Budget Time

I dislike this time of the year at work...argh...this is budget time at my property, so I get nothing done but a lot of long hours, a lot of math, phone calls and pencils thrown across the room...grin...this year they have changed the entire format of the budgets, so I feel lost and stumbling around like I've never used a calculator before...grin...so Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen is going to be closed for the rest of the week...I'm hoping I will be finished by that time and will be able to get back into the kitchen...Hugs to you all and send pencils...I'm running out... ;)

To Die For Roast

I like the different mix of flavors in this recipe, but I do have to plan for this one a little more. We always have coca cola around, so the Coca Cola Roast is something I can throw in the slow cooker any ol' time because I have those items on hand almost always. But I don't tend to keep some of these items on hand (although I should), so I have to plan to make this...

To Die For Roast

1 beef roast

1 envelope brown gravy powdered mix (store brand is fine)

1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch powdered mix

1 envelope Italian dressing powdered mix

1/2 cup water

Pour water in crock. Place roast in crock. Mix the powdered mixes together and sprinkle all of the powder over the roast. Cook on low for 6 - 7 hours. The steam will make the powder wet and it will soak into the roast. I did turn my roast over in the crock for the last hour, but that is just something I've always done.

These different flavors mingle together quite well to make a very tasty roast...

Enjoy and Happy Slow Cooking! Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Beef Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

Garlic Buttered Red Potatoes

I love red potatoes. To me they cook better than any of the other types of potatoes and with their skin left on, they add a little color to the table.

Garlic Buttered Red Potatoes

10 - 12 small red poatotes, close in size
2 -3 Tablespoon olive oil
half a stick of butter, melted
2 Tablespoons Garlic salt
Pepper to taste

Wash (do not dry) and cut potatoes in half. Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Pour potatoes into crock pot, pour oil over potatoes and mix to coat. Mix melted butter and garlic salt together and pour over potatoes. Sprinkle with pepper.

Cook on LOW 8 hours (HIGH 4 hours).

Happy Slow Cooking! Enjoy and Hugs...

Honey Ginger Chicken

This recipe is a hit or miss with people. Some people will love it and others won't be fond of it at all...but I wanted to share it just in case you are one of those love it types...

Honey Ginger Chicken

6-8 chicken thighs (can use breast)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Place chicken inside crockpot. Mix all other ingredients and pour over chicken. Cover and cook on LOW 5-6 hours (HIGH 2 1/2 - 3 hours). If using breast, you will want to add an hour of cooking time...depending on thickness)

Happy Slow Cooking! Enjoy and Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Chicken Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

Pork Chops made easy

This recipe has a mixture of flavors that make these pork chops taste wonderful...

Pork Chops Made Easy

6 boneless pork chops
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Place chops in crock pot. Mix all other ingredients and pour over chops. Cook on LOW 6-8 hours (HIGH 3-4 hours)

Happy Slow Cooking! Enjoy and Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Pork Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

Crockpot Beef and Gravy

The original recipe called for a roast to be used, but I found that I like using stew meat better, but it is your choice...

Crockpot Beef and Gravy

2-3 pound Roast (or stew beef) - thawed or frozen
1 packet Lipton's onion soup mix
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces sour cream

Place meat in crock pot. In a small mixing bowl, mix soup mix with canned soup and pour over meat. Do NOT add water. Let cook on LOW 8 - 10 hours (HIGH 4-5 hours). Stir about half way through...If you are not home while this is cooking, make sure you stir as soon as you can. The last 15 minutes of cooking, you will want to add the sour cream and stir. Cook for last half hour.

Serve over pasta, rice or mashed potatoes...

Happy Slow Cooking! Enjoy and Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Beef Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

Cooking Times?

How do I know how long to cook my food in the slow cooker?

If you are converting a favorite recipe to a crock pot recipe, you will want to follow these basic guides:

If your recipe says cook:

15 to 30 minutes, you will want to cook in a crockpot LOW 4-6 hours / HIGH 1 1/2-2 hours
35 to 45 minutes - crockpot LOW 6-10 hours / HIGH 3-4 hours
50 minutes to 3 hours - crock pot LOW 8-18 hours / HIGH 4-6 hours

Remember to reduce all liquids by almost 1/2...

