From Versaware to iphone apps, the Rival Crock Pot is one place where tradition meets innovation in the kitchen.
Considering the traditional aspect of cooking using a Rival Crock Pot to slow cook a meal, it is not really a surprise that one might think of Rival as being a more conservative and traditional kind of company that relies on marketing and selling the more proven consumer cooking appliances such as the traditional Crock-Pot slow cooker. However, over the last few years, more and more this has become a mistaken assumption. I used to be guilty of this manner of thinking until I started to become aware of the range of diverse cooking aplliances that the Rival corporation has actually been (successfully) marketing to consumers. In addition to the basic programmable Crock pot slow cookers that it offers, slow cookers which to be fair are also offered by a number of other kitchen appliance manufacturers, Rival has also introduced a number of more innovative slow cooker appliances. The Rival Versaware crock pot series of slow cookers has introduced versatility to the concept of slow cooking. The Rival Crock Pot elume has married the concepts of slow cooking appliances and touch screen technology. The Rival Crock Pot Trio (and now also the Crock Pot Duo) have offered a multi-crock pot cooking experience in one space for those preparing meals for larger groupings. And maybe even more out there is the introduction of the Rival Crock Pot BBQ Pit Cooker which has offered an indoor alternative to the traditional outdoor barbecuing experience - something that can be quite convenient when regular barbequing is not such a practical alternative at this time of year!
So we have seen all of this innovation in the last little while and any of these on their own might be enough to earn Rival some 'cred' when it comes to embracing modern technologies in the kitchen. Now however, in time for the holidays, it seems that Rival has decided to really embrace the modern technological world with it's decision to offer its own iPhone application, named simply enough, the Crock-Pot iPhone Application. I was recently visiting the Rival Crock Pot I could try and describe this new offering in my own words, but I think that Rival's own description of it would be just as effective:
The Crock-Pot Slow Cooker Recipe Finder helps you decide what's for dinner with hundreds of savory, time saving slow cooker recipes right at your finger tips! Browse a wide variety of recipes, shake to generate random recipes or enjoy the recipe of the day. You can also create your shopping list and calculate the ingredients based on any recipe selection. Search a wide variety of Crock-Pot slow cooker recipes and select by Course, Ingredient, Cuisine or slow cooker Quart Size. Create a shopping list for one or multiple recipes. You select the recipes and the Crock-Pot Slow Cooker Recipe Finder quickly generates a complete shopping list. The Crock-Pot Slow Cooker Recipe Finder makes it easy to share your favorite recipes via email, Facebook or Twitter. Simply select your recipe, press the (+) button and share your recipe with friends and family.
So there you have it, apparently Rival has decided to run with the current future tech and has made an effort to be iphone friendly. I don't own an iPhone, but i can see how this shows a marked effort by Rival to keep in touch with modern technology and to be seen as still being a relevant brand name despite its more traditional reputation. But really though, when you think about it, Rival is actually a company that has some serious innovation in its history. Think about it: at it's core the Rival Corporation, through its subsiduary Crock Pot company arm, was being an ionnovator when they decided to remanufacture and remarket a slow cooking appliance called the Beanery and released it to the public as its first Crock Pot brand slow cooker! So maybe I shouldn't be all that surprised by anything that they should come up with today or at any time in the future...
Faulty Rival Crock Pot handles: Becoming more aware of a widespread concern for Crockpot owners.
