slow cooker

Slow Cooker Maple Spiced Steel Cut Oats and Quinoa

November 21, 2016 by Asharae Leave a Comment

Happy Thanksgiving Week! Anyone traveling this week? Or welcoming family into your home? Anyone preparing to feed lots of friends and family? If you’re in need of a super simple homemade breakfast option for feeding lots of people this week, I’ve got the perfect recipe for you. And if you’re making this recipe for just one or two, I’ve got instructions for freezing any leftovers to have later!

This Maple Spiced Oats and Quinoa dish is healthy-ish, hearty, so delicious and can be customized to suit each person you’ll be hosting this Thanksgiving. When you’re worried about getting the turkey in the oven, all the pies made on time, and getting Grandma’s stuffing just right, you really don’t need to be thinking about anything complicated for breakfast! Just get up early and throw all these ingredients in your slow cooker (try doubling it and adding some time if you have more than 8 of guests.) You can set out lots of topping options so everyone can customize their own bowl, and this dish is hearty enough that it’ll give everyone energy to help out with all your Thanksgiving dinner prep!

This recipe is adapted from two I found online – this Pumpkin Overnight Oats recipe from Well Plated and this Slow Cooker Overnight Quinoa and Oats by Chelsea’s Messy Apron. Feel free to adapt and adjust to fit your preferences!

Slow Cooker Maple Spiced Steel Cut Oats and Quinoa

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 3 hrs

Total Time 3 hrs 10 mins

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

1 1/2 c steel cut oats (do not use old fashioned or quick cook oats)
1/2 c quinoa rinsed (or purchase pre-rinsed)
3-4 c water depending on how thick you want your oatmeal to be
2 c milk
2 Tbs chia seeds
2 Tbs ground flaxseed
1/4 c brown sugar
2 Tbs maple syrup
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs cinammon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice

Garnishes

Sliced almonds
Dried cranberries
Additional brown sugar
Chopped apples
Additional cinnamon nutmeg, or allspice

Instructions

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray.
Rinse quinoa well, using a fine mesh sieve. (Skip this step if you bought pre-rinsed quinoa)
Combine all ingredients except garnishes in slow cooker, stir well to combine.
Set on high for 2-3 hours, stirring after an hour and a half so you know how much longer to cook it. This will depend on how hot your slow cooker gets. (See note below.)
Oats are finished when they reach the consistency you desire - I like mine to still be slightly chewy, so I cooked mine for just over 2 hours.
Turn off heat and serve topped with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, extra brown sugar, or whatever you like!

Notes

The recipe I adapted this from said to cook it on low for 7 hours or high for 4, but mine would have been burnt to a crisp if I let it go that long. Use your best judgement depending on how quickly your particular slow cooker operates.

If you want to make this recipe to save for later, use a muffin tin to divide the remaining cooked oats and quinoa. Let cool completely on the counter, then place in the freezer for a few hours. Remove oats from muffin tin once frozen, store in a freezer safe ziplock bag, and keep in freezer until ready to eat. Reheat in microwave, top with garnishes, and enjoy!

Recipe Roundup for the Super Bowl

February 4, 2016 by Asharae Leave a Comment

The Big Game is this weekend and guess what? Our Panthers are playing!! We are so excited to cheer them on with friends on Sunday!

Now, if it weren’t for our team being in the game, I’d usually say the Super Bowl is all about the food and the commercials – am I right? I mean, I love a good football game, but I just miiiight just love good snacks even more.

Below I’ve collected some of my favorite EASY recipes for serving to friends and family. Whether you’re cheering on the Panthers or the Broncos this weekend, or you’re just joining in for the food, these easy recipes are sure to make your Super Bowl experience much more delicious!

Slow Cooker Chili – When cooking for a big group of people (or even a small one) I love making something that requires little effort, but has a big payoff. This chili recipe is perfect for serving a large crowd easily! You can substitute ground turkey, or even leave out the meat entirely for a vegetarian option. You just throw everything in the crock pot in the morning and it’ll be ready by game time!

Slow Cooker Corn Dip – This corn dip is currently one of my favorite recipes to make for friends because it always gets rave reviews. My favorite thing is catching someone camped out by the food with their plate of chips, eating straight from the crock pot. This dip is super easy and completely delicious. If you have a smaller slow cooker it’s perfect for this recipe. You can always double or triple the batch and use a regular-sized slow cooker if you’re really serving a huge group of friends!

Guacamole – What’s a Super Bowl party without guacamole?? Need I say more?

Blood Orange Strawberry Limeade – If you need a break from soda and beer at your Super Bowl get together, this is a refreshing alternative. Blood oranges are in season right now, so it’s the perfect time to pick a few up and make this delicious limeade. Make it the night before or in the afternoon before the game and refrigerate it till you’re ready to serve.

Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – These cookies. Just make them. You’ll thank me later.

Slow Cooker Corn Dip

October 27, 2015 by Asharae 2 Comments

Football season is in full swing y’all. That means gathering all your people to cheer on your favorite team and eat delicious food together. At least. That’s what it means to me.

