Slow Cooker Recipe Ideas With Only 5 ,4 0r 3 Ingredients

[tcmgpt13]

There have been several requests lately from members asking how others handle cooking when really sick with Morgellons. IMHO the best friend of those who are chronically ill is the slow cooker. It is nearly like having a maid (well, that’s a stretch I admit). Throw a few ingredients into one of these appliances, turn it on and it takes care of itself (for the most part). Clean up is easy too, as you can do the final wash in the dishwasher, after soaking overnight in hot, soapy water any dried up bits left in the ceramic liner after completion. Soaking this liner in hot soapy water as soon as possible minimizes cleanup.

Here are some free recipe ideas for slow cooker meals which have only 5 ingredients from the About.com site:

Five Ingredient Crockpot Recipes - Crockpot Recipes with Five Ingredients - 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Recipes

More Five Ingredient Crockpot Recipes - Slowcooker Entree Crock pot Recipes - More 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Recipes

Some 4 ingredient recipes:

Four Ingredient Crockpot Recipes - Slow Cooker Four Ingredients Appetizers Entrees Recipes 4 Ingredient Crockpot Side Dishes Recipes

If 4 or 5 ingredients is too daunting to attempt there are also recipes containing only have 3 ingredients:

Three Ingredient Crockpot Recipes - Recipes Using Three Ingredients

Here’s just one example of a 3 ingredient slow cooker recipe:

“Beach Boy's Pot Roast

Recipe Feedback:
User Rating 5 out of 5 5 out of 5
(1 review)

By Linda Larsen, About.com

Who is Beach Boy? Click here to find out. This famous recipe is delicious and super easy.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 hours,
Ingredients:

* 1 beef roast (chuck, top round, about $1.69/lb)
* jar of pepperoncini peppers
* slivers of garlic

Preparation:
Cut some slits in roast and insert garlic slivers. Place beef in crockpot. Dump peppers and all of the juice on top. Crock all day on low....at least 12 hours.

For serving, just slice and serve, or make BB's hoagies. When cool, fork-shred beef, spread on hoagie (sub) rolls, squirt on some Cheeze-Whiz and pig out!!! Put some of those delicious (now meaty) pepperoncini peppers on the sub too!! “

One of the good things about getting sick (well, this is sheer rationalization on my part, but seems to work to elevate my mood LOL) has been the incentive to find new ways to eat that do not leave me fatigued from cooking. With the slow cooker I do not have to think about what to do next which can happen with traditional cooking. You know, all those sixteen ingredient seven step recipes you encountered in the past which kind of makes your head spin these days?

If I don’t cook meals I find myself looking around the kitchen and wind up eating crackers and cheese. Not exactly the key to recovery when I do this. I find myself less tempted to skip meals when I fix simple foods in the slow cooker, some of which may be frozen in containers for later, quick reheating on those days I simply cannot face the kitchen.

Additional suggestions I have for preparation simplification when extremely fatigued is to buy vegetables like carrots, chopped onions, green peppers and tomatoes, grated cabbage (cole slaw mixes), sliced yellow squash, potatoes which are already cleaned and peeled in the produce department. While the trade off is some extra expense in addition to lost vitamins from sitting in the store it still beats (IMHO) a frozen pre-made meal containing additives. I do not take these shortcuts as often now that I am feeling somewhat better, but it was something I often did when very ill.

Hope this helps.

Bon appétit!

[Katinka]

Hi Tcm,
sounds delicious and really easy to cook even for me LOL

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy I've got vegs in my tummy.....

Katinka

[Kritters]

Katinka,
I love your animations...I'm not able to do any of that because I use Internet Explorer.

BIG UNHAPPY SMILEY FACE!!!!
Kritts

[2manyfibers]

Hey TCM - this thread is a good idea. I like cooking meats in a slow cooker or crock pot and have tried several things. Thought I would include a simple recipe for most any meats that I've found to be good. One nice thing about using a slow cooker aside from it being easy is that the meat always comes out tender and juicy (its pretty hard to really overcook it such that it is dry). Here's the one for meats in general and I'll add another post for my "world famous" crock pot chili (maybe it's a small world I live in but it's still pretty good to me).

