Slow Cooker Ribs

To get you prepared for Memorial day we are posting some classic American meals this week! First up: ribs.

You might say to yourself, “Okay D&E were still in college, how the heck can we afford to buy ribs let alone wait around 8 hours for it to cook?!” Granted this is what Erica thought after Declan came home from grocery shopping all by himself with a large rack of ribs. Nevertheless, Declan insisted that he had a plan (he didn’t at the time but would later Google “what to do with ribs?”)

Enough with the anecdote, we found an insanely easy slow cooker recipe for ribs. As you can see in the recipe below we kept it really simple – just a few spices for the dry rub and then our favorite BBQ sauce. Feel free to doctor it up. And if you have any great tips please share them!

Oh and did we mention these ribs cost $10? That’s half of what you would pay at a restaurant!

Print this recipe!

Honestly, it’s like magic: Put stuff in slow cooker, wait, eat delicious ribs.

• Servings – 3 to 4
• Prep time – 10 minutes
• Cook time – 8 hours

Ingredients

• 3 pound rack of ribs
• Salt
• Pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Garlic powder
• 12 ounces of your favorite BBQ sauce

Protocol

1. Cut your rack of ribs in half so that they will easily fit into your slow cooker.

2. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and garlic powder (we didn’t measure, instead we just eyeballed it).

3. Place the ribs in the slow cooker (we placed ours one on top of the other)  and douse with the BBQ sauce.

4. Set the slow cooker to low and cook for 8 hours.

5. Serve with some mac and cheese and enjoy!

-D&E

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Happy All Saints Day! We hope you had a safe Halloween and were able to survive Superstorm Sandy these past few days. Here in Pittsburgh we’ve only had a slow, cold, drizzle of rain. But we really don’t have the right to complain, there are a lot of folks who are worse off; we hope everyone stayed safe and sound!

Anyway, we’ve been relying a lot lately on our slow cooker since it cuts down on our dinner making time and also can make large amounts of food at a time (perfect for leftovers). One recipe we’ve been wanting to make for awhile now is a Jambalaya, luckily we found a recipe for one that cooks in the crock-pot! Hope you enjoy the Louisiana cuisine!

Print this recipe!

The closest thing we have to authentic Louisiana cooking is the Popeye’s opening up on campus. 

• Prep time – 10 minutes
• Cook time – 3 to 4 hours
• Servings – 10 to 12

Ingredients

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut up into small pieces
• 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced
• 1 large can (28 ounce) diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 cup instant rice

Protocol

1. In a large slow cooker, mix all of the ingredients together.

2. Set on high for 3 to 4 hours (or 7 to 8 hours on low) or until the chicken is cooked all the way through.

3. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

Legit Sloppy Joe’s

How is it the end of June already?! Next week is the Fourth of July, it seems like yesterday we were just celebrating our Nation’s birthday. Oh bother…

This upcoming weekend is Erica’s first bridal shower. That’s right “first” as in there will be a second bridal shower in a few weeks. Our families are divided geographically so she is getting two, one in Maryland and one in Pennsylvania. Needless to say, we are excited to see what new cooking stuff we get! Maybe we will get a nice new slow cooker (hint, hint, nudge, nudge).

Until we get a new slow cooker we’ll stick with Declan’s grandmother’s old slow cooker which served its purpose in this recipe. We finally took a crack at sloppy Joe’s, but our sloppy Joe’s are legit…because we used ground turkey! Don’t think that sounds good? Well why don’t you just give it a try and let us know what you think then!

Sloppy Joe’s

Print this recipe!

Put that can back on the shelf, you aren’t going to need it anymore.

• Servings – 4 to 6 sandwiches
• Prep time – 10 minutes
• Cook time – 6 hours

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 finely minced onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoon yellow mustard
• Hot dog buns

Protocol

1. Brown the ground turkey and onions in a large pan over medium heat.

2. In a slow cooker, combine all the rest of the ingredients (except for the buns of course) and add in the browned turkey and onions. Cook on low for 6 hours.

