Cajun Pulled Chicken Seasoning Mix

I love super fast crock pot meals on days when I know I'm going to be too busy to make anything later on. This one is a new favorite of ours.

Cajun pulled chicken mix (single use)

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon pepper



Big batch (makes 4 uses)

1/2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons paprika
4 teaspoons onion flakes
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon pepper

What else you'll need

1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon oil
1 pound chicken breasts or thighs

Combine 3 1/2 tablespoons of mix with all other ingredients in the crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours until chicken shreds and everything becomes nice and saucy.



This is a great meal for us because my husband eats gluten free these days so I put mine on a bun and his on a baked potato (our oldest daughter usually wants a bit of both). I usually serve it with a salad on the side.



You can make it as pulled pork too, but we love chicken so we always use that. The leftovers are even better the next day!

Sweet and Sour Meatball Sauce Mix

When I go to parties it's not the desserts that tempt me these days but the appetizers! I don't know where I developed this savory tooth lately but I guess it's a part of getting older. Last month I went to a my daughter's preschool Christmas party and couldn't get enough of...

Sweet and Sour Meatball Sauce Mix (single use)

1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
pinch salt

What else you'll need

1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 pound cooked meatballs

I use my meatball mix to make the meatballs. Combine mix with water, vinegar and tomato paste and stir well.

Cook or reheat meatballs in a wok or saucepan and stir in sauce. Simmer them in the sauce until the sauce starts to thicken. This can also be done in the slow cooker.

Serve them as an appetizer:

Or as part of a meal:

These are a huge hit at my house!

Beef Stroganoff Seasoning Mix

Although I'm not happy about the recent cold weather (I'm not a fan of winter coming up), I am excited to be using my slow cooker more often. Recent experiments in the kitchen have led to...

Beef Stroganoff Seasoning Mix

2 beef bouillon cubes
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon parsley
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic
1/4 teaspoon thyme

I discovered that you can totally omit the beef bouillon cubes and replace them with a teaspoon of salt and still have the same taste- the beef itself has enough beef flavor!

What else you'll need

1 pound of stewing beef
1 cup water
1 package or can sliced mushrooms
1 cup sour cream
Cooked pasta noodles

Combine mix, mushrooms, water and beef and slow cook for 8-10 hours on low. Add in the sour cream near the end and stir well.

I served ours with mixed green salad and whole wheat rotini to make it a healthy meal. The beef cubes were so tender they melted in our mouths and everything got gobbled up.

Slow cooker Korean short ribs mix

It's September, and the days are slightly cooler. That means... slow cooking again! The other day we decided to take the girls out boating on the lake, and I knew that we would come home late and tired and tempted to order take out. So I filled up the crock pot before we left with...

Korean Short Ribs Mix

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon dried green onions
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper

What else you'll need

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup of water

Combine mix, soy sauce and water and stir well

Pour sauce over the ribs in the slow cooker.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours

After 10 hours the meat will be falling off the bone, so only cook for 8 if you want to gnaw off the meat. We had no choice because it took us 10 hours to get home.

I served our ribs with rice and that giant bag of Costco veggies we are trying to use up.

Delicious! Not as sweet as my honey garlic rib mix, but very tasty!

Jumbalaya Seasoning Mix

We recently bought an enormous pack of sausages from Costco and quickly tired of them. I started slicing up cooked sausage and putting them in pasta, but that barely put a dent in them. I needed to find something new and different to put them in. So...

Jumbalaya Seasoning Mix

1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon pepper

What else you'll need

oil for frying
1 onion chopped
1 bell pepper chopped (I used red as it was on sale)
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 cup uncooked rice
4 cups water or chicken stock
2 cooked sliced sausages
1 cup cooked shrimp (we omitted this as we didn't have any)
hot sauce to taste

Saute the onion, celery and pepper in oil, then add in the tomato once they are tender.

Add the water, mix, rice, sausage, shrimp and as much hot sauce as you can handle (we could only handle a tiny bit!). Simmer until rice is tender.

