Arria Belli/Flickr

With both ground beef and bell peppers on sale at Kroger this week, I decided to make some stuffed peppers. It’s been an awfully long time since I’ve made them, and I love them. Also, I’ve long wanted to try making them in the slow cooker to see how they’d turn out, so I tested a recipe yesterday.

Red, yellow and orange bell peppers are $1 apiece on sale, and green bell peppers are 50 cents each. My husband prefers the sweeter colored peppers, so that’s what I went with for mine. The recipe I used was supposed to make six stuffed peppers, but I realized that’s only if you’re using small to medium ones. If using larger peppers, it’ll make about four.

As per usual, I made a few changes to this recipe. I really did not see the point in cooking the ground beef ahead of time if the peppers were going to be in the slow cooker for 6 or 7 hours. Maybe if you’re using fatty ground beef you’d want to cook it ahead and skim off the fat, but I used lean and really didn’t have any problem.

I also did not cook the leek (or onion, if you want to substitute) in advance. I diced it instead of chopping and the smaller pieces came out tender. One final step I added is one that I always add when I make bell peppers. I trim off any good bits around the stem, dice them and add them to the hamburger mixture.
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So many possibilities...

Not in the slow cooker. At least, that’s the opinion I formed after cooking a pork butt in my slow cooker over the weekend.

Pork butts are on sale at Food Lion right now (sale ends today!). We purchased a 6.9-lb. cut on Saturday for $12 and some change, which is a really good deal. But how to cook it? Alas, we do not own a smoker, which I am betting a lot of you are going to recommend for pork butts. I’ve watched enough Food Network shows to know how awesome a pork butt can be after hours in the smoker.

But pork butts should not just be for professional barbecue makers. And they don’t always have to be barbecued, either.

Because we weren’t going to be home all day to keep an eye on the meat in the oven, I decided to try it in the slow cooker. I rubbed it with some Penzey’s BBQ 3000 (awesome stuff) and placed it in the cooker with the fat cap on top. I added about 1/2 cup of water, but that probably wasn’t necessary since this cut produces so much juice and grease.

That was the problem, in my opinion – the grease. After about 12 hours in the cooker, the meat was deliciously tender and falling off the bone, but the entire hunk of pork was sitting in a lot of grease. It was gross. I drained it off, of course, then shredded the pork and put it back in the cooker with some barbecue sauce. It was good, but I’m not closing the book on pork butts.

Update: I have attached an oven recipe for braised pork butt with salsa to the end of this entry. End update.

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What could be easier than sliding a breakfast casserole into the oven on Christmas morning? Waking up to the wonderful aroma of breakfast all cooked and ready to go in the slow cooker!

My friend and colleague Nona Nelson gave me this recipe (below) for a slow cooker sausage breakfast casserole, which she and her husband already tested and gave two thumbs up. Eight hours seems like a long time to cook a casserole in the slow cooker, but Nona said after six hours it was good, after seven hours it was better and after eight hours it’d probably be perfect.

All this requires is a layering of ingredients in the greased crockery part of the slow cooker. Then, a dozen eggs are scrambled and poured over the whole thing. Add some biscuits, toast, fruit salad, coffee cake, cinnamon rolls or what-have-you and you’ve got a darn good breakfast going!

Slow cooker breakfast recipes are not new, so if you’re looking for some other ideas,  check out these links:

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There are 101 ways to make vegetable-beef soup. Photo courtesy boo_licious/Flickr

In my ongoing quest to be one of those organized home cooks who doesn’t come home from work late every night and panic about what’s for dinner, I spent several hours yesterday in the kitchen. I decided to plan my meals as soon as I saw the grocery store ads and the coupons, then make two big batches of food for the week.

Knowing that we often get tired of a meal when there are a couple of servings left, I immediately separated out two meals’ worth of each and put them in the freezer for later. How organized is that! I’m still stunned, frankly.

One of the dishes I decided to make was vegetable beef soup. I haven’t made that in soooooo very long, and I noticed that both ground sirloin and shoulder roast were on sale at Kroger yesterday. I find that some folks like to use ground beef for their veg-beef soup while others prefer roast. I won’t turn down either version, but with both being on sale yesterday, I went for the roast, which I cut in small chunks.

Because the second meal I made was a chicken Marsala casserole that required more work, I decided to make the soup in the Crock Pot. But I can rarely follow a Crock Pot recipe to the T, so I adapted this one. And if ever there was a recipe that called for adapting, it’s veg-beef soup.

