the good 'ol fashioned crock pot

since the babies have been born, i have struggled with putting healthy meals on the table... in suitable time, of course.  postpartum, food was brought over for us, but that ended.  my family left.  my husband works odd hours, so that meant i was responsible for feeding myself. :)  i needed an easy solution for cooking meals... without spending the entire day in the kitchen.  my girls were too young for me to do that.  they weren't at the point of entertaining themselves like they're able to do now at four months old.
i remembered the purpose of the crock pot... is just that.  to have a meal cooking/prepared, so that when you're ready to eat, it's ready to be eaten. :)  absolutely genius! so, i pulled out my crock pot, ready to start.
only, the problem is that from all the slow cooker recipes (i've picked up a few of those Better Homes and Gardens Special Publications over time), i hadn't found many that were REALLY tasty and worth the time to wait all day for it to cook...
i remembered that my friend, Alissa had a blog for crock pot/slow cooker recipes, so i looked that up... and, found the BEST recipe, hands down.  over time, i have found some other worthy recipes that i'd like to add here, but until then... i'll post links to the yummy recipes that i've found for the crock pot.  i'd also like to post the other recipes that i found which were easy to cook without slaving the day away in the kitchen. :)

Cheese and Pasta Delight (A rating)
- instead of buying alfredo sauce (let's face it, with twins, it's hard for me to get out of the house, and i decided to do this last minute the second time), i made my own alfredo sauce from here.  the first time, i bought the alfredo sauce, and i think that it actually turned out yummier with a homemade sauce.  now, with a homemade sauce, you obviously can adjust the calorie intake. :)
- i used a can of chicken, drained (from Costco)
- the first time i did mozzarella cheese, but the second time, i did swiss.  since i usually have mozz on hand, i'd probably do it with that again... to alleviate an extra trip to the store or an extra thing to pick up.
- i used different pasta shells, both times, the dish turned out fine.
- this dish is SO easy to make.  i was pleasantly surprised with all the ingredients meshed well together.
- i think that i used a 4qt. dish, and it made enough food, but the thing is... between my husband and me, it's gone within two days!  :)
- it's also SO yummy to reheat for the following day!  the chicken, alfredo sauce, and veggies really blend well together!

Slow-Cooked Corn Chowder (A rating)
- sometimes, if i'm in a rush, i'll cook this for three hours on high.
- use a thick ham; i think used ham bone... forgot if that's what it's called.  but, it's much tastier with a thick ham.
- fresh parsley works just fine.
- my husband and i were quite impressed with this dish.  very easy to make with few ingredients, yet still nutritious enough.
- i either used a 4qt. or 6qt. and it was just enough for all of the soup.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup (A- rating)
-  i pureed the chicken (as mentioned before).
- i didn't do the tortilla strips as they say to do them.  i just put them on top.  i used very THICK handmade tortillas from Trader Joe's.
- this made A LOT of food.  i used my 6qt. slow cooker dish.
- we really liked this dish, too.

King Ranch Chicken Casserole (A rating of me adapting it to a slow cooker recipe; B rating for taste- have to adjust a few things, obviously)
- i turned this into a slow cooker recipe.  it's cooking now, so i'll write about how it goes.
- it says to cook for 30-45 minutes, so i set the timer and put it on low for six hours.
- i lightly greased the dish with butter.
- for the chicken, i boiled about four boneless, skinless chicken breasts, threw them in my Vitamix, and pretty much pureed them into ground chicken breast... i eat it better that way.  sort of a mind trick to eat meat for me.  we'll see how that turns out, too!  :)
- about the cheese, i didn't put it in yet, and won't until the last hour, so that middle layer won't have the cheese in it. 
- i put two chopped garlic cloves in the soup mixture.
- i substituted cream of potato for cream of chicken since i didn't have the latter on hand.
- i've had a similar version of this but NOT from this online recipe and definitely NOT in a slow cooker!  so, we'll see how it turns out!  fingers crossed! :)
- i omitted the green peppers.
- i used Trader Joe's fresh yellow corn tortillas (i think that they taste better), as well as its packaged chicken broth (not canned).
- i used my 4qt. dish, and the layers really ended up being high in the dish... so, we'll see if that affects anything.
what i learned:
- part of this dish came out burnt because i had it on so long, i think.  i ended up putting parmesan cheese in with an hour and 15 minutes left.  
- i won't do parmesan again.  probably mozz next time. :)
- don't know if i'll puree the chicken again... maybe small chunks, instead. 
- won't do cream of potato again... the potatoes made it a bit sweeter, we noticed.
- finally, i thought that the juice layer might be too much liquid, but it ended up working out just fine.  somehow, i need to eliminate so much juices and create more carb layers so it cooks better in the pot.  not that it didn't cook well; just the way that the recipe is designed for a larger casserole, other adjustments have to be made. :)