Slow cooker favorites?

Subject: Slow cooker favorites? Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:39 pm

I see somebody mentioned a slow cooker...I have a very nice one that I've never used because I have no recipes! Does anybody have a family favorite that never fails? Something simple, but full of flavor. My husband would like me to make more beef, but I barely, if ever make it because I just don't know how....Any suggestions would be most helpful!

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:03 am

My family favourite is Lamb Shanks.

I liek them frenched, because they have less fat on them. Throw in how ever many you want, (I usually use four, we're a family of five)
I soak some soup mix over night in the fridge. (A mix of lentils and grains) drain them and add to pot.
Chop 3 large carrots, half a celery, add to pot.
Add a packet of dry french oinion soup mix. (Spring vegetable works well too, it's a lighter flavour, so I use French onion in winter and spring vegetable in autumn/spring.)

add an oxo beef cube and a handful of red lentils. (Red lentils are great for thickening soups, stews and casseroles without having to add flour.)

Fill with water, put on lid, set to auto and walk away.

That's the bare recipe. Sometimes I'll chunky cut some potato and throw that in, or swedes. Parsnip is good too. The great thing about slow cooker recipes is that you can alter them to suit your own family tastes.

I've got one for chicken, and a ravioli stew.

But, if you are looking for recipes, all you need is your regular stew/casserole recipes and add abotu 4-6 hours to cooking time. (So in other words, just load your pot in the morning and by tea time, dinner will ready)

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:55 pm

Thank you! I've actually never tried lamb, and neither had my husband until recently at a restaurant. He really liked it!

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:28 pm

I will get back ya tonight for some crock pot recipes. I still got school to do!!!!

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:11 pm

Lamb is a staple food in Australia. (Well we have more sheep than people here!) I'm not a big beef fan. I grew up eating beef almost every day. Some times we'd trade a calf for a lamb with a neighbour and end up with lamb in the freezer, (I love love love lamb, except for lamb's fry, I just can't eat lambs brains. Oddly enough though I have no problem eating their testicles??!! They're considered a delicacy)

I had a ton of trouble finding recipes for my slow cooker. Until I realised that I didn't need special recipes. I could use all my old recipes for stews and casseroles, all I had to do was adjust the cooking time. With some recipes, it helps to brown the meat first, just for flavour. I never bother to do that with chicken (it dries it out a little) and I don't do it with joints, like shanks. But if you are using diced meat I recommend browning the meat and onions before throwing them in the pot.

But all you need is your favourite old recipes and to add 4-6 hours to them and you'll never run out of recipes for your cooker. (I find that if I put the pot on in the morning when I am pottering around the kitchen, by about 4pm, my dinner is done, I don't normally think too much about cooking times, but that was the best time scale I found. In the beginning when I stuck to recipes word for word!)

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:19 am

Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules

1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
[b]DIRECTIONS[/b]

In a bowl, mix the oregano, salt, and pepper. Rub the mixture into chicken. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken in butter for 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Place chicken in a slow cooker.

In the same skillet, mix the water, lemon juice, garlic, and bouillon. Bring the mixture to boil. Pour over the chicken in the slow cooker.

Cover, and cook on High for 3 hours, or Low for 6 hours. Add the parsley to the slow cooker 15 to 30 minutes before the end of the cook time.

***** I personally add a lot more garlic, lemon, and bouillon in it.*****

Slow Cooker Beef Stew
[b]INGREDIENTS[/b]

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups beef broth

3 potatoes, diced

4 carrots, sliced

1 stalk celery, chopped
[b]DIRECTIONS[/b]

Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.

Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

****I use more garlic, bay leaves and celery. This is a pretty good basic recipe****

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
[b]INGREDIENTS[/b]

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken

1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed

1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups water

1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

7 corn tortillas

vegetable oil
[b]DIRECTIONS[/b]

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

******Instead of water, I added more chicken broth, I add more enchilada sauce, use Rotel instead of whole tomatoes, I just add Frozen Chicken breast then shred it when done, sometimes I add less cumin and chili pepper if it’s just for the kids. I garnish with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:08 am

Wow, Gina! Thank you!

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Wed Jan 24, 2007 1:42 pm

Oh, that Lemon Garlic Chicken is one of my all time favorites. Sometimes I use Limes. I always make rice with it since the broth is the best part and heavenly on the rice. I may have to do that tonight!!!

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:42 pm

Gooseberry Patch has a brand new Slow Cooker cookbook out. I have a recipe that was picked to be published and I received a free copy of the book. It's got some great recipes in it!

