Celebrate St Patty's Day - Irish Beef Stew By Robert Owens

Crockpot cooking can be an ideal way to eat healthy, low fat meals that are relatively inexpensive, easy and take very little time to prepare. If you have ever cooked a meal in a crockpot, it is probably one of the easiest ways to prepare dinner. During certain times of the year you can create special dishes to commemorate various events. St Patrick's day is just such an occasion that you can celebrate with a great Irish Beef Stew. This delightful dish will certainly fill the bill for those who want an authentic Irish meal when dressing up n their favorite leprechaun outfit. Using your Crock pot, this stew can simmer the delectable broth, spices and beef to create a succulent creation fit for an Irish King or Queen...The basic ingredients include:

1. Sauteed beef and Garlic
2. Beef stock
3. Guinness Beer
4. Red wine
5. Tomato paste
6. Thyme
7. Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves
8. Potatoes, Onions and Carrots

There are many recipes that dictate process and amount of each ingredient, but if you follow the Easy Home Cooking philosophy, you will create your own special recipe by adding the right amount that suits your taste buds. Add salt, pepper or a little dash of paprika to taste and you will find how a basic stew can transform into a signature dish that can be made throughout the year. If you want add more Irish fare to the menu, try adding Irish Soda Bread, a pint of warm beer to accompany your Irish Beef stew and finish off with Irish Potatoes for dessert. Top off the evening with a nice Irish Coffee and cigar (if that suits you) and put an exclamation point on the evening. From Irish Beef Stew to Corn Beef and cabbage, the crockpot is a versatile kitchen tools that can be used to create unique or basic dishes with exotic flair. Defining your style with Crockpot cooking is one way families can enjoy great meals while saving money and time.

Remember to make extras that can be frozen and taken out for a quick lunch or reheated for future lunches or dinners.

Cooking is your passion. Seasonal dishes add to the fun by creating quick and easy meals for special dates throughout the year.

See more ways you can cook easy meals in minutes Easy-Home-Cooking.com

Whole Chicken & Veggies By Mary Ann Allen

When visiting the supermarket today I noticed that they had a 'buy one, get one free' sale on whole chickens. I purchased two 5 lb. chickens for $8.42. I froze one for future roasting and cooked the other one in my Crockpot. It came out great and I did not spend more than $12 to feed all four of us. I will be making chicken salad sandwiches with the leftover chicken for the kid's lunch boxes tomorrow and our lunch at work! Not too shabby! Dinner, lunch and a whole extra chicken in the freezer for $12! Now, that's what I call frugal! To make this chicken you will need a 5 qt. Crockpot. If you are cooking for less people and have a smaller pot, cut the chicken in half and use half of all the ingredients below. Freeze the other half chicken.

Here we go:
1 whole chicken
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dry thyme
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Olive oil
16 small red or yellow potatoes
1 medium red onion
4 medium carrots
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup sugar snap peas

Clean out the chicken. Rinse and pat dry.
In a small bowl combine the garlic powder, salt, pepper and thyme. Rub the outside and the inside of the chicken with
the spices.
Rinse and dry the potatoes, making sure you remove all the dirt.
Peel and cut the onion into six pieces.
Peel and cut the carrots into 3" pieces.
Heat a large skillet on high. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Place the chicken in the heated pan and
brown all sides evenly. Turn it frequently to prevent it from burning. Once browned, remove it and set it aside.

Get rid of all but 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat. Pour the remainder fat into your Crockpot. Add the potatoes,
carrots and onion. Place the chicken on top of the veggies. Add the chicken stock and bay leaves. Season
with salt and pepper to taste.
Cook in a covered Crockpot on low for 6 ½ to 7 ½ hours, or 3 ½ to 4 ½ hours on low.
Remove the pan from the oven and place the chicken on a carving board. Carve the chicken and serve with the
cooked veggies on the side. Discard the bay leaves.

Bon appetit!
Note: If you are strapped for time and simply cannot sear the chicken in a skillet go ahead and rub it with the dry rub and place it in the slow cooker uncooked. The only drawback is that the chicken will have more of a boiled appearance. The flavor will remain the same! If you own a slow cooker with a delayed start time do not use it for this recipe. You do not want to leave the chicken sitting at room temperature and harvesting bacteria that might make you very sick!

For more recipes like this one go to http://www.thefrugalchef.com, home of the affordable, nutritious, delicious food!