Instead of water, I used some frozen tomato water that I processed back in the summer when tomatoes were in. I tossed in bits and pieces of several bags of frozen vegetables I had in the freezer, including broccoli, cauliflower, corn and carrots. Because I always liked beans and barley in my veg-beef soup, I added 1/2 cup of SooFoo, which is a blend of lentils, brown rice and hearty grains.

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Over the past couple of years when we’ve chatted about slow cooker recipes on the blog, it is often mentioned that new slow cookers seem to cook food faster than the older models. Many of us have noticed that our meat is too mushy and/or we have to cut back the cooking time on some of our favorite recipes by several hours.

I’ve been holding on to the theory that maybe my recipes are turning out differently because I now own a larger, oval cooker with more surface area. But this week, reader Art sent me a link to an interesting article and discussion of this phenomenon on About.com. According to the writer, Linda Larson, slow cookers manufactured within the past 5 to 6 years have been made to cook at higher temperatures (200 degrees F on low; 300 degrees F on high) than older models.

Why would they want to mess with a good thing? Well, it has to do with food safety. Supposedly, someone somewhere got concerned that food was hanging around too long in the “danger zone” range of 40 to 140 degrees F, increasing the chances for bacterial growth. For the record, I’m all about avoiding food poisoning. But do you ever wonder if we are taking it a bit too far?

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When I saw pot roasts on sale at Kroger last week, I decided to search the recipe database on PlateUp for a recipe I could try. Savory Sweet Pot Roast caught my eye because it looked tasty and easy and because, let’s face it, anybody with the user name “GRANNYTREBOS” might know a thing or two about fixing a pot roast.

It didn’t hurt that she said she likes to cook it in “a deep cast iron skillet.” You go, granny. But I don’t have time during the week to slowly roast a hunk of meat in my cast iron Dutch oven, so I figured I’d try to adapt the recipe to my Crock Pot. We ended up having a delicious meal last night.

The name on this recipe is very fitting, because the juice, which I thickened into gravy, has a sweetness from the brown sugar, as well as savory and slightly tart notes from the other ingredients, which include vinegar and mustard. I used almost a whole sweet onion, which was probably the equivalent of a medium onion. But next time I make this, I’m doubling up on the sweet onion, because it was so delicious eaten with the meat and the gravy.

Try this recipe soon. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I’ll type it below because it’s short, but you can click here to print it from the recipe database.

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Lindsey Nair l The Roanoke Times

Wow, you all should see the fabulous recipes rolling in to the PlateUp recipe database since we launched our contest yesterday! I had hoped at least 40 or 50 recipes would be submitted, but we’ve already surpassed that by a healthy number. At the end of this post, I’m going to link to a few of the submissions we’ve received so far. If you all are anything like me, you’ll immediately begin to think about when you can make some of these dishes. Don’t forget to enter your own recipes for a chance to win Kroger gift cards. To do so, simply go to the green “Submit your recipe” box on this page. Please be patient – it might take a day or so before your recipe is approved and shows up in the database.

Meanwhile, I’ve been doing slow cooker recipe testing again, and I’ve discovered a surprising winner! This photo is of our dinner on Tuesday night: Santa Fe Pork. It came from my Pillsbury “Fast Slow Cooker” book, which has very, very simple recipes. Sometimes, they are so simple that I highly doubt they’ll be complex in flavor. This is one of those, but my husband encouraged me to try it.

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www.bbcgoodfood.com

On this lovely Monday morning, an Italian lesson from “Food Lover’s Companion”:

Minestra = “soup”
Minestrina = “little soup”
Minestrone = “big soup”

I’d eaten minestrone and loved it in the past, but not until this weekend had I made it myself. Saturday was cool and overcast, and I am getting over some chest crud, so it seemed the perfect day to make my first late summer/fall pot of soup. I dug up a recipe from reader Win Hunt that I’ve had for a while but hadn’t made.

This recipe is for slow cooker minestrone, but I altered it to be cooked on the stove top. My only problem was that I had a round steak, which can be pretty tough, so I browned and pressure cooked the steak chunks before putting them in the soup. Washing an extra pot was worth it for tender beef.

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Boneless chicken breasts are on sale at Kroger this week, and I picked up a package yesterday for a Crock Pot recipe I wanted to try out. Even on a hot day (and this week is supposed to be in the 90s- yuck) the Crock Pot is a great option because it doesn’t heat up the kitchen.

