Shelley's Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 sm. tomato past
1 can tomato soup
2 sm cans tomato sauce
1 T brown sugar
1 qt. Stewed tomatoes
1/3 c. chopped onion
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp each of the following:
garlic salt
basil
pepper
onion salt
oregano
Italian Seasoning
1 bay leaf

Put all in crock pot and cook on low for 5 hours. During the last 2 hours, add cooked chicken (1 breast) or cooked hamburger (1 pound).

Baked Chicken Penne Pasta

Ingredients

• 16 oz. Penne pasta 
• 1 c. heavy whipping cream
• 3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed OR garlic salt (I do a spoonful of crushed garlic)
• 1 Tbsp. pepper (I used about half of this)
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 lb. bacon, crumpled
• 1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 (12 oz) Lawry’s mesquite marinade with lime juice

Instructions

• Place chicken in crock pot with bottle of marinade on low for 6 hours.
• Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred (I pull it apart).
• Set this aside.
• About a half-hour before serving, boil the pasta.
• In a small saucepan, melt butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon.
• Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl, pour over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken and stir through.
• Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top.
• Enjoy!

French Dip Sandwiches

from Our Best Bites

1 2.5-3 lb. beef roast (you can use a frozen roast if you want)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
2 1-ounce packages dry onion soup mix
2 c. water
2 cans beef broth
6-8 large buns (or more...6 would be VERY generous servings!)
Swiss, provolone, or mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced.

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and rub roast with salt and pepper.

When very hot, carefully place roast in pan and sear on all sides. You're not cooking the meat, you're just browning it quickly on all sides to add flavor and seal in the juices.

Place in crockpot and sprinkle with onion soup mixes. Pour water and beef broth over roast.

Cook 8-10 hours on low or cook 4-5 hours on high and another 3-4 hours on low. It's hard to screw this part up; basically, the longer it cooks, the more tender it will be. But you know it's done when you pop a fork in it and the meat just falls apart. When meat is ready, shred with a fork.

Place meat in crusty rolls. Top with cheese and broil open-faced in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes, until bread is golden and cheese is melty.

Ladle juices into small cups for dipping and enjoy!

Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches

courtesy of Rib City Grill
1 small 2-4 lb. pork butt "bone in" or pork collar, or roast bone in or no bone
1 bottle Liquid Smoke
1 blend of Vegetable blend spices (Season Salt, Celery, Salt, Pepper, Montreal BBQ Spices, Garlic powder mixed together
1 bottle Sweet BBQ sauce

Spread all spices on Pork Roast or Butt forming almost a crust, or thick layer.
Tear off 2 big pieces of foil to cover roast.
Pour 1/2 bottle liquid smoke into foil with roast. Wrap the first sheet, then wrap it again with the second sheet so the juices cannot escape when cooking.
Place in a shallow pan or cooking tray. Slow cook at 375 for 4 hours, and then 275 for 4 more hours. (I just place it in my crock pot in the morning and forget about it).
Unwrap and bull bone (if any). Take a fork and make sure that the meat separates easily. Leave cooking juice and put in bowl and pull with forks or gloved hands.
Add BBQ sauce.
Serve on fresh rolls.

Now, to add as a side, I recently discovered these sweet potato fries. I just picked them up at Wal-Mart. They taste just like the ones at one of my favorite restaurants. However, I wish I had the dipping sauce to go with it. So, I made this one -- it is good, too!

Apricot Dipping Sauce
1 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup orange juice
1 T prepared mustard

Melt jam in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in orange juice and mustard. Purée sauce in food processor or with immersible mixer.

Shoyu Chicken (Teriyaki Chicken)

Compliments of my dear friend, Michelle Cryer.

5 lb.chicken (dark meat only)

1 c. soy sauce

1/4. c. water

1 T cornstarch

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. ginger powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 c. ketchup

Place chicken in baking dish and cover with sauce. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or place in a slow cooker for 6 hours. Use hot liquid to serve over rice.