The majority of posts that you may have read on here before have been, for the most part, positive, however I have come to the realization that there are many devoted Rival Crock Pot users out there that have been inconvenienced - and even worse in a few cases, by the apparent failure of their home Rival slow cookers. What I am talking about here is the widely reported problem that many crock pot owners are having with their crock pot lids. At first, I was aware of the occasional random posting by someone online on one forum or another telling whoever would listen of how the handle on the lid of their particular crock pot had failed to stay together and had broken off during use. This of course means that while cooking with their Rival slow cooker, the individual had been lifting the lid and had had the lid drop down back onto the slow cooker because of a failing or broken handle; of course the implication here is that the lid probably dropped into a slow cooker full of hot food and or hot liquid which could potentially burn the person checking on it at the time. Well this is obviously regrettable for the person involved in an isolated incident, I would think to myself, but it was hardly a widespread concern for most regular crock pot users, right? Well, apparently not: as I came across more of these reports during mty time spent online I started to wonder just what was going onhere. I was wondering why so many people would be experiencing the same kind of incident, where the handle of their crock pot lid would crack or break, leaving the crock pot lid still with he metal screw in place and the lid uncracked but with the handle showing clear signs of fatigue, even (in some cases) after just a limited amount of less than rigorous usage. Well, after I did some more digging, I came across a very recent media story on the subject which made it clear to me that this was a sign of amuch larger isue: a weakness in the design of some of the more recent Rival Crock Pots that can result in the fauilure of the plastic lid handles on some models of crock pot. From what was said in this report, it would appear that while acknowledging some uncovered issues with some models of their slow cookers, Rival has not been very quick to deal with this particular issue of handle failure, offering only astatement tot the media when pushed on the subject. I hate to think that it might take a serious injury to someone somewhere using one of these affected models of crock pot slow cooker and the resulting lawsuit for the company to take any real substantive action on the issue, especially when all it would take is the recall of the lids of the specific models of crock pots, something that should not cost Rival too much considering it is a replacement Rival crock pot part that costs the company less than $5 to $10 per piece to have manufactured. (assuming that the average $15 retail price of the item as offered by Rival on their website is around double the cost of what it would cost Rival to have it kept in stock for them)
I have included below the video of the news story that I came across that covered this subject in more detail. Below the video I have included a link to the forum where the cheaper "$2 fix" of using a stronger replacement handle, screw, bolt and washer is discussed. I have also included a link to the page of the website which contains the text of the actual news story, as well as a link to a page offering more information on various Rival Crockpot recalls that are out there in case it might be of any help to any Rival Crockpot slow cooker owners out there.
Here are those links that I mentioned before:
For more information on the "$2 hardware store fix", click here.
For the full text of the Rival Crock Pot faulty handle story, click here.
For more information on various Rival Crock Pot slow cooker model recalls, click here.
I have included below the video of the news story that I came across that covered this subject in more detail. Below the video I have included a link to the forum where the cheaper "$2 fix" of using a stronger replacement handle, screw, bolt and washer is discussed. I have also included a link to the page of the website which contains the text of the actual news story, as well as a link to a page offering more information on various Rival Crockpot recalls that are out there in case it might be of any help to any Rival Crockpot slow cooker owners out there.
Here are those links that I mentioned before:
For more information on the "$2 hardware store fix", click here.
For the full text of the Rival Crock Pot faulty handle story, click here.
For more information on various Rival Crock Pot slow cooker model recalls, click here.
The hunt for Rival crock pot parts - some more thought on the ( often frustrating ) subject...
This little blog is a place where I can talk about anything and everything to do with Rival Crock Pot Slow Cookers ... and not feel to out of place doing it. That pretty much describes it. People that come across this site either find it interesting enough to read and maybe glean something from it and move on or, they don't find it of interest - maybe they find it wasn't what they were searching for, and move on. When I chose to do this as a blog I did so because it is a convenient format which allows me to add to it whenever the urge should strike me . Many people however expect a blog to be something that is regularly updated even if the content might suffer in the process. To be honest, I am of the mind that if I have nothing to add to the site then that is what I will do: nothing - that is until that fancy ( the before mentioned urge) strikes me to add something that I feel is relevant to a site that has to do with the kitchen crock pot cooker.
Whether it is something to do with some new Rival bbq pit crock pot (ie. a bbq slow cooker), info about a Rival crock pot lid, some shiny new programmable crock cooker with extra buttons, an army-feeding crock pot trio, a new Rival products recall, an update on the latest Rival crock pot accessories or Rival crock pot replacement parts, or even just me posting a slow cooker recipe that is easy enough even for me to follow successfully, when I feel it is relevant then I will probably get around to mentioning it here.
So why is this relevant? Well, mainly because of two things: first, I just recently realized that I have had a fair number of people leaving me questions in my comment sections on various posts here that basically have to do with the problem of Rival crock pot parts and where to find them; this is turning out to be a bit of a challenge for a number of you, even after visiting the Rival website in your search for replacement parts. (handles, lids, stoneware liners, etc.) You have made it clear to me that you are smart, with it people who have become frustrated because you have a perfectly good crock pot at home that just needs maybe a minor repair and you want to do the environmentally - and economically sensible thing and maintain it, but have not found anywhere to get the necessary parts to do so. The second reason for this post is something I saw in my building the other day, but I will get back to that later.
Now I have given more than one person on here a few suggestions about how to maybe go about finding the spare crock pot part(s) you seek; I figured that maybe it would benefit future visitors here if I just went and summarized my suggestions in one post instead of hoping that people stumble across the right page's comment section for my responses. Okay, so you have gone to the Rival Crockpot website ( crockpot.com - an easy one to remember, eh?) and found yourself duly disappointed because your beloved crock pot slow cooker just doesn't seem to be well represented there; they might have some stuff listed for your serial number/model of slow cooker and might even be selling it on there, but when it comes to the specific replacement part you need: nada. Does this mean it is time to give up? Time to bite the bullet and shell out some recession dollars to buy a new crock pot so you can get back to that new crock pot recipe you have ben wanting to try?
