Category Archives: crock pot cooking

Crock Pot Harvest Pork Tenderloin

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The crock pot really gets going in the fall in our house; once it starts to get chilly out, we often start throwing in the beef stroganoff or some other fairly hearty dish. Trouble is, it’s often really heavy, too. There are times when I just don’t want a crock pot meal that weighs me down. CSA week 1 brought us sweet potatoes, so I decided to make a crock pot that capitalizes on those. Since we got apples, too, adding those into the mix seemed like a logical next step. And let’s toss in the red onion we got, as well! The more the merrier!

This crock pot meal meets most of my typical requirements: easy to prepare, cooks well, and doesn’t break the bank. If your grocery store does BOGO on pork tenderloin (which ours does on a semi-regular basis), consider picking up a couple and then freezing one. It only takes a day or so to thaw out a tenderloin, and you can save money while you eat a tasty dish.

 

Crock Pot Harvest Pork Tenderloin

Welcome to Fall...

 

Prep Time: 10-15min

Cook Time: 6-8hrs on LOW (note: we let ours go for 11hrs and it was FINE)

Serves: 4-5

 

Ingredients

3 decent-sized sweet potatoes (about 1-1/3 lb), washed & chopped into ~1in pieces

2 small or medium macintosh apples, washed, cored & sliced

1 medium or large red onion, peeled & sliced

1-1/2 lb pork tenderloin

1/2 cup apple juice

2 Tb brown sugar

1 Tb cider vinegar

salt and pepper

 

Make it Happen

1. Coat the inside of a 5qt crock pot with non-stick spray.

2. Add the potatoes and onion to the crock pot. Place the pork on the bed of potatoes and onions.

3. Grind or sprinkle a small amount (each) of salt and pepper on top of the pork tenderloin. If using a grinder, a few grinds should do the trick.

4. Pour the apples on top of and around the pork tenderloin.

5. In a bowl, stir to combine the apple juice, brown sugar and cider vinegar. Once combined, pour over top of the items in the crock pot.

6. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8hrs.

7. When done, remove the pork tenderloin from the crock pot and place on a cutting board to rest for 5-10 minutes.

8. Remove the potatoes, onions and apples and place in a serving bowl; remove the juices and put in a gravy boat or other easy serving vehicle. Slice the pork tenderloin into 1/2 – 3/4in slices, serve with the potato/onion/apple mixture, with sauce over top.

Crock Pot Cheesy Chicken Chili

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This one has been a regular WIN in our household for a few years now, mostly because it hits on all of the necessary key points:

1) It takes 5 minutes to put together in the morning,

2) It can cook all day, and

3) It’s an entire meal in a single pot – no sides needed!

 

Serves: 6

Prep: 5 min before cooking, plus 5min prior to serving

Cook Time: min. 6-8hrs on LOW, plus 15-20mins on HIGH once you’ve added the beans & cheese

 

Ingredients:

1lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

16-24oz jar salsa (whatever heat you prefer)

15oz can corn kernels

two 15oz cans white beans (great northern or cannellini)

8oz shredded mexican blend cheese (typically a combo of at least cheddar & monterey jack)

non-stick cooking spray

sour cream (optional, for topping)

 

Make it Happen:

1. Spray in the inside of a 4qt crock pot with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Drain the corn and place in a bowl. Add the salsa and stir to combine.

3. Place the chicken breasts into the crock pot and pour the salsa/corn mixture over the top. You can also put a small amount of this mixture in before putting in the chicken, if you want.

4. Cook on LOW for 6-8hrs. (We usually cook it all day – the salsa will keep it moist.)

5. About 20-25mins before you want to serve dinner, remove the chicken from the crock pot and place on a plate.

6. Drain and rinse the beans, then add those to the crock pot; stir to combine and replace the lid.

7. Shred the chicken, then add that back to the crock pot. Stir to combine.

8. Add the cheese to the crock pot; stir to combine. Cook on HIGH for 15-20mins.

9. (optional) Offer sour cream for people to top theirs with.

 

Notes:

  • There’s nothing wrong with going with slightly more salsa on this (trending closer to the 24oz) if you’re going to let it cook 10-12hrs. Going more with the 6-8hr timeframe, the 16-18oz jars should be fine.
  • Feel free to go with a reduced fat shredded cheese combo; we’ve had no issues with it melting. Fat-free cheeses often DO have issues with melting, though, so be cautious about using them in this.

The wherefors and whyhows of crock pot cooking

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They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend. That may be true, but I’d like to think that the crock pot is a mom’s best friend. You fill it in the morning with ingredients in as short a time as possible, and dinner miraculously appears ready for the table without your having to stand in a kitchen for hours on end. Even better, it’s a great way to make dinner during the summer months without heating up the kitchen.

So, what are the basics of crock pot cooking?

  1. Figure out what types of things you want to make: soups and stews can go in any shape crock pot, but turkey breasts or whole small chickens require oval pots. Even the old faithful, pot roast, can easily fill a round crock pot and perhaps require an oval.
  2. Think about how many people you’re trying to serve with your dishes: 4qt crock pots are perfect for making dishes that run in the 4-6 serving range, but you’ll want to step up to a 5 or 6qt crock pot if you want to make a meal for more (or generate a load of leftovers).
  3. Consider what features you want: simpler crock pots have only three settings (OFF, LOW and HIGH); fancier ones may have a KEEP WARM setting and/or may have a timer to switch from your cooking temp to the warm setting.

Beyond that, it comes down to the basics of what you want to make and how to fit that into your schedule. With perhaps a few exceptions, cooking on LOW should be about twice the amount of time you need to cook on HIGH. So, if you suddenly realize at 2pm that you forgot to start your crock pot (and you’re home, not at work or out), you can probably kick that puppy up to HIGH and let it go until dinnertime.

Cooking times are also usually heavily related to the type of thing you’re cooking. Meats vary wildly (often 6-9hrs for chicken breasts or thighs, 9-11hrs for turkey breasts or whole small chickens, 10-12hrs for large cuts of beef and/or ribs).

What about the safety of cooking meats? Will the crock pot heat evenly? Will my meats dry out or possibly not cook thoroughly?

OK – all good concerns, but the typical cook-the-tar-out-of-it style of crock pot cooking (where you leave something in to braise for anywhere from 6-9+ hours) will generally handle this. You can help things out by defrosting meats before they go into the crock pot. You don’t have to defrost all the way, and some things can be put in as frozen bricks…but doing at least some defrosting can help a ton. In my many years of crock pot cooking, I have yet to run into any kind of illness related to meats being improperly cooked. I can say that meats can dry out, so maintaining an appropriate moisture level is really important. And, as they say, YMMV, so make sure that you see crock pot cooking as experimental. It’s like cooking with any other recipe. Why not add fresh mushrooms? Why not add a little hot sauce?

Consider the crock pot yet another way to shave time less-well-spent off the day if you’re already in a hurry (or just need to keep a meal really low-key). Most of the crock pot recipes I plan to post require less than 15mins of prep time. Honestly, I just don’t have the time to prep things for an hour…at that point, I’d rather just spend the time cooking and get my Julia Child on, if you know what I mean.