When people imagine gourmet chefs, they think of pans, knives, stoves, and a lot of fire. Not too many of them imagine a crock pot. You might think that the crock pot is a joke of a cooking tool, that when compared to the microwave, the oven, or the stove, that it just doesn’t stack up. But this is just not so! Let me show you a few things that you can cook better with a crock pot.

Chili

Chili is the perfect dish to cook when you’re camping or when the weather is so cold that you’re wondering just when it’s going to end. It’s easy to make, too. All you need is some ground beef. Throw it in the bottom of the pan and cook it up, leaving the juice for added flavor when you add the beans and the other ingredients. Just stir the ingredients together and let them simmer for a while, and you’ve got a tasty pot of chili big enough for the whole family.

Making Shredded Pork

The recipes for shredded pork are nearly endless. There are so many things you can use it for: pork sandwiches, sloppy joes, or tamales, just to name a few. You can even sprinkle it on top of a taco.

All you have to do is buy some pork and place it in the crock pot with your favorite seasonings. Once you let it cook for a good long time, the pork will be ready for shredding. The meat will be so soft that you can pull it apart with your fingers or just a fork. It will be so juicy that it will quickly fall apart.

Spaghetti and Pasta

You probably shouldn’t try boiling your pasta in the crock pot, but you can do that in a separate pot on a stove while you use the crock pot to prepare your sauce. Set that pasta and the pot of water aside for now and worry about it later.

First, fry up some ground beef in the bottom of the pot and then add the tomato sauce and any other ingredients you feel fit with your favorite spaghetti. Once it’s simmered to perfection, you can add the pasta, and the crock pot will magically fuse your sauce with the rigatoni, or ravioli, or penne or whatever variety you choose.

Making Chorizo

Another easy meal to prepare with the crock pot! Just get some chorizo and mix it in the pot with some eggs, and cook it like you would cook a pack of ground beef, stirring slowly until everything is cooked through. Once it’s done sprinkle some shredded cheddar on the top and let it melt by replacing the lid. When it’s finished, you can scoop some out and eat it with flour tortillas. It’s delicious!

I know the crock pot can take up a lot of space, and maybe it has been lying around gathering dust in your apartment for some time now. But don’t relegate it to the back of the cupboard or throw it away without at least giving it a chance to prove itself! Try a few of the suggestions that I mentioned, and you might be surprised. You might decide that you’re a crock pot chef after all.

Lots of consumers choose a programmable crock pot from Rival because it’s a popular brand, but a little research will give you a wider range of choices. The best crock pots are the ones that can meet your individual preferences, so be sure to buy what you need and not just what’s on sale.

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The best thing about slow cooking is the way that you can throw a delicious meal together with just a few ingredients from the store cupboard.

Your slow cooker will pay for itself easily. The hours you save when you are cooking your meal makes it priceless. But, if you plan to make slow cooking part of your usual meal times, then it pays to have a few basics to keep in your cupboards to make meal planning easy.

Beans – Beans are a very economical source of protein that cook very well in slow cookers . Beans have their own individual flavor which can be enhanced by the herbs or spices you use when cooking them. Beans make a great meal base when you cook them with meat or be the main ingredient if you are a vegetarian looking to create a quick dish. Whether borlotti, lentil, haricot, or black-eyed, beans can be the start of some fantastic slow cooker dishes.

Fibrous Vegetables – For starters, these means good old spuds and the average kitchen has at least a few potatoes lurking around in the vegetable rack.They are a very versatile food. Mash them, fry them, stew them, or chuck them in the crockpot.

Potatoes add density to soups, stews and meat-free meals. Potatoes and other fibrous veggies like carrots, turnips and swedes, take a while to cook, so they can be added to the slow cooker with meat and can cook all day.

Fresh Herbs – Using herbs can dramatically change the flavour of almost any meal you make. Herbs can also be bought dried, but they release a much better flavor if they are added to the crockpot fresh.

You can even grow your own fresh herbs on your kitchen window ledge. You just need a nice sunny spot, some compost, and remember to water them regularly. Home grown herbs can even be dried to extend their life, making them easy to keep around without worrying too much about wasting them.

Don’t forget to add your herbs near the end of the crockpot cooking cycle so their flavor fills the cooked meal and isn’t lost during the cooking time.

Want to choose the best slow cooker, then visit Jayne Fairclough’s site on how to choose from amongst the slow cooker reviews for the crock pot best suited to your needs.

Tags : Cooking, crock pots, food, product reviews, Recipes, slow cookers

Have you ever cooked with a crock pot? Or what we call a slow cooker in the UK? My father gave me a crock pot for Christmas twenty-five years ago and I only had to replace it, because it was stolen. Some thief must have heard they were good and stole it for his wife.

