CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE IN THE CROCK POT

I have recently been trying out new dessert recipes in my crock pot. I have seen several variations of this cake, some use cake mixes, some do it from scratch. Since I like quick and easy recipes I decided to give this one a try. So I have had all the ingredients to make this cake sitting on my counter for a month just dying to try it. Why haven’t I made it! Because it needs to be eaten while warm and my family of three could not eat a whole cake!  So I had to wait for a special like occasion like a co- workers birthday to take it to work. So I mixed it up real quick and started it cooking about 2:15 pm and it was bubbling by 5:00 pm. It was so hard not to raise the lid and smell it. I had to tape the lid shut and put warning signs on it to keep everyone from raising the lid so it would cook. Everyone seemed to enjoy the warm chocolate richness of the cake with the cold ice cream. I don’t think I would ever serve the cake without the ice cream. Next time I might try a white cake with vanilla pudding and white chocolate chips, and maybe mint chocolate chip ice cream or butterscotch, or rocky road, or pecan swirl,or whatever the Blue Bell special for the month is. I don’t think I could go wrong with any flavor of cake or ice cream. 

     

INGREDIENTS:

1 box of chocolate fudge cake mix

3 eggs

1 2/3 cupsof water

1/3 cup of oil

1  4 oz. package of instant chocolate pudding

2 cups of milk

1   12 oz bag of semi – sweet chocolate chips

1 crock pot liner bag

DIRECTIONS:

I used a crock pot liner instead of spraying the pot with PAM because it made for an easy clean up plus it kept the edges from burning. Mix the cake mix, oil, water and eggs together in a bowl. Pour it into the crock pot. Then using the same bowl mix the instant pudding with the milk and pour over the cake mix. Then sprinkle the chocolate chips all over the top of the pudding. Cover and cook on high for about 2 ½ hours or until the top looks like its erupting. Mine took 2 ¾ hours to start spitting chocolate out. Serve it hot with ice cream. Then just throw the liner away and lick the spoon clean. Because it will all be gone!

It is done when it starts bubbling!

CROCK POT SHREDDED CHICKEN TACOS

I love Mexican food! All the different flavors and spices coming together in a warm homemade tortilla with a side of margaritas is just heaven. No I don’t make my own tortillas; HEB homemade tortillas work fine for me. As for the margaritas I do like to make my own. This recipe is one of my favorites Mexican recipes for the crock pot. It goes together really quick and easy and makes your house smell wonderful. Be sure and save all the broth,peppers and onions. I had a little of the shredded chicken and broth left over so I threw it back into the crock pot and turned it on low. Added a can of chicken broth and some leftover vegetables and  made a chicken vegetable taco soup for lunch.It was great. Cleaned out my refrigerator and had lunch at the same time. Two meals out of one, can't get any easier than that!
  

     

INGREDIENTS:

1 Lb. of boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 10 oz. can of Rotel tomatoes

1 pkg of taco seasoning

1 chopped onion

1 chopped bell pepper (I like to use red and green peppers)

DIRECTIONS:

Spray the crock pot with PAM. Place the peppers and onions in first. Then add the chicken breasts. Throw in the taco seasoning and then pour the Rotel tomatoes and juice over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Remove the chicken and shred it with a fork. Return it to the crock pot. Serve it with warm tortillas, sour cream, grated cheese, and guacamole.  

BREAKFAST CASSEROLE

I was so excited this week. I got a new crock pot! Yea! Now my daughter seems to think I have too many of them and should retire a few. I only have 7 or 8 of them. They are of various sizes and they all cook differently. I have small crock pots for hot dips. Several medium size ones for desserts and larger ones for dinners and parties. My new one has a digital timer to set for when you wanted it to turn off which actually has come in handy for those recipes that only take a few hours to cook and I forget to turn off. The only drawback from this crock pot is that the power went off in my house several times this week (not due to crock pots using too much energy) but from bad weather so when it went off so did the crock pot. Later I found my food half cooked and then I would have to turn it back on and reset it. Do you think I paid attention to the time? NO! I just set it and forget like those Ronco Rotisseries.So now I have learned to look at the clock before setting the time on my new crock pot. Anyway, I had fun trying new recipes this week. One of my favorites was this breakfast casserole. It didn't look very pretty, but it was good and went together quickly. I took it to work and it received good reviews. I made this one in a 4 qt. crock pot. Next time I think I will probably double the recipe and put it in a 6 qt. crock pot.  

