Bready or Not: Crock Pot Corned Beef & Vegetables
Corned beef in the slow cooker. This is by far the easiest, tastiest way I’ve found to make this dish!
It’s become an annual tradition for me to make a St. Patrick’s Day corned beef brisket. I boiled the meat one year, and baked it in the oven the next. It’s turned out delicious both ways (though the quality of the Kroger-branded brisket was lousy with fat) but I found that the crock pot is the best way to go. No watching the pot for boil-overs! Plus, it makes side dish veggies at the same time.
I dislike celery so I replaced the cut stalks with celery flakes, which provides flavor without the icky texture. You’ll want to cut the potatoes into big chunks that are all of like size. It’ll depend on the size of the potato if you need to cut them into halves or quarters. I had pretty big potatoes, so I did quarters. Do get red potatoes, though. They cook all day and get tender, not mushy.
Make this along with the Mini Muffin Irish Soda Bread from last week, and your St. Paddy’s Day meal is all set! … Oh, you want dessert? How about these Irish Coffee Blondies from a few years ago?
Don’t forget to wear green on the 17th… unless you want to get pinched…
Modified from TheSkinnyFork.com
Bready or Not: Crock Pot Corned Beef & Vegetables
Ingredients
- 3 lb corned beef brisket + seasoning packet
- 1 Tb celery flakes or chopped celery stalks
- 1 yellow onion in wedges
- 1/2 lb red potatoes cut into halves or quarters
- 8 ounces baby carrots
- 4-6 cups water
Instructions
- Place celery flakes, onion slices, potatoes and carrots into the crock pot. Trim fat from the brisket and place it on top of the veggies.
- Add 4-6 cups of water to the crock pot until the brisket is almost covered. Sprinkle the brisket's seasoning packet over the top.
- Put the lid on and cook on high for 4 1/2 hours, or 8 to 9 hours on low.
- Remove the brisket and slice thinly or pull into chunks. Serve with the cooked veggies.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Whether or not you observe the holiday, I offer a breakfast cake recipe that you can throw together tonight and bake in the morning.
It will serve a whole bunch of people. The leftovers are delicious. And heck, it’s CAKE. For breakfast. Actually, it’d be pretty darn good at any time of day.
Sour cream is the secret weapon here. It creates a cake that is moist and luscious without any sour cream taste. Combine that tenderness with the crackled top and the crunch of pecans, and you have a total winner.
Tweaked from Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake at Relish Magazine.
Bready or Not: Overnight Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sour cream
Streusel:
- 3/4 cup brown sugar firmly packed
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Make the streusel topping first by combining the brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a big bowl, beat the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy; add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. Slowly add the flour mix to the eggs and butter. Pause to add in some sour cream, then more flour, going back and forth until it's all blended.
- Apply nonstick spray to a 9x13-inch pan. Pour in the batter and spread to the edges. Sprinkle the streusel all over the top.
- Cover well with plastic wrap and chill overnight, or up to 18 hours.
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees. Remove the plastic wrap. Bake the cake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs
I present to you one of my very favorite chicken crock pot recipes, one I previously shared at Novelocity.
Seriously, I’ve been making this about once a month for a few months now. My husband even requests it. This is impressive since he 1) does not like ranch dressing 2) does not eat pesto.
There’s something about the combination in this recipe, though, that is just plain savory and delicious.
This is my go-to meal when I’m on a writing deadline. It mixes up in five minutes and cooks itself over the afternoon, and produces chicken to feed us–quite happily–for days.
Modified from Picky Palate.
Bready or Not: Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs 2-3 pounds, thawed or mostly thawed
- 6-8 ounce pesto jar
- 1 packet ranch dressing dry seasoning mix or 3 Tb ranch dressing mix
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Place chicken thighs, pesto, ranch dressing (dry from the packet) and broth into crock pot. Stir gently to coat chicken and combine everything.
- Place lid on top. Cooking tip: It tends to cook in half the time you set on the crock pot, i.e., a 6-hour high setting means the chicken should be done in about 3 hours, depending on how many thighs are in there and how thawed they were to start. Leave thighs whole or chopped. (If you chop, add them into the pot again on warm for 15 minutes so they can soak up more flavor! It's also a great way to make sure they are cooked through--just chop the meat and cook on high a while more.)
These thighs are great with veggies, or in a salad, or cold out of the fridge. They also freeze wonderfully.
OM NOM NOM.
Bready or Not: Pretzel Sandwich Buns
It seems a lot of standard buns are just… there. A thing to hold meat. They aren’t memorable or flavorful.
You want something better than a mere meat sling? MAKE THIS.
These buns are soft and chewy, tender yet strong. They can cradle juicy meat without instantly becoming a soggy mess, but they won’t break your teeth, either. That little bit of salt on the top complements just about everything. Want to use these for hamburger buns? Make big rounds. Or shape them into hot dog buns. Or as rolls that you can use for sliders, or simply slice open to add butter.
They keep great in a sealed container for a few days, and also freeze and thaw in a fabulous way.
Trust me, once you make these buns, you’ll never settle for the grocery store stuff again.
Bready or Not: Pretzel Sandwich Buns
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups warm water
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour bread flour is best
- 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
Topping Ingredients
- coarse sea salt like pretzel salt or kosher salt
Water Bath
- 2 quarts water
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 1/4 cup baking soda
Instructions
- Mix and knead the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a smooth, slightly sticky dough. If you're making by hand, allow the dough to rise in a lightly greased bowl, covered, for about 1 hour, until doubled. In bread machine, let the full dough cycle run through.
- Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface.
- Divide the dough into as many buns as you want. About 8 to 10 will work for sandwich size, while about 12 can be done at about slider size. Shape each piece into a smooth ball.
- Place the balls on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes.
- While that's happening, preheat the oven to 400°F and prepare the water bath for the stovetop. Bring the water, salt, and baking soda to a boil in a large pot.
- Gently lower several dough balls at a time into the water bath. Cook for 30 seconds, flip over, and cook for 30 seconds longer. Using a slotted spoon, return the buns to the baking sheet.
- Using scissors or a sharp knife, cut half-inch deep crosses into the center of each bun. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Bake the buns for 20 to 24 minutes (lower time for smaller rolls/buns), or until they're brown. Remove them from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool.
OM NOM NOM
Bready or Not: Korean-Style Ground Beef
Holy cow. You’d think all cows are holy with how beef costs have gone up, and it’s supposed to get worse through the summer.
That’s one reason why I like this dish. It uses lean ground beef (which has still gone up 50% in price the past few years…) but enables me to do something different than the standard taco filling. It’s also cheaper than the flank steak you typically see used for home versions of Korean or Mongolian-style dishes.
This doesn’t taste like teriyaki, but has a sweet, savory flavor that goes fabulously with the meat.
So if ground beef goes on sale, don’t go for the tortillas. Pick up some extra rice and make this instead!
Recipe modified from Elizabeth Bryant.
Bready or Not: Korean-Style Ground Beef
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder or 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- salt and pepper
- diced green onions
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add in sesame oil and garlic, stir, then add in the hamburger and brown it. Drain most of the fat.
- Add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper, and red pepper. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors.
- Serve over rice or noodles, and top with green onions.
OM NOM NOM!
