The Chicken and Dumplings that weren't (CP)

So, I followed the Crockpot Lady's recipe to make Chicken and Dumplings...and I got Chicken Pot Pie. Don't know what chicken and dumplings were like in her family growing up, but they were not like this in mine.

Nothing wrong with the taste of the recipe at all. It was actually delicious. It was just Chicken Pot Pie, rather than Chicken and Dumplings. So, we will repeat it, just calling it the right thing. :-P

I'm still searching for a good chicken and dumplings recipe, but a friend e-mailed me one today, so I'm going to try that. It's not crockpot, but I'm hoping to adapt it.

For a great crockpot Chicken Pot Pie recipe, though...

• 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 C mushrooms, chopped
• 16 ounces frozen vegetables

• 2 cans cream-of-something soup, or combine in a saucepan:
• 4 T butter
• 6 T flour
• 1 C milk
• 1 C chicken broth
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t black pepper
• 1 t poultry seasoning

• 1 can refrigerated biscuits, or one batch drop biscuits.

1. Put the chicken and vegetables into the bottom of the crockpot (anything 4 quarts and up will work).
2. Add the cream-of soups, or your homemade substitute.
3. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5.
4. An hour before serving, shred chicken with two large forks, and drop in the biscuit dough.
5. Cover and cook on high for another hour.
6. The biscuits are done when you can insert a knife and it comes out clean. They will be spongy and will brown a bit on the sides and top.
7. Serve in bowls, with a biscuit or two per person.

Apple Cracked Wheat (CP)

Mamamin6 posted this on a Sonlight thread on crockpot oatmeal. I was delighted, because we can't get non-quick-cooking oats here. (Well, there are the imported little bags of Bob's Red Mill, but one of those would feed my kids maybe one meal. And we'll not even talk about how much it costs.) Quick-cooking oats done in the crockpot are paste (ask me how I know). Yay for cracked wheat.

• 2 C cracked wheat or bulgur wheat
• 4 C (1 l) apple juice
• 4 C water
• 4-6 T honey
• 2-4 T unsalted butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t cardamom
• 1 C chopped apples (2 medium apples)

1. Put the cracked wheat in a dry skillet and toast over medium heat until you can just smell the aroma, about 5 minutes.
2. Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or overnight, until tender (the cracked wheat will take longer to cook than the bulgur, which is parboiled).
4. Stir the cereal well and scoop into bowls with an oversized spoon.
5. Serve with milk, cream, or soy milk, if desired.

mamanin6 says:
• To make plain cracked wheat, use 1 C wheat to 3 C water. We've also cooked steel cut oats with apple juice in the crock-pot, and that tastes good, too.
• If you like crock-pot cooking, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook is a great book. Lots of great recipes, and tons of great info about crock pots, how to convert oven recipes to crock pot, etc. It is one of my most used cookbooks! They have a delicious tapioca pudding recipe that you make in the crock pot.

I haven't had more than a bite of this (my goal is to eat raw for breakfast, and I've been pretty good about keeping to it), but the kids like it, MS especially. It's going to for sure be a regular in our repertoire.

Oh, and I skipped the toasting step the second time, and the kids didn't seem to mind, so I don't think I'll bother with it in the future.

Pumpkin Crockpot Granola

I have been wanting to teach MS how to do more in the kitchen, both for his own sake and for mine. Thanks to the idea from my sister-in-law (MKH), I have started MS off with things he can cook in the crockpot. We have a gas stove and oven, and he's a little skittish about fire (guess I should be happy), and while he's going to have to get over that and soon, the crockpot has provided a way to get him cooking without crossing that bridge quite yet. He can make a roast, and he can make applesauce and apple butter so far.

Since breakfast is the bane of my existence, I decided a breakfast option would be a good thing to teach next. So, I planned to teach him last night how to do overnight crockpot granola (using the recipe I'd previously posted). School kind of went long yesterday, though, and we wrapped up read-alouds at 9:30 PM, just in time for MS to go to bed. :-/

This morning, we were doing kitchen-school, so I could get some dishes washed and bake some pumpkin muffins while the pumpkin puree I'd made earlier in the week was still good. Noticing the butter we'd put in the crockpot to thaw yesterday (don't worry, it's cold here already, so the butter was fine), the wheels started turning in my head. Hm, I've started using applesauce in place of 1/2 of the butter for the granola recipe...I bet pumpkin puree would substitute perfectly...I was wondering what I was going to do to use up the puree that I didn't need for the muffins...it's not even going to be enough to be worth freezing...it would be just the right amount, though, for granola...

So, MS's home ec for today was Pumpkin Crockpot Granola, recipe as follows.

