Three Slow Cooker Meals - Have Dinner Waiting at the End of the Day

Did Santa bring you a Slow Cooker for Christmas? If so, then meals for the New Year will be easier to prepare, quicker to serve, and less work at the end of the day. I have found these Slow Cooker meals to be lifesavers when I have a long busy day and want dinner when I get home.

Slow Cooker Roast

Ingredients:
2 lb beef or pork roast
1-cup water
6 carrots
5 potatoes
1 onion
3-tablespoon flour
Pinch sea salt and pepper
Olive Oil Spray

Directions:

Slice carrots, potatoes, and onion, into cubes and set aside. Mix flour, salt, pepper and roll roast in the flour mixture. Spray frying pan with olive oil and sear roast on all sides in the hot oil. Place roast, carrots, onion, potatoes and water into slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 9 hours. Completed roast will be a complete dinner with gravy already cooked in the slow cooker.

Slow Cooker - Turkey or Chicken Soup

Ingredients:
2-4 cups boneless Chicken or Turkey - cooked
1-cup noodles (your choice of noodle shape)
Sea Salt
Pepper
Chicken broth 8 oz can
1-2 cups water
Carrots
Corn
Potatoes

Directions:

Place cooked Chicken/Turkey in broth, water, mix in cubed carrots, corn, potatoes, salt and pepper and noodles. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Add noodles about 15 minutes before serving and cook till soft. The chef can choose a variety of veggies to place in this soup, green beans, peas, etc. Using canned meat is okay but freshly baked chicken or turkey will give the soup a much better flavor.

Slow Cooker - Pot o' Beans and Ham Hocks

Ingredients:
1 package red kidney beans or pinto beans
Water
1-2 Ham Hocks or cubed ham
Sea Salt
Pepper

Hint: It is best if you soak the beans over night in a pot of water. Do not put heat to them. Rinse and place in Slow Cooker.

Directions:

Place soaked beans, ham hock, salt and pepper into the Slow Cooker and cover with water so that the water is above the top of the beans by ½ finger length. Cook on Low for 8-12 hours. The liquid will become thickened as it cooks and this is the way it should be. Salt and pepper to taste once served and cook up a batch of corn bread or fresh biscuits and dinner is served within about 20 minutes of arriving home.

Tips:

Do not store food in the Slow Cooker.

Place left over's in fridge within two hours of removing from cooker.

Keep the cooking service of your slow cooker clean at all times, never start a meal in a slow cooker that has not been cleaned.

Always cook on the lowest possible temperature if you are cooking for a long period of time.

If the power goes out and the length of outage is unknown discard all foods from the slow cooker and start over fresh.

Resources:
Personal experience
Family and Friends