This chicken dish is supposed to taste like a chicken pot pie filling, and it doesn’t disappoint. It was soupy enough to eat in bowls like stew, and a dinner roll or biscuit would’ve been an excellent accompaniment. We sopped up the gravy with a slice of buttered bread, then had some homemade peach cobbler with Good Food-Good People peaches for dessert.

You could easily repurpose the chicken leftovers in an actual chicken pot pie with one of those refrigerated pie crusts, or simply ladle the heated leftovers over split biscuits, a la chicken a la king.

Another great recipe I’d like to share was forwarded to me by blog reader Debbie. This Succotash Fried Rice from eRECIPE looks like a great way to use some fresh corn, squash and peppers you might have on hand. Thanks for the recipe, Debbie.

I’m going to add recipes for the Crock Pot dish, the succotash and my mom’s fruit cobbler to the database. The cobbler is foolproof, not too bready and doughy. The edges get buttery and crispy. It’s killer. Hit the links to see and print these recipes:

Crock Pot Chicken Pot Pie
Succotash Fried Rice
Mom’s Fruit Cobbler

The marathon kitchen project continues (we only have about 700 coats of polyurethane left to put on the cabinet doors), so yesterday I turned to my trusty Crock Pot. I tend to get away from using the Crock Pot when the weather warms up, but this dish is good any time of year. I would bet, too, that you can get some of the pickiest eaters to enjoy this.

I’ve heard several variations of this slow cooker recipe. A friend of mine made it with just a package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, a packet of taco seasoning and a can of tomatoes. I saw one in my Pillsbury cookbook, “Fast Slow Cooker” that expanded on that idea, including some canned green chilies and extra seasonings. I cobbled the two ideas together in my mind and came up with my own recipe. One thing I liked about it was the fresh Anaheim pepper. I think canned green chilies are too expensive, and in a Crock Pot dish, the fresh pepper is going to cook down to the consistency of a canned product anyway.

See the recipe, below:

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Author Judith Finlayson had a cookbook published in 2004 called “125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes.” Apparently, it was so successful that she learned a bunch more recipes! Her latest book, “The Vegetarian Slow Cooker,” includes more than 200 recipes.

Those of us who eat meat have come to love our Crock Pots for their convenience, as well as their ability to render even the toughest cuts of meat fork tender. But the possibilities for vegetarians, vegans and meat eaters who still enjoy meatless dishes from time to time, are also wide. You can do hot cereals and breads for breakfast, appetizers such as artichoke and white bean topping for crostini, all manners of soups and stews and an endless array of flavorful ethnic dishes.

Finlayson warns that just because these dishes do not call for meat doesn’t mean you can slack on advance preparation. With most meats, it is always advisable that you sear the cut before placing in the cooker. For veggies, she suggests browning some to soften them and begin the process of caramelization. She also points out that root vegetables like parsnips or potatoes can cook even slower than meat, so they should not be cut larger than 1-inch cubes. And, as with any slow cooker dish, Finlayson says, do not overcook. We’ve talked about this before: the key is getting to know your particular slow cooker model.

There are so many good-looking recipes in this book that I had a hard time deciding which one to share. But I settled on Fennel-Spiked Lentil Cobbler with Red Pepper and Goat Cheese. Sounded pretty darn good to me. Here it is:

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Olive chicken. Serve over pasta.

Blog reader Kristen sent in a Crock Pot recipe a few weeks ago, after I said I wanted to try a different slow cooker recipe every week until Old Man Winter puts down his beating stick.

My editor had already tried Kristen’s recipe and said it was really good, so I finally got on the bandwagon yesterday. If you missed the recipe, which calls for black olives, garlic, tomatoes and herbs, click here. In short, we liked it a lot.

I used a package of bone-in chicken breasts instead of the thighs because it had been in my freezer for a couple of months and I wanted to use it before it got freezer burned. I think the substitution led to a much more flavorful dish than regular boneless, skinless breasts would have. I did have to pick out the bones and remove the skin and return the chicken to the pot, but that was worth the extra 15 minutes or so when I got home from work. I also skimmed off some grease, which probably came from the skin.

You can see in the picture above that the recipe yields a nice bit of juice, too, which is really good served over pasta. I thought a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese was a perfect finishing touch. Thanks again for that recipe, Kristen.

