Share Your Healthy Crock Pot Recipes

I have some cookbooks w/ crockpot recipes, but none are very healthy - Most have alot of cheese, cream sauces, etc.  I'm going back to work and need some healthy crockpot recipes so I don't have to stress about supper when I get home.

Thanks!

I am terrible for recipes, I just kind of throw things together in my crock pot. I love making chili and often I will replace the beef with ground chicken or turkey. That hleps making the chili much more healthy. I will see what other things I have/do and sit down and try to write them out in a more recpie type form, but I love my crock pot and do just about everything/anything in it. Looking forward to seeing others post!

Sticky Chicken

Remove the skin from a 3 to 4 pound chicken (make sure the whole thing will fit in the pot).  Make a mixture of salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne, onion powder, and garlic powder.  Rub this all over the chicken inside and out.  Place a quartered lemon and a handful of fresh parsley inside the chicken.

Put the chicken in a plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.  In the morning, put it into the crockpot.  Do not add liquid.  Put the lid on and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

There will be lots of delicious juices in the pot and the chicken will be falling off the bone tender.

I use lean pork in this one:

Carolina Barbecued Pork

Ingredients:
2 onions, quartered
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs paprika
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 4 to 6 lb boneless pork butt or shoulder roast
2/3 cup cider vinegar
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:
Place onions in stoneware. Combine brown sugar, paprika, salt and pepper rub over roast. Place roast over onions. Combine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic salt and cayenne stir to mix well. Cover cook on Low 10 to 12 hours or on High 5 to 6 hours. Remove meat and onions and drain. Chop or shred meat and chop onions

I'm going to print the Carolina Barbecued Pork recipe. My mouth is watering.   I have some kind of pork in the freezer now and a crock pot in the cabinet.

 

Thanks for posting the question and the recipe.

Does anyone have any tried and true vegetarian crock pot recipes? I do eat meat, but only once a week or so and I'd love to use my crock pot more often.

I've done a couple of web searches and I'm having a hard time finding veggie recipes. The ones I've found require some pretty intense prep work with lots of pre-cooking, so you're basically just using the crock pot to finish it off. I vastly prefer crock pot recipes where you throw the ingredients in the pot and just cook on low for 8 hours.  

Any suggestions? Are completely vegetarian meals just not very well suited to the crock pot? 

P.S. I am definitely bean friendly, and I have no problem starting with dried beans.  

I have the same dilemma! I'm a vegetarian and my mom got me this crock pot for Christmas, and I have no idea what the heck to do with it! I did find one recipe:

http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/eatingwell/1021 /squash-chickpea-and-red-lentil-stew

I haven't tried it yet but I will be this weekend. I think it looks pretty good. I'd love to hear if anyone else has any others!

Mmmmm. That looks good, emilytamara. I did a little more searching and found this one with white beans and sun dried tomatoes:

http://busycooks.about.com/od/meatlessentreer ecipes/r/cpwhitebeantoma.htm

I think I will try it next week. Let's check back and see how the recipes turn out.  

Fat Free Crockpot Ratatoille

1 medium eggplant, about a pound, peeled
1 pound small zucchini, not peeled
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 green bell pepper
4 cups diced tomatoes (canned is fine) with juice
1 cup low sodium V8 juice

Cut the vegetables into 1" dice.  Mince the garlic.  Put everything into the crockpot and stir.  Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, then add a handful each of chopped fresh basil and minced fresh parsley. Taste and add salt & pepper.  Stir and cook for 1 more hour. 

Serve with crusty whole grain bread.

Italian Chicken

chicken breast, lightly browned or at least thawed

1 cup or more of chicken broth or white wine

onion slices

1 can mushrooms

1 pkg dry italian dressing mix

put chicken and broth or wine in crock pot, onions, mushrooms, and then sprinkle mix on top. cook all day on low. really juicy and delicious. could even put potatoes! 

CHILI VERDE

LEAN PORK DICED IN 1" CUBES 

I USE 3 BONELESS PORK CHOPS SLICED IN 1/2. I'VE NEVER REALLY WEIGHED IT. INGREDIENTS BELOW GO WITH THIS AMOUNT OF PORK

2 CANS DICED TOMATOES

2 CANS OF DICED GREEN CHILIES

1 LARGE ONION  CHOPPED

ADD EVERYTHING IN THE CROCK POT AND COOK ON LOW ALL DAY LONG.  TO MAKE IT SPICIER I ADD CHILI PEPPERS.  AT THE END YOU CAN ADD SALT TO YOUR LIKING.

Definately a family favorite

 

I love cooking with a crock pot. It's so easy and I don't even have to watch it. My favorite is vegetable soup, and you can basically use any sort of vegetable you have. I buy canned veggies (make sure they don't have salt added, as this may cause water retention). You can substitute other vegetables for the ones I listed if you like.

