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hi BG in my experience most sc meals taste better if you leave them on the long side - deeper flavours and the meat melts in your mouth. I usually leave mine in for about 8-10 hours if I am doing lamb shanks or osso bucco and cheaper cuts of meat. HTH
I've done it heaps of times, leaving for work at 7am, getting home at 5pm & then eating around 6pm. I set mine for around 7 hours on low & then it has a "heat" function that goes for 4 hours to keep it warm, so in effect it is cooked by around 2pm and heated until I get home & put it back on low to warm back to a nice temperature for an hour.
hmmm - don't think it's a top of the line slow cooker ladies - it has off, low and high settings - no timers, no auto settings...
Just leave it on the slow side then if you want to use it all day, thats what I do BG and I also love using the Maggi meal packets//like lamb ragout, apricot chicken etc. I just chuck everything in and OMG it melts in your mouth...BUT I must buy a bigger one before winter..mines only a 3.5 baby..I think Im gonna need a big banger with my tribe soon.
I should get one this week with all the dame sales on!!!
i think the smart move might be to experiment a little on weekends and days off until i'm comfy with how it all works - then start doing the work day thing...
i'm not sure what i'm ever gonna cook though - it's a monstrous thing and there is only me 10 days out of 14!! hmmmmm
Cook it & freeze it!! Perfect for a lazy dinner or when the cupboards are bare & you don't feel like going shopping ;)
hehehe maybe we should swap cookers then BG pmsl
Oh you can cook a roast in them too
roast is always cooked on the bbq (if it's cooked here - normally we have roast with bro at his house - we buy, he cooks!)
was thinking of the freezing option Sarah - would be convenient when DH goes away in the truck cos he can take frozen food and just heat it up.... am thinking i might have to see if i can find him a freezer for the truck so that he doesn't have to use all his tucker in the first few days then live on truck stop food...
Hi all new here and also new to SC.
I have seen a few people talk about rice pudding in the sc threads. I was wondering was everyone talking about
Grandma's Creamy Rice – Posted by *Jo*
or is there another recipe I didn't see in the recipe thread.
Thanks everyone :D
well, took the SC for a spin yesterday - and the low setting on this thing is sooooooooo not low!!! a recipe in the recipe thread (Lucy's lemon chicken one) was cooked in 4hours instead of 8 (and by cooked, i mean it was starting to stick and over cook!! and yes, i double checked - it was definitely on low!!
will definitely have to play a bit before i'm brave enough to leave it during the day while i'm at work!!
found a recipe for a mandarin rice pudding that i'm going to try out tomorrow...
which slow cooker do you have Sarah? Thats what I'd like to be able to do - set it off at 7am and have dinner at about 6-6:30pm
omg - mandarin rice pudding was divine!!
Mandarin Rice Pudding
2 1/2 c Cooked rice
1 c Undiluted evaporated milk
1/2 c Mandarin orange liquid (can)
1/2 c Light brown sugar
3 tb Butter; melted
1 ts Vanilla
3 Eggs; beaten
1/2 c Raisins
1 c Drained mandarin orange sections
Combine rice with all ingredients except orange sections. Mix well. Lightly butter slow cooker. Pour in rice mixture. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours or on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours. Stir during first 30 minutes. During last half-hour, stir in orange sections.
DH served this with whippeed cream... very tasty!
i'm heading out shopping tomorrow with my dad and a slow cooker is on the top of my list of 'things to get'. is there any particular brand or model that you slow cooker experts could recommend??? thank you
don't answer that last one! just bought a kambrook 4.2litre from good guys on special for $35!! got a rice cooker on sale for $17 too. looking forward to starting to use them tomorrow. anyone know of a site with some good vegetarian slow cooker recipes???
justslowcooking.com has 164 vegetable recipes
Once you get used to using it you'll be able to adapt your favourite vege recipes. the trick is generally to just use less liquid because it doesn't evaporate the way it does on the stove op or in the oven.
I am interested in doing an Indian Butter Chicken or similar in my slow cooker. Does anyone have an easy recipe?
Help! I got a slow cooker for Christmas and thought I was a whiz coz I used one years ago, but now my lamb shanks have been in there for 4 hours and I can't remember if I'm supposed to stir it???
It looks like all the veg is just sitting on the top!
I would normally stir my slow cooker meal once about 1/2 way through. You lose a lot of heat and extend the cooking time when ever you lift the lid, so you aren't meant to do it often.
We are having slow cooker bolagnese sauce with pasta tonight. If I let stuff simmer on the stove I always end up cleaning up a heap of splatters and or burning the bottom of the dish, so I use my slow cooker!
Okay cool, thanks Ruth! I just checked it and there is more than enough liquid now, so I may give it a quick stir and cover it back up again!
