slow cooker

Slow Cooker Carnitas Street Tacos

Jun 16, 2020

Slow Cooker Carnitas Street Tacos – like from your favorite taco truck! Pork carnitas cooked in the crockpot and piled on corn tortillas with diced onion and cilantro.

I grew up in Alabama and I don’t know if you know this, but we’re not exactly known for our tacos.

So naturally, I moved to Texas and became obsessed with street tacos. My usual order is the pastor and yes, onion and lots of cilantro, please.

We had this truck by our old house (I moved 2 months ago and I’m acting like it’s been years) that did plates of 5 incredible tacos for $6 and it happened to be on the way home from the soccer fields my kids played on and I’m not going to admit to how many times I just happened to have cash out for the taco truck after soccer practice.

(It’s Los Compadres in Belton if you’re ever driving through central Texas.)

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Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Farfalle

Jun 15, 2020

Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Farfalle – slow cooker chicken shredded and tossed with pasta, bacon, cream, Parmesan cheese, and black pepper.

Originally published January 28, 2014. Updated June 15, 2020.

This is one of the first recipes I ever found on the internet after I became a stay-at-home mom. So I’ve been making it for years and years and years. And no, I won’t tell you how many years ago that was.

The chicken cooks all day in the slow cooker in a tasty marinade until it’s practically falling apart. Then you shred that and add it to cooked pasta, crispy bacon, lots of black pepper, and a creamy Parmesan sauce.

My kids love it and it makes a ton so we always have plenty for dinner and leftovers for the next day.

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White Chocolate Crockpot Candy

Jan 09, 2020

White Chocolate Crockpot Candy – easy 4 ingredient white chocolate peanut clusters! Made completely in the slow cooker. Perfect for holidays!

My most popular recipe I’ve ever shared is my Crockpot Candy recipe. It is also my personal favorite and I make it for every holiday. I think I made 7 batches this past holiday season.

So it’s about time that I made a White Chocolate Crockpot Candy!

I’m a white chocolate person so I almost prefer this version to the original. It is only 4 ingredients and made in the slow cooker. It’s just so easy!

Plus, you can change up the sprinkles you use for the holidays. How cute are they for Valentine’s Day with little heart sprinkles? It would also be cute around Halloween with black and orange spooky sprinkles on top. Or 4th of July red and blue star sprinkles?! Adorable.

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Pulled Pork Fries

Aug 09, 2019

This post has been sponsored by McCain Foods USA, Inc.©. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Pulled Pork Fries – crispy fries piled high with barbecue pulled pork, 2 kinds of cheeses, diced red onion, and jalapenos. Perfect for tailgating!

Hi guys!

Okay, I have to admit that I’m starting to get a little excited about fall. I started thinking about all the fun food that comes along with football season, and I am ready to wrap everything in bacon and cover everything in cheese.

Today, I’ve got a recipe that is perfect right now for barbecue season and will also be perfect in the fall when you need something that’s not going to pull you away from your favorite football team for too long. The pork is slow cooked and the rest of the work is really just piling everything on top of everything else. You’re going to love it!

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Slow Cooker Beer and Brown Sugar Kielbasa

Jan 03, 2019

Crockpot Beer and Brown Sugar Kielbasa – kielbasa and sauerkraut cooked all day in the slow cooker in beer and brown sugar! It’s sweet and sour and delicious! Perfect for Superbowl parties!

Originally published December 11, 2011 which is WILD because how have I been posting recipes online for this long?

Hi guys!

I’m bringing back a super old recipe today. Because, for some reason, it was the most popular recipe on my blog for New Years Eve and New Years Day even though the only photo it had was small and horizontal and pretty terrible.

But seeing everyone else make it made me want to make it again.

I mean, I’d named it my number 1 most favorite recipe in my 2011 wrap up post and then I never made it again.

If there’s a good way to photograph kielbasa in a slow cooker, I haven’t found it.

This is one of the easiest things you could possibly make for, say, the Superbowl. Or any party. Or a Wednesday dinner like we did this week.

I know it sounds weird and you probably don’t even like sauerkraut but just trust me on this one. It’s sour and sweet and my original blog post talked about how me and the person I lived with at the time argued over the leftovers. We were obsessed with it.

As far as the beer, use what you like, I guess? I… umm… bought the cans I thought were the cutest so don’t take my advice on beer.

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Slow Cooker Coca-Cola BBQ Meatballs

Aug 23, 2018

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and The Coca-Cola Company. All opinions are mine alone. #KickoffWithGreatTaste #CollectiveBias

Slow Cooker Coca-Cola BBQ Meatballs – 3 ingredient sweet and spicy meatballs made in the slow cooker! Perfect for tailgating or a weeknight dinner!

Hi guys! Are you ready to start talking football watching snacks?

Homegating snacks?

Yeah?

This is my favorite favorite favorite time of year for food.

Give me all the cheesy dips, all the tiny hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls, and a slow cooker full of meatballs in a sweet sticky sauce.