Brown the ground beef. Drain. Add vegetables. Cook until veggies soften. 

1 lb. lean ground beef 

1 can stewed whole tomatoes

1 can whole kernel corn

1 can green beans

1 can peas 

small red potatoes, quartered 

3 cloves garlic 

onion, diced

parsley, to taste

fresh ground pepper, to taste 

clairelaine and rachelcc, those both look awesome and are definitely going on my "to make" list. the other ones look good too, but i don't eat meat haha. although i suppose i could modify...

anyway i'm making the squash,chickpea, & lentil stew right now so i'll let you know how it turns out!

Here's a soup I made late summer, when all the veggies were fresh and in season.  I'm sure veggie stock would be a great sub for chicken stock if you wanted to make a vegetarian version ( It doesn't recognise the bay leaf, FYI)

Lentil/Barley/Red Bell Pepper Soup

Original Post by rachelcc:

Does anyone have any tried and true vegetarian crock pot recipes? I do eat meat, but only once a week or so and I'd love to use my crock pot more often.

I've done a couple of web searches and I'm having a hard time finding veggie recipes. The ones I've found require some pretty intense prep work with lots of pre-cooking, so you're basically just using the crock pot to finish it off. I vastly prefer crock pot recipes where you throw the ingredients in the pot and just cook on low for 8 hours.  

Any suggestions? Are completely vegetarian meals just not very well suited to the crock pot? 

P.S. I am definitely bean friendly, and I have no problem starting with dried beans.  

I love using my crockpot for chili's. What about a great Veggie chili? I dont go by a written recipe but take any basic recipe and omit the meat and add chick peas or other beans to "beef" it up. I love celery in my chilis too so that can add substance. Good l uck! 

 

IT'S GOOD! MINE IS GOOD!! REALLY REALLY GOOD!!

 I'm sorry, I just started seriously cooking for myself this summer (when I moved into my first apartment, yay) and still get pretty freaking excited when the stuff I attempt making turns out yummy.

And this... is... so... yummy.

Try it guys, seriously! 8 servings comes out to just about 300 calories and it's way filling (I think because of the squash, chickpeas, and peanuts.) I am SO trying the white bean and sun-dried tomato one next.

Yay, woman_king! Thanks for finding that one and trying itout. I'm going to make it soon. I'm so happy that I have a little supply of veggie crock pot meals now. I keep meaning to try the white bean/sun dried tomatoes one, but I have to make a grocery store run first.

I've got the white bean and sun dried tomato recipe in the crock pot today! I'm a little nervous that it might be bland - it really is just beans and sun dried tomatoes with a some onion and garlic. I'm planning on eating it with some whole wheat pita.

I'll post back tomorrow with results.  

awesome- i got the ingredients for that on sunday so i'll be making it as well! i was also thinking maybe it could be really good mixed in with some pasta or rice? but i bet on a sandwich would be awesome. like some sort of yummy, beany sloppy joe :)

 

(and the fat-free ratatouille is next! i accidentally bought cucumbers instead of zucchini, but as soon as i get zukes i'll be making that as well. crockpots, who know? i think i'm in love!)

Well, the white bean and sun dried tomato recipe was a success. I realized while I was making it that the recipe was a little weird, because it didn't tell you to soak the beans overnight (maybe assuming you already knew?) and they suggest cooking on high for 4 - 6 hours, which seems a little short to me. I work 9 hour days, so I just started them when I left in the morning and turned it off when I got home and they were cooked perfectly.

The verdict: definitely yummy, but they were a little soupier than I imagined they would be. I don't know why I didn't realize it was a soup recipe. I ended up leaving out the Parmesan cheese (didn't realize I was out), adding a little more salt (I'm a salt addict), and tossing in a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar. I ate it with a spoon and a whole wheat pita. 

So, it isn't the most exciting dish ever, but it is tasty and pretty much the easiest crock pot meal I've come across. I'm definitely going to make it a regular.  

I have a dish in my crock pot now that smell delicious!

 

 

2 lbs Skinless, Boneless, Chicken Breast

3/4 cup Salsa

1/4 cup PB2

1 tsp Ginger (if fresh, minced)

2 Tbsp Soy Souce

2 tsp Lime Juice

2 tsp Cornstartch (Optional)

2 tsp Minced Garlic (Optional)

To taste Salt & Pepper

I added red, yellow and green bell peppers from my garden last year and a bag of mini carrots.

I'll be having it over brown rice but you could have it almost anyway.  The chicken is falling to pieces by the way.

This recipe came from Bell Plantation  and is called Easy Thai Peanut Chicken