Fiesta Chicken Casserole in the Slow Cooker

Happy January 15th! Research shows that most people have given up on their New Year's Resolution by now. I can see that, since I'm eating spoonfuls of frozen cookie dough while I type, right now... (the calories disappear when frozen, right?)

What about you? Did you have a resolution to cook more at home this year? Meal plan? Make the switch from white to brown rice?

or just cut back a bit on the cookie dough?

This dinner will help with all of those things. It's a spoof on the brown rice and chicken casserole and salsa chicken --- two of my absolute favorite dinners. We ate it for 3 days straight --- this is a lot of food!

The Ingredients.

serves 6, easily

1 1/2 cups raw brown rice, rinsed
1/2 cup broth or water (I used  beef broth, because I already had an open carton in the fridge)
1 cup prepared salsa
1 (15.25-ounce) can corn (with juice!!)
1 (16-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 to 4 chicken breast halves (frozen ok)
8 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. You might want to spray the inside of your stoneware, first. No need if you're using the Ninja. Place the rinsed rice into  the bottom of your pot (the rinsing isn't necessarily to wash the rice, but to get it wet so there's added moisture).
Stir in the water or broth, salsa, the entire can of corn, and the drained black beans.
Place the chicken breast halves on top, and layer on sliced cheese.

 
Cover, and cook on low for about 7 hours, or on high for 4 hours. If the rice is still hard after this time, cook longer (check every 30 minutes or so).

 I cooked ours for 1 hour on high, then 6.5 hours on low. Your meal is done when the rice is cooked, and the chicken is no longer pink. If you are out of the house all day, set it to cook on low for 7 hours, and then let the pot stay on the "warm" setting until you return home.

 

The Verdict.

I was worried about this dish. I was concerned that I had too many different components in the pot and that the rice would either turn to mush, or never cook. That didn't happen ---- instead the rice cooked beautifully in the broth, salsa, and corn liquid and had a fantastic flavor without needing any additional seasoning. I used a mild salsa, and it was perfect for our family.
The cheese was thick and coated the chicken beautifully. My kids liked scooping the rice and cheese up with tortilla chips.

Wonderful!!

I wanted to share with you that my friend Crystal has just released her first EBook, and it's on meal planning. If you have never meal planned, or are looking for meal plan inspiration, this is the resource for you. It's only $0.99 right now, and you should snatch it up, because I'm going to advise Crystal to raise her price. :-)

Happy Tuesday to you!

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Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili Shepherd's Pie

 

I got an email yesterday from Donna who asked if I had a recipe that used leftover chili and it dawned on me that I hadn't ever posted the vegetarian chili shepherd's pie I included in the second book.

This recipe first has you make some chili, but if you made 3 crockpots-worth of chili for Father's Day weekend, definitely feel free to use that as the filling!

The Ingredients.

serves 6

 

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

don't want to use canned beans? Here's how to cook dried beans.

 

1 (16-ounce) package frozen corn

1 small onion, diced

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups mashed potatoes (leftover, fresh, from a box-- your choice!)

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Drain and rinse the beans, and add to the crockpot. Add corn and diced onion. Pour in the tomato sauce, and add cumin, salt, pepper. Stir well to combine. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top.

Squish the 2 cups of mashed potatoes down on your chili with the back of a wooden spoon. Now dust with the smoked paprika.

Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours, or on high for 3-4. Uncover the slow cooker near serving time and let cook uncovered on high for 20-30 minutes to cook away any collected condensation. The potatoes will brown on top a tiny bit and begin to pull from the sides.

The Verdict.

This is a fantastic was to either use up already-made chili, or clean out your pantry! The touch of smoked paprika at the end is my favorite part, it gives a bit of something special to the mashed potatoes. If you'd like a traditional shepherd's pie (well, sort of traditional. you'd need to use ground lamb to make it really truly traditional), here's a recipe for you.

