Why the Slow Cooker Casserole?

Well, as you have probably figured out by now, there can’t be any cooking going on in this house without a little bit of drama attached to it.  A couple of weeks ago, my daughter called me while I was over my friend’s house, and she stated that the oven had been on preheat for 40 minutes, but still didn’t come on.  Hmmm.  Okay, breathe.  She proceeded to tell me that she didn’t realize we had just ran out of oil, so the meal that she tried cooking stuck to the bottom of the skillet, and she had to end up throwing it out.  Okay, breathe.  I definitely had to take a few minutes to process this one.  This became number 4 on our list of repairs that needed to be done, and will have to wait.

Fast forward, my son and I were in the grocery store early last week, and I decided that I would make two breakfast bread casseroles.  They would last for a week, and the kids could heat them up in the microwave and head out to school.  After getting all of the ingredients except the tin foil pans from Dollar Tree, I thought, “Wait a minute.  The oven doesn’t work.”  This is when Plan B went into effect.  My grandmother used to always say, ” There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”  Although I don’t think anyone would do that.  Back to the story.  I kept thinking to myself would it be possible to make a bread casserole in a slow cooker.  I checked Pinterest, but their slow cookers were rectangular shaped, and their casseroles were not like mine.  Well, you know me by now.  I decided that the worst thing that could happen is that the casserole didn’t come out right.  Praise God!  It was delicious!  I hope you feel brave enough to try my concoction.  My kids loved it.  I made a vegan one, and then the next night, I made a non-vegan one.  Please feel free to email me with your favorite slow cooker recipes with permission, and I will post it for others to see.  Have a blessed night, and happy cooking!

Activity:  Making a Vegan & Ground Turkey Slow Cooker Casserole

Total Prepping and Cooking Time:  2.5 hours

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of hash browns
• 1 pack of ground turkey
• 1 pack of Lightlife Meatless Mexican Crumbles (vegan casserole)
• 1 can of fire-roasted salsa style diced tomatoes
• 1 can of cut-leaf spinach
• 3 tablespooons of oil
• 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
• 2 cups of low sodium vegetable broth (vegan casserole)
• 2 cups of unsalted chicken broth
• 3 teaspoons of onion powder
• 3 teaspoons of garlic powder
• 3 teaspoons of cumin
• 3 teaspoons of turmeric
• 3 teaspoons of marjoram
• 3 slices of vegan bread
• 3 slices of non-vegan bread
• 1 cup of water
• 3 cups of milk

Directions:

• Make a layer of eight to ten hash browns for layer 1.
• Add the layer of uncooked meat, making sure to even distribute across.
• Add half of the can of spinach.
• Add half of the can of tomatoes.
• Break up three slices of bread into cubes.
• Add the water, broth, nutritional yeast, oil, and all the rest of the seasonings.
• Add 1 1/2 cups of milk.  (I used oat milk.)
• Cook on high for 2 1/2 hours.
• Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. Psalms 122:1, KJV