When my husband and I got married my cousin gave us a crock pot and I absolutely love that thing! Initially we got a crock pot cook book and to be honest it was the most useless thing ever. It was full of recipes that called for you to do various things in a pan first and then put it in the crock pot.....em, no thanks! The whole reason I wanted a crock pot was because I loved the idea of one pot cooking and almost zero prep work. So that recipe book did not stay with us for long! Thankfully there are so many free recipe ideas online and to be honest once you get in to it it's so easy to just throw something in and come up with your own creation. I have pinned and saved links to so many recipes and I haven't had any disaster or a meal we didn't enjoy. Now I am really into making my own freezer meals for the crock pot. This makes life even easier. I will pick a few recipes, get all the ingredients and spend an afternoon bagging each meal up and freezing it. This leaves me with a freezer stocked with a choice of meals ready to defrost and cook. Check out my YouTube channel here to see my latest meals. I made three different things: Southwest Chilli Chicken, Chicken Teriyaki and a Chickpea Vegetable Curry. We've already cooked the SW chilli chicken, it was a huge hit and so economical, I think we ended up with 10 adult sized portions that cost less than £0.70 (GBP) each! I'll leave all the recipes down below!Southwest Chilli Chicken (recipe from Mommy's Fabulous Finds)
Ingredients:
1½ lbs boneless chicken breast
3 cans diced tomatoes (note, I only used 2 cans)
2 cups medium salsa
1 (14.5 oz) can corn, undrained
2 (14.5 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg ranch seasoning
1 pkg taco seasoning
Toppings - cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips...
Instructions:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a freezer bag. Place in freezer. When ready to use thaw in fridge overnight. Empty contents into crock-pot and cook on low 4-5 hours.
2. Remove chicken from crock pot and shred. Place chicken back in crock pot and stir.
3. Serve with desired toppings.
Teriyaki Chicken (recipe from Graciously Saved)
Ingredients:
1 lg bag of carrots
1 red onion cut in chunks
2 lg cans of pineapple (undrained)
4 garlic cloves
4 chicken breasts
1 cup teriyaki sauce
Instructions:
1. Mix all items together in freezer bag and place in freezer.
2. Defrost in fridge overnight before using
3.Cook on low for 8 hours (or I did high for 4 hours)
4. Serve with rice or lettuce
Veg Curry With Chickpeas (recipe from The Lemon Bowl)
Ingredients:
4 cups cauliflower - cut in florets
2 cups Brussels sprouts - quartered (I didn't use these)
1 sweet potato - peeled and diced
1 red pepper - diced
1 medium onion - diced
15 ounce can chickpeas - drained
15 ounce can tomato sauce - low sodium
½ cup light coconut milk
½ cup chicken or veg broth - low sodium (forgot to list this in video!)
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cayenne - optional
½ cup frozen green peas (don't add these to the bag like I did, they go in at the end of cooking!!)
salt and pepper to taste
plain yogurt, cilantro, sriracha and scallions - optional garnishes
Instructions:
1. Place vegetables, chickpeas, tomato sauce, coconut milk, chicken broth and spices in the slow cooker and heat on Low for 8 hours or on High for 4 hours
2. Before serving stir in green peas to warm.
3. Check for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
4. Serve over brown rice or grain of choice (or on own) with yogurt, cilantro and scallions. Sriracha doesn't hurt either.
