'tis the season for crock pots

I'm going to be trying this out for Saturday...take a pork roast, cover it w/ chicken broth & lipton's french onion soup mix and put it on low overnight.  Next morning (or if you do this in the AM, that night) just tear it up w/ some knives...voila, pulled pork sandwiches! (have bbq sauce on the side for those who want it)

I'm looking for good crock pot recipes too...my crock pot is woefully under utilized.

heh heh.  She said "pulled pork".  heh heh.

Did a pulled pork last night.  but just with the pork roast and bbq sauce...would love to hear how yours turns out!  I will post recipes tonight.  Have a great chicken spinach lasagna crock pot recipe.  Need to get that one out! 

yeah.......heh heh.........pulled pork........yeah............. 

ugh, ick and bleh............not so great anymore......... 

I am not in Wisconsin but hope it is okay that I chime in since I have pulled out the crockpot here in NJ today.  An easy recipe is to roll some aluminum foil to put on the bottom of the crockpot.  Take a whole roaster chicken sprinkled with Lawry's Season Salt and put it breast side down into the crockpot.  Cover and cook on high for 6-8hours.  It comes out moist and delicious.  Putting the foil in the bottom keeps the breast from sitting in the fat/drippings but basically bastes itself as the drippings run down to the bottom of the crockpot.  

Chicken soup in the crockpot is easy too.  I have a few different ways to do that and can share if you are interested.

Another recipe I have done is made pulled chicken. I take boneless chicken breast and put them in the crockpot.  Pour an entire bottle of your favorite bbq sauce on top.  Add about 1 cup of water and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Shred the chicken and add back to the crockpot to cook for another hour or so. 

Another recipe I have done is made pulled chicken. I take boneless chicken breast and put them in the crockpot.  Pour an entire bottle of your favorite bbq sauce on top.  Add about 1 cup of water and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Shred the chicken and add back to the crockpot to cook for another hour or so. 

I did this last night also.

I love my crock...I use mine all year long.

Take whole roasting chicken(clean out insides)with can of cream of chicken soup and chicken broth. Let cook 6-8 hours. pull apart discarding bones and skin. serve over rice.

With all these breasts, and things being pulled, I'll throw in that my wife does a mean beef stroganhoff - yes, the meal - in a crockpot.  The noodles are not added in the crockpot but obviously cooked later.

Chicken Soup in the crockpot recipe:  adjust quantity based on crockpot size or how many you are serving.  The recipe below makes enough for a family of 5 with leftovers

1. 1-2 can chicken broth
2. 8-16 oz water
3. 4-5 cloves garlic
4. 1 bag stew/soup starter (or 2 large washed carrots, 2-3 stalks washed celery, 1 turnip,sprig of parsley, 1 parsnip, 1 medium onion)  can either put these items in whole or cut them to bite size pieces beforehand
5. 2 roma tomatoes -cut in half
6. 1lb boneless  breasts either whole or cut into bitesize piecese  (can use chicken breast with skin/bone or whole roaster but will need to skim off fat as it cooks so not a good option if you are not going to be around to check on it every couple of hours)

Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Place all ingredients into the crockpot.  Fill with chicken broth and water making sure the ingredients are mostly or completely covered with liquid.

Cover and cook on high for 6-8hours.  If using whole vegetables and whole roaster,  remove the veggies and chicken.  Discard skin and bones.  You will probably have more chicken than you need for the soup so keep it for another meal.  Add about half of the meat back to the crockpot.  Cut up whatever veggies from the stew starter that you like to eat and add back to the crockpot. My kids only like the carrots and celery so that is what gets added back.  Crush the garlic and add back to the broth.  Add more salt and pepper to the soup to taste.  Turn crockpot to low or warm.  In a saucepan on the stove,  boil water and make egg noodles or other pasta. 

When pasta is done,  place some in bowl and top with soup.  Serve and enjoy!  Soup freezes really well,  I just don't recommend adding the noodles to the soup before storing because they will get soggy/mushy when you reheat them.  To reheat,  the noodles, I run them under hot water in a colander while the soup reheats.

I have used the extra chicken when I use a whole chicken to make chicken and rice for dinner a second night.  It tastes really good as chicken salad too.  As you can see,  there are lots of variations and if you like other veggies in your soup,  definitely add them too.  The veggies sometimes get very well cooked and don't hold up to being cut.  When that happens, I smush them with a fork and add them to the soup.  It clouds the soup but I get more veggies into my kids without them realizing it.

You can also take some of the broth and in a separate sauce pan use it to make dumplings from Bisquick rather than pasta.  I don't have the recipe handy for that but I am sure you can find it on a box of bisquick or on their website.  You can also substitute cooked rice for the pasta.  LOTS of options. Mmm, now I want chicken soup.

thanks.  I usually make my dumplings the old fashion way...flour, eggs and milk with a little salt and parsley.

Honestly, I have tried to make them the old-fashioned way but they come out more like ten-ton weights rather than light and fluffy dumplings which is why I use the bisquick.