Simple Recipe for Beef, Pork or Chicken in a Slow Cooker


Ingredients: meat, Worcestershire sauce, meat marinade (like Moore’s or similar) and cream of mushroom soup.

Take a beef or pork roast (or a pork loin is great too – you may have to cut it into 2 or 3 large pieces to fit into the slow cooker) and salt and pepper it. Place into the slow cooker and pour about 2 to 4 ounces of meat marinade over the meat trying to “soak” the meat on all sides (some marinades have a pretty strong flavor so you may not want to use much of it - it isn't really required if you don't have it handy). Splash a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce over it and pour 2 to 3 cans of cream of mushroom soup (depending on how much meat there is) over the top of it.

Cook in slow cooker until it is as tender as desired (pork roasts you may want to cook longer to ensure the meat is cooked thoroughly). For a medium roast it takes about 6 to 8 hours on a medium setting and for a large roast or loin I like to cook it about 10 to 12 hours. The meat will be so tender that it will fall apart when you try to take it out. Great to serve with vegetables (if you like vegetables that is) and it makes really good sandwiches too.

Chicken is also very good cooked this way. If you use chicken that has the bones in it, the meat will fall off the bones as you try to remove it from the cooker. With chicken and pork you always want to make sure it is cooked thoroughly to prevent illness (if it falls apart when you try to remove it, it’s cooked thoroughly).

The meats are always tender and juicy when cooked this way. I have tried vegetables like potatoes and carrots cooked with the meat. If you want to do this I would recommend waiting until the meat is about halfway cooked to put in the vegetables. If you put them in for the whole cooking time they turn to mush in the bottom of the cooker. An onion (chopped or whole) can also be added for flavor if you like.

[2manyfibers]

Crock Pot Chili Recipe


3 lbs. of ground chuck (or round or sirloin)

3 cans (approx. 15 oz) of tomato sauce

3 cans (approx. 15 oz.) light red kidney beans

1 medium to large yellow onion; chopped

1 medium / large bell pepper; chopped (or done in a food processor)

3 - 4 tablespoons of chili powder depending on how spicy you like it

½ to 1 teaspoon of black pepper

½ to 1 teaspoon of red (cayenne) pepper



Pour tomato sauce and kidney beans (drained and rinsed) in large crock pot (or soup kettle that will hold at least six quarts). Chop onion and pepper by hand or in a food processor. Add onion, bell pepper, chili powder, black and red pepper and stir thoroughly (cumin can be added or substituted for black / red pepper as well). Brown ground beef, drain the grease off and stir in with other ingredients.

In crock pot: cook on high for 3-4 hours, then cook on low for another 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally (or cook on a medium setting for 7 to 10 hours). You’ll know it’s done when the onion and bell pepper are tender and the solid ingredients tend to collect in the bottom of the pot (it will all be basically the same color as well).

You can spice it up a little by adding small to moderate amounts of Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, mustard and/or steak sauce. For hotter chili, add more cayenne pepper or tobasco sauce.

Serve with saltines and/ or corn chips and shredded cheddar cheese. Makes 8-10 good sized servings. Great for chili dogs as well.

If less or more chili is desired, add / subtract a can of tomato sauce, beans and a pound of ground beef – also add / subtract a little of the chili powder and other spices. If you have a smaller slow cooker you can use 2 cans of tomato sauce and beans with 2 pounds of ground beef with 2 to 3 tablespoons of chili powder.

[tcmgpt13]

I am on a gluten free diet and so am always on the look out for GF recipes, especially those which can be made in the slow cooker and are super easy. This recipe comes from a GF Blog site and was posted by the person who runs it, Crockpot Lady. The directions are for both wheat added versions (dumplings are made with canned biscuits) and GF (drop biscuits easily made from Pamela's GF baking mix). Canned soups are used, again these are now available in GF versions too, as well as the standard varieties for those who do not have to watch gluten. I plan to try this one soon, as it has been quite some time since I have had the energy to do much GF cooking (which is mostly from scratch). Dumpling have become a distant memory. This version sounds very easy as the biscuit dough is added to the slow cooker during the last hour of cooking.

