Crockpot Beans (revisited!)

My friend Jolinn shared her recipe for crockpot beans with me about two years ago.  They were soooooo good!  But my kids wouldn’t eat them!!  So last night, as I was pouring beans and water and salt and pepper into the crockpot, I thought to myself, “What if we switch up the seasoning a little?”  So I did.  My kids CHOWED DOWN their lunches today!  First time in a week that they’ve really eaten their food!  My really picky eater said he loved it, so that tells you something.  :)

I have leftovers for another 2 meals for us, and two containers for my husband to take to lunch!

Preheat: --
Category: Crockpot, Beans, pictures

This recipe can be cut or multiplied easily.  Leftovers are AWESOME, AND you can make healthy, homemade refried beans by mashing them (not to mention far CHEAPER than the store!).

8 cups Water
4 cups Beans (Pinto are my fave, but you can use Great Northern, Black beans with this recipe… also, for chili, you can do a mix of Pinto, Great Northern, Kidney beans and have your beans uncanned!)
1 Tablespoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Pepper
1 Tablespoon Cumin
1/2 Tablespoon Garlic powder (you could use fresh garlic, too)
1 Tablespoon Onion powder (fresh onions minced are yummy, too!)
1 Tablespoon Chili powder

1.  Throw everything into the crockpot.

2.  Give it a quick stir.  Be sure to break up those powders if you use them!

3.  Set the crockpot on high for 8-10 hours.  Nine hours is about the sweet time.

4.  To eat it like us, serve it hot with a scoop of hot, cooked rice, with a Tablespoon of Reduced fat sour cream, and 1/8 cup Grated Extra Sharp Cheese.

Crock pot Split Pea Soup

We've enjoyed this a couple of times, and it's perfect for our upcoming menu!


Preheat: --
Category: Soup, Peas, Crockpot, Ham

1 16-oz. pkg. Dried split peas, rinsed
2 c. Ham, diced
3 Carrots, chunky-cut
1 med. Onion, diced
2 stalks Celery, chunky-cut
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Bay Leaf
1 T. Seasoning salt
1/2 t. Pepper
1 1/2 quarts hot water (4 cups = 1 quart, so 6 cups)

1. Layer ingredients in crockpot in the order presented.

2. Pour in water--DON'T STIR.

3. Cover and cook: 4-5 hours on HIGH or 8-10 hours on LOW.

4. Remove bay leaf before serving while hot.

Duggar's Three-Bean Chili

This is delicious (I always say that, I know, ha!)! And I love that it's crockpot.

Preheat: --
Category: Chili, Beans, Crockpot

2/3 c. Pinto beans, dry
2/3 c. Great northern beans, dry
2/3 c. Small red or Kidney beans, dry
1 clove Garlic
3 t. Chili powder
1 t. Oregano
2 t. Salt
1 lg can whole tomatoes (I used diced and I would definitely drain them next time!)
1 T. Apple cider vinegar
1 T. Soy sauce
4 c. Water (I ALWAYS have to add an extra cup, for a total of 5 cups.)

1 lb. Ground beef, cooked
Chips/Fritos
Sour Cream
Cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Combine, cook 8 hours on HIGH. I can't always time the 8 hours right, so I like to put my chili on the night before after the kids go to bed (by 9PM or so) and let it cook on LOW until lunchtime--and it's sooo delicious!  (You'll see in the pictures that I add 3 stalks of chopped-up celery to my chili.)

We really don't like those whole tomatoes.......

This is what it looks like in the crockpot before adding the water!  Mmmm, good.

2. Add 1 lb. cooked ground beef just before serving.

3. Serve with Fritos, Sour cream and Cheddar cheese. I haven't ever used the Fritos. We buy the huge box of restaurant-style corn tortilla chips from Sam's Club. :)

Paula Deen's Taco Soup

Mmm-mmm-mmm!  This was delicious!  I altered it... rather significantly, now that I'm thinking about it... but it's absolutely delicious!  (This post is for you, Mary Lynn! Muah!)  If you use the dry beans like I did, it's much less expensive to make. :)

You can go directly to Paula Deen's Food Network page, and there are pictures posted.  :)

Preheat: --
Category: Soup, Paula Deen, Mexican, Crockpot, Chili

2 lbs. Ground beef
2 c. Onions, diced
2 (15 1/2-oz.) cans Pinto beans
2 (15 1/2-oz.) cans Pink kidney beans
1 (15 1/4-oz.) can Whole corn, drained
1 (14 1/2-oz.) Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2-oz.) can Diced tomatoes
2 (14 1/2-oz.) cans Diced green chiles
(opt) 1 (4.6-oz.) can Black olives, drained & sliced
(opt) 1/2 c. Green olives, sliced
1 (1 1/4-oz.) pkg. Taco seasoning mix
1 (1-oz.) pkg. Ranch seasoning mix

For serving:
Corn chips
Sour cream
Cheddar Cheese, grated
Green onions, chopped

Directions:
1. Brown the meat and the onions; drain.
2. Put in the slow cooker for 6-8 hours on low OR simmer on the stovetop for 2 hours.

