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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Recipe Exchange: Slow-Cooker Meals By Request

Friday Recipe Exchange: Slow-Cooker Meals By Request

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What’s this? Recipes? On a Friday night? Crazy, right? So, anything interesting go on today?

I received a request from The Mighty Trowel, friend of blog from Down Under, for some slow-cooker recipes as they move into fall.  I think Slow-cookers are one of the most versatile appliances in the kitchen – you can make a nice pot roast dinner, or recipes as simple as soups and stews. The best part is coming home from work or long hike and know dinner is ready to go and the house smells wonderful.

For recipes, let’s start with JeffreyW’s Italian Beef, pictured above and the recipe here.

A surprisingly easy and tasty Spinach Lasagna recipe is here.

Pulled Pork two ways, click here for both, makes great sandwiches or wraps, .

Then something different, and a childhood favorite meal, Brunswick Stew, recipe here. (Posting this makes me smile, because the last time I posted the recipe, commenters informed me that REAL Brunswick Stew is made with squirrel. You’re welcome to substitute as needed).

And finally, a Turkey Bean Soup,  recipe found here.

For all our slow-cooker recipes, click here and here.

I also posted my updated recipe for Extra Crispy Oven Fried Chicken today, you can find it here.

What’s on your menu this weekend? Have any slow-cooker recipes to share with The Mighty Trowel – I’m sure they would be appreciated. Vegetarian recipes would be great, we like to do at least one a week here, so new ideas are always welcome.

I really like tonight’s featured recipe because it is very simple, but so very tasty. I often make it when I have a crowd visiting. The recipe below serves 4 and I always double it.  It’s a great recipe for letting everyone help themselves when they are hungry. I toss the pasta with olive oil and put it in the refrigerator and leave the beef simmering in the slow-cooker on low for the entire day. They can mix the two when they are hungry. The longer the beef cooks, the better it gets. It’s always a hit with everyone.

Portuguese Beef & Pasta

  • 1 lb round steak, cut into thin strips, remove excess fat
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced (reserve ¼ for beans)
  • 1 green pepper, cut into thin strips
  • 1 tsp crushed garlic
  • 6 oz can tomato paste
  • 2-14 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 bay leaf (remove before serving)
  • ½ tsp crushed red pepper
  • 8 oz dry macaroni**

Slow-Cooker and saucepan

Add beef, salt, pepper, onion, green pepper, garlic, paste, diced tomatoes, water, bay leaf & red pepper to Slow-Cooker. Cook according to manufacturer’s directions (usually 8-10 hours on low) until beef tears easily with a fork. In saucepan, cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain well (you don’t want any water in your beef mixture) and mix beef and pasta in serving bowl.

Reader Interactions

80Comments

  1. 1.

    TheMightyTrowel

    Thanks Tamara! These look great! Going to slow cook something tomorrow, but now i have so many options it’s going to be hard to choose what!

  6. 6.

    Yarrow

    Wow. Those look great. Speaking of slow cookers, has anyone tried the Instant Pot? It’s supposedly a combination slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer. You can even use it to make yogurt. Cleanup is supposed to be easy. It sounds great but I’m kind of skeptical. People seem to love them.

  7. 7.

    TenguPhule

    @Yarrow:

    has anyone tried the Instant Pot? It’s supposedly a combination slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, steamer. You can even use it to make yogurt.

    Floor wax and dessert topping!

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    Oh my…those recipes and pics look good!

    I did some stir-fry pork, veggies, and pineapple tonight. Not sure who was more glad to have a home-cooked meal after two nights of takeout (while I was at a conference): the Mrs. or the kids. I’m guessing Mrs.

    I got a ‘chicken tagine’ recipe from the much-loathed NYT* that I’ll be whipping up tomorrow, and then (due to schedules) it’ll be several nights of soup n’ sandwich. Me sad…

    *even if you hate their reporting, you can sign up for their free “Cooking” e-mail newsletter as well as their recipes…think of it as LBJ’s admonition to “drink their whiskey, take their money…and still vote against ’em in the morning” =)

  13. 13.

    cain

    I make some Indian inspired ‘happy hour’ food. This one is an original that you won’t find on the internet:

    2 yams, julienned
    3 Tblspns fennel seeds
    2 tsp of cumin seeds
    2 tsp of chilli powder
    1 Tblspn of olive oil
    salt and pepper to taste

    Heat oven to 400F
    In a mortar and pestle, grind the fennel and cumin in powder
    in a bowl toss the sweet potatoes with salt, pepper, olive oil and fennel/cumin/chilli powder, salt and pepper
    spread potatoes in an oven safe dish, don’t let the yam pieces touch

    bake for 20 minutes, turn the pan around and bake another 10-15 minutes till yams are soft

    Enjoy with ketchup

  15. 15.

    schrodingers_cat

    Last week when we had guests for dinner, I made mango trifle, shrimp pullao, shami kebabs, and a green salad. For appetizer I made dahi potato puris (street food inspired). It was big hit!

