Little Smokies

1 bottle barbecue sauce
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup chopped onion
Pepper
2 (16 oz.) packages little hot dogs


Stir together barbecue sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, onion and pepper in a separate bowl. Pour sauce over little hot dogs in the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 2 hours, or until ready to serve.

Can use toothpicks for serving.

Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup sugar
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
4 T. soy sauce

Place chicken breasts in lightly greased crock pot. Combine other ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8-10 hours. Serve over hot sticky white rice.

Recipe Source: Ivory Family Favorites Cookbook, pg. 148

(p.s. of all the cookbooks I own, this one is hands down my favorite and is used most frequently! It's such a fun cookbook with great tips & tricks, and every recipe is delicious! It can be purchased through Make-A-Wish Foundation :)

Shredded Chicken Tacos {Slow Cooker}

{Sour cream, anyone?}

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts {it's o.k. if they're still frozen}

1-14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

Diced white onion

1 packet taco seasoning

Favorite Toppings:

Lettuce

Shredded cheese

Avocado/guacamole

Olives

Tomatoes

Salsa/hot sauce

In a medium size bowl, mix the diced tomatoes, diced onions and taco seasoning together. Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour the tomato mixture over the chicken. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Before serving, shred the chicken with forks and mix all together in the slow cooker. Serve in warm flour tortillas with your favorite toppings.

** THIS is my new favorite hot sauce. It is SO addicting! I search out Mexican recipes I can make just so I can have an excuse to eat it! :)**

Slow Cooker Chili Dogs

I love this recipe in the sense that it takes exactly 1 minute and 47 seconds to prepare. No kidding. Make it and time yourself ~ you'll become a believer! Oh, and it's super delicious too :)

4-6 hot dogs

2 cans chili

1 can cheddar cheese soup

Shredded cheddar cheese

Hot dog buns

Place hot dogs in the bottom of the crock pot. In a separate bowl, mix together the chili and the cheddar cheese soup. Pour chili and cheddar cheese soup mixture over hot dogs and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours. When chili dogs are done, put over hot dog buns and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Enjoy!

Chicken and Vegetable Chowder

1 lb. (2-3) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 regular carrots, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
3 potatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
4 T. flour
1-8 ounce package cream cheese
2 T. butter
Salt and pepper


In a large pot melt butter, and add the onion, garlic, celery and carrots. Saute for 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken broth and potatoes. Simmer the soup for about 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk and flour together until smooth. Whisk the mixture into the soup, stirring quickly for 3-4 minutes until the soup begins to thicken. Make sure the cream cheese is really soft (even almost melted) before adding it to the soup to avoid chunks. Add cream cheese to the soup in small "cubes" and mix into the soup well with a whisk. Add the cooked chicken and heat through. Season with salt and pepper. Once the soup in finished it is ready to serve, or you can also have it "warming" in the crock pot until dinnertime. Perfect with warm rolls and a green salad. Enjoy!


*This soup also freezes really well. I like to freeze my soups in the large ziplock freezer bags. They stack very nicely on top of each other in the freezer. Just be sure to label with a Sharpie on the bag the name of the soup and the date it was made. Freezer soups are a real dinner lifesaver for those crazy busy days!*

Taco Soup

I love recipes that don't require any measuring ~ and this is one of them! This Mexican soup is really quick to make, and it tastes even better the next day for leftovers. It's also perfect for when feeding a large crowd, and is very filling :)

1 lb. ground beef, cooked

1 can kidney beans (undrained)

1 can garbanzo beans (undrained)

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (undrained)

1 can corn (undrained)

1 small can diced green chilies (undrained)

Diced white onion

1 packet taco seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Stir well, and let simmer in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. Garnish with your favorite toppings.

Favorite Toppings:

Shredded cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Avocado slices

Louisiana Hot Sauce {my favorite!!} or Tabasco

Better Than *Anything* Dip

It was hard for me to get a "good" picture of this recipe, and this is the best I could do... but really, this dip is better than { ahem } anything! ;)

1 tube Jimmy Dean sausage (I like the spicy sausage)
1 28-oz. can Rotel, drained
Diced white onion
5 shakes Tabasco sauce

Cook the sausage on the stove in a skillet. Combine the sausage, cream cheese, Rotel, onion and Tabasco sauce in the crock pot. Allow the cream cheese to soften and then stir together. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, stirring often. Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Southwestern Chicken

6 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

1 large bag frozen corn

3 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1-16ounce jar medium salsa

Toppings:

Shredded cheese (cheddar, or fiesta/Mexican blend pre-shredded)

Diced avocado

Diced tomatoes

Cilantro

Sour cream

Hot sauce (Louisiana Hot Sauce is my favorite!)

*you will also need tortilla chips*

In a slow cooker, layer first the corn, chicken, black beans and then salsa. Cook on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours. When it's finished cooking, shred chicken with a fork and stir everything together. Serve on top of tortilla chips and top with favorite toppings. So yummy!!

*This recipe is also really easy to cut in half -- the one above makes a ton!*

Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

1/4 c. Italian dressing

mushrooms

baby carrots

purple onion

pepper

In a greased slow cooker, lay chicken breasts along the bottom. Pour dressing over the top, then soup, then layer the vegetables. Season with pepper. Cook on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 8-10 hours. During the last hour, add cream cheese. Stir sauce well before serving. Serve over egg noodles.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

1-28 oz. can diced peeled tomatoes
1-15 oz. can tomato sauce
1-12.5 oz. can Italian diced tomatoes
16 oz. fresh mushrooms
1 lb. ground beef or Italian sausage
1 T. Italian seasoning {or use fresh herbs ~ basil, parsley, oregano, etc.}
diced onion
diced green pepper
4 cloves garlic, chopped
salt & pepper


Brown meat on the stove. Then add everything together in the crock-pot. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Serve over pasta noodles. Top with fresh parmesan cheese. Makes the house smell wonderful all day!

Slow Cooker Lasagna

This recipe comes from one of my most favorite and useful cookbooks, 101 Things To Do With A Slow Cooker. Not only is this lasagna delicious, but it's really quick and easy to make. I usually make it on Sundays before church, and then it's ready by the time we get home. Another thing I do is brown the meat and shred the cheese the night before, making assembly even faster!

12 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup water
1 carton (16 oz.) cottage cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated (* I usually do 1/2 mozzarella and 1/2 cheddar)

Break noodles in half. Place half of the noodles in bottom of greased show cooker. Stir Italian seasoning into meat and spread half over noodles already in slow cooker. Then layer 1/2 of the sauce and water, 1/2 of the cottage cheese, and 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese over the beef. Repeat layers. Cover and cook on low heat 4-5 hours. Do not cook more than 5 hours. Makes 6-8 servings.