Slow Cooker

[zarhooie]

I've had a friend ask about tricks for slow-cookers. Do you have any? What are your favorite recipes?

My mom's chili recipe under the cut!


In a slow cooker, place 1 2lb roast. I use eye of round because it doesn't have a lot of fat. You can use whatever. Mom uses leftovers a lot.

To this, add a slurry made with the following:
--3T chili powder
--1T chile powder
--1T ginger
--1/2T cinnamon
--3T dried onion
--1/2t garlic powder
--about 2 cups of water

Set your slow cooker to stun, or low, and let it go for at least 8 hours. You want the meat to be easily shreddable with two forks.

Shred meat with afore-mentioned two forks.

To this, add the following:
--2 cans petite diced tomatos, one drained, one not
--3 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed (2 dark, 1 light)

Sometimes I add corn. Most times, I don't.

If it looks like it needs liquid, then don't drain the second can of tomatoes. If it looks like it needs less liquid, then drain both cans of tomatoes. At this point, you'll want to taste it for heat and also salt. I find I usually need to add more chile powder, as well as salt at this point.

Let this cook for another few hours. Serve with sour cream, cheese, diced onions, and saltines.

AMAZEBALLS.

-Kat

Comments

[jenett]

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com - of the recipes she's liked, I've never had one go badly wrong. (She also avoids the stereotype of crockpot recipes. There's a few classic ones, but very little "add a can of cream of whatever soup" (She also cooks gluten-free, so it's a great source for that, but includes notes on gluten-containing pasta, etc.)

Stuff I cook regularly:
- Roasted vegetables (from one of her recipes, but it's basically take a bunch of veggies, coat in some olive oil, layer in the bottom of the pot, cook on high for a couple of hours. Stirring every hour or two for even browning is nice but not essential.

- Caramelised onions (slice onions, place in crockpot with a reasonable amount of butter, stir periodically. If you have liquid left, either strain it off to add to stock/broth, or cook it down.)

- Shredded chicken (chicken breasts in crockpot with some water/broth, cook for 4ish hours until it falls to pieces.)

- Meatloaf (off one of her recipes.)

- Au gratin potatoes (I usually do cheese and ham, she has a lovely recipe involving sage and walnuts.)

- Cream of [whatever] vegetable: Take vegetable (brocoli, cauliflower, spinach, works on others). Apply to crockpot with enough broth to cover, add any herbs/seasoning. Cook until tender. Add a bit of milk or cream (enough to make the color change) and maybe a little lemon juice. Eat.

[feuervogel]

I made these vegan baked beans in February, and they were really good. I used canned pinto beans instead of dried navy beans, cooked the onions on the stove first, then dumped everything into the crockpot on low for 6 or 8 hours. The taste is similar to Bush's.

(Oops, I meant to reply to the post, not the comment. Oh well.)

[indeliblesasha]

365 crockpot *points up* has a potato soup recipe that's to die for. I make that one a LOT.

Crock pots are super-useful for things like reducing applesauce to apple butter without having your stove running all day. You can put them on low and prop up the lid so the steam can escape and you get a great reduction without a giant sloppy mess.

If you're cooking something fatty like cornish hens or duck, you want to remove the skin and as much fat as you can, and put a rack or balled up foil or a ramekin or whatever underneath to keep the bird out of the grease while it cooks.

If you are going to cook a whole roast or chicken in the slow-cooker and want to cook potatoes and carrots and onions etc. at the same time, the key to your vegetables surviving and maintaining both flavor and some texture is to put them in *last* on top of the meat. They don't sit and simmer in the broth and fat all day, but they do get steamed, and they contribute to the flavor of the roast/chicken instead of getting overwhelmed by the flavor of the meat.

My secret to roasts is to start with a thawed roast and sear the (salt,pepper,garlic powdered) outside in a skillet on high heat before putting it in the pan. I season it however I am in the mood and add some broth (whatever I have on hand) or a can of tomatoes and the juice, and some old wine, or wine vinegar. White, red, whatever. As long as it's not something you'd be willing to drink ;)

Then I just let it sit on low all day and it falls apart just right by dinner time and makes killer leftovers if any survives that long.

For whole chickens I just put the whole chicken in the pot with some broth, maybe stuff the cavity with lemon halves or apple slices or fresh herbs. Cook on low all day, falling apart by evening.

I take what's left after deboning (plus the broth from the slow-cooker) and put in a stock pot and add the vegetable leavings from my freezer (instead of composting the tomato stems, leek greens, kale stems, ends of carrots and celery, onion and garlic peels, etc. I put them in a bag all together in my freezer and use them for broth when the bag gets full,) and cover it all with water and let simmer for a couple hours. Makes amazing broth that I can then freeze for use later.

Also, if you do a search on Pinterest or in Google for "freezer slow-cooker meals" you'll find approximately a bazillion recipes for stuff you can put all together in a gallon sized bag and freeze until you're ready to throw it into a crock-pot.

My favorite is chicken curry. I pre-cook the chicken in cubes and then toss a bunch of vegetables into the bag with the seasoning (diced sweet potatoes, celery, carrots, potatoes etc.) and freeze. I add a can of coconut milk to the cooker and let it cook on low all day and serve over rice (or cauliflower rice or shredded cabbage) or, I add about a quart of chicken broth and the coconut milk and make it curry soup.

Hooray slow cookers!

[dragon_moon]

Thank you for the tips for putting veggies on top of the roast! Then they won't be full of grease and I would love that!!

The chicken curry sounds delicious too. Thanks so much! :o)