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Crock Pot Minestrone

Y’all today we have a guest post by my awesome friend, Becca from Frugal Wannabe. I met Becca at a workshop and she’s been a blessing to me ever since. Crock on!

I admit, I’m one of those weird people who can and will eat and/or make soup any time of year, even in summer. So, yes, I am bringing you a soup recipe when it’s warmish weather! I also love using my Crockpot, because I have 4 kids to care for during the day, which means almost no free time, and standing over the stove leaves plenty of opportunity to forget and burn food. I am known for burning grilled cheese sammiches. Oh well, on to the recipe!

To make this yummy soup, you need lots of fresh, yummy ingredients. You could use frozen if you want, but why, when you can use fresh?! Look at all this goodness.

See that onion? Don’t mind that. I forgot that I was using leeks and stuck it in the picture. Oh well, it still looks good, right? [Read more…]

Crock Pot Cranberry Apple Stuffed Pork Loin

Today I’m drooling over this recipe….meat is my friend right now. My new buddy Kate from Feathering The Crow’s Nest is posting for y’all today….and you’re going to drool too. Thanks Kate!

I’m a recent convert to the crockpot.  Not that I didn’t use a crockpot before, but now that I’m home with my girls, it’s become a staple in our house.  I’ll be honest, it’s just easier to fix something quickly and then spend the rest of the day chasing my girls down…and yes, they do move that quickly.

Once I became a fan of Stacy, my love of the crockpot deepened even more.  I used to think crockpots were only useful for soups and meats covered in some type of sauce.  Now I make our yogurt, breakfast casseroles, oatmeal, and even “fancier” dinner items consistently.

Today I wanted to share one of the “fancier” items I regularly cook, Cranberry Apple Stuffed Pork Loin.  It’s a recipe that I like for company.  A delicious meal that is easy to throw together, but will impress whomever is coming to dinner.   It started as an oven roasted recipe, but I found myself crouched over the hot oven basting the pork…forever.  A great taste, but inefficient and all of us mommies know that an efficient use of your time is key to a happy mom. [Read more…]

Real Food, Real Easy

Guys, I know that switching to real foods can be overwhelming. How do I know? Because I’m still on that journey myself. Just last March I felt like I was drowning in all the information that was coming my way. What on earth was I going to cook for my family if I couldn’t use my convenience foods? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

But, the fabulous ladies from the Modern Alternative Mama writing team have put together a cookbook just for you – Real Food Real Easy. I contributed several recipes to the book.  I know it’s going to be a GREAT resource for you!

If cooking traditional foods seems overwhelming to you, then this is the cookbook for you. If you’ve been cooking traditional foods for a while and need some new recipes, this is the book for you too! [Read more…]

Crock Pot Easy, Creamy Lemon Pepper Chicken

Easy, creamy–and most definitely a comfort food, this simple and delicious meal is sure to please both guests and family alike. Without further ado, here’s today’s recipe for Easy, Creamy Lemon Pepper Chicken. I hope your family enjoys it as much as ours does! Serve this chicken over rice with a side of green beans or asparagus.

This recipe originally came from my friend Erin, over at the Humbled Homemaker.  And y’all always remember -t here’s  no reason to be scared when a recipe calls for cream of chicken soup, it is so easy to make from scratch. Good lemon pepper seasoning isn’t hard to find either. Trader Joes and several stores online (like Amazon) carry organic, MSG-free brands.

Using a homemade cream of chicken soup & lemon pepper seasoning, this Easy, Creamy Crockpot Lemon Pepper Chicken is sure to a be a winner in your family.on.

Creamy Lemon Pepper Chicken

  1. Place chicken breasts on the bottom of your slow cooker. I don’t even grease mine, but you might if you are afraid of things sticking. Sprinkle chicken with lemon pepper.
  2. Mix soup, milk and 2 Tbsp. lemon pepper.
  3. Add mushrooms to soup mix.
  4. Pour soup mixture over chicken in the crock pot. Add chicken broth.
  5. Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours.

These are a Few of My Favorite……Kitchen Tools

If you haven’t caught on yet, I really like being in my kitchen. I spend a great majority of my time in there – experimenting, baking, burning, spilling, etc. I have several kitchen tools that I really love….and I have a really long list of kitchen tools that I would like to love – as I have extra money here and there, I buy something and remove it from the list. And yet, my list doesn’t seem to get any shorter. Hmmmm. Last year I gave you my five of my favorite kitchen tools – so this year I’m going to do it again. [Read more…]

8 Ways to Use Up Leftover Produce

Do you ever have leftover fruits and veggies that you just don’t know what to do with? When I first got married, I was TERRIBLE about letting leftover produce go bad. Ahem, let me be transparent. I can be bad about letting leftover produce—or even excess produce from our lovely summer garden go bad. And I always feel so guilty. Sure, there may have not been enough leftover green beans or carrots for a side dish for an entire meal, but there must have been something I could have done with that food I let go to waste. Right?

