Recipes for Crock Pot Dishes: Elegant in Their Simplicity

I love the convenience of cooking in a crock pot. You dump the ingredients in the pot, turn it on and walk away. A few hours later, it's dinner. Crock pot dishes are convenient for all, but especially so for those of us who work. It's lovely to come home to a cooked meal. I'll share three of my favorite recipes here. In selecting the recipes I kept it simple. Feel free to change them and make them your own.

Turkey Breast

This easy dish produces the best part of the turkey. This moist and delicious turkey is great any time, but may greatly simplify your Thanksgiving meal.

Ingredients:

7 pound bone-in turkey breast

Medium yellow onion - chopped

½ C chicken broth

1 t minced fresh garlic

2 T melted butter

1 package onion soup mix

Rinse turkey and pat dry. Leave skin on, but remove excess skin, if any. Mix the chopped onion, chicken broth, and garlic and pour mixture into the crock pot. Rub the turkey inside and out with the dry onion soup mix. Place the turkey in the crock pot and drizzle melted butter over the top.

Cook on high for about an hour, then reduce to low and continue cooking for 7 more hours until turkey is moist and falls apart.

You can serve this with the traditional Thanksgiving sides or serve it with some grilled asparagus, salad, and fruit for a lighter dish.

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

This easy dish produces an elegantly flavored beef dish that can be served over noodles or in a bed of mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

1½ pounds beef for stew or cubed boneless top round - salt and pepper to taste

½ C cooking sherry

2 C beef broth

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 small cans mushroom stems and pieces

1 t fresh minced garlic

½ C sour cream

¼ C flour

3 T water

4 cups cooked egg noodles

Place beef, sherry, broth, onion, mushrooms, and garlic in crock pot. Cook on high for 4-5 hours until meat is tender. Mix sour cream, flour, and water and add to crock pot. Cook another 30 minutes until mixture thickens. Serve over noodles.

You can use reduced sodium beef broth and light sour cream to make this dish healthier. You can serve this in a bed of mashed potatoes instead of over noodles.

Elegant Chicken and Rice

This version of chicken and rice gets an update with a little white wine, mushrooms, and wild rice instead of white rice.

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into small pieces

¼ C dry white wine

1½ C chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 C fresh mushrooms, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 C cooked wild rice

Combine all ingredients except rice in crock pot. Cook on low for 7-9 hours. Serve over cooked wild rice.

For a healthier dish, use lower sodium chicken broth and reduced fat or reduced sodium cream of chicken soup.

Serve with a Caesar salad and green beans.