In other food news, Greenvale School of Roanoke is looking for competitors in its annual Virginia State Championship Chili Cook-off, which happens every summer in downtown Roanoke (the same weekend as the Strawberry Festival). This year’s cook-off is May 1. I know we’ve got some great cooks on this blog, so if you are interested, contact Jenny Lee at Greenvale School: (540) 342-4716 or jlee@greenvale-school.org.

Finally, are you looking for a really cheap Valentine’s Day idea? What if you and your sweetie could eat for just $10 and get dessert for free? Well, if you want some Chik-fil-A, you can! Both of the Roanoke area Chik-fil-A restaurants are having Valentine’s Dinner from 4 to 8 p.m. this Saturday, Feb. 13. It will include special decorations, table side service and long-stemmed roses for each lady in attendance, as well as a free fudge nut brownie for each diner.

Who says you can’t have it all?

This week, I chose a recipe from Pillbury’s “Fast Slow Cooker” cookbook. This would be a useful book for beginner cooks or those who barely have time to throw together a Crock Pot meal, because they are all really easy recipes that take about 15 minutes to prepare.

On the downside, as you can imagine, the recipes are pretty simple and most could probably benefit from some doctoring. But the Cheesy Potatoes with Ham I made yesterday really only needed a little bit of extra love. I thought it was quite good and very comforting.

Here’s the original recipe:

6 cups peeled potatoes cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked ham
1 can (15 oz.) whole kernel sweet corn, drained
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 tsp. minced dried onion
1 can (10 oz.) condensed cheddar cheese soup
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1. Mix potatoes, corn, ham, bell pepper and onion in Crock Pot.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the soup, milk and flour. Pour all over the potato mixture in the Crock Pot and stir gently to mix.

3. Cover and cook on low 7 to 9 hours or until potatoes are tender.

My variations:

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Since I picked the slow cooker beef stroganoff recipe for last week’s meal, I let my partner in crime choose our Crock Pot dish for this week. He picked something from a Prevention magazine slow cooker recipe book called “Sauerkraut Meal.” The name really cracks me up for some reason, but I digress. Here are the ingredients:

2 cups low sodium barbecue sauce
1 cup water
2 lbs. lean pork chops, trimmed of fat
2 lbs. sauerkraut, rinsed

The directions called for mixing together the barbecue sauce and water, then combining the sauerkraut, pork and sauce in the slow cooker and cooking on low for 8-10 hours. I had found a nice package of boneless pork chops, about 1-inch thick, on special at the grocery store, but it was only a 1 lb. package. With only two people to feed, I didn’t think I needed another package of pork. I did, however, use all of the sauerkraut, mainly because I would probably just let the other half of the bag sit in my fridge until it was time to toss it. We used Cattlemen’s barbecue sauce, and I peeled a few Yukon gold potatoes and tossed them in whole to go along with the rest of the dish.

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Slow cooker stroganoff

As promised in Monday’s blog entry, I’m going to attempt a new Crock Pot recipe every week through the winter. This will hopefully save us some money on dining out and give me an opportunity to check out new dishes so I can pass my experiences along to readers.

Yesterday, I tried an allrecipes.com recipe for beef stroganoff. If I had made the recipe exactly as suggested by Allrecipes, I probably would have been VERY unhappy with it. Fortunately, I read some reader comments and made adjustments based on their recommendations, so it turned out delicious with just a few minor corrections needed.

Read on to see the original recipe and my suggested variations.

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After almost three years of blogging on the old Fridge Magnet, I sometimes worry about duplicating topics, particularly since certain times of year cause the brain to automatically turn to particular recipes. But Crock Pot cooking is something I’m never concerned about overdoing because it is such a convenient, delicious way to prepare a meal.

Just the other day, a lady in the floral department at Kroger recognized me and asked me if I would print some more easy recipes. I asked her if she liked Crock Pot recipes and her face lit up. Not long after, my dad forwarded me an e-mail that’s apparently been circulating. It’s similar to a cookies and cakes e-mail I’ve seen before. Basically, it includes links to every kind of Crock Pot dish you could imagine.

But you don’t have to get the e-mail to find all those recipes. The links all go back to the same place: a Web site called the 50+ Friends Club Cookbook. There, you’ll find not only an abundance of Crock Pot recipes, but also recipes for many different desserts. Scroll down on the first page to find the index.

There! Now you can make cranberry pork roast, Crock Pot burritos, reuben casserole, Swiss steak, cheesy shrimp chowder, crab casserole, any kind of barbecue you could possibly imagine and much more! Happy slow cooking! Let us know what you try and how it turns out.