BTW, thanks to 2manyfibers for adding his easy to make slow cooker recipes. They will be next to try. I am especially looking forward to trying that beef chili recipe.

Another aside, I made the recipe for beef and pepperoncini which I posted earlier. I even added a small bag of fingerling potatoes and a bag of baby carrots, about half way through so they did not overcook, as was suggested by 2mf. No peeling with those additions. Good recipe if you enjoy hot and spicy tender beef and vegetables:

A Year of CrockPotting: CrockPot Chicken and Dumplings Soup Recipe

Chicken and dumplings! Finally! I don't know why it took me so long to make this----it was terribly easy, and very tasty. Thank you so much for all of the recipes that were sent in. This is a compilation of recipes from Tamara, Kimberley, Danette, and Renee. Thank you!

The Ingredients.

--3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken (I used frozen thighs)
--1 yellow onion, chopped
--1 cup mushrooms, chopped (I used baby portabellas)
--16 ounces frozen vegetables

--2 cans cream-of-something soup, or combine in a saucepan:
4 T butter
6 T flour (I used Pamela's baking mix)
1 cup milk (I used soy)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp poultry seasoning

--1 can refrigerated biscuits, or one batch drop biscuits (I used Pamela's Baking Mix, and used the drop-biscuit recipe listed on the back of the bag)

The Directions.

I used a 6.5 quart crockpot. Anything 4 quarts and up will work. Put the chicken and vegetables into the bottom of the crockpot. Add the cream-of soups, or your homemade substitute. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5. I cooked ours on high for 4 hours, and on low for another two. An hour before serving, shred chicken with two large forks, and drop in the biscuit dough.

Cover and cook on high for another hour. The bisquits are done when you can insert a knife and it comes out clean. They will be spongey and will brown a bit on the sides and top.

Serve in bowls, with a biscuit or two per person.

The Verdict. (this comment is from Crockpot Lady)

Delicious. I've never had chicken and dumplings before, and really enjoyed this a lot. Adam and I each had two bowls. Dinner wasn't ready until almost 7, so the kids ended up eating leftovers. My four-year-old thought it looked weird, so fingers are crossed she's feeling adventurous for lunch.
Posted by Crockpot Lady at 6:28 AM
Labels: chicken, crockpot, gluten free, main course, soup

[Robin]

Hello everyone,
Thanks,TCM i love cooking meals in my crockpot they always come out so good and its so much easier to use.i'm always looking for some new recipes to try.my kids love chicken and dumplings also!
xxoo
Robin

[tcmgpt13]

I hope the chicken and dumplings come out well for you Robin. I just tried this recipe yesterday and think I will have to tinker with the amount of liquid I add to the GF baking mix to make the dumplings. I added extra herbs (sage, thyme and fresh parsley) to the dumplings as you almost have to add something to GF flour to get a good flavor, but next time I will make the dumplings with a bit less milk. It probably would have been fine with wheat based dumplings or the canned wheat biscuits, but when using a GF mix they just got too moist when I added the suggested amount of milk to the drop biscuit recipe. GF cooking is one big continuous experiment as you have to alter recipes to make them work. I also had to add extra spice and some bullion to this recipe as GF soups do not have as much flavor or salt as regular canned soups.

Hope you will add any favorite easy slow cooker recipes you have too!

[Katinka]

Boy! I'm "stuffed" just by reading this

[spotted dog]

Thanks for all the recipes, try adding cumin seed, good for skin, immune system & kills worms in stomach, smells horrible but tastes O.K.in casseroles, I buy the spice jars of it & also take black cumnoil capsules, I can see a difference after a couple of weeks Spots...