The Baking Beauties » Slow cooker

Gluten-free Slow Cooker Barbecue Pulled Beef Sandwiches

Jeanine Friesen — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:28:48 +0000

The slow cooker is probably one of the most helpful, but most overlooked, piece of kitchen equipment you have. Most people have them, seldom use them to their full potential. Yet, slow cookers are fantastic for having a nice, hearty, healthy meal ready at the end of the day, without having to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Get it ready in the morning, or even the night before as long as you refrigerate it, set it, and go about your day. Come suppertime, when everyone is hungry and you all just got in from a busy day, supper will be ready for you, and you won’t have to resort to take-out.

This Slow Cooker Barbecue Pulled Beef is so easy to throw together in the morning, let it cook all day, and by the evening, you have an amazing, flavourful sauce, and soft, tender beef. This beef is great to eat hot or cold, so it would be fantastic to take to picnics and potlucks.

Note: I served these on an Udi’s hamburger bun, they are fantastic for the days you don’t have time to bake.

To view the full recipe, click HERE.

Sweet & Sticky Barbecue Chicken Wings

Jeanine Friesen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:06:00 +0000

With the “big game” coming up (at least, that’s what I keep hearing/reading about, I don’t watch), you may want to take the time make up a batch of these chicken wings. Or, if you’re like me, you may want to make these little, fall-off-the-bone drumlettes just to enjoy them. No game needed.

You could use chicken wings for this recipe, but I used a pack of drumlettes that I skinned, reducing some of the fat. The recipe was intended for the slow cooker, but apparently I was too slow that day (do you know how long it takes to peel the skin from all those little drumlettes??), so I put mine in a 9×13-inch baking pan and baked them in the stove. I think I preferred this way because it gives the sauce a chance to evaporate a bit, and get nice & sticky on the wings. We all loved this tasty little finger food, and there wasn’t one leftover when we were done. Definitely 2 thumbs up from everyone.

I am finally getting around to participating in my friend Colleen’s Weekly Recipe Swap! She hosts this recipe swap every Friday, and each week there is a great variety of recipes that are shared. If you’re looking for something new, pop on over to visit Colleen and see what kinds of goodies there will be today.

Ingredients:

3 lbs chicken wings (or drumlettes)
salt and pepper
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup gluten-free chicken stock (OR, you can replace the sugars & chicken stock with 2 cups of honey. I didn’t have, hence the replacement…and it worked GREAT!!)
1 cup gluten free low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup your favorite gluten free bottled barbecue sauce
1/4 cup oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

Cut off and discard wing tips (if using wings).
Cut each wing at joint to make two sections.
Rinse wings, drain and pat dry with paper towels. (like I said…I peeled mine. I’m not a fan of eating chicken skin, but to each his own)
Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
If not removing the skin, place wings on broiler pan and broil about 6 inches from heat for 10 minutes, or until brown. This is to crisp the skin, not necessary if you’ve removed the skin.
Transfer wings to 9×13-inch baking pan.
Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl; pour over the chicken wings.
Bake wings for approximately 1 1/2 hours at 375 degrees F. Toss to coat with sauce occasionally.

NOTE: To do the wings in the slowcooker, just place wings in slowcooker, cover with sauce and bake on high for 2 hours, or low for 4. Like I said, I think the time in the oven made the sauce a bit stickier than 2 hours in the slowcooker would have done.

Source: Recipezaar

Sweeper Steak

Jeanine Friesen — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:24:00 +0000

With the warm weather approaching, I wanted to use up any stewing beef I had in my freezer. Since I don’t make much stew in summer, and didn’t want it sitting there until fall, I looked for a recipe that used the stewing beef cut, but wasn’t stew. This was a simple, quick recipe that fit the bill! Plus, the fact that it was cooked in the slow cooker, meant that I could spend time outside while it was inside baking & getting nice and tender. Perfect!

Ingredients:

2 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 (10.75 ounce) cans gluten-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 (1 ounce) envelope dry gluten-free onion soup mix
1 cup gluten-free beef broth

Directions:

Grease the crock pot bowl with the sesame oil.
Place the beef, cream of mushroom soup, soup mix and beef broth into the prepared slow-cooker and stir to blend.
Cover and cook on high for 3 hours, or until meat is tender.

Serve this over rice, noodles or mashed potatoes. There is plenty of sauce to be used as gravy.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

Jeanine Friesen — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Well, spring is arriving here. Our snow (on our yard) is nearly all melted. Woohoo! Today is actually a dreary, cloudy, rainy day. The perfect day to use your slow cooker! Dig it out, you won’t be disappointed with this soup.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8) ounce can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups gluten-free chicken broth
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package gluten-free taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)

Directions:

Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover and cook for 5 hours.
Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

Slow Cooker Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Jeanine Friesen — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 12:00:00 +0000

I really love a good baked potato when I have a BBQ. However, more often than not, I forget to start the potatoes early enough. Why is it that barbecued meat takes minutes (usually), and the potatoes to go with the meat, take an hour? Instead of doing the potatoes on the grill, I usually do them in the oven. However, I didn’t want to turn my oven on for an hour for a few potatoes, so out came the slow cooker! Yes, you can use your slow cooker in summer too. It’s easy to scrub your potatoes in the morning, throw them in the slow cooker, and go on with your day. By supper time, your potatoes are ready to scoop out and stuff.

Ingredients:
6 medium baking potatoes
2 Tbsp. Water

STUFFING
4 oz. light cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup non-fat sour cream
1 1/2 tsp onion salt
1 Tbsp chopped chives
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

1/3 cup grated medium Cheddar cheese
paprika, to sprinkle

Directions:
Arrange potato in 3 1/2 quart (3.5L) slow cooker, stacking if necessary. Add water. Cover. Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours.

Stuffing: Mash first 6 ingredients together in bowl. Cut lengthwise slice from top of each potato. Scoop hot potato into same bowl leaving shells intact. Mash well. Spoon back into shells.

Sprinkle with cheese and paprika. Arrange in single layer in 9 x 13 inch (22x33cm) baking pan. Bake in 425 degrees F oven for about 15 minutes until hot. Makes 6 stuffed potatotes.

Source: Company’s Coming “Slow Cooker Recipes“