Crockpot Granola
• 1/2 C oil or butter + 1/2 C pureed pumpkin
• 1/2 C honey + 1/2 C molasses
• 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t ginger, 1/4 t nutmeg, 1/8 t cloves
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 6 cups of oats - not quick cooking (more like 10 C, if it’s quick cooking)

1. Make sure you keep the cover of the crockpot cracked or off. Cook on low for 5 hours or until brown, stirring occasionally. The more frequently you stir, the finer the consistency. If you prefer clumpier granola stir less.
2. Add raisins, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips...whatever you desire after the granola is ready.
3. This is delicious as a hot or cold cereal, as a snack, a topping for yogurt or made into granola bars.

If you put the lid on directly/completely, you run the risk of cracking the crock (this has happened to someone who tried this recipe).

I put the butter in with the crockpot on high as I prepare to make the recipe and do a few other things. Once it’s melted, I add the other ingredients, except the oats. I stir them until they are mixed and then add the oats (and sometimes the coconut).

Recently, I chopped up several apples and put them in with the ingredients the night before. In the morning, we had dried apple bits in our granola. I’m going to try this with different fruits in the future to see what other options work.

We're planning on putting raisins in once it's done cooking. We'd love to put in roasted pumpkin seeds, but we don't have any. :-(

Sloppy Verna's

Courtesy of Speedy Mom from the SL boards.

We did not have sloppy joes that often growing up, but ML's mom would ship over cans of the sauce as a treat for their family. It was one of the first meals I ate with them when we went to visit when we were engaged (guess I was considered worthy of a treat). We had sloppy joes every 2 weeks or so during our early married years, but once we moved overseas and did not have access to canned sauce anymore, it fell out of our repertoire. I tried several different recipes, but none duplicated the taste of canned. Until Sloppy Verna's. Okay, so it's odd that we searched for years for a recipe that tastes like the canned option, but, hey, we're odd, and we're okay with that.

• 1.5 lbs ground beef
• + salt, pepper, garlic powder - all to taste
• 1/2 onion, chopped (optional)
• 1 jar tomato sauce (16 oz.) or equivalent mixture of tomato paste and water
• 2 T vinegar (apple vinegar to gives it a nice sweet taste)
• 1/2 T mustard
• 4 T brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water (optional, depending on sauce consistency)
• salt, pepper
• paprika (optional)

1. Brown and season ground beef (and onions, if desired).
2. Mix together remaining ingredients.
3. Pour over beef.
4. Simmer 30 min.

This can be heated/simmered in the crockpot, as well.

Until we discovered MA's soy allergy, I would make this with TVP, and it was a super easy meal.

Before that, though, this was my go-to meal when I would brown 4-5 lbs of ground beef to freeze in meal-sized portions. I would use some that night for Sloppy Verna's. I'm back to that option now.

UnRefried Beans (CP)

Bethany's awesome, restaurant-quality, much-better-than-canned, actually-doable-where-we-live UnRefried Beans:

INGREDIENTS
- 1 onion, peeled and halved
- 3 C dry pinto beans, rinsed or a mixture of pinto beans and black beans
- 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
- 2 t minced garlic
- 5 ts salt
- 1 3/4 t fresh ground black pepper
- 1/8 t ground cumin, optional
- 9 C water (or chicken broth plus water to equal 9 C)

DIRECTIONS
1. Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.
2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency (the beans absorb the liquid very quickly as they sit, so make it soupier than you will want the end consistency).

Modifications and Tips:
- I soaked the beans overnight in water with baking soda to, um, decrease the impact on our digestive systems. I kept the cooking time the same.
- I used a stick blender to mash the beans after draining them.
- The first time I cooked these, I used the broth I made from the fried turkey bones and skins we had at Thanksgiving. I had this in the freezer and had made half of it as soup, but it was too spicy for the kids. In the beans, though, with the added water it took to made the 9 cups (I had about 5 cups of broth), it was perfect. Not that everyone has fried turkey broth in their freezer, but if you make a soup too spicy, this might be an option, plus I thought people might find it interesting.
- Now that I've found dried black beans (read: Rob & Steph found them and pointed them out to me), I make these with 1/2 pinto and 1/2 black beans. I soak the black beans for less time than the pintos, and the black beans add to the creaminess of the final product.
- This makes enough for two meals for our family. We have it on a tortilla-type bread that we can get here with cheese, sour cream, salsa and anything else that sounds good. :-)
- If you do not mash or blend the beans, they are very similar to the El Charro beans served at many Mexican food restaurants (at least in Texas).
- I will often cook 1-2 chickens in the crockpot to use the meat in recipes. When I cook them, I add onion and maybe seasoning salt and fill the crockpot to the top with water. After they are cooked, I will use the broth to make the UnRefried Beans. It adds to the flavor.