I'm getting an awful lot of questions about the sponsored posts. No, I will not do only sponsored posts from now on. The timing with the Coca-Cola event and the Philadelphia cream cheese posts was/is unfortunate--and I can see how it would look that way. I spend a lot of time on the internet, and need to compensate myself for the time spent. 

I also need to sell books, or the publishers will not continue to allow me to write for them. It's just how it all works. I'm immensely fortunate I have the opportunity to work from home while being full-time with my children. But I can't ignore the bills or the mortgage, and it isn't fair to me to work for free.

I've put the recap post for Coca-Cola over on the Totally Together website because I needed to put up a cream cheese post here yesterday (only one more of those to go!)--- the most valuable information I learned at the Coke event was that women need to help women.

I’m in the midst of a new site redesign (nothing will change, but it will all be different. don’t freak out.) and would like to start an everyone-is-included blog/website roll. If you have a site that you’d like included and you’re a REAL person and not some spam monster, please email me at contact@stephanieodea.com (I’m the contact!) with the subject line: blogroll and I’ll get you on the list. This roll will constantly be updated—it’s time we reach out and support one another.

Thank you for being so wonderful. Have a fantastic day.

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Bean and Cheese Burrito Casserole Slow Cooker Recipe

 

If you didn't get enough of a Mexican food fix yesterday for Cinco de Mayo, here's an easy recipe that will make everyone in the house happy.

and since today's Friday, it's probably more appropriate to have your celebratory margarita today, anyway. 

Right?

or another.

it's okay. I don't judge.

The Ingredients.

serves 8

1 small onion, peeled and diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (4-ounce) can roasted green chiles, undrained

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

8 flour or brown rice tortillas (brown rice tortillas are GF; read packing carefully)

4 cups cooked pinto beans (three 15-ounce cans, drained)

4 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

optional garnishes: sour cream, sliced avocado, etc.

If you're going to use dry beans instead of canned, this is how you do it.

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. If you only have a large one, that's okay--but reduce cooking time a few hours.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, chiles, and spices. 

(hey steph, can I just use Rotel instead of the tomatoes and chiles? Yup. The volume will be slightly different, but I really don't think that this will be a big deal while it's cooking.)

Put a layer of tortillas into the bottom of your cooker---you may need to tear them a bit to get good coverage. Add a scoop of the onion/tomato mixture and layer on a healthy spoonful of beans and then a layer of cheese. Repeat layers until you've run out of ingredients. Top with a healthy dose of cheese.

Cover and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours (if using a 6-quart, do 3 to 4 hours on low, then let it click over to warm--there's nothing really to cook--you're just heating thoroughly and getting the cheese to get that yummy crust).

Top with desired fixens'.

The Verdict.

I chose to keep this vegetarian because that's how the kids like it, but you can certainly add some shredded chicken or beef to the mix. I like making casseroles like this near the end of the week, because we can use the leftovers for lunch when we're all home. We tend to grab lunch on the run during the weekend (Costco hotdogs, anyone...?) and I'm trying hard to continue my meal planning---even on my "days off."

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Mother's Day!

need brunch ideas? here you go!

more Cinco de Mayo fun:

fajitas

easy chicken tacos
tamales (impress your friends!)
tamale pie
enchilada casserole
enchilada chili
carnitas
taco dip
chimichangas (so much fun!)
albondigas soup
rotel and sausage dip
Mexican Breakfast casserole
tortilla soup

carnitas

chile verde

and then for your leftover drink mix:
margarita chicken

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American Chop Suey (Macaroni and Beef) Slow Cooker Recipe

 

I had never heard of American Chop Suey before Amy Jo sent me an email wondering if it could be made in a slow cooker. She first learned of the dish on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  I looked the name up on Wikipedia and learned that it seems to be a regional thing---sometimes it's called Macaroni and Beef, and it appears that it was the inspiration behind Hamburger Helper. Huh! 

I love learning new things.

