Pierogies for Parties!

The Recipe:
Pierogies In Pepper-Shallot Sauce

5 crushed tomatoes
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 c chopped sweet green peppers
½ tsp. olive oil
½ tsp. red wine vinegar
½ tsp. Italian herb seasoning
½ tsp. black pepper
1 lb. potato-filled pierogies, fresh or frozen (find them in the freezer case at your grocery)

THE METHOD:
Combine all ingredients except pierogies in Crock-Pot. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours. Add pierogies. Cover and cook for 1 hour. Makes 6 servings.



For this recipe, I used Mrs. T's cheddar and potato pierogies.








I prepared this dish for a holiday potluck at the office. I combined all the ingredients in the crockpot the night before and stored it in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I grabbed the crockpot and the Mrs. T's pierogies, and headed to the office. Plugged the crockpot in around 8:30 (set on HIGH), added the pierogies at 11:30, and stirred every 15 minutes - by 12:15 they were ready.

Lowlights: The pierogies didn't hold up well in the crockpot for more than 1 hour. I wanted to leave the crockpot on low so people could snack throughout the afternoon, but the pierogies couldn't hold up to that extended heat and sauce. My advice: Prepare the dish as described above, but don't plan on serving them from the crockpot for more than 1 hour. It's not a sit-on-the-counter-all-afternoon crockpot recipe.

Chili Cheese Dip Revisited

Bobbi had a birthday party on Sunday night.
Once again, the crockpot headed out for a field trip! (3 field trips this week!!!) I've made this recipe before, with success. Make no mistake, it's naughty. Very naughty, but it's always a hit, especially with beer drinkers.

Prep time - 10 minutes
Cook time - 3 hours
Serves - 10-15 humans

Chili Cheese Dip

2 16 oz boxes of Velveeta - one lo-fat box, one regular
one jar of salsa (I used peach salsa)
1/2 cup grated cheese (you pick)
One can of Bush's Chili Magic, Chili Starter, Texas Recipe
2 tbsp cajun seasoning
several dashes of Frank's Red Hot.


Chop the Velveeta into large cubes. Combine all ingredients in the crockpot. Set on low for 3 hours. Stir occasionally. Leave the cover on while serving.

Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.

PS - If you've got leftover chili, use that instead of the canned chili beans.

Comfort Food Party - Crock Pot Mac N Cheese

gerg and I were invited to a "comfort food" party at one of his colleague's homes about 20 miles from our house. Since we had yardwork to get done during the day, we had the crockpot do all the work and made the ultimate comfort food - baked mac n cheese.

The recipe:

Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 6 Hours
Servings:6

INGREDIENTS:
½ lb. elbow macaroni
4 c. shredded cheese, divided (choose your cheese - if you can't decide, use cheddar)
1 (12 fluid oz.) can evaporated milk
1½ c. milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground black pepper
fresh oregano

THE METHOD:
Coat the inside of the slow cooker with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, beat eggs with fresh and evaporated milks. Mix in uncooked macaroni and 3 cups shredded cheese. Transfer to slow cooker, and sprinkle remaining cheese on top.
Cook on low for 5 to 6 hours. Do not stir or remove lid while cooking.

Took us about 10 minutes to put everything together in the pot, and then we were off to do our yardwork. Headed to the party with the crockpot in the backseat. Plugged it in at the party, and voila! Instant comfort food! As time went on, the dish got a little dry from being plugged in for so long. It's not the kind of dish that can be plugged in all night and enjoyed, like chili, for instance.

Other dishes included crockpot baked ham, baked turkey, crockpot beef stew, pumpkin bread pudding, ice cream, and beer.

Jessica, I loved your sweater.

Viva la Vegetable Enchilada Casserole!

Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

5 crushed tomatoes
1 can chunky salsa (14½ oz.)
1 can tomato paste (6 oz.)
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained (15 oz. each)
1 can whole kernel corn, drained (15¼ oz.)
1 can diced green chilies (4 oz.)
1½ tbsp. ground cumin
1 packet enchilada sauce seasoning
½ tsp. garlic powder
5 corn tortillas
1 can sliced ripe olives, drained (2½ oz.)
2 cups shredded cheese (your choice)

Serves: 4-6

THE METHOD:
In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, salsa, tomato paste, beans, corn, green chilies, cumin, and garlic powder. Mix well. Ladle about 1 cup of this mixture into the bottom of a 4-quart Crock-Pot; spread evenly. Top with 1½ tortillas, cutting to fit as necessary.
Spread on 1/3 of the remaining tomato mixture. Repeat these layers 2 more times, ending with the rest of the tomato mixture; spread evenly over the top. Sprinkle the sliced olives over all.

Cover and cook on low about 5 hours. Serve hot.

The flavor of this dish was zesty! Very enchilada-like. Mexican-style comfort food, for sure. We served it in bowls with spoons. However, the whole dish had pretty much the same texture throughout. The corn tortillas were saturated and incorporated into the sauce. IMO, it needs added crunch. I recommend crumbling tortilla chips over the top as you're serving it. Or you could serve it with tortillas and fresh chopped lettuce if you don't want to eat it out of a bowl.

