Fruit juice and a little vinegar if it calls for a dry wine. Careful, a little vinegar goes a long way.
Sometime in the next week or so, I plan on doing a very simple, heavily marbled, Black Angus, Chuck Roast, that I got $4.00 dollars off, because I purchased it as it ended and expired on FDA regulations. I froze it sameday, and will now prepare it thawed…simply, in a slow cooker (I have an awesome slow cooker/hotplate/baking dish/warming chaffer… multi settings… from '88/ Still works. Got it at a Garage Sale.)
I will simply season and it very heavily with a Salt and Pepper, with a couple cloves of crushed garlic paste and some butter. Add a half of an onion luna, and equally Green and Red Pepper. Some beer… and around 6 -8 hours at a variable moist
Serve it with some mashed taters.
… or better yet. Minute rice.
I guess what I’m trying to say, is that I might make a very luscious Pepper Steak.
Ya know, that’s one weird thing about Classic American Peppersteak… I don’t know if it springs from an Asian recipe and tradition or a an Eastern European recipe and tradition? It seems like an American Asian Recipe… but I have seem the exact same recipe tradition with a European provenance? We always ate it with rice… Almost like Midwest Chop Suey.
Inspired by this thread, (and the fact that my water has been frozen up all winter), I went in search of the cooking bags. Couldn’t find them locally, so ordered from Amazon.
I’ve always loved slow cooked cereal or grits made in a crockpot, but even greasing the pot doesn’t prevent a major cleaning headache.
Made steel cut oatmeal the other day and it came out perfectly! Doesn’t even stick to the bag. Ate what I wanted, pulled out the bag and put it in the refer. I’m sold!
Anyone know of potential toxicity from these things?
My favorite slow cooker recipe:
Grease crock (or use a liner)
Sliced potatoes
Sliced onions
Layer
Pour 2-4 cups of pancake batter over them and toss
lay a ham bone or hock on top
Cook 6-8 hours
the last half hour add cheese
You won’t believe how good this turns out!!
Vinegar will also help extract the calcium from bones, so I always add a bit of vinegar to anything with bones in it. Cider vinegar is good, wine vinegar is better…but just plain white vinegar will do, if I have nothing else in the house.
And yeah, if you don’t have wine, just use a bit more broth or other liquid, even water. The recipe would be better if it was made with wine, but it’ll still be good without the alcohol.
I’m not sure if it counts as an actual recipe, but I dump some chicken in the crock pot with half a bottle of marinade (Kroger has the store brand on sale for $1 every two months or so), and enough water to cover. Set it on low for the day, remove the chicken, then pour out the liquid into a saucepan to reduce and make gravy. The chicken will be fall-off-the-bone tender, and the gravy will be quite yummy. With Chicken, I usually shred it, and serve it over mashed potatoes
I do the same thing with pork chops, although I don’t shed those.
I used to make this recipe on the stove over lowest heat, before I had a crockpot. I’ve never tried it in a crockpot but it seems like it would work. I got it from my Russian professor, who said it was a Georgian recipe, but some Russians say anything with garlic is “Georgian-style” the way some Americans say anything with avocado is “California-style” so I don’t know.
Basically you take some chicken legs & thighs (I pull off most of the skin; if I’m feeling ambitious+thrifty I gently fry to render it down for the chicken fat), some carrots cut into 1" chunks and a whole bunch of whole garlic cloves (peeled). Put all in a pot and cook a long time on low. 
DO NOT brown the chicken first. The chicken cooks in its own juices and gives off a rich broth. Serve as is, or pull the chicken off the bones and return to the broth.
A package of chicken breasts. A can of salsa.
Pour together and let cook for 8-10 hours. It turns out the tenderest, yummiest, easiest chicken taco filling ever.
I wrap it in a tortilla, add some shredded cheese. Yummm
Well, I’ve got nearly a dozen chicken legs in the crock today, along with some spices and dried fruit. Wish me luck! If it turns out good I’ll post the recipe.
I’m taking a chance here, as the original recipe said “don’t use bone in chicken” but I consulted my reference book (thank you, local library!) and think I’ve got the cooking times adjusted.
I may try this tomorrow. How thick do you cut the potato? Also, what kind of cheese do you find best?
Reporting back:
*Pork in Mustard Sauce
4 thick pork chops
1 can reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
2 or 3 potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 onion, sliced
salt and pepper
Brown pork chops on both sides. Combine all other ingredients in crock pot. Place chops on top. Cook on low 8 hours.*
Moderate success. I used fresh thyme instead of dried, and upped the amount to roughly 2 tsp. And the thyme flavor cooked out–I would add it nearer to the end. The flavor from the Dijon mustard was nice but I wish I had some of the grainy stuff instead of the smooth. Chops were juicy and tender–in general, I think it was a little oversalted but that can be adjusted easily. My husband votes thumbs up.
To sum up:
*use grainy Dijon mustard
*if using fresh thyme, add near the end of cooking time
*test carefully for salt
Gonna have to guess on the thickness of the spuds. I use a cabbage board to do my slicing, but I’d say an 1/8" or more.
Really, it doesn’t matter that much, just slice them any thickness you want.
As far as cheese, knock yourself out. I’ve used whatever I had on hand and I’m not above mixing it up, say mozzarella/parmesan, cheddar, jack, pepper cheese or even velveeta, I like 'em all!
Hope you’ll come back and let me know what you think.