The Ingredients.

serves 6

1 pound lean ground beef, browned and drained

5 bacon strips, diced

1 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes --- any flavor, or plain

1 can water (empty tomato can)

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 (26-ounce) jar prepared pasta sauce

1 (16-ounce) package elbow macaroni (I used brown rice pasta)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. In a large skillet, brown the beef, bacon and onion all together until the meat is no longer pink. Drain well and plop into your slow cooker. Add everything else into the pot except for the pasta and cheese.

Stir to combine. Cover and cook on  low for 6 to 8 hours, or high for about 4. Stir in the raw pasta and cook on high for approximately 30 minutes, or until pasta is bite-tender. Serve in a wide-mouthed bowl with a handful of cheese on each serving.

The Verdict.

Amy Jo, thank you so much for letting me know about this dish! The slight smokiness from the bacon really flavors the meat well, and I loved how the pasta cooked in the pot and swelled nicely to create a wonderful casserole. The serving sizes are generous, here---I had a bunch left that I shared with my friend Lorraine and her family. My girls and Lorraine's girls all really liked the pasta with meat sauce. Success!

The leftovers taste great the next day, but the texture is different, and something to note. You'll find that the pasta really breaks down overnight and soaks up a lot of the moisture.

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Hoppin' John Slow Cooker Recipe

Hoppin' John is traditionally made on New Year's Day to bring good luck and prosperity throughout the entire calendar year.

Today isn't January 1. Instead, it's September 21, the first day of fall. You remember the song from the musical, Mame? The one where it says "we need a little Christmas, right this very minute..." I think we could agree that we ALL could use a little good luck and prosperity right this very minute.

[edited 5:24 pm: okay, there's some disagreement over whether or not it's actually the first day of fall. It looks like I'm wrong---but the sentiment is still good!]

so here you go: Hoppin' John. If you win the lottery after eating, buy some crockpot books!

:-)

The Ingredients.

serves 10--freezes nicely!

1 pound dry black eyed peas, soaked overnight

4 cups chicken broth

1 pound smoked sausage, sliced

1/2 cup instant rice (or use 1 cup already cooked rice, and stir it in at the very end)

1 (10.5-ounce) can Rotel

1 bunch of collard greens or kale, chopped

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Soak your beans overnight in a bunch of water and drain well in the morning and rinse in cool water. Put the beans directly into your slow cooker. If you don't have time to soak the beans overnight, that's okay! Instead, put them in a pot with a bunch of water and boil rapidly on the stove for 10 minutes. Then turn the heat off, and cover the pot. Let it sit for one hour, then drain and rinse and plop into the pot.

easy-peasy!

Once the beans are in the crock, add broth and sliced sausage. Stir in the rice and rotel. Add greens, and sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Cover ( you may need to shove in greens to get the lid on nicely) and cook on low for 8 to 12 hours, or until the beans are soft. Stir well before serving.

The Verdict.

We've got 101 days left in the year---lots of time for good luck to happen!

 This tastes wonderful. It has more of a casserole consistency than a soup or stew, and my whole family enjoyed this meal. I liked how the smoky sausage flavored the beans and the kale I used just kind of shriveled up and disappeared----we got a great punch of iron without notice.

other stuff you should make:

the first time I made black eyed peas, I wasn't impressed

but then I made this totally awesome black eyed pea soup

and guess what? I just plopped in Barbecue Beef and Beans to put on top of toasted Udi's white bread (LOVE THIS BREAD) for dinner, and check out the date on this post: 2 years ago today! ack! totally trippy.

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Slow Cooker Pesto Spinach Lasagna Recipe

I didn't grow up eating lasagna. I first heard of this dish while reading a comic book---although Jim Davis always spelled Garfield and Odie's favorite dish "lasagne." I remember asking my mom what it was and she said it was a layered pasta casserole with cheese.

I ate my first plate of lasagna when I was 12 or so at a friend's house during a sleepover. It was from Stauffer's. It was delicious, and I was hooked.