Plus, hosting friends is always fun, even if all your friends have terrible taste of football.

Ahem.
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Slow Cooker Butternut Squash and Turkey Chili

Oct 27, 2016

Butternut Squash and Turkey Chili – serious comfort food! Turkey chili filled with butternut squash, black beans, tomatoes, and lots of spices.

Is everyone obsessed with squash right now or is it just me?

I feel like every post I’ve put up this month has been squash.

I have 5 varieties in my pantry right now. And as soon as I cook one, I run to the store to replace it. Just in case I have an emergency and need a sweet dumpling squash right now.

I can’t get enough.

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Slow Cooker Pork and Butternut Squash Stew

Oct 13, 2016

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SmithfieldCares #CollectiveBias

Okay guys, real talk.

I broke the driver’s side window of my car.

“How’d you manage that one, Amanda?”

Well, it’s a Wrangler so the windows unzip and the zipper broke.

Okay, fine, I broke both zippers. Which is okay most of the time since I normally have at least the back windows off anyway. But y’all, it’s cold in the mornings and at night in central Texas now. I was shivering on my way back from Austin last week.

An hour and a half at 75 MPH with the window down at 10 pm?

It was cold.

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Crockpot Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs

Apr 30, 2015

Let it be known that I have officially failed Paleo Week.

Guys, I hate to be a Debbie Downer but I am so frustrated. I’ve been throwing myself pity parties and the best way to do that is with pizza, wine, and a giant bag of Sour Patch Kids.

My allergies have just been awful since we got here. I lived all my life with horrible allergies so when we moved to Colorado and they disappeared, it was the best thing ever. And now they’re back and worse than ever. And I hate everything.

My husband thinks I’m nuts because I cry at least once a day because omg, my eyes won’t stop itching. And the Zyrtec stops working about the time I have to pick the kids up from school so I talk to their teachers as a big snotty mess.

TMI?

Yep.

Anyway, I’m blaming allergies for my Paleo-fail. If you see me this summer sitting by the pool in jeans and a sweatshirt, it’s the allergies fault.

That’s the official story.

I made these Crockpot Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs recently after seeing them go around the interwebs for years. I don’t even like pesto that much but one of my favorite Youtubers raved about the recipe so I had to try it.

I was shocked by how much my family loved this one. I will definitely be making it frequently. Feel free to use whatever chicken pieces you like – we pretty only eat thighs these days so I used those but breasts would work as well.

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Crockpot Corned Beef and Cabbage

Mar 09, 2015

St. Patrick’s Day is just over a week away – and this is probably the only post you’ll get from me about it.

Y’all, I’m just not into any holiday that forces me to wear a color that looks awful on me. I’d rather just skip it. What I don’t skip is the corned beef. I love corned beef.

And I cured this myself! Because guess what! My grocery stores don’t put corned beef out until right before St. Patty’s Day. Gahhh. So I bought some brisket, soaked it in some salt water with a bunch of funny smelling spices, and let it hang out in my fridge for 5 days.

Also, I learned that the reason store-bought corned beef is pink is because they use a dyed salt to brine it. I had no idea. I always thought it was just one of those mysteries of the world.

Anyway, it wasn’t difficult to do it myself. It took maybe 30 minutes to get the beef in it’s brine and then I didn’t think about it again until it was time to cook. And it turned on wonderfully. If you don’t want to buy 7 jars of spices that you’ll never use again, go ahead and get the corned beef from your grocery store and just cook that as directed.

I cooked mine with carrots, onions, and potatoes and then I added cabbage at the end of the cooking. The veggies turned out so good. We love cabbage and when it’s cooked with the corned beef, it turns out almost buttery. It’s so delicious – my husband and I practically fought over it!

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Crockpot Spicy Italian Drip Beef Sandwiches

Feb 26, 2015

Happy almost Friday!

The day before I left for this trip, I spent all day cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, things like that.

Not because my husband can’t do those things, I just wanted to make his life easier. (And let’s be real, he’d never remember to do laundry and the last thing I want is someone upset because they have to wear their brother’s pants to school.)

I had taken the kids to the store last weekend and let them pick out easy foods like Lunchables, pizza rolls, frozen White Castle burgers. Basically my kids are going to be sad when I get home and we get back to our regular eating.

But yeah, my husband’s sticking with Paleo while I’m gone and I wanted him to have lots of things that just need to be heated up. So I made this spaghetti squash casserole, this chili, and this beef stroganoff. All of those are favorites and I make them pretty much weekly. I also made some Paleo cornbread, a meatloaf you’ll see eventually, and roasted up a bunch of veggies. And finally, I made this.

I love making recipes like this because the meat is totally Paleo, super flavorful, and perfect on top of mashed cauliflower. But then it’s even more delicious on a roll with melty cheese on top! Which is, of course, how I ate it because I am weirdly obsessed with sandwiches right now.

