A Spicy Enchilada Quinoa Soup I’ve noticed some great slow cooker enchilada recipes lately and have really been wanting to try them out. Rather than go to the supermarket for more ingredients, I decided I’d use what I have on hand. One recipe I saw had quinoa in it, and I just happened to have a box of Nature’s Earthly Choice Easy Quinoa, Garden Vegetable flavor. This enchilada recipe is a meatless meal. Personally, I think cheese enchiladas are the best. The chicken and beef kinds are good, too. But quinoa enchiladas? I wasn’t too sure how that would taste. Sounds quite nutritious, doesn’t it?Read More →

Slow cooker ribeye steak

Try cooking ribeyes in the slow cooker with sweet potatoes. Haven’t tried it yet? You’re  missing out. This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on it and make a purchase, I make a commission. This doesn’t cost you anything additional. These commissions help to keep the rest of my content free, so thank you! I had no idea how good this steak-in-a-slow-cooker experiment was going to be. It only takes four hours on high. Double the time if you need it to cook all day. Sear or Not to Sear? I used to think you had to sear all kinds of meatRead More →

A Southwestern Chowder Chile Recipe On a road trip with my husband, a professional driver, I purchased a corn chowder soup mix. We made the journey to our cabin where there was very little in the pantry. Since I had the soup mix, I went pantry hunting to see what could be used with the soup mix in my slow cooker. The results? Corn and chicken chowder. It was great because that day was windy and cold. Nothing like hot soup on a chilly day. But it’s spring! Soup is supposed to be for late fall and winter days, right? I think soup can be madeRead More →

Now that I’m back at the cabin after visiting my daughter, son-in-law, and my cute little granddaughters, I’m cooking up a storm in my Rival Crock-Pot. They were gracious to give me full access to the kitchen and the slow cooker for my 30-day recipe project. My daughter’s cooking in her big KitchenAid slow cooker mostly involves appetizers that she makes for her CARES teams. She makes the best caramel apples. I had fun helping her unwrap the caramels. I’m so proud of her. She is great at planning meals and appetizers for the CARES team events, and she is such a good mom andRead More →

Yes, You Can “Bake” a Cake in the Slow Cooker! Since I began my 30 days of slow cooker recipes at the beginning of April, I have determined that there is one recipe, for sure, that I will experiment with. It’s my favorite cake, German Chocolate. My mother made the best German Chocolate cake, and I have her recipe. It’s the best I’ve ever had. What’s the Difference Between an Oven-Baked and Slow Cooker Cake? I’ve made a couple of cakes in the slow cooker, and it is a little different than baking them in the oven. The first one I made was a typeRead More →

A Garden Salsa Velveeta Dip When do your garden tomato plants first start bearing tomatoes? Late spring? Early summer? There’s nothing like making salsa from your own organic garden. If you have an abundance of tomatoes, make a salsa for your family and extra to give as gifts to your family and friends. You’ve probably mixed hot sauce with Velveeta. How about coming up with your own sauce by combining tomatoes, squash, zucchini, peppers, and/or any other vegetables from your organic garden? I mixed a little of my homemade garden salsa into the remainder of Velveeta cheese I had on hand. If you like cheeseRead More →

A Caramel Apple Recipe NOTE: This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on it and make a purchase, I make a commission. This doesn’t cost you anything additional. These commissions help to keep the rest of my content free, so thank you! Need a fun food idea for an event? Try caramel apples with your slow cooker. It’s easy to do, and event attendees will love the apples. The photo below is a caramel apple event of a CARES team. Get bakers’ caramel bits. If you can’t find them, use the individually wrapped caramels. It’s more time consuming, but it works. You canRead More →

Stewed Tomatoes for Salsa Recipes   Fresh garden tomatoes make the best salsa. This is a recipe for making your own fresh stewed tomatoes. When your summer garden produces tomatoes in abundance, prepare stewed tomatoes for recipes requiring tomatoes, like salsa. What Are Stewed Tomatoes? If you grew up on a farm or in a family who gardened, you are probably familiar somewhat with blanching vegetables. When I was young, I wondered what my mother meant at blanching the squash, tomatoes, and other vegetables. In my observance, she was cooking them. That was somewhat true. She cooked them long enough to soften. For instance, myRead More →

4-Hour and 10-Hour Slow Cooker Charro Beans There are some days just a pot of beans and cornbread sound good. Rainy days. Chilly days. Spring days. Penny-pinching days. Beans are inexpensive, and they are nutritious. Good for the whole family. Good for babies learning to eat table food. A family can cut grocery expenses and calories easily by eating beans often and growing a vegetable and herb garden. Beans and vegetables combined make a hearty and nutritious meal. The kind of beans my family ate a lot of was green beans. My dad could eat them for every meal. I’m surprised that I still likeRead More →

Slow Cooker Salsa Do you prefer to eat fresh salsa or cooked salsa? Vegetable and herb gardens make the best fresh salsa, and you can get as creative with it as you want. Make it hot or mild, bold and spicy, or sweet and spicy. Don’t have a garden of your own? Vegetables and herbs from the produce section at the supermarket you frequent or from your local farmer’s market will work just fine. When you favor a particular salsa recipe, cook it and store it in a jar. Make it last longer by cooking the ingredients and storing in a jar or plastic containerRead More →