Apple Brown Betty

I have realized that none of my recipes are anything but dinner. You can literally cook so many things in a crock pot that extend past dinner. All meals, breakfast-lunch-dinner-dessert, could possibly be cooked in a crock pot! So I wanted to include a dessert recipe I found on the internet for a nice apple dessert that can be cooked in the crock pot. The website I got this from is

http://family.go.com/food/recipe-cp-787113-homestyle-apple-brown-betty-t/

This recipe and many others can be found by searching through there links but here is the recipe for apple brown betty.

Recipe
   6 cups cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
   1 cup bread crumbs
   1 TSP ground cinnamon
   1 TSP nutmeg
   1/8 TSP salt
   3/4 cup packed brown sugar
   1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
   1/4 finely chopped walnuts

Spray your crock pot with cooking spray and line the bottom with the apple slices. Then combine the remaining ingredient together and pour over the apples. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours, or on high for 2 hours.

I would think this recipe would be really tasty, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! It would be really good after getting a fill of pulled pork sandwiches!

Chicken Mush

So I forgot to mention the story of chicken mush. Earlier on in the semester, I decided to make a chicken soup in my crock pot because it has been cold and I was just really feeling a soup. So I made a soup, couple containers of chicken broth, vegetables, lots of chicken, carrots, celery, basil, the whole shebang. I got this all going in the morning and put it on low so it would cook and make this awesome soup for when I got out of work at 6pm. My roommate was going to put rice in the soup around 5pm so that would cook and be ready for 6pm (putting it in the morning would have made the rice too soft and absorb a lot more of the liquid). So at 5pm, she texted me and asked if she should put the whole bag in the crock pot. I was like no, not the whole bag, like at most a cup! She texted me back to say she put half a bag in and she estimated it to me 3 cups of rice. I was thinking, oh well, it will be more of a chicken and rice soup with more emphasis on the rice part. Well, when I got back, there was nothing soup about what was in my crock pot. It was mush, a big chicken vegetable rice mush. It was delicious but definitely a juicy rice mush! We ate it all over the next couple of days but we joke about chicken mush because it actually came out really tasty!!

Pulled Pork

I have never tried to make pulled pork in a crock pot but my aunt does this all the time! It's super easy and makes great sandwiches all year round.

Recipe
   1 pork should roast (2 1/2 pounds)
   1 bottle (14 ounces) of your favorite BBQ sauce
   1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon
   1 TSP brown sugar
   1 medium onion, chopped

Put the roast in your crock pot on low for 10 to 12 hours, or high for 5-6 hours. When the roast is done cooking, remove from crock pot and drain the liquid that occurs when cooking in the crock pot, the pork broth if you might say, and put back in crock pot. Shred pork with two forks, and add in all the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook again for 2 hours on low or 1 hour on high.

And then finally, get some of your favorite bread or rolls, make sandwiches and enjoy!!! Super easy and delicious and serves 8 people so invite some of your friends over!

Baked Beans

I have been having this craving for baked beans! I really want to try and make homemade bake beans in my crock pot (although the best way would be bean hole beans!) But since I can't do that and I am still trying to find a good recipe for homemade baked beans, this semi-homemade recipe will have to work. I found this recipe by searching baked beans on

www.crock-pot .com

It is really simple and is super delicous!

Recipe
   5 slices of bacon (or more), cut into 1 inch pieces
   32 ounces of canned baked beans, drained
   1 green pepper, cut up
   1 onion, cut up
   1 1/2 teaspoon of mustard
   1 cup ketchup
   1/2 cup barbecue sauce
   1/2 cup brown sugar

All you have to do is put all the ingredients into your crock pot and mix together. I used more onion, green pepper, and bacon than the recipe called for because I like all these ingredients and it was delicious! Just cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

BBQ Bacon Wrapped Chicken

So I found this recipe online the other day and I instantly knew I had to try it. I verged a little bit from what the actual recipe called for but it was super tasty and wicked yummy! Here is a link for the actual recipe and then I will explain what I did.

http://www.momswhothink.com/crock-pot-recipes/bacon-wrapped-apple-barbecue-chicken.html


Grease your crock-pot with cooking spray. I then took a package of chicken breasts, it had 6 breasts in them, and then washed them off in cold water. You want to pat them dry after this to get rid of the extra water after you rinse them. Then, take a package of bacon and wrap 2 or 3 slices around the breast, depending on how large the breast is. Place it into your crock-pot and do the same for the rest of the breasts. This will cover the bottom of your crock pot. Next, take some of your favorite BBQ sauces and drizzle all over the chicken wrapped bacon. The recipe online said to cook on low for 8 hours but I did this on high for about 3ish hours. The chicken was so tender and juicy, it was soooooo delicious! I will definitely be making this recipe again! I should also mention if you like onions, that before I put my chicken in, I actually layered the bottom with slices of onion from one onion.

Easy Chicken and Carrots

So when I first got my crock pot, the first thing I tried to cook was a whole chicken. It's relatively simple to do. Buy a whole chicken that will fit in your crock pot, rinse it off and pull the bag of insides out of the cavity (unless you like to keep them... no thanks). So throw them away, rinse the bird off, and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub some of your favorite seasoning on it, and put it in your crock pot on low. If you do this in the morning, it will be all cooked by the time you get back and want supper.

I put the carrots in a few hours before we were going to eat since they would be too mushy if they were in the crock pot all day. You don't need to add in chicken broth because the chicken will make broth itself. This came out smelling and tasting very good! I had put onions on the bottom of my crock pot prior to putting the chicken in but that is optional. The chicken, and the carrots, had a very delicious taste but the chicken was a little dry but this literally falls right off the bone, that is how tender it is!

Relay For Life

Every year over spring break, my friend and I hold a bake sale to raise money for Relay for Life! We bake lots of goodies and sit all day on a Friday (usually pay day for most) at our local credit union and raise money! Patrons usually buy something or donate a dollar or their change and we do pretty well. In past years we have raised over $300 but this year it was only a little over $200. This year was not as busy at the credit union as it has been in past years but we still felt that it was a great bake sale none the less! We had homemade yeast rolls, cookie squares, brownies, banana bread, rice crispy treats, peanut brittle, peanut butter chocolate cup cakes, whoopie pies, and pasta fagioli soup. My aunt makes meatless pasta fagioli soup because it is Lent and many people who participate in Lent can't eat meat on Friday. If you would like me to bake you something for a donation for our Relay for Life team or would just like to make a donation, feel free to see me during class or shoot me an email!

In crock pot news, there is this thing called a Crock-Pot Lunch Crock and it's so cute! Its a little crock-pot so you can take your lunch with you and plug it in and it will be nice and hot when you eat your lunch! Here is a link for more information about it if you think this could be the crock-pot for you!

http://www.crock-pot.com/Product.aspx?cid=113&pid=10151