Crockpot Recipes & Frugal Tips

You spoke and we listened! Annie's Recipes has quite a few slow cooker recipes for you to print out, save in your favorites box, or share with a friend. We'll share some of those and some helpful frugal hints in this week's issue.

In This Issue:

1. Crock Pot Pick
   
2. New Recipes Added
   
3. Frugal Tips
   
4. Need Your Input
   
5. Great Features
   

Crock Pot Pick
Each week we will highlight a recipe, this week we've chosen a slow cooker meal as the winter months press on. If you've made something of ours, or would like to share one of your favorite crockpot recipes, please leave us a comment!



Alene's Pork Chops
Click the recipe name to access a printable version

6-8 lean pork chops, 1 inch thick
1/2 c. flour
1 tbsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. oil
1 (10 oz.) can chicken rice soup

Mix dry ingredients. Dredge pork chops in mixture. Brown in oil in large skillet. Place browned pork chops in crockpot. Add can of chicken rice soup. Cover and cook 6-8 hours.

You may also like:

Crockpot Barbecue Chicken: Toss these ingredients in the crockpot and at the end of the day you'll have a warm, satisfying fall off the bone meal everyone will love.

Click here for the recipe 

Crock Pot Italian Meatballs: Whether you serve these over a big plate of spaghetti or you serve them as appetizers for the big game, these meatballs really hit the spot!

Click here for the recipe 

Browse all of our crockpot recipes!

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New Recipes
We have recently added some new recipes which can be found on our What's New page. These recipes are a blast from the past, some of your mother's and grandmother's favorites! Here are the latest additions to our recipe collection of thousands:

• Biscuits
  
• Coffee Mousse
  
• Pineapple Bavarian Cream
  
• Raised Doughnuts
  
• Salad Dressing Supreme
  
• Sweet Buns
  
• Wowie Cake
  

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Frugal Tips

Tough cuts of beef : Don't be afraid of tougher cuts of beef. Use your slow cooker, an envelope of dry onion soup mix and a can of beef broth or diced tomatoes to make a tasty and inexpensive meal.

Stocking up : This doesn't mean you have to run to a warehouse club and buy $500 worth of boxed and canned goods you couldn't possibly use in a year. By stocking up I am referring to buying items that you would normally buy anyway when they go on sale. This doesn't mean you have to buy 20 of each, buy what you can fit into your budget taking into consideration that you won't have to buy it next time.

Planning Meals : This is probably one of the biggest money savers of them all. Plan your meals once a week and you'll find that you order out less, have fewer last minute runs to the grocery store and will spend less time worrying about what's for dinner. I plan out my meals each weekend and build my grocery list at the same time. 

Meatless Monday : Monday or whatever day you choose. Pick one day a week where you serve homemade vegetable soup with biscuits or macaroni and cheese casserole. Try meatless chili or cut the amount of ground beef you use and increase the kidney beans! Another option is pasta with a side salad, mmm!

Ground Beef : One of the least expensive cuts of meat and oh so many recipes you can make! Watch for sales as you can often get hamburger as low at $1.79/lb. Break it down into one pound portions and freeze for up to a year. Be sure to wrap it properly by keeping air out.

Speaking of Pasta : What a frugal meal this can be! A one pound package of pasta is usually around $1.00 and you can make your own sauce for less than a couple of bucks. Mix together a small can of tomato paste and a small can of tomato sauce, then add 4-6 tomato paste cans full of water. Toss in some dried basil, shake in some black pepper and a little garlic salt and you have a meal that will serve 4 hungry family members. I double my sauce and save the second half in a jar for the next week. I also make this Italian bread from scratch to go with it!

Share your favorite frugal tips with us by leaving a comment below!

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We need your input!
When you subscribed to Annie's Recipes, what were you hoping to receive in your inbox? We want to improve our newsletter and bring you what YOU are looking for in a recipe site. It's easy to leave us feedback! Just click the word "comments" at the bottom of this post and fill in your information. Please tell us what you want to see from our site!

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Great Features!
If you haven't already, be sure to check out all of our new features implemented just for you! Remember, you can now print, email, comment on, rate, upload pictures and save recipes in a recipe box on the site. We add new recipes each week, so be sure to check the what's new page whenever you visit the site.

Remember, we love hearing from you, so please post your comments :)