What was the last thing you made in the slow cooker?

[Chocolateismyvice]

I usually love cooking but I have a very active 18 month old and am 4/5 weeks pregnant and exhausted already. So, I'm hoping to use my slow cooker a bit more. I recently made chilli which was lovely and making beef and tomato casserole next week, but looking for some other ideas.

What was the last thing you made in the slow cooker?

[Disfordarkchocolate]

I love a whole chicken in the slow cooker too, no carving and the start of a nice gravy.

[blorgzorb]

@ChaircatMiaow it's tasty! I sort of wing it now but it's tinned tomatoes, dried mixed herbs, potato, butter beans, as many green olives as you fancy, bit of garlic and then I just chuck whatever veg we have leftover in the fridge to pad it out. Normal put the bread maker on timer so we eat it with fresh crusty bread too.

[Luxecalmeetvolupte]

Beef stroganoff, slow cooker recipe from BBC Good Food. Utterly delicious, both DS (4) and DD (9m) wolfed it down as did we!

[redexpat]

Sseet potato and egg curry. Deeelicious.

[Bunbunbunny]

Camp fire stew! From pinch of noms very filling

[foodiemama26]

cajun shredded chicken stew

[PrudenceDear]

Just looked at this thread hoping for some slow cooker inspiration....... please share your recipes - they sound so good.....

[SophieHattersStick]

I also like doing Lancashire hotpot (lamb) with a potato topping, or a whole chicken with some vegetables, white beans and a bottle of beer. Both of those need a good blast in the Oven at the very end to get nice and crispy on top though.

[PerkingFaintly]

Am teetering on the edge of slow cooker acquisition.

Could you lovely folks tell me, does it get quite warm on the outside, or is it reasonably insulated?

I'm asking from the energy saving point of view.

[RavenLG]

Love our SC in the winter. Nothing better than coming home from work, pissing wet and freezing cold to a warm house and the smell of beef stew!

Last thing I made was a moroccan soup. Tasted too much like curry to make again, but cheap and hearty and did 8 portions for pennies.

I'm taking some ideas from this thread now it's SC season again.

[NotTheQueen]

Slow cookers are more efficient than ovens... combined with prepping and your freezer*, they can be a life saver

• google dump meals

[borntobequiet]

Butternut squash soup. Mini slow cooker (1.5 l) as only me.

[OhHolyJesus]

Yoghurt as per an MN recipe/method.

[soloula]

I've got a sausage casserole with peppers and beans cooking in mine just now. Smells so good!

[SophieHattersStick]

It gets a bit warm but it’s pretty well insulated. More than radiating heat it fills your kitchen with lovely smells

[mammynowanauntyIRL]

@OhHolyJesus what's the yogurt recipe? Please?

[MakeYourOwnFuckingTea]

Ooh yes please would love a yoghurt recipe. We go through tons of the stuff

[PerkingFaintly]

Hmm, the folks at Navitron (nerdy green site) aren't convinced a slow cooker uses less electricity to cook the same amount of food, as longer cooking period means the numbers might balance out with a shorter, hotter cook.

Which is what I was wondering about. Also, they don't necessarily seem to be insulated at all.

www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=13922.0

[PerkingFaintly]

Thanks for commenting that yours is, Sophie. May I ask what make?

[PerkingFaintly]

is insulated

[SequinsOnEverything]

Seitan and vegetables. It was delicious!

[OhHolyJesus]

So I found the yoghurt method here once and it's so easy! I do recommend a proper cooking thermometer though.

I do two pints of gold top milk in my slow cooker - not sure what capacity exactly but medium size. Heat to around 80 degrees (it varies but in mine takes 2 hours). Let it cool to 40 degrees (I take the bowl out to make this quicker, takes about an hour). Mix in about 100ml of love bacteria yogurt (I used Yeo Valley small green pot for first batch). Put lid on bowl, bowl in slow cooker and wrap a towel round it and leave it overnight. If you like it thick like green yogurt strain it with a sieve and an old muslin over a bowl (use the strained liquid which is sweet whey in bread, smoothies or on your tomatoes) and it keeps on the fridge for about 2 weeks. I have regularly overheated it and over cooled it and it didn't make a difference so it's not an exact science which works for me.

The best bit is you just hold some back to make the next batch meaning you don't have to constantly by yoghurt in single use plastic. After about 6 months I did start afresh as the yoghurt tasted fizzy which was gross but obviously over 6 months I saved a fortune in money and plastic!

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-bio-yogurt

www.livestrong.com/article/445877-uses-for-whey-from-strained-yogurt/

[OhHolyJesus]

Green = Greek
Love = live

Sorry for typos - long day here!

[SophieHattersStick]

I don’t think mine is specifically insulated with external insulation, what I meant is that being thick ceramic it naturally is less conductive than other materials.

[MyDcAreMarvel]

I love that I can put frozen chicken breasts in there, add stuff and leave
You should never cook from frozen in a slow cooker it doesn’t get hot enough .