, as well as treats to take into work. 

These cinnamon almonds make a fantastic treat to gift, as well as a great snack to have out at your holiday parties.  They are simple to make because your Crock-pot does the hard work for you!  No slaving over a hot stove--instead you can be putting the finishing touches on your Thanksgiving menu, writing out your Christmas list, or, if you're really on top of it, wrapping your Christmas gifts!

The hands-on time for this recipe is quite minimal, but you should know that you do have to stay home so you're available to stir the almonds.  Sorry, this isn't quite a set it and forget it recipe!  My house smelled absolutely amazing while the almonds were roasting.  Once they were cooled, I could not stop eating them.  I ate way more than necessary while I was photographing the almonds too!  Because this recipe makes quite a bit, I decided to share some roasted almonds with my co-workers.  They were a huge hit and everyone loved them! 

Roasted Cinnamon Almonds

Makes 3-1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons  cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 egg white
2 teaspoons vanilla
3-1/2 cups almonds
1/3 cup water

1.  In a small bowl, combine the sugars, cinnamon, salt, and allspice.

2.  In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and vanilla until it's frothy, about 3 minutes.

3.  Stir in the almonds until they are completely coated with the egg white mixture.

4.  Add the sugar mixture to the almonds and toss until they're completely coated.

5.  Spray cooking spray on the bottom and sides of a large Crock-pot.  Add the almonds to the Crock-pot, cover, and turn on low heat.

6.  Cook for 2-1/2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.

7.  After 2-1/2 hours, add the water and stir well.  Cook on low for another hour, stirring after 30 minutes.

8.  Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets and spread the almonds out on them to cool.  The almonds will be sticky.  Separate the almonds so they can crisp up and dry.

Store roasted almonds in an airtight container.

Source: Cookin' With Brook


Since tomorrow is a holiday, I'll be away from the computer and spending the day with Mike and our extended family.  I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for!

Slow Cooker Mango BBQ Pulled Pork

A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I had some very special guests over for dinner.  Almost 2 years ago, my best friend married the love of her life, a man she met in Romania.  They met on a mission trip nearly 10 years ago and dated long distance.  Then, in 2009, he was granted a visa so he could come here and they could get married.  I’m ecstatic for my friend of course, but her husband moved a long way from his family.  After a lot of planning, his parents and brother were able to come here for a 3 week visit.  I’ve spent time with this family during my trips to Romania, so I was thrilled that they would be visiting our home.  I wanted to make a meal that we would all enjoy, but it needed to be something that required a small amount of work because I had to work the day they were coming over.

When cooking for a crowd, one of the easiest recipes I can think of to serve is pulled pork. The hands-on time is minimal and if you use your crock pot, the meat can cook while you’re at work or preparing other aspects of the meal.  Of course, the delicious aroma of the pork filling your kitchen is an added bonus.

I love mangoes so when I saw a recipe for mango BBQ sauce, I knew I had to try it.  The mango flavor is subtle, but just enough.  I served the pulled pork on homemade cheese buns (look for that recipe on Wednesday!)  Everyone really enjoyed the meal.  We had plenty of leftovers that Mike and I have enjoyed for other meals.  My friend who watched Champ last weekend declared the pulled pork “awesome”—I’d have to agree with her!

Slow Cooker Mango BBQ Pulled Pork

16-20 servings

Ingredients:
4lb pork loin
8 ounces Pepsi
2 mangoes, peeled and diced, pits reserved
1 bottle BBQ sauce (original flavor)

1.  Place pork loin and mango pits in your crock pot.

2.  Pour Pepsi over the pork.

3.  Cook pork on low for 7-8 hours.

4.  While the pork is cooking, puree the diced mangoes.

5.  In a bowl, combine puree mangoes and BBQ sauce.

6.  When the pork is completely cooked, shred it with 2 forks.

7.  Pour mango BBQ sauce over the shredded pork and continue cooking in the crock pot for 30 more minutes.

Serve warm pork on buns.

Inspired by: Little Kitchen Big Flavors

Crock-Pot Lasagna

Do you use your crock-pot often?  I sure do!  It's so handy to be able to make a meal and forget about it while I'm at work.  I enjoy coming home to a delicious smelling house and a ready meal. 

