How to Have Fun With Crock Pot Recipes

Fun with crock pot recipes? Follow my logic. Dicing up some ingredients and throwing them into the slow cooker in the morning means that in the evening:

• You can have a healthy meal at the end of a stressful day, rather than grabbing fast food on your drive home and adding THAT to your guilt tally. And your waistline.
• Various family members running from one activity to the next can dip out a ladle of goodness whenever they have a moment, leaving said love one properly and healthfully caloried-up for nighttime activities.
• You can do what you want to do when you get home from work -- kick off your shoes, laze on the couch and enjoy a glass of wine before dinner -- rather than hustling into the kitchen to cook.
• Hosts can actually spend their dinner parties enjoying their guests rather than trying to flambé  something while opening the door, managing coats and handing out cocktails.

See. My slow cooker allows me to get all of the goodness out of home cooking with none of the stress of cooking at the end of full day. I'm a year-round slow cooker advocate, but these are some stick-to-your-rib recipes I like to pull out for the winter months. 

Favorite weeknight crock pot recipes

Spicy Chicken Stew From All You

Spicy Chicken Stew – I double up this recipe whenever I make it. It’s so good and it only gets better as it sits. This is also my go-to when I want to share the love: Give it to a friend who wants to take a night off from making dinner and I promise they'll be asking for the recipe.

Slow Cooker Meat Loaf with Shitake Mushrooms – This is a Cooking Light recipe that is so moist and delicious that I don’t need to be dieting to enjoy it. Cooking it in the crock pot is pure genius, eliminating all the issues about dryness that you can get with oven-cooked meat loaves.

Favorite crock pot recipes for entertaining

Cola Shredded Tacos from Sunset

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork – This simple recipe from Good Housekeeping is crazy delicious. Grab some buns, a bag of chips and some pickles, and you’ve got a party for a crowd.

Cola Shredded Beef Tacos – We call these Dr. Pepper tacos at my house. The recipe calls for Mexican Coke, which I can never find, so instead I buy Dr. Pepper for the syrupy sweetness the recipe is looking for. I make these with frijoles and salsa verde, and they truly wow my guests. 

 

FAVORITE HEALTHY CROCK POT RECIPES

Slow Cooker Chicken Verde - So, yes, sometimes I’ll make the salsa verde from scratch like this recipe recommends. And sometimes I’ll buy chunky chili verde from the produce or deli aisle, puree half of it, and that’s quite alright, too.

Slow Cooker Cabbage Soup -- We're meat eaters in this house (as you may be able to tell) but I imagine you can make this with vegan sausage and it would be just as delicious. You just need something to add the spice and richness that the sausage lends.

Favorite recipes for Sunday dinner

Classic Beef Stew from Real Simple

Slow Cooker Tuscan Pot Roast -- This is a long time favorite; while it technically is a pot roast, the meat falls apart and becomes this awesome gravy that I love to ladle in shallow bowls over grilled slices of French bread. Instead of using a cup of wine, I use a half-cup of wine and a half-cup of beef broth to increase the richness.

Classic Beef Stew -- I found this in the same issue of Real Simple as the recipe above. I find both recipes to be simple, dependable recipes that provide a tasty, one-pot winter meal.

 

Have a favorite Crock Pot Recipe? Baby, It's getting cold outside and we're all going to need some good recipes to get us through the winter. please share a link to your favorite recipe in the comments below.

One Hour to a Happy Hour at Home

This time of year – post-freezing, pre-mosquitoes – is my favorite time to invite a few friends over because it requires very little work. And the work, the planning and execution of a gathering when we’re swamped with so many other things, is why we take don’t take more time to hang out with the people we enjoy.

But putting together a Friday happy hour when it's nice outside only takes one hour. I promise. With one hour of work, you can host a happy hour that will provide you many happy hours of reminiscing with your friends.

Ready? Go.

0:00-0:10 – Send an email.

• Keep your invite list short. No more than 15 people or four families, if everyone will be bringing kids.
• The email should be as casual as the event: “Happy hour at my house from 5-7 on Friday. Bring a snack to share. I’ll provide the booze.” (Feel free to cut and paste)
• Keep the event to two hours so friends don’t assume you’re feeding them dinner.
• Provide an end time so the happy hour doesn’t turn into someone sleeping it off on your couch.

0:10-0:30 – Make an alcohol run.

In Between Tip: If you decide you’d like to provide a cocktail, make sure it is one you can make ahead of time and serve in a pitcher. White Peach Sangria and Berry Vodka Punch are a couple of my summer favorites.

• Grocery store list:
  • A six-pack of a craft beer
  • A 12-pack of something Sam Adams-like
  • A big bottle of red. (At 6 p.m. on a Friday, people are more concerned about quantity than quality.)
  • A big bottle of white
  • Plastic cups (The short clear ones allow people to moderate their drinking a bit better than the red Dixie cups.)
  • Water bottles (for kids or designated drivers)
  • Bag of ice
  • Flowers

0:30-0:50 – Clear a path.

• The key to making a happy hour simple is to shove everyone outside. Nicely. So hide the clutter on the walks between your front door, your back door, and your bathroom, and make sure your guests know that the party is outside.
• Ask your guests to come through the side gate, if you have one. Then you’ll only have to clear a path to the bathroom.
• The other option – and this is ALWAYS an option when you entertain – is don't clean and know that your guests are happy to be invited into the welcoming hug of fun friendship.

0:50-1:00 – Prep your outdoors.

My lovely friend Paige's happy hour table

• Set out platters and bowls for the chips and cookies friends will bring. Asking them to bring a snack takes a load off you, and they’ll be happy to offer something to the party.
• Ice down the beer, white wine and water in an ice chest.
• Put out napkins, plastic cups and flowers.
• Graciously accept the "oohs" and "aahs" from all your appreciative friends who are certain it must have taken you hours to put it all together.

Do you have a party shortcut? An easy appetizer, a go-to Pandora party playlist, or a simple way to make the food table look extraordinary? Please share it with the rest of us In-Betweeners on my Facebook page.

Cold Beer After a Hot Day

Sometimes this is the sum total of what I need to enjoy my life. A pretty summer day. Hard work. A feeling of accomplishment. And a cold beer. 

Today, for the first time in 15 years as a homeowner who aspired to garden, I got every plant I bought at the garden store into the ground or a pot. I didn't let them wilt in their sad, plastic containers as I walked past them, day after day, declaring that tomorrow I would get them in the ground. I didn't curse myself for the money spent then wasted. I plodded through four hours in a pretty decent heat and got everything where it needed to go. A beer, a Bud, seemed like the appropriate toast to this sweetly Americana achievement.  

Now let's see if I water.