Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How to Bake Potatoes in a Crock Pot (without foil)

by 93 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Your crock pot is here, once again, to save the day! Allow me to fill you in on the great and easy way to bake potatoes in a crock pot!

baked_potatoes

In an effort to avoid turning on my oven this week to bake potatoes, it occurred to me that maybe I could bake them in my crock pot. Am I a genius or what?

Or what.  My online search told me that others had already been there done that – and blogged about it too. So others are the geniuses, and I am a few years late in learning this wonderful potato baking method.

I will, however, take the credit for figuring out that you don’t have to mess with wrapping each potato in foil. All of the instructions I found online included wrapping each potato lovingly in foil. I tend to skip this extra step in an effort to save time and to avoid putting aluminum on my food. Could foil-less potatoes be baked in a crock pot? I decided to try and see.

I won’t keep you in suspense, because surely you’ve never wondered something so much in your life and the title of this post didn’t give away the answer even a little bit. You can, indeed, throw a plain ol’ potato in the crock pot and let it bake without foil. You don’t even need to poke the potatoes first. It doesn’t get any easier than that.

Bake Your Potatoes in the Crock Pot

Yum

Here is the detailed break-down of the oven-less, foil-less, poke-less, practically effort-less crock pot baked potato…

How To Bake Potatoes in a Crock Pot

1. Scrub dirt off of potatoes (I always use red or gold potatoes as they tend to work much better, plus they are more nourishing.)
2. Place potatoes in crock pot
3. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until potatoes are tender

You can cook as many potatoes as you need. You can use any size or variety of potato. And if possible, I would suggest making extras so that you can use your leftovers to make Homemade Hashbrowns.

How should you serve your baked potato? Well, I personally love mine with lots of butter and sea salt. I’m sure you’re shocked. Sometimes we sprinkle on some cheese and call it lunch, along with a side of veggies and fruit.

But if you really want a good baked potato meal, which is super easy and perfect in the summertime (now that we know how to avoid heating our ovens for this fine item), Taco Potatoes are awesome.

taco_potato_1

Or, how about topping your baked potato with chopped ham, chicken, or turkey, sour cream, shredded cheddar, and broccoli. So, so good.

baked_potato_3

What’s your favorite way to top a baked potato? Ever tried making baked potatoes in the crock pot?  Yeah, I bet I know what you’re having for lunch tomorrow…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I always make extra baked potatoes on purpose. Here’s why:

7 Ways to Use Baked Potatoes

Do you love the idea of regularly putting Simple Meals on the table like we do? Become a Simple Meals member and we’ll do all your weekly meal thinking and planning for you! Get all the details here!

728x90

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

by 22 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This is one of the easiest recipes in the world. Forgot to thaw the chicken? No problem. Have some random tidbits of lettuce or beans in your fridge you need to use up? Perfect. Planning to be out of the house all afternoon and need something ready to eat when you get home…but you only have five minutes before you need to rush out the door, you forgot to make a dinner plan, your daughter can’t find her left shoe, the delivery man knocks on the door, and your toddler is running toward the toilet with your cell phone?

Chicken Tacos to the rescue.

This idea came from my friend Emily. She’s an awesome mom of two little ones. I admire how she is always working to put healthy meals on the table, while trying to save time in the process. Hmmm, kind of sounds like the majority of us, huh? We need easy, fast, tasty…and we want it to nourish our families too. That’s why I thought you’d like hearing this recipe idea.

You simply put chicken breasts into your slow cooker, dump on a jar of salsa, and walk away. (I hate to discourage you or add to your work load, but you do have to plug in the machine and turn a knob. Try not to break a nail.)

My family loves these because they can build their tacos however they like. I love this recipe because it’s adaptable based on what I have in my fridge and pantry. If I don’t have whole wheat tortillas made, but I do have some organic corn chips on hand? That’s how we eat it. And last week, I decided to fry some corn tortillas in palm shortening and have Chicken Tostadas with this recipe instead. Incredibly delicious.

