My Best Crock Pot Recipes

This is another fab installment of "You Asked, I'm Telling" (yes, I named it). One of my fabulous readers, who also has her own fabulous blog and a deep love for the Colts, asked me about the best thing I've made in my crock pot. It's taken me a couple of days to put this one together because there is some debate as to the answer to this question. So, I decided to share a "Best of"! Excited?! I am...

This first recipe is the one that I feel I have perfected. It is for pot roast. Hubby says it's the best. I've even made it for the MIL and she was impressed.

3 lb. boneless roast (I tend to go with whatever is on sale)
1 1/2 tsp House Seasoning*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 bay leaves
3 1/2 tsp beef bouillon granules**
2 tsp minced garlic***
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup chicken stock****
1/2 pound baby carrots
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

Heat oil in a skillet. Sprinkle the roast with the seasoning. Put carrots and potatoes in crock pot. Place roast in the skillet and brown on all sides, then put roast in the crock pot on top of the carrots and potatoes. (You might need to nestle the roast down so some of the carrots and potatoes come up around the roast, so the roast won't be too close to the lid) On top of the roast, layer onion, bay leaves, bouillon granules, garlic and soup. Add chicken stock and enough water to cover ingredients. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours.

*I use Paula Deen's recipe for House Seasoning. It is fabulous for this recipe and on lots of other things. Mix 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup black pepper and 1/4 cup garlic powder. Mix well and store. If you don't want to commit to making this much, just sprinkle your roast with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
**You could also use 3-4 beef bouillon cubes, crushed.
***Fresh garlic gloves work here too. Just use 1 clove per 1 tsp.
****I don't keep stock. Instead, I just keep bouillon granules and mix stock as I need it.

Next up is my best quick crock pot recipe. This meatball and veggie stew takes about 5 minutes to throw together. (I just linked back to it, because...well, because I'm too lazy to type it out again)

Finally, oldest kiddo declared this next recipe to be the best ever. It's a new one that came out of the Crock Pot Recipe Card Collection that my sis got me for Christmas. It's for Asian Beef Stew.

2 onions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 lb round steak, sliced thin
2 ribs celery, sliced
1/2 pound baby carrots
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup orange juice
1 cup beef broth
1/3 cup hoisin sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 cup frozen peas

Place onions, beef, celery, carrots and mushrooms in crock pot. In a small bowl, combine orange juice, broth, hoisin sauce, cornstarch and curry powder. Pour over ingredients in crock pot and put the lid on. Cook for 5 hours on high. Stir in peas and cook for 20 minutes longer. I like to serve it over rice, but you could probably put it over noodles as well. Or just skip the rice and noodles and dig right in :)

I don't have pictures to share right now, but hopefully in the future I can add some. Of course, the hubby and kids tend to inhale their food so I have to be quick with the picture taking thing.