Spinach Party Dip

How about a spinach party dip? I usually just throw different amounts of my ingredients in a big bowl at 350* in the oven and stir occasionally but I figured out a few reasonable numbers which would suffice for the crock.

    2 lb brick of Velveeta

    8 oz block of cream cheese
   
    2 cans of Rotel

    12 oz bag of chopped spinach

    1 can of 8-10 of artichokes

       Milk

       Salt

Cut up velveeta and cream cheese into smaller cubes.  Put cubes and rotel in the crock. Set to low. Stir occasionally. While that’s cooking thaw the spinach in water, it should thaw quick. Drain artichokes and flake them apart. Stir artys in with the spinach. Rinse and squeeze several times. When the cheese is at least mostly melted, mix in the spinarchy. Add milk if you want it thinner and salt to your liking. I will sometimes add other seasoning for added flavor. It only took about two hours to finish. Eat up.

Like Grandma’s Chicken ‘n’ Dumplings

I decided to do something easy ,since I haven’t been feeling well. In the “Crock”, I choice Like Grandma’s Chicken ‘n’ Dumplings; it sounds like something that would sooth mine and my son’s bellies.

            2 c cooked chicken

            1 can cream of mushroom

            1 can cream of chicken

            2 cans of water

            4 tsp all-purpose flour

            2 tsp of chicken bouillon

            ½ tsp pepper

            1 can of buttermilk biscuits

Cut the biscuits into quarters, and then mix all of the ingredients into the crock. Set it to high for two hours, and then let it cool. After taking the first bite said, “WOW! This is HOT!” It is so mouth watering, like homemade potpie. Next time I’ll add a little more water and less biscuits.

Chipotle Cornish Hens

From “Crock Pot”, I crocked the Chipotle Cornish Hens. Why did I choose this recipe? Because the picture in the book looked delicious and the recipe is easy. I love me some “chipolt-lay”. So crock this:

            3 small chopped carrots

            3 chopped celery stalks

            1 chopped onion

            1 can of 7oz chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

            2 c prepared corn bread stuffing

            4 cornish hens

            Salt and pepper

Coat the crock in a cooking spray. Add the veggies; I didn’t want them. Separate the peppers from the sauce. Chop and add half the peppers to the stuffing, then the rest to the sauce. Now, time to get messy. Rinse and dry the hens. I just did two, so do the division. Rub that salt, pepper, and sauce in and all over the hens. Fill up the hens with the stuffing. Crock legs up for about 4 hours high. I did low for about 8 hours. Pop it out on a plate and they won’t last long at all. It was fire! Fall apart juicy. Ok, I probably shouldn’t have put any peppers anywhere. They had heat but it was edible. And the juice left over; I just threw the rest of the bread crumbs in the crock and had dressing. My wife enjoyed it, too. Here you go, a pic.

Ok, maybe it doesn't look good but you've seen those burgers on TV. You went to buy it anyway.It tasted good but it surely didn't look like the ad.

Barbecued Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I’m finally able to make pulled-pork sandwiches thanks to “Crock Pot: The Original Slow Cooker-Recipe Collection 2013”, (“Crock Pot”). Now I don’t have to buy it from Whole Hog Café; I will be working on a potato casserole ‘cause theirs is the best. The Barbecued Pulled Pork Sandwiches was a success and easy. I’ve tried a recipe on the smoker, and it turned into a ham, hhmmm? It was good. I ate it but I didn’t want a ham. Next time I’ll try for a ham and maybe I’ll get a smoked, fall-apart pork. Definitely, crock this:

1 pork shoulder 2 ½ lb

1 bottle of 14 oz barbecue sauce

            1 tbsp lemon juice

            1 tsp brown sugar

            1 chopped onion

            8 hamburger buns

Place pork in the crock, cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or high 5-6 hours. I used a Boston Butt Pork Roast just over 3 lbs. Once it was done, I separated the meat from the broth. I used the broth in some easy-going rice, delicious. You might want to skim the fat off. Put the pork back in the crock and shred it. I left some of the pork out for my wife; she likes to add sauce to it separately but she loved it. Back to the crock, stir in the lemon juice, sugar, sauce and onions. No onions for me, I used Weber’s Original BBQ Sauce. Two more hours on low or one on high. Get the buns out and get messy. I did this a few weeks ago, sorry no pics again but I will make this again. Right now I'm making Chipotle Cornish Hens and will tell you about it when my wife and I are full.

Apple-Cinnamon Breakfast Risotto

Lately I’ve been reading “Crock Pot: The Original Slow Cooker- Recipe Collection 2013”, look it up, you have the credit. Citation is a funny thing along with grammar, I’ve taken two classes on the subject passed, I guess, and still don’t get it. Anyway I wanted to do the whole “Julie & Julia” thing but I don’t like a lot of the recipes and onions, sorry.  About a month ago in the “Breakfast and Brunch” section I made “Apple-Cinnamon Breakfast Risotto” I won’t make it again because it was weird but not gross. It calls for:

            ¼ c butter

4 peeled, cored, cubed granny smith apples

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ c Arborio rice

½ c dark brown sugar

4 c apple juice

1tsp vanilla

Add apples, allspice, salt and melted butter to Crock. Cook for 5min. Add rice; stir, I used long brown rice. Topped with brown sugar, I used light brown. Then juice and vanilla. On high for about 3 hours or until the rice was ready. The apple-cinnamon aroma was fantastic and filled my whole house. The taste was great, but warm apples aren’t my thing. Sorry I didn’t take pictures.

Welcome

Hello everyone, I am Heston Highfill, and welcome to The Crock-Pot Daddy Blog. The idea of having “that” kitchen appliance to make cooking for my family so much easier is great but do we really use it that much? Well, this is how I’m going to make use of my slow cookers so it won’t collect dust. Hopefully I can stick with it.