It was good-looking enough to leave out on the work top and I guess that is how it caught my burglar’s eye. It was stoneware, really nice.

That is one of the points I would like to make in this article, some of the crock pots from the better manufacturers are pretty enough to take to the table. The other point I would like to make is that crock pots are not only for making soup or stews in.

I have recipes in the house for bread and cheesecake. Really, most people just do not believe me when I tell them what you can actually do with a crock pot, especially the modern programmable ones.

To prove it, I have reproduced one of my cheesecake recipes below. If you can not be bothered to make, just take it from me that it is gorgeous, simple enough to make and practically automatic to make. Those of you do get around to making it will agree with me, I am sure.

APPLE-NUT CHEESECAKE

Crust:

1 cup (scant) graham cracker crumbs 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 2 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons butter, melted 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Filling:

16 ounces cream cheese 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated white sugar 2 large eggs 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon vanilla Topping: 1 large apple, thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups) 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Combine the crust ingredients and pat into a 7-inch spring form pan. Beat the sugars into the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs, whipping cream, cornstarch, and vanilla. Beat for about 3 minutes on the medium speed of a hand-held electric mixer. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust. Combine the apple slices with the sugar, cinnamon and nuts and then spread the topping evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Place the cheesecake on a rack (or “ring” of aluminum foil to keep it off the bottom of the pot) in the Crock Pot. Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Let it stand in the covered pot (after turning it off) for about 1 to 2 hours, until cool enough to handle. Cool it thoroughly before removing the pan sides. Chill before serving; store leftovers in the refrigerator for any normal shop-bought cheesecake, but yours will be better..

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the programmable crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

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What if I told you I could teach you how to save hundreds of dollars a month with your food budget? What if I told you that in addition to this I could save you hours in the kitchen?

With the crock pot you’ll save time in the kitchen. You can prepare your meal the night before and just flip a switch in the morning before you leave for work. By the time you get home, your meal is done and ready.

The top reasons to buy yourself and your family a crock pot.

1. Save money. Starting a meal in the crock pot in the morning can save you from the temptation of grabbing fast food during the evening family rush hour. Save those fast food bucks for a meal out at a nice restaurant on the weekend when you have time to sit and enjoy it.

2. Save money. This reason’s so nice we said it twice. Crockery cooking can make less-expensive cuts of meat tender and delicious.

3. Save time. Cook when you have more energy and less stress. Have your food ready and waiting for you rather than the other way around. Youll also save time on clean up. After the meal, you’ll have just one pot to wash. If you have a crock pot with the removable crockery liner (and you really should), clean up is extra easy.

4. Eat healthy. It doesnt take a nutritionist to know that a meal of meat and veggies with a green salad on the side is going to be better for your body than another frozen pizza.

5. Keep your kitchen cool and your food hot. You won’t have to heat up the whole house just to roast a chicken or cook a pot of stew. The crock pot also frees the oven and stove for other foods when you’re cooking a big meal. Whatever you do, don’t peak inside your crock pot by opening up the lid. That’ll ruin your meal!

Tags : Cooking

Crock-pots are an excellent way to prepare dinner while saving time. If you work throughout the day and simply do not have the time to prepare a healthy dinner for your family, then consider using a crock-pot to prepare them. This is the easiest and fastest way to ensure that your family is getting nutritious meals. Forget about hitting that fast-food drive-thru. When you cook with your crock-pot, you have the option of adding only healthy foods and ingredients, giving your family a much better meal.

Using your crock-pot to cook dinner makes it simple. You simply need to have your meal ready before you leave in the morning. Turn the cooker on and you are free to do whatever you need to while your meals cooks. You can give your family the nutritious meal that they need while spending very little time in the kitchen. You can use your crock-pot to stock up on nutritious meals.

It is easy to prepare enough food to last for days. You might want to cook up a large batch of homemade soup. Be sure to add enough ingredients to have a lot of leftovers. Then, after you are finished with dinner, simply put the leftovers in freezer bowls or freezer bags and freeze them. Now you have multiple dinners prepared that are homemade, nutritious and easy to heat up at a moment’s notice. There simply is no better way to ensure that your family is getting a delicious and nutritious meal.

There are many cookbooks written specifically for the crock-pot. These recipes will tell you what ingredients you need, how much of each that you should use and how long to cook the dish. Many will also tell you the nutritional value of the meal that you are preparing. Be sure that marinate anything overnight that requires it.|Consider marinades for your slow cooker as well.|Many recipes call for marinating] This is an excellent way to get a flavorful meal.

With today’s busy lifestyles, preparing a meal in a slow cooker is an excellent way to cook dinner. You simply fill it up and turn it on. When you do get back home, the aroma from your wonderful meal will meet you at the door.

Tags : Cooking