Slow Cooker Chatter #19

Thanks BG, I just had a taste of it then and I wish it was ready now :( The veggies are still hard :(:(:(

hollybolly - no we found it ok, although I did put parmesan cheese over it, cause we had it with pasta, which would have given it more of a salty flavour I guess

LMS - the temp only gets to 80degrees so it takes a lot longer to cook - but it's worth it for the flavour at the end!

Hmmm I had a spoonful this morning and it tasted over-cooked. I had just woken up though. We will see how I feel at lunch.

Now I just need to track down some recipes for vegetarians or ones that only have ham. I think I am borderline on mince now. I might eat it I might not. Every few years I alternate eating meat and not. I just go off of it for some reason :doh:

I found a recipe for Tomato Chickpea Soup that has my mouth watering but of course it is a US site and we don't have a few of the ingredients...

LMS, What ingredients does it ask for? Surely there should be something you could substitute them for? And I'm sure if you put them on here that we could come up with some yummy alternatives.

I figured out last week when I cooked my 2nd silverside that I should try and get the butcher to give me a flat square piece of meat, instead of something that's triangular and sits up no matter how you turn it in the sc, and requires the pot to be FULL of water. I think this affected how it cooked, unless the cut wasn't as nice as the first one I got. The first silverside I did in the sc was to die for (except for the onion), and the second.... well it was okay.

This is the recipe for the Tomato Chickpea Soup

* 1 cup dried garbanzo beans, OR 2 16 oz cans, drained & rinsed
* Bean cooking directions below
* 6 ripe plum tomatoes
* 2 - 3 large carrots
* 2 stalks celery
* 2 celery stalks, diced
* 2 cloves garlic
* 2 tsp cumin
* 2 tsp spicy paprika
* 2 large bay leaves
* 1 Tbsp raw cane or turbinado sugar
* 1 Tbsp tahini
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 can tomato paste
* 4 Tblsp olive oil
* 2 Tblsp dried basil, or 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
* 2 Tblsp Braggs liquid aminos
* 2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley or cilantro

How To Cook Garbanzo Beans*

1. Sort and clean the dried beans
2. Soak the beans in hot water for four hours, or overnight in cold water
3. Drain and rinse
4. Place in medium saucepan, cover with cold unsalted water
5. Bring to boil uncovered, boil for ten minutes, skim the foam
6. Stove Top: Cover and simmer for 2 hours
7. Pressure cooker: 9 minutes at high pressure
8. Slow cooker or crock pot (large size): After boiling and skimming the beans, cook for 6 - 8 hours covered on low.

Soup Directions:

1. Dice tomatoes, carrots and celery
2. Add to beans and bean stock with bay leaves, basil, salt, tomato paste, tahini, and sugar
3. If using canned beans, drain and rinse, then add 4 cups water and 2 veggie cubes
4. Heat olive oil on medium low
5. Peel, core and mince the garlic cloves, and brown in the oil
6. Stir the cumin and paprika into the oil and heat for five minutes
7. Add 1/2 cup hot water to the spice mixture to make a smooth paste, then transfer to the beans and veggies
8. Stovetop: Bring to boil, simmer covered for one hour
9. Crockpot: Turn heat to high, cook for 2 hours
10. Blend soup with a blender stick, or in batches in a blender
11. Add Braggs, fresh minced herb, more salt and pepper to taste
12. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desired
13. Serve with chunks of fresh chewy artesan bread to dip in the soup


I am not sure what the tahini or liquid aminos is. I think the aminos would be an alternative to adding meat so I am sure that can be skipped.

I'm pretty sure tahini is sesame seed paste or something like that. Its avail here, either in supermarkets or health food shops.

No idea what the aminos thing is????

You could substitute worcester sauce for the liquid aminos, or a little bit of vegemite would do the same thing. It adds a little saltiness and depth of flavour to the aromatic herbs and spices.

Tahini is just a sesame paste, it's available in most deli's and supermarkets here.

Yummy, I know what is on the shopping list next weekend then. :D:D Thanks Netix and Bear!!!

Do you think it will freeze well?

I freeze my soup all the time and sometimes its nicer second time round.
I made the McCormacks tomato & onion recipe with double the sausages, which I cooked under the grill first, and found it to be quite salty so had to cook a couple of spuds in the microwave to add. Anyone else had this problem? Hope to make soup today to use up our pumpkins that we grew.

i've found the mccormac packets to be rather uninspiring - made them for DH, but can't stomach them myself (thankfully he will eat anything - so takes them to work with him!)

good luck with the soup - we tend to give away half a pumpkin when we cut into them (we grew qld blue, and they're rather large), use a quarter-ish for general veg cooking, and make at least 6L of soup with the other quarter.

anyone with a good vegetarian curry recipes they want to share? i don't much like the coconut type curries most of the time... needs to be something that freezes and reheats ok

I made a cauliflower and split pea curry last week, but not in the slow cooker. Steph and I ate a bit while it was still hot, and I froze the rest in servings, but we haven't tried reheating it yet. I have been meaning to post it out in the other section, so can do sooner rather than later if you really want it.

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.