Sunday, October 31, 2010

Slow Cooker Sunday - Stuffed Peppers

The ingredients. I cheated and cooked the rice first. Was not sure how the rice situation would work. Didn't want to chance it. I normally use minute rice but this time I used Jasmine rice. Which my newer microwave does not cook rice nicely. So I used more water hoping it would not be super dry and almost burnt (but not done) like usual and this time it turned out mushy. :(




The rice and "meat" mixture. I used crumbled tofu but you could use actual meat. Not sure if you would have to cook and brown it first. I would guess so. Add whatever spices you like to this mixture and a little of the tomato sauce or a little tomato paste (which is what I generally use but was out of).





Stuff the peppers like so.





Pour tomato sauce in crockpot saving half the can (at least). I had to really stuff them in there!






Pour remaining sauce on top.






Mmmm.....stuffed peppers!






This has to be one of my absolute favorite meals. And now I don't have to get the kitchen all hot. I will admit it is better with homemade mashed potatoes but I didn't want to heat up my kitchen by using the stove. So I just used the Country Crock ones. Which aren't too bad.




The outcome: no reason to use the oven! These were great minus the mushy rice from the microwave. My son actually ate and liked the rice mixture. I knew there was no way he would eat the pepper part though.

Don't forget to check out my main blog here!!!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Slow Cooker Sunday - Pineapple Upside Down Cake

The ingredients minus the pineapple. Whoops!
I used coconut milk again - but again no difference!






The pineapple! Told you I used pineapple!





With brown sugar on top. Mmm!






Now the batter which I added even more pineapple to!









Then I added more brown sugar.






Then more batter.








Look it does cook in a crock pot!









Really it does!






Here it is all done and yummy!






The outcome: don't use crushed pineapple. Way too much liquid that is too hard to drain off which means the cake won't cook correctly. Though it did taste quite yummy.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Veggie Pasta Bake

The various ingredients:




Chopped up veggies and cheese chunks:



I always cover the chopped up eggplant with salt and then let it sit for awhile. This is the nasty liquid that comes off eggplant:

Yuck! Then I rinse it off real good.

I sprayed the crock pot with Pam first and then added sauce and veggie mixture.



Added non cooked pasta on top of veggie mixture.



Ricotta cheese on top of the sauce, veggies, and pasta.



Repeat and add sauce to the very top like so.



All ingredients mixed and cooking.



Looks done to me.




The finished product. Yes, again with paper plates. I have only been using them when we eat the crockpot dinners. Seriously, it is the same pack!


I used 1 of the zucchinis and 2 of the squash and the whole eggplant. Let's just say way too much eggplant. But I knew it would go bad otherwise.


The outcome: my son actually ate it. Which is a huge surprise. He ate it a couple days in a row too with no complaints. Which is extremely rare. Let's just say I have a massive complainer for a son.


*You can click on any of the pictures to make them bigger.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Chocolate Coconut Cake

I was trying to go for a Thai theme so I came up with this cake. It turned out o.k. but seemed to not want to cook too great. So it doesn't look to pretty but it tastes good! I cannot for the life of me taste the coconut though. :(



The ingredients: chocolate cake mix, eggs, oil, coconut milk. Subsitute the coconut milk for the water that the package of cake says to add. Use however much oil and eggs the cake mix calls for. I think if you added either coconut flavoring or actual shredded coconut it will taste more coconutty.





Here it is in the crockpot exciting huh? lol



I was scared it wasn't cooking the whole way and decided to break it up to help it cook. I then realized I did not need to do this. If I would have just waited probably a couple more minutes or maybe even 15 minutes it would have cooked up just fine. I was really scared the sides were going to burn (they didn't).


Taste test - it was moist and yummy. Even better with ice cream. I will say I could not for the life of me taste the coconut though. :( Next time I will add some shredded coconut or some coconut flavoring (trying to find some real flavoring and not the fake kind - we will see).

I have some more cans of coconut milk and I think I will try it with a regular yellow cake mix next time.

Sorry I didn't take any presentation photos of the finished cake.

I will definitely make cake in the crockpot again.


Remember to please check out my main blog here.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Mexican Casserole

I decided to go with Mexican once again. This time I added refried beans and black olives. I definitely should have used more red sauce. Live and learn.




The ingredients:





Stack them like so:





Looks done to me:




Yummy:



Close up:



It was pretty tasty. But I am over my Mexican kick for awhile at least.

