With the holidays over and the snow piling up outside, it’s time to turn to those inside projects - like cleaning closets, clearing your overflowing inbox or spending the day enjoying a man cave or craft project. I don’t know about you, but when I get started on a “project,” I want to keep going until I’m finished. I don’t want to have to stop and make dinner.
So it’s also the perfect time to celebrate “National Slow Cooking Month." It can be a huge load off to just put something in the crockpot when you’ve got a project you need to tackle and forget about dinner. Although it may be hard because you will be able to smell it all day. And not only do slow cooker recipes afford you more time to do other things, but there are also usually fewer dishes, and I’d say that’s a win no matter what your schedule holds!
For the following recipes, I got out my trusty slow cooker cookbook, “Fix It and Forget It” by Dawn J. Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good, and found a couple of my favorites that I’ve tweaked to make my own over the years.
Beef Vegetable Soup
We raise our own beef, so there’s always plenty of soup bones and stew meat in the freezer begging to be made into something. I use this recipe a lot for our church’s meal train requests. It’s fairly economical and can be made with ingredients you most likely already have on hand. After simmering all day, pair it with some warm bread and you’ll feel comfort from head to toe.
Ingredients:
1-1 ½ pound soup bones
1 pound stewing beef cubes (I’ve used round steak too)
1 tablespoon oil
1 ½ quarts cold water
1 tablespoon salt
¾ cup diced celery
¾ cup diced carrots
¾ cup diced potatoes
¾ cup diced onions
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables of your choice
1 quart jar of home-canned stewed tomatoes (my secret ingredient, but store-bought will work too)
⅛ teaspoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon chopped dried parsley or 2-3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley
Brown meat in a skillet on the stove. Place everything in the slow cooker, cover, and cook on low for at least eight hours. Remove bones. If for some reason you don’t think the broth is “beefy” enough, you can add beef bouillon cubes or paste toward the end.
Pork Chops and Mushrooms
I’ve been making variations of this recipe for years. If you get it going early enough, this makes a great Sunday dinner option. Pair with mashed potatoes and your favorite vegetable. Use sauce as ready-made gravy!
Ingredients:
4 pork chops (bone-in or boneless)
2 medium onions, sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms (I prefer fresh, but canned could be used as well)
1 envelope dry onion soup mix (or try this homemade version I found online - ¼ c. dried onion flakes, 2 tablespoons beef bouillon granules, ¼ teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes, ⅛ teaspoon celery seed, ⅛ teaspoon paprika, ⅛ teaspoon pepper)
¼ cup water
A 10 ¾ ounce can of cream of mushroom soup (or find an easy homemade mushroom soup recipe online)
Brown pork chops in a hot skillet for a few minutes. Place in a greased slow cooker and top with onions and mushrooms. Combine dry seasoning, water and mushroom soup. Pour over all. Cover and cook for 4-6 hours.