  16. 16.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: I don’t mean to be pedantic or contrary, but by posting it in the comment section to a blog, isn’t it, by definition, going to be found on the Internet?

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    @schrodingers_cat: They had a “modern chicken potpie” recipe that was just incredible. I usually don’t save recipes but that one, yeah, that’ll be a quarterly event.

  19. 19.

    cain

    @Adam L Silverman:

    @cain: I don’t mean to be pedantic or contrary, but by posting it in the comment section to a blog, isn’t it, by definition, going to be found on the Internet?

    Hrrpmph! Just enjoy the damn dish, you smart ass. :-) (also note, that is no title for this dish, so without a proper search term, it ain’t gonna be found!)

  21. 21.

    Feathers

    Thanks for these. I haven’t really settled into my new kitchen yet, but the instant pot is here, and I’m sure it will start up again. I’m looking at cookbooks, because working my way through one is a good way to start – thinking about America’s Test Kitchen – 100 Essential Recipes. The precision of their recipes really helps my ADD/addled memory self pull myself together in the kitchen. I like the Spinach Lasagna above, I live alone and need recipes that make good leftovers, too.

    But slow cooker – I’m really liking the revamped Mason-Dixon Knitting blog’s Slow Cooker Odyssey series. If a knitting blog starts a recipe series, that’s a recommendation, no? I made the first in the series – Potato Soup.

    Sweet Potato Soup
    Ingredients:
    Sweet potatoes
    Chicken broth
    How much of each, you ask? Depends. How much you got? This is a very easygoing recipe.

    Directions:

    Peel and slice potatoes and place in slow cooker.
    Cover with broth.
    Cook on high for 2 hours, or on low for 8 hours.
    Puree soup in blender or with immersion blender, aka soup stick.
    Salt and pepper to taste.
    Serve.

    Be sure to check out the original, because the writing is humorous and good and there are several variations.

    I have not tried the latest, Slow Cooker Apple (or Pumpkin) Spice Cakebut I am sure I will over the summer, because a cake which can be baked without turning on the oven sounds wondrous. She does warn that your cooker may or may not produce a cake which can be turned out onto a plate, but if it doesn’t, it can be scooped out and served with ice cream. This is my sort of sensible cooking. If someone else makes it, please update.

  24. 24.

    glory b

    @schrodingers_cat: Hah!

    That reminds me, my dearly departed, sorely missed father said that the sign one was in dire straits was that the squirrel heads were included in the Brunswick stew.

  30. 30.

    TenguPhule

    @cain:

    It sure has, but it ended well, in a very Cimmerian way.

    To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.

    Well, two out of three isn’t bad.

  32. 32.

    cain

    @SgrAstar:

    @schrodingers_cat: ooooh. Would you please add me to your guest list? Thx

    I’m offended that you didn’t want to be my guest. I would slow cook you nicely till you’re pink inside.

  34. 34.

    guachi

    All so yummy looking!!

    Thank you. Sometimes when I’m in the mood to try new things I head over to the whats4dinner website and find something fun and interesting.

  35. 35.

    cain

    @TenguPhule:

    To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women. followers

    Well, two out of three isn’t bad.

    Fixed.

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    @cain: I know Ryan sounds like a girl when he cries, but it just doesn’t have the same impact or glorious alpha male dominance vibe (or at least, not in a way that’s not extremely creepy and unsettling).

  42. 42.

