I love using the crockpot to make dinner for those busy nights all families have pretty often. The reason why the night is busy doesn’t matter, just the convenience of starting dinner during a quiet part of the day. One of our favorite meals for the crockpot is Italian Chicken and Potatoes. We usually add carrots too, but they’re optional.

When my kids were still on baby food, this was one of my favorites to make and grind up in my food mill. I kept it super mild, of course, but chicken that has cooked in a crockpot is very easy to grind up. It made a much better tasting baby food than that jarred stuff. I wasn’t ambitious enough to make a lot of baby food, but I did some.

This is a delightfully lazy meal to make. Cutting up the potatoes is the only part that takes some work.

The carrots are optional. These days my kids don’t like cooked carrots, but I do. I didn’t add them this time, but most times I do.

Otherwise, you just have to put in the chicken, throw on some spices, Italian dressing, and Parmesan cheese, then add the carrots and potatoes, and adding more spices, Italian dressing, and Parmesan cheese.

I honestly don’t measure things very often for this one. This is crockpot cooking, not baking. So long as you don’t overdo the spices or something, it should be fine.

One of the things I loved most about making this recipe with small children underfoot was how flexible the start time was. If I didn’t think to start it early enough in the day, it could be cooked in the crockpot on high rather than low, and still be ready for dinner.

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Crockpot Italian Chicken and Potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 3/4 cup Italian salad dressing
• 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 4 potatoes; peeled cut into wedges
• 1 lb baby carrots optional

Instructions

• Place chicken in bottom of crockpot.
• Sprinkle with half Italian dressing, spices, and the grated cheese.
• Put potatoes and carrots (optional) over chicken. Sprinkle with remaining ingredients.
• Cook on low 6-8 hours.

My favorite way to make ham at home is in the slow cooker. It only takes a little work at the start, and then you can ignore it until it’s cooked, and then it’s delicious. That’s why I love making this easy slow cooker ham.

The bad part is smelling it cook all day. That’s pure “When will it be ready to eat??” torture. Especially if I have to leave the house for a little and come back to that wonderful smell.

A lot of people cook pineapple in with their ham. I don’t like to do that because the pineapple comes out almost inedible. The cook time is too long for it.

Instead, I use a can of pineapple juice. The dollar store by me carries small cans fairly regularly. I keep a small supply in the pantry and double check to be sure my son hasn’t finished all of them if I want to make a ham.

You can drain the juice from a can of pineapple chunks if you prefer. It won’t be as much juice as my little cans hold (8.4 liquid oz), but it should be enough. When I do this, I put a lid over the rest of the pineapple and put it in the fridge until dinnertime. It keeps well enough that way.

I don’t like to use a spiral cut ham with this recipe. The one time I did, it dried out too much. Spiral sliced is easy to serve, but too easy to dry out.

Start out by spreading about a quarter cup of brown sugar in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the ham on top, and pour the pineapple juice over it. Then coat the ham with the rest of the brown sugar. Cover and cook. It’s that easy.

The challenge with cooking a ham in the slow cooker is keeping it moist. Most hams are too tall to fit under the lid of the slow cooker. You can improve by making a cover out of aluminum foil.

Mine needs two pieces to cover things well enough. Spread the first piece of foil across the back top of the slow cooker, covering the edge of the cooker and as much of the ham as possible. Tighten down the edges to keep it in place. Spread the second piece in the same way, but starting from the front. Make sure no parts of the foil leave too large a vent for moisture to escape.

Cook the ham for about eight hours on low.

That’s pretty much it, aside from serving and eating. As usual, this ham goes great with pineapple.

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Easy Brown Sugar Slow Cooker Ham

Ingredients

• 1 bone-in ham
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pineapple juice

Instructions

• In bottom of slow cooker spread about 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Place ham on top, flat end down.
• Pour pineapple juice over ham.
• Rub the rest of the brown sugar all over the ham.
• Most hams will be too tall for your crockpot lid to fit. You can beat this by making a lid out of aluminum foil. Do your best to keep it close enough to keep the moisture in so that your ham will not dry out.
• Cook on low for 8 hours.

Combine barbeque sauce and juice from pineapple chunks in a bowl.

Place chicken in slow cooker. Pour sauce over it.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours, adding pineapple and bell pepper late in the cooking.

Editor’s Note:

I always recommend adding fruits and vegetables late in the cooking with a slow cooker if you like them a little crunchy. Add them early on and they tend to lack flavor.

Add mushrooms, onion, celery and garlic in a large skillet coated with cooking spray and saute until vegetables are tender-about 5 minutes. Place vegetables in slow cooker and add chicken.

In a cup, stir together flour and chicken broth until smooth. Add to slow cooker. Add the seasonings, crushed tomatoes and raisins, and stir in. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.

To serve, spoon 1/2 cup rice onto each of 4 plates. Top each with chicken and sauce and serve.

Directions

1. Place all ingredients except pineapple in crockpot, cook on low all day.
2. Turn to high and remove lid for last hour and add pineapple chunks. Serve over rice.

1. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce, oregano and garlic.
2. In a crockpot, place pork chops and onions. Pour in lemon mixture.
3. Cook in crockpot on low 6 hours. Add bell pepper no more than 1 hour before recipe is done.

I call this recipe “sort-of Souvlaki” because the basics come from a recipe for Souvlaki, but the lemon mixture is used as a marinade, the pork is diced then cooked on skewers on the grill with the onion and bell pepper.

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except cream cheese and sour cream in crockpot; cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours, until beef is very tender.
2. During last 20 minutes of cooking stir in cream cheese and sour cream. Stir until cheese is melted and well blended.