I made my variation so different that it merits its own recipe!

2 cups Dry pinto beans
1 cup Pink kidney beans (I ended up using red, since that's what I had available)
6 cups Water
1 can Corn
2 cans Diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel (tomatoes with chiles)
1 can Diced green chilis (those suckers are expensive at about $1.25 per can!)
1 can Black olives, drained & sliced
2 cups Onions, diced (about 1 huge yellow onion, 2 medium onions)
4 T. Taco seasoning (I refuse to buy those packets--it's way less expensive to get the big tub, ha!)
3 T. Ranch dressing mix (Same, too expensive to buy the dressing in bottles, and this is so much better!)

1 lb. Ground beef

Corn chips, sour cream, grated cheese, chopped green onion

1. Put everything but the ground beef and toppings into the crockpot the night before. Cook on LOW until lunch the next day (so, around 16 hours!). 

2. Cook the meat, drain it, and stir it into the soup.

3.  Serve with garnish & toppings.

Jolinn's Crockpot Refried Beans

This is also technically a Duggar recipe but between my friend Jolinn and me, we've altered the recipe from the original; thus the title!  These are amazing, and so versatile!

Preheat: --
Category: Beans, Crockpot, Duggar, Burritos

3 c. Beans (Pinto, white, whatever combination of the two to get 3 cups; I do all pinto quite often)
6 c. Water (The original had 5 cups, but my beans burned--BLECH)
3 t. Salt (It is definitely possible to over-salt!)
3 T. Chili powder
1 t. Black pepper

1. Throw ingredients into crockpot.

2. Cook on HIGH for 8 hours.  Okay, commentary needed. Eight hours is too weird for me. I like to do my beans overnight, so I put them in on low until I get up. Most mornings I get up and the beans are just past al dente, so I put them on high until lunchtime.  Whatever YOU do, make sure 1) you have enough water and 2) they're soft enough to mush.

3. Serve with Tortillas or on Rice.  We have loved these as burritos, with cheddar cheese, spinach, sour cream, sometimes with ground beef... Soooo good.

Austin's Chicken Noodle Soup

It takes a half-day of crock-pot and then normal dinner prep time. And it's soooo good. :)

Preheat: --
Category: Chicken

Crock Pot Chicken:
1 whole Fryer chicken
Water
Salt and Pepper

1. Put chicken into crock pot and add water until it's up about two inches. Season with pepper and liberal salt.

2. Turn crockpot onto Low and let the chicken cook until thermometer reads at least 165* when inserted. If the chicken was frozen when you put it into the crock pot, it'll take about five hours; if the chicken was thawed, it'll be more like three. I start my chicken first thing in the morning. I'm not kidding about liberal salt... it acts as a tenderizer for the chicken. Finally, the thermometer reading is right if you're reading from deep within the thigh. If you don't have a thermometer you can be sure the chicken is done if you pull gently on a wing or a thigh and the bone slides out. ;)

3. Carefully remove cooked meat. Save the liquid! I try to take the chicken out of the crock pot and let it cool for a little bit before attempting to remove the meat.

Soup:
3 cups Spiral noodles, uncooked
Chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
Liquid from crock pot, strained
3 Tablepoons Chicken stock
5 Potatoes, unpeeled and washed, cubed
3 Carrots, unpeeled and washed, sliced
3 stalks of Celery, washed and diced
1/4 cup Flour
3 Tablespoons Onion powder
3 Tablespoons Garlic powder
2 Tablespoons Oregano
1/4 cup Chicken stock
1/4 cup Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Cook noodles according to package directions. Strain and set aside. I like to make extra noodles when having pasta, then I refrigerate until I need them so I can skip this step! :)

2. Strain the liquid (again) into the stock pot. Add chicken stock, potatoes, carrots, celery and salt & pepper. Stir until the chicken stock is dissolved.

3. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer. Add Oregano.

4. In a small dish, stir together the flour, onion powder and garlic powder

5. Pull out about 2 cups of broth from the stock pot. Gradually add the flour mixture, whisking rapidly. We don't want lumps here! :)

6. Pour the flour into the stock pot and stir in. Bring to a rolling boil so soup will thicken. Boil two minutes and then lower to a simmer. Stir in chicken stock and butter while waiting for the soup to boil.

7. Soup is ready when the potatoes are finished--easily pierceable by a fork. Add cooked pasta and chicken at this stage and serve while hot. I like the soup best after it's had an overnight in the fridge and is reheated. Mmmm. :)