Now that you finally went out and got yourself a rival crock pot brand slow cooker you might be silently asking yourself, 'now what?'
I believe that most Rival crocks nowadays come with at least a small recipe booklet that contains within it a few starter crock pot recipes - well, at least I think they do based on my own limited experience. I cannot vouch for what comes packaged with the Crock Pot Trio cook and serve or the more recent programmable Crock Pots (like the Crock Pot Elume, for example) . Of course there is always the possibility that such a flimsy little booklet will soon get lost or just simply fall apart due to regular use in your kitchen. What then? well you could go and buy yourself a brand new shiny-covered crock pot recipe book and hope that it is worth the cover price (great another thing to spend our hard earned money on) or you could simply do what you are obviously doing already if you are reading this: that is, to be more precise, use the internet. Yes! Seek out some beginner easy crock pot recipes online. Of course you might have to search around a little bit to find recipes that sound like they are suited to your needs - if you know what they are at this point in your crock pot ownership.
Well, since my wife went and got herself (and I guess me as well by default) a shiny new crock pot slow cooker many months ago, I have taken it upon myself to slowly but surely search out and collect a handful of easy to follow (at least I think so) crock pot recipes for our rival crock.
As a definite beginner cook, one thing that I found myself doing was staying away from crock pot recipes that looked like they might have much of an 'intimidation factor', if you know what I mean. I pretty much ended up with some of the more basic categories of (easy) crock pot recipes: recipes for stew, roast beef, roast pork, chicken and fish. Nothing too fancy but most importantly all edible and tasty in the eating!
So to help start you off on your search for easy crock pot recipes, I present to you my modest collection all in one place.
EASY CROCK POT BEEF STEW RECIPE:
This crock pot beef stew recipe here is a pretty simple one to get you started that doesn't have too many ingredients required and will have you preparing a very tasty and easy crock pot beef stew in no time.
The Ingredients:
-4 medium-sized red potatoes
-1 to 1/2 lbs. of beef stewing meat
-1/3 cup of flour
-salt and pepper [to taste]
-one 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes [undrained]
-2 cups of water
-3 cups [in total] of frozen stir fry bell peppers and onion
The instructions: First, you need to scrub the potatoes and then go and cut each one into quarters or a size close to that). Next you take the cut up potatoes and place them in the bottom of your Rival slow cooker. After this, you mix the flour, salt and pepper and toss this mixture with the beef to make sure that your stewing beef is well coated. Now add the coated stewing beef to your Rival Crock. Next, you need to add the can of undrained tomatoes and the two cups of water and stir them in. Once you have done that, cover the crockpot and set it to cook on the low setting for about seven to eight hours - that is to make sure that the beef and potatoes are at the desired tenderness. Come back to your kitchen after those seven or eight hours have passed and add the frozen stir fry vegetables. Now cover and cook it on the low setting for another thirty to forty minutes or until you think the vegetables are nice and tender. If all goes well, this should end up making you about four to six servings.
EASY CROCK POT BEEF ROAST RECIPE:
With this easy crockpot beef roast / pot roast recipe, you can start it off slow cooking in the morning and have your beef roast in its own gravy ready and waiting to be served up by dinnertime. The following ingredients are needed for this one:
- 1 boneless beef sirloin tip roast - around 3 to 5 pounds in size
- 1/2 a cup of all purpose flour divided into two, 1/4 cup amounts
- 1 envelope of onion soup mix
- one envelope of brown gravy mix
- 2 cups of cold water
* optional* - 1 cup of chopped carrots
- 1/2 cup of chopped onions
- freshly chopped garlic
Start by cutting your roast in half. Next, rub your divided roast around in the first 1/4 cup of flour. Now go and place your roast in your rival slow cooker. Now you need to combine your soup mix, gravy mix and the remaining 1/4 cup of flour into a large enough bowl; stir in the cold water and make sure the ingredients are all well blended (in other words, you don't want it remaining too clumpy). Now you can pour the blended mixture over the roast. At this point you can add in any of the optional ingredients that you have prepared. Now cover and cook the roast in your rival crock on low for between 8 and 10 hours depending on how tender you want the meat. After it is ready, simply slice up the meat and serve it up with your choice of side dishes (mashed potatoes is one side that is especially recommended for this recipe - you gotta have something to dowse with all of that excess gravy).
