Red Beans & Rice (Slow Cooker Version)

If you’re into southern food, then you know about red beans & rice.  This is an authentic recipe that will impress anyone that is a connoisseur of this great dish!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Serves 8

Ingredients

1 pound dry kidney beans

1 large onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, chopped

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

1 pound andouille sausage, sliced

4 ham hocks

Directions

Rinse the beans to make sure they have no rocks or gravel and place in the slow cooker. Clean the ham hocks under warm running water and place in the crock pot along with the rest of the ingredients. Cover and cook on high for 4 hrs or low for 8. 

About 3/4 of the way through, I usually check to make sure my beans haven’t gotten too dry (if I’m home), if so, just add enough water or chicken broth to make them moist again.  They should be more creamy…not soupy.

After cooking is complete, remove the Bay Leaves.  (If you don’t remove them, at least, please don’t eat them!!)  Remove the hocks and put them on a plate (remove any beans from the hocks).  With a potato masher, mash the beans until they reach the proper consistency (about half the beans should be mashed, the other half stay whole).  After smashing about half of them, mix together.  They should be creamy. 

When the hocks have cooled for a few minutes, remove and discard the skin.  Take the meat off the bone, and chop into chunks.  Add the meat back to the beans and stir to incorporate.

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Rice

4 cups water

2 cups long grain white rice

In a saucepan, bring water and rice to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Uncover, and fluff with a fork.  Cook uncovered for another 5 minutes.

Serve beans over steamed white rice.

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Slow Cooker Pot Roast

This is an awesome recipe for pot roast that I’ve created about 10 years ago, basically by taking a bit from different recipes I’ve seen, to make it my own.  It’s savory, with a nice hint of red wine.  A couple variations include, adding fresh mushrooms, leaving out the potatoes and serving with mashed potatoes, leaving out the potatoes and serving with mashed sweet potatoes…etc.  Try it as is, or use it and tweek it to your personal taste.  That’s the great thing about this wonderful recipe!!

Ingredients

5  pound pot roast

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Vegetable oil

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup red wine

1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup

2 lbs fingerling potatoes

1/2 lb baby carrots

1 onion, quartered

Directions

Heat a heavy bottomed skillet to medium high, and add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom.  Mix together the flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Coat the roast with a thin layer of the flour mixture, and sear each side until golden brown.  While the roast is searing; mix the water and wine in a bowl.  When the roast is seared on each side, remove and set aside.  Add the wine mixture to the pan, and scrape up any bits that have stuck to the pan.  Place the soup, soup mix and the wine mixture in the slow cooker and wisk together. 

Place the roast in the crock pot and ladle some of the soup mixture on top of the roast.  Place the vegetables around and on top of the roast.  Cover, and cook on low for 8 hours.

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Slow Cooker Garlic Pork Roast w/ Sweet Potatoes

I found a variation of this recipe on the web almost 10 years ago. The first few years, I made it as written and it was great. Since then, I’ve added my own spin to it, and now I must say, it’s simple perfection. My parents visited around the time I found this recipe, and I made it for them and it was quite a hit. Now my mom makes it, but with her own touch to satisfy her preferences.
For her version, after everything is done cooking, she likes to thicken the broth to make a gravy.
Me…I like it just the way I’ve written it below… Enjoy!

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 (2-3 pound) boneless pork roast
salt and pepper to taste
5 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 large onion, quartered
8 cloves garlic
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

Directions

Heat oil in large heavy skillet. Season meat with salt and pepper, and brown all sides in oil. In a slow cooker, layer sweet potatoes, onion and garlic. Place browned roast on top of vegetables. Pour about 1/2 the chicken broth in the skillet and let it come to a simmer while scraping the bottom to loosen the brown bits, pour the mixture along with the rest of the chicken broth in the crock pot. Cover, and cook on low setting for 6 hours.

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Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

This is a recipe that I came up with a few years ago. It’s basic, and is certainly not rocket science, but can I tell you how many times I’ve heard, ‘gosh I wish it was summertime so I could throw some ribs on the grill’!
No, they don’t have the smoky flavor of the grill (you could add a couple drops of liquid smoke in the water), but they are still damn good!!

Serves 2

3 lbs baby back ribs
1 bottle bbq sauce
1/2 an onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Remove the silver skin on the back of the ribs
Season with salt & pepper
Put about a 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of the crock pot.
Layer the ribs in the crockpot.
Place the onion and garlic in cheese cloth, and tie with kitchen string. Place the package next to the ribs, preferably in the water on the bottom of the crock pot.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
Discard the onion and garlic, and place the ribs on a baking sheet.
Brush both sides of the ribs with the BBQ sauce
Cook in 375 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, until the sauce becomes carmalized and adheres nicely to the ribs.

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