Recipes by Arlene

• 4-6 medium red potatoes
• 1½ lbs. beef stew meat
• ⅓ cup flour
• 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 16-oz. bag frozen stir fry vegetables
• Salt and pepper

Scrub potatoes and cut each into quarters. Place in bottom of 4-quart slow cooker. Mix flour, salt and pepper and toss with beef to coat. Add to slow cooker. Add undrained tomatoes, broth and water and stir.

Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 7-8 hours until beef and tomatoes are tender. Add stir fry vegetables. Recover and cook on low for an additional 30-40 minutes until vegetables are hot and tender. (Note: About an hour before adding vegetables, remove bag from freezer to allow it to come to room temperature.)

Serve in a bowl by itself or over white rice or elbow macaroni.

• 1 round steak
• ¼ cup chopped carrots
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• ½ cup chopped celery
• ¼ cup chopped green pepper
• 1 can tomato soup
• 1 can water

Put vegetables in bottom of crock pot. Add steak, soup, water and any additional seasonings to taste. Cook 8-10 hours on low setting. Serve over white rice. The broth makes the gravy.

Note: You can also cook chicken or pork this way with mushrooms and onion soup. Just add 1-2 cups water.

Update: We served leftovers on elbow macaroni and it was delicious.

• 1 good-size Chuck Boneless Eye roast
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 1 can beef broth
• Potatoes, peeled and cut
• Baby carrots
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• Sliced mushrooms (optional)
• Cut celery (optional)

Rinse roast and place at bottom of crock pot. Open package of soup mix and sprinkle over roast. Pour beef broth over the soup mix. Cook on high setting for about 2 hours. Turn roast over and add vegetables and place bay leaves on top of the concoction. Cook on low setting an additional 6-8 hours for a total cooking time of 8-10 hours. The longer cooking time insures the potatoes and carrots are tender. (Make sure you remove the bay leaves before serving!)

• 4 lbs. country-style pork ribs
• 1 can tomato soup
• ½ cup cider vinegar
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. chili powder

Rinse ribs in water and layer them in crock pot. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour evenly over ribs. Cover pot; heat on medium setting for 6 to 8 hours. (If your crock pot has a programmable setting, use this setting as long as the total cooking time is at least 8 hours.)

Skim fat from juices before serving. Keep warm for serving at low heat. Makes 4 servings

Note: You can serve this with rice or boiled potatoes. When cooking is done, remove ribs and set aside. Add a little cornstarch to thicken the remaining juice and use it as gravy.

Note: Steve has made this recipe many times over the years and has never made it the same way twice. Each time he makes it, he changes it around by adding or subtracting different ingredients or serving it in different ways. He made this the other night for us. This is the basic recipe. You can modify it by using your favorite spices and ingredients.

• 2 lbs. ground chuck
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 cans stewed tomatoes
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 2 cans Bush’s Chili Beans
• 2 cans red kidney beans, drained
• 1 can whole kernel corn, drained
• 3 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. red cayenne pepper

In a large skillet, brown the ground chuck and drain well. Combine all ingredients in a 6½ – 7 qt. slow cooker, cover and cook for 2 hours on the high setting. Uncover and stir. Cover and cook for another 5 to 6 hours on the low setting for total cooking time of 7 to 8 hours. (For smaller slow cookers, you can halve the recipe.)

To serve, take some Tostito’s Restaurant Style tortilla chips and crumble them in your hand. Place in the bottom of a soup bowl and then spoon out a teaspoon of sour cream. Pour hot chili over the chips and sour cream and top with shredded Mozzarella or cheddar cheese. If you prefer, you can put the sour cream on top.

You can modify this recipe by subtracting one can of the drained red kidney beans to give it less bulk. You can also add mushroom slices and/or green peas to give it more variety. This particular recipe is not very spicy, so you may want to spice it up by adding other spices or packaged Tex-Mex chili ingredients.

• 32-oz. package peeled baby carrots
• ⅓ cup thawed frozen orange juice concentrate
• 3 tbsp. brown sugar
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1½ tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1-2 tbsp. orange-flavored liqueur, i.e., Grand Marnier, Triple Sec or Cointreau (optional)
• Salt and freshly-ground pepper

In a 3½-quart crock pot (slow cooker), mix the carrots, orange juice concentrate, brown sugar, cinnamon, nut meg and 2 tbsp. water. Cover and cook on the low heat setting about 7 hours or until the carrots are almost tender. Increase the heat to the high setting.

Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 tbsp. cold water and stir into the carrots. Cook, covered, another 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir in the butter and optional liqueur and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.

Note: This recipe can easily be halved.

• 1¾ cups wild rice
• ½ cup golden raisins
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. dry thyme
• 5 cups chicken or beef broth
• 3 tbsp. thinly-sliced green onions
• 2 tbsp. dry sherry (optional)

Place rice in a fine wire strainer and rinse under running water. In a 3-quart or larger slow cooker (crock pot), combine rice, raisins, chopped onions and thyme. Pour in broth. Cover and cook on low setting until broth has been absorbed and rice is tender to bite (5½ to 6 hours). Stir in sherry, if desired. Sprinkle with green onions before serving. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• ¼ cup finely-chopped parsley
• 4 center-cut loin pork chops (1¾ – 2 lbs. total), edges trimmed of fat
• Freshly-ground pepper
• 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup dry red wine or beef broth
• ½ cup coarsely-chopped walnuts

In a 4-quart slow cooker (crock pot), combine onion, garlic and 3 tbsp. of the parsley. Sprinkle pork chops with pepper, dust with flour and arrange over onion mixture, overlapping slightly if necessary. Pour in wine or broth. Cover and cook on low setting until pork is very tender when pierced (about 7½ to 8½ hours).

Shortly before pork is done, spread walnuts in a shallow baking pan and bake in a 350° oven until toasted (8 to 10 minutes). Set aside.

Lift pork chops to a warm platter and keep warm. Skim and discard fat from remaining onion mixture if necessary; then season to taste with salt. Spoon onion mixture over chops; sprinkle with toasted walnuts and remaining 1 tbsp. of parsley. Makes 4 servings.

• 1 round steak (or pot roast)
• 3 cups water
• 1 package French onion soup
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup

Combine ingredients in a crock pot on medium for 6-7 hours. The gravy can be poured over mashed potatoes or rice.

Note: This recipe comes from “The Psota Collection,” a compilation of recipes from the Psota family in Ravenna, Nebraska. The Psota and Kostal families were closely aligned. My aunt, Albie Kostal Psota, married into the Psota family as did her older sister, Emma Kostal Psota.

• 1 can beer
• 1 can beef broth
• 1 can French onion soup
• 2 lbs. lean beef roast

Combine all ingredients and simmer in crock pot all day on low. Serve with hoagie buns and use juice to dip sandwiches.