My answer to this is not necessarily.
True the obvious place to find spare or replacement parts might be the crock pot website, but there are a host of other places and resources out there for you to at least check out before you give up. Staying with the online theme, ebay, craigslist, kijiji, and Amazon.com are all possibilities; any one of those sites might have someone on them selling a used crock pot that is similar to yours and still functional enough for you to purchase for parts. As well you could always try posting on some of those sites or on relevant forums that you are looking to buy a specific model of crock pot for parts; many people might not realize that they could turn their used kitchen appliance into some spare cash.
Moving on to some more brick and mortar alternatives, there are places such as liquidation outlets, where you might be lucky enough to find a whole crock pot available for the price of a replacement part (you never know). This category of retailer would include both the surplus/overstock retail stores and the auction house retailers who are selling stock from a retailer that has gone out of business. Another kind of location to check out would be any form of thrift store/charity shop or used goods dealer that might yield results. Many people end up giving away their trusty old appliance when they get a shiny newer one, and if they don't have a friend or a friend of a friend who needs their perfectly good old one, then often a charity shop is the most obvious answer. To mix my metaphors, their charitable act becomes your crock pot's gain. Along similar lines, if the Season is right, why not try walking the neighborhood during yard sale season or try visiting a local organised swap meet. Most neighborhoods have these on a regular basis, you just need to know where to look. A way to increase the odds of success with all of these methods, is to take the part that needs replacing with you to the local crock pot retailer and see what other models, if any, your broken part is most identical to; if you feel confident in your observations you might find that there are actually several models of crock pot slow cooker that are suitable for your replacement parts needs.
Okay I said that there were two reasons that I felt motivated to write this post and collecting the aforementioned ideas together was one of them; the second is because of something that I saw in my apartment building the other day. I was taking the garbage down to our building's basement/parking area (like many people have to do), and once I got there I noticed that between the garbage bin and the recycling bins somebody had discarded a few home appliances; probably they were left behind when someone was moving out of the building. (which would seem the likely reason since it was around about the end of the month when this happened) Among the collection were a VCR (remember those?), a rice cooker, a cassette stereo player, along with some well used pots and pans - oh and also one Rival crock pot! Now to be fair, the crock pot did appear to be well used and had probably seen better days - there was even a note taped to the lid saying that the lid was missing a knob (it was) but that it still worked. I thought about acquiring it but decided that it would be best to first confer with my wife on whether it was worth grabbing since we already have one that we use for all our slow cooker recipes, and went on my merry way.
That was the last I ever saw of it.
Later that day, after I had conferred with the wife and had secured her permission to bring up the slow cooker I went back down to the basement to grab the crock but it was too late: it was already gone. In fact everything was gone: the garbage and all of the stuff left next to the garbage was gone. If I thought that someone else had beat me to the slow cooker then I would have no problem with that: you snooze you lose. But I had the sinking feeling that someone had just grown frustrated with the apparent dumping of unwanted appliances and had simply thrown them all into the garbage just before it was to be collected
. This made me feel rather disappointed that the original owner had not apparently been aware of the potential value of his unwanted things to another who might have been most grateful to take the slow cooker of his or her hands. True , the previous owner might have had more important things in life to deal with then passing on a used crock pot (who doesn't), but still it was sad to think that it was probably a lack of awareness of the fact that people are always looking for used crock pots just for parts regardless of whether or not the actual appliance is still working. Oh well, at least my frustrations provided me with a reason to post once again...
Whether it is something to do with some new Rival bbq pit crock pot (ie. a bbq slow cooker), info about a Rival crock pot lid, some shiny new programmable crock cooker with extra buttons, an army-feeding crock pot trio, a new Rival products recall, an update on the latest Rival crock pot accessories or Rival crock pot replacement parts, or even just me posting a slow cooker recipe that is easy enough even for me to follow successfully, when I feel it is relevant then I will probably get around to mentioning it here.
So why is this relevant? Well, mainly because of two things: first, I just recently realized that I have had a fair number of people leaving me questions in my comment sections on various posts here that basically have to do with the problem of Rival crock pot parts and where to find them; this is turning out to be a bit of a challenge for a number of you, even after visiting the Rival website in your search for replacement parts. (handles, lids, stoneware liners, etc.) You have made it clear to me that you are smart, with it people who have become frustrated because you have a perfectly good crock pot at home that just needs maybe a minor repair and you want to do the environmentally - and economically sensible thing and maintain it, but have not found anywhere to get the necessary parts to do so. The second reason for this post is something I saw in my building the other day, but I will get back to that later.
