Ham and Beans

Boil 4 cups of white beans for 5 minutes on the stove. Drain and Rinse.

Put beans into the crock pot with 6-8 cups of water...leaving about 1-2 inches to the top of the pot. Add shredded carrots and diced celery if you like. Cook all day on LOW about 7-8 hours or HIGH for 5-6 hours, until your beans are soft. About halfway through your cooking time:

Add your ham bone from a spiral ham or whatever you have. There should be some meat on it still. Finish cooking. Just before serving, remove the bone, pick off the meat and put the meat back in with the beans.

Add salt and/or onion powder to taste and serve.

*It can't get any more simple than this one. My favorite thing to do with a leftover bone after we have ham. Perfect with cheddar biscuits.

Vegetable Garden Soup

Add to the crock pot:

2 15oz cans red kidney beans, undrained
2 14oz cans cut tomatoes or fresh tomatoes, chopped
4 carrots, sliced or shredded (my kids prefer shredded)
2-4 small potatoes, diced (I leave the skin on)
2 small zucchini, diced
2 small yellow squash, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced - no seeds (optional)
1/2 cup dry lentils (optional)
4 TBSP parsley
10 shakes of paprika
4 shakes cayenne pepper (red pepper)
4-6 TBSP Au Jus Gravy powder or 2-3 1oz packets

Pour over the top: 4 cups boiling water
Cover and cook on HIGH for 5-6 hours or LOW for 7-8 hours, or until your veggies are tender.

During the last hour, add:

1 cup frozen peas and/or 1 cup frozen corn
(We prefer the frozen corn)

*My pickiest eaters will not touch this with a ten foot pole. However, I HAD to include it. It's one of my most favorite vegetable soups on earth, and sooooo easy to do in the crock pot. All your chopping and dicing is done and cleaned up well before dinner time, you know I LOVE that! This soup just speaks "summer garden" and makes me feel so healthy...haha! Just make sure you cook it long enough to get all of your veggies tender. It's a FULL pot. You could cut the recipe in half and still have tons of soup.

Creamy Chicken and Dumplings

Add to the crock pot:

4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 cans of chicken broth (about 8 cups)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
3 peeled and diced potatoes
1-2 cups frozen, fresh or canned veggies
diced onion or onion powder

Cook on HIGH 4-5 hours, dice the chicken and then return it to the soup.

In separate bowl for the dumplings:

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1/2 tsp favorite herb (thyme, sage, etc...optional)

Combine and then slowly add 1/2 cup COLD water, mixing gently
Drop small balls of dough, approx 1/2 TBSP into the soup.

Cook another 1-2 hours on HIGH.

*This was completely GONE tonight...I think everyone was hungry and it was a big hit. My 9 year old said it was better than macaroni and cheese and he could eat it every two weeks. I'd say that makes it a hit. This could easily be modified to suit your tastes.

Ginger Oriental Rice

In VitaMix Blender:

1 cup soy sauce
1-2 large peeled carrots (I used one - this Blender method keeps the kids from complaining about the veggies - sneaky!)

OR...chop your carrot OR use frozen veggies (about 1-2 cups)

Dump into the crockpot and add:

8 cups cooked rice (4 cups raw)
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp ground ginger
1 melted stick of butter or 1/2 cup oil
1-2 cups shredded or chopped chicken (I had leftovers from Sunday dinner)
1 cup diced ham or diced, cooked bacon
1 diced yellow onion - don't make me laugh! hahaha (I didn't add this)

Stir all ingredients, cover and cook on LOW 4-5 hours or HIGH 2-3 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure you don't burn it (like once an hour)

Everything is precooked, so you're just warming it all the way through, and drying it out somewhat. It will be kind of a fried rice consistency.

*A childhood favorite for me. My kids LOVED it. I'm sure they will be asking for this one again which makes it a winner in my book. It's a great way to use leftover ham/chicken/turkey, etc. You may wonder why I make this dish in the crockpot when it could be done in the skillet and take less cooking time. Imagine this: I get it all put together and have NO DISHWASHER...so...I can get all of the dishes done, clean up the kitchen and even get some laundry folded BEFORE we actually eat dinner because it's sitting safely in the crockpot...cooking at a slower rate while I get things done. Ah, the amazing crockpot.

