Quick & Easy “Slow” Cooker Baked Beans Recipe
One of my FAVORITE side dishes to any barbecue is baked beans. But, not the kind you get in a can (no pork and beans either). I really LOVE good, old fashioned, made from scratch baked beans.
However, sometimes, you just don’t have the time or the patience to make the completely from scratch version like my Molasses Baked Beans. I created this recipe for our July 4th Work Barbecue because I really wanted homemade beans, but, I didn’t think about it until the morning of the barbecue. I didn’t have time to soak my beans and well I am not THAT prepared to have pre-cooked ones I can pull from the freezer.
As much as I LOVE Bacon, I don’t LOVE it in beans because it just gets soggy. I thought it would be fun to use “Smoked Turkey Sausage” because the beans would not only be sweet, but, they would be smoky too.
The result was AMAZING and nobody could tell I used canned beans. This is a recipe I will for sure make again and again.
You should definitely give these a try for your next BBQ, I guarantee everyone will love them as much as we did.
Quick & Easy “Slow” Cooker Baked Beans Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound Lite Kielbasa or Smoked Turkey Sausage, quartered then chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 cup Ketchup (or make your own)
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup Agave Nectar (I used X-Agave), honey or sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons deli mustard
1/4 c Chipotle Barbeque sauce, if you want a little kick, optional
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cans (15-1/2 ounces each) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Add your Kielbasa sausage to a pan sprayed with nonstick spray over medium heat. Cook until lightly browned, 5-7 minutes, then, set aside.
2. Using the same pan, add your chopped onion and cook until slightly browned/caramelized.
3. While your sausage and onions cook, mix together ketchup through black pepper and set aside.
4. Spray your crock pot with nonstick spray or use a crock pot liner. Add your beans, sausage, onions and sauce mixture. Stir to combine and cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4 hours.
Serve straight from the crock pot and enjoy!
Makes about 20, 1/2 cup servings,
Nutritional Information per 1/2 cup serving using Calorie Count:
STEP-BY-STEP:
Brown your smoked sausage for 5-7 minutes or until browned.
Remove your sausage and use the same pan to brown your onions for 5-7 minutes.
Spray your crock pot with nonstick spray and add beans.
Then, browned sausage
and browned onions.
While your sausage & onions cook, whip up your secret sauce. You can use any ketchup or vinegar, but, these are my two favorites.
While you don’t technically “need” to add Barbecue sauce since you’ve just made one up from scratch, I wanted to give my beans a little “kick” with some Gayle’s Chipotle Barbecue sauce. Totally optional, but, I highly recommend it.
Pour your secret sauce over your bean mixture and stir to combine.
Cook in your crock pot on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours. You can easily leave these on all day and let people snack on them through your barbecue.
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Happy “Almost” 4th of July all!
Crockpot Steel Cut Oats w/Peaches & Blueberries
Last night I decided it’s been too long since I’ve made up a big batch of Crock Pot Steel Cut Oats. Steel Cut Oats are My FAVORITE type of oat because they are completely unrefined and they have such a chewy texture that almost “pops” in your mouth. I am pretty sure once you try REAL Steel Cut Oats (NOT the Quick Cooking Kind), it will be hard for you to go back to regular oatmeal. This recipe is so easy and you wake to a big pot of Steel Cut Oats.
CROCKPOT STEEL CUT OATS WITH PEACHES & BLUEBERRIES
INGREDIENTS:
3 C Steel Cut Oats (I used Trader Joe’s)
1/4 C Ground Flax Seeds
8 C water
2 Cinnamon Sticks
1 Tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract (I used Bourbon Vanilla 
)
Pinch of Salt, optional
1 lb frozen peaches
1-2 c frozen blueberries
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Spray your crock pot with nonstick spray or use a crock pot liner. DO NOT SKIP this step you will be scrubbing for days.
