This recipe is one of my favorite Crock Pot meals. I call it "Crock Pot Ground Meat Pockets" because you can use any meat as long as it is a lean type ground meat. I decided to change it up a bit and make ground meat pockets with this meat mixture.
This dish is such a versatile. I have frozen this cooked dish in two four serving freezer bags for two family meals. I also used this recipe as a meat tomato sauce with pasta. And, of course, made it into turkey pockets. It's so easy to do.
Ingredients:
3 lb lean ground meat (chicken, turkey or beef)
½ cup chopped onion
Two cloves of garlic
40 oz of tomato sauce
1 (6 oz.) can of tomato paste
1 (3.8 oz) can of sliced ripe olives, drained
One drizzle of olive oil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
½ teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
8 - 12 oz shredded mozzarella
Four canisters of prepackaged croissant
Instructions:
Add the olive oil to the pan, then add the ground turkey, onion, and garlic, and optional red pepper to it to make it spicy. Stirring frequently over medium heat for 6-8 minutes until the meat cooks. Drain the meat.
In the 3 ½ to 4-quart slow cooker, add the cooked meat mixture, tomato sauce, parsley, tomato paste, sliced ripe olives, and add optional dried oregano and mix well.
Cover, cook on high settings for 2 hours or low setting for 3.5 to 5 hours.
Here is how to make the pockets. (Note: I only did two canisters and used the rest for leftovers the next day.)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Keep two sides of the croissant together and place them on a parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
Let it cool a bit and then drain about ⅓ of a cup of the mixture and add to the top of the croissant.
Add a tablespoon of shredded mozzarella on top then cover with the other croissant pair. Be sure to pinch the edges.
Bake it in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.
That's it. Eat and enjoy.
Here is a printable of the recipe.
Save to BigOven 
Ingredients
- 3 lb lean ground meat (chicken, turkey, or beef)
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 40 oz of tomato sauce
- 1 (6 oz.) can of tomato paste
- 1 (3.8 oz) can of sliced ripe olives, drained
- 1 drizzle of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano (optional)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 8 oz shredded mozzarella
- 4 canisters of prepackaged croissant
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to the pan, then add the ground turkey, onion, garlic, and optional red pepper to make it spicy. Stirring frequently over medium heat for 6-8 minutes until the meat is cooked. Drain the meat.
- In the 3 ½ to the 4-quart slow cooker, add the cooked meat mixture, tomato sauce, parsley, tomato paste, sliced ripe olives, and optionally dried oregano and mix well.
- Cover, cook on high settings for 2 hours or low settings for 3.5 to 5 hours.
- How to make the pockets.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Keep two sides of the croissant together and place them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
- Let it cool a bit and then drain about ⅓ of a cup of the mixture and add to the top of the croissant.
- Add a tablespoon of shredded mozzarella on top, then cover with the other croissant pair. Be sure to pinch the edges.
- Bake it in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.
- That's it. Eat and enjoy.
Notes
If you have leftover filling, you can use it to make sandwiches the next day.
Feel free to leave a comment below about what you think of this recipe. I hope you enjoy it.
Visit Amazon for products you would need for this recipe or new cookbooks about slow cooking. (aff.)