Alternate spices:
2 t seasoned salt
2 t salt
1/2 t crushed red peppers
1/2 t cumin
1 t onion powder

Granola (CP)

This is an amalgamation of two different recipes, one from a former Sonlight poster, TaminAZ, and another from HillbillyHousewife.com. I prefer Hillbilly Housewife's granola, but it is more time consuming, so, in a pinch, I make it Tam's way, in the crockpot. Most often, these days, I make it in the crockpot.

• 1 cup of oil or melted butter
• 1 cup of honey
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 6 cups of oats - not quick cooking
• 1 cup of coconut (optional)

1. Make sure you keep the cover of the crockpot cracked or off. Cook on low for 5 hours or until brown, stirring occasionally. The more frequently you stir, the finer the consistency. If you prefer clumpier granola stir less.
2. Add raisins, dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips...whatever you desire after the granola is ready.
3. This is delicious as a hot or cold cereal, as a snack, a topping for yogurt or made into granola bars.

I leave the cover off and cook overnight on low. If you cook it on warm (which my crockpot doesn’t have) you should probably put the lid on cracked/caddywhompus.

If you put the lid on directly/completely, you run the risk of cracking the crock (this has happened to someone who tried this recipe).

I put the butter in with the crockpot on high as I prepare to make the recipe and do a few other things. Once it’s melted, I add the other ingredients, except the oats. I stir them until they are mixed and then add the oats (and sometimes the coconut).

Recently, I chopped up several apples and put them in with the ingredients the night before. In the morning, we had dried apple bits in our granola. I’m going to try this with different fruits in the future to see what other options work.

Pumpkin Butter (CP)

I had no idea there was such a thing as pumpkin butter until someone mentioned it on Sonlight a few weeks ago.

Then again, it wasn't until last year that I had more than a vague idea as to what apple butter was or how simple it was to make, so I guess that's not surprising.

Of course, I had to try it out. I love it. The kids, not so much. I think they think of pumpkin more as a vegetable than a condiment. Weirdos. I'll win them over. Until then, all the more for me. And my in-laws, who are visiting and at who's insistence I am sharing this recipe. :-)

• 5 quarts pumpkin puree (approx. 1 jack-o-lantern-sized pumpkin)
• 2 T ground cinnamon
• 1 t ground cloves
• 1/2 t allspice
• 1-2 cups sugar or 1/2-1 C honey

1. Make unsweetened pumpkin puree. (You can use store bought pumpkin puree, but the pumpkin butter won't taste nearly as good.) See directions here: how to make pumpkin puree.*
2. Fill the crock pot to within 2 inches full with pumpkin puree, mine takes about 5 quarts.
3. Add the spices and sweetener.
4. Set the crock pot on medium or high heat.
5. Cover it loosely (with lid ajar) until the liquid begins to simmer. You don't want to seal it tightly because you want the steam to escape so it can reduce in volume and thicken.
6. Once simmering, remove lid. You can use a splatter guard, if it is making a mess.
7. Cook for 6 – 8+ hours. How long depends on the size and power of your crockpot, and how thick you like it.**
8. If the pumpkin butter cooks down too much or is too thick for your liking, just add a little bit of apple juice and blend it in.
9. If it is not thick enough, just let it cook some more, with the lid off so the steam can escape. It will thicken some, though, as it cools.
10. Fill jars or other containers. Cool the to near room temperature (a couple of hours) and store in the fridge or freezer.
r freezer.

*I used a large, jack-o-lantern-sized pumpkin and baked the 1/4’s in the oven for a little over an hour at 350*. I scooped the pumpkin meat directly into the crockpot and pureed it with my hand blender there.
** Mine took more like 24 hours, because I have an older crockpot, and it’s run on a transformer.

Original recipe found here.

Apple Butter (CP)

• 2 K sweet apples, i.e. not Granny Smith (approx. 4 1/2 lbs)
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground cloves
• 1/4 t ground allspice (or omit and increase cloves to 1/2 t)

1. Core and slice apples (peel, if preferred) and place in crockpot with spices.

2. Cook on High overnight.

3. In the morning, stir to break apart apple pieces. (You can use a hand blender at this point, if you’d like a smoother finished product.)

4. At this point remove lid and leave off. This allows the excess liquid to bake off, achieving the desired consistency.

5. Stir every few hours.

6. The mixture should reach desired consistency before bedtime of the second night. At this point you can remove to containers to chill or freeze (or can).

7. If for some reason, the mixture still has too much liquid, cook on Low overnight, and chill or freeze in the morning.