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[jdmessner]

I am I the process of writing a grant to provide six to eight families the resources they will need to make nutritious, creative, and budget friendly meals on a weekly basis for eight weeks. The only catch is they will all be done in a crockpot. If program is a success the plan is to do two sessions a year with new families each time.

Recently I have been in contact with a unique neighborhood association. It came into being about five years ago when a local hospital was being taken over by a larger healthcare system. The community asked for some assurance that the needs of area residents would not be overlooked by the larger hospital. As a result, a nonprofit group called StreetHeart was formed. Its main purpose is to promote activities that will strengthen the over 300 families residing within the designated neighborhood.

My proposal is that each week participating families will receive a delivery with everything needed to create a meal (think Hello Fresh). A cooking video will also be posted on a closed Facebook page.

The goal is to have parents and kids not only make the meals together, but to also have them sit down and eat together. My hope is that families will use the closed online group as a way to share comments and photos of what they liked or didn’t like, or what did or didn’t work when they make each dish. I would like to foster a little bit of the same camaraderie that can be found on this forum.

I don’t know if this project is going to work or not. I have seen a similar program work quite well elsewhere. I am going to keep  moving forward, assuming it will work, until it doesn’t!

So, the big question is: What are your favorite crockpot meals? I am looking for recipes that will go beyond the basic “Crockpot Bill of Fare!” The meal should be compatible with a 5-quart crock pot. Hopefully participants will want to make these recipes again, so the ingredients should be easy to find and cost around $20 - $25 per meal to make.

Let me know what you think! Any and all ideas are appreciated!!

[BigDave83]

This sounds like an interesting and beneficial idea. Hope it comes about and gets going, and even better grows to numbers beyond 8 families.

I was never much of a crockpot cook. I will have to try to remember some of the ones that actually worked for me. I use the instant pot more than the slow cooker these days. The slow cooker gets tasked to keep things warm.

Does the entire meal need to be done just in the CP? of could some of it be done on a stove? I ask because I use the CP to make chili a lot of the time after I cool off my meat. We do buffalo chicken dip in it but I sous vide and shred the chicken first.

[Kristin Meredith]

I echo BigDave on what a wonderful idea.  Would a crockpot lasagna fit the bill or is that too ordinary and one dimensional?

[jdmessner]

Dave - I may need to think about the instant pot idea. I have not used one, but my mom loves hers. I think there might be more versatility in the kinds of things you could do. Everything doesn't need to be made in the pot. The idea is to keep it simple and easy to put together.

Kristen - Lasagna is a great idea. Nothing ordinary or one dimensional about that!

[Brushpopper]

This is still a huge go to at our house.  They don't have to smoke the chicken for it to still be fantastic but I prefer it with a little smoke.  I don't use the chicken taco seasoning.  I use the one for beef tacos.  I didn't clarify that in the original post and I guess I should.  https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=2686.0 

[Bentley]

Sorry to say, all of mine are of this variety!

So, the big question is: What are your favorite crockpot meals? I am looking for recipes that will go beyond the basic “Crockpot Bill of Fare!”

[Kristin Meredith]

Crock pot Lasagna

Ingredients:

-- 12 Lasagna noodles , uncooked
-- 1 lb of ground beef ( browned and drained)
-- 1 tsp or so of Italian seasoning
--1 jar of spaghetti sauce (28 ounces).(I add 2 small cans of tomatoes sauce also)
--1/4th cup of water
--1 carton of small curd cottage cheese or ricotta cheese ( 16 ozs)
--2 cups of  mozzarella cheese, grated       

Method:

Break noodles in half.  Place half of the noodles in bottom of greased Crock-Pot. Stir Italian seasoning into meat and spread over the noodles already in the cooker . 

Ladle in half the sauce and water, half the cottage cheese/ricotta, and half the mozzarella cheese over the meat and then repeat layers.

Cover and cook on low heat for 4 hours or less. Watch closely at 3+ hours   Do not cook over 5 hours .  Makes 6- 8 servings .

[jdmessner]

Perfect! I will give it a go!!

[Kristin Meredith]

You could always add another pound of hamburger.  Or Bentley always likes to add a layer of spinach to his lasagna, so you could do that also and get some veggies in there.

[BigDave83]

You could always add another pound of hamburger.  Or Bentley always likes to add a layer of spinach to his lasagna, so you could do that also and get some veggies in there.

For me I like to add in some sort of sausage meat with the beef and I almost always will add  layers of sandwich pepperoni in my lasagna.

I dated a girl and her father would slice hard boiled eggs and layer in to his, had never seen that, I mentioned the pepperoni and he looked at me like I was crazy.

[Kristin Meredith]

JD another recipe from a friend.  I have never made it, but it sure sounds good and a one stop meal -- meat, veggies, starch and gravy! It does have a lot of steps and ingredients, so may not work for your purposes, although it would give kids lots of things to measure and stir.

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 lbs of chicken -- tenders, breast or thigh (no bones or skin)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups thawed green beans
1 box Stove Top stuffing
1/2 cup diced onions
2 stalks diced celery
1 cup chicken broth
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup melted butter

Process

1.  Grease crockpot and place chicken on bottom, mix garlic and onion powder and salt and pepper together and sprinkle over chicken.

2.  Spread green beans in a layer.

3. Mixed together stuffing mix, diced onions and diced celery and spread over beans.

4. Mix all the remaining ingredients and pour evenly over stuffing.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 5 to 6.  When done lightly mix it all together and serve.  Serves about 6 people.

[jdmessner]

That is a perfect recipe! I will try it out. Hopefully next week I can start trying out some recipes.

[jdmessner]

A quick update. Next week I am meeting with the group I am looking to partner with. I will also be bringing dinner! At this time it looks like I will try out Kristin's chicken recipe for sure, and possibly the lasagna. Looking at crockpot rice pudding for dessert. I will post updates as the process continues forward.

[Hank D Thoreau]

I use a Crock Pot a lot. My favorite meal is a stew that I posted about earlier (https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=6938.msg72304#msg72304 reply#2).

You can put pretty much whatever you like in it. You can also rotate the meat between beef, pork and chicken, though I have found that I like beef the best.

I use the following:

Beef stew meat
Carrots
Zucchini
Onion
Green beans
Cabbage
Tomatoes
Corn (cut from the cob if possible)
Garlic
You can add potatoes. I do sometimes but I usually keep it lower carb.

The broth is made using a mixture of vegetable broth and a can of V8 juice (one can each) with an added dash of Tiger Sauce.

The only seasoning I add is pepper.

Mix together with the meat on top and cook on low for 8 hours.

I do not thicken the broth. I keep it soupy which precipitated a debate here on what is a soup and what is a stew.

I did not add amounts because I put in how much I like. I cut everything fairly large which helps keep the vegetables from dissolving, especially the zucchini.

I throw stuff in until the Crock Pot is full. There is more detail in the earlier post that I linked to on top.

[jdmessner]

Hank - Thanks for posting the stew thread. I had forgotten about it. There were some good recipes on there. A stew would be a good addition to the mix for crockpot dishes.

I made the chicken and stuffing recipe tonight. It was really good. I cooked it on high for four hours. The stuffing was a little mushy, but the celery still gave it a little bit of a crunch. Next time I will probably top it with some onion crisps, and double the recipe for a 5 quart crock pot. The recipe is a keeper!