3. Right before the 6 hours is up, spread some butter on the hot dog buns and broil in the oven for a few minutes.

4. Pour a bit of the sloppy Joe’s over the buns and enjoy!

-D&E

Pulled Pork Sandwiches (and Contest Drawing!)

Thank you all who entered our contest for the Cuisinart immersion blender give-away contest! This was really fun for us and we hope for you as well, we will definitely be having another contest again.

So without further ado, the winner of the Cuisinart immersion blender is….

#24 Jordan H.

Woo! Please email us your mailing address and we will get this immersion blender over to you ASAP. Please let us know how it works out! Again thank you everyone for entering!

So speaking of the contest, we asked our readers to send in a recipe that that has not made it onto Cooking in College yet. Well we received a pulled pork recipe from Sandy and almost emailed back reminding her that the recipe cannot be on the blog already. But then we realized…we haven’t posted a pulled pork recipe yet! We love pulled pork sandwiches but have never blogged about it yet!

However, we still haven’t found the perfect recipe…until we tried this recipe from Sandy. All we (and future eaters of this recipe) have to say is THANK YOU!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Want to know what it’s like coming home to a house smelling like a delicious barbecue pit? Come follow us on this journey…

• Servings – 8 sandwiches
• Prep time – 15 minutes
• Slow cooker time – 5 hours

Ingredients

• 2-3 lb pork loin roast (or shoulder)
• 1- 1 1/2 cups BBQ sauce of your choice (trySweet Baby Ray’s Hickory and Brown Sugar)
• 3-4 cups Coca Cola
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 8-10 sandwich rolls/hamburger buns
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 cloves of garlic

For the spice rub: equal parts salt, pepper, paprika, basil, garlic powder and oregano

Protocol

1. Mix the spice rub (we used an old but clean yogurt container).

2. Use approximately 1/3 of a cup of spice rub to cover the pork. If you want, prepare this the night before and leave in the fridge until morning.

3. Place the pork (cut in half for smaller slow cookers), garlic, and bay leaves in a slow-cooker. Add enough Coca Cola to almost cover the pork (we used about a can but his will vary on the size of your slow cooker). Cook for 4-5 hours on low.

4. Once the pork is tender, remove the garlic, bay leaves, and all of the liquid in the slow cooker.

6. While the meat is cooling, caramelize the onions in a pan by placing onion slices in a pan with olive oil or butter and cooking over medium heat. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt, pepper and sugar. Continue to stir until onion strips have reduced in size and completely brown.

5. Shred the meat with a fork (or your fingers) and return it to the slow cooker with the caramelized onions.

6. Add approximately 1 cup of Coca Cola and 1 cup of BBQ sauce to the slow cooker. Add more to taste. Cook on low for an additional hour.

7. Serve on buns and enjoy!

-D&E

Slow Cooker Bolognese

It’s been awhile since we posted a slow cooked meal. Now just so we clarify things up, bolognese sauce does not come from cooked bologna nor is it a sauce made from Bolognese dogs. All it really is, is an Italian meat sauce for pasta. That’s it. And guess what, you are going to lean to make it!

The best part about this recipe is that if you time everything right, you can prep this the night before, set it before class, and when you return you’ll have dinner waiting for you! And it will be yummy!

Also, we have some very exciting news! But you are going to have to wait until next week to hear about it!

Oh and one more also, we started a twitter account: @cook_in_college Follow us for more exciting cooking stuff!

The best part about this recipe is you can adjust the cooking times to work best around your schedule- just cook it on high or low.  The only bad thing- you have to cook stuff earlier in the day and then wait hours to eat!