Crock Pot Chicken TacosYum

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cups salsa
Instructions
  1. Place chicken (frozen, thawed, upside down, whatever) into your slow cooker.
  2. Pour salsa over the chicken.
  3. Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours.
  4. Shred chicken mixture.
  5. Serve with any of your favorite taco fixin's.

chicken_tacos_2

What is your favorite way to top a taco?  Last week when we had these, I asked Asa (our oldest) to make his famous Spicy Avocado Dip. It was so good with this chicken!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken – Real Food Dollar Menu

by 29 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

It might sound kind of silly for me to say this, but I’ve typically thought that making a meal of Barbecue Chicken Breasts is a bit of a “splurge” for us. Why? Because hardly ever do I just cook boneless, skinless chicken breasts as our “main dish” without spreading them out within a casserole to make them “stretch”.

Even so, this meal costs just a tiny bit more than one dollar per plate. Sweet! I’m so glad to know the price breakdown on this, because we love it. Plus, this meal is super fast and easy to prepare. I’m talking five minutes tops. I can quickly throw chicken breasts and homemade barbecue sauce into the crockpot on a Sunday morning before church, or right after lunch on a weekday – and a few hours later, our main dish is ready! Add a veggie or two, and maybe some bread, and your meal is complete.

We used (free) green beans from our garden for this meal, but to be fair to those who don’t have garden beans in their freezer, I included the price of purchased, frozen beans as I calculated the cost of this meal. Altogether with the chicken, sauce, beans, and muffins, this meal ends up being $1.09/plate. (I calculated my cost based on the food sources and prices I have available to me. Most of the ingredients I use are organic. Your cost may be slightly more or less depending on where you find your ingredients.)

In case you’re wondering – I use Smart Chicken Brand boneless skinless chicken breasts in recipes like this. That is the best I can find around here – and I wait for them to go on sale. (My friend recently got me a case at a great price from her local store. Smart Chicken breast for just $2.71/pound…so exciting!)

Crock Pot Barbecue ChickenYum

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken - Real Food Dollar Menu
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • ½ recipe of Homemade Barbecue Sauce (about ½ cup)
Instructions
  1. Cut chicken breasts into portion sized pieces.
  2. Place in a crock pot, top with barbecue sauce, and cook on low for about four hours or until meat is no longer pink.
  3. BONUS: Don't have time for the crock pot? Simply put the chicken and sauce into a saucepan over medium heat on the stove. Cook for 20-30 minutes until cooked through. Serve!

Here’s my Homemade Barbecue Sauce recipe. :)

crock_pot_bbq_chicken

Do you often use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for a main dish…or do you typically try to “stretch” them into more meals?

Looking for more meals on our Real Food Dollar Menu? Here are the recipes I’ve shared so far:

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Real Food MakeOver: Crock Pot Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake (and Cake Boys Episode 7!)

by 21 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Yum
 
Have a recipe you’d like me to try and make over? Submit your recipes on this Real Food Recipe Makeover Submission Page.
 

Remember that cake I tried to make in a crock pot that ended up being tedious and difficult? After that, my friend Jenny emailed me a recipe for Crock Pot Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake, figuring that I could surely make over the ingredients to make this a healthier recipe.
 

I was excited, yet given my experience with cake in a crock pot, I couldn’t help but wonder:  Would this cake be a lot of work? Would it be tasty in the end?
 

The answer to those questions are:  No, this cake is not a lot of work…and YES this cake is incredibly tasty.
 

I actually handed the recipe to the Cake Boys (aka Justus and bros) to make this for Matt’s birthday last week. It was so easy for them to adapt that they did it without any help from me. Yes indeed, this Real Food Makeover is brought to you by the Cake Boys. :)

 
You simply pour the batter into the crock pot, then drizzle over a layer of boiling water/cocoa/sucanat. The cake bakes in a crock pot for two hours, and when it’s finished, the cake has baked over the top and a layer of fudgy pudding is on the bottom.
 

This cake is dreamy, rich deliciousness. We all loved it!
 


Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake

 
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sucanat
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons melted butter (or coconut oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

 
Combine flour, cocoa, sucanat, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Make a well in the center and add milk, butter, and vanilla. Stir well, until batter is smooth. Stir in peanut butter (heat if needed, to thin). Stir in chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly into a well greased slow cooker. Make the topping:
 
Topping:

 
3 Tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cup sucanat
1 1/2 cups boiling water
 

Mix cocoa and sucanat, whisk in boiling water until smooth. Gently pour over batter in crock pot, but don’t stir. Cover and cook on HIGH until puffed and the top layer is set, about 2- 2 1/4 hours. Turn off crock pot and let stand, covered for at least 30 minutes. Serve the cake (which is now on top) with ice cream or whipped cream and drizzle the fudgy pudding from the bottom over both.