The result was delicious!! The best part is that we used up even more sausages in a way that tasted totally different! Next time we will just order the small packages from the farm like we usually do.

Pot Roast Seasoning Mix

I am very much ready for winter to be over, but it's not happening any time soon. In the meantime I've decided to take advantage of the cold weather by making comfort foods in my crock pot while I still have the chance. Like pot roast (or 'roast beast' as my husband calls it.)

Pot roast is the ultimate lazy food. A few minutes of preparation in the morning and my husband comes home from work thinking I'm a gourmet cook. All it takes is a tasty seasoning mix....

Pot Roast Seasoning Mix

2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper

You will notice thyme in the photo but I chose to omit it from the final recipe because it was too overpowering.

What else you'll need

3-5 pounds of roast (I used sirloin.. mmmm)

Spoon mix onto the roast and rub it on all sides using your fingers.

Place roast in a regular sized round crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours. It looks kind of gross but it smells and tastes delicious!

I served mine with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. It was a perfect meal for a January night! Stay tuned to see what I'm going to do with the leftovers....

Pulled Pork Seasoning Mix

Every year my husband looks forward to Ribfest like it's Christmas. He works downtown on the street where it's held and the sweet smell of BBQ sauce wafts in his windows for a week. His favourite is the pulled pork sandwhiches, so I thought I would try to create a mix variation to get him pumped up for the big event.

Pulled pork seasoning mix (single use)

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

What else you'll need


2 pounds boneless pork or chicken
1 can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons vinegar

I used chicken because I don't really like pork. Throw all ingredients into your slow cooker and cook on low for 10 hours. Shred the meat with a fork when it's done and mix it in with the sauce.

Serve hot on buns. My husband said even though it was chicken it tasted just like pulled pork. He was a pretty happy man that day.

Beef Vindaloo Mix

I have a friend who raves about Vindaloo, but being a lightweight when it comes to hot spices I’ve never been able to order it. But the good thing about making your own is you can put as much or little spice as you want, so I’m finally able to taste the flavor of Vindaloo without burning my intestines.

Beef Vindaloo Mix

3 tablespoons coriander powder
3 tablespoons cumin powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon ginger powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons cloves
1 ½ teaspoons cayenne

What else you’ll need

1 pound beef cut in cubes
3 peeled and chopped potatoes
14 oz can of tomatoes

Combine 3 tablespoons of mix beef, spices and all other ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.

I served mine with rice and cauliflower. I found it heavy on the cumin but I really don't like cumin so that could be why. Jason and Sera really seemed to enjoy it. You be the judge. Or just put less cumin...

Gumbo Seasoning Mix

My favourite thing to make with leftover roasted chicken is gumbo. You can make all those tiny little bits of chicken into a hearty meal with very little effort.

Gumbo Mix

3 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon cayenne (this makes it spicy, use less if you can't handle heat)

What else you’ll need

4 cups of water
1 bag of frozen okra, sliced
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes and their juices
1 cup uncooked rice
2 cups leftover cooked chicken

Combine 2 tablespoons of gumbo mix with all other ingredients in your slow cooker and cook on low for 6-8 hours, stirring once or twice. I love this recipe because it’s just a matter of dumping everything in the cooker and turning it on.

I buy my frozen okra pre-sliced which means I only have to open the bag and pour it in. The rice semi dissolves making it more of a thick broth than actual rice, but that's part of what makes the dish so good.

It was pretty spicy and I worried about feeing it to my daughter, but she's turning out to have a real taste for hot foods. Every time we have Indian food she goes nuts and she ate three bowls of this gumbo!

Sloppy Joe Mix

Whenever I think of sloppy joes I picture Chris Farley and Adam Sandler dancing and singing. I don’t think I’d ever actually eaten one before, because they look kind of scary, but I was determined to come up with a mix for them and try it out.

Sloppy Joe Mix

½ cup sugar
¼ cup paprika
4 teaspoons onion powder
4 teaspoons corn starch
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon pepper

What else you’ll need

1 pound ground beef
14 oz can of tomatoes

Combine ¼ cup of mix with tomatoes and beef and throw into your slow cooker on low for 6 hours. Can also be sautéed.

