got my slow cooker, now what do I cook in it?

[ditavonteesed]

cant believe I have to wait until tommorow to use it. options are sausage casserole or lemon chicken. then on friday the otehr of these or ham and cherry coke. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[ditavonteesed]

thats the one I bought, it is a much darker colour than it looks on there but lovely all the same.

[whattodoo]

blossom I just put the pud in with a lid, filled half way up with boiling water then left to simmer on low.

I did them for about 10 hrs when I first made them and i'll prob do them for 3 hrs on the big day.

Saves anotherr ring on the hob!

[violetwellies]

Ooh what a fabulous colour crock pot . Will look more closely at that thanks

[ditavonteesed]

resurecting this for anyone who got a slow cooker for xmas.
I start work in a week and I need 3 recipes for the week, I have a sausage casserole for one day, beef stew for one day and I need a third, was thinking something with chicken. Any ideas welcome :)

[MushroomSoup]

Chicken breasts, tin of chicken or mushroom soup, handful of frozen veg. Lovely!

[ditavonteesed]

sounds good.

I bought some chicken thighs, streaky bacon, soup veg mix and corn on the cob, would that work or just make an inedible mush?

[SpacegirlRevisited]

I have two slow cookers.A large one for the children and me in which I have so far only been able to cook inedible vegetarian sloppy mush.I hate the bloody thing.I've accepted that veggie food and slow cookers dont really work for me and I will probably end up making a tiny water feature in the garden out of the pot!

I also have a small one in which I have tried to cook shin beef stew,pork and cider casserole and chicken casserole for my meat eating partner.These so far have always turned out tough and unpleasant.This cooker is small,tall and thin rather than deep and wide.Might that be the problem? The meat cooker is on for at least seven hours but still churns out something akin to shoe leather at the end of it.I cant bear to see my poor partner smile manfully as he tries to chew his way through yet another crappy casserole and its such a waste of money.

[HalleLouja]

I made a lovely stew with beef, carrots, celery, red wine, chicken stock pot, parsnips, potatoes and put dumplings in near the end to make it yummy / soak up loads of liquid.

[HalleLouja]

And bay leaves don't forget those and some fresh parsley.

[Satine5]

Just tried my slowcooker for the first time today. Disaster and disappointment! I did a beef stew (500g stew, one ltr of stock+ veg) and after 8 hours on low, I got a watery, beefy soup with veg that was till quite crunchy. Too much liquid? I thought it was all supposed to be covered in water/stock?

[ditavonteesed]

think probably, I did a beef stew today and hardly put any water in it, and put some lentils in to soak it up but it was still a bit watery, I like the way the veg come out though.

[Feelingood]

Just getting on thread, I'm really inspired by the recipes on here. Thanks for posting all.

I'm going to try Macoroni Cheese recipe. Do you think it will work with rigatoni and not macaroni? I can always see how it goes and finish off in oven?

I've got half a tub of mascarpone, some mild cheddar, milk, mustard, paprika and cream so I think I can Cobble something together

[BellaVita]

I am doing a chicken in mine today. Always comes out moist and juicy.

[Feelingood]

Yes bellvita that's on my list can I ask does the meat just fall off the bone?

I was thinking I could serve a chicken dinner one day, then with all the little bits left that slide off the boney bits a chicken curry?

[BellaVita]

Yes it does, you will have to wrestle with it when the time comes to get it out. You need about 10 pair of hands as it will fall to pieces. Absolutely do a curry with the left overs.

[CanonFodder]

Ok, I just got a slow cooker too' and I have heard of this fabled 'ham in coke' I have a big gammon waiting with it's fat still on...it's smoked...do I soak it or just cook as is and do I trim all the fat off? How much coke do I need? How long do I cook it for? (weighs 2.6 kg)

Hmmmmmm, haaaammmmmmm

[ditavonteesed]

technical here, rinse it, chuck it in slow cooker with an onion chipped in half and fill up with coke, leave it on all day. works for me anyway.

[CanonFodder]

Thanks diva, does the coke have to cover the meat completely?

[CanonFodder]

Oh and do you put it on high med or low? Might do it overnight tonight and have ham and eggs for brekkie....yum!

[ditavonteesed]

yummy, I cover the ham totally and put it on low.

[EmpireBiscuit]

Can I ask a potentially stupid question - I got a 1.5ltr cooker for Christmas along with a recipe book. All the recipes are for 4.5ltr cookers - obviously I third the ingredients but what about the cooking time?

[dreamingofsun]

empire - not sure it would be much shorter if at all - can you try it first when you are around? If you did a stew in the oven, for example, you wouldn't vary the time by much - beef etc still needs to cook. as you can prob tell i don't use many books - i'm more of the sling it in and stir a couple of times technique.

[Feelingood]

Thanks bellavita ^

I've made a chicken Rosemary's stew thing, you really can't beat it! Forgot how nice stuff is. When I get ride of steriliser I'm going to keep it on bench all the time in corner through winter anyway.

I'm still after doing the macaroni cheese, when it's cooked should it look like pasta in sauce like sloppy or more like a semi dry pasta bake from oven?

I've never made macaroni ever, in any way.

[ditavonteesed]

madde a sausage casserole this morning, although I have no pots, do you think I could chuck some pots in at lunch time when I go to the shop or will they ot cook properly. I could always do mash with it but I am essentially a bit lazy.

[dreamingofsun]

dita - i've always found pots take ages, so usually do separately now. you could boil them and add once nearly cooked - but sort of defeats the object.