    Feathers

    @Yarrow: I have one and am very happy with it. I really like the yogurt function. It takes the better part of a day, but unattended, if I’m home (or in and out) I’ll make it most weekends. I’ve used it as both a pressure cooker and a slow cooker with success. For pressure cooking, I’ve been using recipes written for the Instant Pot, rather than using ones written for stovetop pressure cookers. My sense is that it isn’t as controllable as a standalone pressure cooker or slow cooker, but handles recipes that don’t require precision. As I mentioned above, cooking with ADHD is what I am trying to do, and the Instant Pot just press the button, it will tell you when it’s done and it’ll be OK until you get there is a fantastic feature. I have a fuzzy logic Zojirushi rice cooker and I’ve kept using that instead of the instant pot. I use the rice cooker for steel cut oats in the morning, and the timing on the instant pot just didn’t work for that. I also like coming home to already cooked rice, so I’ll probably be keeping both. That said the Zojirushi is the best kitchen splurge I’ve ever made. In the winter it gets used almost every day and often twice a day. Knowing there is a pot of fresh cooked rice helps stave the temptation to stop at the restaurants between work and home.

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: Last time I saw someone look like that it was after it was quietly explained to them what would happen, in no uncertain terms, if he didn’t stop doing what he was doing that required me to explain to the person in question what was going to happen. Then he slunk off.

  49. 49.

    cain

    Since we’re all friends, I’m just going to leave this here It’s you’re decision though to click on it. :-)

  51. 51.

    Feathers

    @Feathers: Couldn’t edit but wanted to add: What I bought it for was being able to cook meat, especially chicken breasts, from frozen without thawing. That works great, you end up with shredded meat, but that works well for solo eating. You can do a batch and then make various rice/grain bowls, tacos, salads, burritos, soups, etc. over the next few days.

    If you’re happy without it, you probably don’t need it, but there are helpful things it does well for me and I’m learning to do other stuff with it. My new apartment is small with a gas stove, so I’m guessing I’m going to be doing more with it over the summer.

  53. 53.

    Vince

    @Yarrow: I picked up a 6-quart last year during one of the post-Thanksgiving sales and I love it! Originally, I was just using the pressure cooker function but I felt like making a bunch of soups/stews the last few weeks so I’ve been using the slow cooker as well. Very easy to use and it is very easy to clean. A couple of weeks ago I made a Cuban black bean soup and it was amazing:

    1 lb dried black beans
    2 lb pork butt (I accidentally used pork loin but it was still delicious)
    1 large onion, sliced thinly
    6 cloves garlic, minced
    1/2 cup tomato paste
    3 cups chicken broth
    1 tbsp cumin
    2 tsp oregano
    2 tsp crushed red pepper
    Juice and zest from 2 large oranges
    S&P

    1. Soak beans overnight

    2. Cut pork into several large chunks; season with S&P; brown in pot

    3. Remove pork and whisk together OJ, chicken stock, garlic, cumin, oregano, red pepper, and a little over half of the orange zest

    4. Stir in black beans and onion. Place pork on top of mixture

    5. Slow cook for 6+ hours until beans are tender and pork can easily be pulled apart. When finished cooking, stir in the rest of the orange zest

  54. 54.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: Someone punched him. That’s swelling on the joint where his upper and lower mandibles meet. I’ve been doing martial arts since I was 13. He was, at least, smacked very, very hard. I can’t prove it. I wasn’t there. But methinks the meetings in the White House didn’t go as well as have been reported.

  55. 55.

    cain

    I don’t have a slow cooker… Ive been thinkng of getting one, but it just seems mostly for meat dishes, and I’m trying to eat less. I’ve been trying to see if I can adapt some of the food I cook into that.. but it’s hard to convert south indian cooking to this kind of thing. Actually I could think of a couple things that *might* work. That said, very tempted.

    I have a honest to God, Moroccan tagine that I use to cook tagines in. So yummy! Love the spices and what not.

  60. 60.

    TenguPhule

    @cain:

    I don’t have a slow cooker… Ive been thinkng of getting one, but it just seems mostly for meat dishes, and I’m trying to eat less.

    Soup, stew, curry.

    Any and all are what that’s for.

  61. 61.

    Shana

    Somewhat OT, but one of my favorite new recipes is this:

    Duck Sauce Chicken

    Chicken pieces, your choice, bone-in
    Gold’s Duck Sauce – look in the kosher section of your local grocery

    Pour duck sauce over chicken. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes depending on what pieces you use. 30 minutes for breasts, 45 for thighs.

    Gold’s Duck Sauce (the equivalent of chinese sweet and sour sauce) comes in a variety of formulation, spicy, regular, probably some others.