The Frugal Chef

Quick and Easy Part 11 - Delicious Chicken Drumstick Crock Pot Stew By Frank Ernhart

The Crock Pot is not only a wonderful time saver but some slow cooked dishes are very tasty when compared with the same dish made other ways. This recipe makes a delicious chicken stew using only the drumsticks. You could use chicken thighs or leg quarters, or even the whole chicken if desired. The recipe would make a delicious vegetarian dish if you leave out the chicken and perhaps add some spices to give it more flavor. The preparation time for this crock pot is short It requires only cutting up the vegetables and doing a fast skillet browning on the drumsticks (for added flavor).

Ingredients
3 large chicken drumsticks (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, sliced on the bias
1 bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into quarters
1 clove of garlic, sliced
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. - Brown the chicken drumsticks on all sides in the olive oil in a skillet.
2. - Remove from the skillet and scrape all of the browned bits from the skillet bottom and
put both into the crock pot.
3 - Add the other ingredients and stir to distribute the cream of mushroom soup as evenly as possible.
4 - Set on high for 4 - 5 hours. Although I haven't tried this recipe on low, I'm sure 6-8m hours would work out fine.
This recipe was served over rice and it was scrumptious! Yous could use any kind of pasta but because the liquid is thin cooked rice is probably best. Hope you like it!

The author is a retired chemical engineer who in retirement has become the chief and only cook and bottle cleaner in the family. After watching hundreds of cooking shows and reading thousands of cookbooks I am generating and publishing my own plus lots of other already published recipes, mostly pre WWII. I do this on my website which also includes cryptogram puzzles, reform political commentary, auction stuff and UFO (Used Furniture Outlet). We live near Hecla, PA but this is a different UFO. Hope you like the recipes and that you will visit my site to find the over 600 recipes (and rising) free of charge. I hope you will click on some advertising links while there to help me maintain the website and continue to make it grow. The website is http://www.frankernhart.com

How To - Making Chicken Noodle Soup in the Crockpot By KC Kudra

Making homemade soup can take a long time, but with your magic crockpot, you can get a wonderful batch of chicken noodle soup while you are taking care of other tasks. While you are out and about, your soup will be happily simmering, creating a delectable bowl of comfort. This is a meal you can easily make whether you are an accomplished chef or if you only cook when absolutely necessary. Your chicken soup will turn out much better than any canned soup you can buy.

If You Use Only the Freshest Ingredients...

If you only use the freshest ingredients, the crockpot can still make your soup easier. Remove the skin from your chicken. You can use a whole chicken, parts or boneless breasts or thighs... whichever you have handy. Put the chicken in the crockpot with enough water to cover it. You can add a stalk of celery, an onion, a carrot, and some herbs if you wish. Let it simmer on high for three to four hours.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove it and let it cool off. Strain out the vegetables and herbs you may have put in with the chicken and toss them. Remove the cooled meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces before adding it back to the broth. Add some freshly chopped vegetables of your choice: perhaps some carrots, sweet potatoes, rutabagas, celery, or other favorites. Add a little garlic and some herbs if you wish.

Leave the crockpot on high and let it simmer a couple more hours before opening the lid. Taste the broth a little less than an hour before you want to serve dinner. Add any salt that is needed. Once it tastes the way you want, add your noodles. You can use egg noodles, linguine, curly noodles, or bowties. If you make homemade noodles, you can add them about 20 minutes before you serve.

Simply Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

If you prefer to keep it really simple, here is another method. This chicken noodle soup recipe is so easy a teenager could make it. You can use leftover chicken or one of those rotisserie chickens from the supermarket.

Put the chicken in the crockpot, bones, and all. Cover with a large can of chicken broth. Simmer the soup on high for three or four hours. This will add the chicken's flavor to the commercial broth. Remove the chicken and let it cool before deboning it. Cut up the meat before putting it back in the crockpot.

Add some vegetables. You can use fresh sliced carrots or other vegetables, or you can use frozen vegetables. To make it really easy, just put in some whole baby carrots from the market. No peeling, slicing or dicing! Let the soup cook for a couple more hours.

About half an hour to 45 minutes before you want to eat, add your favorite noodles. You can use any kind of noodles you like, from ruffly egg noodles to ramen. Large ribbon noodles are fun. This is also a great way to use up small amounts of noodles in your cupboard. Mix and match if you need to. Break up some spaghetti, put in a handful of macaroni. It is your soup, do what you want!

