Anonymous wrote:If you have time to do a from-scratch meal you don't need the Crockpot. People use the Crockpot because they are in a time crunch. Not because they love canned soup.

Time is not the only reason to use a crockpot. I also use it to save energy (the crockpot uses less electrical energy than letting my gas stove burn for 6-8 hours of low slow cooking) and for safety reasons (I can leave the house if I want with the crock pot going, but I would never leave the house with a live fire going on the stove--that's how national firefighters association statistics on home fires are increased).

I don't usually use a crockpot for weekday meals, but I do use it on weekends to make various scratch recipes that will take a long time and energy to cook, stews, soups, chilis, etc.

Some favorites:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chicken-chili-verde-3012
http://addapinch.com/cooking/balsamic-pork-tenderloin-recipe/

Anonymous wrote:I have found a good chicken marsala recipie online that only used 'real' ingredients. I've also adapted various stew and chili recipes to make them in the crockpot (instead of the hour or so simmering on the stove, I let them cook all day in the crock pot) and we do pulled pork with homemade BBQ sauce often. Our favorite easy weeknight crockpot meal is chicken tacos - the recipe is basically just chicken, a jar of salsa, and a taco seasoning packet, but I put in my own seasonings instead of using the packet (chili power, cumin, garlic, etc) to cut down on the sodium and other weirdness in the commercial stuff.

Good god I had to look and see if I wrote this. except i love a crock pot chicken tikka masala recipe.

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala-recipes-from-the-kitchn-211284

I never use soup or mixes in my crockpot--are you looking at really old recipes?

At any rate, this is great. http://www.thehouseofhendrix.com/recipes/crockpot-cilantro-lime-chicken/

Crockpot beef bourguignon, great recipe though slightly fussy (for a "quick" crockpot meal) http://www.ayearofslowcooking.com/2009/09/slow-cooker-beef-bourguignon-recipe.html

OP great question.

I don't have a recipe for you, but I'm sure Coq au Vin can be adapted for a slow cooker. If someone has a ready-made recipe, I'd love to see it.

I ALWAYS cook from scratch in the crock pot. Sometimes it means chopping things the night before, or getting up a half hour earlier in the morning. There are TONS of recipes on-line for everything from carnitas to ropa vieja in the crock pot that require few ingredients but are great and from scratch.

I make soup all the time - my crock pot has a brown feature so I brown onions, garlic, celery and carrots to make soup. Add anything from chicken or sausage to beans. I just made black-eyed pea, kale, and sausage soup in the crock pot. Here is recipe:

1 onion
3 carrots
2 celery stalks
3 to 5 cloves garlic

Chop all and sautee in crock pot with favorite sausage - I used Kielbasa
add smoked paprika and oregano to taste. Or whatever herbs or spices you like. Cumin is also good
add soaked black-eyed peas or any other beans. Cannelini would be great too
Chicken broth - I use Swanson's low-sodium stock.
add a bunch of kale.

Cook on low all day. I come home from work with a good baguette and we're ready for dinner!

I posted on the other thread with the "recipe" for pot roast- the onion soup packet I mentioned isn't necessary, you can just use herbs, spices, onions, dijon mustard, whatever else you have/I mentioned as ingredients. I also use homemade chicken broth for it.

Anonymous wrote:If you have time to do a from-scratch meal you don't need the Crockpot. People use the Crockpot because they are in a time crunch. Not because they love canned soup.

Sorry, but this isn't accurate for everyone. The crockpot is used by people like me who want to make food from scratch (or close to from scratch) but don't have a lot of time between getting home and dinner.

I have found a lot of good recipes on this site: http://www.ayearofslowcooking.com/

Some may involve a can of soup, but others don't. For example, I got a recipe for roasted vegetables.

You can also use the crockpot to make a lot of recipes you normally make on the stove. For example, some soups work well. Just don't add any pasta until the last 30 minutes or so.

I love this website:

http://www.ayearofslowcooking.com/2007/12/alphabetical-listing-of-recipes.html

She has a child with food intolerances, so most recipes are from scratch.

I love this slow cooker cookbook. http://www.amazon.com/Art-Slow-Cooker-Exciting-Recipes/dp/0811859126/ref=sr_1_90?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442859200&sr=1-90&keywords=slow+cooker+cookbook

This week I am making this recipe for Tangy Spiced Brisket. I've made it before and we thought it was delicious. http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/04/tangy-spiced-brisket/

This chicken recipe is a fave with us. http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/corsican-chicken

These two recipes for carnitas are great as well: http://damndelicious.net/2014/10/10/slow-cooker-pork-carnitas/ and http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/pork-carnitas-recipe.html

Check the Skinnytaste blog.

Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker is a great cookbook that has a lot of excellent from-scratch recipes. The America's Test Kitchen ones are excellent as well. The thing about slow cooking is that a lot of folks are looking to dump in all the ingredients, set the timer, and come back 8 or 10 hours later to a fabulous meal. This approach sometimes works but many times you end up with food that is overcooked and lacking flavor. it is worth it to do some prep work like browning or searing meats, or adding ingredients halfway through cooking or at the very end. It's more work, but the results are much better than with the set it and forget it method. Also, some slow cookers tend to run hot, even on the simmer or low setting. It's a good idea to experiment with cooking times until you get to know your slow cooker.

Anonymous wrote:Well, I know what I'm making next! Thanks 12:56!

You're welcome! Here's another one that we like: http://www.hungrygirlporvida.com/blog/2014/11/04/cider_braised_pork/

Well, I know what I'm making next! Thanks 12:56!