Tag Archives: crockpot

White Bean, Sausage and Kale Soup

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Crock pot soup is the fastest, easiest way to make sure you have a delicious dinner waiting for you when you get home after a hard day of work. In my house we like to make something we affectionately refer to as Refrigerator Soup, dumping everything that we can find in a pot together.

The most recent batch was made of some leftover kale and Italian sausage and was a HUGE hit with the ladies of the Amelia Branch Library. It was spectacularly simple, delicious and deserves its own recipe designation. After spending the night in the slow cooker the beans were buttery smooth and the sausage had infused everything with a smokey, delicious taste. I usually prefer spinach in Italian style soups, but kale holds up wonderfully under the hours of slow cooking, coming out still slightly firm and delicious.

 White Bean, Sausage and Kale Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Italian Sausage- browned
  • 1 medium white onion- finely chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic – finely chopped garlic
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • 3-4 cans chicken broth
  • 4 cans white beans- rinsed
  • 3-4 handfuls Kale loosely chopped (enough to fill up any space left in your pot)

Instructions

  • Brown and drain sausage, do not rinse. Set aside
  • In same pan sauté onions and garlic until translucent, scrapping sides to get off all the delicious sausage bits that were left.
  • In bowl of your slow cooker whisk together tomato paste and chicken broth.
  • Add sausage, onion mixture, beans, tomatoes with juice and kale.
  • Cook on low setting for 8+ hours.

Remember, you can assemble all the ingredients in the cooker and refrigerate overnight. Just pop the pot to your slow cooker in the base in the morning and let it simmer while you work!

Looking for more delicious slow cooker recipes? Try some of these great resources:

Slow Cooker Revolution: one test kitchen, 30 slow cookers, 200 amazing recipes by the editors at America’s Test Kitchen

The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone

175 Essential Slow Cooker Classics by Judith Finlayson

Sweet Tomato Chicken

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During the month of February we often think of love, and the people we love, and how we can demonstrate to them how much we love them.  I often cook for people to let them know how much I care.  There’s nothing more satisfying than sitting down with friends and cooking things that you know they like; favorite meats, veggies, desserts and seeing their satisfaction.  I’m going to share a delicious crock pot dish I discovered a couple of years ago.  Sweet Tomato Chicken. The ingredients sound a bit unusual but let me assure you that when they are combined and simmered together for hours in a crock pot, the sauce is delectable and you will have your guests guessing as to the content.

See you Next Month, Meet me in the Kitchen !
Lisa Breithaupt, The Gourmet Librarian

Recipe
Sweet Tomato Chicken

Ingredients:

  • 6 chicken breasts
  • 3 cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 package of mushrooms, sliced

Directions:
Mix tomatoes, condensed milk, onion and mushrooms.  Place ½ of the tomato mixture in crock pot.  Place the chicken breasts in crock pot on top of mixture.  Cover the breasts with the rest of the tomato mixture.  Cook for 5 to 6 hours on high.

I serve this on top of pasta with a green salad and bread. A great dessert and you have a dinner for guests ready.  I would also serve this on top of rice !

Crockpot Lasagne

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Lasagna has always been one of my favorite foods. Although the dish is generally believed to have originated in Italy the word “lasagna” comes from the Greek lasanon meaning “trivet or stand for a pot”, “chamber pot”. The Romans borrowed the word as “lasanum”, in Latin, meaning “cooking pot”. The Italians used the word to refer to the dish in which lasagna is made. It wasn’t long before the name of the food took on the name of the serving dish.

In the comic strip GARFIELD, lasagna is said to be the favorite food of Garfield an orange tabby cat who enjoys eating, but especially loves lasagna.

The greatest, food find I have made this month is Crockpot Lasagna. You really aren’t going to believe this one. I have always been a huge fan of lasagna, but truth be told, I haven’t made it very often. I’ve been looking for economical meals ever since my husband was laid off from his job 9 weeks ago. I discovered this recipe on the Internet, and couldn’t believe it would work. I decided to give it a try and my husband and I both agreed that this was some of the best lasagna either of us had ever tasted. The good thing about it is that you don’t have to pre-cook the pasta noodles. Just put everything in the crockpot and 4 hours later you have some delicious, authentic-tasting lasagna. Salad and garlic bread completes the meal. Serve some delicious cannoli from a local bakery, and you have an Italian dinner to please.

See You Next Month! Meet Me In The Kitchen!

Lisa, The Gourmet Librarian

Crockpot Lasagna

Ingredients:

  • 2, 26 oz. jars of spaghetti sauce
  • 1/2 pound of cooked ground beef (optional)
  • 15 oz tub of ricotta cheese
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella
  • 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • Any vegetable you want to add (I used a bag of frozen spinach, thawed and drained well)
  • Uncooked lasagna noodles (regular, NOT the no-cook kind)

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl combine egg, ricotta, 1-cup mozzarella, Parmesan, Italian seasoning, and vegetable.

Combine the meat and the sauce.

Cover the bottom of your slow cooker with 1/4 of the sauce mixture. Add a layer of noodles. You’ll need to break the noodles to fill in some of the spaces. Spread a layer of the cheese mixture over the noodles, and then cover with the second layer of sauce. Continue making layers, ending with the sauce. Make sure that the top layer of noodles is well covered with sauce.

Cook on low until the noodles are tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. It took my slow cooker 4 hours. Sprinkle the top with the remaining cup of mozzarella and cover just until it melts.

This recipe makes a LOT of lasagna. It fed my family of 4 for two meals and I also got a couple of lunch portions out of it. Mangia!