Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes! Time Saving, Money Saving Kitchen Tips ~ Noreen's Kitchen

This week's time saving, money saving tip is all about potatoes!  If you are like me, you purchase potatoes in large bags with every intention of using them faster than they can sprout eyes.  Truth be told, I never can do this and invariably end up scrubbing my potatoes free of their eyes when using up the bottom of the bag.  When this happens, I like to bake them all off and use them in other recipes.  Because this will encourage me to use them and not waste them, and while they will end up in the compost bin, I would much rather have my groceries end up in our bellies, fueling our bodies instead of making good soil!  

Baking potatoes in a slow cooker or crockpot, may not be something you have considered, however a quick search on YouTube will reveal that a lot of people have been doing this for a long time so maybe it's time for you to start!  This is a great way to bake potatoes in bulk without heating up your kitchen.  This saves both time and money because you don't have to babysit your spuds while they are in the oven and you get to use up the groceries you have spent your hard earned money on to nourish your growing family!

There are lots of different ideas about how to bake your potatoes in the slow cooker.  My preparation is really no different than how I prep my potatoes to go in the oven.  I scrub them up really well using either a green pad or a stainless steel scrubbie or even a brush will work.  I remove any eyes or bad spots from the potatoes and then dry them off with paper towel and let them sit for about an hour before proceeding.  I like to make sure the residual moisture from the scrubbing is pretty much gone.

I like to place the potatoes in a really large bowl then drizzle over a couple tablespoons of olive oil and give everything a good rub down, making sure the potatoes are completely coated with the oil.  At this point you can say you are done prepping your spuds.  You don't have to add anything else.  However I do like to add some Kosher salt and some steak seasoning to my potatoes.  You add as much or as little as you prefer.  You are the master of your tubers!   I will most likely be peeling these potatoes before I use them, however I may not.  The steak seasoning will permeate the potatoes during the long baking process and as a bonus they will perfume your kitchen so how can that be a bad thing?

Once everything is all oiled up and seasoned, place the potatoes in your slow cooker.  No need to add any water.  The potatoes will produce enough of their own moisture to cook and prevent drying.  Then pop the lid on, set the cooker to low and allow the potatoes to bake for 6 to 8 hours or until a knife will easily pierce the potato with just a little resistance.  You don't want these mushy, just nicely cooked.

The one major difference between potatoes baked in the oven and potatoes baked in the slow cooker is the skin.  Baked this way your skin is going to be soggy and not crispy like when you bake them in the oven.  I can over look this, especially in the middle of a hellish summer where I don't really want to be firing up my oven to 450 degrees just to make a baked potato to eat next to a delicious grilled steak.  You can always plug your slow cooker in on your covered deck, carport or garage (make sure it's out of the weather) and that will not heat up your house at all!  

Saving time by baking off potatoes in bulk is a great way to have them on hand for quick dinner, potato salad, casseroles, and home fries or any dish calling for potatoes.  Saving money is using what you have already purchased as well as saving energy.  A slow cooker will use about 8 cents of electricity over an 8 hour span of time as compared to an electric oven that will use 24 cents an hour.  I would say that is a great savings overall!

I hope you give baking potatoes in the slow cooker a try sometime soon and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

You can see how I did this in my YouTube video:

Eat In Like Take Out! Slow Cooker Mu Shu Pork

Mu Shu pork is one of my very favorite Chinese restaurant dishes. I am the only one in the family who really loves this dish, so I don't often get to enjoy it. Today I want to share an amazing and simple Mu Shu pork that you can make right at home in your slow cooker!

Traditionally Mu Shu pork, when served in a Chinese restaurant, comes with rice pancakes, hoisin sauce and a variety of fresh vegetables. In some places you get everything stir fried together and it is served with rice or noodles. Mine is a little different but just as delicious! You are going to love how quickly it comes together and your family is going to love how wonderful this tastes!

I start with a bag of coleslaw mix, this makes life easy! If you want to shred your own, you
will need about four cups of white cabbage. I also added additional red cabbage and shredded carrots to the slow cooker. These vegetables will help to build the sturdy sauce that the meat will cook in low and slow. 

Flavorings are simple and you can grab them from the Asian section of just about any supermarket. I used some fresh ginger that I diced rather fine as well as whole garlic cloves that I sliced super thin. Not as thin as Pauley would have in the movie "Goodfellas" but thin enough nonetheless. I seasoned the meat with a mixture of salt, white pepper, garlic powder and onion powder and after I nestled the meat into the veggies I poured over an entire bottle of hoisin sauce as well as a bit of soy sauce. 

My favorite bottled hoisin is the "Soy Vey" brand Hoisin Garlic Sauce. The best hands down. I also love their Teriyaki sauce when I want to grab some for a quick fix and I don't have time to make my own.

Once everything is in the pot, just pop the lid on and set the slow cooker and let this cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours. or until the pork is cooked through and tender enough to shred with very little effort.

When the meat has reached that magic point and the veggies have broken down into a bit of a loose sauce, you will want to thicken things up a bit to give the dish that classic thick and glossy look and texture. I used a bit of corn starch and water slurry to achieve this. Once you add this to the simmering pot, the sauce will immediately begin to thicken and get glossy and beautiful. Now you are ready to serve!

Traditionally, when you order Mu Shu pork you would get little rice pancakes to eat the meat and veggies with. I have used small flour tortillas that I warmed so they would be plyable. I serve the seasoned meat and sauce with a variety of fresh veggies like more fresh cabbage, carrots, green onions, red bell pepper and Persian cucumbers cut into thin strips. This can also be served as a lettuce wrap with cups of butter lettuce instead of the tortilla.

Now you can simply let everyone serve themselves and built their wraps or even a Mu Shu rice bowl! Layer the meat with the rice and add fresh crunchy toppings for an awesome supper or lunch during the work week!

This Mu Shu pork is simple to throw together and it makes your kitchen smell amazing! The flavor does not disappoint and you will have plenty left for another meal or two depending on the size of your family! This is even better leftover because the flavors have time to meld. 

You can store the leftovers for this dish in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week or you can freezer bank the leftovers for another meal down the road. This will keep in the freezer for up to three months! This is one of my favorite ways to freezer bank! Leftovers that you don't have to think about!

I hope you give this slow cooker mu shu pork a try and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

Here is what you will need to make Slow Cooker Mu Shu Pork:

2 to 3 pounds pork tenderloin 4 cups shredded white cabbage 1 cup shredded red cabbage 1 cup shredded carrots 1 medium onion, sliced thin 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, finely minced 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin 1/4 cup soy sauce

1, 16 ounce bottle Hoisin sauce 1 teaspoon onion powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon white pepper 2 tablespoons corn starch 1 cup water

Step by Step Instructions

Place cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, and ginger in the bottom of the slow cooker vessel.

Mix the dry seasonings together and coat the outside of the pork tenderloin.

Place the tenderloins on top of the vegetables.

Pour over the Hoisin sauce and soy sauce

Cover and cook for 4 hour on high or 6 hours on low or until the pork is very tender and shreds easily.

Shred the pork well using tongs.

Mix corn starch and water and pour into the slow cooker.  Mix well until the mixture begins to thicken slightly and becomes glossy.

You can serve at this point on place your slow cooker on warm until ready to eat.

Serve with small flour tortillas or butter lettuce as a wrap or over steamed rice as a rice bowl.

I offer toppings of shredded cabbage, carrots, thin strips of bell pepper, green onion and thin strips of Persian cucumber. 

Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week on in the freezer for up to three months.

See how I made this in my YouTube video: