no hurry - won't be til at least Friday that i get worked up enough to do some more cookin!
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no hurry - won't be til at least Friday that i get worked up enough to do some more cookin!
Okay. I am going to get lots of typing practice. I think there is at least three recipes I need to post....:redface:
Hi Ladies
I have bought some lamb chops which I was going to put into the slow cooker with some tin tomatoes and vegies... my question is, how long do you think lamb chops would need to cook for?
No idea Kellie! I'm sure an expert will come in and tell you soon. Let us know how they turn out though, I never thought of putting lamb chops in the SC!
I have a question myself! I cooked a chicken and vegie curry last week using chicken thighs. I cooked it for 4 hours on high (the minimum the recipe suggested), but the chicken fell apart and it ended up looking like stringy slop! It was absolutely delicious still, but the presentation was not so good LOL. Does anyone know why this happened? Did I cook it for too long?
TIA :)
Thanks Trish
In regards to your question, I would have thought that if you had cooked it for too long the chicken would have been dry, but I'm not an expert. Maybe a different cut of chicken would be better?
I haven't used lamb chops but have used forequarter chops. I put it on in the morning and we had it for tea, so it was on all day. I have cooked it for a few hours the day before, let cool, taken off the fat that rose to the top then cooked it a bit more. The next time I cooked the chops, I browned them first and that took some of the fat off. Like any recipe its trial and error til you get it how you like it.
My neice puts in chicken fillets, can of apricot nector, cup or two of vegetables and puts it on. Haven't tried it as DD has a problem with apricots.
I had a look at a couple of cheapy cookers today. Both were only 5kg and I wasnt sure about the settings.
Is it normal for them to just have low and high?
I will be looking at some better brands and try find one with the warmer/timer setting.
this thread convinced me i needed a slow cooker :lol: so i bought one last night & have just put on my first dish - a thai red chicken curry. fingers crossed it tastes okay!!
Mine has warm as well but it has a timer. I think the basic ones just have high and low. I got mine from Bing Lee and it was about $80 from memory, they usually will do you a good deal.:
I got the Breville Banquet Meal Maker for about $80 at Kmart. It has High, Low and Warm. I figure I don't need the timer although I can see how it would be nice. I don't work though so I can get home when ever I need to if I am out to turn off the SC. Size was more of an issue for me because the 4th person in our family is on the way and if I get my way there will be a family of 8 in a few years time so 6.5lts was very important!
Well I've got my potato, leek and bacon soup in today.
I went to the butcher and got a bacon bone to put in the pot and only a little bacon.
Today I went for a vegetable hiding spree so I have in my soup:
6 cups chicken stock
1 ham bone
1 cup water
100gm bacon chopped
6 potatoes large chopped
2 leeks chopped
1/2 cauliflower chopped
1 zucchini chopped
2 cloves of garlic, just smashed
pepper (salty enough)
We're all super sick atm so I thought I'd do a dose of veges for everyone. The girls didn't eat the chicken vege soup I made last week but "White Soup" is one of Matilda's favourite soups and if you use bacon bone, you can't taste the other veges in it. I am going to go out to the garden & chuck in a handful of baby spinach as well. Blended up we call it "herbs" in our house *wink wink*
Mmmmm sounds great Christy, I am on way way over to have some :p
Oooh....I am feeling so inspired from reading this!! I don't have a slow cooker but I'm going to get one now!
So, I don't cook, lol. DH usually does. Not that I'm a bad cook I just never really have and DH likes to do it so he does. I figure seeing as he knows how to do it and likes it he can probably do it better so let him do it. Anyways, I'm feeling like cooking stuff lately!! And I think, when the baby comes DH isn't going to be wanting to come home and cook dinner, he'll want to see me and the baby and I'll probably want him to help out with the baby. SO a SC sounds good. I could put the stuff on during the day so it's ready for dinner when DH gets home. AND I could also make him things to take to work, we always run out of ideas for work so this would give him more variety.
Anyways, my questions. Does this sound like a good plan?
Is it really that easy? Would even i be able to do it?? lol
Do you use your SC in summer or is it more of a winter thing?
Is it energy efficient? Having it on for so long does that use up more energy than cooking something in the oven, or because it's on low is it better?
Thanks guys, I'm so excited now!! I could become a good cook yet!! DH will be so impressed, lol.
Okay....
Does this sound like a good plan? Yep, we use it to make larger portions and then we freeze some if needed or we save it for lunch
Is it really that easy? Would even i be able to do it?? Yes
Do you use your SC in summer or is it more of a winter thing? I use it in summer, but not as much. I do things like roast chook etc so I can have it with salad. I make some soups over summer, but mainly we make curries etc
Is it energy efficient? Having it on for so long does that use up more energy than cooking something in the oven, or because it's on low is it better? I have no idea, sorry!! Our electricity usage has been going down, but I use it when I work so I have been using it heaps more over the past quarter.... dunno.
In today's slow cooker is left over roast pork, onions, carrots, pumpkin, rosemary, tinned tomatoes, stock and it will cook away till I get home. Then I will add diced capsicum and some broken up spagetti. This is my minestrone style soup! Yumo.
Thankyou Christy!! I am definately getting one, I'm so excited!!
How many times a week would you say you use your SC??
i would say we use our slow cooker (or meals from the slow cooker) at least four days a week. we cook in bulk, and feeze a lot, so it's much more energy efficient. DH reheats his in a little cooker he has in the truck, mine defrosts and then i heat on the cooktop or make into a pasta bake type dish in the oven.