INGREDIENTS:       

4 eggs

4-5 pieces of cooked bacon or sausage (I had a little of both)

¼ cup of milk

½ cup of grated cheese

1  can of 5 biscuits

1 cup of frozen hash browns

Directions:

Butter the bottom of the crock pot. Then lay the biscuits on the bottom, followed by the hash browns.In a small bowl mix up the rest of the ingredients, then pour over the biscuits. Cover and then cook on high for 1- ½ hours until the biscuit edges start to turn brown and the eggs set. 

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

 I have to thank my friend Sara for this awesome recipe she found on allrecipes.com from Janiece Mason.When she found out I was blogging about crock pot recipes she told that she had come to love her crock pot too. So she sent me one of her family’s favorite recipes. Since it was 64 degrees outside it was a perfect time to try her recipe.The soup was very tasty and the dumplings couldn't have been easier to make. I ended up only using one can of biscuits and had plenty of dumplings for the three of us. The next day the soup was a little thick so I added a cup of water and opened up the other can of biscuits, made fresh dumplings and had wonderful leftovers for lunch.Thanks again Sara, I know I will be keeping this recipe handy. If any one else has any favorite recipes I would love for you to send me the recipes and links via my comment section below or e -mail. I am always looking for new ones to try out. Next week I am going to be trying some breakfast casseroles out. Hopefully they will be as good as they look. 

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS

INGREDIENTS:

4 chicken breasts

2 cans of cream of chicken soup

1 can of chicken broth

2 tbs. of butter

1 small onion finally chopped

2 10 oz. cans of biscuits

DIRECTIONS:

Spray the crock pot with PAM. Place the chicken and onions in the bottom. Salt and pepper the chicken to taste. Then pour soup over chicken and cover. Cook on high for 5- 6 hours.About a half an hour before serving, remove the chicken and shred. Return the chicken to the crock pot and tear biscuits into fourths and place on top. Cover and continue cooking until the dumplings are done in the middle.   

                                                                                                          

15 BEAN AND HAM SOUP

This year I was scheduled to work Easter weekend so my family and I celebrated Easter on Good Friday instead. I had wanted to try a ham in the crock but I had a gift certificate for a ham at Honey baked Ham so how could I refuse. Maybe next year I’ll try that. However I did put my cheesy bacon potatoes in the crock pot. They were good, but I think I’ll work on them a little longer before posting it. Well since it was a holiday weekend and we had to work we decide to have a luncheon. We kept it simple with soup,sandwiches, and dessert. So with a fresh ham bone leftover from dinner on Friday I decided to make a 15 bean and ham soup. Since it takes a long time to cook beans, about 10 hours, I cooked them overnight in the crock pot and just kept them on warm at work. They were really good. Usually I will use only diced tomatoes in the soup but my co – workers like a little extra kick so I substituted a can of tomatoes for a can of Rotel tomatoes. I think that was the trick. So here is the recipe.

15 BEAN AND HAM SOUP 

INGREDIENTS:       

1 pkg of 15 or 16 bean soup mix, without the seasoning packet

1 leftover ham bone with ham attached

1 can of Rotel tomatoes with juice

1 can of diced tomatoes with juice

1 can of tomato sauce

1 large onion

1 tbs. of minced garlic

2 quarts of water

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

This soup must cook all day for 10 hours and cannot be put on high for half the time unless you soak the beans the night before. Wash the beans and place in crock pot. Add the onions, garlic, salt and pepper,tomatoes, and sauce. Put in the ham bone and add water. About an hour before eating remove the ham bone and return the ham pieces back to the pot.