Browsing the thread today for ideas. I'm thinking the fagoli, and putting a bunch of others on next week's grocery list.
This can hardly be called a recipe, but...for non-soup meals, I used to make "taco chicken" or "barbecue chicken."
- Pack as much raw chicken as you can fit.
- Add a packet or two of taco seasoning. OR a bottle of barbecue sauce.
- I usually add enough water to cover so that it doesn't cook weird, but try to minimize.
That's all. When done, shred with a fork and eat in taco shells with all the fixings, or barbecue chicken on kaiser rolls/hamburger buns.
That was one of my go-to recipes from the days of infants and toddlers underfoot and not having the patience to brown beef, cut produce, or measure a bunch of ingredients. It's not gourmet, but the only way to ruin it is to put too little seasoning for the amount of meat. It's definitely better than the recipe I tried once (from a book!) that called for chicken, salsa, and pineapple.
Sometimes, there is such as thing as too creative, lol.
I suspect that somewhere there's probably a sloppy joe recipe that would be the same non-soup concept, though by the time you brown the beef, I'm not sure that it's worth the crockpot.
My MIL used to make a hamburger soup with marjoram and potatoes and crushed tomatoes that wasn't browned, but that's the only dish I know like that. I don't have a recipe for that one, either...just chop potatoes and onions, dump beef and tomatoes, season with marjoram and anything else that sounds good...
It might have had corn and/or celery, depending on who was eating it, and whether you had any on hand.