Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Slow Cooker Creamy Buffalo Chicken

I've made versions of this dish before, but I put a wrinkle into it (marinating the chicken in pickle brine) that made me like it even more. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup of pickle juice/brine
• 3 chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthways
• 1 12oz. bottle of Frank's Red Hot Wings Buffalo sauce
• 1/2 to a full block of cream cheese
• 1 TB of Penzey's Justice seasoning

Process

Cut the breasts in half lengthways, put them into a large plastic bag, and add in the pickle juice. Refrigerate for a day. 

Set your slow cooker on low and take the chicken tenderloins out, letting the pickle brine drip off it into the plastic bag, and place them into the slow cooker. I didn't pat them dry--just let them have a bit of the pickle juice into the mix. 

Dump in the Frank's sauce into the cooker. Cook for about two hours or so, and then dump in cream cheese. Adjust how much cream cheese you put in according to how hot you want it. 

About six hours in, take out the chicken and shred it after letting it rest for 15 minutes. As the chicken is resting, take a whisk to fully incorporate the cream cheese. Add the Penzey's Justice seasoning. 

Let it cook for another hour or so and put it over egg noodles, rice, mashed potatoes, or riced cauliflower.  

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Slow Cooker Cubed Steak with Mushroom Gravy and Mashed Potatoes

This is my third version of this recipe, and I think I got it to exactly the way I like it. There was a recipe in 2022 and another in 2017. 

So here goes. I liked using the cream of mushroom soup better.

Ingredients

2 lbs. of cubed steak

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can of French onion soup

Water

1-2 cups of beef stock

1 package of mushrooms, sliced

Healthy smidge of Penzey's Beef Roast seasoning

Very healthy smidge of Penzey's Northwoods seasoning

Freshly cracked black pepper

Kosher salt to taste

Roughly 6-8 tablespoons of AP flour (depends on how thick you want the gravy)

Process

In the past when I worked with cubed steak, it was just too thick, so I trimmed off any excess fat and tenderized it even more with a mallet, so the steak was super thin and tenderized. 

In the slow cooker on low, add the cans of soup and cup of beef stock. I added some water to the can of cream of mushroom soup and poured it in. I added beef stock to the French onion soup can and pour it in. Add in the seasonings and add them throughout the process as needed. 

Whisk it all together and then place the cubed steak into the gravy. Cook on low for roughly eight hours. 

When it's around the last hour of cooking, make your mashed potatoes. And then put in your sliced mushrooms. Liberally apply cracked black pepper and salt as needed. 

As you're making the mashed potatoes, pull out the cubed steak. 

I ditched the corn starch in the previous version and just went old school with flour. Turn up the heat to high and add in two tablespoons of flour at a time and whisk vigorously. Add as much flour from time to time to get the thickness you like. 

Serve the steak and gravy over mashed potatoes. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Slow Cooker Cubed Steak with Mushrooms with Mashed Potatoes

I have some cubed steak in the freezer, and the last time I made it, the dish did not come out that well. So I found a recipe on the InterWebs and modified it.

Ingredients

2 lbs. of cubed steak

1 packet of Lawry's Beef Marinade

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 can of French onion soup

1/2 cup of water

1 cup of beef stock

1 package of mushrooms, sliced

3 TB corn starch

3 TB cold water

Freshly cracked black pepper

Process

In the past when I worked with cubed steak, it was just too thick, so I trimmed off any excess fat and tenderized it even more with a mallet, so the steak was super thin and tenderized. 

In the slow cooker on low, add the cans of soup, water, and beef stock. Whisk it all together and then place the cubed steak into the gravy. Cook on low for roughly eight hours. 

When it's around the last hour of cooking, make your mashed potatoes. I prefer Yukon gold potatoes. And then put in your sliced mushrooms. Liberally apply cracked black pepper. 

Toward the end pull out the cubed steak and mushrooms. 

Whisk together three tablespoons of corn starch and cold water and place that into the gravy. Set it on high to thicken, and the dish should be good to go. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tacos

I made these tacos last week, and I thought they turned out well. I'm a fan of chicken thighs because they have good flavor, and they're ideal for a frugal shopper like me. 

Ingredients

2 to 2 1/2 lbs. of boneless chicken thighs, trimmed

4-5 chipotle peppers (canned) in adobo sauce, chopped

1/4 cup of water

Penzey's Adobo seasoning

Roasted garlic seasoning

Ground cumin

Penzey's Salsa & Pico seasoning

Process

Trim and chop up the thighs into large chunks the night before you want to put them in the slow cooker. Chop up the canned chipotle peppers. I use the canned chipotles from Aldi. Mix them together and keep in the fridge overnight.

In the morning place the thighs into the slow cooker and add water and seasoning. Cook on low for 8 hours and shred when ready to serve with tacos and whatever you like to have on your tacos. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Slow Cooker Roasted Garlic Chuck Roast

As recipes go, this one is simple as hell and tasty. 

Ingredients
1 chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into pieces
Enough beef broth to partially cover the roast pieces in the slow cooker
1 head of garlic, roasted
Salt and pepper to taste

Process
I first roasted the garlic, let it cool, and then pushed out the garlic cloves. I mixed the garlic cloves with the cut-up roast in a dish and let it marinate with the garlic overnight. 
In the morning, I put the roast in the slow cooker and covered it partially with store-bought beef broth. With the size of the roast I had, I used about half a carton of the broth. 

Set the cooker and low and let heat do its thing. 

Eight hours later I shredded the pieces easily and took out any unwanted fat that turned up. I ladled the beef and broth over rice. It would also be good over mashed potatoes too I imagine. 

As it cooked, most the cloves of garlic pretty much liquified. The broth wasn't overly garlicky at all. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: V8 Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I got the base of this recipe from Slow Cooker Kitchen on FB, but here's my modification of the recipe.

Ingredients
1 and a half lbs. of stew meat
1 lb. of top round steak
1-2 bags of tiny Yukon Goldish potatoes, quartered
4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 package of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1-2 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce
2-3 12 oz. cans of low sodium V8 juice
1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
Smidge of paprika
Healthy smidge of smoked paprika
Healthy smidge of Penzey's beef roast seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

Process
Trim unnecessary fat off of the meat. Cut the meat into small pieces and place it in a large bowl. Coat the meat with the flour. 

Coat a cast iron skillet with a bit of olive oil and brown the meat over medium-high till it's browned. 

In the meantime dump in the vegetables into the slow cooker. One the meat is browned, transfer it to the crock pot and use some of the V8 to deglaze the pan. Pour the rest of the juice into the slow cooker and add the seasonings. Mix. 

Cook on high for five hours and mix the concoction from time to time. After five hours, add in the mushrooms, set the machine to low, and cook for another hour. 

For me, I will probably use just one bag of potatoes next time I make this and add more carrots. Also, I will possibly use more V8 juice, so the stew is almost like a soup.