2. Combine all the ingredients in your crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Remove cinnamon sticks. Serve with your favorite toppings. I LOVE making this into a dessert and using brown sugar, whipped butter and coconut.
Makes 10 cups, 4 points per cup.
Nutritional information per serving (I think this estimate is high ~ calculated at sparksrecipes.com):
Calories 216.8, Total Fat 4.6 g, Saturated Fat 0.1 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g, Monounsaturated Fat 0.2 g, Cholesterol 0.0 mg, Sodium 51.9 mg, Potassium 97.0 mg, Total Carbohydrate 39.4 g, Dietary Fiber 6.8 g, Sugars 9.7 g, Protein 6.9 g
I didn’t really do any step by steps for this recipe. I fill my crock pot to the brim and all the fruit rises at it cooks over night.
Once you mix it all up, it looks like delicious oats with firm fruit. It freezes AWESOME too, just be sure to portion into 1 cup containers. A little water might be needed when heating.
I made a BIG 6 point bowl of comfort ~ topped with 1/2 Tbsp Whipped Butter, 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar and a sprinkle of unsweetened organic coconut.
MELTED brown sugar + whipped butter = CARAMEL ~ this tastes just like PEACH COBBLER in every bite if you don’t mix it up!
Mid morning I snacked on a LF Cabot Cheese and small Banana (2 pts)
Last night I was sort of on a roll with preparing foods for the week. I whipped up a Batch of Harvest Grain Salad. I had a 1/2 cup (4 pt) serving over mixed greens with mini peppers, an 1/8 of Avocado (1 pt) and Beniisimo Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar.
Flavored Balsamic Vinegars are my FAVORITE salad topper because they add pretty much zero calories and TONS of flavor.
Since I am debating if I have a cold or not, I added a cup of Muir Glen Organic Chicken Noodle Soup for good measure (2 pts).
And a perfectly hard boiled egg ~ 2 points of Protein
My AWESOME co-worker brought me my FAVORITE ChocoLOVE bar today so I knew that my afternoon snack was ALL ABOUT CHOCOLOVE!
Several of you have ask if their chocolate is really THAT good or why I LOVE it. To me, it’s awesome because they include FULL SIZED ALMONDS plus just hints of sea salt with a super creamy, smooth dark chocolate. I had 6 squares for 3 points (160 calories) which is totally worth it!
By the time I got home, I was pretty much feeling like I have a cold. I decided I NEEDED some spicy soup to scare my cold away. Awhile back, I saw that Biz made THIS VEGETABLE PHO soup and I have been wanting to make it ~ PHO is one of my FAVORITE soups around! I wanted her entire meal actually but I was too lazy to make it all so I put a spin on it!
I started off combining the broth, ginger, jalapeño, pepper corn and cinnamon chips. I was hesitant to add the cinnamon but it honestly added an AMAZING new level of flavor.
While my broth boiled, I chopped up some veggies I had on hand ~ cabbage, carrots, green onion and cilantro.
I pulled out some of the TJ’s MINI Chicken Cilantro Won Tons that I used when I made my Chicken Cilantro Potsticker Veggie Soup.
I removed everything in the chicken broth and added the cabbage and carrots. I cooked them for 5 minutes, then added 12 mini wontons plus the jalepeno slices, oyster sauce and sriracha. I let it cook for 2 minutes.
Tadahhhh! 4 points of deliciousness!
But, you know I couldn’t leave it alone ~ I doused it with more Sriracha! Super HOT ~ hopefully I “singed” my cold away!
I think I could eat a million of these mini won tons ~ so good!
See, I actually did buy the won ton/pot sticker wrappers to make her Thai Basil Won Ton Cups too, but my cold wouldn’t let me 
So, I ended up just baking 5 of them at 350 for 8 minutes. They are pretty tasty and would be awesome topped with some parmesan and black pepper. (2 pts)
I washed it all down with some Sobe Forti-FIGHT!
Plus, broke out my Greenergy to take along with my vitamins.
FUN STUFF TODAY!!!