Sausage Rice

Brown in skillet: 1 lb sausage

Add it to the crockpot with:

2 apples, diced - no need to peel
1 yellow onion, chopped - yah right, I did onion powder
1 carrot, shredded or chopped
6 cups already cooked long-grain rice (3 cups raw)
1/2 cup raisins or Craisins (I used Craisins)
1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes (I was out)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup chicken broth or water (I used water - I put it in the VitaMix Blender to help chop up my carrot)

Stir everything up, cover and cook on LOW 5-6 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours, it will be the consistency of fried rice.

*I KNOW that these ingredients sound so strange together, but this was absolutely YUMMY! I will tell you that it wasn't a hit with everyone in my family, but they will have to learn to love it. I'm going to be making it again...and again! By the way, can you believe that I was out of parsley? I better get it onto my grocery list.

Indonesian Chicken Spaghetti

Put into crockpot:

5-6 chicken breasts (about 30 oz) boneless/skinless
2 LARGE carrots or 4 small carrots - peeled and shredded
2 onions chopped (not us, we did onion powder)

In mixing bowl:

2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 tsp hot red pepper flakes (I didn't have any, so I added 1 Tbsp hot chili oil and a few shakes of cayenne pepper)

Stir together well and pour over the chicken and vegetables.

Cook on LOW 6-7 hours of High 4-5 hours

Halfway through the cooking time, remove the chicken and dice it, then return it to the sauce in the crockpot.

When the sauce is done, separately cook 16-22oz of spaghetti noodles based on your preference of noodles to sauce. Drain and then pour noodles into the crockpot. Stir to cover the noodles with the sauce and turn off the crockpot. Serve right away.

If desired sprinkle with sesame seeds, chopped peanuts, fresh cilantro.

*A great twist on spaghetti. I wasn't sure about this one, it didn't look very appetizing after it was done cooking, but it really was good! I don't know if you're supposed to top Indonesian food with cilantro, but I had some on hand and I liked how it tasted.

Mock Pot Pie

For Pot Pie filling, add to the crockpot:

3 chicken breasts, boneless/skinless - yes, I usually use frozen
OR...you CAN use 1-2 cups precooked chicken

2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/4 - 1/2 cup water
1 14oz can chicken broth (2 cups)
4 potatoes, peeled and diced into approx 1/2 inch cubes
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced (or chopped fine in VitaMix Blender for picky eaters)
1-2 cups frozen vegetables: corn, peas...if you use frozen carrots, skip the fresh carrots

Cook on LOW 7-8 hours or HIGH 4-5 hours - until veggies/potatoes are soft.

During the last 30-60 minutes, add 3TBSP of cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup of cold water to the crock pot to thicken the sauce.

Serve the hot filling over biscuits.

*Since I can make biscuits way faster than pie crusts...this is a much more appealing way to have chicken pot pie! You CAN make this with leftover diced/shredded TURKEY or a few cans of drained TUNA if you don't have chicken on hand.

Corn Chowder

In VitaMix Blender:

1 quart chicken broth (4 cups)
1 red bell pepper, no seeds
1 peeled carrot
1 16oz bag frozen corn
2-3 med potatoes, peeled if you like

If you don't have a VitaMix blender, just chop your veggies by hand.
When chopped, pour mixture into the crockpot and add:

1 more quart chicken broth (4 cups)
1 more 16oz bag frozen corn
1 TBSP Sugar or honey
salt, pepper, onion powder to taste
1-2 cups diced cooked chicken (optional - I DID add this, I had leftover chicken from Sunday dinner)

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours, then add 1 15oz can evaporated milk and cook 1 more hour.

*Sweet, salty, yummy corn. We had this with cheddar cheese biscuits. It was a hit.

Italian Sausage Soup

Brown in skillet:

2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 to 1 lb of sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's regular sausage roll)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (I did NOT add onions, I used onion powder instead)

In VitaMix Blender, mix just enough to create small carrot chunks:

2 large peeled carrots
1 14oz can cut tomatoes, undrained
1 14 oz can of chicken broth (2 cups)

Put all in the crockpot and add:

2 stalks celery, chopped (I did NOT add this, I was out)
1 chopped garlic clove
1 tsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp dried sage
4-6 more cups chicken broth
1 14oz can kidney beans, undrained
1 more 14oz can cut tomatoes, undrained

Cook on LOW 5-6 hours. About 30 minutes before dinner, add 1 uncooked cup of elbow macaroni or pasta of your choice.

*This got rave reviews and the leftovers didn't last very long. I started the breadmaker at the same time, a great accompaniment to the soup! Just so you know, the 1 cup of dry pasta is enough, if you do more, it will take over the soup...you've been warned...