Crock Pot Sunday: Pork Baby Back Ribs

They were this good:

There are only a few things I fear in cooking...ribs is one of them.

I fear making dry ribs that won't fall off the bone.

Well, fear no more!

If you love ribs...then you must try this recipe. We gobbled these babies right up.

After you slow cook them in the crockpot, you put them under the broiler to crisp them up...tastes like you got them right off the barbecue...

I will definitely be making ribs in the crock pot again. I'm eager to try some different rubs and barbecue sauces...but I will not change the way I now cook ribs!

Crock Pot Sunday: Mongolian Beef

After a few bummer chicken dishes I went with beef...flank steak to be exact...and I'm glad I did. This was a really good dish (recipe here). The meat was tender and the flavor was good. I left out the peanut butter due to Lil D's allergy so I'd be interested to see how different it would taste. I also threw some cilantro on top because the sauce tasted heavy and I thought it needed to be brightened up. All of us liked this dish quite a bit and it will most likely be made again.

I served it with rice, grilled pineapple and green beans.

For dessert: I'm grilling some pineapple rings that have been dipped in coconut milk and cinnamon...then serving vanilla ice cream on top.

Crock Pot Sunday: Corned Beef (again)

In honor of St. Patrick's day...being part Irish...I made corned beef again. If you haven't ever made corned beef...you really should...it's delicious!

Crock Pot Sunday: Lime Chicken Tacos

We love tacos at our house. Really...anything mexican is a winner at our house. This recipe was good. I cooked the chicken on low for about 3 1/2 hours and it didn't dry out (I use chicken tenderloins). I liked that the corn was mixed in because then Lil D ate it without issue. I actually ate mine in iceberg lettuce instead of a shell. I love eating tacos that way.

(photo courtesy of Taste of Home)

I'm not sure if I will make the recipe again...maybe...but shredded chicken from the oven in tacos is just as good once you add pico, guac and a squirt of lime.

Crock Pot Sunday: Bacon Cheesy Potatoes

I had some family over for dinner and decided to grill some chicken rather then risk a yuck crock pot main dish. So instead, I tried out a side dish recipe I pinned a while back. The recipe is found here. They were ok. I probably won't make them again, but we ate them up. It's that cheese in the crock pot thing that just doesn't work...I have officially learned my lesson. Also, they needed way more salt...which is funny since you are cooking the potatoes with bacon. It was a total fail dish, just an ok one. Here's hoping we have a winner coming soon because I'm really needing one so my crock pot cooking desire doesn't disappear with all this not so fantastic recipes.

Crock Pot Sunday: Lemon Garlic Chicken

I may officially write off all of my Crock Pot chicken recipes. How come I can cook a perfectly juicy piece of chicken on the stove top, in the oven and even on the grill...but put it in the crock pot and wham...dry city?!

This week I decided to try a whole chicken thinking maybe it would be delicious.

I mean look at it...doesn't it look delicious?

And this is before it's been cooked in the crock pot...just browned on the stove and stuffed full of so many flavorful items.

Well...after all the effort to brown, season, stuff, season, deglaze, season...

did I mention season? This chicken had so little flavor. And the falling off the bone that was promised...not so much. The dark meat was good...we were eating that first and thought...yeah, I would eat this again...but then we ate some of the white meat and well, not worth the effort.

I had such high hopes...garlic, lemon, thyme, rosemary...how can you go wrong?

Just wish those flavors and come through more...or really come through at all.

I even took the juices from the pot after I removed the chicken and reduced it down to pour over...man was the sauce bad. It had the most bitter aftertaste. The recipe said to only put in the thyme for the whole cooking time and add the rosemary the last 30 minutes because it can turn bitter cooking in the crock pot for so long...I'm thinking the thyme may do the same thing.

Okay...I didn't want to bash on the recipe...I was just hoping for so much flavor and got none. Next time I'll throw my chicken in a bag and toss it in the oven:)

If you decide to give this one a shot let me know how yours turns out and maybe I can do something different!

Crock Pot Sunday: Chicken Parm

I got this crock pot recipe off of pinterest. It is on this blog. I am sad to say that we were highly disappointed. I'm sure if I messed with it a bit, I could make it taste as good as the gal that shared the recipe...but it was not for us. I struggle with chicken in crock pots sometimes as they seem to dry out to fast. This recipe said to cook on low for 6-7 or high for 4-5. I know that my chicken dries out so I did low for 5 hours and the chicken was DRY. Plus, if I am going to spend the time to bread my chicken and put cheese on top...I don't want the chicken coming out completely bare while my breading and cheese lay in clumps in the sauce. Of course, all the breading and cheese made the sauce thick and delicious...so I guess if I called it crock pot spaghetti sauce it would have been a winner. The other issue we had...it seemed that the chicken sucked up every ounce of salt from the mozzarella cheese...wow...dry and salty...not good!

Oh well...they can't all be our favorites.

Here's hoping next weeks tastes a bit better!

Crock Pot Sunday: Parmesan Honey Pork Roast

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it was YUM-MY! A must try. I served it with some seasoned, pan roasted yukon gold potatoes and green beans. The left over pork will be shredded up and made into sandwiches later in the week...can't wait!

