Easy Meals and Ideas for Slow Cooker Month!

January 16, 2018

We’re celebrating Slow Cooker Month in January at Southshore with easy-meal ideas for tasty future feasts! With and without meat, for one, two, four or more, these recipes for dinner in a slow cooker can become go-to eats for ease, variety and comfort this winter!

Beef, Chicken and Turkey

Eating healthy shouldn’t take more time in the kitchen and Delish has the slow cooker recipes to prove it. Choose from Balsamic Chicken with rosemary, thyme and baby red potatoes and Quinoa Chicken Primavera plus 19 more recipes that major on flavor and heart-health.

Slow cookers make eating healthy so much simpler. Just look at Well Plated’s Crock Pot Mexican Casserole. You won’t find the entrée on any restaurant menu, says blogger Erin, but it’s inspired by authentic Mexican cuisine and is the right mix of comfort food and freshness (thanks in part to avocado and cilantro!)

And three-ingredient Baby Bella Chicken with portabella mushrooms, chicken and cream of chicken soup is a study in minimalism from Cute Fetti. Don’t miss blogger Dawn’s hacks for slow cooker greenhorns in all-day cookery!

There’s no reason to order this classic take-out meal when you can make the healthier option at home in your slow cooker: Beef and Broccoli with garlic sauce. Holly at Life in the Lofthouse shows you how to create the secret sauce (soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil and garlic. After 10 minutes of prep and five hours in the pot, you’ll have a meal even diehard Asian-food lovers will gobble up.

Midwest Living beefs up 20 recipes for the slow cooker from German-Style Roast Beef with dill pickles and red wine (now, doesn’t that tantalize your taste buds?) to shredded beef Italian sandwiches with provolone on hoagie buns.

For meat eaters who also dabble in dairy, Betty Crocker’s slow-cooker stroganoff is super easy with seven ingredients – some of which are probably already in your pantry.

Dump recipes not only save on time, but also save money and the hassle of getting a meal together. Try one of Lauren Greutman’s 40 dump recipes for the slow cooker from Thai-Peanut Chicken to Apple Cinnamon Pork Loin. Some of the best recipes you can dump and forget until dinner time are here!

Vegetarian Crock Pot Options

Leave it to Eating Well to come up with clean-eating, low-calorie, and vegetarian slow cooker recipes that are some of the best we’ve ever tasted. From Vegetarian Lasagna and Quinoa-Squash Casserole to slow-cooker Black Bean and Mushroom Chili, you’ll find the meal of your dreams in this collection.

The Kitchn offers up a Veggie Pot Pie for your slow cooker that will make your mouth water just looking at the photos, and All Recipes’ five-star recipe for Grandma’s Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili looks like both a crowd-pleaser and a site favorite.

Slow Cooker Breakfast Ideas

If you’ve never made breakfast (oatmeal, caramel rolls, egg casseroles) or dessert (s’more cake, berry cobbler, cheesecake) in your slow cooker, prepare to be amazed and gratified. Better Homes and Gardens has 20 desserts for you to try and 365 Days of Slow Cooking has weeks’ worth of breakfasts – both sweet and savory – that will make mornings your favorite time of day.

And of course, you can always get ahold of Door Dash and they’ll deliver slow-cooked pulled-chicken dishes from On the Border at Southlands, so you can still celebrate slow-cooker month with the rest of us!

More Favorites in Southshore!

Living lakeside at Southshore is one of our residents’ favorite things – with year-round recreation and a location that’s convenient to both Denver and Aurora. Host your next pot luck lakeside at the Boathouse or at the community Lakehouse! The home builders of Southshore, Toll Brothers, Century Communities and Richmond American Homes, have stunning models to explore and home buyers here enjoy access to abundant amenities, activities and entertainment nearby. In both ranch and two-story designs, new homes in Southshore are priced from the upper $300s to the $700s.