Slow cooker for a total dummy

junior_j

I have read the "whats in my slow cooker thread"

But can anyone explain any good simple meals that I can make for my family. They cannot contain beef or beef flavouring/stock/gravy as it affects my ibs badly! Also like if I wanted to do a sausage cassarole do you put the sausages in raw? OR half cook them. I know I sound SO stupid I am only 19 and very new to the world of slow cookers!

wornoutmumoftwo

There's a slow cooker thread on here somewhere - Slow cooker recipes

Basically you cook as you would on a stove, except yo put it all in, add liquid etc, and leave it to slow cook.
You can do whole chicken's in there, puddings too.

So for a sausage caserole, you can brown them on a pan if yo want them browned, as the slow cooker won't do that, but otherwise put them in the slow cooker raw.

junior_j

Thanks , what is the best stocks to use?? Do you have to fry onions and stuff before putting them in the slow cooker and mushrooms and stuff as well x

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

You could use a decent vegetable or chicken stock.
Brown Sausages. Rinse Puy Lentils (delicious!), plonk in cooker with bay leaf, onion, carrot, and garlic clove or two, NO SALT. Let Sausage and Lentils mixture cook up, THEN add a pint of veg or chicken stock. I use Heinz Baby low salt vegetable (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and Kallo Chicken Stock (organic) because they are so tasty, FLAVOUR is the key thing in all cooking slow or conventional!
Sausages and Lentils complement each other perfectly. Both are cheap as chips and delicious. The fatty sausages (the sausages need to be 70% meat with a nice fattiness for flavour no low fat rubbish here!!!). What you will end up with after cooking it for 3 hours or more on High??? is a delicous meal that you will want any time.
NB There are good recipe sites that have slow cooker recipes just google and look for Chow/chowhound, Good Food Magazine, Epicurious, and Foodie Blogs Smitten Kitchen, 101 Cookbooks for solid reliable and most of all cheap inspiration!!!
NB frying onions or mirepoix of celery carrot and onion till transparent in butter is fundamental to most dishes you will wish to cook.

junior_j

Thanks very much! Sausage cassarole and mash next week then! x

CH27

I always brown sausages before putting them in the SC as I don't like the look of them when they are unbrowned.

Absinthe_2

The threads in here are so helpful for slow cooking ideas, also a google search often helps. My lovely bf bought me this, which looks exciting.

I've used a slow cooker for approx 16 years, and this is one of the nicest recipe books I've seen, although prefer my own chilli, and spag bol recipes.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

@absinthe I have some Womens Weekly Books they look very good. I would never buy a Cookery Book !!! Magazine that was unreliable.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

I find the slow cooker a versatile way to cook, however there are limitations which theoretically could be overcome by getting a souped up model ie Crockpot Saute. But even the most dazzling slow cooker and ravingly wonderful cook cannot be a substitute for proper orthodox cooking on Stove like in Masterchef.(Slow Cooking good for us [qaulity] Budget Kings and Queens.

junior_j

Thanks all for the brilliant feedback.

I am hoping to do more SC meals. Especially as I am dieting I like to be in full control of the food and cooking , my brother is keen to add loads of oil , sauces and butter to stuff , which taste good but not good for the weight !

junior_j

Think I got all the ingrediants.
Sausages
Carrots
onion
mushrooms
spuds
stock
flour lol x