Crockpot Cookin'

So as I search for new recipes my key things are: minimal time and ingredients! haha I have given in a few times and made recipes that took forever and used a 100 different ingredients. To me it just wasn't worth it.  They were very good, but so are other, easy recipes. (Not enough time after work to spend half my evening cooking unfortunately.)

Lately I have made 2 new crock pot recipes that were very easy, and tasted great (all thanks to Pinterest!).  One of them is not the healthiest, but sometimes you can cheat a bit and enjoy a nice fatty meal. As I may have mentioned before, Lance believes the house will burn down if we leave it on while not home, so I  have not used ours much.  The past two Sundays I  have used it and was very pleased with both outcomes. First I will start with the chicken tater tot creation.



This recipe only has 5 ingredients.. awesome!

Ingredients:

1 lb of boneless, skinless breasts (diced)
32 oz bag of frozen tater tots
3 oz bag of bacon bits
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup of milk.

All you have to do is the following- Spray the crockpot with cooking spray, add half the tater tots, half the cheese, half the bacon, all the chicken, rest of the cheese, rest of the bacon, and pour all of the milk over the top. Ta-da! Put the lid on and cook on Low for 4-6 hours. (did closer to the full 6).


This makes a lot, and I think lasted us maybe 3 meals each.  I added hot sauce to mine (I pretty much could put it on everything!) and I think Lance put a bit of ranch on his.  This is something that still tastes just as good after being refrigerated and reheated!

My second recipe I just made yesterday and it was FANTASTIC.  This is a much healthier option than above.  Skinny Spaghetti.  Now we have been using ground chicken in the past for a lot of things, so I knew this would taste fine. I know a lot of people have switched to ground turkey, but if you check the nutrition, ground chicken is even about 50%  better for you than the turkey.  In things like tacos, spaghetti, and even chili where the seasoning is the main taste, you can not tell the difference at all.  I'm sure more textured things like meatloaf, meatballs, ex, would not work as well.  We did use it to try and make "burgers" one time and it had the texture of a burger, but taste of a chicken sandwich.. very odd! ha  This ingredients list is a bit longer, but most are seasonings you just sprinkle in.  My husband has about every season known to man, so luckily I only had to buy very little to make this.  I also added a few things, so I will just list exactly how I made it.

There are 2 steps to this recipe. 

Step one you will cook the ground meat fully with the following:

1 lb lean ground turkey or chicken (I used chicken)
1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• 1 tsp dried sage

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp dried oregano
• (Now on seasoning I don't really measure it, but kind of sprinkle in what I think looks about right! lol)

Step two you will mix the cooked meat in with all the other ingredients:

• 1 (24 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce (no sugar added)
• 8 ounces (uncooked) 100% whole wheat spaghetti, about 2/3 of a 13.25 oz box, break into small pieces before adding to meat mixture
• 1 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1 cup skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp chopped (fresh) basil
• 1/2 container of sliced mushrooms
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Mix it all together in the crockpot and cook on Low about 2 hours.   We had for dinner last night, I packed it for our lunch today, and will also get one more meal for each of us out of it.

I'm sure I will make some more in the future, and will definitely post any ones worth sharing! :)

Happy Monday!!