SHE: Uses Her Crock Pot

Hey Y'all,

This is the time of year where I get a little excited about cooking again. Summer meals are quick and cool and as often as possible cooked on our grill. But fall  ~ oh how I love fall!  It gets my tummy ready for the warm, hearty meals.  I love to be snuggled up on a cool day with a crock pot full of …. simmering away, making the whole house smell yummy. I guess that is why they call it comfort food.

There are so many fun fall activities to keep us busy. I am thankful that my crock pot cooking allows us to enjoy our family time and still have a hearty dinner that didn't keep me at the stove all day. Today, although not too cool, the rainy weather from Nate has me thinking about what all I can't wait to make in my crock pot. 

What do you use your crock pot for? Soup? Stew? Roast? Bar B Que? Desserts? Casseroles?  You see, there are lots of options at your fingertips to make.

I am sharing recipes for a few of my favorites today.  These are recipes I have used again and again and you can be certain that they always turn out perfect. I love that the crock pot allows me to prepare my dinner or dish without having to be right there with it!  You can use them anywhere. Ladies, this is a definite item you need for your first apartment! With a little planning you can eat well on your own ~ and no more Ramen noodles.

There is a smaller sized crockpot too that is great for a small group/ roommates or newlyweds (but if you want left overs, a regular 6 quart is what you need).  Most of the recipes can be frozen too. That allows you to have a quick meal a few weeks later that tastes like it’s been simmering all day. A nice treat to come home to after a long day.  

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

BBQ Chicken (easy sliders)

Hot Chocolate        

There are so many things you can do with your crock pot. Let me know your favorites. 

xoxo,

 Amy 

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SHE Cooks: Creamy Cheesy Crockpot Chicken & Rice

Happy Friday! The other day I made this tried and true recipe that I've had forever and knew it would be perfect to share with you!  The cooler weather has hit us (at least this week) and it's perfect crock pot weather now! 

Let's start with ingredients -

3-4 Chicken Breasts

1 can Cream of Chicken

1 box Yellow Rice Mix (7oz)

1 can Corn

1 - 2 cups of Cheddar Cheese

Onion

Now let's talk about these ingredients. First, I realized while pulling this post together that I didn't flip the cream of chicken for the picture (embarrassing...), so that's what that random can is. Second, you can almost make this recipe what you want it to be. Hubs and I don't like chunks of onion, so I use minced instead of chopping one up, but you can do whichever you like. We also like a lot of cheese so I ended up using 2 cups of cheese even though the recipe only calls for one!

To start lay your chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock pot and cover with onion. 

Scoop the cream of chicken on top of the chicken. Cover and cook. If using the low setting, cook for 4-6 hours. If using the high setting, cook for 8-10 hours!

In the last 30 minutes of cooking start preparing your rice according to the directions on the box. (Hint: you could also do this the night before and just have it waiting in the refrigerator.) 

Add your corn to crock pot while the rice is cooking so it can begin warming up. If you cooked your rice ahead of time go ahead and it now too so it'll be warming up. 

You'll notice my chicken is shredded at this point. The chicken is so tender at the end of cooking that I just stirred it and it fell apart!

Once you've added the corn and rice, you can add your cheese! Stir it in and then recover and let cook a few more minutes so the cheese can melt.

That's it! From there you're ready for a nice delicious hot meal!

I hope you enjoy this meal and I hope you're also getting nice temperatures right now. 

Happy fall and happy weekend!

xo Courtney

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SHE Cooks: Crock Pot Roast

Hello SHE's! I don't know about you, but I am so glad tomorrow is Friday! (Tomorrow is also the birthday of our fellow SHE, Brittney!)  This week has been a killer, and the last thing I want to do when I get home is cook. Seriously - I ordered pizza Monday night and I knew it was only downhill from there. 

So to make sure we had at least one home cooked meal this week, I grabbed the few items I needed for my favorite (and easy - which is key this week) crock pot roast!

What you need:

Roast (I used an arm roast)

1 Can of Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom

1 Pkg of Brown Gravy Mix

1 Pkg Lipton Onion Soup Mix

Add-ins - I like to use carrots and potatoes

What to do:

Place your roast in the crock pot. 

Mix together the soup and two mixes in a bowl.

Throw your carrots and potatoes on top of the roast and then pour the soup mixture over it. The soup mixture will be pretty thick at this point and that's okay! Just spread it over the veggies the best you can. As it cooks it will be perfect.

Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-10. I threw mine in on my way out the door for work on low for 10 hours and it was perfect and ready when I came home.

Chances are that by the time it is done cooking the roast will fall apart when you touch it. But if it doesn't, simply pull it out and shred on a cutting board and toss it back in. 

All done and happy eating!

I hope you enjoy this? Do you have any great plans for the weekend?

xo Courtney

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