Now I have given more than one person on here a few suggestions about how to maybe go about finding the spare crock pot part(s) you seek; I figured that maybe it would benefit future visitors here if I just went and summarized my suggestions in one post instead of hoping that people stumble across the right page's comment section for my responses. Okay, so you have gone to the Rival Crockpot website ( crockpot.com - an easy one to remember, eh?) and found yourself duly disappointed because your beloved crock pot slow cooker just doesn't seem to be well represented there; they might have some stuff listed for your serial number/model of slow cooker and might even be selling it on there, but when it comes to the specific replacement part you need: nada. Does this mean it is time to give up? Time to bite the bullet and shell out some recession dollars to buy a new crock pot so you can get back to that new crock pot recipe you have ben wanting to try?
My answer to this is not necessarily.
True the obvious place to find spare or replacement parts might be the crock pot website, but there are a host of other places and resources out there for you to at least check out before you give up. Staying with the online theme, ebay, craigslist, kijiji, and Amazon.com are all possibilities; any one of those sites might have someone on them selling a used crock pot that is similar to yours and still functional enough for you to purchase for parts. As well you could always try posting on some of those sites or on relevant forums that you are looking to buy a specific model of crock pot for parts; many people might not realize that they could turn their used kitchen appliance into some spare cash.
Moving on to some more brick and mortar alternatives, there are places such as liquidation outlets, where you might be lucky enough to find a whole crock pot available for the price of a replacement part (you never know). This category of retailer would include both the surplus/overstock retail stores and the auction house retailers who are selling stock from a retailer that has gone out of business. Another kind of location to check out would be any form of thrift store/charity shop or used goods dealer that might yield results. Many people end up giving away their trusty old appliance when they get a shiny newer one, and if they don't have a friend or a friend of a friend who needs their perfectly good old one, then often a charity shop is the most obvious answer. To mix my metaphors, their charitable act becomes your crock pot's gain. Along similar lines, if the Season is right, why not try walking the neighborhood during yard sale season or try visiting a local organised swap meet. Most neighborhoods have these on a regular basis, you just need to know where to look. A way to increase the odds of success with all of these methods, is to take the part that needs replacing with you to the local crock pot retailer and see what other models, if any, your broken part is most identical to; if you feel confident in your observations you might find that there are actually several models of crock pot slow cooker that are suitable for your replacement parts needs.
Okay I said that there were two reasons that I felt motivated to write this post and collecting the aforementioned ideas together was one of them; the second is because of something that I saw in my apartment building the other day. I was taking the garbage down to our building's basement/parking area (like many people have to do), and once I got there I noticed that between the garbage bin and the recycling bins somebody had discarded a few home appliances; probably they were left behind when someone was moving out of the building. (which would seem the likely reason since it was around about the end of the month when this happened) Among the collection were a VCR (remember those?), a rice cooker, a cassette stereo player, along with some well used pots and pans - oh and also one Rival crock pot! Now to be fair, the crock pot did appear to be well used and had probably seen better days - there was even a note taped to the lid saying that the lid was missing a knob (it was) but that it still worked. I thought about acquiring it but decided that it would be best to first confer with my wife on whether it was worth grabbing since we already have one that we use for all our slow cooker recipes, and went on my merry way.
That was the last I ever saw of it.
Later that day, after I had conferred with the wife and had secured her permission to bring up the slow cooker I went back down to the basement to grab the crock but it was too late: it was already gone. In fact everything was gone: the garbage and all of the stuff left next to the garbage was gone. If I thought that someone else had beat me to the slow cooker then I would have no problem with that: you snooze you lose. But I had the sinking feeling that someone had just grown frustrated with the apparent dumping of unwanted appliances and had simply thrown them all into the garbage just before it was to be collected
. This made me feel rather disappointed that the original owner had not apparently been aware of the potential value of his unwanted things to another who might have been most grateful to take the slow cooker of his or her hands. True , the previous owner might have had more important things in life to deal with then passing on a used crock pot (who doesn't), but still it was sad to think that it was probably a lack of awareness of the fact that people are always looking for used crock pots just for parts regardless of whether or not the actual appliance is still working. Oh well, at least my frustrations provided me with a reason to post once again...
A FEW EASY CROCK POT RECIPES FOR YOU
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...
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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