Happy Slow Cooking! Enjoy!

Here are more Q and A Days on Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

HIGH or LOW

Today's HIGH or LOW is another cookbook...

Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Slow Cooker Recipes 2

I just got this cookbook the other day. There is, of course, a slow cooker 1, but I didn't see that one, but once I find it, I will give my review on that one also.

First, if you have never heard of Sandra Lee, let me say..."She is my hero!"

Sandra Lee always says: "You buy 70% ready-made products, add 30% of your own ingenuity—then take 100% of the credit,"

She has a show on the Food Network and she has recently started her own magazine...not to mention her many, many cookbooks...

Now for the review:

This cookbook has wonderful pictures to go with each recipe. The recipes seem simple (I've only tried two and will be posting those recipes soon)...

There are 8 chapters: One Pot meals, Beans and Chili, 5 ingredient dishes, Poultry, Hearty soups and Stews, Meat, Desserts, and Party food. She even has some bonus recipes...

Flipping through the recipes, I only saw one or two ingredients that I had never heard of, but that doesn't mean anything...I'm not the greatest cook and tend to stick to simple ingredients, but I will be trying these other ingredients and seeing if I should stick with simple or if I should expand my taste buds...

So my rating for this book is HIGH! I can't wait to try more of her recipes and I'm looking forward to finding book one...

Happy Slow Cooking! Hugs...

Check out more HIGH or LOWs on Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

Orange Roughy

That's right you can even make fish in your crockpot. Now I will say this is one that I keep an eye on. I want to make sure it is done before eating. It doesn't take very long to cook in the crock pot, so I make this on a day when I'm not that busy and can keep an eye on it...also, you will want to use your largest oval shaped crockpot for this recipe

Orange Roughy

4 (4 ounce each) Orange Roughy fillets
3 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
salt and pepper to taste

Spray the crock pot with cooking spray. Place fillets inside crock pot in a single layer. Combine lemon juice, garlic & dill weed. Brush over each fish fillet. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on LOW 1 hour or til cooked all the way through. You do NOT want to cook this on HIGH.

Happy Slow Cooking

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

I like to use chicken strips (fingers) in this recipe, because I like to serve it over rice, but any piece of the chicken that you like will work.

Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken

1 - 1 1/2 pounds chicken pieces (whatever you like)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cups vinegar
1/4 cup lemon-lime soda
2-3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon pepper

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Place chicken in crock pot. Mix remaining ingredients in bowl and pour over chicken. Cook on LOW 6-8 hours (HIGH 3-4 hours).

Serve over rice or pasta...

Happy Slow Cooking! Enjoy and Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Chicken Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

Cheesy Broccoli Potato Pork Chops

That title is a mouthful and so is this meal...Simple and delicious...

6-8 pork chops
6-7 medium potatoes, cut into slices about 1/4" thick
2 cans condensed broccoli cheese soup (or if you like a little more cheese taste, 1 can broccoli cheese soup and 1 can condensed cheese soup)
1 small box frozen chopped broccoli

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Spread potatoes on bottom of crockpot. Arrange pork chops over potatoes. Mix soups and pour over top of chops and potatoes. Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours (HIGH 3-4 hours).

During the last half hour to 45 minutes of cooking add the chopped broccoli (when you put the broccoli in will be determined on how you like your broccoli cooked).

I like to make cornbread stuffing to go with this meal...Stove Top stuffing...nothing difficult...grin...

Happy Slow Cooking! Enjoy and Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Pork Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

No Sloppy Joes

We love sloppy joes in our house. You can be messy and no one says a thing. To me sloppy joes are like pizza...pick 'em up, take a big bite and let what falls down your chin fall...grin...

This recipe doesn't make a mess while cooking, but it is still good...

