I just bought a slow cooker

[lou33]

half price in sainsburys (£10)

Are there any lovely recipes to recommend, or shall i just bung a load of stuff in at random and see what happens?

I think it must be energy efficient - iirc, it's the equivalent of cooking over a light bulb.

Re energy efficiency, In "Slow Cooking Properly Explained" it says that a stew cooked in a SC using 75 Watts uses 50% less leccy than a conventional oven. A creme caramel uses 80% less. Which is great if you make loads of creme caramel, of course

Also - cheaper cuts of meat can be used in it.

Brilliant, may have to try one out esp after all these recipes.

I'm going to look for one in Tesco tomorrow. What brand is yours, Lou?

Huggle - do you have a recipe for creme caramel please? It is dd2's favourite!

I just cooked irish stew in mine - it's the first time I've used it.

It's fab. Came home, whole house smells of dinner the second you walk in. DS' tea is taken care of with no effort, and as soon as DP has finished reading stories, ours is on the table too!

I my slow cooker.

And the cuts of meat that are good for slow cooking are the cheapest, too. Hooray!

i use mine loads! about 3+ times/week.

soups, spag bol sauce (enough to freeze), chilli, roasts, gammon joints, applesauce, porridge, rice pud, etc.

slowcookerblog

it's just a sainsburys one, it was on offer for a tenner a couple of days ago, so i snapped it up

did the job well enough though

I thought it would be good for those days when everyone is rushing in and out and needs to eat at different times.

i like the idea of putting it on and forgetting about it all day

Janeite - Creme Caramel - Serves 4.

Caramel:
4 tbsp gran. sugar
4 tbsp water

Custard:
425ml milk
3 size3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla ess
50g caster sugar

• Bring sugar and water to boil without stirring, over med heat. Leave on heat until syrup turns golden brown.

• Butter a 1 pt souffle dish. Pour caramel in and swirl to coat bottom.

• In a small saucepan, heat milk till hot, not boiling. Beat together the eggs, vanilla and sugar and pour hot milk over this mixture.

• Mix well and strain into souffle dish. Cover with foil and using a lifting strap lower into slow cooker.

• Surround with boiling water and cook on low for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, then cool, chill and unmould.

I haven't made it myself - hope it's ok!

Thank you - was hoping it would be a bung it all in type of recipe though and less of a faff than a bain marie but it just uses the slowcooker as a bain marie instead. Oh well! I might give it a go anyway.

If you are like us and live in the kitchen then it's a great source of heat too.

I'm so skint at the moment that I'm warming myself up with a fricking slow cooker (cooking vegetable soup at the same time)

dd is in bed with a hot water bottle for the first time in her life. She's so excited as it's inside a cuddly teddy

my kitchen is too small to live in, i cant even get a table in there

I have a large kitchen and put the breadmaker in the middle of the floor when its on cos they get really hot like a little radiator!!
I've had hot water bottles for years, finally I don't get laughed at anymore, and I'm giving them to everyone for xmas

Oh yes slow cooking.
I don't brown meat, and if doing braising steak and veg, I just bung the meat in first then loads of carrot and onions on top. No water. Just leave it on slow all day and the meat ends up sitting in the juices from the veg and is super tender.

Then 2nd day I add brown lentils to the leftover meat, add quite a bit of water (cos its lentils) and more veg and we have semi-veg stew.

If you put liquid in you have to either put boiling liquid or put it on high for the first couple of hours otherwise I don't think it gets hot enough.

i am making a chicken curry in it today

I stand our slow cooker on heat proof mats or on top of the cooker now. using a slow cooker over prolonged periods damaged my wooden counter top (heat made the wood split a bit)