Favorite Crockpot Recipes

If you've read my blog for any given amount of time you know that I absolutely love my slow-cooker. While most people use their crock-pot in the fall and winter I use mine year round. It's great to pull-out in the summer when the temps reach over 100 degrees like they have around here this week. Since I make crock-pot meals so frequently I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly recipe wise. Some recipes look deceptively delicious in the magazine and fail to live up to expectations once they are prepared. Here is my list of my favorite crock-pot recipes from my previous posts:

Country-Style Barbecue Ribs

Curried Chicken Stew

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chili

Moroccan Ribs

Mustard Greens

Pinto Beans

There are so many crock-pot recipes that I love that this is only a small fraction of them. The last two recipes are my own. I make a lot of pinto beans and mustard greens, they are both delicious! Check back tomorrow for my favorite dessert recipes!

Pasta alle Erbe

My husband absolutely loves mustard greens. If I served them everyday he would eat them happily. Before we met I had never even eaten greens much less knew how to cook them. Having grown up in Seattle I have always been great with fish and seafood dishes, but greens were an absolutely foreign idea to me. The first time I had greens was at a restaurant and they were braised. Absolutely delicious and amazing! After eating them that first time I scoured the internet for ways to cook them myself at home. My husband was no help since he had eaten a lot of greens, but had no idea how to cook them himself and my mother-in-law never served them. For the first couple of years I made traditional greens with a smoked ham hock or braised in olive oil and they were great. However, eventually I became bored with the same ways of preparing them over and over again. So I have branched out and tried new recipes and methods of cooking. One of my favorite preparation methods is to use greens in pasta, so I was enthusiastic when a recent issue of Eating Well magazine had a recipe for Pasta alle Erbe that utilized large amounts of mustard greens.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 8 servings.  I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store and made no ingredient modifications. Since the recipe gives a variety of choices for the greens used I choice to use mustard greens, since they are very popular in my household. Instead of whole-wheat fettuccine I chose to use regular fettuccine. Recently, I have been serving a large amount of whole-wheat pasta and my family has become a little burnt out, so I chose to take a break from it for a week. My sauce was pretty watery at the end of the cooking time suggested by the recipe so I allowed the sauce and greens to cook a little longer until all the liquid was absorbed once it was added to the pasta. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

With only costing $1.50 a serving and full of vitamins this recipe is perfect. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this dish. The taste of the greens complimented the sweetness of the tomato sauce giving the finished dish a unique flavor. Make sure to wash the greens very well or your pasta will be gritty (because of the sand). Overall, a delicious recipe full of flavor and a great way to eat more greens.

For the recipe go to Pasta alle Erbe.

Mustard Greens

I learned to cook from my mother who came from a very large family of twelve kids, so I learned to cook in bulk from a very young age. I thought it was perfectly normal to have 20 people over for a 'small' Christmas Eve gathering, which my mom would go all out preparing food for. As I got older I feel in love with cookbooks and prepared menus for my parents, complete with appetizers, a main course, and a dessert. Soon after that my mother decided to stop cooking and let me take over. I somewhat walked into that one. After moving 2500 hundred miles away and meeting my husband, I quickly learned that food is cultural. The foods that we all grow up on are greatly influenced by the area in which we live. While I thought salmon, apples, and cherries were common ingredients, I had no idea how to prepare biscuits and gravy or pinto beans. After living in West Virginia almost nine years now I make all the typical comfort foods and am raising two very definite West Virginians (just ask the youngest to say milk). One of my husband's favorite foods that I have taught myself to make are Mustard Greens, here's my easy recipe.

The main thing to remember with mustard greens is to wash them thoroughly. There are large amounts of dirt and sand on greens and if you don't soak them well enough the greens will have bits of grit, which are less than pleasant to eat. I normally make about 2 bunches of mustard greens for a typical meal. While this might sound like a lot, they break down significantly and shrink a great deal.

• 2 bunches Mustard Greens
• Tony Chachere’s seasoning or any Seasoning Salt to taste, normally 1-1 1/2 tsp.
• Ham Hock, Smoked Turkey Leg, or Slab Bacon. I have even used sliced ham when I had nothing else.
• Enough water to cover about 1/4 of a stock pot

Cut the stems out of the mustard greens. The greens can either be kept as is without the stems or chopped depending on your preference. Add the greens, water, meat, and seasoning salt. Let cook on low for approximately 4-6 hours, adding water as needed. Don't throw away the cooking liquid! The potlikker is delicious to dip biscuits or bread into and is my husband's favorite part. If you don't want to use the stove most of the day I have also made greens on low in my crockpot for 8-10 hours and they have turned out just as well.

Mustard greens have become a stable in my house and are very easy to prepare. A great way to get vegetables into your family's diet and are yummy with cheddar biscuits or homemade bread to dip the potlikker. A great homemade, comfort food!

Taste of Home Roasted Butternut Linguine

  My two boys love any type of vegetable that I put on their plates. Oftentimes they will eat all their vegetables and not touch the main dish. I have been trying to introduce them to as many type of fruits and vegetables that I can find at my local stores Most have been a hit, some not so much, but I keep trying. Greens are particularly liked by the members of my family, especially my husband. I was excited when the august/September issue of Taste of Home magazine had a recipe for Roasted Butternut Linguine, which included mustard greens, a favorite of my household

This recipe has 9 ingredients and takes approximately 15 minutes of prep and 45 minutes of baking. The original recipe uses Swiss chard, which I was unable to find at any of my local grocery stores. Therefore I substituted mustard greens. I found that it took only approximately 40 minutes to roast the onions and squash, not the 45-50 minutes stated in the recipe. I followed the remainder of the recipe as stated.

I really enjoyed the roasted butternut squash and onions in this recipe, it gave the dish a pleasant, sweet undertone. My husband thoroughly enjoyed the mustard greens, and my kids enjoyed the whole dish. I appreciated that the dish went together very quickly, with the oven doing most of the work. A delicious, quick recipe, which is a great way to get more vegetables.

For the recipe go to Taste of Home Roasted Butternut Linguine.

Food Network Baked Beans with Swiss Chard

Growing up I hated beans, I mean really hated beans. My mom made beans multiple times a week hoping that I would grow to appreciate them eventually, I didn't. It took me until I was an adult to fall in love with the delicious flavor that beans can lend to dishes. I was pleasantly surprised when I first gave my two boys beans, they absolutely fell in love with them. Many times when I make a recipe that has beans as an ingredient, the beans are the part of the dish that is eaten, the rest of isn't touched by my two sons. The July/August issue of the Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Baked Beans with Swiss Chard, which looked like a nutritious bean dish that my whole family would love.

This recipe has 15 ingredients, including salt and pepper. The total time is approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, 20 minutes of which is active. The majority of the time is in the oven, the actual prep work is minimal. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store, with the exception of a 15-oz can of whole tomatoes. The only size available was 28 oz, so I used by kitchen scale to measure the correct amount for the recipe. Additionally, I have never actually seen Swiss chard at any of the stores in my area, so I substituted mustard greens, as the recipe suggested. Finally, I chose to use smoked ham over turkey, I prefer the flavor. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My husband and I really liked this dish (the pictures didn't turn out very well and don't do it justice). I liked that it has mustard greens and beans, which are a great healthy combination. As expected, my two boys picked out the beans and didn't want to try the rest. Make sure to adequately salt the dish, it will need a decent amount of salt. Overall, a great way to get more nutrition into your family's diet, with minimal effort.

For the recipe go to Food Network Magazine Baked Beans with Swiss Chard.