Slow Cooker Spinach Artichoke Dip

J. is super picky, but spinach artichoke dip is something that he loves. This slow cooker recipe was made in a mini crock pot, mine was a 1.5 quart. This would be a good appetizer for a party, very easy to make because once everything is mixed together you can just let it sit!

From The Mom Maven.

Ingredients: 

-1 (9oz) box of spinach-thawed and squeezed to drain

-1 (14oz) can quartered artichoke hearts-drained and chopped

-1/2 cup refrigerated alfredo pasta sauce

-1/2 cup mayonnaise

-3/4 tsp garlic salt

-1/4 tsp pepper

-1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

-sliced bread or tortilla chips

Mix everything into a small crock pot, cook on low for 2-4 hours.

Enjoy!

I served this with sourdough bread, J. ate it with tortilla chips. This took only a few minutes to put together and it tasted good. This is something I would make again. If you're serving a large group doubling the recipe and cooking it in a larger crock pot wouldn't be a problem at all.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Rice Wraps

The crock pot is becoming one of my favorite kitchen tools and I love the wide variety of recipes which can be made with it. I used this as a weekend lunch recipe to serve a crowd, it will make 10 wraps.

From Taste and Tell.

Ingredients:

-1 can (18 oz) Progresso™ Recipe Starters™ creamy three cheese cooking sauce
-2 cups water
-1 1/4 cups long-grain rice
-1 jar (16 oz) Old El Paso Thick and Chunky Salsa
-10 6-inch flour tortillas

Pour the recipe starter, water, rice and salsa into a crock pot. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. In the last hour if the mixture is still watery, turn up to high. Make sure to stir occasionally to prevent some of the rice from burning.

When finished, all of the liquid should have absorbed into the rice. 

Pile your filling onto a tortilla. 

Spread down the center of the tortilla.

Roll-up and serve with additional salsa if desired.

This recipe was so easy to make and it tasted good. The recipe would have been even better if served with some sour cream or guacamole. The cheesiness of the rice really needed another flavor to balance it out. When I made this again I will make a guacamole to serve with it and will probably add lettuce and a a little green onion into the wrap.

Cinnamon Swirl Slow Cooker Pancake Breakfast

I was a little skeptical about this recipe, but overall I was really happy with it. This was the perfect recipe for a breakfast for two or three people. Mix everything together in the crock pot and then find something to do for an hour or two. Everyone can find something to do on the weekend, if not, you can always go back to bed until breakfast is ready.

Recipe from Home Making Hacks.

Ingredients: 

-1 Cup of Bisquick
-1/2 Cup of Milk
-1 Egg
-1/3 cup of granulated sugar
-1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
-Non-stick spray

Mix together the Bisquik, egg and milk. 

Pour into a prepped crock pot (spray the bottom with cooking spray).
Pour the blended cinnamon sugar over the mixture.
Cook on high for 1-2 hours depending on your crock pot.
Ours took about two hours.

The pancake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serve with any desired toppings.

This was a really great breakfast. The pancake was light, not too dense. The cinnamon sugar flavor was really prominent, this would have been even better served with a drizzle of icing. I will make this recipe again.

Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

After searching for a good crock pot macaroni and cheese recipe, I was a little disappointed. Most recipes contained horrible reviews of the final product. This was the first recipe I found that had really good reviews so I decided to give it a try.

Photos by Kayla.

Recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients
-2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions.
-1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
-1 cup 2% milk
-1/2 cup sour cream
-1/4 cup butter, cubed
-1/2 teaspoon onion powder
-1/4 teaspoon white pepper
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
-1 cup (4 ounces) shredded provolone cheese

Mix all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for one to two hours or until cheese is melted.

Serve.

This recipe was just okay. Everyone ate it and we barely had any leftovers, but I really didn't love it. For all of the cheese that was in this, the flavor was just okay, it was kind of bland. It didn't do any of the awful things that other recipes contained reviews about (curdle or turn out greasy), but I don't think I would make this again.

Creamy Slow-Cooker Tortellini Soup

I am in love with my slow cooker, like many people I have such a busy life that I sometimes feel like coming home to cook is a more of a burden than it should be. To save myself money, whenever I'm in for a long day instead of going to get fast food after work I just put together a slow cooker dish in the morning.

I misread the directions for this recipe when I made it, so do as I say, not as I did!

This recipe comes from Heather Likes Food.

Ingredients:

-24 oz jar prepared spaghetti sauce 

-1/2 bag (4.5 oz) fresh spinach leaves

-4 C vegetable broth

-8 oz cream cheese

-8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms

-16 oz frozen cheese tortellini

Mix together the broth, spinach, mushrooms and cream cheese in a crock pot.
Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
Turn the crock pot to high and add in the tortellini 20 minutes before serving.

Enjoy with a salad or some warm bread.

As I mentioned above I misread the directions (it happens!), so my tortellini cooked for six hours and was a little soggy when it came out. This soup smelled divine though, removing the lid from the crock pot to stir it was heavenly. I thought the mushrooms cooked down to the right size and if I hadn't added the tortellini for so long it would have been better. If you have leftovers this will turn into tortellini with a sauce, it doesn't seem to be able to go back to a soup due to the cream cheese.

Crock Pot Brownies

This wasn't really much of a recipe, but more of a technique of sorts, but it was so good I wanted to share it. It was gooey and warm, kind of halfway between a brownie and brownie batter.

Just make store bought brownie mix like usual, then put it in the crockpot on low for about 2 1/2 hours. About 2 hours through cooking, it looked like the edges were getting more cooked than the middle, so I mixed it up and left it for another 1/2 hour.

Top with ice cream and whipped cream.

The top looked like regular brownies, but the inside was still a little soft.

I think you could even make this a fancy dessert and more of a recipe by adding some caramel or pretzels or some other type of topping to make it your own.