Remember to please check out my main blog here.

Mac and Cheese

O.k. so I decided to make mac and cheese for my son in the crockpot.

The ingredients : uncooked pasta, cheese, milk and butter. Oh yeah don't forget the salt!!! I did at first and did not add it till the end. You never realize how much of a difference it makes to cook pasta with salt until that one time you don't add it. Yuck! I totally took a photo of the ingredients and guess what? It wasn't on my camera. Seriously, I took one!


I used 2 different leftover pastas, some leftover block cheddar and shredded mozzarella (why not?), smart balance spread and milk. I also used Pam on the inside of the crockpot so it would not stick and be a pain in my butt to clean. Cleanup was a breeze!
I also believe it or not took a photo of the ingredients not cooked in the crockpot. Yep, that one disappeared too. I did get my new camera but it is still in the box.

It turned out o.k. but I prefer sharp cheddar and I like green peppers in my mac -n- cheese. I had mild cheddar and also the mozzarella gave it a unique taste. My son liked it a lot so that is really only what matters. I will definitely make it with sharp cheddar and green peppers next time.








Remember to please check out my main blog here.

Apple Bake

Slow Cooker Sunday sounds better than Crockpot Sunday, right? Even though I call it a crockpot.

Today I am attempting to make a sort of Apple Crisp. I am writing this as it is cooking. I hope that it turns out well. I haven't had Apple Crisp probably since I was in 8th grade and a friend of mine used to make it all the time. Yep, it's been that long. I don't recall myself ever making it nor anyone else in my family. Have no clue why. I always thought it was rather tasty.


The ingredients:
apples (I am using the precut kind since my son declared he no longer wanted them in his lunch)
cinnamon (not pictured)
brown sugar (Rolling Stones anyone?)
butter/ margarine (again not pictured and mine says buy before May 2010 yep, we never use margarine or butter ever apparently) it wasn't opened so that is why I used it
oatmeal (I used 2 packets of the plain)
vanilla (just a tad)
I was going to also add flour but again mine was super old (not opened though) but I decided to not bother
honey (not pictured)




As you can tell I am just using what I have on hand and seeing what happens. I am starting it out on high and then will more than likely put it on low.

I buttered the bottom and sides of the crockpot and then added the apples. Cinnamon on top and then brown sugar, vanilla and oats. Then I added some honey on top.


Almost done:


My son's portion in his Spiderman bowl or as he says ciderman:




This turned out yummy but nothing like Apple Crisp. My son really liked it (of course any child likes sweets right?). He probably liked it more than most since he gets sweets maybe once a month if even that much (yes, I'm kind of strict). I definitely think this would be good warm with vanilla ice cream on top. But of course I have the smallest freezer known to man so ice cream is never in there.

Remember to please check out my main blog here.

CrockPot Sunday - Cheesy Onion Enchilada Casserole

I have been craving cheese and onion enchiladas lately. I desperately miss Don Pablos. I have tried other Mexican places but I have yet to find one that replaces them. :(

I usually make them in the oven but I have to say no matter what I can not get them to turn out like the ones at Don Paublos. No matter if I barely put any sauce on them or no sauce at all they turn out too mushy or turn out too dry (without sauce). Good but mushy. So I decided I will just deal with the mushy!

I have heard that you can make them in your crockpot and decided to try. I realized right away that it would be difficult and very messy to keep them rolled up. So I decided to just got with a casserole type dish.

I wasn't sure how much stuff I would need to make these so I have way more items in the picture than I actually ended up using. I decided to go with corn tortillas since I had a whole bunch leftover. I prefer flour ones but I believe the corn ones are supposed to be better for you (don't quote me on that though lol). I didn't even use the box kit and will save that for another time.




1 - The ingredients. Which I did not end up using the box mix.





2- Me not knowing what I was going for while assembling them.





3 - When in doubt add more cheese.





4- Looks done to me!




5- The end result. Yes, again with the paper plates.



Again I was impressed with how this turned out in the crockpot. It was quite yummy! This is something I will definitely make again. Next time I will add black olives and refried beans to this casserole.

Remember to please check out my main blog here.

Slow Cooker Sunday

I decided to put all my crock pot recipes in an easy to find spot. I will more than likely update this each Sunday but occasionally it will be updated on another day.

I hope you enjoy!


Please check out my other blog Hockey Mum for simple and easy ways to save loads of money and get lots of stuff for cheap or free!!