It's really not hard to make a good lasagna. I make it quite a bit, either in the crock or out. I like that I can shove extra veggies in without too much notice, and I like that I can use the odds and ends of bags of pasta---if I've only got a few traditional lasagna noodles, no problem---I throw in a layer of penne! If I've got the bits of a few different kinds of cheeses, who cares? I've even used the individually packaged string cheeses. It's all good.

There are very few vegetarian lasagnas worth eating. I've probably offended a bunch of people.
I'm sorry. But I stand by this claim: I haven't found a vegetarian lasagna (even in restaurants) where I haven't walked away wishing for meat and more flavor.

but I've found the secret to worthwhile vegetarian lasagna: Throw in pesto!


The Ingredients.
serves 8

1 (26-ounce) jar prepared pasta sauce
1 (10-ounce) box lasagna noodles (I like tinkyada brown rice)
1 (11-ounce) container pesto (or by all means, make your own!)
1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 (12-ounce) bag baby spinach
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
16 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/4 cup water

The Directions.

Use a 4 quart slow cooker. Put a spoonful of pasta sauce (about 1/4 cup) into the bottom of your cooker and swirl it around. Add a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles (you're going to have to break them to make a layer). Smear ricotta cheese and pesto onto the noodles. Add a handful or two of baby spinach, and top with a layer of Parmesan and slice mozzarella cheeses. Repeat layers until you've run out of ingredients. The spinach is fluffy, so you're going to have to squish it down to make it all fit.
Before closing the pot, put 1/4 cup of water into the empty pasta sauce jar and close and shake. Pour this saucy water over the top of everything.
Now cover up and cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for about 3 to 4. You'll know it's done when the top layer begins to brown and the cheese is melted and bubbly. It will also pull a bit away from the sides. Taste-test a noodle to check texture.
Uncover, and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

The Verdict.

This recipe was a complete surprise. I was on the phone with my friend Danielle, and Adam walked in the door with 2 packages of pesto (I had asked him to pick up one, and it was buy 1 get 1 free). Instead of being a gracious wife, I began to whine about having too much pesto in the house to Danielle, and she told me to put it in lasagna.

She was right. I shouldn't have complained, life is good, lasagna rocks, it's fun to get the kids to eat spinach without them realizing it, and there are DEFINITELY worse things in the world than extra pesto.

Lesson learned.
Head held in shame.

more vegetarian main dish options:
end of summer harvest soup
sweet potato chili
borscht
honey lentils
jamaican pumpkin soup
potato leek
vegetarian no noodle lasagna
ratatouille

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Leftovers for Breakfast Casserole Slow Cooker Recipe

I'm a hermit. Is it okay to be a hermit? I like to go for walks, and I certainly get enough Vitamin D by pulling weeds in the yard and hanging out at soccer practice, but if I had a choice I'd prefer to hang out at home in my jammies.

It's too bad WebVan went under. It'd be great to have milk, bananas, and orange juice delivered (why is it we're ALWAYS out of those things?).

And don't forget to bring fresh coffee.

There you go: that's a business venture to get behind! Breakfast delivery for lazy busy moms.

Or you could just load up the crockpot. it's probably easier.


The Ingredients.
serves 8

1 (30-ounce) package frozen hash brown potatoes
2 cups diced already-cooked meat (whatever leftovers you have in the house. Great way to use up shredded chicken, pot roast, corned beef, ham, turkey, or any combo you might have)
2 cups diced already-cooked veggies (asparagus, broccoli, roasted veggies, whatever)
8 eggs
1 cup milk (cow, soy, rice, goat)
2 cups shredded cheese (your choice, we usually have a combo of mozzarella and cheddar)
salt and pepper to taste at the table

The Directions.

Use a 6 quart slow cooker and spray the insert with cooking spray. Dump the still-frozen hashbrowns into the pot. In a mixing bowl, whip together the eggs and milk and stir in your cut up veggies, meat, and cheese.
Don't season right now, because your meat and veggies will have whatever flavor they had when they were first cooked (and ham and corned beef tend to have a lot of salt taste already), but instead season at the table. Pour this mixture on top of the hashbrowns.

