I like cooking recipes in my slow cooker that will make two separate meals.
Here's one of my favorites:
Meaty Spaghetti Sauce
1 lb ground beef
1 lb bulk Italian sausage
1 med. green pepper, chopped
1 med. onion, chopped
8 garlic cloves, minced
3 cans (14.5 oz each) Italian diced tomatoes, drained (drain very well or your sauce will be watery)
2 cans (15 oz each) tomato sauce
2 cans (6 oz each) tomato paste
1/3 Cup sugar
2 TBL Italian seasoning
1 TBL dried basil
2 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
(if you don' t like sweet sauce just omit the sugar, or use a little less)
Brown meat until longer pink, drain.
Transfer to 5 qt slow cooker. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Serves 12 or you can do what I do:
Freeze half the sauce for a second meal or put a lasagna together with it some of it and freeze. Then all you have to do is pull the lasagna out of the freeze and bake.
This is a new one I tried yesterday (I haven't made the second meal yet but it looks really good):
I couldn't find tostada shells so we used tortilla chips instead.
Adobo Pork Tostadas
Ingredients:
1 3 to 3 1/2 lb boneless pork shoulder roast
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp finely chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
6 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup canned refried beans
8 corn tostada shells
1 cup packaged mixed salad greens
1 cup chopped tomato (2 medium)
1 avocado, halved, seeded, peeled, and thinly sliced
1 cup queso fresco cheese, crumbled (4 oz)
1/2 cup sour cream
Directions:
Trim fat from roast; cut pork into chunks. Place pork in a 4-5 quart slow cooker. In a medium bowl, stir together tomato sauce, chicken broth, chipotle pepper, garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, and pepper; pour over pork in cooker.
Cover and cook on low heat setting for 10-12 hours or high heat setting for 5-6 hours.
Remove pork from cooker. Using two forks, shred pork. Reserve half of the pork (about 3 cups) and 2 cups of the sauce; store in separate containers (keeps 3 days in fridge or 3 months in the freezer). Mix the remaining pork with 1/2 cup of the sauce. Discard any remaining sauce.
Spread refried beans over tostada shells. Top evenly with pork mixture. Divide greens, tomato, avocado, and cheese evenly among tostadas. Top each with sour cream.
Second meal with reserved meat and sauce:
Chipotle Pork Tamale Casserole
16oz tube polenta, sliced 1/2 inch thick
Reserved meat and sauce from recipe above
! C shredded cheddar cheese
!/2 tomato
!/4 sliced green onion
Preheat oven to 375. Arrange polenta slices in 2 quart casserole dish. Top with pork, spoon 1/2 C sauce over pork.
Bake covered for 30 minutes. Top with cheese and uncovered 5 minutes to melt cheese. Sprinkle with tomato and green onion. Serve with warm sauce.