 
Makes 6-8 servings

 

 
And now, you can enjoy Episode 7 of Cake Boys, which includes a ridiculous commercial break by Asa. Wow, our boys have tooooo much fun putting these together. Also, I should note:  Justus says that he added “shortening” to the cake. He really added butter. He was just reading the original recipe when he recorded. :)  And then we had a little lesson about what shortening is and why we don’t eat it unless it’s Palm Shortening. But anyway…

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cake

by 15 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

While searching for crock pot recipes, I came across one for a Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cake. Cake in a crock pot?  With peanut butter and chocolate chips? Sweet…sign me up! I was excited to recreate this recipe using healthier ingredients.

Without a doubt, this cake is delicious. But aren’t crock pot recipes supposed to save me time? Isn’t that the point? This recipe took extra steps and caused me to have to stand on my head while pulling a muscle to search in the back of my corner cabinet so that I could find a baking dish that would fit down into my crock pot. And then it took four hours to bake. 

FYI:  Laura does not make recipes that take lots of time. Laura likes to eat healthy and save time.

And apparently, Laura occasionally talks in third person like Elmo.

Anyway, while this cake recipe is very easy to mix up, I think it would be even easier if I threw it directly into a cake pan and baked it in an oven.

When might I want to make this cake in a crock pot? Maybe if I need to go somewhere and want to come home in four hours to a freshly baked cake. Or maybe if I’m having company and am busy, I could get the cake put into the crock pot so that I could then focus on the roast beef. Or, I could see the crock pot being an option if it’s really hot outside and I don’t want to heat up my house by using an oven. Yes, those would be the times I would use my crock pot for this. Otherwise, it’ll be a conventional oven at 350° for me.

Here is the recipe, with both crock pot or conventional oven options. (Because Laura thinks it’s nice to have options.)

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter CakeYum

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sucanat
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (I use homemade peanut butter)
3 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life Soy Free Chocolate Chips)

Cream together melted butter, sucanat, and peanut butter with an electric mixer. Add eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Blend in baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and flour until well combined. Fold in 3/4 cup of chocolate chips.

To Bake in a Crock Pot:

  1. Line crock pot with foil. 
  2. Pour batter into a 2 1/2 or 3 quart baking dish that will fit inside your crock pot. Spread batter into the baking dish, then set it down inside the crock pot. 
  3. Sprinkle on remaining chocolate chips. 
  4. Cover loosely with 4 layers of paper towels, leaving the lid off the crock pot. 
  5. Cook on high for four hours, testing doneness with a toothpick.

To Bake in a Regular Oven:

Pour batter into a greased 8×8 inch baking pan. Sprinkle on remaining chocolate chips. Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

And now, I can not get the sound of Elmo’s voice out of my head. 

Laura is not a big fan of the sound of Elmo’s voice.

What would you do with this recipe? Bake it in the oven or in a crock pot?  Feel free to answer the question in third person. ;)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Calico Beans

by 128 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This Calico Beans recipe packs a punch when it comes to protein. In my household of men, this is much appreciated. Oh, who am I kidding? I may be the only girl in my household, but give me a bowl of beans, beef, and bacon, and I’m a happy camper. I love me a high protein meal! If all the boys in the house enjoy it too, well now, that’s just a huge perk. :)

Add some chopped sweet green peppers, or even a few chunks of spicy peppers to this recipe if your family enjoys a little “kick”.

Calico BeansYum

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Calico Beans
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces turkey bacon, cut into one-inch pieces
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • ½ cup chopped onion (or 4 Tablespoons minced onion)
  • 1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
  • 2 - 15 ounce cans baked beans (I use Eden Organics, full of healthy ingredients)
  • 1 - 15 ounce can kidney beans
  • ¾ cup ketchup (I recommend homemade ketchup or an organic variety that does not contain high fructose corn syrup)
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 Tablespoon vinegar (I use either red wine or balsamic)
Instructions
  1. In a skillet, brown bacon, ground beef, and onions together.
  2. Drain and dump into a crock pot.
  3. Add remaining ingredients, stirring until mixed.
  4. Cover and cook on low for six hours or on high for three hours.
  5. Or, skip the crock pot and bake this in a covered casserole dish at 350° for an hour.

