Crock Pot Beef Burgundy

This is a super easy meal to cook in the crock pot when you are short of time or forgot to start it earlier in the day. It was super tasty and tender! And it’s French… ooo la la! ;)

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 pounds beef stew meat

2 Tbsp oil

1 onion, sliced

8 mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

3 cloves minced garlic

2-3 bay leaves

1 cup burgundy wine

1/2 cup beef broth

Dredge the stew meat in the flour, salt & pepper mixture. Heat oil in large skillet and brown meat on medium heat. Place beef in crock pot. Pour wine and broth over meat. Top with remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or high for 3 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Cranberry Merlot Meatballs

This is one of my new favorite crock pot meals! I can make it in a snap and it tastes rather fancy and elegant. If I use frozen meatballs, it only takes a minute to throw it all together and cooks on high in only about 3 hours. We love it served over mashed potatoes but is also a lovely appetizer!

Whisk together:

1 can jellied cranberry sauce

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup merlot (or any red wine or cranberry juice)

2 teaspoons stone ground mustard (or any other hot mustard)

Pour over 30-40 meatballs.

Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6 hours, or until meatballs are hot.

Serve over mashed potatoes or as an appetizer.

Blackberry BBQ Sauce

Behind the fence in the backyard is completely overgrown with blackberries which means a freezer full of blackberry jam every summer! The best way to get rid of the extra is to make Blackberry BBQ Sauce.

1 cup ketchup

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/3 cup blackberry jam

1 teaspoon mustard

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

Mix it in a small bowl. Use as you would any other BBQ sauce.

I poured mine over a beef roast in the crock pot and cooked it on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

Shred the beef and serve on hamburger buns.

Buttery Beef and Mushroom Stew

I have made this a couple of times now and we LOVE it! It is best served over mashed potatoes. I know most stews have potatoes in them but I like them over or topped with mashed potatoes best of all!

This stew is tasty, quick and easy and cooks in the crock pot while you’re busy doing other things that you want and need to do. What could be better?

2 pounds beef stew meat

1 pound mushrooms, quartered

1 stick butter

2 Tablespoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon each of dill, garlic powder and dried onion flakes

1/2 teaspoon each of basil and ground black pepper

Combine everything in the crock pot and cook on high 4 hours or on low 6-8 hours or until beef is tender. Mix 2 Tablespoons cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons cold water until smooth. Stir into simmering stew until thick and well combined.

 

Serve over mashed potatoes.

Slow Cooker Apple Cracked Wheat

What’s better than hot breakfast on a cold winter morning? Hot breakfast waiting for you in your slow cooker!

This is a rather sweet and fruity way to enjoy cracked wheat, but is so lovely with a cup of hot tea or coffee.

This recipe makes 2-3 servings. I make it in my really small 1.5 quart crock pot. Cracked wheat is pretty filling, you don’t need much to fill you up!

1/3 cup apple, chopped

1/3 cup cracked wheat

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup apple juice

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon butter

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

splash of vanilla

Stir everything together in your crock pot. Turn it on low before going to bed. Do not cook longer than 8 hours. Give it a stir and let sit for a few minutes before serving.

Crock Pot Cracked Wheat

I really don’t like making breakfast, which is kinda strange since I’ve done it every day for about 17+ years now. Breakfast is my least favorite meal of the day but it is my guys’ FAVORITE meal of the day! So I have made LOTS of breakfasts! That is until this year…

My two oldest started attending college and it is just too hard to coordinate everyone’s morning work and school schedules for a sit-down breakfast. So now it’s an everyone-on-your-own affair. I LOVE it! I feel like I have just gained my freedom from slaving over my griddle/waffle iron/skillet every morning! Wait, I did! :o)

On the other hand, I really miss starting out our day with a sit-down breakfast. We would pray for our day, read and discuss the daily newspaper… It was a great way to start the day! But I don’t miss cooking breakfast…

All this is a round about way to say that I have found a way to have a hot breakfast ready to go whenever it’s needed without cooking in the morning! And it’s all thanks to my crock pot!

You can make cracked wheat in the crock pot the night before and it is all ready to go in the morning! And if you’ve made too much, you can freeze the leftovers in microwave safe containers. Just thaw them in the fridge the night before, add a bit of milk or water, and zap it for about 1 minute or so! Hot breakfast without cooking yet again!

Here’s how you do it:

Pour 1 cup of cracked wheat cereal into your crock pot. Pour in 3 cups of cold water. Give it a quick stir. Turn the crock pot on low and go to sleep for 7-9 hours.

Wake up. Go check your cracked wheat. Give it a stir.

Plop some into a bowl. (Yeah, it really does kinda plop, but it’s hot cereal.) Dress it up with milk, brown sugar, butter, dried fruits, nuts… whatever suits your fancy.

Turn the crock pot on warm if you need it to wait for more eaters.