Halloween Slow Cooker Recipes

Happy Halloween! Put your slow cooker to good use this weekend to keep all the goblins in your life happy and well-fed.

 Witch's Brew. Green, slimy, sweet, and sour. The star anise look like tiny little spiders--fun!

 

 Caramel Apples. YUM. I made these for the first time on my daughter's 7th birthday. Now she's 10, and her LITTLE sister is 7. I'm not okay with this.

 Autumn Sausage Casserole. A bowl full of fall. Great dinner to fill the belly before heading out for the night.

 Chocolate and Marshmallow Fondue. Skip the waxy supermarket Halloween candy and make the good stuff.

 Jamaican Pumpkin Soup. A rich, velvety, creamy soup-- restaurant quality and super delicious. You decide the amount of cream to add at the table.

 Mulled Wine. Warm up after a chilly night out with a hot mug of mulled wine. The perfect by-the-fire adult drink.

 

 Pizza Soup. The kids have requested this for dinner this Halloween--liquid pizza. If you normally order pizza delivery before heading out,  make this instead to satisfy your pepperoni craving.

 Pumpkin Spice Latte. The one and only!

 

 Roasted Pumpkin Seeds in the Slow Cooker. Yes, you can roast pumpkin seeds in the crockpot. But that doesn't mean you should. It's kind of a pain.

 

Orange Glazed Beets. Food that bleeds! Fantastic for Halloween--- if you're a beet fan, you'll like these an awful lot. If you aren't a beet fan, you probably never will be. That's okay. I'm not either.

Stewed Tomatoes. They look like baby animal hearts, which is great for a spooky dinner, but taste A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. ---even if you aren't a big tomato fan.

Have a wonderful Halloween weekend, and enjoy your trick-or-treating! Viva la Crocktober!

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Sausage and Lentil Stew Slow Cooker Recipe

 

I love one-pot meals. This is a nutritiously sound meal that will hopefully keep your meat-loving husband, your carb-conscious mother-in-law, and veggie-hungry aunt all happy.

And that there is a very steep order. 

The Ingredients.

serves 4-6 depending on the size of the people

1 cup lentils 

2 cups beef broth

1 (12-ounce) package smoked chicken or turkey sausage, sliced--your choice of flavor. I used a spicy mango chicken from Aidell's.

1 cup chopped carrots

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

9 ounces (or so) fresh spinach (to add at the very end)

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Rinse your lentils under cold water, and place them into an empty slow cooker. Add beef broth, and sliced sausage. Add the entire can of tomatoes and a cup of chopped carrots. The broth and the seasoning from the sausage is enough to flavor this dish-- there is no need for additional spices.

Cover and cook on low for 5 hours, then stir in fresh spinach. It'll look like a lot at first, but the spinach will wilt and I promise it will all fit. Cover again and let the spinach soften for about 15 minutes. Serve in a shallow bowl with cornbread.

unless you don't like cornbread. then you really shouldn't eat it.

The Verdict.

We all ate it! I usually pick a sausage that has a bit of heat instead of the sicky-sweet sausages (think chicken apple) when I make casseroles or stews because the spice dissipates enough to not upset the kid tongues, but there is still a great amount of flavor. I am now such a fan of lentils--- they're cheap, filling, fat free, and full of fiber.

I've partnered up with DinnerTool.com, and wanted to share their new recipe and grocery list maker with you. It's completely free, and uber-easy to use. Which is good, because yesterday I spent 45 minutes at Lucky's only to walk out without the one thing I walked in for: bananas. grr.

All Hail the Lentil!

Honey lentils

Indian spiced lentils with chicken

Moroccan Lentil Soup

16-bean soup (I'm pretty sure there's a lentil in there somewhere)

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Slow Cooker Troubleshooting

We have two new family members! Meet Sugar and Oliver (Ollie)--- who were in the house all of 45 minutes before I decided to throw them in a crockpot. [PETA disclosure; it wasn't plugged in, they weren't drugged---all just fun and games!]

While cooking in the slow cooker is pretty easy, sometimes things don't go exactly quite as planned. Since I've used the crockpot eight million and fifty-six times I have a few tricks up my robe sleeve that might be of some help to you.

Part 3 of Frequently Asked Questions. 1 and 2 are here.

Cleaning Baked on Gunk.

If you make a casserole in the slow cooker, like a lasagna, sometimes the baked on gunk is hard to get off. Don't use a brillo pad, or harsh abrasive scrubber to scrape it off. Instead, fill the crock with hot water and drop in a fabric softener (dryer) sheet, and let it sit over night. In the morning, rinse out the crock and wash it normally (either by hand or in the dishwasher).

Do You Use the Slow Cooker Liners?

I don't. But that's because I use my pots so much (I have 7 plugged in today!) it wouldn't be cost-effective for me to do so. If I think what I'm making will be difficult to clean, I'll spray a bit of cooking oil on the crock before loading it up. Otherwise, I just clean promptly, or use the above fabric softener sheet trick.

Also, I just moved to the Ninja Cooking System pretty much full-time, and it has a nonstick coating that is super easy to clean --- cleaning just hasn't been an issue at all with this pot.

