5 Hearty Crock Pot Meals For Winter

The crock pot or slow cooker is probably my favorite kitchen appliance. The ease of tossing all the ingredients in and letting it simmer all day, makes it the most useful tool yet. It's the perfect ending to a hectic day. A hot, home cooked meal without a lot of work.

I have been collecting crock pot recipes for as long as I've owned one, and that's a pretty long time. Out of the hundreds of recipes I have, these five I have given you are my favorites. They are our favorite winter recipes, our favorite meals to stay warm and full.

Crock Pot Italian Chicken

You will need:
1 frying chicken, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 can mushrooms, drained
1/2 teaspoon paprika
zucchini, sliced into medium pieces
freshly ground black pepper
parsley to garnish

What you do:
Sprinkle chicken with seasoned salt. Combine flour, salt, pepper, cheese, and paprika. Coat chicken pieces with mixture. Place zucchini in bottom of Crockpot. Pour stock over zucchini. Arrange chicken on top. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or until tender. Turn control to high, add mushrooms, cover, and cook on high for another 10-15 minutes. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper and parsley.

Crock Pot Chicken With a Twist of Lemon

You will need:
1 whole Chicken
1 dash Salt
1 dash Pepper
1 teaspoon Oregano
2 Cloves minced garlic
2 tablespoons Butter
1/4 cup Water
3 tablespoons Lemon juice

What you do:
Wash chicken and pat dry. Next, season with a little salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1/2 of the oregano and garlic inside the cavity of the chicken. Melt butter in a large frying pan. Brown the chicken on all of its sides. Place the browned chicken into a crock pot. Sprinkle with the remaining oregano and garlic. Then you need to add water to the frying pan, stir to loosen the brown bits. Pour this into the crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. When the chicken is almost done, probably around the last hour or so, add the lemon juice. When chicken is done, transfer it to a cutting board. Skim the fat from the juice and then pour the juice into a bowl. Cut the chicken up and serve with a little juice poured over it.

Simple Crock Pot Beef Pot Roast - a traditional roast done in the crock pot, no simpler recipe out there!

You will need:
3 pound roast, trimmed
2 tablespoons of oil
1 cup of tomato juice
3 tablespoons of mustard, prepared
4 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of basil
1 teaspoon of oregano
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 teaspoon of garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper

What you do:
Combine all ingredients except the roast and the oil in a bowl. Mix together. Use as a marinate marinade and spoon over the roast. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove the roast from the marinade and pat dry with a towel. Heat oil in a large pan and brown meat on all sides. Place the meat into a crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Remove and serve. Add flour & water to the juices in the bottom of the crock pot and create gravy. Delicious!!

Crock Pot Swiss Steak

You will need:
1 1/2 pounds of round steak
1/4 cup of flour
2 teaspoons of dry mustard
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 can (16 oz) of tomatoes
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sugar

What you do:
You will need to cut the steak into six serving size portions. Coat each portion with a mixture of the flour, dry mustard, salt and pepper. Using a skillet or frying pan, brown the meat in half of the butter and half of the oil. Move the meat into the crock pot. Heat the remaining butter and oil in the same frying pan. Saute onions, carrots and celery until they are completely glazed. Add tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and then the brown sugar. Heat, scrape up all the drippings. Pour this over the meat in the crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

French Onion Beef Crock Pot Meal

You will need:
1 1/4 pounds of boneless beef round steak
1 package (8 oz) of sliced mushrooms
1 large onion, sliced into rings
1 can of condensed French onion soup
1 package of herb stuffing mix
1/4 cup of butter, melted
4 ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese

What you do:
Cut the beef into six serving sized pieces. Next layer half of the beef, mushrooms and onion in a crock pot. Repeat the layers until everything is used up. Pour the soup over the ingredients in the crock pot. Cover and cook on a low setting for 8-10 hours or until the beef is tender. Before you are ready to serve the meal, toss entire contents of stuffing box with melted butter and a ½ cup of the sauce from the crock pot. Next put stuffing on top of the meal in the crock pot. Cover and increase the heat to high. Cook for ten minutes or until the stuffing is fluffy. Sprinkle with cheese, recover. Cook until cheese is melted. This is one of my favorites! I've seen some like it on the Internet, but none that have turned out quite so good!

I hope these keep your family as warm and full as they keep mine! All recipes can be doubled for larger crock pots!