Slow Cooker Turkey and Noodles

     After Thanksgiving, we usually have a terrifying amount of leftovers. This is because I have no idea how to cook for small groups. This year, for myself, The Wife, and The Spud, I cooked a 12 pound turkey. That's all well and good, but there's only so many turkey sandwiches you can eat. At The Wife's request, we took a Chicken and Dumplings recipe we have used from The Gooseberry Patch Super Fast Slow Cooker Cookbook. This works great because I promised some of you the recipe some time ago. Simply replace all instances of "turkey" here with "chicken" and you'll be fine. This makes a nice, thick, dish. Remember, this isn't soup, so don't come fussing when you say it is too thick. If you want soup, just keep adding stock until it's the consistency you want. This is a real winner on a cold day.

Slow Cooker Turkey & Noodles

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 pound shredded cooked turkey
• 2 cans (10.5 ounce) cream of chicken soup
• Chicken/Turkey stock equal to 4 cans (about 5.25 cups)
• Seasoning of your choice to taste. (We used Ukrainian Village Seasoning from the Spice House) 
• 24 ounces (two frozen bags of wide noodles or dumplings. I am referring to the thick square noodle type dumplings, not pot sticker or kreplach style)

Directions

1. Load everything except the noodles/dumplings into a slow cooker (5 quart or larger).
2. Cook on LOW for 6 hours.
3. Add the noodles/dumplings and cook another 30 minutes on LOW.

Good Times!

Slow Cooker Apple Butter BBQ Ribs

     Cooking bone-in meat in a slow cooker is always an exciting prospect. The end result more often than not looks terrifying, with meat and gristle and bone all in a heap in the bottom of the cooker. I'm also leery about using really nice spareribs for a slow cooker recipe. However, this recipe gave me the opportunity to use up some surplus apple butter and bbq sauce I canned last season. I bit the bullet and gave it a try. Despite the fact that I entirely missed a step, the ribs were quite tasty. The Wife really liked them because she didn't have to fight to get the meat off the bone. She would never be able to survive in the wild. I don't know that I'd make this a lot, but it was certainly good and I would consider making it again if the grill and smoker were not available outside. As always, any notes and changes are in blue.

Slow Cooker Apple Butter BBQ Ribs
via Super-Fast Slow Cooking

Ingredients

• 4 pounds pork spareribs
• salt and pepper to taste (we used Uncle Joe's Rub Down instead)
• 1 onion, quartered
• 16 ounces apple butter (we used our own Too Damned Easy Apple Butter)
• 18 ounce bottle barbecue sauce (we used the sauce from our BBQ Jalapeno Peppers and Onions)

Directions

1. Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper (as mentioned, we used the Uncle Joe's)
2. Place ribs on rimmed baking sheets. Bake at 350 (180F, Gasmark 4) for 30 minutes; drain. Slice the ribs into serving size pieces and place in the slow cooker. (holy shit. I didn't even see this step when I made these. I just chucked the frozen rib sections into the slow-cooker. I'm not even joking. If you don't believe me, watch the video below.)
3. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Bonus Video! 

Good times!

Slow Cooker Caramel Apple Pie Bread Pudding

     Bread pudding is one of those desserts that I love, but almost never make. Generally, I'll make a bread pudding one time during the holidays and then just pine away for it the rest of the year. I'm not sure why that is. Bread pudding is not particularly difficult to make. It will have to remain a mystery. I made this one because I had an empty slot in my 3 station slow cooker. I also had a loaf of Caramel Apple bread and nothing to do with it. I just changed up a recipe from Gooseberry Patch Super Fast Slow Cooking. It took WAY longer to cook than the recipe said, but ended up being a fine dessert. As always, any changes or notes are in blue.

Caramel Apple Pie Bread Pudding
via Gooseberry Patch Super Fast Slow Cooking

Ingredients

• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar (we used 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown)
• 21 ounce can apple pie filling (we used a sugar-free pie filling)
• 6-1/2 cups cinnamon-raisin bread, cubed (no cinnamon-raisin bread on hand. Went with a one pound loaf of Pepperidge Farms Caramel Apple Bread)
• Optional: Whipped Cream (omitted)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and sugar. 
2. Gently stir in pie filling and bread cubes; pour mixture into lightly greased slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 3 hours, until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean (calling bullshit on this step. We went for three hours on LOW, then over another hour on HIGH, and that damned knife never came out clean. I just gave up and called it done)
4. Let stand, uncovered, 30-45 minutes to cook slightly before serving. 

Good times!

Chocolate Concoction

     Slow-cooker cook books often have recipes that are a bit sketchy health-wise. Often they are packed with sodium to the point of causing a cardiac event at the dinner table. Every now and then you come across a slow-cooker cook book that is full of hilariously unhealthy recipes. Gooseberry Patch Super Fast Slow Cooking is one of those books. Recipe after recipe is absolutely packed with salt and sugar. I love this book. Most of the meals will cause me to gain 4-7 pounds in water from a single meal. While this recipe is not packed with sodium, it is a fat and sugar bomb. If you're counting calories, you'll need a scientific calculator for this one. It is phenomenally rich; we can only eat about three forkfuls before we need a drink of water to move it along. As always, any notes and changes are in blue.

Chocolate Concoction
via Gooseberry Patch Super Fast Slow Cooking

Ingredients

• 1 box 18.25 ounce devil's food cake mix
• 16 ounce container sour cream (we tried to mitigate the damage of this dessert by using low fat sour cream)
• 3.9 ounce package instant chocolate pudding mix (more damage control here by using sugar-free pudding mix)
• 1-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup water
• Optional: French vanilla ice cream (if you're having ice cream with this, you might as well just go ahead and stab yourself in the pancreas)

Directions

1. Beat all ingredients (except ice cream, if using) until smooth.
2. Pour into a slow cooker that has been sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours
4. Serve with ice cream if you really hate yourself.

Good times!