I served mine on whole wheat rolls with homemade fries and steamed baby carrots.

I was impressed by how far the meat 'stretched', we were able to get 6 huge sandwhiches out of one pound of ground beef. If I had made hamburgers I probably would have only been able to make 2 good sized ones with the meat. Sloppy joes might look totally disgusting, but as I discovered people eat them because they are freaking GOOD.

Stew Mix

I love making stew on a cold day. It’s the best way to make a bunch of cheap food taste great, or to use up whatever you have in your fridge. It’s only 3 weeks until spring (woo hoo!) so I’m trying to make all my winter meals one last time before it gets too hot to enjoy them.

Stew Mix

1 cup corn starch
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper

What else you’ll need

3 cups cold water
1 pound stew meat in cubes
8 cups chopped veggies (potatoes, carrots, frozen peas, yams, green beans, celery, parsnips- whatever you have).

In a slow cooker mix water, 1/3 cup powder and meat and cook on high while you chop the veggies. Add vegetables and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

I made mine with beef, 4 potatoes, 4 carrots and 2 cups of frozen peas. It was a hit, men and toddlers love stew, and it tastes even better reheated the next day.

Chana Masala Mix

I had a craving for my famous chana masala today.

A few years ago when we were saving for our house I used to make a giant batch of this every week to take to work. This used to stop me from running out to Subway or the Chip wagon every afternoon when I was still hungry after lunch.

Chick peas bridge the gap between vegetarians and meat eaters. They are not gross and slimy like tofu and they are not cute and furry like cows.

Single Use (to make sure you like it)

2 teaspoons coriander powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
1.5 teaspoons tumeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon cumin powder
½ teaspoon dry mustard powder

Big Batch (makes 6 uses)

4 tablespoons coriander powder
4 tablespoons garam masala
3 tablespoons tumeric
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons ginger powder
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon dry mustard powder

What else you’ll need

1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 14 oz cans of chick peas
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Pour tomatoes, chick peas, oil and 3 tablespoons of mix into a round slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours. Can also be simmered in a saucepan or cooked in the microwave. This truly is curry in a hurry. Serve with basmati rice.

Butter chicken (murgh makhani)

When people tell you they love Indian food they really just mean butter chicken. I’ve lived with a lot of people from India while I was going to school and they weren’t eating much butter chicken. Real Indian food is lentils. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, lentils, lentils, lentils. Who loves lentils? NOT ME!

But I do love butter chicken and so does my family. My husband wasn’t always a fan of Indian food, he used to be afraid of it. Back when we were dating I tricked him into liking it by cooking it for him and giving it non-Indian sounding names like ‘tomato chicken’ and ‘spicy stir fry’. After about a year I told him that I had been feeding him Indian food that entire time and he wanted me to keep making it. After that I called everything by the proper name.

My daughter is one of those weird babies that loves food that most people can’t stand until they are at least Thirty. Curry is right at the top of the list.

Single Use (to make sure you like it first)

½ teaspoon cardamom powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon cayenne
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons garam masala

Big Batch (Makes enough for 6 uses)

3 teaspoons cardamom powder
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
3 teaspoons ginger
3 teaspoons cayenne
4 tablespoons curry powder
4 tablespoons garam masala

What else you need

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast diced in cubes
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 14 oz can of coconut milk
4 tablespoons of butter

In a round slow cooker mix 2 ½ tablespoons of powder with tomatoes, coconut milk and butter. Add chicken and stir well. Cook on low for 6 hours. It can also be mixed in a glass baking dish and baked uncovered at 350 Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Serve with basmati rice.

How it was:

It was delicious, and tasted just as good as any Indian restaurant, but without a hefty bill at the end. It’s not as neon colored as most butter chicken has red food coloring in it. The taste is the same even if it’s not as bright. The green stuff on the side is steamed okra. Yes my toddler actually eats it. So does my husband.