I produced 3 quick fall Crock-Pot meals for chilly days

With autumn in full swing, I decided to experiment with three autumn-inspired recipes in my Crock-Pot.

I have previously made numerous recipes in a slow cooker.

On a chilly work night, nothing beats making a meal in advance and entering the kitchen at dinnertime to discover it already prepared.

Slow cookers not only make cooking at home easier, but they also allow you to prepare wonderful, cozy meals that you will want to make again and again. This week, I decided to try my hand at preparing three autumn-appropriate comforting and fulfilling recipes: beef stew, chicken and potato corn chowder, and creamy garlic pork chops.

The first autumn dish I ever prepared was beef stew.

The beef used for stew.

Martha Stewart’s hearty beef stew, which can be prepared on the stovetop or in a slow cooker, requires only a handful of simple ingredients.

The recipe calls for 1-inch cubes of beef chuck, all-purpose flour, baby potatoes, two cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies, frozen peas and carrots, and seasonings.

The first step in preparing the stew is to place the beef and flour in the slow cooker.

Flour was added to the slow cooker’s beef chuck cubes.

Numerous grocery stores provide beef chuck that has already been trimmed and cubed for stews. This was my decision, and it turned out wonderfully.

Add the other ingredients, such as the tomatoes, peas, and carrots.

Cubes of beef chuck are placed in the slow cooker with carrots and peas.

To uniformly spread the tomato sauce and vegetables with the meat, swirl the pot.

This is truly a set-and-forget slow cooker dish.

The beef stew ingredients are placed in the slow cooker.

Except for slicing the potatoes in half and thawing the frozen peas and carrots, all that is required is to place all the ingredients in the slow cooker and leave them alone.

The stew cooks for five hours on high, so set a timer if your slow cooker, like mine, turns off after six hours.

You should avoid overcooking the stew, as this could cause the meat to become dry. However, you should also allow ample time for the meat to become soft.

By the time evening rolled around, my kitchen was filled with beautiful aromas and a pot of hearty stew was waiting for me.

A completed beef stew in a slow cooker.

Not only was this dish inexpensive to prepare — I only spent approximately $20 on the components I didn’t already have — but it was also the ideal autumn meal.

The beef was exceptionally soft, and the potatoes made the meal more substantial. I ultimately saved the leftovers for another meal.

The completed beef stew served in a bowl.

I particularly appreciated the little heat and flavor of the tomatoes and green chiles. The stewing liquid had a plenty of meaty, flavorful taste and the ideal consistency.

Not only was this dish simple and affordable to prepare, but I could cook it without consulting the recipe for more than a couple of seconds. Overall, I would absolutely make this simple stew again.

This dish can be found in “Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker” and online.

The second dish I prepared was a chowder with chicken, potatoes, and corn.

Cubes of potatoes.

In the fall and winter, I love warming up with a bowl of soup, stew, or chowder.

The recipe calls for halved or quartered red potatoes, depending on their size.

I added diced potatoes in a slow cooker.

I washed and quartered my relatively large potatoes before placing them in the slow cooker. The nicest aspect of utilizing baby or red potatoes is that no peeling is necessary, resulting in even less preparation time.

I then dusted the potatoes with flour and stirred the saucepan.

Slow cooker-cooked potatoes with flour.

The flour helps to thicken the consistency of the chowder.

The majority of the remaining ingredients were then added, including chicken broth, two and a half cans of corn, thyme, dried basil, and onion powder.

In the slow cooker, the corn chowder.

The saucepan was then seasoned with salt and pepper.

The chowder is cooked for three hours on high heat, or until the potatoes are soft.

With the cover on, place the corn chowder in the slow cooker.

After three hours, I discovered that my chowder was ready.

While the chowder was simmering, I prepared the chicken to be added at the end.

Poaching chicken breasts in a saucepan on the stove.

On the stove, I poached two huge chicken breasts in a saucepan of water. This took approximately ten minutes to complete. After shredding the chicken breasts with two forks, I stored the chicken in a plastic container in the refrigerator.

When the chowder was around 10 minutes away from completion, I added the heavy cream, milk, chicken, and cheddar cheese.

The completed corn chowder that contains potatoes.

The cheddar should be totally melted and the chicken should be heated after approximately 10 minutes.

While the chowder was nearing completion, I fried bacon to sprinkle on top.

Bacon strips in a cast-iron skillet.