Of course, you’ll save even more money if you soak and cook your own beans. Read more about this process here.

Calico Beans

I know everyone is different when it comes to craving meat and high protein meals.  Are you like me and feel like you could eat a half a cow sometimes? Or are you content with a small bowl of beans and the occasional peanut? 

Interested in more Crock Pot recipes? You’ll find several to look through here!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

by 192 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I couldn’t decide. Should I tell my kids what was in this Spinach and Artichoke dip…or should I not?

Turns out, I didn’t have much choice, because they came into the kitchen and asked what I was making and what was in it. I wasn’t going to lie, obviously, but shucks, I was just sure that once Elias, our 10 year old, heard that there were artichokes and spinach in the dip, he’d suddenly be, “not very hungry right now.”

Thankfully, there were chips involved. ;)  Chips are always a good motivator for eating artichokes, right?

All of the boys decided to “give it a try”, which in Elias’ case, means putting a teeny bit of dip onto his chip. Much to my surprise, all of the boys loved the dip. And Elias was the one who raved about it the most.

The moral of this story? I give up on ever being able to predict which of my kids will like which foods, because about the time I think for sure my pickiest child will rebel against artichokes, I will be wrong.

Just a note:  When picking out Marinated Artichoke Hearts at the store, watch out! Many of them contain partially hydrogenated oils. Ick.  I was happy to find a healthier version at Vitacost which contains only artichoke hearts, water, salt and citric acid. Sweet!

As for chips, I recommend an organic variety of corn chips so you will be avoiding bad fats and GMO corn. Or, this dip also tastes great with carrot sticks and other veggies.

Hot Spinach and Artichoke DipYum

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 1 - 14 ounce can marinated artichoke hearts, drained
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup fresh, torn spinach leaves
  • 1 - 4 ounce can diced green chiles
Instructions
  1. Mix all ingredients and place in a crock pot.
  2. Cook on low for 2-3 hours.
  3. Serve with tortilla chips.
  4. Alternate Cooking Method:
  5. Mix ingredients and spread in a pie dish or 8x8 inch baking pan.
  6. Bake in a 400° for 30 minutes and serve.

Crock Pot or Oven Friendly Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Share with us: Are you a fan of artichokes? I dare you to try this dip whether you are or not. If Elias likes it, I’m pretty sure you will too. :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How Long Does it Take to Make Sunday Dinner?

by 18 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

In my effort to prove that cooking healthy food does not have to take a long time, I got a wild hair last Sunday and asked Justus, our 12 year old, to time me to see how long it took me to prepare our noon meal. 

This is what all women think about while getting their families ready to head out the door for church on a Sunday morning, right? “Hmm, I wonder how long it takes me to put our meal in the crock pot? Since Sunday mornings are always so calm and relaxing, we should get out the stop watch…”

Okay, you’re right, this is not typical. At least not at my house. Maybe you do a better job than I do of being organized on a Sunday morning, but I guarantee, my thoughts usually have nothing to do with a stop watch and everything to do with making sure my boys are actually getting themselves out of bed and finding the shoes that should have been placed by the door last night like I asked, but instead ended up on the window sill behind the curtain. (That was, of course, just a fictitious scenario that I made up off the top of my head. Shoes have never been found on window sills at my house as we struggle in vain to leave for church on time…)  ;)

Anyway, knowing that this was a very healthy, yet very easy meal to put together, on Sunday I asked Justus to see how long it took me to make our lunch. I had not done anything ahead of time. The crock pot was still in the cabinet. The roast was still in the freezer.

Still in the freezer? Yes, rock solid frozen it was. (That’s one of the great things about Italian Roast!)

Justus started the clock, and I got to work. Out came the crock pot. I headed to the freezer in our storage room and grabbed a roast. Back in the kitchen, I opened the roast and put it in the crock pot. (In case you are concerned, you should know that after all of this extremely hard work, I didn’t even break a sweat.)