I bought a slow cooker today!! I'm so excited. Had some money off some ppl from my birthday so thought I'd treat myself to a new appliance rather than not use it for anything in particular like I usually do!!
What should I make first I wonder. Off to check out the recipes now.
SaraJane - i never really wanted a SC myself until i joined this site! but everyone's posts about how good the meals were made me run out last week & get one! i tried a that red chicken curry first but i've just put on the moroccan beef dish that's in the recipe thread.
Sloane- lol, me too, I didn't even know about slow cookers until I read this thread!!
Ok, I have a question about the Auto setting on my SC. The book says "On AUTO setting, the cooking (cycle) will begin on highest power and then will automatically switch to lowest power once the correct temperature has been reached".
So how long does it cook on high then?? When do I use Auto??
I've decided to cook Jo's Chicken Recipe first! Sounds yum.
So, it really cooks for that long?? It won't be overcooked?? I can't believe it.:
Chicken recipe - Posted by Jo
500g chicken thigh/breast, diced
1 tin crushed tomatoes
1 onion, finely diced
1 tbsp mustard powder
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp tomato paste
Place chicken in slow cooker
Mix all other ingredients together and pour over chicken
Cook on low for 8 hrs or high for 6 hrs+
We had it with rice and it was yummo!
Oh, and I'm not supposed to open the lid and stir?? Have to try to resist that one.
My friend does everything on auto and it turns out fine Sara. (I do stir every now and then I must confess LOL)
you shouldnt need to stir. Apparently, if you stir, by opening the lid, you add another 20 mins onto the cooking time.
I bought a marinated chicken from the supermarket before - should I cook it on high or low? and for how long?
my guess is low for 6 hours
Is it really worth doing something like a marinated chicken in the slow cooker - I would have thought you would have got a better result just by throwing it into the oven to roast conventionally?
A marinated chook in the slow cooker is actually pretty good. And I love the fact that that it melts away, I still love roast chook they are just two different things I guess.
your probably right, but I always seem to overcook chicken in the oven and it turns out dry. I'd read on here about cooking it in the slow cooker, and thought I'd give it a try
Hmm....so the chicken recipe I made the other day only took about 3hrs on low, probably should have been less even. Is that coz I used breast u reckon?? And also maybe coz there wasn't much stuff in the SC, it's a 5.5L one and I added more but there still wasn't much and I just read in the book it should come up to half way.
Next thing I'm going to try is a beef casserole. Any hints?? How long should beef take?
Sarajane - when I've cooked beef casseroles before in the slow cooker, I've had them on for about 8 hours on low
Really? Wow, I just can't get my head around the fact that the meat won't be overcooked by then. Thanks heaps kellie.
SaraJane - i did a moroccan beef dish in the SC earlier in the week & it was on for about 8 hours. i noticed a big change in the last hour or two - the meat became far more tender & the sauce thicker. i used chicken thigh fillets last week & they were on from when i left for work until i got home which ended up being about 10-11 hours. the chicken was falling apart but wasn't dry.
sloane- how big is your SC and how much was it filled up??
My chicken was a bit dry the other night and was only on for 3 hrs on low, maybe i just need to fill it up more?
my SC is only a teeny 3.5l (but we have a small freezer so no point making too much because i can't freeze - booo!). my chicken dish was only about 1/3 full & the beef was about 1/2 full. maybe it was just because it was breast meat? i don't know because i've only used mine the twice :lol: but i'm sure i've read a couple of people on here saying that they don't use breast meat because it does dry out. i don't normally like thigh fillets because i like the nice white meat - but in the SC they were yummy! (although DP did comment that it looked a bit like cat food - it was a red thai curry - but he's evil!)
i think it truly varies cooker to cooker - i've never left our food (unless it's full and something like soup) for more than about 4 or 5 hours as our cooker just seems to cook heaps faster than recipes say
SJ, a girl at work said chicken breast cooks a lot quicker than anything else, so tends to dry out a bit. it is suggested you use thighs if you're using fillets. personally, i don't like thighs, so i just reduce the cooking time! i don't leave the cooker on while i go to work as the minimum amount of time i'm out is 10 hours - i just don't trust it that long! overnight for sure, cos i set an alarm to go and turn it off in the early hours of the morning if need be...
what is the general consensus on throwing in frozen meat?? i've used frozen chicken fillets before but i tend to prefer to use fresh as i'm worried about whether it's a bad thing to use frozen
Yeah, I only like the breast too, bummer. But I'll have to try out some thigh anyway, DH can eat it all if i don't, lol.
Sooo.......now I have to work out when to put the casserole on tomorrow if I want dinner at 6, lol.
I don't know about the frozen thing BG, my SC instruction things says not too but I can't see why not really, i would think it should be ok.
the only time i've put something on frozen was when we unexpectedly had dinner guests - found out at 1pm, we were all working outside, and i just needed something to go on and cook easily! we put in frozen fillets, but put them on high to get them to defrost more quickly (i despise defrosting in microwave!)
no one ended up unwell, so it must have been ok - i'm just not sure that i like the idea...
I've always put frozen things in. Its fine :)
Going to do a pea and ham soup this weekend. Would I need to presoak the split peas or will they be ok if I have the sc on all day?
No idea Astrid, but its something I've been thinking about doing. When I do refried beans, I soak overnight & then cook the soup during the day.
ETA: I have my tortilla soup in the SC today.... yum! I haven't got the roast chook yet but the rest is cooking away & I'll add the roast chook an hour before dinner.
if you want to use chicken in the slow cooker, I've used drumsticks before... the meat was absolutely beautiful, it all just fell off the bone