    I made it a few times for the Hillary office in my area and everyone loved it. People who didn’t know who I was were raving about how much they liked that lunch when I brought it in. I know because the staffer who lived with us during the campaign told me that people were talking about how good the lunch was that day.

  62. 62.

    cain

    @schrodingers_cat:

    @cain: I don’t have a slow cooker either but I think it should work well bean/legume dishes.

    Yes, but I will have to put things like tarmarind in a muslin cloth or something so I can remove later. I’ll have to see how something like sambar would work. But honestly, not sure if is worth the effort, I can make sambar or rasam in about 30 minutes. It isn’t very laborious like say chilli which has many steps.

  63. 63.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: “But…but…I told everyone that cool story about how we talked about rolling back entitlements at keggers! Dreamed big dreams! Envisioned a world where no one pays for anyone else, except when I needed that social security to pay for college…”

  64. 64.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: Didn’t necessarily have to be Trump. Look, he’s a P90X freak, so he’s got very low body fat to begin with. So it is possible he has just really clenched up when they snapped that picture. It is either that or someone let him have it.

  65. 65.

    cain

    I made a really nice chicken kebab using chicken pieces, garlic, lemon, turmeric, za’atar, sumac and cumin powder. It was quite good. I made it up, but it turns out that it was a valid dish sans the cumin powder. I would probably add parsley and more lemon next time.

  67. 67.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodingers_cat: Maybe he found out you were planning on having him for dinner. Though, based on his P90X workout pictorial, I doubt he’d have much marbling. ?

  68. 68.

    cain

    So it seems that the FBI are having a hard time finding good hackers because they all insist on smoking weed

    Given what you said, Adam about it being war in an earlier post, it seems we seem to be not able to build a competent army of hackers without getting rid of weed. In the article, Sessions was definitely against the ‘devil weed’ during a congressional meeting with Comey who complained about it. Sessions should STFU regarding weed.

  70. 70.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    Love-love-love my slow cooker (I have a Ninja 3-in-1) and my Instant Pot.

    My favorite source for slow cooker recipes is A Year of Slow Cooking. Recipes are gluten free (she has a kid with celiac disease), and she adapts literally everything to the slow cooker. I learned a lot about adapting recipes to slow cooking just reading through her site.

    I’m also fond of New Leaf Wellness, which does slow-cooker-ready OAMC meal plans.

  73. 73.

    Louise B.

    My favorite source of slow cooker recipes are written by Michele Scicolone. She has Italian, French and Mediterranean books. Her pasta sauces are particularly good. She also has recipes for cooking arborio rice that, while not exactly like risotto, are pretty close without all the work.

  74. 74.

    J R in WV

    @glory b:

    There was more spontaneous Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (like bovine spongiform encephalitis but not from cows) in Kentucky from squirrel brains in the Brunswick stew (aka Bergoo) than anywhere else in North America.

    So don’t use the heads!!!

  77. 77.

    Yarrow

    Thank you all for the comments on the Instant Pot. I might get one if I can find a good sale.

  78. 78.

    Steeplejack

    Late to the thread, but a few comments:

    I’m not religious about it, but I greatly prefer preparing and cooking beans in the slow cooker rather than using canned beans—garbanzo beans in particular. It’s dead easy, and the results are much better. Even picky eaters who think garbanzos are “slimy” will come around to fresh-cooked ones. For next time I’ll see if I can rustle up the recipe for my garbanzo salad. It’s very simple—garbanzo beans, scallions, black olives, feta cheese, maybe some tomato slices—and is great for summer cookouts, etc.

    @Yarrow:

    I have an Instant Pot but haven’t used it yet. I had been eyeballing it for a while, and then suddenly it came up on sale at a big discount at Amazon. Haven’t deployed it yet, but this thread has gotten me motivated. I’ll let you know how it goes.

    @Feathers:

    In a similar vein—ADHD-friendly cooking from frozen—you might look at the T-Fal OptiGrill. (Many videos at YouTube.) It does a great job on all types of meat and has a specific setting to start with frozen meat. It’s very easy to use. I gave one to my RWNJ brother to help with his diet (awful and then coping with medical requirements), and he actually likes it and has used it a lot. (He’s a throwback “can barely boil water” non-cook.)

  80. 80.

    droog

    I want Richard Mayhew to discuss the actuarial weighing of cooking beans in slow cookers when it comes to setting premiums on the Exchange.

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