Hard Water Stains or Bean Residue.

The white, filmy stuff left behind on a black stoneware is lime scale, and comes from hard water, soap scum, or bean goop. Once you wash your pot with hot, soapy water, it's fine to use, even with this white discoloration. If it really bothers you, you can use a mixture of water and vinegar to wash away the stains, or make a big pot of tomato-based something or other (chili, stew, marinara sauce) to get rid of the stains.

I live in an area with hard water, and have these stains pretty often. I simply ignore them and keep cooking.

There is Water Trapped in The Handle of the Glass Lid of My CrockPot.

Ew. This happens if you don't have a tight seal on the handle of the glass lid and you run it through the dishwasher. The best thing to do is to unscrew the lid, wipe out the water, and then hand-wash the lid from now on. I'm sure you could hunt down a rubber gasket from a hardware store to make the seal tighter, but usually the glass lids don't get so dirty you can't just hand wash them.

The Handle Fell off the Glass Lid and it's Broken and I Need a New One.

You can order new glass lid handles from the Crock-Pot main website.  You'll need to get the model number from the bottom of the heating element before seeing what type of knobs are available.

Or, you can go to a hardware store and get a single screw drawer-pull and use that instead for a new handle.

The Glass Lid is Broken.

You can order replacement glass lids from the Crock-Pot website (again, have your model number ready), or you can use a few layers of foil as a lid. Crimp the edges tightly, and cook your food the same way. Be super careful when removing the foil, the steam will be quite hot!

Which Slow Cooker do you Recommend?

I have all my recommended slow cookers and accessories listed on the Store page of the website, and I must admit, I really really like the Ninja.

What Do I Do With the Temperature Probe My Slow Cooker Came With?

Throw it in a junk drawer. I don't use the temperature probe, and none of my recipes call for using one, because I try to keep them pretty simple. If you are cooking a whole chicken or a fancyish piece of meat and would like the meat to turn off when it reaches a desired internal temp, use the probe. The probe is  not to be used as an instant-read meat thermometer, but as a tool to turn the pot to a "warm" setting once the desired temp is reached.

I Only Have a 6-quart. How Do I Make Recipes that Call for a 4-quart or 2-quart?

Slow Cookers work the best when they are pretty full---about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full. You can still use them if they aren't to this capacity, but your food will cook faster.

If you are making a smaller recipe in a 6-quart, you can  load the ingredients in and shorten the cooking time, or you can insert an oven-safe dish and then load the food into that. I recommend a Pyrex or Corningware-type dish, although a metal loaf pan or baking dish would work fine also. It's okay if the food mounds over the top, or overflows.

This is also what I use to make creme brulee or cheesecake.

I hope this helps! I have other answers listed in this Frequently Asked Year of Slow Cooking questions post and this one, too.

If you have any other questions, please let me know and I'll try my hardest to answer them the best I can. I hope you're enjoying your Crocktober!

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Smoky Country-Style BBQ Ribs in the Slow Cooker

A few years ago I was in a Buffalo Wing phase--- my tongue itched for the spicy tang of Buffalo Wing sauce pretty much always.

It was a fun time.

This year, though, I seem to be on a rib kick. I love testing out new BBQ restaurants and trying to recreate the "oh-this-is-the-best-sauce-ever" flavor at home.

and in the crockpot.

I think we've hit the jackpot with this particular combination. The sauce has the perfect blend of twang, sweet, smoke, and heat without needing to brown the ribs beforehand, leave the house, or get dressed.

I used 3.5 pounds of pork baby back ribs, but you can certainly use beef if you'd like, or use this sauce on chicken thighs. I did NOT brown the meat at all--- the color shown up above was achieved solely in the slow cooker.

The Ingredients.

serves 4, unless you're really hungry.

3-4 pounds ribs

1 large yellow onion, sliced in rings

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

 1 (12-ounce) bottle chili sauce (in the ketchup aisle)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (read labels for gluten. Lea & Perrins, made in the USA is GF)

4 chopped garlic cloves

1/2 to 1 teaspoon Tabasco Sauce

1/4 teaspoon Liquid Smoke

The Directions.

Use a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Cut the rack of ribs in half with a large knife or poultry scissors and make sure they fit all the way in the cooker, with the lid on. Now take them out.

Place the sliced onion in your pot, then put the ribs back in. Combine the dried ingredients: brown sugar, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub this mixture all over the ribs.

Wash your hands well.

Now combine the wet ingredients: chili sauce, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, Tabasco, and Liquid Smoke. Pour this mixture evenly over the top of your ribs.

Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours, or until the meat is tender, and has begun to pull away from the bone. The longer you cook the meat, the more tender it will become. Before serving, flip the ribs over a few times to get all sides nice and saucy.

The Verdict.

These are lick your fingers (and your forearms) good. Yum.

I could put this sauce on an old tire.

more ribs? no problem!

Easy Beef BBQ Ribs

Greek-Spiced Ribs

Lemon Pepper Ribs

Orange Chipotle Ribs

Korean Ribs

Hawaiian Ribs
Red Ribs

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