I have a slow cooker thanks to some generous friends a few years back, and it’s wonderful in many ways, but I feel my repertoire is limited. At present, I slow cook:
cream of potato soup
corned beef and cabbage
brown rice (I do a lot of stir frying)
venison stew
I do all of the above pretty well, but venison is not something I come by easily, too much salty corned beef is not good, and I usually wind up freezing most of the potato soup because it’s pretty darn dense and you can only eat so much.
I’ve been looking for ideas in various recipe books but for some reason I find them overwhelming. I don’t like to cook with upteen ingredients. I don’t want to spend two hours prepping meats and vegetables prior to putting them in the slow cooker because a lot of the appeal of this thing is the pile stuff in it and forget it for a few hours thing.
So… simple ideas? Few ingredients?
The only big hitch is that I can not have any tomatoes whatsoever, or ketchup, or any tomato derivatives. That includes pretty much all the commercial BBQ sauces. In some instances it’s simple to leave out, but if it’s a major component I can’t use it unless I can substitute something else. Maybe post it anyway for others, but I’m really looking for stuff without tomatoes.
Weird and exotic vegetables are OK, though. Stuff with tofu/vegetarian is OK. Something other than soups and stews are totally OK (I’ve heard some people make stuff like cornbread in them…?) I’d like to use it more than I do.
Budget Bytes is one of my favorite food blogs. Here’s a link to her slow cooker recipes. Some will have tomatoes, so you’ll want to see if you can adapt them. They’re generally pretty straightforward and tasty recipes
As IvoryTowerDenizen pointed out, Budget Bytes does a good job. I’ve made her Taco Chicken bowlsa lot. As written, they have a tomato-based salsa in them, but you can use almost any other sauce - it’s basically a flavoring for the chicken to cook in. I’ve done it as curry-like dish with chickpeas.
I’ve got a cauliflower-spinach soup recipe I make - like potato soup, it freezes very well, but it’s lighter, and I watch my carbs, so this helps me. Let me hunt down the recipe and I’ll post it.
I like that blog, too. And specifically this peanut butter pork recipe. I use any kind of small pork roast, not just tenderloin, and I add red pepper flakes for a little spiciness. Mmm, peanut butter.
Slow cookers are great for making chicken or turkey stock. All you need is the carcass of a roasted chicken (the remains of a grocery store rotissirie chicken works great), some onions, carrots, celery, various spices (parsley, thyme, pepper, rosemary, whatever sounds good). Throw it in the crockpot, cover with water, and cook on low for about 24 hours. Yes, that long. Let it cool, strain it and put it in Tupperware in the freezer, in 2 cup batches or whatever size works for you. I also usually throw in a tomato or two (which you would not obviously), some mushrooms, and/or asparagus if I have any lying around. I have about 6 containers of broth in my freezer, some turkey, some chicken.
I’ve made that one! And also added red pepper flakes.
Speaking of favourite crock-pot recipes, here’s another - I get requests for this one. I double the amount of black beans and use thighs instead of chicken breast.
Another good pork recipe - just from memory but it’s dead easy and just a few ingredients.
pork tenderloin, diced green apples or apple sauce (enough to smother), salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of cinnamon. Combine everything, cook for 8-10 hours, stir to break up the meat. I like it with shredded cheese and sriracha sauce drizzled on top.
How about breakfast? You can do steel cut oats in the crockpot overnight. Make sure it’s steel cut and not regular though, or you’ll end up with a big pot of mush.
1/2 cup steel cut oats, 1 1/2 cup water, 1/2 milk or half and half, dash of salt, dash of cinnamon, dash of vanilla powder or tiny splash of liquid vanilla, chopped apples, raisins, nuts, or chopped dried fruit, whatever you like. Mix this all up in a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup or other glass container that will fit in your crockpot. Add several inches of water to the crockpot, and place the glass container in the crockpot. Put the lid on, set on low and cook overnight. It’ll be perfect in the morning.
You can leave out the milk (just add more water) or use soy, coconut, or almond milk if that’s your thing.
I came here to post the link to the crockpot 365 blog. I made the skinless rotisserie chicken recipe that was fantastic. It was “interesting” pulling the skin off my bid (I used a whole chicken.)
Since someone beat me to it, though, I wanted to make a suggestion, Broomstick, if you’re open to one.
I mentioned in another thread that I’m currently on an elimination diet to find out what’s causing me problems. I’m following what’s called the Autoimmune Paleo diet, or AIP. That diet doesn’t allow any nightshades, and I’m a tomato lover. Anyway, since tomatoes aren’t allowed on this diet, I’ve had to learn substitutes. One of the AIP bloggers has a recipe for “nomato sauce” that uses carrots and beets instead of tomatoes. Her recipe is here. I haven’t tried this particular recipe yet, but all of her other recipes I’ve tried have been very good. I’m hoping to try it this weekend.
