Monthly Morsel: Crock Pot Crowd Pleasers

As many of you know by now, when we are on our camping adventures we are often out exploring the region–whether hiking, biking, driving, or touring. So I rely heavily on my crock pot to take care of dinner preparations while we are out and about having fun.

While we are away visiting the Outer Banks of North Carolina, I will be using the crock pot to make a few of our family’s favorite meals. Below I have a roundup of our crock pot recipes for camping:

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A couple of quick notes first:

Before we leave on our camping trip, I prep as many of the ingredients as I can, such as measuring out the liquids and spices in small plastic containers or bags. By doing this, we don’t have to take a whole lot of extra ingredient containers, which saves space in the camper cupboards.

We have a crock pot that has a timer function, which switches from “cook” to “warm” after the programmed cooking time has finished. So even if we are gone for longer than seven hours, I don’t have to worry that my roast is going to burn. I also heeded the advice of a friend who recommended getting the crock pot liners for our trips–the liners made it so much easier to clean up!

Balsamic Beef:

This recipe is a serious crowd pleaser. Every time I make it people want the recipe. And the best part? It’s a dump and go recipe. The beef tastes fantastic over mashed potatoes (we use instant mashed potatoes on camping trips for ease of prep) or on top of some nice crusty bread topped with provolone cheese. Make sure you cook the roast for the full six to eight hours on low (it usually takes my crock pot about seven hours), because that’s how you get really tender, flavorful meat.

Sweet and Spicy Pork Chops:

These pork chops were melt-in-your-mouth good. Served over mashed potatoes (again, instant work great for camping trips!) and with a side of veggies, it’s comfort food at its best!

We left off the red chili paste and instead just lightly sprinkled the chops with chili powder–and they tasted great.

Quinoa stews:

Looking for a gluten-free, paleo-friendly recipe? Then you need to check out two quinoa soups. These are great recipes to start with if you are new to cooking and eating quinoa. The first time I had quinoa as a side dish, I wasn’t overly enthused with the flavor or texture. But then I tried this Sweet Potato, Quinoa, and Chicken Soup, and the whole family loved it! (If you don’t like things spicy, be sure to cut back on the chili seasoning.) There are a couple variations of this soup, including this Italian Chicken, Quinoa, and Vegetable Soup.