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours (it's exactly 7 in my elume) or on high for about 3-4. If you've never cooked breakfast overnight in your cooker, opt for the low end of the cooking time. You can always let it cook on high if it's not quite done in the morning, or let it happily sit on warm until you're wide awake and ready for breakfast.

Michelle says she can't cook food overnight, though, because the smell keeps her awake! I don't have a suggestion for that... sorry. :-)

The Verdict.

This is a GREAT way to use up extra food from having company over or food left from holiday dinners. I know some of you are uncomfortable not having an exact recipe to follow, and I get it. I really do.
I promise though, that there is little room for error when crockpotting. If you like the ingredients going in, they'll taste good mixed in a casserole. If you can't stand asparagus, please don't use it! Use what tastes good TO YOU.

I know, I know. I sound like SUCH a mom...!

more breakfast dishes for the all day jammy club:
Mexican Breakfast Casserole
Original Hashbrown Casserole
Breakfast Potatoes and Sausage
Egg, Feta, and Mushroom Casserole
Breakfast Risotto
Baked Oatmeal
Grits
Pancakes
Yogurt
Hardboiled Eggs (no! don't try these!)

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Slow Cooker Puffy Pizza Casserole Recipe

Hello all over again! I've got my coffee, and am beginning to feel somewhat-human again. I've been wandering the living room in a complete daze trying to process the past few days.

Thank you so much to everyone who took time out of their busy lives to come see me at the Food and Wine Festival. I had so much fun putting faces to email addresses and blogger handles.
I love how enormously huge and scary and yet how small and friendly the Internet can be all at the same time.
You are all wonderful, thank you.

Who's ready for pizza? While I was doing my year-long slow cooking challenge, I got a few cheeky comments from people who were certain that my family was missing out on eating pizza because I was preparing a slow cooker meal everyday. Since we're gluten free, we don't actually eat all that much pizza anymore anyway, but the comments still got my brain buzzing, and I wondered if I COULD make pizza in a crockpot.

I can now say: yup.

It's not the same, but it's close enough to a deep-dish style pizza to satisfy any and all pizza cravings, and it comes right out of your crockpot.

Life is good.

The Ingredients.
serves 8


1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (1.5) ounce packet of spaghetti mix (if using store-bought, look out for hidden gluten. I like the McCormick brand. You can also make your own using the recipe below)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water

for puffy topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour (I use Pamela's Baking Mix as my AP flour)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
20 pepperoni slices
1/2 cup sliced olives, optional

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Mix
yields 1 packet

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons green pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

The Directions.

Use a 4 quart slow cooker (if you only have a 6, that's okay, it will just cook faster. Check it after 3 hours on high.)

In a very large skillet, brown beef, onion, and garlic on the stove top. Drain fat, and add spaghetti sauce mix, oregano, tomato sauce, and water. Stir over low heat until tiny bubbles appear. Remove from heat and scoop into the slow cooker (you might want to spray it with cooking spray).

In a mixing bowl, combine the ingredients for your puffy topping: flour, milk, eggs, and cheese. Pour evenly over the top. Place pepperoni slices and olives on top of the topping.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or until the topping has turned golden brown, puffed up, and pulled away from the sides.
I have not tried to cook this yet on low. I'd check it after 6 hours (in a 4-quart, 4 hours in a 6-quart).
If you do opt to cook it on low, I'd love to hear your timing results!

The Verdict.

I was given this recipe from a good friend of mine (who is rather shy and doesn't want her name on the internet!), and was so eager to give it a try. She usually cooks it in the oven, but said that sometimes it puffs over the side of her baking dish, and makes a huge mess in the bottom of her oven.