The two teams we cheer for, the Packers and the Panthers, are both 6-0, so we’re feeling pretty great about football in our house these days.

Whether your team is at the top, or you’ve resigned yourself to a losing season already, this corn dip is a perfect addition to your next football get-together. It’s got a kick from the jalapeño and spices, includes a variety of cheeses of your choosing, and gets finished off with a squeeze of fresh lime.

Throw it all together in a slow cooker a couple hours before the game starts and you’ll be all set. Fair warning though: this corn dip is addicting. If you find yourself headed back for seconds, thirds, and fourths… Well. I’ll say I told you so.

My version of this recipe was heavily adapted from Chungah’s recipe over on Damn Delicious – her method works great, I just wanted to add a lot more flavor to the finished product! You’re welcome to adapt this recipe – add more spice or leave it out, add different peppers, try different kinds of cheese. Experiment and see what you like best!

Slow Cooker Corn Dip

Inspired by Damn Delicious

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 2 hrs 15 mins

Total Time 2 hrs 25 mins

Servings 6 -8 as a side or appetizer

Ingredients

4 c frozen corn
2 jalapeños seeded and diced
1 1/4 c shredded cheese your choice - my favorite combination is pepper jack, cheddar, and a little feta
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
dash of paprika
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
8 oz cream cheese cubed
Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

Combine all ingredients except cream cheese and lime juice in a small slow cooker, stir to combine well. Place cubed cream cheese on top of corn mixture, set slow cooker to low, and let cook for 2 hours.
Stir in the cream cheese, add the lime juice, cover and set to high for 15 more minutes. Serve with tortilla chips, tacos, quesadillas, or a spoon.

Notes

I use a tiny slow cooker for this recipe and it works perfectly! It's just the right size for all the ingredients and works well as a serving bowl too. If you're using a larger slow cooker, you may be able to shorten the cooking time a bit. If you try it - let me know how it goes!!

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Pork Tacos

August 15, 2014 by Asharae 3 Comments

These barbacoa pork tacos are the perfect thing to serve to a large group of friends. Most of the work is done in the morning, then you throw everything in the slow cooker and let it get happy for 10 hours or so. Your house will smell amazing and I promise your friends will love you more than they did before. Before they arrive, you remove the pork from the slow cooker, shred it, and put it back in with a little of the reserved juices to keep it moist. You’ll still have time to get all cleaned up and enjoy eating and chatting with your friends rather than working away in the kitchen. (Unless of course you offer to make margaritas for everyone like I did, then all bets are off.)

We had a bunch of friends over to our house before our summer travels got started and this is just what I made for them. With a side of cilantro lime rice and all the chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso our friends wrangled up, we had quite the feast on our hands. I even had a little extra fun with the decorations – I rolled out some brown kraft paper on our dining room table, set it up as our buffet, and used chalk to write out all the taco options.

If you’ve never cooked with pork before – fear not! This is probably the easiest way to cook it – the process of slowly cooking over low heat makes the meat so moist and tender and delicious. If you want to add an extra layer of fabulousness to these tacos (and you’re up for a little challenge), brown the pork in a large Dutch oven or heavy bottomed skillet before placing it in the slow cooker. This gives the meat a little more depth of flavor and those browned edges tend to be my favorite once the pork is cooked and shredded.

Enjoy the barbacoa pork in tacos, in quesadillas, over rice, or on nachos. I’m certain any way you enjoy it would be delicious. You can also serve it with this pico de gallo, or one of these corn salsas.

Please tell me you’ll make these tacos? It just might change your life.

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Pork Tacos

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

For the barbacoa

5-7 lb pork shoulder bone in
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce minced
1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped
1/2 red onion cut into large pieces
6-8 cloves of garlic sliced
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbs kosher salt
Juice of 4 limes
32 oz beef stock
3 bay leaves

For the tacos

Flour tortillas
Freshly shredded cheese
Red onions diced
Fresh cilantro chopped
Lime juice
Other toppings of your choice

Instructions

(Optional - gives the finished pulled pork an extra layer of tastiness when it's all done) In a large Dutch oven or deep heavy-bottomed pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium high. Remove the pork shoulder from the packaging and pat dry with a paper towel. Brown the pork shoulder on all sides, carefully using a pair of tongs to turn the meat in the pan every couple minutes. This is a tricky operation, so be very careful not to burn yourself.
Once pork shoulder is browned, place it in a large slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients.
Cook on low for about 10 hours, or until pork shreds easily with a fork.
Carefully remove the pork from the slow cooker and place on a rimmed baking sheet. The pork should be falling apart, so this part gets a little messy. Use two forks to shred the pork, remove the bone and fatty pieces, and place the "good meat" in a large bowl. Discard the bone and fatty pieces. Continue this process until there is no pork left in the slow cooker. Carefully pour the remaining juices into another large bowl or stock pot. Put the shredded pork back in the (now empty) slow cooker and ladle some of the reserved juices on top of it until the pork is moist.
Let the shredded pork rest in the slow cooker while you prep the rest of your taco ingredients.