* I WON!! Biz held a giveaway to celebrate her birthday last week and I was the LUCKY winner today ~ woohoo! Check out what I won – SO EXCITED! Thanks BIZ!
* Tomorrow (03/23) Is FREE Pastry Day @Starbucks ~ Get a FREE pastry w/any drink order PRINT YOUR COUPON and tell me what you got!
* Not that this is related to anything in particular, but, this cool chart for Food Storage came in my Eat Clean Diet Newsletter ~ thought I’d share.
My book and BED are calling my NAME ~ I hope this COLD goes AWAY soon!
Night all!
Slow Cooker Turkey & Bean Burrito Bake Recipe
This is by far one of my FAVORITE new recipes. How can you not LOVE coming home to tasty baked burritos that are topped with enchilada sauce and stuffed with lean ground turkey breast, brown rice, beans, fire roasted garlic diced tomatoes, zucchini, tortillas and CHEESE!
I wish I could take credit for this FANTASTIC idea, however, this recipe has been adapted from my latest Weight Watcher Cookbook called Slow Cook It! I spiced it up a bit, added a little garlic and fire roasted diced tomatoes for their smoky flavor.
I served mine on a salad to it became a Turkey & Bean Burrito Bake Salad with all the fixin’s ~ the result was AWESOME! This tastes even better the next day.
Get creative and add your favorite veggies to mix it up. I imagine this would work fantastic with veggie crumbles, ground beef, chicken, pork, etc. Enjoy!
SLOW COOKER TURKEY & BEAN BURRITO BAKE
Source: Weight Watchers Slow Cook It!
INGREDIENTS:
1 lb lean ground turkey breast
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Taco Seasoning (HOMEMADE, Mrs. Dashes Chipolte Lime or Chili Powder)
1 14 ½ oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
10 oz good quality enchilada sauce
1/3 c salsa
½ c cooked brown rice (I used Trader Joe’s Organic Frozen Brown Rice)
1-2 zucchinis, quartered and chopped
1 15 oz canned kidney, pinto or black beans, drained and rinsed
6 small corn tortillas
1 ½ c shredded low fat sharp cheddar cheese
** I didn’t add corn, but, I think it would be a FANTASTIC addition.
OPTIONAL TOPPERS:
Serve on a bed of romaine lettuce
Tomatoes, cilantro, green onions, AVOCADO, Sour Cream/Greek Yogurt, Additional Salsa
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat. Add turkey, onion and garlic; cook, cook, breaking turkey apart with wooden spoon, until turkey is no longer pink, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in taco seasoning and remove from heat.
2. Spray your slow cooking with nonstick cooking spray (I used my 3 quart slow cooker and filled it to the brim.) Combine tomatoes, enchilada sauce, and 1/3 cup salsa in a medium bowl. Spread ½ cup tomato mixture over bottom of the slow cooker. Top with 2 tortillas, tearing on of the tortillas in half so that the tortillas cover tomato mixture. Top evenly with half of turkey mixture, half of rice, and with half of beans and ½ cup cheese. Repeat with 2 tortillas, remaining turkey mixture, rice, and zucchini, 1 cup tomato mixture, remaining beans, and ½ cup cheese. Top with remaining 2 tortillas and spread with remaining tomato mixture.
3. Cover and cook until hot and bubbling at edges, 2 ½ – 3 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low. Sprinkle burrito bake with remaining ½ cup cheese. Cover and let stand until cheese melts, about 5 minutes.
4. Serve on top of lettuce with all your favorite toppings. Enjoy!
Makes 6 servings, 1 ½ cups each
Nutritional information per serving (1 ½ cups burrito bake), excluding toppings:
341 calories, 7 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 53 mg cholesterol, 956 mg sodium, 45 g carbohydrates, 10 g fiber, 28 g p
Try it ~ You will like it and not having to do anything to cook when you get home….just chop a few veggies or serve it straight up and you are good to go.
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