I loved the way it worked in the crock. I didn't vent the lid at all---it puffs up beautifully and completely satisfied my family's cravings without needing to worry about gluten or tipping the delivery guy!

more pizza stuff:
pizza soup
pizza fondue

go read about PowerAde Play! there's a chance for you to win $125!

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Indian Spiced Lentils with Chicken Slow Cooker Recipe

I had a few bags of lentils in the house, and attempted to make a chicken and lentil stew last week. I really like Indian spices, and thought that if I threw some in the pot I'd get a tasty lentil soup/stew with chicken.

I didn't get soup.

It could have been because I was on the phone, and helping the kids with homework, and frantically folding laundry while I was assembling ingredients and writing down quantities, but it also could just be that I estimated the liquid-to-solid ratio wrong.

The result was not a soup or stew, but instead a tasty and hearty lentil dish with a bit of chicken here and there for some added protein. If you would prefer to omit the chicken and keep this vegetarian, that's perfectly fine. I wouldn't bother to adjust the liquid, but instead keep the lid off of the slow cooker while you set the table. The extra liquid will absorb into the lentils and the steam will evaporate.

We all gobbled this up---which just shows that sometimes your accidental flubs in the kitchen can be a great success!

The Ingredients.
serves 4, with a bit leftover


2 cups lentils (mine were brown)
3 cups chicken broth (you could use veggie)
3 cups water
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon corriander
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried mustard
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can diced chiles (hot or mild, your choice)--no need to drain
1 tablespoon dried parsley (or 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh)
2 large chicken breast halves

The Directions.

Use a 4 to 5 quart slow cooker. Rinse the lentils under cold water until it runs clear. Dump into the slow cooker. Add broth and water. Add diced onion and celery. Add all spices, the garlic, and chiles. Stir to combine.

Lay 2 largeish chicken breast halves on top of the assembled food. My breast halves were frozen solid.

Cover and cook on low for about 7 hours, or on high for about 4. Before serving, remove chicken from the slow cooker, chop it up, and stir back in. Serve over basmati rice with corn tortillas or naan wedges (not gluten free) as scoopers.

The Verdict.

Although I was initially pretty bummed that my soup wasn't a soup, this turned out really tasty, and all of us enjoyed our dinner. The Indian spices were pronounced, but not spicy. Adam added a bit of spice to his with some red chile flakes, but I abstained (to ward off pregnancy heartburn. in case you were wondering. which you probably weren't, but there you go.).

I heated the leftovers up for lunch and my almost-5-year-old and her friend happily ate them.

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Adapting Slow-Cooker Meals for Your Family

We are officially Back to School---it started Monday. I've mentioned before that I am a meal planner, and the fall brings out a plethora of good intentions to eat wholesome family meals together each night, and share highlights of the day.

This year was no different. I had my menu planned out, and a shopping list ready to go.

But. This year I'm pregnant (baby girl #3!), and I have a new kindergartner. Which means that instead of going to the store while both girls were in school, I disinfected the blinds (that's totally normal... right?) and instead of going right after kindergarten let out, we both fell asleep on the couch during Arthur.

I may have even drooled a bit.

And all of a sudden it was time to get my third grader who had "so much homework, mom," and the store couldn't happen. So I made do. This is a variation of the Autumn Sausage Casserole that I made last year, but made with ingredients I had in the house. Other than the spices, the ingredients were all different.

But it still worked. Hopefully, this will provide 1) inspiration to re-purpose leftovers, and 2) encouragement to fool around with recipes/ingredients to suit your own family. If you don't like something listed in a particular recipe or don't have the ingredient in the house, tweak it! Cooking should be fun. When it isn't, that's when the pizza guy stops by, resulting in a tummy full of grease and a $30 bill.