• Servings – 6
• Prep time – 30 minutes
• Cook time – 6.5 hours

Ingredients

• 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground turkey or beef (we used turkey, of course)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional if you don’t have any)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup half and half

Protocol

1. Heat some olive oil over medium heat and add the carrots, onion, and garlic.  Cook until tender, about 10 minutes.

2. Add the ground meat and cook until brown, breaking it up as it cooks, another 10 minutes or so.

3. Drain off any excess fat from the pan (if you use ground beef there will be a lot more), carefully! Pour in the 1 cup milk and simmer until the milk is absorbed, another 10 minutes or so.

4. Place the meat mixture into the slow cooker and set the cooker to low.  Stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes.  Cook for around four hours (or two hours on high if it works better with your schedule/you’re in a time crunch).

5. Mix in the 1/4 cup of half and half (or milk) and the parmesan cheese. Stir well. Cook for another two hours on low (or 1 hour on high).

6. Serve over pasta and enjoy!

-D&E

Chili

Go to your cupboard and take a peek inside. Do you see any canned product that calls itself chili, get rid of it. Don’t throw it away, just donate it to your local food bank. You might be wondering why we would ask you to do something like that. And then again, you might have realized that this is a cooking blog.

Today’s recipe is going to be a perfect example of an easy meal that could come from a can but doesn’t have to (okay, it’s made from canned goods, but not just a single can). We’ve made this a couple times and the truth is, the more we make it the better it gets because we adjust it more and more. This recipe is the basics to a chili but certainly feel free to change it any way you like.

If you have an old family secret chili recipe or have a great idea that you would like to share, send it our way by emailing us at mail@cooking-in-college.com

Oh and just a quick suggestion, this chili goes REALLY well with our corn cake recipe!

Homemade Chili

Chili is a classic fall recipe that will stick to your bones and keep you nice an warm!

• Servings – 8 to 10
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – 70 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 3 medium onions chopped
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) stewed tomatoes
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) red kidney beans
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Protocol

1. In a large pot over medium heat, brown the ground beef and onions. Drain the excess fat.

2. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the pot, stir together and turn down the heat to low and let it simmer for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes or so. If you have the time, let it simmer longer so all the flavors can really come together.

3. Make sure to keep tasting the chili and add any of the “seasonings” that will make it taste the way you want to.

4. Serve, top with sour cream and cheese and enjoy!

-D&E

Mexican Carnitas

Carnitas literally means “little meats.” Actually we didn’t know that until we Googled it about 2 minutes ago. But what we do know is that this Mexican dish is absolutely to die for. We’ve posted a lot of recipes in our half of a year of blogging, but this recipe is by far our favorite to make. If you don’t know what carnitas is, the only comparison we can call it is a Mexican style pulled pork.

Now, this recipe is our first recipe we’ve posted that uses a crock-pot. It’s the perfect time of the year to start using your slow cooker. If you don’t have one, it’s a great idea to invest in one. As you know, Alton Brown thinks that all college students should have one.

So are you ready? Okay good, let’s go!

Carnitas

Goes great with stuffed jalapeño peppers on the side….wait there’s a post for that!

• Servings – 4 to 6
• Prep time – 12 hours
• Cook time – 4 hours

Ingredients

• 1.5 pound pork loin roast
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper chopped
• 1 chicken or beef bouillon cup (to make 2 cups broth)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon oregano
• 2 cloves garlic cut in half lengthwise

Protocol

1. In a large Tupperware container, mix two cups of broth (made from the bouillon cube), onion, pepper, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cumin, and chili powder.

2. Cut 4 equally spaced apart slits into the pork and stuff a garlic half in each. Place the meat in the brine, seal the Tupperware tight, and place in the fridge overnight (about 12 hours).

3. The following day, remove the meat from the brine and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub the rest of the cumin all over the meat.

4. In your crock pot, place the meat, oregano, onions and peppers that also soaked in the brine. Set to high (300ºF) and cook for 4 hours.

5. After 4 hours, take two forks and begin to shred the pork into tiny strands. If the meat is tender enough it should just fall off. Taste the meat to see if it needs more cumin or oregano. Add desired amount.

6. Serve in a corn tortilla with some guacamole, sour cream, and cheese and Enjoy!

-D&E