Mike recently requested lasagna, but it can be a time consuming meal to prepare.  I certainly don't have time to make it and bake it after work...unless we want to eat at 8 at night!  We don't, of course, because that's practically bed-time for us! 

One day I got to thinking about using the crock-pot for lasagna.  I didn't see any reason why it wouldn't work, so I thought I would give it a try.  I figured the worst that would happen is it would be over or under cooked and we'd have to order a pizza instead.  I know Mike certainly wouldn't complain about that!  I was thrilled to find out that you can indeed make a lasagna in the crock-pot.  As you can see, it's not quite as pretty as a lasagna in a baking dish can be, but it still tasted delicious.  The edges of my pasta that weren't covered in sauce got a little crispy, but I just cut that off before serving.  That can easily be rectified by adding more sauce.  All in all, this was an easy way to make lasagna without the wait!

Crock-pot Lasagna

Makes 6-8 servings

1 pound ground beef, browned and seasoned

1 jar pasta sauce (I used Newman's Own Tomato & Basil Bombilina)

1-1/2 cups water, divided

9 lasagna noodles (you may need more or less depending on the size of your crock-pot)

1 cup cottage cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1.  In a medium bowl, combine the ground beef, pasta sauce, and 1 cup water.

2.  Spread 1/4 of the sauce mixture onto the bottom of the crock-pot.

3.  Top the sauce layer with 1/3 cup cottage cheese and 1/3 cup mozzarella.

4.  Place 3 lasagna noodles on top of the cheeses.  You may need to break the noodles to fit your crock-pot.

5.  Repeat sauce layer, cheese layer, and noodles 2 more times.

6.  Spread the top layer of noodles with remaining sauce mixture.

7.  Pour 1/2 cup water around the edges of the crock-pot.

8.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Mine was on for about 6 hours and then dropped down to the "warm" setting for another 2 hours before I got home from work.  The noodles were tender and the lasagna was heated through.

Source:  My original recipe

  



Crock-pot Beer BBQ Chicken

A little bit of business first...Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway!  I wish I could send you all a prize, but unfortunately that's not quite feasible right now :)  I used a random number generator to choose the winner, and it was:

Congratulations Kristin!  You were the winner!  Please check your email for how to get your prize.

I try to make a Crock-pot dinner at least one time a week.  It's perfect for our Tuesday evenings when Mike has to rush off to his bowling league or for Wednesdays when I need to get to youth group.  I can do the prep work in the morning, plug in the Crock-pot and forget about it until I get home.  Then I just heat up a side-dish when I get home from work and dinner is served!

One great thing about this recipe is that it makes a ton!  Sure, it could easily be scaled down, but I prefer to have left-overs.  It freezes perfectly and it makes a great lunch for Mike to take to work.  Also, I should note, if you prefer not to use beer, you can substitute ginger ale, chicken stock, or just water. 

Crock-pot BBQ Beer Chicken

Serves 8-10

You will need:
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 large)
1 Tablespoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces of beer
32 ounces of barbecue sauce

1.  Season chicken with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. 

2.  Place in Crock-pot, then add beer and 24 ounces of barbecue sauce.

3.  Cook on low for 8 hours.

4.  After 8 hours, shred chicken using 2 forks, and stir in remaining barbecue sauce.

Serve on toasted buns.  (Please butter and then broil your buns--it adds so much flavor!)

Source:  How Sweet It Is

Bolognese Sauce

Mike and I are big fans of recipes that can be made in the crock-pot and require minimal work when we get home from work.  This is a new recipe that we tried earlier this month and we both really enjoyed it.  Neither of us have ever had a bolognese sauce before, so we really didn't know what to expect from it.  The flavor reminded us of a pot roast, probably due to the vegetables.  This recipe made a large crock-pot full, so I was able to freeze most of it for a future meal.  I served this on top of my homemade whole wheat noodles, but Mike thinks it would also taste great eaten like chili.  I think this would also taste great over brown rice or even a baked potato!