Everyone loves chicken noodle soup. It helps us feel better when we're sick, or just feeling blue. For more inspiration, check out ChickenNoodleSoups.com for recipes, cooking tips and fun facts about everyone's favorite soup.

If you are looking for some great recipes or tips on cooking chicken soups and stews of your own, the site will be very helpful. Whether you want a quick and easy soup, a creamy one, or an old fashioned chicken stew, you are sure to find it there. Recipes like our classic chicken noodle soup recipe and many more chicken soup recipes.

If you are in the mood for chicken stew with an international, flavor our any other type of wonderful chicken soup we have a selection that is sure to fit the bill.

Nothing but chicken soups of all kinds. Also find informative articles related to chicken soup's health benefits and other interesting information like soup cooking tips.

Look for our heart health recipe guide to find soup recipes that can help you with your fight against heart disease. All recipes include nutritional information to help you make informed healthy choices about your next recipe decision.

Cooking With a Crockpot - How to Convert Recipes to the Crockpot By KC Kudra

How many times have you been planning meals and came up disappointed when you discovered you didn't have time to make the meal you wanted? Most people will not even think of putting a recipe in the crockpot unless it is written expressly for the crockpot. Did you know that many standard recipes could be converted to crockpot recipes?

The low setting of most crockpots is around 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The high setting is about 300 degrees Fahrenheit. An hour of cooking on the high setting is about the same as 2 to 2.5 hours of cooling on the low setting. You will find that most recipes for crockpots recommend cooking the food for around 8 to 10 hours on low.

Advice for Converting Recipes to Use in a Crockpot

When you convert a recipe to the crockpot, there are a few tips you will want to keep in mind. You will want to reduce the amount of liquid the recipe calls for. In the crockpot, liquid does not evaporate. You normally wind up with quite a bit of liquid at the end of cooking time. Reduce the amount of liquid you add to the dish by half, unless you are also using rice or pasta.

The spices you use may need to be adjusted. Ground spices may lose some flavor over many hours of cooking, so do not add them until the last hour of cooking. Whole spices will have their flavors intensified by long cooking times, so you may want to reduce them by half.

If you plan to make chicken soup or other liquid-based meals, only add enough liquid to cover the other ingredients. You can add more liquid towards the end of cooking time if needed. If you are making a cream soup, do not add the dairy products until close to the end to prevent curdling and separating.

You can make dried beans in the crockpot. Cook them overnight on low instead of spending the time soaking them. Add your beans and then cover them with water. Add a teaspoon of baking soda. In the morning, drain the beans before combining them with your other ingredients. Bean soup, chili, and other tasty meals can then proceed in the crockpot as usual.

Not All Foods Love Crockpots

Be aware that some foods do not fare well when cooking for 8 to 10 hours. Rice, pasta, seafood, some vegetables, and dairy products are all too delicate for such long cooking times. When making a dish that contains these ingredients, do not add them until the last couple of hours before serving when your pot is set on low. If you are cooking on high, hold off until the last hour before adding these delicate ingredients. If you really must have milk added to a recipe early on, try evaporated milk.

Browning your meat can be done before adding it to the crockpot to add that lovely coloring. Browning may also reduce the fat content a little bit on some kinds of meat. Browning is optional, however. Roasts can turn out very flavorful in the crockpot with or without it

Crockpots save time and make mealtimes easy and delicious. If you want to explore more options for your crockpot, check out ChickenNoodleSoups.com for some delicious recipes and crockpot tips. It is easy to make nutritious, home cooked meals using your crockpot.

If you are looking for some great recipes or tips on cooking chicken soups and stews of your own, the site will be very helpful. Whether you want a quick and easy soup, a creamy one, or an old fashioned chicken stew, you are sure to find it there. Recipes like our classic chicken noodle soup recipe and many more chicken soup recipes.
If you are in the mood for chicken stew with an international, flavor our any other type of wonderful chicken soup we have a selection that is sure to fit the bill.

Nothing but chicken soups of all kinds. Also find informative articles related to chicken soup's health benefits and other interesting information like soup cooking tips.
Look for our heart health recipe guide to find soup recipes that can help you with your fight against heart disease. All recipes include nutritional information to help you make informed healthy choices about your next recipe decision.