I then dumped some frozen green beans and some baby carrots into the crock pot. (Yes, I did cheat and use baby carrots. It’s all I had on hand and shucks, even I use “convenience” foods sometimes.)

I finished the job by sprinkling on some Italian Dressing Mix that I had already made up and had stored in my pantry. I plugged in the crock pot and turned it on (always recommended). Then, I was done. Justus, how did I do?

One minute, forty eight point nine seconds. Total. To make a complete meal for my family to come home to and eat after church.

Italian Roast with Green Beans and Carrots

Why yes, our house did smell good when we walked in the door. Why yes, this is one of the easiest meals to make. Why yes, we really have found shoes on window sills before when we’re trying to leave and be on time for church. But you probably figured that out already. ;)

What’s one of your favorite, quick and easy Sunday meals?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken and Rice

by 129 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Hey, check it out! This is a chicken recipe AND a crock pot recipe! It’s as if the best of both worlds just came together for a lovely party, don’t you think? I mean, there is not much more exciting than combining the Week of the Chicken with a Crock Pot Recipes post, I’m pretty sure. (This makes it clearly obvious that I don’t get out much.)

And guess what else? Many of you have asked that I try to experiment and come up with some healthy alternatives to boxes of Rice-a-Roni – and I think this recipe might just meet that need for some of you. When it was all said and done, I thought this dish kind of looked and tasted rice-a-roni-ish. Try it and see what you think.

If you haven’t tried making my homemade Onion Soup Mix, I recommend throwing it together to use for this recipe. Store bought onion soup mixes typically have not-so-good for you ingredients in them that I avoid. The homemade mix is super easy and very inexpensive.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken and RiceYum

2 cups brown rice (uncooked)
Sea salt
3 cups water or chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1-2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 Tablespoons Onion Soup Mix

Place rice in the bottom of a crock pot, and sprinkle it generously with salt. Pour water or broth and cream over the rice. Cut chicken breasts into serving sized portions and place on top of the rice and liquid. Sprinkle Onion Soup Mix over the top.

Cook on a low setting for 4-5 hours. Serves 6-8.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken and Rice

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Hamburger Sauerkraut Dip

by 46 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Yum

All I have to say about this recipe is:  Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it.

I completely understand if you read the name of this recipe and your initial reaction was to make a face of disgust. I’m with ya. I don’t like sauerkraut. I don’t like the way it smells. I don’t like the way it tastes. I don’t even like the way it looks.

But I promise you, this dip tastes so good that you really might just pass out from the delicious flavor. It doesn’t taste like sauerkraut at all – but instead is a wonderful mix of flavor that is completely addicting. The first time I tried it, I stuffed myself so full, I could barely walk out of the kitchen. It was not cute.

I got the recipe from my friend Jen, who, for the record, does not like to cook. That may tell you something about how easy this dip is to put together. We prepped all the ingredients together one evening, then I threw everything into my crock pot the next morning for us to chow on that night. And did I mention that I stuffed myself? Seriously, whether you like sauerkraut or not, you must try this dip.

Hamburger Sauerkraut Dip

1 pound ground beef
4 tomatoes, chopped
2-3 green peppers, chopped
27 ounce can of sauerkraut, drained
12 ounces sour cream

Brown ground beef until thoroughly cooked. Stir browned meat, chopped tomatoes and peppers, sauerkraut, and sour cream into a crock pot. Cook on low for 5-8 hours. Stir occasionally. Sneak bites often. Try not to eat the entire pot. Good luck.

Hamburger Sauerkraut Dip

I’m very happy to point out the fact that I have posted all kinds of different cheese dip recipes on this site, so you must surely be very impressed that I have climbed out of my cheese dip lovin’ box to post a dip that is significantly different and exciting. See, here they are:  Healthier Cheese Dip; Super Simple Chip Dip; Cream Cheese Salsa Dip; Hamburger Cream Cheese Dip. And here I am posting a dip recipe that does not include cheese – but sauerkraut. How about that?

So, are you a sauerkraut fan, or do you tend to avoid it? Any chance that if you aren’t a fan, I could convince you to try this dip anyway? I promise you won’t regret it. :)

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!