I understand there’s a commercial brand Nomato Sauce but that it’s kinda spendy. Maybe something like this could give you tomato flavor without actual tomatoes.
I don’t remember if I got it off Crockpot 365 or not but I make a fantastic pot roast where the secret ingredient is cranberry sauce. Doesn’t really make it sweet, just gives it a little something. Just a nice cheap roast, can of sauce (I use whole berry but whatev), a bay leaf, and a splash of soy sauce. I throw in carrots and a few halved onions; some people do their potatoes in the pot too but I prefer a different texture so I roast wedges to go with it. Super easy, tasty, makes great leftovers.
You can also do a fantastic pot roast with cranberry sauce and a jar of horseradish. The cranberry gives it a winey flavor.
Make a meatloaf in the crockpot! Take your favorite recipe, then ball up some foil in the bottom of the crock and lay the loaf on the foil. This allows the loaf to drain. Low for 6 hours and you’ve got meatloaf.
Barring one very unpleasent exception, I haven’t eaten a tomato in almost 40 years. I have no memory of what they taste like. Since every time I ever ate a tomato I became violently ill I never liked them and I’m pretty sure I have no desire to replicate “tomato flavor”. I’m horribly allergic to them, you see. It’s not about flavor, it’s about not dying
Anyhow - the main problem with tomato being such a common ingredient is twofold:
Flavor - which, since I don’t remember it, isn’t an issue for me (although some dishes I make others notice something lacking), and
Texture - and this is the problem one, since texture/moisture/etc. can be important. For which purposes the “nomato” carrots+beets might be exactly what I need. So thank you for the info.
Bean and lentil soups of pretty much any kind are great in the slow cooker, too. Do you like Indian food? Then check out this book, and the author’s page. We’ve got 2 of her books (the vegan Indian cookbook because it was a free Kindle download for a brief period). Don’t be dissuaded by the number of ingredients; a fair number of the recipes simply involve dumping ingredients into the slow cooker and turning it on.
We do pretty much anything in the slow cooker that benefits from low-and-slow cooking. Chicken stews, lamb stews, anything with beans or lentils…if you’re interested I’ll dig out and post a recipe for a simple Middle Eastern braised whole chicken dish that has like 5 ingredients, but doesn’t taste like it. (I haven’t done it in a while, but from memory…whole chicken, a bit of water, olive oil, salt, white pepper, turmeric, and maybe garlic? Super-tender, and makes for some fairly versatile leftover shredded chicken to use in other dishes.) Chicken or turkey mole, even with jarred mole paste, is a nice change of pace, too. What kinds of markets do you have access to?
Drop a whole pork roast in the slow cooker and dump a 50/50 mix of vinegar and soy sauce over it. Add a little fish sauce and sweet chili sauce if you want to be exotic. Cook it until you can shred the pork, then a bit longer with the lid off if you think the product is too wet.
My sister used to do a super-easy, super-awesome pork shoulder in the Crock-Pot. I think she basically rubbed the thing all over with Goya sazon, orange marmalade, and that was about it - but I bet it would be awesome with fresh garlic. Pork shoulder is fatty enough to be self-basting, and it got all nice and crispy around the edges.
Er… we’re not big on pork in this household, I’m much more interested in other meats - beef, chicken…
I totally grew up in a household without a slow cooker, so I’m somewhat at a loss, having no cultural background on how to use them. I’m also hesitant to do too much experimenting given our limited funds for food, which I realize sort of contradicts the whole concept of “try out new things” but hey, life is often a compromise, isn’t it?
How about Greek slow-cooked chickpeas? Cheap, easy, and a crowd-pleaser - I’ve done it a bunch of times in a crockpot, and am about to do it this weekend for a caroling party with a bunch of friends, some of whom are vegetarian.
P.S. I find the chickpeas are just fine even if you don’t use baking soda or even soak them at all - about 8 hours on low.
P.P.S. I don’t have any “cultural background” with slow cookers either - my mom never used one, and in fact she still hasn’t even plugged in the one I gave her years ago. I first started using one maybe 10 years ago when a friend gave me a hand-me-down, and I was sold.
If I’m able to make this recipe this weekend, I’ll come back and post my impressions to let you know if it’s worth a shot or not.
[slight hijack] I know what you mean about being on a limited food budget. I am, too. I bought 15 lbs of sweet potatoes before Thanksgiving because they were 38 cents a pound. I’m having the last two little ones tomorrow. Winter squashes are averaging about $1.25 to $1.75 per pound here right now, which is absolutely ridiculous! I wish I knew how to grow winter squashes in containers, because I sure would! [/slight hijack]