Here is the link, if you're interested.

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Wed Jan 24, 2007 5:51 pm

Karla that is so neat that your recipe is being published! I was at my library's ongoing book sale the other day, and I found a Gooseberry patch cookbook for a dollar. I bought it and it has so many good things in it! I especially can't wait to make the spinach and mushroom baked manicotti. It also has a lot desserts made with eggnog, which I love.

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:01 pm

Gina that lemon garlic chicken sounds lovely I think I'll try that on the weekend.

Karla thats brilliant that you've got some recipes published - I've just had a look at the site and they deliver to the UK so I'll get that book out of my next pay.

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:21 pm

Gina, your recipes sound fab! I too am going totry the lemon garlic chicken!
Thank you!

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Sat Jan 27, 2007 1:01 pm

I found these recipes on another site I visit, so I thought I'd post them here

Lemon pepper chicken

Take four large breasts of chicken and trim any remaining fkin or fat off.
Squeeze half a lemon
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place chicken in the slow cooker. Squeeze lemon juice over the chicken. Sprinkle on the pepper. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Add more lemon juice if needed.

Pork au vin

mushrooms
pork steak
red and green peppers cut into strips
red wine
paprika
worcester sauce
tomatoes tin

Mix everything together. You can save money by getting those strange looking mushrooms which are cheapest, don't buy a lot as a couple thinly sliced will go a long way.
Wine - this can make this dear if you're opening a bottle just for this but *a great money saving hint* is to freeze dregs of leftover wine in ice cubes and then throw a couple in to recipes as needed.
Buy economy peppers (Or visit the greengroce where you'll find fruit loads cheaper)
Buy a cheap cut of pork but not too fatty. Again if you're bulking with veggies add more mushrooms and have less pork as the mushrooms will be cheaper per pound!
Tinned tomatoes are ALWAYS cheapest if you buy them unchopped. Takes about 10 seconds to chop them!

Pork and Apple Stew
pork
apples
onions
tin cream of celery soup
cider
throw in some dumpling 40 mins before serving
when nearly cooked, thicken with cornflour

Casserole

paprika
worcester sauce
Seasoning
red wine - see above for hint
Water to make up liquid
Assortment of veg - whatever is cheap and in season.
Meat - cut into smaller pieces

If it needs thickening towards end add cornflour and water miux and cook for another 1/2 to 1 hour.

Slow cooker for joints of meat

just put the joint in with 1 pint water. Large piece of meat should take about 8 hours, always check your instruction book for an indication of time.
Can put veggies under the meat

Slow cooker Rice Pudding

Butter the inside of the cooking pot. Add 400ml milk, 150ml evaporated milk, 50g pudding rice, 50g sugar. Stir and cook for 4-5 hours.

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:34 pm

Hi! This is not a slow cooker dish, but I made it the other day for the first time and I absolutely loved it:

Shiitake Mushroom and Spinach Manicotti:

12 manicotti or cannelloni shells
1/4 cup butter or margarine, divided
4 1/2 cups sliced shiitake or other mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
10-oz. fresh spinach, course stems removed
1 cup ricotta cheese
3 oz. freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 egg beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 T all purpose flour
2 cups half and half
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup shredded gouda cheese
Enough bread crumbs to equal 2 slices bread (I just used two small handfuls)
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican four-cheese blend
3 T. butter or margarine, melted

Cook shells according to package. Drain.

Meanwhile, melt 3 tablespoons butter in large skillet. Add mushrooms and garlic and saute until mushroom liquid is absorbed. Transfer mushroom mixture to large bowl.

Melt remaining one tablespoon butter in same skillet. Add spinach. Cover and cook over medium-low heat five minutes or until spinach wilts. Add spinach to mushroom mixture. Stir in ricotta cheese and next four ingredients. Spoon mixture into cooked shells. Place stuffed shells in greased 13x9 dish.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in heavy saucepan over low heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Cook one minute, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in half and half. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Stir in 1/2 tsp salt. Add Gouda cheese, stirring until cheese melts. Pour over stuffed shells.

Combine bread crumbs, cheese blend and 3 tablespoons melted butter in a bowl. Toss well and sprinkle over shells. Bake uncovered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly. Serves 6.

Subject: Re: Slow cooker favorites? Thu Feb 01, 2007 8:56 am

Amy - if you want a meat-cooking primer, this is a good start
http://thefoody.com/meat/basics.html