The Ingredients.
adapted from Slow Cooker Autumn Sausage Casserole
serves 6


1 pound cooked meat. I used leftover teriyaki chicken and steak from the weekend barbecue, and about 15 meatballs (Coleman Natural, they're gluten free!)
3 cups already-cooked and somewhat crunchy brown rice (from 4 days ago)
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 box Hannah Montana cinnamon apples and raisins
1/2 apple, chopped, leftover from breakfast
2 ears of corn, kernels removed
1 cup frozen peas
1 handful wilted baby spinach
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon all spice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (decreased from 1/2 tsp because of the seasoned apples and raisins)
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth

The Directions.

Use at least a 4 quart slow cooker. I used a 5.5 quart. Because there isn't much liquid in this dish, it's best to cook on low (unless you're using sausage. The sausage provides the right amount of oil and moisture, and cooking on high would work just fine if need-be). The only thing that needs to soften and cook is the raw onion. If you don't have at least 5 hours, pan fry the onion in some olive oil until it is soft and translucent.

Otherwise, toss everything into the slow cooker, and stir well to distribute the spices. Cook on low for 3-6 hours. If you're home to do so, stir an hour before serving.

The Verdict.

Last year we declared around the dinner table that this was just like eating a bowl full of fall. I'd agree. This has a wonderful homey flavor, and is kind of addicting. Adam and I kept sneaking spoonfuls out of the crock while we were doing the dishes. 3 out of the 4 of us had seconds. The other one had very little, declared she wasn't hungry, then asked for a peanut butter and honey sandwich 30 minutes later.

I think my head may have exploded. I'm not sure.

Happy September!
edited 9/7: Rachael used her slow cooker every day for a month, and logged her fantastic results!

other dishes you may like:
Maple Dijon Chicken
Azorean Spiced Beef Stew
Ropa Vieja
Sausage and Vegetable Medley
Meal Planning with the Slow Cooker

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Slow Cooker Turkey Tetrazzini Recipe

Sharon emailed me last week and said that she had a hanker'n for some Turkey Tetrazzini a la Slow Cooker. I didn't know that I had a hanker'n until I read her email and the recipes she linked for me to look at.
But I did. I seemed to have had a hanker'n. She sent links to Epicurious, AllRecipes, and Food Network.

After reading through the recipes, I wrote one of my own to work with the slow cooker. It worked, eventually. I at first didn't include enough pasta, so my tetrazzini was more like wallpaper paste than a creamy pasta dish. This was easily fixed, however, and the end result was a nice comforting meal we enjoyed on an unseasonably chilly night.

Thank you, Sharon!

The Ingredients.

1 (16-ounce package) dry spaghetti noodles (maybe divided. Please read the entire recipe and decide for yourself how you'd like to proceed!) I used brown rice noodles from TJ's.
1-2 pounds turkey breast tenders, cut in small chunks
5 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, diced
1 (14.5-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, chunked
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cups chicken broth (check for gluten!)
salt to taste at the table

The Directions.

Use a 5-6 quart slow cooker, and spray the inside well with cooking spray.

What I did: I initially used a half-package of spaghetti noodles, and broke them in half, and laid them on the bottom of the stoneware. I then layered the other ingredients on top, in the order I typed up above. But! after cooking on low for 3 hours, I noticed that the noodles pretty much disappeared, so I cooked the remainder of the package on the stovetop in heavily salted water (super-heavily salted, the top of the container fell off!) until barely al dente, then stirred the drained pasta into the slow cooker.

I then cooked on low for only one more hour, then clicked it to warm for another 3. The turkey was fully cooked, the noodles were perfect, but the onion that I didn't cut fine enough had still a bit of a crunch.

The Verdict.

So. My dilemma is in deciding if it would have been better to put the entire package of pasta into the machine and then layer the ingredients in and cook on low for 3-5 hours (not high!) or if it is better to leave all the pasta out, and just cook it on the stove, then mix it in.
Or, do what I did.
I just don't know.

I do know that this worked, but it certainly wasn't a very hands-off meal. And we ate it, even the leftovers for lunch the next day (the onion was soft by then!)

other pasta dishes that work well:

traditional lasagna
buffalo chicken lasagna
macaroni and cheese
ziti

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