Crock Pot Challenge Recipes Recap

It’s hard to believe it’s already March and the Crock Pot Challenge via Peanut Butter Fingers is over! I had so much fun participating in the challenge. Through it, I realized my unending love for my crock pot, tried a bunch of new recipes, and was introduced to some awesome new bloggers. Here are the recipes I tried for the challenge, in the order in which I made them.

1. Mango Ginger Chicken

Recipe from: Women’s Health Magazine that I own, but an online version is here.

Okay, so call it cheating, but I actually made this recipe before the challenge started. But it was only a week before and it was a new recipe for me, so I’m counting it

I didn’t blog about this recipe specifically, but here’s my Instagram of it.

Colorful, right? I served the chicken mixture over quinoa. The dish was decent but my chicken was pretty rubbery. The combination of mango and ginger is really interesting, but I’m not sure if I would try this one again.

2. Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

Recipe from: Today’s Mama (Pinterest find)

Yum-ee! This soup was like a healthy version of tomato bisque, full of flavor. To make it, you put together all the veggies and some broth and let that cook all day. Later on, before you’re ready to serve it, you make a roux and slowly add it in, then let it cook another 30 minutes. I would definitely make this one again.

 Original Post: Back to Healthy Week 4 Recap

3. Barbeque Pulled Chicken

This was decent but too tomato-y and not enough barbeque-y for me. I served the chicken on sandwich buns. Wouldn’t make it again unless I tweaked it.

Original Post: Back to Healthy Week 4 Recap

4. Sweet & Spicy Crock Pot Chili

This one was my own creation! I took a basic recipe and did some tweaking. The results were great! My friend even tried it and said it was delicious, so you don’t have to take my word alone for it.

{ See the recipe here }

5. Overnight Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal

Recipe from: Chocolate Broccoli

This recipe was my only unfortunate mishap. I had always wanted to try overnight oatmeal in the crock pot, but it about ruined my crock pot and made for quite the disappointment when my supposed breakfast was not even edible.

It turned out like paste and was near flavorless. I really don’t know what went wrong, but I wish I had read the comments on the recipe before I made it. It appears that others had the same experience as I did.

Oh well! Live and learn.

Original Post: Oatmeal Disaster

6. Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

Recipe from:  Kristin @ Iowa Girl Eats

My husband loves spaghetti, so when I started the challenge, I knew I had to include some crock pot red sauce. The recipe was very simple but completely from scratch.

Funny story: as my husband was eating it, he assumed it was not from scratch and that I just put the meat and a jar of sauce together. But then I started telling him about how I made it, and he was like, “Wait, this is from scratch?!” in amazement. It was so good that it tasted like it was from a really fancy premade version.

Also, included on that same post is a recipe for garlic bread. I made this as well on a different day with some stuffed shells. It was SO good. And ridiculously simple. I’ll be going back to both of these recipes for sure.

Original Post: Finally Friday: Week Recap

7. Black Bean Enchilada Stack

Recipe from: Julie @ Running in a Skirt, who also did the challenge

When I saw her post on this one, I couldn’t resist. Mexican in the crock pot? Ohhh yeah!

This was SOOOOO good. I am typically not an enchilada person because I don’t care for the red sauce, but this was not very red sauce-based, so I loved it. The corn tortillas get all soft when you cook it and it even made awesome leftovers. Thanks, Julie!

Original Post: Crock Pot Enchiladas, Consistency, & Workouts

8. Chicken Taco Meat

Recipe from: Food.com

I didn’t get a chance to review this one on the blog. I needed to bring some meat for my Bible study, and it needed to be quick. This recipe fit the bill to cook while I was at work all day.

I made this with water instead of chicken broth because I was actually out of it. It was still really flavorful. I think next time, I wouldn’t add as much water/broth because it was actually very soupy. I guess I could’ve strained the liquid out. Overall, it was decent but not “amazing.” My friend did eat all of it, so it must have been pretty good, though

9. Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Recipe from: A Doctor in the House

I also didn’t get a chance to blog about this one, but this recipe was so up my alley. All you do it take chicken and make your own peanut sauce, throw it all in the crock pot and cook all day. I came home to nice tender chicken ready to shredded and put into lettuce wraps.

I topped mine with crunch lo mein noodles and hot sauce.

Very tasty! I’d definitely make these again.

10. Barbequed Spareribs

Recipe from: cookbook I own

To make these, you take ribs, put them in the crock pot with onions and bbq sauce, and cook for 8 hours. SO easy!

I just had these last night, and they were verrry good. The only thing is that because the ribs were fatty, the bbq sauce got all watered down. When I initially opened the crock pot, I was expecting to see the ribs still slathered in thick sauce, but it was all soupy. I actually went out to get extra bbq sauce because there really wasn’t any left.

I didn’t realize this beforehand, but once I got some sauce on these ribs, they were so tasty.

In the End

All I can say is that I have no idea why I don’t try to force myself to use the crock pot ALL the time. Now, I think I will! Through the challenge, I was able to get some really good crock pot “keepers” in my recipe box, as well as learn a few things along the way. I will definitely be “crock potting” as a part of my regular cooking routine from now on.

Thanks so much to Julie for hosting this!

Questions for you:

• What’s your favorite crock pot recipe of all time? 
• How often do you use your crock pot? Would you ever consider a challenge like this to use it more?