No Sloppy Joes

1 pound hamburger
1 (8 oz) block of velveeta cheese
1/2 cup mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1 small onion (about 1/4 cup chopped)
Hamburger buns

Fry burger until brown in skillet and drain. Put burger in crockpot and add mustard and ketchup, mixing well. Cut velveeta into cubes and stir into the crock pot mix. Cook on LOW 3-4 hours (HIGH 1 1/2-2 hours). Stirring the last half hour to make sure the cheese is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon onto buns...

Happy Slow Cooking! Enjoy and Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Beef Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

How do I use dairy products in the crock pot?

Dairy products are products you don't want to mess with. As we all know, leaving dairy products out too long can make them spoil, so what about cooking them slow...as in a slow cooker?

My rule of thumb on this is that I never add dairy products to a crockpot recipe until the last 30 minutes of cooking. Why? Because they can spoil.

Most dairy products are going to be used to make the recipe creamy...but it really won't add much to the taste (there are some, such as: cheese, cream cheese, etc. that do add a flavor, but mostly dairy is added to make your recipe look creamy)...

Since, you are really just going for a creamy look, you don't need to 'cook' the dairy product, you just need to 'melt' it. Products like cheese and cream cheese will melt in 30 minutes time, so why take the chance of them spoiling and cooking them any longer than that?

Dairy, such as: milk, sour cream and other creams shouldn't be added until the last 15 minutes of cooking. Again, they are being added for the 'cream' look not really any big taste factor.

Now, products such as creamed soups can be cooked all day in a crock pot and it won't hurt anything.

Even if I come across a recipe that doesn't tell me to leave the dairy products out, I do any way.

Happy Slow Cooking! Hugs...

Crock pot Baked Potatoes

Now I know this might seem like a long way to make a baked potato, but if you don't want to heat up your kitchen with the oven, then this is a way to have baked potatoes. Also, you can only cooked a couple baked potatoes in the microwave at a time...in the crockpot, you can cook up to 8-10 at a time...

Crockpot Baked Potatoes

2 to 10 baked potatoes
aluminum foil

Wash the potatoes, poke the potatoes a couple of times with a fork and then wrap each potato with aluminum foil. Place the potatoes in the slow cooker and cook on LOW 8 to 10 hours.

This is very important: DO NOT PUT ANY LIQUID OR ANYTHING ELSE IN THE CROCKPOT WITH THE FOIL COVERED POTATOES.

Happy Slow Cooking....Enjoy and Hugs....

Chicken Stroganoff

My family loves stroganoff, but sometimes we get a little tired of having it the same old way, so instead of tossing in some beef, we use chicken...

Chicken Stroganoff

10 ounce can Cream of Mushroom Soup
16 ounce Sour Cream
1 envelope Onion Soup Mix
1 to 2 pounds of chicken strips (chicken fingers)

Put frozen chicken in the bottom of crock pot. Mix soup and soup mix in a bowl. Pour mixture over chicken. Cook on LOW for 7 hours. In the last 30 minutes to one hour put the sour cream in the crockpot and mix. Finish cooking for last 30 minutes to one hour.

Serve over pasta, rice or potatoes...

Happy Slow Cooking...Enjoy and Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Chicken Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen

Cola Ham

Now if you've been reading Brenda's Page and/or Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen for any amount of time, you know that I have a wonderfully easy recipe for Cola Roast. It makes the roast have a slight sweet taste, which my family loves...

So it was only a matter of time before I tried putting cola on my Ham...and here's the recipe I love using...

Cola Ham

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup coca cola
3 to 4 pounds pre-cooked ham

Combine brown sugar and mustard and moisten with just enough cola to make a smooth paste. Set the extra cola aside for later. You want to score ham with slashes in a diamond pattern. Rub the ham with the cola paste. Put the ham in the crock pot and add remaining cola to slow cooker.

Cover and cook on HIGH for 1 hour. Then turn to LOW and cook for 6-7 hours.

Happy Slow Cooking...Enjoy and Hugs...

Here are more Crockpot Pork Recipes from Hazel's Crock Pot Kitchen