Cranberry Sauce:

Ingredients:

12 ounces cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Use a 2- quart crockpot. If you only have a huge crockpot, you can put an oven-safe dish into it to create a smaller cooking vessel.

Rinse off the cranberries and put them into your crockpot. Add the orange juice and water. Add the sugar and the cinnamon. Stir. There will be a lot of liquid and the cranberries will float.

Cover and cook on high. It will take about 3 hours.

Stir every hour or so. When the skin from the cranberries has softened, the cranberries will "pop" when pushed with a spoon up against the side of the crock. Smoosh all of the cranberries. Stir well.

Heat enough for it to be warm throughout. Take the lid off and heat on high for another 30 to 45 minutes. 

Cream Cheese & Rotel Dip:

Ingredients:

8 ounces block of cream cheese
1 can tomatoes and green chilies (Rotel), drained
1 pound breakfast sausage, browned and drained

Directions:

This is perfect for the 1.5 quart crockpot.

Brown the sausage on the stove, and drain on paper towels. Unwrap the cream cheese, and put it into your crockpot. Chop up the sausage and add on top. Drain the Rotel and then add that.

Cover and cook on low for about 90 minutes, or on high for 45. Stir well and eat with tortilla chips. 

Falafel:

Ingredients:

1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans 

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon dried parsley

2 cloves minced garlic

1 egg

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

 juice from 1 lemon 

1/2 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs 

2 Tablespoons olive oil 

Directions:

Drain garbanzo beans. Pour them into a mixing bowl and smash them with a fork. Set aside.

Get out your blender or food processor. Blend together all of the spices, the onion, the garlic, the egg, and the lemon juice.  Pour on top of your smashed garbanzo beans. Use your fork to mix together, and add the breadcrumbs slowly until the mixture is wet and sticky but can be formed into balls nicely.

Pour 2 T of olive oil into the bottom of your crockpot.

Form squished golf-ball sized patties of falafel. Dip each side into the olive oil and then add into your crockpot. It's okay if they overlap or are on top of each other.

Cook on high for 2-5 hours. You will know that the falafels are done when they turn brownish-golden.

Serve with yogurt sauce or mayonnaise. 

Ingredients:

store bought rotisserie chicken carcass

1 chopped onion

bunch of celery

2 cups or so baby carrots

small bunch of green onions

head of garlic

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning

6 cups of water

Directions:
Place chicken carcass into crockpot. Coarsely chop onion, celery, and green onion. Add them into crock along with the baby carrots. Peel entire head of garlic and add. Add Italian Seasoning, bay leaves and water.

Cover and cook on high for 8-10 hours. Remove crockpot insert, and let cool completely on stove-top.

 Once cool, pick through the broth to find all the little chicken bones, to peel off any remaining chicken and discard the bones and bay leaves.  Pour remains into your blender and blend until it’s broth like. Once done, pour into freezer bags into useable portions and freeze.

Ingredients:

5 Cups General Mills Rice Chex Cereal
1-2 cups of dry roasted peanuts (salted or not, your choice)
2 cups pretzel sticks
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
3 Tablespoons butter
1.5 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

Directions:
Put the butter into the bottom of your crockpot and turn it on low.  Add the onion powder, seasoned salt, Worcestershire sauce before adding in the dry ingredients. Stir.

Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours, stirring every 45 min or so.  Dump out onto a cookie sheet to cool. 

Apple Butter:

Ingredients:

Apples. 14 large apples fit in my 6.5 quart crockpot
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup white sugar
¾  cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 Tablespoon vanilla 

Directions: 

This is a 2-day process. Core, peel, and quarter your apples. Put all of the quartered apples into your crockpot. Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. 

When the cooking is done, mash the apples with a fork. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. 

Cover again and cook on low for 6 hours.  If you prefer your apple butter to be velvety-smooth, blend with an immersion blender, or blend in small batches in a traditional blender. 

Mac n Cheese:

Ingredients:

1/2 pound uncooked macaroni
4 cups of milk
1 egg 
4 cups shredded cheese of your choice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried mustard


Directions:  

Spray crock well with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, whip egg and milk together. Stir in spices. Add cheese and noodles, and stir well to combine. Pour the mixture into the crockpot. This will have a lot of liquid to it.

 
Cover and cook on low for 2-5 hours, or on high for 1-3. 

Check after 1 hour. All crockpots are different and this will be done when the pasta is fork-tender.