Ethiopian chicken stew

I was a bit hesitant about this recipe, mostly because I know nothing about Ethiopian cuisine. There wasn't anything overly special about this recipe. It was actually a bit spicy for me. I don't know that I would make it again, but if you like flavor, give it a try. The chicken was extremely moist as well.

Ethiopian chicken stew-adapted from More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'dea
Total time: 6 hours
Serves 4

• 1-14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 large yellow onions, diced
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 2 cups water

Grease a 5-quart slow cooker. Pour in the can of tomatoes. Top with chicken, then the rest of the ingredients. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours, or high 4-5 hours or until chicken juices run clear and onions are tender.

Eggplant Parmesan

Disclaimer: This recipe doesn't have any Parmesan cheese in it. None....what so ever. This recipe has feta instead, which is one of my favorite cheeses! It's super easy to put together and delicious to eat! This is a slow cooker recipe that doesn't take very long to cook!

Eggplant Parmesan-adapted from Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea
Total time: 4 hours
Serves 4

• 26 ounce jar pasta sauce
• 1 large eggplant
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Spray a 5 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Pour 1 cup of the pasta sauce in the bottom of the crock. Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Drizzle each piece of eggplant with the oil on both sides

In a small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Dredge each slice of eggplant and place on top of the pasta sauce. Pour the remaining sauce over the eggplant, and top with feta cheese. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until eggplant is tender.

Mongolian Beef

It's been so long since I made this that I honestly don't remember it. I know I didn't hate it. It's a new slow cooker recipe to try!

Mongolian Beef-adapted from Crock Pot 365
Total Time: 6 hours
Serves 4

• 1 1/2 pounds stir fry beef
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried minced onion
• 1 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds for garnish

In a large ziplog bag, dredge the beef in the cornstarch. Place in a 5-quart slow cooker and top with garlic, onion and hoisin. Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until beef is cooked through. Serve with rice.

30 Clove Garlic Chicken

When I told Scott I was making a 30 clove garlic chicken he was very scared. It's a LOT of garlic! I have to tell you, peeling that much garlic was one of the worst things I have ever done. I think I almost prefer peeling potatoes, and I hate peeling potatoes! Next time I make this, I want to try this way of peeling garlic. We'll see if it works!

As standard with slow cooker chicken recipes, the chicken ended up very tender! The garlic seemed to caramelize and create this just amazing flavor. And make sure you eat some of the cloves too (trust me)! This can be made with anywhere between 20-40 cloves of garlic, whatever you have on hand (it's a great pantry meal). I might try this next time with a whole chicken!

30 Clove Garlic Chicken-adapted from Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea
Total Time:  6 Hours
Serves 6

• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 to 4 pounds of chicken
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 20 to 40 garlic cloves, peeled, but in tact 

Spray the inside of a 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Place onion on the bottom of the stoneware, with chicken on top. Sprinkle the chicken with the remainder of ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until chicken is cooked through and tender.

Little Smokies

I made these for watching football and the fights last week. It's pretty much your standard recipe, but still tasty!

Little Smokies-adapted from More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea
Total Time: 4 hours
Serves 8

• 28 ounces little smokies sausages
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar

Grease the inside of a 4-quart slow cooker. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Cook on low for 4 hours, or high for 2 hours, until sausages are warm throughout.

Peanut Butter Chicken

When I told Scott I was making peanut butter chicken, he was very excited! He stated that whenever he goes to a Chinese buffet (yes, we still do from time to time), he always looks for the peanut butter chicken! The best part--he said this tasted just like it! It was a very simple recipe that I'll be making again!

Peanut Butter Chicken-adapted from More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'dea
Total Time: 8 hours
Serves 4

• 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy-your choice)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 cups cooked white rice for serving, if desired

Grease a 4-5 quart slow cooker. Place chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker and top with the rest of the ingredients. Stir gently to combine. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours (high for 4). Serve over rice.

Eggplant Parmesan

I honestly can't remember ever having eggplant. This recipe was such an awesome surprise! You really didn't need any meat, because the eggplant was meaty enough! The only thing the recipe was mushrooms. Only because I love mushrooms. In pasta. It's so yummy.