We got home and grabbed the crockpot for a field trip. We headed over to the Smith family household with a gift in hand for baby Lotus. Bobbi was working, but Brad, gerg, Lotus, and I enjoyed the dish in their new apartment. Lotus went crazy for the dish. She was crawling up my leg and hamming it up, all for the love of the crockpot delight. The new Bee Bop Band Drum Set was a hit with Lotus. She played dinner jams for us while we parked it in the kitchen to chow down.

Caramel Apple'n

Caramel Apple
Dippin' Party!













Ingredients:
3 bags of caramels
15 apples (I used honeycrisps from Minnesota)
2 cups chopped peanuts
1/2 bag of shredded coconut
2 cups chopped peanut butter chips and chopped chocolate chips
15 popsicle sticks
cupcake papers

The method:
Dump 3 bags of Milk Maid caramels in the crockpot, set on low. (thanks to Crystal for unwrapping all those caramels!)
Once the caramel is melted add 6 tbsp of water and stir until the caramel is smooth and the water is incorporated.
Insert the popsicle sticks into the apples.
Set each apple in a cupcake paper.
Dip the apple into the caramel.
Rotate the apple over the crockpot, allowing excess caramel to fall back into the pot. Do this for about 5 minutes, allowing the caramel to cool and harden. *this step is important. If you don't allow the caramel to cool, all the caramel and toppings will run off.*
Sprinkle caramel covered apple with fixn's.
Set the complete caramel apple in the cupcake paper to allow for additional cooling time.

NOTE: I added 2 tbsp of water every 2 hours to the crockpot to keep the caramel smooth.

Also, don't set the spatula on the counter, as shown above. It makes a big, sticky mess. I had a small plate set out to the left of the crockpot, but for some reason, the spatula mysteriously moved to the corner of the sink....might have had something to do with the liqueur coffee
and pomegranate-blueberry screwdrivers also being served.

http://static.flickr.com/84/271596563_37e288f725.jpg?v=0

Pepper Cheese Dip

2 pkgs (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened, cut into cubes
4 c. shredded Colby-Jack Cheese
1 c. half-and-half
2 tbsp. mustard
1 tbsp. chopped onion
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (sometimes you can find vegan versions)
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. hot pepper sauce
2 diced red bell peppers.

THE METHOD:
Place cream cheese, Colby-Jack cheese, half-and-half, mustard, onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper sauce in Crock-Pot. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, on low 1 hour or until cheese melts. Stir in peppers; adjust seasonings. Serve with crusty bread or crackers.

Lentil Sloppy Joes

2 c. dried lentils
1 large chopped onion
1 carrot, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 c. water
4 c. tomato sauce
1 tbsp. parsley flakes
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. salt-reduced tamari (use lite soy sauce, if you don't have tamari)

THE METHOD:
Cook on high for 4 hours or 8 hours on low. This freezes well.

CHOWDER TIME!

Crock-Pot Clam Chowder

4 cans clams (6½ oz.) or 3 lbs. fresh or frozen clams
1 lg. onion, chopped
4 lg. potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 c. water
3½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
4 c. half-and-half or milk
3 tbsp. cornstarch

THE METHOD:
If fish is frozen, thaw and cut into bite size pieces. In skillet, sauté butter and onion until golden brown; drain. Put into Crock-Pot with clams. Add all remaining ingredients, except milk. Cover; cook on low 6 to 8 hours (high 3 to 4 hours) or until potatoes are tender. During the last hour of cooking, combine 1 or 2 cups milk with the cornstarch. Add to Crock-Pot with remaining milk and stir well.


This recipe was another success. We prepared everything the night before and threw the crock pot in the fridge. The next morning, we pulled it out and set it on low on the counter. When I got home from the office, I added the half-and-half. About 45 minutes later, we ate our first bowls. It made great leftovers for lunch the next day too!

Crock Pot Chili

I made this recipe for meat eaters, and they loved it!

olive oil
1-2 large yellow onions, diced
1 package of beef substitue (I like the Quorn product)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced fairly large
1 green pepper, diced fairly large
10 crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. cayenne (or to your taste)
1 package frozen corn
2 cans black beans (or any other kind of beans you like - chickpeas work well too)
1-1 ½ c. hot sauce
salt to taste
grated cheddar, if desired

THE METHOD:
Sauté onions in the olive oil. (**I used cooking wine instead to cut out the fat). Add garlic bit later, then add beef substitute. After onion and garlic are have turned golden brown, add cumin, cayenne, and whatever other spices you might like. Fry for a couple of minutes. Next, add the peppers, sauté them for a few minutes. Put the crushed tomatoes, corn, beans and picante sauce into the Crock-Pot, and add the onion mixture. Cook on low about 10 hours. Serve with grated cheddar and cashew nuts, if desired. NOTE: you will have to vary the sizes above depending on the size of your Crock-Pot.