Slow-cooker Minestrone
3 cups water
1-1/2 pounds stewing meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, diced
4 carrots, diced
14-1/2 oz can tomatoes
2 tsp salt
10-oz package frozen mixed vegetables OR your choice of frozen vegetables
1 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 cup dried vermicelli (We couldn’t find vermicelli, so we used orzo instead.)
1 tsp dried oregano
Added 1 15-oz can cannellini beans, because minestrone should have beans in it
grated Parmesan cheese
1. Combine all ingredients in slow-cooker. Stir well.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 10-12 hours or on High 4-5 hours
3. Top individual servings with Parmesan cheese
Also, we don’t add that much salt to our food. We have sea salt in a grinder and I probably just added a couple turns of that. I’m sure it wasn’t 2 teaspoons.
The 3 of us (Gary, Emily, and me) all loved it! It was gone in a matter of days.
California Chicken
3-lb chicken, quartered
1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup chili sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp garlic salt
2 Tbsp chopped green peppers
3 medium oragnes, peeled and separated into sections OR
1 13-1/2 oz can mandarin oranges
1. Arrange chicken in slow cooker.
2. In separate bowl, combine juice, chili sauce, soy sauce, molasses, dry mustard and garlic salt. Pour over chicken.
3. Cover; cook on Low 8-9 hours
4. Stir in green peppers and oranges. Heat 30 minutes longer.
Variation:
Stir 1 tsp curry powder in with sauces and seasonings.
Stir 1 small can pineapple chunks and juice in with green peppers and oranges.
Plus, I made Chunky Cinnamon Applesauce in the crockpot, from Two Peas and Their Pod.
I love using my crockpot, because you can set it up with a minimum of work, then go about your day, and supper’s made when you come home at 5 or 6pm. I made the applesauce during the night, then transfered the applesauce to a container to go in the fridge, washed the crock, and got the California Chicken all set to go. I’ve used it 3 times in the past two weeks.
Today, it’s been snowing all day! There are probably 7-9 inches on the driveway and it was very much NOT done snowing yet. The snow is almost up to Jasmine’s belly. I need to measure from belly to end of legs, to find out how many inches that is. Emily did not get a snow day and my clinic hours went on, as scheduled, so no slacking for us! I’m glad I had nowhere to go tonight!
