Beef Stew in the Crock Pot

Tasty new recipe!

Stew Meat (2lbs)

beef stock

Stew seasoning packet (I was lazy)

Carrots

Onion

Celery

Potato

Cut it up and put it in the crock pot with seasoning, broth, and meat.  Low for 7-8 hours!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tonight, we had a very successful crockpot chicken tortilla soup.  I've been on the prowl for a good tortilla soup recently, and living in Texas means I am picky!  We have so many great Mexican and Tex-Mex places with tortilla soup that I can compare recipes to.  I wanted a crock pot friendly recipe as well, so I gave it my own spin. 

 

 

 I wanted one without corn or beans, and right down to the home-y taste of just the chicken without the bells and whistles.  I ended up combining a few different recipes to yield this one.  Even my husband, self-proclaimed soup hater, enjoyed this and asked for more. 

 

Recipe follows:

Ingredients:

1 packet fajita seasoning

1.5 boxes chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 chopped onion

3/4 can crushed tomatoes (15 oz can)

1.5 pounds chicken

cilantro

avocado

cheddar or Monterey Jack

tortilla chips

 

Add the first 6 ingredients to the crock pot.  Cook on high 4 hours, or until chicken shreds easily.  Shred the chicken, and top with cilantro, avocado, cheese, and tortilla chips.

 

 

 

Also, to be completely honest, I didn't really measure any ingredients.  I just added approximately what I have listed in the recipe, but I could have guesstimated incorrectly.  So, just add things until it looks and tastes good to you! 



Chicken Tortilla Soup

Here is another pinterest recipe that I wanted to try, which I made for dinner last night.  I've been on a tortilla soup kick recently - I love the stuff!  I wanted to try this out since it is easy to throw in the crock pot and set til it's done.  Plus ,no dishes because of the crock pot liner!  Here is the original recipe aqui. 

I made mine exactly like hers, except I used the packet of taco seasoning instead of separate spices.  I thought it was really hearty and spicy - a keeper!

Caramel Apples

This past Halloween, I wanted to try out the whole making caramel in the crock pot idea.  I had been seeing things about how you can put a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot and boil it to make caramel without the mess.  I was a bit scared to try it that way, so I took my milk, opened it, and poured it straight into the crock pot.  That way, I didn't have to worry about exploding cans on my stove.  I got some granny smith apples, some candy sticks, and I was ready to make caramel apples.

Here is what my crock pot looked like after I dipped my apples.

For the apples, it was easy peasy.  I just put the stick in the apple, dipped it in the caramel (I used a spoon to help coat the top where the apple wasn't dipped entirely).  Then I put the apples on wax paper on a baking sheet, and waited for them to cool.

Delicious!