And I’ve discovered there is! Whether it be a spoonful of leftover peas or 5 lbs. or extra carrots from your garden (I wish we had that problem!), there are lots of ways to use up all those veggies without letting them get all moldy in the bottom of the produce drawer of your refrigerator! [Read more…]

Crock Pot Stuffing

I think around here, people call this “stuffing.” That’s what I’ve called it my whole life….of course, I’ve always called it “pop” instead of “soda” too and I’ve been told that’s a Yankee thing. You can be certain that NO ONE will ever mistake me for a Yankee. *All the Yankees out there are nodding their heads* In other places, this might be referred to as “dressing.” But that seems odd to me, because dressing is what you put on your salad. I most certainly do not want a big side of salad dressing with my Thanksgiving turkey. Give me a big ole plate of this and I’m tickled pink. Actually, stuffing is my favorite Thanksgiving dish. I created this recipe to be cooked in the crock pot so that it would save some oven space on the big day. It’s not your traditional stuffing – meaning, if you were wanting Stove Top, this would not fit the bill. This is more of an old fashioned stuffing – nice and moist and all stuck together – not individual pieces of cubed bread. And man oh man, is it AWESOME! (PS – Sorry for the weird colored photo. I hate using my flash, so you might see a lot of yellow photos this winter.) [Read more…]

Butternut Apple Bake

Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming soon! And that means that if you’re a more health-conscious eater, the very idea of all the eating outside of your home at relatives, parties, restaurants, etc. might make you want to go into hysterics.

But let me put your mind at ease… go to the parties and eat the food.

Seems like we all tend to get bent out of shape worrying about white sugar around the holidays. Am I telling you to forget about all your healthy eating and just throw caution to the wind? No. I’m telling you to behave and eat well at home and then be thankful for what someone else is serving you. Take care of your family with good, healthy food 80% of the time, and don’t stress about the other 20%. Go ahead and enjoy the holidays!

Also remember that it’s pretty easy to convert your old favorites.

You can use your own cream of chicken soup instead of buying the cans; you can use sucanat instead of brown sugar; you can use coconut oil instead of Crisco. Just convert your favorites to fit your new lifestyle. Sure, there might be some duds – just feed them to the birds and move on!

[Read more…]

Crock Pot Spicy Hamburger Goulash

I made this Spicy Hamburger Goulash one night for my parents because they were watching Annie while I had a workshop close to their house…..they said it was too spicy. Annie wouldn’t eat it. She said it was “hot.” Barry and I thought it was just right…..and I didn’t even need a hanky. If you don’t want it spicy, you can just cut back on the amount of chili powder. This is a very versatile recipe because you can vary the spices and beans as you like. You could even add corn if you want to. My parents are pansies when it comes to hot food – but I love them anyway. [Read more…]

Crock Pot Cleaning

We have a very special guest post today from Crock Pot Recipe Exchange! Ginger is here today to let us know how to easily clean our crock pots without causing any damage to them…..because that would cause anyone major trauma.

The ease of using the crock pot to cook your meals in is undebatable. Sometimes the cleaning  of the crock pot is not so simply answered.The first thing you want to insure you do to make cleaning your crockery easier is to empty any remaining food out as soon as possible. The sooner you get the food out the sooner you can fill the crockery up with dish soap and water.

The only thing I warn against is to make sure your crockery has cooled completely. Drastic changes in temperature of the water to the crockery can cause it to break, and no one wants that to happen.

If you do find that you have stuck on food inside your crockery don’t use anything abrasive including cleaners and scouring pads. If you use these abrasive methods for cleaning your crockery it’s going to scratch it. Which in return is going to A) allow bacteria to grow and B) make weak points which will cause the crockery to crack and eventually break.What you can do if you find some stubborn stuck on food inside our crockery is fill it ⅔’s  full of water and  ¾’s  of a cup of distilled white vinegar. Just make sure you cover the stubborn stuck on food completely.  Then put the lid on and turn it to high. Let the water and vinegar  “cook off” the stuck on foods for at least a couple of hours. If the food was REALLY stuck on you may have to wipe out what has been released and do this a couple of times.

You also don’t want to forget to wipe out the inside of your base each time you use your crock pot. Keeping it clean will insure continued even cooking. Utilizing these simple cleaning methods each time you use your crock pot will guarantee ease of use from beginning to end and will give you and your crock pot many years of happy cooking.

About Ginger
Ginger started the Crock Pot Recipe Exchange blog for her close group of friends and family to be able to share their favorite crock pot recipes. She never imagined that there were some many people that would share in this same love of crock pot cooking. You can now find hundreds of crock pot recipes that have been shared by many crock pot lovers.