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.

Ultimate Chicken Burritos

In the crock pot:

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 14oz can undrained diced tomatos
1 4oz can undrained diced green chiles
1 14oz can black beans, drained
1 cup frozen corn
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp sugar

Cook on HIGH 5 hours or LOW 7 hours. Before serving, shred the chicken...dish up with a slotted spoon, unless you like runny burritos. The sauce could be poured over the burrito after you assemble it.

Just before it's time to eat, Cook a batch of Cilantro Lime Rice (a la Cafe Rio) I tripled this recipe for my family. Since I cooked it in the rice cooker...I omitted the water and used all chicken broth for the liquid: (3 cups raw rice and 3 1/2 cups chicken broth - or 2 15oz cans)

In warm tortilla, layer the rice, shredded chicken from the crock pot and any toppings you like. We added shredded lettuce, avocado, grated cheese and sour cream.

WOW...if you love a chicken burrito at Cafe Rio...you will be in heaven with this. Oh my heck...we LOVED THEM!!! I can't wait to make them again. I'm sure that the leftovers won't last long.

Taco Soup

Brown approx 1 lb of hamburger and put into the crockpot, then add:

All undrained, 14oz cans...

2 cans kidney beans
2 cans black beans or pinto beans
2 cans garbanzo beans
2 cans cut tomatoes
1-2 cans corn - I used frozen
1 can chopped olives - we didn't have any
2 packets of taco seasoning (or your favorite homemade taco seasoning)

Cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or on HIGH for 2-4 hours

Top with shredded cheese and tortilla or corn chips.

*I had this when visiting my friend Nikki in Oregon, I had forgotten how good it was. We had this last night, YUM-O! My favorite part is that I made granola yesterday (2 hours) and it still wasn't too late to start this soup for dinner when I looked at the clock and it was 2:00 in the afternoon!

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.

Tamale Pie

In skillet brown 1 lb hamburger and then add:

chili seasonings of choice OR 4 TBSP of pre-mixed chili seasonings
(I get this from Sam's Club)
1 14 oz can cut/diced tomatoes (with green chilies if you like)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1-2 cups frozen corn
1 onion, chopped - (NO WAY was this going in it at my house, add it if you like)
1 drained can black beans (optional)

Let meat mixture simmer. In separate mixing bowl, stir together:

4 TBSP oil
2 cups cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
4 eggs - beaten
3 cups milk

Put meat mixture into the crockpot. Top with 1-2 cups grated cheddar cheese and then pour the cornmeal mixture on top.

Cook on HIGH 1 hour and then LOW for 4-5 hours. OR Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours. Just before serving, top with cheese if you want, let it melt and then serve.

*The directions said to put half of the cornmeal mixture on the bottom and the other half on top, but it burned on the bottom. The next time I make this, the cornmeal mix will go just on top. The top layer didn't burn and became a yummy cornbread type of topping. FYI, update: Place all the meat mixture on the bottom and all the cornmeal mixture on TOP...it works much better this way.

Potato Chowder

Fill the crockpot 3/4 full of peeled, diced potatoes. Add water, just enough to cover all the potatoes - leaving at least an inch to the top of the crockpot.

Sprinkle with salt.

Cook all day on LOW or all afternoon on HIGH.

About 1 hour before dinner:

Add 1-2 14oz cans evaporated milk (I usually use 2 cans)
1 cup frozen corn (optional)
onion powder
parsley (optional)
Meat of your choosing: diced ham, bacon bits, ground sausage

(I don't even bother to cook the sausage ahead of time sometimes, I just crumble it in to the hot potatoes and stir. The sausage cooks quickly.)

Cook one more hour and serve (taste to see if you need more salt)

*A very inexpensive dinner, we have it often. Usually with homemade bread or cornbread. We call this chowder, not soup, at our house because my husband likes it thick with LOTS of potatoes. You could make it more like a soup with less potatoes and more broth if you like that better.

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.