What a Crock!

As promised I am posting only the very best crock pot meals I have discovered, modified, or created since my crock pot challenge began at the beginning of the year.  I am 17 days in and loving this challenge.  My family loves the food and I can’t complain about not slaving away at the stove!  The meals are glorious and dinner dishes are a dream!  I don’t have the crock pot liners but if I did I would almost feel guilty ;o).  So here it goes, these are the top shelf recipes so far.  I will be blogging about every two weeks.  The title will always be What a Crock.

Chicken & Dumplings

boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used 2 very large ones)

2 tablespoons butter

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

1 onion diced

1 tablespoon dried parsley

5 grands flaky refrigerator biscuits cut into bite size pieces

Place chicken in crock pot

Add the butter, cream of chicken soup,chicken broth,onions,& parsley

Cook on high for 4-6 hours

Add biscuit pieces and cook for an additional 30 minutes

Melisa’s Chicken Marsala

2 lbs of Chicken Breast
1 package of dry Italian dressings

1/4 cup chopped onion

4oz of sour cream

1 small can of mushrooms

1 can of Campbell’s Golden mushroom

3 tablespoons of butter

Mix all ingredients except chicken in crock pot

Add chicken and cover well

Cook on high for 3 hours and then warm for another 1 hour


Orange Chicken

boneless chicken breasts, chopped into small chunks

1/3 cup flour

olive oil

1/2 T salt

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

3 T ketchup

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate (thaw or throw it in the microwave for 45 seconds)

4 T brown sugar

In a bowl, mix the orange juice, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, and ketchup.

Pour the flour in a small bowl.

Cover the chicken breast chunks in flour and shake off the excess.

Pour a small amount of olive oil in a skillet and brown the flour-covered chicken.  The chicken doesn't need to be fully cooked since it's going in the crock pot.

After the chicken is done cooking, pour the pieces into the crock pot.

Then cover the chicken with your sauce mixture and give the pot a stir.

Cook on warm for 3-4 hours.

Serve over rice and even add veggies if you want a healthier meal.

Beef Stroganoff

2 pounds cubed stew meat

2 cans Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup

1 largish onion diced

2-3-4 tablespoons of Worcestershire

1/2 cup water

8 oz of cream cheese

couple of dashes of Garlic Salt (1 tsp?)

couple dashes of Hot Paprika

In the slow cooker stir in all the ingredients, except the meat AND the Cream Cheese, together. Once combined add the meat and mix together.

Cook on Low for 8 hours. Cut up the cream cheese into cubes just before serving and turn crockpot on high. Stir the cream cheese in until all combined. You might have to put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles. Or mashed potatoes

Ranch Pork Chops

6 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick

1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Seasoning

10 oz can Cream of Chicken Soup

4 lbs peeled, cubed potatoes

5 Tablespoons real butter

1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

1- 1 1/2 Cups warm milk

1 Tablespoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper, or to taste

Place pork chops, Ranch seasoning and soup into a medium sized crock pot over high heat for 4 hours or low heat for 6 hours.

Place potatoes into a large pot of cold water (I steam them in the top of my rice cooker). Place onto stove top over high heat and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, cook for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain and transfer to the work bowl of a stand or electric mixer. Mix on low until potatoes are mashed then add butter, Parmesan, garlic, milk, salt and pepper. Season to taste if needed. For thinner mashed potatoes add more milk, slowly until your desired consistency.

Scoop mashed potatoes onto serving plates and top with pork chops and soup gravy from crock pot. I put a little parsley on top to serve.

Italian Beef Sandwiches

1 large roast (fat trimmed if needed)

1 package Good Seasons Italian dressing

1/4 cup vinegar

1 Tbs. sugar

1-2 cans chicken broth (I used 1)

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 package brown gravy mix (mixed with 1 cup water)

1 green pepper, sliced

1 small jar pepperoccinis with juice (I used half)

Poke the meat with a fork or knife and put it in the crockpot.  Mix all the ingredients and pour over the meat.  Let it marinade overnight or cook it right away on low for 8-10 hours.  Or, be like me and don’t fix it until lunch time then crank it up on high and cook it for 5-6 hours.

Shred the meat and serve on hoagie buns (I used Cuban bread) Yummy with the peppers and sauce for dipping.

Crock Pot Italian Chicken

2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (thawed or frozen would work.  I used frozen chicken and it was amazing and hassle free!)

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 pkg. dry Italian dressing seasoning

rice or pasta

Place chicken in crock pot.

Mix softened cream cheese, cream of chicken and Italian Seasoning together and dump evenly over chicken.

Cook on high for 4-6 hours or until chicken is fully cooked and tender.

Serve over rice or pasta!  I used the chicken herb butter rice.