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