I opted for Applegate uncured Sunday bacon, but any high-quality bacon will suffice.

I allowed the bacon to become quite crisp.

Cubes of chopped bacon.

After a few moments, I sliced the bacon and placed it on a paper towel so that my housemates and I could serve ourselves.

The completed corn chowder was an ideal autumn supper.

The complete corn chowder.

The corn and potatoes were reminiscent of an autumn harvest, and the soup was creamy without being overly rich. This was one of the lightest chowders I’ve ever consumed, so I felt absolutely no remorse coming back for seconds… and thirds.

Here you can discover the Delish recipe.

The last dish I prepared was also the richest.

Potatoes cooked in a slow cooker.

Start by slicing baby yellow potatoes or peeling and chopping large yellow potatoes to prepare Eatwell101’s recipe for creamy garlic pork chops and potatoes.

When possible, I always choose tiny potatoes since I prefer the texture of the potato skin. In addition, I save time by not having to peel them.

After adding diced potatoes to the slow cooker, I peppered them.

Potatoes cooked in a slow cooker.

To save a bit of time, I also begin preheating the slow cooker at this point. Typically, I turn the heat to high before adding the remaining ingredients.

The next step is to prepare the creamy garlic sauce that will be poured over the dish.

Sautéing garlic in a saucepan.

I began by sautéing six minced cloves of garlic until aromatic, but not browned. In order to avoid burning your garlic, add a tablespoon of water to the saucepan along with the oil and garlic.

The sauce requires Parmesan cheese gratings, heavy cream, cream cheese, and chicken stock.

On the stove is the cheese sauce.

Heavy cream, cream cheese, and chicken stock are the initial ingredients added to the sauce. After around 10 minutes, when the sauce has thickened, add the Parmesan cheese.

Then, I reduced the heat to a simmer and kept the sauce warm while I prepared the remainder of the meal.

Following that, I cooked my five pork chops.

Chops of pork on a paper towel.

To guarantee a decent sear, I lightly dried them with a paper towel and seasoned them with kosher salt.

I browned the pork chops on both sides in a hot cast-iron skillet with one tablespoon of olive oil.

The pork chops were burning in a pan made of cast iron.

After the pork chops’ edges had browned, I flipped them over and repeated the process for a few minutes.

Next, I placed them immediately on top of the potatoes in the slow cooker.

Slow cooker containing pork chops and potatoes.

It may be challenging to cook pork without drying it out, so I was eager to see how this method would do.

I subsequently diced and sautéed my vegetables. This dish requires a medium-sized sliced onion and two cups of sliced mushrooms.

Mushrooms and onions sautéed

I sautéed the onion and mushrooms in the same skillet as the pork chops, scraping the pig fat into the vegetables.

This dish required significantly more preparation and cooking time than the others I’ve tried.

The pork chops after adding mushrooms and onions to the slow cooker.

After around thirty minutes of cooking, I was still unwilling to abandon my slow cooker.

When the onions and mushrooms were tender and lightly browned, I placed them on top of the pork chops and potatoes in the slow cooker.

The sauce was now sufficiently thickened to be put to the slow cooker.

On the stove is the cheese sauce.

The sauce should be thick enough to adhere to a spoon while remaining pourable throughout the slow cooker.

My sauce was a touch on the thicker side, but I anticipated that it would still be tasty in the end.

After pouring the cream sauce to the slow cooker pork chops.

The recipe calls for a greater quantity of sauce on top of the pork chops, mushrooms, and onions than on the bottom of the slow cooker. I was finally prepared to cover the slow cooker and let the food to finish cooking.

After three hours of cooking on high, my pork chops were ready for consumption.

The completed pork chops from the slow cooker.

I couldn’t wait to fill a bowl with the pork chops, potatoes, and lovely creamy sauce because the entire dish smelled divine.

The pork chops were really juicy and delicious, while the potatoes were cooked to perfection.

In a bowl, slow cooker pork chops.

Both the mushrooms and onions gave a ton of flavor to the dish, which I also appreciated. However, the creamy garlic sauce was by far the highlight of the dish.

Although I didn’t like to think about how much cream cheese was in the meal, it was vital to its success. The sauce supplied much-needed moisture to the potatoes and pork chops, as well as an abundance of garlic and Parmesan flavor.

Here you may find the Eatwell101 recipe.

I would make this recipe again and again, along with the other autumn slow cooker meals I’ve tried.