Crock pot Cranberry Butter

I forget how I stumbled upon this recipe (it could have been Pinterest) but it is in the crock pot today! I intended for it to be Thanksgiving place setting gifts, but I am thinking it might be the one and only thing I have canned for Christmas. We shall see how it goes. This recipe is from the blog The View From Great Island.

Crockpot Cranberry Butter

Yield: makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

• 2 12-oz bags of cranberries, rinsed
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 1 cup apple cider

Instructions

1. Put all the ingredients in a crockpot and stir to combine well. Turn on high. Let it cook for about 2 hours or until the cranberries are soft.
2. Remove the cinnamon stick and puree the mixture in a food processor. Do this in two batches. Be careful as the mixture is hot, I cover the top opening of the machine with a dish cloth. Let the machine run for a full minute to puree the cranberries very finely.
3. Force the cranberry puree through a mesh sieve or strainer. Push forcefully with the back of a spoon to get as much cranberry puree as you can. Discard the solids.
4. Pour the puree back into the crockpot. Turn the crockpot to high, and leave the lid ajar. Cook until thickened, approximately another 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
5. Put the cranberry butter into clean jars with tight fitting lids and let cool. Store in the refrigerator and consume within a month.

Note:  Be sure to remove the cinnamon stick before pureeing the cooked cranberries...I learned the hard way!

Crockpot Chili

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 package Italian sausage, removed from casing and crumbled
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup
2 large cans whole tomatoes, un-drained
2 cans any color kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup chili powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
several grinds of pepper
a pinch or two of salt
2 bay leaves
1 cup of red wine
and for serving, sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese

Process
1. Cook the meat in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat.























2. Pour off any fat.
3. Stir all ingredients (minus sour cream or cheese) into slow cooker.

4. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.***Or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours
(or a little bit of both in my house. Since the meat is precooked keeping on low the whole time is fine!

Stay at home Ham and Bean Soup

This is what we had the ingredients for and SP just started the timer on the crock pot. Will post pics soon. We had all the ingredients in house, and used canned beans, so we skipped step one since the beans are already cooked. Today we are taking the Christmas tree down and I look forward to smelling this cook all afternoon. . From Old Fashioned Living, a Hearty Ham bone soup:

Bean Soup with Ham
Ingredients:
1 ham bone with some meat left on
2 cups Navy, Northern beans or mixed beans
8 cups water
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf1 large onion, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Wash beans the beans and add to a medium to large pan on the stove. Cover with water, boil, and turn off the heat. Let these sit about a 1/2 hour.
Drain the beans, and place all the ingredients in the crock pot. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or so, then switch to low and continue to cook. You want the beans to be done, but not mushy. Add more water if needed to make it a soup consistency as it cooks.
Cut the meat off the bone and put in with the beans and remove the bay leaf before serving.

Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese

Quick, easy, and a crowd pleaser. This is a highly simple and thusly in my opinion bland mac and cheese recipe. I hopefully have another more exciting version of this dish coming soon! Double this recipe for a large crock pot.

Ingredients
8 ounces cooked macaroni
1 stick butter melted
2 eggs, beaten
1.5 cups milk
3 cups grated cheese (or more)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons oil

Process
1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together.
2. Pour oil in crock pot.
3. Pour mixture into crock pot.
4. Cook on low for three to four hours.

Pulled Pork with Rootbeer Sauce Sandwiches - a la Crockpot!

Puckstopper requested this recipe for his birthday tonight - a picnic at the drive-in!
This recipe originated with Better Homes and Gardens. Click here for the original recipe.

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 8 to 10 hours (low) or 4 to 5 hours (high)
Ingredients
for the crockpot:

• 1 3-4 pound loin cut pork roast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 3 medium onions, cut into thin wedges
• 1 can root beer*
• 8 cloves garlic, minced

For the sauce

• 3 cans root beer *
• 1 bottle chili sauce
• a dozen or more hamburger buns, split
  
• Lettuce leaves (optional)
• Tomato slices (optional)

Directions

1. Trim fat from meat. If necessary, cut roast to fit into a 3-1/2- to 5-quart crockery cooker. Sprinkle meat with the salt and pepper.
   
2. In a large skillet brown meat on all sides in hot oil. Drain off fat.
3. Transfer meat to cooker. Add onions, the 1 cup root beer, and garlic.
4. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 to 5 hours.
5. When it nears the last hour of the cooking cycle MAKE THE SAUCE (and consider doubling it). In a medium saucepan combine the 3 cups of root beer and the chili sauce. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 2 cups. Add hot pepper sauce, if desired.
6. Transfer roast to a cutting board or serving platter. Using a slotted spoon, remove onions from cooking juices and place on serving platter. Discard juices. Using 2 forks, pull meat apart into shreds. To serve, line buns with lettuce leaves and tomato slices, if desired. Add meat and onions; spoon on sauce. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

*Note: Do not substitute with diet root beer.The sauce is so good you might want to double it.

