Sometimes people can get so hung up on the idea that you cannot possibly cook without a recipe staring you in the face, just daring you to make a mistake. With a rival crock pot at your disposal, the intimidation factor just isn't there. Sure when first starting out with a crock pot you might want to keep some easy beginner crock pot recipes around just as a rough or basic guideline, but soon enough - whether you are cooking beef, pork, chicken, fish or - whatever, you will be amazed at just how little you really need to consult with anything written down! Sure enough you will find yourself just simply going and preparing the ingredients the way that YOU like them and combining them all together in your Crock Pot the way that YOU think that they should be, and setting them to cook for however long you feel they need based on your own personal schedule or timeline. And after it is all finished cooking, you get to enjoy an easy and convenient freshly prepared meal - the kind of meal that YOU deserve.
However, if you do think that you need a guide when taking your first steps, there is a plethora of recipe resources out there for you. Of course there are numerous crock pot recipe books out on the market now, as well as a staggering number of websites on the internet offering easy to follow/use crock pot receipes useful for both the novice or the seasoned slow cooking pro. In fact I am even prepared to present you with just a sampling of the easy crock pot recipes available!
EASY CROCK POT ROAST RECIPE / POT ROAST CROCK POT RECIPE - BEEF.
Start this tasty slow cooker recipe in the morning, and by the afternoon you will have a delicious beef pot roast in its own gravy ready and waiting for you and your family.
The following ingredients are needed:
- 1 boneless beef sirloin tip roast - around 3 to 5 pounds in size
- 1/2 a cup of all purpose flour divided into two, 1/4 amounts
- 1 envelope of onion soup mix
- one envelope of brown gravy mix
- 2 cups of cold water
* optional* - 1 cup of chopped carrots
- 1/2 cup of chopped onions
- freshly chopped garlic
Go and cut your roast in half. Rub it around in the first 1/4 of flour. Now go and place your roast in a slow cooker. Now you need to combine your soup mix, gravy mix and the remaining 1/4 cup of flour into a bowl; stir in the cold water and make sure the ingredients are all well blended. Pour the mixture over the roast. At this point you can add in any of the optional ingredients that you have prepared. Now cover and cook the roast on low for between 8 and 10 hours depending on how tender you want the meat. After it is ready, slice up the meat and serve it up with your choice of sides.(mashed potatoes is especially recommended for this recipe)
EASY CROCK POT ROAST RECIPE / POT ROAST CROCK POT RECIPE - PORK
Here is a very easy way to cook your pork roast in the Crock Pot; the first thing to do is make sure you are using a well sized or well fitting cut of meat - it has to be able to comfortably fit in the pot remember! I wouldn't really worry too much about the actual cut of meat, whatever joint you use, shoulder, leg, etc. it should be fine.
Ingredients:
-appropriate sized piece of pork for roasting
-assorted vegetables cut up into 1 inch cubes
-1 tablespoon of butter mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of ground sage and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
The first thing is to throw in any veggies that you will be cooking, into the empty pot. Remember that any veggies that you cook this way will not be crispy - they will instead be soft and will take on the flavour of your chosen meat. Now it is time to rub the butter/sage/ginger mixture over the raw meat. After doing this, place the meat on top of the veggies in the pot. Make sure it all fits comfortably in the Crock together with the lid down.
Now you just have to choose whether to set it to cook on low ( for 8 to 10 hours ) or on high ( for 4 to 6 hours ), and thats it. Really that's all there is to it.
EASY CROCK POT CHICKEN RECIPE
Ingredients:
-chicken: legs/drumsticks, wings, thighs or breasts are all good
-vegetables cut up into 1 inch sized cubes, 2 to 3 cups worth
-1 can of any cream soup (ie 'cream of ...') such as mushroom, chicken or corn
-1 teaspoon of crushed garlic or ginger
-1 teaspoon of any preferred herbs (optional)
This one is really easy too; just add the veggies into the empty pot. Next add the chicken into the pot and then throw in the crushed garlic or ginger. After this, you just pour the entire can of soup over the chicken and veggies, cover the whole lot and start cooking. See, I told you it was easy! For cooking on high, let it cook around 3 to 4 hours, for the low setting let it cook for between 6 to 8 hours. If you are going to add herbs, the time to do it is during the last hour and a half.
EASY CROCK POT FISH RECIPE
Now this one takes a few more ingredients and a little more effort but is well worth it.
Ingredients:
-2 cans of shrimp (about 5 ounces each) [drained]
-2 cans of tuna (about 7 ounces each) [flaked]
-2 cans of crab meat (about 7 ounces each) pick over to remove any cartilage
-1 can of chopped pimiento (4 ounces) [drained]
-1/3 cup of minced fresh parsley
-3 cups of instant rice, uncooked
-2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup
-3 cups of water
-1/2 cup of dry white wine
-1/4 cup of onion [chopped]
-2 teaspoons of dill weed
-1/2 teaspoon paprika
-1/2 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce
This one isn't really that hard to do despite the long ingredients list; First you place the first six of the listed ingredients in your Crock Pot. Second, you combine the cream of mushroom soup with water, wine, onion, dill weed, paprika and the Tabasco sauce. Now pour that mixture over the rice and seafood mixture in the Crock Pot. Stir it all gently to make sure that it is all well blended. Cover and cook on the low setting for 3 to 4 hours. All done!
EASY CROCK POT STEW RECIPE
This is a really easy recipe with just a few ingredients for a really delicious tasting beef stew.
Ingredients:
-4 medium-sized red potatoes
-1 to 1/2 lbs. of beef stewing meat
-1/3 cup of flour
-salt and pepper [to taste]
-one 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes [undrained]
-2 cups of water
-3 cups [in total] of frozen stir fry bell peppers and onion
Here you go: First scrub the potatoes and proceed to cut each one into quarters. Place the cut up potatoes in the bottom of your Crock Pot. Then mix the flour, salt and pepper and toss with the beef to make sure the beef is well coated. Add to your Crock Pot. Next, add the undrained tomatoes and water and stir them in. Cover the Crockpot and cook it on the low setting for about seven to eight hours until the beef and potatoes are at the desired tenderness. Add the stir fry vegetables. Now cover and cook it on the low setting for thirty to forty minutes until the vegetables are nice and tender. This should end up making you about four to six servings. Enjoy!
There you go, just a few simple alternatives to get you started and on your merry way! And remember, its not very hard to find people offering new and inventive crock pot recipes almost everyday online. As you become more accustomed to your Rival slow cooker you might even want to experiment with some of the more 'intriguing' or down right bizarre crock recipes out there. (can you say coca-cola and a crock pot?)
Thanks for writing this.
ReplyDelete