It was one of those times where I was all, “Okay, I’m just going to have two bites.”

“Orrrr maybe I’ll just have half a sandwich.”

“Welp. I ate it all.”

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Crockpot Ravioli

Feb 10, 2015

I am in major EAT ALL THE FOOD mode right now. Like, I want the freezer cleaned out, I want the pantry cleaned out, I want everything out.

Which is ridiculous because we still have almost 2 months left here.

But for whatever reason, my brain says that we need to eat everything now and then buy just what we need to survive the rest of the time here.

And that’s never going to work because we are incredibly high-maintenance when it comes to food.

Also, I’m feeling super productive because I’m burning through all my candles and each time I finish one, I say “Yep, one less thing to take with us!”

As if a candle is going to make or break our household goods allowance.

But anyway, I’m finding all kinds of things in my freezer. There’s a pint of opened dog ice cream (yeah, that’s a thing) from 2 summers ago that I won’t feed the dogs but I love the label too much to throw it away.

There’s also at least 5 bags of ravioli. Because apparently I impulse buy pasta filled with cheese more often than I realize.

Luckily, the kids love ravioli! This Crockpot Ravioli is so simple and it’s perfect for us right now because ~~I’m crazy~~ I already had all the ingredients on hand and I, you know, felt like I was actually accomplishing something by throwing away that empty bag of mozzarella.

If only moving was as easy as eating all the food and burning all the candles, right?

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Crockpot Cinnamon Roll Casserole

Dec 17, 2014

Crockpot Cinnamon Roll Casserole is the perfect holiday morning breakfast! Only 5 ingredients and cooks completely in the slow cooker!

I have to tell you a story about this crockpot cinnamon roll casserole.

A few days before my husband left Afghanistan, he shared this recipe with me on Facebook.

And he never does that.

He very rarely has requests for me and he especially never goes searching for recipes. But he really, really, really wanted me to make this.

So I bought all the ingredients and made myself a timeline for Thanksgiving Day (the day he got home) that included putting these in the crockpot before we left to get him so they’d be ready by the time we all got home.

Well. I got distracted taking selfies with a turkey headband on and watching the Macy’s parade and it just didn’t happen.

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Slow Cooker Apple Cider Braised Pork

Oct 20, 2014

Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a great start!

I was really kind of hoping for a day at home today because my life is an absolute mess. I just need a day to organize my house, my thoughts, everything. But alas, we’re out of dishwasher tabs and I have no plans to handwash all the dishes today. I considered overnighting some from Amazon but then I realized how ridiculous that would be. Even for me.

And you know that once I’m out there in the wild, I’m gonna need to stop by at least a couple thrift stores to see if there’s any Pyrex in need of a good home.

I also have to go by the library and pay for the 2 books that Penelope (#idiothusky) decided to eat last week.

In other words, ugggghhhhh.

Anyway, we’re finally done with fall sports and I am incredibly grateful that we didn’t have a single game or practice that involved shivering in the snow.

But at the final football game, I heard those dreaded words. You know the ones.

“We’re gonna have our end-of-season party at…”

Just give my kid his trophy and let me go continue my life as a hermit, dangit!

But we went and I used it as an excuse to wear the new booties that I haven’t had a chance to wear yet.

The party was at Bass Pro Shops which I thought was just a store with fishing stuff but somehow serves pizza and has a bowling alley inside. And it’s, like, a really cool bowling alley with sharks coming from the ceiling and the bowling ball returner-thingies (technical term) are crocodile mouths. But it was absolute craziness for 3 hours.

And then the next morning I woke up with hives.

This is what kid parties do to me.

I decided to share this really delicious Slow Cooker Apple Cider Braised Pork with you today since it is Monday and you’re probably already dreading cooking dinner. (I am!) If you happen to have a pork roast and some cider on hand, I’ve got you covered.

I love doing pork in the slow cooker. It just turns out so tender and there’s so much you can do with it. I just made a sauce to pour over the shredded meat but you could easily mix it with a little barbecue sauce and put in on sandwiches.

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Slow Cooker Three Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

Oct 15, 2014

Slow Cooker Three Cheese Macaroni and Cheese – macaroni and cheese made with gruyere, cheddar, and American cheese. It is made completely in the slow cooker and is so creamy and delicious. It is great for holidays or parties!

I had a cold over the weekend (story of my life – my kids get sniffles and I am on my death bed) so all of Saturday, I laid around and watched Food Network. I haven’t watched Food Network in ages but I got sucked into old Ina episodes and next thing I knew I was watching something called My Food Obsession.

Have you seen it? It’s quite weird but I couldn’t stop watching. I saw an episode about a girl who’s boyfriend broke up with her because she ate while she was sleeping.

And then one about a guy who drinks 7 glasses of vinegar a day. Then there was a girl who was afraid of creamy foods. Yogurt, cheesy nachos, mac & cheese, stuff like that.

I mean, can you imagine?

Life without nachos and mac & cheese?

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