Team KoalaBunny's Adventures

Had this great recipe

http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a45873/copycat-olive-garden-zuppa-toscana-recipe/

Ingredients:

1 lb. Hot Italian sausage, casings removed (We just bought the Italian sausage that looked like ground beef)
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
kosher salt - (just a pinch)
Freshly ground black pepper (or whatever spice you like)
6 c. low-sodium chicken broth
4 large russet potatoes, diced
1 bunch curly kale, leaves stripped and chopped (chopped was fine)
3/4 c. heavy cream
4 slices cooked bacon, chopped
1/4 freshly grated Parmesan, for serving (I didn't have this)

Directions:
In a large pot over medium heat, cook sausage, breaking up with the back of a wooden spoon, until browned and no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate to drain.
Add onion to pot and let cook until soft, 5 minutes, then add garlic and cook until fragrant, 1 minute more. Season with salt and pepper. Add chicken broth and potatoes and cook until potatoes are tender, 23 to 25 minutes.
Stir in kale and let cook until leaves are tender and bright green, 3 minutes, then stir in heavy cream, sausage, and bacon and simmer 5 minutes more.
Season with pepper, garnish with Parm, and serve

Here's the final product and it was delicious!

The recipe comes from genius kitchen but I made modifications with spices that I preferred or had on hand and with different proportions which I guess technically makes it my recipe:
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/crock-pot-whole-chicken-33671

Ingredients: I bought a 5 lb spring whole chicken that was on sale
Spices:
4 tsp sea salt
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp cumin 
1 tsp garlic powder

1. In a small bowl, combine the spices.
2. Remove any giblets from chicken and clean chicken.
3. Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.
4. Place in resealable plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. (Try not to skip this step as the chicken comes our so much better)
5. When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.
6. Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make its own juices.
7. Cook on low 4-8 hours (usually 8 for me)

Here's the photo with koala's approval: I'd show you the whole chicken but it was devoured so quickly ><

The koala had bought crushed pineapple instead of pineapple pieces. So we I got this from the following website but with modifications: https://www.momontimeout.com/practically-perfect-pineapple-cake/ 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 20 oz can Dole crushed pineapple in 100% juice (do not drain) 2 eggs Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and baking soda. Mix in vanilla extract, crushed pineapple, and eggs until combined. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely. I did an upside down pineapple cake sticking the round pineapple rings I had leftover with mints.

We found this one also in the Betty Crocker slow cooker recipe book. It was a week where we just had enough of slow cooker chicken recipes and the slow cooker beef recipe didn't turn out too well but this one worked really well!
This is not available on Betty Crocker's website but a similar one is found on Food Network's website: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jeff-mauro/slow-cooked-cuban-sandwich-recipe-2109413
 Ingredients:
2 lbs pork (we used the shoulder)
1/2 cup orange juice (we use the concentrate freezer juice mix)
 2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp red pepper (we used paprika)
 Directions:
1. Coat slow cooker with cook spray or olive oil. Add pork into bottom.
2. Combine orange juice, lime juice, garlic, salt and red pepper in small bowl. Pour over pork. Cook on low 7-8 hours or High 3-4 hours.
3. Transfer to cutting board. Cut pork into slices. Serve on bread with whatever you like: cheese, pickles, mustard etc.

This recipe comes from the slow cooker book of recipes from Betty Crocker and also available on their website:
https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-thai-chicken/b8ad2965-9db0-48a1-af90-97341e6231fc
 But thought I'd put on here anyways with some notations to what we've found:
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: Low 8-9 hours
Ingredients:
16 chicken thighs (skin removed is better)
around 4 lbs
1 1/2 cups of salsa (whatever you prefer)
1/2 cup of peanut butter (we usually use creamy but I think any variety would be fine)
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp of grated ginger optional - add cilantro and peanuts as garnish
Directions: 1. Place chicken in 6-quart (or larger) slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients except peanuts and cilantro; pour over chicken.
2. Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 9 hours or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut. Remove chicken from cooker, using slotted spoon; place on serving platter.
3. Remove sauce from slow cooker; skim fat from sauce. Pour sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with peanuts and cilantro. This recipe definitely will get you left overs and we've found that the left overs taste even better than the fresh batch as the sauce tend to age better but don't let it go bad in the fridge.

Koala loves mustard and sometimes bunny is too busy in the morning to throw things in the slow cooker so here are the 2 recipes that koala has done that we got from the back of mustard containers :)
Slow cooker chicken (aka honey mustard chicken)
Prep time: 5 minutes Cooking time: Low 6-7 hours Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts
3/4 cup mustard
1/2 cup honey
Directions:
1. Put chicken in slow cooker
2. Combine mustard and honey, pour over chicken
3. Cook on low 6-7 hours or high 3-4 hours Optimal result is low 6-7 with chicken thighs. Usually we'd double or triple the recipe to have enough leftovers for 2-3 days.

Slow cooker sloppy joe
3 lb ground beef 1 onion (chopped)
2 cups BBQ or Ketchup
1 cup mustard
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce (or any kind of steak sauce or soy sauce if you're using BBQ) Directions:
1. In large skillet, brown ground beef and onion. Drain the fat/oil, put into slow cooker.
2. Put the rest of the ingredients into slow cooker.
3. Cook on low 5-6 hours or high 2-3 hours.

Originally the idea for the slow cooker lasagna came from either the better homes and gardens or the taste of home series of cook books but unfortunately I didn't take a picture of it when I made it. However, I think this recipe from allrecipes.com is pretty close so will tell you the modifications I make for our family: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/11959/slow-cooker-lasagna/ Ingredients (for 6 or 2 in our case): 3 lb lean ground beef 1 onion (our onions here in the midwest are powerful) 4 teaspoons minced garlic 3 cans (90 oz in total) can tomato sauce 3 cans (18 oz in total) tomato paste 2 tsp sea salt 3 tsp dried oregano 2 packages (24 oz in total) of lasagna noodles 3 (36 oz in total) cottage cheese 48 oz shredded mozzarella cheese (or however much you want) Directions: 1. In a large skillet over medium heat cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic until brown. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, and oregano and stir until well incorporated. Cook until heated through. 2. In a large bowl mix together the cottage cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese. Spoon a layer of the meat mixture onto the bottom of the slow cooker. Add a double layer of the uncooked lasagna noodles. Break to fit noodles into slow cooker. Top noodles with a portion of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layering of sauce, noodles, and cheese until all the ingredients are used. 3. Cover, and cook on LOW setting for 4 to 6 hours. That's it, so super easy and no oven (we just cannot have the oven on while our kids are awake) but taste just the same as oven made lasagna :) enjoy and let me know how yours turn out!