Good idea about the bolognese, much cleaner than on the stove top! I'm hungrily looking up sc recipes atm, so that's on my list for sure!
Hellooooo!
I got a small slowcooker for Christmas (Morphy Richards 2.5l) and so i've been trawling your posts and recipes with growing excitement (VERY sad - i have officially become my mother) and am just beginning to have a shot at it.
I made a beef stew with dumplings last week (containing 800g of diced beef brisket, an onion, 2 carrots, 3 potatoes, 2 vege stock cubes and a handful of pearl barley, and dumplings which were just SR flour and suet and salt and some dried herbs) which came out beautiful - really melty meat, really lush herby dumplings and though i had to chuck a bit of flour in it to thicken (i didn't coat the meat with flour before browning) it was great otherwise. Next time i'm going to swap a potato for a parsnip. I LOVE experimenting with food :P
Tonight while i sleep i'm making smoked bacon, split pea (yellow) and lentil soup (also contains a couple of diced potatoes, an onion, a clove of garlic and some herbs). Will it be ok overnight does anyone know? It has plenty of water and is on low. The peas were only soaked for 2 hours and the lentils not at all, so they'll take some cooking anyway. I am wanting it done by tomorrow morning as i am generally too busy with DD to get prep done before about 9am and i need it for lunchtime.
BTW BG, i am really excited to try a rice pudding! I hadn't thought about puddings in it, only stews and casseroles and soups...mmmm!
Bx
Well the lamb shank pasta sauce was a success yesterday, even if it was a tad watery and the sauce needed a little boiling down. I reckon it would have been perfect if DH hadn't come home hungry and decided he really wanted to eat an hour early!
Bec, I've been trawling the sc recipes too! I too didn't know you could make desserts in it. The Lamb Shank recipe was one from BB, and I'll looking for another one for tonight! Lol!
i've found some pretty interesting looking recipes on the internet - one i have to try is a pina colada bread pudding - just sounds like my kinda dessert!
Bx - the soup will be fine overnight but the problem is being woken at 3am with the delicious smells :)
Sushee - you can reduce the liquid on the stove for a thicker sauce if DH gets impatient next time ;)
BG - those puddings sound so yummy and yet sooooooo wicked!!
Woohoo I'm going to buy a SC with some money I got from Christmas. So excited, I've never used one before and can't wait to get started!! Ok just wondering what size should I get?? I would want to maybe make enough for a meal and then have some leftovers for lunches, freezer etc.
There is only DH, myself and DD at the moment although she doesn't eat much yet lol! Also is there any brand that people would recommend?? Ta !!
I think I was given a 4.5ltr one and with the three of us (though DS2 should count as 2 people!) it was sufficient, though when I first put everything in it was a teeny bit of a tight fit.
Sange
you are better getting one that is too big rather than one that is too small. We got a giant one 7L and there is only 2 of us. We mak extra food and put in the freezer. Ok perhaps 7L is a little over the top for 2 but I'm sure you get my point.
It was the only one on special.
Hehehe too big for most people I supose
Anyway we have only had it for about 2 months and I love it. Can't think how I managed without it.
Ok time to stop rambling now.
I was asked if I wanted a bigger one, too, but silly me, I said no, just a little one will do! Lol!
Ok I like the idea of freezing leftovers to bigger will probably be better! I'm going shopping tomorrow.....:dance:
Update: I bought a 6.5L, probably a bit big but it was on special so I grabbed it! Ok going to try use it as soon as I come up with some recipes, anything recommended for a first time user????
hello from hong kong
my husband is arriving in sydney this arvo on a business trip. although we are canadian, we are currently based in hong kong. i am craving a slow cooker/crock pot.
my sweet, sweet husband is quite excited about the idea. would you ladies (who provided the recipes that got him excited about the idea!) be able to recommend the a cooker for us?
- we have four kids - ages 6, 4,4,4 so a six l (plus) would be best
- we dont' need a sc with two compartments
i have read your threads, and i have seen three or so names tossed around. my fear is the meal being ready TOO SOON. i guess i don't have the confidence that i would know the meal was ready and instead i would pick up the top after the allotted time and find a shrivelled tiny vegetables and wizened meat, or risotto so dry it looked like it never came out of the packet.
so i would love your recommendations and also - where to buy???
many many thanks
fourscore
I am subscibing to this thread.. yum!!
I have a corn meat in my SC at the moment.. I didn't realise all the different things you could make in them.....
Hooray!!! I finally got an SC today a 5.5lt from the brevilles factory outlet in huntingdale for $42. Now to choose which recipe to do first
I found this recipe on the net last night.
CORNED BEEF
INGREDIENTS
corned beef
1.25lt bottle ginger beer
1 onion quatered
1tbsp golden syrup (optional)
METHOD
place corned beef in slow cooker, place in onion and golden syrup(optional), pour over ginger beer.