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplan Parmesan-adapted from Stephanie O'dea's More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow
Total time: 4 hours
Serves 4

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large eggplant, sliced (up to you if you'd like it peeled-we did not)
• 8 ounce mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 jar pasta sauce
• Cooked pasta of your choice

Use a 4-quart slow cooker sprayed with cooking spray. Put the olive oil in a small bowl. In another small bowl, combine all the seasonings. Use a brush to lightly coat both sides of the eggplant with olive oil and then sprinkle both sides with the bread crumb mixture. Place in the slow cooker and top with cheese. Then add the mushrooms and top with pasta sauce. 

Cover and cook on low 4-5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours. Serve with your choice of pasta.

**PS. I did tag this as gluten free, but only because you can use something other than pasta-it's not the main component of the dish :)

Asiago Cheese Dip

This is NOT  healthy dip, as you can easily see by the ingredients. But it was rather yummy! The one thing I thought it was missing (sticking along with the not healthy theme) was bacon! It needed a little extra crunch. The next time I make it I'm adding bacon! This was really easy since it's in the slow cooker, and I'd definitely make it for a party! I also have to say, that I love serving dips with Hawaiian bread! If you haven't tried it, you really need to! It's just so flavorful and soft, you can't go wrong!

Asiago Cheese Dip-adapted from Better Homes & Garden New Cookbook
Total Time: 3 hours
Makes 6 1/2 cups

• 4 ounces dried tomatoes, chopped
• 4 slices bacon, chopped
• 32-ounces fat-free sour cream
• 1 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, cut up
• 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 6 ounces shredded Asiago cheese
• Chips, hawaiian bread, or vegetables for dipping

In a 3 1/2-4 quart slow cooker combine all ingredients except bacon and those for dipping. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours or high for 1 1/2-2 hours. Top with bacon, and more green onions if desired. Serve with chips, hawaiian bread or vegetables.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Mushrooms are one of our favorite foods! I feel as though fresh mushrooms go could with almost anything you make for dinner. I honestly think I'd even eat them on tacos if I ever thought of it. So Scott and I were really excited to try this recipe. There is quite a lot of prep work, but it is a crockpot recipe so not a whole lot of attention during the cooking is necessary. Definitely make the rice with these. Ours turned out almost soupy, and I kind of feel like it might be weird to eat these without anything else. But it would be good served with steak too. We had a hard time deciding how we felt about this recipe. It was a very different flavor than we are used to. I think it was the vinegar. Overall though, it was good-3/5. I'm just not sure if I'd make it again or not...maybe we'll try one more time to see.


Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms - adapted from Make it Fast, Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'dea
Total Time: 4 to 7 hours
Serves 2-3 adults

• 4 large portobello mushrooms
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2-3 servings rice

Use a 6 quart oval slow cooker. With a paring knife, carefully cut the stems off the mushrooms. Chop the stems and put them in a mixing bowl. Use a spoon to scoop out the centers of each mushroom, and add to the bowl. Add the tomatoes, bread crumbs, 3 tablespoons olive oil, vinegar, Parmesan, basil, salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside. Spread the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the bottom of the slow cooker. Put mushroom caps on top of the oil. They will overlap a bit. Spoon the filling mixture on top of the mushrooms. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 7 hours. Serve with rice.

Baked Potato Soup

I was super excited to try this recipe. You can imagine my disappointment when this didn't turn out right. The flavors were awesome, but the consistency was not. The cream cheese just did not melt right, and we kept it on a LOT longer that stated in the recipe. I still might try it again, but we'll see. For now, we rated it a 2.5/5.

Baked Potato Soup-adapted from More Make it Fast Cook it Slow by Stephanie O'Dea

• 5 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced in 1-2 inch chunks
• 1 small onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 quarts chicken broth
• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
• crumbled bacon, green onion or chives as garnish (optional)

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Put the potatoes into your stoneware, and add the onion and garlic. Sprinkle in the seasonings and pour in the chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. The potatoes should be fork tender. You can use a potato masher or a handheld stick blender to mash the potatoes into the soup. You want to get rid of all large chunks of potato to make a smooth soup.

After smashing the potatoes, squeeze in both packages of cream cheese and replace the lid of the cooker. Cook on high for about 30 minutes or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved. Stir a few times during this 30 minutes. Garnished with crumbled bacon, green onion or chives.