Easy Fall Recipes

After a conversation with a friend earlier this week I was inspired to take some more time to post some recipes up on my blog. Fall is quickly approaching and it's my favorite time of the year for using my crock pot. The Crock Pot is a wonderful piece of hardware that has been saving mommies lots of time for decades. So today I would like to feature a few recipes that are favorites in our house at this time of the year.



Navy Bean Soup



Into the crockpot on low for 8-10 hours place the following ingredients:



3-4 Smoked Ham Hocks (You can add other pieces of smoked pork if you want to add more meat since the ham hocks don't give much meat)
2 Cups of Dry Navy beans
5 Stalks of Celery sliced into small pieces
1 Medium Onion chopped
1 Tablespoon Dried Ground Sage (Use McCormick)
2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

Add 6 cups of water and cover with the lid.
Stir well and leave on low for 8 - 10 hours. Remove ham hocks to cool then pick all the meat from the bones and chop up to tiny pieces. There won't be much meat. I usually serve with a salad and Bob's Red Mill Corn Bread (Buy at Holiday Market). Both my boys love this soup and because of the beans it is very filling and tasty. I never tell Jackson that I use pigs feet because I am sure he would not touch it if I did so keep this in mind when introducing the soup in your house.

Corn Beef and Cabbage



1 Flat Cut or Point Cut corn beef brisket with seasoning packet(Check the label to make sure it's GFCFSF)
4-5 Medium potatoes cut into large cubes or just in half if they are small potatoes
3 Carrots cut into large pieces
1 Small head of purple cabbage (or Green)

Add the brisket and seasoning packet to the crock pot, add cut potatoes and carrots and fill the crock pot with water leaving some room at the top to allow for the cabbage to be put in to cook during the last hour. Cook for 8-10 hours on low. The meat should be fall apart done. An hour before you will sit down to eat pull out the potatoes and carrots and place on a plate in the microwave. Add the cabbage after slicing it into quarters. After one hour remove the cabbage and don't be alarmed by the purple-ish water. Remove the brisket and let it rest on a cutting board(be careful because it might fall apart while you move it and splash hot broth on you). Place carrots and potatoes back in the pot to warm up. Wait 5-10 minutes before slicing the corn beef and serving.

**For the left overs I dice the potatoes and saute with a diced bell pepper, diced medium yellow onion, salt and pepper. Then I pulse the corn beef in the food processor and add it to the saute pan stirring till heated through. This makes a bunch of corn beef hash and is pretty yummy.