Category Archives: Slow Cooker

Ranch Pork Tenderloin in the Slow Cooker

This recipe is real quick and easy! Perfect for a weekday dinner for the family. You would be crazy not to try! I put this in the slow cooker this morning and all I had to do when I got home from work was make some mashed potatoes to go with it! My husband said it is some of the best pork he has ever had! Please note this recipe is high in sodium using the buttermilk ranch dressing seasoning; however, lower in saturated fat. So if you are watching your sodium intake please consider either reducing the amount of the initial buttermilk ranch ingredient or consider trying Mrs. Dash Ranch Dressing Dip Packet. If you use the ladder it will be all around a heart healthier meal!

Serving 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients:

1 (1 to 1.5 pound) pork tenderloin

1 (8 oz) package of fresh sliced button mushrooms

1 (10.5 oz) can of cream of chicken soup (healthy request)

1 soup can of water

2 TB dehydrated onions

3 TB of dry buttermilk ranch dressing base seasoning (I love Penzey’s) However a lower sodium option would be Mrs. Dash Ranch Dip Seasoning Package

1 TB Canola oil for sautéing

Directions :

1. Sear the pork tenderloin in oil on all sides for about one to two minutes each side on medium heat (just enough to brown up slightly).

2. Place the pork in the slow cooker. Top the meat off with mushrooms, ranch seasoning, onion flakes, soup and water. Place on low and cook for 8 to 10 hours in the slow cooker.

3. Serve with brown rice or redskin mashed potatoes.

Grandma Lee’s Calico Baked Beans

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My Grandma Lee’s Baked Beans are the best! They always get rave reviews! She passed down the recipe to me for this Labor Day. I hope you will enjoy them as much as my family did this Monday.

Ingredients:
1 large (28 oz) can of Bush’s original baked beans (or two cans of Campbell’s pork and beans)
1 regular size 15.5 oz can of light kidney beans (undrained)
1 15.5 oz can of butter beans (undrained)
1 15.5 oz can of Lima beans (undrained)
1/2 cup Heinz ketchup
1/2 cup your favorite barbecue sauce
1/2 tsp chili 9000 penzeys
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 TB dry mustard
2 TB apple cider vinegar
1 bl 93/7 extra lean ground meat
9 oz of hot sausage
1 med onion chopped
8 slices of applewood bacon (baked already) (chopped)

Directions:
1. On medium to medium-high heat brown up ground beef, sausage, and onion (drain excess fat). Salt and pepper to taste.

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2. Transfer meat mixture to crock pot on low heat. Add everything else noted in above ingredients.

3. Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

4. Enjoy! It goes quickly!

Hometown Hot Dog Shoppe Chili

Everyone raves about our hometown hot dog shoppe’s chili sauce. For Father’s Day we were having a cookout for the dads and wondered what goes best with hot dogs??? CHILI!

I started searching to see if there was already a “copy that” recipe for our favorite restaurant. We found a few but my mom helped us doctored up a generic recipe.

Now for all you meat lovers out there this is not a meaty sauce. The owners of the shoppe discourage the use of the name meat sauce because there is so little meat for per batch of chili.

I can remember going to the restaurant as child with my family. There are a lot of fun memories we shared while we enjoyed these hot dogs, whether it be at the booth or in the local park during the annual chalk on a walk event. Hopefully if you are trying this recipe it takes you back and may I suggest drinking a strawberry shake to help further reminisce.

Ingredients:
1 lb lean 97/3 ground beef
3 cans of no added salt tomato sauce
3 cans of tomato paste
3 TB chili powder (high quality I recommend penzeys)
1 TB ground black pepper
3 tsp Salt
1 TB Garlic powder
1 TB onion powder
2 TB Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Corn starch
2 quarts of water

Directions:
1. In a 5 qt pan brown meat on medium high until no pink meat remains. Drain excess liquid from pan to discard.

2. Add remaining ingredients except for corn starch to the same pot you cooked the meat.

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3. Cook sauce uncovered on medium high heat until it boils and turn down stove to simmer for and hour.

4. Now take 1/4 cup of the liquid out of the sauce (try and avoid getting any meat) and place in a small bowl add the corn starch. Mix until corn starch liquifies. Then add the corn starch slurry back into the chili.

5. Now place the chili sauce in your favorite crock pot or slow cooker set on low and cook for 16 to 18 hours.

6. Enjoy on hot dogs or a hamburger!