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Homemade Crockpot Pasta Penne

Home Made Tomato Ground Beef Penne Pasta in Slow Cooker

Some times, it’s even hard to find 2 to 3 hours to make a lunch or dinner, and all there is is basic staples in your fridge/pantry. It’s not a problem, be inspired to change up the recipe with what’s in available to you!

Ingredients: (serves 4)
1 lb Ground Beef
2 sticks of Carrots
1/2 an onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp thyme
Penne Pasta
2 cups of Tomato Sauce
1/2 or 1 cup of Beef stock

First, if you have the time, brown the onions, ground beef, and garlic to develop more flavours. I didn’t have too much time, so I just placed everything into the crockpot.

You can then put in either pre-made pasta sauce, or you can make your own by flavouring up some crushed tomatoes with tomato sauce. If you’re making pasta sauce and you eat it a lot, it’s nice to make a giant batch and leave it in the fridge so it’s ready when you need some!

Then, you’re ready to put your pasta in! I just place the pasta in, and mixed it around for a bit. Set the crock pot on high for 1-2 hours or low for 2-3 hours. Add a splash of beef stock or water if your sauce is a little thicker before you close the lid and leave it for some time.

To enjoy, grate some cheese and season up the penne! It makes a great left over dish too!

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Homemade Slow Cooker Chilli

Chilli Con Carne

1 can of diced tomatoes (796 mL / 28 fl oz)
1 can of tomato paste (6 oz)
1 pound of lean ground beef
2 sticks of celery
1 onion
1 cup of white mushrooms
1 can of bean medley (15 oz)
1/4 cup brown sugar
hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

The Chilli Con Carne is the spicy stew better known as Chilli – which actually means spicy peppers with meat! I like my chilli’s quite thick and hearty as it’s a meal when I make it, and not a topper. I also like to use beans in my chilli as it helps thicken the chilli. Besides, without the beans, it just doesn’t seem the same.

I first start by chopping up my mushrooms, onions and celery and browning the meat in a pan with a tad of seasoning. When it’s all brown and there are little bits of goodness in the bottom of my pan, this is the stage where I add in the tomato paste and then I place the browned meat in to the crock-pot.

In my empty pan, I now put in my veggies, sauteing them until they are tender – and I put it in my crock-pot.

Now, I basically put everything else into the crock pot – I open up the canned diced tomatoes and pour out the liquids, and just put the tomatoes in. The can of beans needs a good rinsing before going into the crock pot as well, and I mix everything together with a bit of salt, couple dashes of hot sauce and some brown sugar.

I set this on low for 8 hours total. I did dig in when the 8 hours wasn’t up yet for lunch, and it was really good! I bought myself a nice crusty bread to absorb all the sauces and it was a delicious lunch. For dinner, we enjoyed it with some mashed potatoes. Chilli can go with anything, so here’s where you can be creative!