Bolognese Sauce

Serves 8

You will need:
1 Tablespoon butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 pounds lean ground beef
salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1 cup whole milk
1 cup white wine
2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes

1.  Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

2.  Add onion, celery, and carrot to saucepan.  Stir and cook until vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes.

3.  Add beef to saucepan and cook on high until it is no longer pink.  Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

4.  Pour in milk and wine and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer until liquid is reduced, about 15 minutes.

5.  Transfer mixture to your crock-pot and stir in tomatoes.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

6.  Remove cover, stir and cook until sauce is slightly thickened, about 30 more minutes.

Serve over your choice of pasta, rice, or potato.

Nutritional stats per serving: 313 calories, 14 grams fat, 82 milligrams cholesterol, 4 grams fiber, 27 grams protein, 16 grams carbohydrates, 822 milligrams sodium.

Source:  All You Magazine, October 2011

Cider Wassail

Happy New Year!  I hope you had an enjoyable and safe Holiday weekend!  We spent some time with family and friends, enjoying each others company, and of course, great food!

Today we are in the midst of our first winter storm here in West Michigan.  As I look out the window, the wind is gusting and blowing the snow all over.  It actually looks like we're in a snow globe.  It's days like this that I'm really thankful for my warm house, a thick blanket, and a nice hot drink!  I love the comforting feeling of a hot cup of Cider Wassail in my hands, warming me both outside and in. 

Cider Wassail
Serves 8-10 people

You will need:
8 cups apple cider
1-1/2 cups orange juice
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 cinnamon sticks

Combine ingredients in your Crock-pot and heat on low for 2-3 hours, or until hot.  Discard cinnamon sticks and serve hot.

*This can also be made on the stove.  Just combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Discard cinnamon sticks and serve hot.

Crock-pot Caramel Apple Cake

You will need:

1 C flour 
3/4 C brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3 large apples, peeled and diced
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla

Caramel Topping

1.  In a medium bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

2.  Add diced apples to flour mixture and stir to coat.

3.  In a small bowl, mix eggs and vanilla.

4.  Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and gently stir.  

5.  Pour into a greased crock-pot.

6.  Cover and bake on high for 2 hours. 

7.  Drizzle with warmed caramel topping before serving. 

I think next time I make this, I'll do a double batch.  I have a large crock-pot and the cake ended up being only about an inch thick.  I think that's part of the reason it didn't slice nicely, it's more like a mess on the plate, but it still tasted great!

Source: Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Chili

Chili (12/22/10)

Everyone who has had this recipe says it's some of the best they've ever had! It's versatile enough that I've made it in the Crock-pot, and on the stove. And, if you're really in a pinch for time and putting it in the Crock-pot, you don't even have to cook the meat first! Don't let the list of ingredients scare you, it really does taste fantastic!

This is one of our favorite dinners.  I knew it would be perfect to link up to Soup-a-Palooza.  Check it out here: "Come join Soup-a-Palooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by Bush’s Beans, Hip Hostess, Pillsbury and Westminster Crackers” 

You will need:

2-1/2 pounds ground beef
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (or 2 teaspoons pre-chopped cloves)
1 small onion, finely chopped

1/4 of a green pepper, diced

1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 bottle beer
3 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons instant beef bouillon (or 6 cubes)
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon hot sauce

Stove top directions:

1. In a large saucepan brown meat, drain the fat.

2. Add the garlic, onion, and pepper; cook and stir until tender.

3. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, beer, chili powder, bouillon, oregano, sugar, cocoa, and hot sauce. Mix well.

4. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered , for 2 hours.

5. Make sure you allow the chili to simmer for the whole 2 hours, even longer is better to achieve the best flavor. If you think the soupy part is too thin, feel free to thicken it up by mixing 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of flour in a cup and add it to the chili. Simmer for 10 more minutes until thickened.

Crockpot directions:

1. Add all ingredients, except meat, to Crockpot. Mix thoroughly.

2. Add uncooked ground beef and separate into smaller chunks using a spatula.

3. Cook on low for 4-8 hours. If the soup is too thin, follow the above directions to thicken it.

This recipe is entered in: