BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders

From Better Homes and Gardens Skinny Slow Cooker (2012), page 23.

Prep: 30 min / Cook: 9-10 hours (low) or 4.5-5 hours (high), plus 1 hour (low)

1 (2 1/2-3 lb) boneless pork shoulder roast, trimmed
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
20 cocktail-size whole grain hamburger buns or small round dinner rolls, split and toasted
Deli coleslaw
Coarsely chopped sweet or dill pickles

If necessary, cut meat to fit in a 3 1/2 or 4 quart slow cooker.  In cooker, combine onion and bell pepper.  Add meat; sprinkle with thyme and rosemary.  Pour broth over meat.  Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 9 to 10 hours or on high-heat setting for 4 1/2 to 5 hours.

Meanwhile, for the barbecue sauce, in a medium saucepan, combine vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, black pepper, and salt.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Transfer meat to a cutting board.  Using two forks, pull meat apart into shreds, discarding fat.  Strain vegetable mixture, discarding liquid.  Return shredded meat and strained vegetables to cooker.  Stir in barbecue sauce.  Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 1 hour.

To serve, spoon meat mixture onto bun bottoms.  Top with coleslaw and chopped pickles.  Add bun tops.

Notes:
- The only "pork shoulder" I could find was a boneless pork shoulder butt roast, which ended up being about half fat (I'm serious).  I may try this with a different cut of pork next time so I actually get a decent amount of meat.  As my husband pointed out, really fatty cuts of meat like that are great for slow barbecuing, but I had to cut off so much of it so it wasn't drowning our food in so much grease.
- We bought 10 medium-sized Telera rolls, which were a little chewier than regular buns, but not too chewy.  We'll probably only use 7 or 8 by the time we finish the leftovers.
- This is terrible, but I don't really know how many quarts my slow cooker holds.  Ha!
- I have something against buying coleslaw and other mayo-based products at the grocery store deli.  I bought a bag of shredded coleslaw vegetables (cabbage and carrots) from the produce section and mixed up the following sauce, combining a Bobby Flay recipe with an Emeril recipe: 3/4 cup mayonnaise, 2 Tbs. sugar, 1 tsp. celery seed, 3 Tbs. apple cider vinegar, 1 Tbs. Dijon, dash cayenne pepper, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Nutrition Facts (if making 20 sliders):
1 slider = 320 calories, 14 g total fat (4 g saturated fat), 44 mg cholesterol, 487 mg sodium, 34 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 13 g protein

Slow-cooker Mashed Potatoes

From Quick Cooking (Dec. 2000), page 48.

Prep: 5 min. / Cook: 2-4 hours
Yield: 8-10 servings

1 pkg. (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes
6 cups warm mashed potatoes (prepared without butter or milk)

In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, butter, salad dressing, and parsley; stir in potatoes.

Transfer to slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours.

Nutrition Facts:
1 serving (3/4 cup) = 199 calories, 10 g fat (6 g saturated fat), 30 mg cholesterol, 671 mg sodium, 22 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 3 g protein

Notes:
- I'm not sure what was with my potatoes, but they were extremely dry and I ended up adding milk to keep them from scorching.  My mom didn't have this problem when she made the potatoes, so perhaps it's my crock pot, which we already know is notorious for cooking things too quickly.
- I think I used neufchatel cheese (less fat than cream cheese) and light sour cream, which would help out a bit when it comes to the amounts of fat and cholesterol.  You could take things even further by replacing the sour cream with fat-free sour cream or plain Greek yogurt (I'm really into that right now).
- Because I didn't want so strong of a ranch flavor in the potatoes (this was for Thanksgiving), I probably only used about 1 Tbs. of ranch seasoning.  It was subtle, but I liked it.  Play around with the amounts depending on your taste--the less you use, the lower the sodium content will be.

Baked Slow Cooker Chicken

Adapted from AllRecipes.com, submitted by "Cotton" Couch.

Prep: 5-10 min. / Cook: 9-11 hours 

1 whole chicken (2-3 lbs)

1/2 medium onion, cut into wedges

1 cup chicken broth

1 tsp. paprika
Salt & pepper to taste

Loosely wad up aluminum foil into 3-4" pieces.  Place in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Rinse chicken, inside and out; pat dry with paper towels.  Season with salt, pepper, and paprika.  Place in slow cooker on top of aluminum foil.

Cook on high for 1 hour, then switch to low and cook for another 8-10 hours, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Notes:
- I didn't measure anything for this recipe, not even the chicken.  I just made sure it fit in my crock pot.

- Use your imagination for other "flavors" of chicken.

- This is a great recipe when you want a roasted chicken but don't want to heat up your kitchen.

- I divided up the meat into bags and froze it for later.  Excellent idea, as I've got a bunch of recipes that call for rotisserie chicken and I don't want to buy it (granted, this isn't quite rotisserie, but it worked just fine).

- A word of caution: Don't cook it overnight.  I made that mistake and ended up having the smell permeate my dreams (no joke).  By the time we woke up in the morning, both of us felt sick and neither of us wanted to eat chicken.

Chipotle-Marmalade Chicken

From Simple and Delicious (Jan./Feb. 2010), page 42.

Serves 4.

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 oz. each)
1/4 tsp. salt
Dash pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup orange marmalade
1 Tbs. canola oil
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1 Tbs. honey
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
4 tsp. cornstarch
2 Tbs. cold water

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Transfer to a 4-qt. slow cooker.

In a small bowl, combine the broth, marmalade, oil, vinegar, chipotle pepper, honey, chili powder, and garlic powder; pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken to a serving platter; keep warm.  Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a small saucepan.  Bring liquid to a boil.  Combine cornstarch and water until smooth.  Gradually stir into the pan.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Serve with chicken.

Nutrition Facts:

1 chicken breast half with 1/3 cup sauce = 315 calories, 8 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 95 mg cholesterol, 400 mg sodium, 26 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 35 g protein.

Notes:
- I honestly can't say how much  my chicken breast halves weighed, come on!  I cut two big Costco chicken breast halves in half and also used a whole smaller one.
- Just make sure everything fits in your slow cooker according to the directions it came with--who cares if it's exactly 4 quarts?
- This just occurred to me: You add 1 Tbs. canola oil, and then you end up skimming it off.  I bet you could just leave it out of the recipe entirely and be fine.  Next time I'll try that.

Ranch Chicken

From Bridget Welch.

Yield: 4-5 servings.

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe, and it is so delicious!  To make things even better, it's super easy.

1 lb. chicken
1 (8 oz) block cream cheese
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 packet dry Ranch dressing mix

Place chicken in a crock pot.  Mix cream cheese, soup, milk, and Ranch seasoning.  Pour over chicken.

Cook on high for 1 hour and low for 4 more.  (Or cook on low for 6 hours.)

Serve with rice.

Notes:
- Really, the recipe just calls for "chicken," and so I used four breast halves.  I'm guessing that's about a pound.
- You may need to adjust the cooking time, depending on if you chicken is frozen or thawed.  Mine was semi-thawed, and four hours was just about perfect.
- I only cooked my chicken for 4 hours on low, and it was perfect.  But I have a rather finicky crock pot that seems to cook things faster than recipes typically call for.

French Dip

Adapted from Taste of Home (April/May 1996), page 29.

Prep: 5 min. / Cook: 6 hours
Serves 6

1 top round steak (2 lbs)

2 cups low-sodium beef broth

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup water

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 bay leaf

4-5 whole peppercorns

6 French rolls, split; toasted, if desired

Place steak in slow cooker. Add water, soy sauce, beef broth, and seasonings. Cover and cook on high 4 hours, then switch to low for 2 more hours or until beef is tender. Remove meat from broth; shred with forks (or slice if you can--mine fell apart) and keep warm. Strain broth; skim off fat. Pour broth into small cups for dipping. Serve beef on rolls.

Notes:

- Once I opened the crock pot, a lot of the liquid quickly evaporated. We only had enough of the broth for probably 3 sandwiches. I have a dry packet of au jus that we'll use for leftovers, but I think next time I'll mix it and the additional water it calls for into the broth after I remove the meat.

- We toasted our rolls with slices of pepper jack cheese.  Provolone would also be delicious, as I'm sure would be Swiss, Monterey Jack, or others.

Larry's Chili

From Dad Larsen.

In a crock-pot or large pot, add the following ingredients and turn on to a medium setting:

3 15-oz. cans of small red beans
3 15-oz. cans of Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 15-oz. can of Beef Consommé (or beef bouillon or beef broth)
1 small can (about 3 or 4 oz.) diced, green chilies
3 Tbs. chili powder (2 Tbs. for a milder flavor)
1 Tbs. ground cumin
Salt & pepper to taste (suggested: 1 tsp. salt & 1/2 tsp. black pepper)

Meanwhile, brown the following in a skillet:

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 Tbs. olive oil (omit if hamburger is not lean)

After hamburger is browned and onion is cooked, drain off excess fat. Add hamburger and onion to crock-pot.

Cook for 1 hour or more.

Note:
- When small red beans or poquito’s are not available, use kidney beans. May use a combination of kidney and small red beans, if desired.

Catalina Chicken Breasts

From Kraft Foods.

Prep: 10 min. Total: 55 min.
Makes 6 servings.

2 tsp. vegetable oil
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1½ pounds)
½ cup Catalina dressing
½ cup apricot jam
½ package dry onion soup mix (about 3 Tbs.)

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 5 min. on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from skillet; place in 3-qt. baking dish.

Mix dressing, jam, and soup mix in small bowl. Pour over chicken.

Bake 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Notes:
- Karen of the 365 Days of Slow-Cooking blog turned this into a crock pot recipe.  She used 4 chicken breasts, 1 cup Catalina dressing, 1/2 pint (1 cup) apricot jam, and a whole package of dry onion soup mix.  Omit the oil.  Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.

Tangy BBQ Sandwiches

From Taste of Home (June/July 1997), page 33.

This is what Matt and I ate on our first date!  It's always a favorite in our house.

Yield: 14-18 servings.

3 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup ketchup
1 cup barbecue sauce
1 cup water
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 boneless chuck roast (3 to 4 pounds), trimmed
14 to 18 hamburger buns, split

In a slow cooker, combine the first twelve ingredients; mix well. Add roast. Cover and cook on high for 6-7 hours or until tender. Remove roast; cool. Shred meat and return to sauce; heat through. Use a slotted spoon to serve on buns.

Nutrition Facts:
1 serving = 262 calories, 9 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 49 mg cholesterol, 659 mg sodium, 26 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 18 g protein.