Fix-It and Forget-It Christmas Cookbook (113 page)

1. Place potatoes in slow cooker.

2. Combine cheese, sour cream, soups, onion, butter, and pepper in large mixing bowl. Pour over potatoes and mix well.

3. Cover. Cook on Low 4-5 hours.

4. Thirty minutes before end of the cooking time, stir in meat.

*
To parboil potatoes, cut peeled or unpeeled potatoes into cubes. Place in stockpot. Add at least an inch of water to stockpot. Cover.

Cook on stovetop over medium heat until potatoes are no longer crispy, but are not yet soft. Drain.

Proceed with Step 1.

Tips:

1. This is a great way to use up leftovers: extra potatoes in that 5-lb. bag, hashbrowns in the freezer, leftover meat, extra veggies.

2. This works equally well as a main dish or a side dish.

Variation:

You can skip the meat if you wish.

Jena Hammond

Traverse City, MI

Shredded Potatoes with Canadian Bacon

Carol Eberly

Harrisonburg, VA

Makes 8 serving

Prep. Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 5 hours

Ideal slow cooker size: 4-qt.

32-oz. bag frozen hash browns,
divided

6-8 thin slices Canadian bacon,
or
fully cooked ham,
divided

1 cup shredded sharp cheese,
divided

2 cups shredded mild cheddar cheese,
divided

¾ cup chopped onions,
divided

salt to taste

pepper to taste

10¾-oz. can cream of mushroom soup

10¾-oz. can cream of chicken soup

1. Layer half of potatoes, meat, cheeses, and onions in slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Repeat layers.

3. Combine soups in bowl. Pour over top of mixture in slow cooker.

4. Cover. Cook on Low 5 hours.

Note:

We used this recipe, minus the meat, for our daughter’s wedding reception meal.

We made 12 slow-cookers-full. We put the recipe together the night before, put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight, and got up at 4 a.m. to plug in the cookers. They were ready for lunch.

Get out your serving dishes before your guests arrive. Place a piece of paper in each one, designating what goes in or on it, along with its serving utensil. When your guests ask if they may help you, they can follow your plan.

Linda Sluiter, Schereville, IN

Hot German Potato Salad

Judi Manos

West Islip, NY

Makes 6 servings

Prep. Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 8-10 hours

Ideal slow cooker size: 3-qt.

5 medium-sized potatoes, cut ¼” thick

1 large onion, chopped

⅓ cup water

⅓ cup vinegar

2 Tbsp. flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. celery seed

¼ tsp. pepper

4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled

chopped fresh parsley

1. Combine potatoes and onions in slow cooker.

2. Combine remaining ingredients, except bacon and parsley, in bowl. Pour over potatoes.

3. Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours, or until potatoes are tender.

4. Stir in bacon and parsley.

5. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Serving suggestion: Prepare a full German meal and serve this with grilled
bratwurst
or
Polish sausage
,
dill pickles
,
pickled beets
, and
sliced apples
.

Rudolph’s Nose Wild Rice

Darla Sathre

Baxter, MN

Makes 8 servings

Prep. Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 3 hours

Ideal slow cooker size: 3-qt.

6 cups cooked wild rice,
or
3 15-oz. cans wild rice, drained

3.8-oz. can sliced black olives, drained

4-oz. can sliced button mushrooms, rinsed and drained

1 large onion chopped (about 2 cups)

1 pint (2 cups) grape,
or
cherry, tomatoes, halved

8-oz. pkg. cheddar cheese, cubed

¼ cup olive oil

black pepper, to taste

1. Mix all ingredients together gently in slow cooker.

2. Cover. Cook on Low 3 hours.

Tips:

1. The proportions of this recipe can be adjusted to your personal preferences quite easily.

2. When we have just a small amount of leftovers of this recipe, we use it as a pizza topping, and it is delicious!

Note:

Dear family friends gave us this to use as an oven recipe years ago. We have since adapted it for a slow cooker. While eating it one Christmas Eve, someone commented that the cut tomatoes resembled the reindeer Rudolph’s red nose. From then on, we changed the name from Wild Rice Hot Dish to Rudolph’s Nose Wild Rice.

Holiday Wild Rice

Susan Kasting
, Jenks, OK

Makes 4 servings

Prep. Time: 10 minutes • Cooking Time: 2½-3 hours

Ideal slow cooker size: 4-qt.

1½ cups wild rice, uncooked

3 cups chicken stock

3 Tbsp. orange zest

2 Tbsp. orange juice

½ cup raisins (I like golden raisins)

1½ tsp. curry powder

1 Tbsp. butter, softened

½ cup fresh parsley

½ cup chopped pecans

½ cup chopped green onion

1. Mix rice, chicken stock, orange zest, orange juice, raisins, curry powder, and butter in slow cooker.

2. Cover and cook on High 2½-3 hours, or until rice is tender and has absorbed most of the liquid, but is not dry.

3. Stir in parsley, pecans, and green onion just before serving.