Crock Pot Sunday: Teriyaki Chicken

I LOVE teriyaki chicken. Love it. Every time I visit "home" (Seattle) I have to have it at least once. Teriyaki places are every where. I have yet to find a teriyaki recipe that I can even compare to the sticky thick sweet delicious sauce of the teriyaki back home. Until now.

I found this recipe and decided to give it a try...so glad I did...so glad. I ended up making 1 1/2 the recipe since I was serving a crowd...and it was the perfect amount. You cook it on low for 4-5 hours. Here was my only problem. I put it in at noon knowing I would be home at 4 to check it or leave it in for longer and unfortunately the chicken was more done then I would have liked. The chicken still tasted great...but was drier then it needed to be. So next time I am going to set it for 3 hours and start checking it at that point.

But really...it was the sauce that won me over. After the chicken is done you pour the juices/sauce into a sauce pan and add a cornstarch/water mixture and then let it thicken up. It's sticky thick sweet and delicious! I think I may even try just making the sauce in a sauce pan to begin with and then grill up my chicken so it's charred a bit. Mmmmm.

If you love Teriyaki Chicken...give this one a try for sure!

Crock Pot Sunday: Chicken Enchilada Soup

This past Sunday I tried another recipe from skinnytaste.com. If you have not cooked from this site you must. Low calorie meals that are super delicious...seriously, no one will know that they are eating low cal. I have tried about 20 of her recipes and have loved them all.

This Chicken Enchilada Soup is another winner.

(photo courtesy of skinnytaste.com)

It takes about 10 minutes of prep and cooks for 4-6 hours on low. I actually used 2 tsp. of cumin and 1 tsp of salt from the start instead of adjusting at the end and it was super delicious. Also, you don't even need the shredded cheese if you are really looking for low calorie. 1 small dollop of fat free sour cream and some fresh cilantro and chives tops this off perfectly.

YUM!

Crock Pot Sunday: Corned Beef

.Corned Beef with non traditional cabbage and creamy cauliflower puree.

I have made corned beef a few times. We really love it. My cousin has a corned beef sandwich recipe and then some corned beef egg rolls that you can make with your left over corned beef on her food blog. You should try them both...super yum!

This week for crock pot Sunday, I made my corned beef in the crock pot, but decided to leave my cabbage raw and made a cabbage salad. I made the horseradish cream for the beef and the creamy cauliflower puree from skinnytaste.com.

It was a super yummy meal...and actually pretty low cal.

Oh...and if you haven't made cauliflower puree, you should...it's good.

Cabbage salad/slaw

(I threw this together and made just the amount for my little family)

1/4 head of cabbage chopped

handful of baby carrots sliced thin

chives

1/8 cup apple cider vinegar

1/8 cup olive oil

2 tsp. sugar

salt and pepper

Toss cabbage, carrots and chives together.

Whisk vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper together and pour over salad.

Let sit for at least an hour.

Crock Pot Sunday: Pineapple pork tenderloin

I found this recipe on "A Year of Slow Cooking".

It was ok.

I ended up getting it in the crock pot later then I wanted so I had to cook it on high...I hate doing that because it seems the meat dries out fast. The pork didn't seem to have soaked up the flavor like I thought it would. I ended up dumping the sauce from the crock pot into a pan and reducing it down and then pouring that over the top, which helped it a lot.

I have one whole tenderloin left over...

I think I will shred it and use it in tacos or something else.

Next time...I'll cook my pork tenderloin the way we love it...on the grill.

I am excited to try some of her other recipes for Crock Pot Sunday...

I just hope they turn out a little tastier.

Crock Pot Sunday: Meatballs

This year our church starts at 1pm

and well, that means starving people at 4:10pm when we walk in the door.

Let's just say not even I have the patience to wait for dinner to be cooked.

So I have decided that I am going to use my crock pot each Sunday to prepare dinner...then we can be eating by 4:30...or so!

I decided this last night at the grocery store...so I did a quick search on my phone for crock pot recipes and this is the first one that popped up:

Easy Slow Cooker Meatballs

(I made a few changes...so this recipe is how I made them)

Ingredients:

1 pound (about) ground beef

1 pound (about) ground pork

1 1/4 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 medium onion, chopped

1 egg, beaten

salt and pepper

1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

1 (16 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 (14 ounce) can tomato puree

In a bowl, mix the ground meats, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, onion, egg, salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into 16 meatballs. In a slow cooker, mix the spaghetti sauce, crushed tomatoes and tomato puree. Place the meatballs into the sauce mix and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

I also made some rhodes rolls topped with sea salt and rosemary and some fresh green beans. The meatballs were really good. A note on the recipe...when you are mixing the meatballs together they are going to seem a bit dry and like you have too much of the bread crumbs...but trust me...they will be nice and moist when they are all done.

A bonus to this recipe...16 meatballs is way too many for my little family, so we will be having meatball subs later this week...so not only was dinner ready when we came home from church today...but it is providing a second meal later in the week.