40 Garlic Clove Chicken and Homemade Creamed Potatoes

I admit I frequently stalk other cooking blogs looking for inspiration and tasty recipes. Recently I've come across different versions of 40 Clove Garlic Chicken and have been intrigued. While trying to decide what to put in the crock pot today, I found one recipe for this that was a crock pot recipe. I got the basis for my recipe from Beantown Baker's Blog but made a few additions on my own. I served it with my mom's recipe for creamed potatoes.

Crockpot 40 Clove Garlic Chicken

Ingredients:

3-4 lbs. mixed chicken pieces, bone in and skin on
1 TBSP olive oil
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp Tony Chachere's Spice N'Herbs Seasoning
1 bay leaf
1-2 tsp rosemary
3 heads fresh garlic, out of peels but left as whole cloves
1 onion, chopped
splash of white wine

Method:

Spray crock pot with cooking spray to prevent sticking and aid in easier cleanup. Cover bottom of pot with onions. In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and mix well, being careful not to pull the skin from the chicken. Place on top of onions in the crock pot. Cook on HIGH setting 6 hours.

Penny's Homemade Creamed Potatoes

Ingredients:

3/4 of a 5 lb. bag potatoes
1/2 cup warm (not scalded) milk
1 stick butter
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

Wash potatoes well and peel. Chop into smaller pieces and boil until soft. Drain well and empty to a large bowl. Add stick of butter and using a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix well, slowly adding warmed milk until the consistancy you desire. Season with salt and pepper.


40 Clove Garlic Chicken with Creamed Potatoes

The Verdict: This is probably the juciest, most tender chicken I've ever had. It literally just falls off the bone when you try to get it out of the crock pot. The flavors are fantastic, it's not overwhelmingly garlic-y tasting like I feared it might be. The potatoes are the perfect complement, as the chicken makes it's own grease type gravy. I agreed with Beantown Baker that it was a little greasier than I'd like so next time I'd probably do some of the chicken without the skins. This was a definte make again recipe! And again, and again!

Slow-Cooker French Onion Soup with BLT and Avocado Sandwiches

My husband and I both really love French Onion Soup. We've tried a few recipes and none could quite compare to the wonderful concoction at Maspero's in New Orleans. I found this recipe on the Food Network website and decided to give it a try. For a side dish, we made BLT sandwiches with sliced avocado. Interested? Read on!

Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

5 small yellow onions, thinly sliced
2 cans Swanson's low sodium beef broth
2 cans Campbell's Beef Consomme
1 packet Lipton's Beefy Onion Soup Mix
1 loaf pumpernickel bread, cut into slices
sliced aged swiss cheese
shredded parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons white wine

Method:

In a large nonstick pan, saute onions in butter. When almost soft, add wine and cook for a few more minutes. Dump into a crockpot sprayed with cooking spray. Add the broths, consomme and soup mix. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours. When ready to serve, put soup in a bowl and place a slice of bread and both of the cheeses on top and put under the broiler until the cheese melts.


The Ingredients


The soup, in all it's cheesy goodness!

The Verdict: Fantastic!! While it still does not compare to Maspero's French Onion soup, this is the best I've had at home so far. James says it's much better than the canned variety, less salty tasting. Be sure not to get red onions because they will make your soup sweet, which is a mistake we have made in the past. We will definitely be making this again. Soon!

BLT Sandwiches with Avocado

Ingredients:

White bread, sliced
Cooked Bacon
Mayo
1 tomato, sliced
lettuce
1 avocado, sliced
cheese, if desired

Method:

Toast bread to desired doneness. Spread a generous amount of mayo, then add bacon, tomato slices, lettuce, cheese if desired, and avocado slices. Enjoy!


The Ingredients


mmmmmmm....

The Verdict: OK look at the above picture, do I really need to tell you?? Yummola!!

Ham in the Crockpot

This recipe is the best ham you could ever have, considering it's out of a crockpot and sooo easy! And that says a lot because I don't usually like ham and I REALLY don't like cherries, but I love this! It's compliments of Bettee Markins (sorry I don't know your married last name!). Make sure your ham says READY TO COOK and not FULLY COOKED and make sure you buy one that will fit into your crockpot!

Ham in the Crockpot

Ingredients:

1 butt portion ham, ready to cook, 7-8 lbs.
1 small can pineapple slices, drained
1 small jar maraschino cherries, drained
1 small bottle of honey

Method:

Spray crockpot with cooking spray. Place ham, pointy side down into the crockpot. Dump cherries, pineapple and honey on top. Cover and cook on low for 6.5 hours. Check for doneness. Ham shouldn't need to cook more than 8 hours because it'll dry out.


The ingredients


In the crockpot, ready to cook!


I realize this isn't the most appealing picture, but it shows how tender the ham was when I took it out of the crockpot, literally falling off the bone!


All sliced up and ready to eat!

Verdict: This ham is fabulous! When I took it out of the crockpot, I kept the juices in a separate bowl that people could spoon over their own meat. It was incredibly tender and I was told it was the best ham ever! It's so easy you'd be crazy not to try it!

Crockpot "Easy Company Beef"

I am loooving the crock pot lately! It's so easy to put stuff in there and set it and go play with my baby girl all day! Today I made a recipe from my crockpot cookbook that was basically beef stroganoff. It was a very basic recipe, but there's nothing wrong with that!

Easy Company Beef

Ingredients:

3 lbs. beef stew meat
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 cup red wine

Method:

Combine all ingredients into slow cooker, mixing well. Cook on LOW for 10 hours. Serve over rice or noodles.


The Ingredients


My husband wanted his over rice (see asparagus recipe that was posted yesterday)


But I wanted mine over pasta

Verdict: Very good! We much preferred this recipe of what was basically beef stroganoff over the one that I posted not very long ago. It had the desired color of stroganoff and a great beefy (is that a word?) flavor. This will definitely become an easy family favorite crockpot meal!

Irish Beef Stew

In honor of St. Patrick's Day today, I'm cooking a crockpot Irish Beef Stew. This recipe comes from the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook that friends Karen and Clint Ortis bought us for a wedding gift (thanks Karen and Clint - we love it!!) and can be found on page 83. Of course being from Louisiana, I have to spice it up some. So not pictured in the ingredients is 1 tsp of hot sauce of your choice (we like Louisiana Gold).

Crockpot Irish Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2 lbs. stewing beef, cubed
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
2- 10 3/4 cans tomato soup
1 soup can water
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced potatoes
1 lb. package frozen peas
1/4 cup water

Method:

Place beef, onion soup, tomato soup, soup can of water, salt, pepper, carrots and potatoes in slow cooker. Cover. Cook on LOW 8 hours. Add peas and 1/4 cup water. Cover. Cook on LOW 1 more hour.

Notes: as mentioned previously, I added 1 tsp hot sauce. I also added 1 chopped onion (just because I like onions) and about 1/4 cup beef stock because I only used 1 pound of stew meat, so that will make up for the flavor the other pound would have supplied.


The ingredients - minus the hot sauce and onion since they were a last-minute addition.


Stew is ready to cook!


The finished product, right before devouring!

The Verdict: Delicious! James and I both really enjoyed this, which is saying a lot because I don't like stews much! We ate it over rice. I will definitely make this again, however next time I will let the peas cook for more than an hour because I found they could have gone for longer, a little undercooked tasting. Also James and I both felt it needed more salt, but you can add more salt to your own personal bowl. Two thumbs up though!