Cook on low 8-10 hours
or cook on high 4-5 hours.
I add an orange and 1ltr of vege or chicken stock when cooking corned beef and potato. yumbo.... I put it on at midday and it is usually ready by 5 ish
I own a slow cooker, have had it about five years. In that time I have used it once (and this was only last year!), to cook a roast (beef). I also have a recipe book for SC which I got the roast from. I was not very impressed, it didn't turn out all that nice. I am glad that I got both second hand, so that I didn't spend a heap of money. At the moment, I am doing a purge of all my kitchen cupboards, and the SC takes a heap of room, and I am really thinking about getting rid of it.
How often do you guys use your SC? Are you happy with how the food turns out, not just because of its convenience of "set and forget" cooking?
I would rather use the SC than the oven in summer, as I am sure we all would.
I am now going to go through the SC recipes on here and see if I can't find some that seem more appealing than those in the book that I have.
Any positive points on your SC's would be good to read.
i love my sc, ideally i woulkd like to use it twice a week but that doesnt happen!!
im cooking a green chicken curry right now for dinner tonight
I've only had mine since Christmas, so it is still the honeymoon, but i am using it 2-3 times a week. I've made 2 beef cassroles with dumplings, a split pea, lentil and smoked bacon soup, a lamb stew and (last night) a chicken broth.
Honestly i am LOVING it. I really like that i go to bed and when i get up the food for the next few days is ready to go. The first few times i floured and fried the meat first but after reading a post by Cai that she didn't bother as it defeated the "chuck it in and leave it" benefit of the SC i stopped doing so and it works great still. My triumphs were probably the lamb stew which was totally amazing and the pea and bacon soup which was like eating smoky velvet, it was SO good. Mine's only a 2.5litre crockpot, but that still means 4-6 portions of whatever i make, and i have a good selection of samples in my tiny freezer now too. I've not tried the chicken broth yet, but i just took then thighs out to take the bones out and it certainly smells very good.
I think it being winter here helps. NOt sure i'd want to eat stew throught the heat of summer, although the chicken broth would be ok in hot weather.
One thing i REALLY love is that i recently decided to make the switch to free-range chicken (i've never bought battery eggs and now i'm not buying into force-raised meat hens either) and i'm on welfare so for the price of 4 force-raised chicken breasts i can only get 4 free range chicken thighs, but because the SC cooks everything so slowly it actually means i'm enjoying my chicken much more and SAVING money - 4 breasts would have made 2-4 meals for us. I used 3 thighs in the broth which will last days and still have a thigh in the fridge to do something else with.
Great stuff! :)
Bx
I used to only use mine in winter but so far we have had a mild summer so used it more often...
To be honest we have only cooked corned beef or chicken in it.. I didn't realise you could cook all these other yummy things...
we had a bit of a last minute thing the other day where it got to 2pm, the boys had been into town and grabbed bbq meat, cooked it up, then my bro made the announcement that they were staying for dinner too! we live 20k's from anywhere that you can buy meat, had nothing defrosted - DH and i were going to have bbq leftovers - but that's not enough for four adults and 3 kids!
sooooo, we grabbed some chooken fillets out of the freezer, chucked them into the SC with a couple of jars of spag bol sauce - and let it go on low! once the meat had thawed a bit, we grabbed it out, diced it and threw it back in - and then about half hour before we were ready for dinner we threw in some almost cooked spaghetti and mixed it through - let it sit on low for half hour - where the spag finished cooking and soaked up the excess fluid - served it in bowls with grated cheese on top - was delish!!! even the kids, who were tired and picky, sat there and ate massive meals - the three year old came back for more...
I haven't used my SC in ages. It does get a pretty good workout in winter or the cooler weather. I have done roast's in it, stews, pumpkin soup, chicken and sweet corn soup, lots of yummy things.
The one thing I haven't tried yet is making sweet's in there. Not sure if I'm game or not.
Wow, you guys really do a lot. And a lot of feedback in just a day.
I am inspired to keep my SC and give it a go.
I should use it, as it gets to 5pm and I really can't be bothered cooking anything, so if I can get it all in the SC in the morning, when I am most motivated, dinner will be under control and most importantly, ready at a certain time, ie, 6pm.
I really love slow cooked meat, where it just falls off the bone, so I am kind of surprised myself that I haven't used it. I have two lamb shanks in the fridge, which I will try to put on for tonight. I won't even brown them before I put them in, as Hoobley said it does defeat the purpose. If not for tonight, then tomorrow. I will let you know how they go.
I think I will also have to keep reading this thread and the SC recipes to keep motivated, my SC in use, and my kitchen cool!
Oops! They will be tomorrow, I forgot the Man said he wants Indian for dinner tonight! We have the most fabulous Indian restaurant near us, and our 11month old absolutely loves it too!