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Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs

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Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs

If you want to come home to your house smelling heavenly, with enough food for dinner AND a freezer meal, you’ll love this!  With a little bit of prep time, which can even be done the night before, this is an easy recipe that can be used in a variety of ways.  Cook up a pot of spaghetti to enjoy with your meatballs.

Turn ’em into meatball subs.  Enjoy them alone.  Whichever way, you’ll love it.  And you can take advantage of whatever ground meat is on sale at the store, because any combination of ground beef, turkey, pork, chicken, sausage, venison, etc. will do.

Slow Cooker Italian Meatballs
Makes about 36 medium size meatballs

 

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of meat (ground beef, Italian sausage, turkey—any combination will work)
1 1/4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried crushed basil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 Jar of Spaghetti sauce or you can use your favorite homemade spaghetti sauce recipe

Directions:
1.  In a slow cooker, mix the spaghetti sauce, along with about 1 teaspoon crushed basil.

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2.  In a bowl, mix the ground meat, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, onion, and egg. Shape the mixture into 1-2 inch size meatballs.

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3.  Once you have shaped your meatballs you can put these directly into your sauce in the slow cooker, or you can bake them for 15 minutes at 350 degrees to cook them some and that cuts down on the grease in the sauce.
4.  Cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.  Enjoy! ☺

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This makes a pretty big batch, so you can easily take about half the batch and pop ’em in the freezer.  Later on when you’ve got a night where you need a quick and easy dinner, you can just pour some more sauce into the slow cooker and toss in the frozen meatballs and have another easy dinner. (cook for 4-5 hours on low)  Win!  

If you like this recipe – you’ll LOVE our Family Favorites Menu Plans!  Click here to learn more.

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Chili Colorado in the Slow Cooker

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Slow Cooker Chili Colorado

If you’re looking for a hearty, stick-to-your ribs chili that’s sure to please the carnivores in your life, this is the one! With just a little bit of prep work beforehand, you can have this hot and ready in your slow cooker when dinnertime rolls around.  You can even do the prep work the night before, save in the fridge, and pop it into the slow cooker in the morning if you want to.

This recipe is included in our October Family Favorites Menu Plan!  You can learn more about that here.

Chili Colorado ingredients

Slow Cooker Chili Colorado

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 2 cans green chilis
  • 3 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
  • ¼ cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cups organic beef broth
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, stems removed and finely chopped
  • Optional (to add more heat): 2 – 3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

Let’s Go!

Chili Colorado

1.  Add green chilies to blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.

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2.  Trim off excess fat from chuck roast and cut into equal size chunks. The meat will become very tender and easy to pull apart while in the slow cooker – so larger chunks are fine.

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3.  In a small bowl, combine flour, chili powder, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.  Sprinkle seasoned flour over beef chunks and toss to coat lightly.

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4.  Heat olive oil in large 12” skillet over medium-high heat. With tongs, lift individual floured beef chunks and shake off excess flour. Place beef in hot skillet and brown on all sides. Work in batches to prevent overlapping or overcrowding pieces.

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5.  Remove browned beef from pan and add to slow cooker. Repeat browning process with remaining floured beef slices.

6.  Add pureed green chilies, beef stock, chopped onion and jalapeno peppers (if desired) to slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8. When done cooking, transfer to serving bowl and stir in fresh cilantro, reserving some for garnish.

tortilla

7.  Serve with soft flour tortillas, refried beans, and Mexican rice, if desired.

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Make Entertaining Easier with a Slow Cooker

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Make entertaining easier with a slow cooker

Do you enjoy entertaining? Use your slow cooker to help make a night of hosting friends and family in your home a lot easier. In fact, if you own multiple slow cookers or various kinds of slow cookers, then you may even be able to prepare your entire array of dishes, appetizer to dessert, with slow cookers. You will then be free to take part in the conversations going on around you rather than being set apart in the kitchen slaving over the stove.

Here are a few ideas that I’ve come up with to help you figure out how make entertaining easier with a slow cooker.

Do you own a Mini Crock Pot? This particular type of slow cooker is perfect for small gatherings where you only need to serve a few people. Prepare a delicious cheese dip, a tasty soup, or an easy appetizer. Serve alongside some crackers or a fresh loaf of sourdough bread and voila you’ve got an easy meal with little fuss.

While the Triple Crock Pot can be used in much the same way as the mini crock pot, it is also a bit more diverse since you have the ability to prepare different dishes in one slow cooker. Investing in more than one triple crock pot gives you the option to serve various kinds of side dishes, a few favorite desserts, several appetizers, or plan a ‘tasting’ party offering several different mini entrees to whet your guests’ appetite. In my mind, the triple crock pot is the perfect slow cooker option for those exciting football games enjoyed with your family each fall.

My next recommendation is not actually a slow cooker. However, the Turkey Roaster Oven is the perfect addition to a night of entertaining with slow cookers because it works in much the same way, allowing you to throw in your ingredients and then pursue other interests for a few hours while your meal cooks. According to the Amazon description, this roaster “Bakes anything your regular oven would, from muffins to yeast rolls to an entire sheet cake.” So, while you may wish to serve a turkey to your guests on certain occasions, this roaster is useful to you all year long. Prepare a large batch of rolls, lasagna, your favorite vegetable, and more.  I love it that this one piece of kitchen equipment can take the place of an extra oven!

 

The most exciting thing to me when it comes to entertaining with slow cookers is that, when armed with one (or more) of each of these recommended slow cookers, I am equipped to serve many dishes to many people with ease. Minimal attention is needed while everything cooks, and little cleanup is required when you’re gathering ends.

Do you want to make slow cooking cleanup even easier? Pop in a slow cooker liner before you add your ingredients and you’ve just eliminated cleanup!

To find the perfect slow cooker fit for you, take a look at the selection of slow cookers linked below.

Extra Large Slow Cookers

More Triple Slow Cookers

Small Crock Pots

Here are some resources to get you started with planning how to put your slow cooker to use when entertaining:

Do you have a favorite slow cooker or method for entertaining with slow cookers? Share your ideas with me!

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10 Free Slow Cooker Recipe Books for Weight Loss

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10 Free Slow Cooker Recipe Books for Weight Loss

 

Need to lose a few pounds?  Make it easier by harnessing the power of your slow cooker!  Today I’ve got ten terrific free Kindle books* that you can grab to help you get started.

 

*All of these books were available for Free when posted. However, Kindle pricing changes without warning, so they may no longer be free when you are seeing this. Please check pricing before purchasing.