EASY CROCK POT PORK ROAST RECIPE:
Here is an easy way to cook your pork roast in your Rival slow cooker; the first thing that you need to do is make sure that you are using a well sized or well-fitting cut of meat - remember, it has to be able to comfortably fit in your crock pot! I wouldn't really worry too much about the actual cut of meat, whatever joint you use, whether it's a shoulder, leg, etc. it should be fine.
Ingredients:
-an appropriately sized piece of pork for roasting
-assorted vegetables cut up into 1 inch cubes
-1 tablespoon of butter mixed with 1/2 teaspoon of ground sage and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
The first thing you need to do is to throw in any veggies that you will be cooking into the empty crockpot. Remember that any veggies that you cook this way will not be crispy - they will instead be soft and will take on the flavour of your chosen cut of meat. Now it is time to rub the butter/sage/ginger mixture over the raw meat. After doing this, place the meat on top of the veggies in the pot. Make sure it all fits comfortably in the Rival crock together with the lid firmly down.
Now you just have to choose whether to set it to cook on low ( for 8 to 10 hours ) or on high ( for 4 to 6 hours ) based on your own personal preference and your schedule, and thats it. Really that's all there is to it to have a pork roast ready for your dinner.
EASY CROCK POT CHICKEN RECIPE:
I am keeping the theme alive with this easy crock pot chicken recipe: this is an easy meal that you and your hungry family will all enjoy.
Ingredients:
-chicken: legs/drumsticks, wings, thighs or breasts are all good
-vegetables cut up into 1 inch sized cubes, 2 to 3 cups worth
-1 can of any cream soup (ie 'cream of ...') such as mushroom, chicken or corn
-1 teaspoon of crushed garlic or ginger
-1 teaspoon of any preferred herbs (optional)
This one really is easy, too. First, you just need to add your veggies into the empty rival slow cooker. Next you have to add the chicken into the crock pot and then throw in the crushed garlic or ginger. After this, you just pour the entire can of soup (mushroom, chicken or corn) over the chicken and veggies, cover the whole lot and start your rival crock pot and let it cook. For cooking on high, let it cook around 3 to 4 hours, while for the low setting you can let it cook for between 6 to 8 hours. If you are going to add herbs, the best time to do this is during the last hour and a half. there, I told you that this was another easy one, huh?
EASY CROCK POT FISH RECIPE:
When I first started searching around for an easy to follow crock pot fish recipe I was abit hesitant; I think that many of us beginners are a little less confident about preparing and cooking fish,however I think that I found a good starter recipe. Now this one takes a few more ingredients and a little more effort but is well worth it.
Ingredients:
-2 cans of shrimp (about 5 ounces each) [drained]
-2 cans of tuna (about 7 ounces each) [flaked]
-2 cans of crab meat (about 7 ounces each) pick over to remove any cartilage
-1 can of chopped pimiento (4 ounces) [drained]
-1/3 cup of minced fresh parsley
-3 cups of instant rice, uncooked
-2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup
-3 cups of water
-1/2 cup of dry white wine
-1/4 cup of onion [chopped]
-2 teaspoons of dill weed
-1/2 teaspoon paprika
-1/2 teaspoon of Tabasco sauce
This one isn't really as hard to do as the longer ingredients list might make you think; first, you place the first six of the listed ingredients in your Rival crock pot. Second, you combine the cream of mushroom soup with water, wine, onion, dill weed, paprika and the Tabasco sauce. Now pour that mixture over the rice and seafood mixture in your crock pot. Stir it all gently to make sure that it is all well blended together. If you made it this far, all you have to do now is simply cover and cook on the low setting for 3 to 4 hours. There, you are all done!
Well I hope that this small collection of some of the easier crock pot recipes out there is of use to at least some of you and that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship between you and your rival crock pot...
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