Slow Cooker Sandwiches

It's time to bump this post for all the busy baseball and lacrosse parents. This link is from another blog I follow, I JUST got off the phone with SP asking what we should do for dinner. I just returned from vacation, am busy unpacking the car and getting laundry done, have appointments this afternoon, followed by the first baseball game of the season for Puckstopper. There is no time to get much done, since my afternoon project, if time allows, is to plant some seeds with Daughter. Anyway, this lovely link below will bring you to 14 different recipes for slow cooker sandwiches!
Click this link below to get the the Better Homes and Gardens website about the sandwiches.
Simple Slow Cooker Sandwiches

But here you will find the 12 different sandwiches and links to their recipes:
Sloppy Chicken Joes
Apricot Pulled Pork Hoagies
Caramelized Onion, Walnut and Cilantro Chicken Salad (can you say YUM!?)
Southwestern Shredded Beef Sandwiches
Pulled Pork with Root beer Sauce (Puckstopper will love this)
Tangy Barbecue Beef
Pork and Slaw Barbecue Rolls
Easy Chicken Rarebit (oh my I am craving cheese again)
Cuban Pork
Slow Simmering Barbecue Sandwiches
Five Spice Pork Au Jus
German Style Pork Sandwiches

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers

I have never before found a Martha recipe so simple to make. I just put it together and it is cooking, and I bet it will be yummy. It threw me off to put raw couscous into the peppers, but the way the recipe reads, I am trusting that it will soften up fine!

Martha's Greek Stuffed Peppers http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/greek-stuffed-peppers

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 4 large bell peppers
• 1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup crumbled feta (4 ounces)
• 1/2 cup couscous
• 4 scallions, white and green parts separated, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

1. Slice a very thin layer from the base of each bell pepper so they sit flat. Slice off tops just below stem. Discard stems; chop tops, and place in a medium bowl. Remove ribs and seeds from peppers.
2. To bowl, add beans, feta, couscous, scallion whites, garlic, and oregano. Season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Stuff peppers with bean mixture; place upright in slow cooker. Cover; cook on high, 4 hours.
3. Sprinkle peppers with scallion greens; serve with lemon wedges.

Hint

To make in the oven: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In step 2, use a 5-quart Dutch oven or oven proof pot with a tight-fitting lid; add 1 cup water. Cover; bake until peppers are tender, about 1 hour. Proceed with step 3.

Crockpot Beef Stew

Ingredients
* stewing beef (approx 1 lb)
* 3 onions, halved
* 5 peeled potatoes
* 6 carrots peeled and cut up
* 1 can Golden Cream of Mushroom Soup
* 1/2 envelope dry Onion Soup Mix

Process

1. Throw all ingredients together in Crockpot first thing in the morning.
   
2. Cook on low.
   
3. Serve at dinnertime with rolls and a salad.

Crockpot Pulled Pork

Crockpot Pulled Pork
INGREDIENTS:

* 4 lb pork roast
* 2 onions, sliced, divided
* 1 onion, chopped
* 5 or 6 whole cloves
* 2 cups water
* 16 oz bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
* salt and pepper

Process

1. Place one sliced onion at the bottom of Crock Pot.
2. Stud pork roast with cloves and season with salt and pepper.
3. Place roast in slow cooker on top of the sliced onion.
   
4. Cover with the second sliced onion.
5. Add enough water to fill Crock Pot two thirds of the way.
6. Cover and cook on low 8 to 12 hours.
7. Remove roast.

Spiced Beef Brisket

Spiced Beef Brisket
Ingredients
3 1/2 to 4 pound fresh beef brisket
2 cups of water
1/4 cup ketsup
1 envelope regular onion soup mix
2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic (I use fresh garlic myself)
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Process
1. Place beef in a 3 1/2 to 4 quart crockery cooker. If necessary, cut brisket to fit into the cooker.
2. In a mixing bowl combine the 2 cups water, catsup, soup mix, Worcestershire sauce, cinnamon, garlic, and pepper. Pour over brisket.
3. Cover; cook on a low-heat setting for 8 - 10 hours.
4. Slice beef thinly across the grain OR shred it with two forks. Serve a French roll with your favorite BBQ Sauce. YUM!