Ingredients
3 Onions (Cut Into Rings)
5 lb. Beef Brisket
1-12 oz. Bottle Chili Sauce (Sweet Asian Chili Sauce Would Be Yummy!)
1 Pkg. Onion Soup Mix
1/2 Bottle Merlot
Method
1. Spread half of onions in bottom of crock pot and place brisket on top
2. Mix sauce, soup and wine, then pour over meat and top with onions.
3. Cook all day on low or 1/2 day on high
Notes: This is good with broccoli cole slaw in a tortilla!
Ingredients
Ground Beef, Pork Shoulder Roast or Chicken Breasts
1-2 Cans Pinto Beans and Liquid
1-2 Cans Diced Green Chilies
Salt, Pepper, Garlic, Onion and Cumin
Method
1. Combine all in a crock pot and cook on low all day or high 4-5 hours.
2. Serve over nachos, in bowl like chile, dress like tacos or burritos, etc.
Notes: This recipe comes from Laura who was adopting from Ethiopia at the same time as us. We were all trying to find new recipes that would make a bunch of food for freezing so we’d have meals ready to go when we came home from Ethiopia with our kids. Laura said she catered her own wedding using this recipe and that everyone loved it, so I had to give it a try. It’s amazing!! Don’t let the simplicity fool you–this makes the meat taste exactly like it does in your favorite Mexican restaurant. We usually make it with Pork, then turn it into burritos, enchiladas, tortilla soup, etc.
Ingredients
2 C. Chicken or Pork
1 C. Onion (Diced)
1/3 C. White Wine
2/3 C. Chicken Broth
2 1/2 T. Garlic (Chopped)
2 t. Pepper
2 t. Oregano
2 1/2 t. Salt
2 1/2 Limes (Juiced)
1 Can Pinto Beans
1 C. Cheddar Cheese (Shredded)
Method
1. Combine all ingredients except cheddar cheese in crock pot and cook all day.
2. Roll meat mixture in softened tortillas (the par baked ones work especially well here, as do homemade ones made from a mix).
3. Pour sauce from crock pot over top of rolled enchiladas, cover with cheese and bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.
Notes: These can be made very easily using the Laura’s Crock Pot Chalupas (recipe on this blog) recipe as the filling, then just covering with cheese and baking. I do that if I have leftover (frozen) chalupa meat. Great with Green Chile (recipe on this blog).
Ingredients
5-6 lb. Turkey Breast
2 T. Butter
1 T. Soy Sauce
1 T. Parsley
1/4 C. Garden Veggie Whipped Cream Cheese
1/2 t. Basil
1/2 t. Sage
1/4 t. Pepper
1/4 t. Garlic Powder
Method
1. Place turkey in crock pot. Combine remaining ingredients and brush over turkey. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.
Nothing could be easier than this turkey! The first time I made it was for a weekday dinner. We couldn’t believe how good it was! Bryan asked if I could make it for Thanksgiving next time. The bird stays incredibly juicy and has so much flavor. AND, you don’t need to do anything to it while it cooks. It doesn’t take up any space in your oven either! Great if you have a small kitchen or are making most of the holiday meal and only have one oven. Also, if your family and friends aren’t big fans of dark meat, you save lots of money by just buying the breast. It’s the only way I can justify the uber expensive free range organic turkeys at the holidays!
Ingredients
1 T. Olive Oil
2 T. Butter
2 lbs. Ground Chicken (white meat, I used ground skinless breasts, omit if making vegetarian)
1 Large Carrot (um, I used 3…)
1 Large Onion (Chopped; Bagged Works Well)
3 Ribs Celery (I used like 5…)
5 Cloves Garlic (Chopped)
1 T. Smoked Paprika
1 Bay Leaf
One Can Kidney Beans (use 3 cans if you’re making vegetarian; this wasn’t in the original recipe, but I like the added fiber and lower calories and cost)
3 Zucchinis (Chopped) (these weren’t in the original recipe, but I had a bunch that were about to go bad…)
Salt and Pepper
2 C. Chicken Stock (I used half chicken, half vegetable stock because I had some of each leftover; use vegetable stock if you’re making vegetarian)
1/4-1/2 C. Hot Sauce (I used lots of “dashes” of a hot sauce, maybe around 1/4 C. in total, and a small container of wing sauce)
1-15 oz. Can Tomato Sauce
1-15 oz. Can Crushed Tomatoes (I like the ones with the basil and garlic, but you could also use the ones that have jalapeno here if you like it hot)
Method
1. I literally just threw all this in the crock pot and went Christmas shopping…the original recipe says to brown the chicken in the olive oil and butter, yada yada, soften onions in butter, yada yada, all of which I considered to be a valuable waste of time. It turned out fine and I wouldn’t waste the time doing it step by step, unless you don’t have a crock pot (in which case you will brown the chicken, saute the veggies, add the rest of the stuff and simmer till it seems cooked…but seriously, buy a crock pot!)
2. Top with fresh parsley.
3. I also put some of those Terra Chips (Sweet Potato and Beet version) in a broiling pan and topped them with gorgonzola (me) and “a really good cheddar” (for the very unadventurous when it comes to cheese, Bryan), then put them in the broiler till the cheese was melted and crushed that over top. Um, yea. It was that good. I also reheated some leftover Appetizer Cheese Toasts I got the recipe for over on Bek’s cooking blog, which I had cut into croutons, and put those on top.
I like to make chilli because it’s really easy and you can use whatever you have lying around, but I’m sorta over regular chilli, so I’m always trying to come up with new ones. I hijacked this one from Rachael Ray’s new talk show and put my own spin on it (crock pot, more veggies and beans). She had the topping as corn chips with blue cheese, but I thought the sweet potato and beet chips were tastier and better for you. Bryan probably told me 35 times during dinner how good this was! I liked that I could use the crock pot and that it didn’t have red meat in it. You could easily make this vegetarian by omitting the chicken and adding more beans, and replacing the chicken stock with veggie stock.
