Crock Pot Love

     I LOVE my crock pot.  We use it quite often, but I would really like to use it even more.  My favorite part is getting in my car, after a long day of teaching, and knowing that when I walk in the door the house will smell wonderful and dinner will be ready or almost ready.  Sure beats take out, or leftovers any night. My husband will actually take the crock pot to the church, where he works on Wednesdays, and let it cook all day in his office.  Then, when I get there that afternoon we can have a good dinner before all the family ministry activities begin.  LOVE!!
    
     Oh, and a little tip I got from my sister in law.  On hot days I put the crock pot on the back porch and let it cook all day.  That way it does not add heat to the house. (We do live in Florida after all.)

Our FAVORITES (in no particular order):

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings by allrecipes.com
I add frozen mixed veggies in with this one.  Makes it a little like a chicken pot pie with out the crust. I also make my own "cream of whatever" soup (usually mushroom). I use only one can of biscuit dough and find this to be plenty of "dumplings."




Crock Pot Ravioli by Crystal and Company
This is a go to for easy and cheap.  It's often one my hubby cooks on a Wednesday night.  She uses cheese Ravioli for hers, but my family prefers the meat ones.  It's good either way. Add a salad and you have an awesome dinner!


Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff by allrecipes.com
The first time I made this I was very skeptical while it was cooking.  It looks a little "odd."  However, I learned to trust the recipe and once you add the cream cheese and get it all mixed together it tastes GREAT!  I usually serve it over egg noodles, but rice works too.



Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup by Mamma Loves Food!
I usually use whatever type of potatoes I have on hand and it comes out YUMMY every time.  I don't have an immersion blender, so I usually take out part of the soup and blend it in my blender.  It works.  Just don't fill your blender too full.  If the top shoots off while the blender is running its a HOT mess. (literally and figuratively - don't ask me how I know this!)  This one makes a ton, so there is always leftovers for a few days (and that's saying a lot at my house).


Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches by The Girl Who Ate Everything
Love this one and the meat comes out perfect for your sandwich.  I have used a few different types of rolls but it always tastes YUMMY!  We usually each add our own additional BBQ sauce depending on what we like.

 








      I have also cooked baked potatoes in the crock pot.  There are a ton of different suggestions for doing this.  If you search around the web or pinterest you will find them.  I rubbed mine down with olive oil and some coarse salt.  Then, I put them in the crock pot (no wrapping and no liquid) and cooked them for about 4 hours.  ( We actually went to church for my sons baptism and when we returned with everyone to celebrate they were ready for lunch.)  It was really convenient!

     And of course I love just throwing in some meat, veggies and a little liquid of choice (broth, water, pasta sauce etc) and letting it cook all day. 

Here is a link to my pinterest board that has a bunch of additional recipes I want to try out.  ENJOY!!
Yummy- Crock Pot


     In fact, tomorrow I plan on putting ribs in with our favorite BBQ Sauce before we leave for church.  Tomorrow night's dinner will be YUMMY!!

     Oh, and whatever you do, DON'T drop a glass spice bottle from the top of your spice cabinet into your crock pot.  It will break.  :(  Guess I will be getting a new crock pot in the near future.

     I hope you find something you want to try.  What are some of your favorite crop pot recipes?  Let me know in the comments section.

~Dawn~