Slow Cooker - The Recipe Collection

JULIE

I'm new to this slow cooking. My parents bought us a slow cooker for christmas and we have a slight dilemma.... we all eat meat except for my eldest son.... therefore can you get separators for the main pot bit as its a pain to do a meat dish in the slow cooker and a similar veggie one in the oven...yet if i did a veggie one in the slow cooker i'd still have to cook some meat separately as hubby doesn't think a meal is complete without meat.....can anyone suggest anything i may not have thought about or in the same sort of situation...and no i can't get rid of OH

catznine

I don't know if you can get anything purpose made but on an earlier post on this thread I seem to remember Math mentioning putting a smaller pyrex type casserole with a lid in the middle of the slowcooker. I should think that your slowcooker would have to be one of the bigger ones and your son may not like the idea of his veggie food being cooked in amongst a meat dish!

I now have 2 slow cookers (the smaller one I use for puds and is my Mums old one) so don't have this problem and yes I do get full use out of both. It might be a solution for you to look for one of the small ones or maybe a second hand one. You would need a bit of worktop space though!

JULIE

As long as his food is separate he wouldn't mind a pyrex in the main bit alongside the meaty stuff.... I do think that getting a smaller one or second hand one is a good idea, granted we don't have tonnes of worktop space but I like that idea as i don't think that ours would fit a meat dish for three and veggie pyrex..... thats brilliant.. thanks catznine

Sarahsaver

JULIE wrote:

I'm new to this slow cooking. My parents bought us a slow cooker for christmas and we have a slight dilemma.... we all eat meat except for my eldest son.... therefore can you get separators for the main pot bit as its a pain to do a meat dish in the slow cooker and a similar veggie one in the oven...yet if i did a veggie one in the slow cooker i'd still have to cook some meat separately as hubby doesn't think a meal is complete without meat.....can anyone suggest anything i may not have thought about or in the same sort of situation...and no i can't get rid of OH

Im not anti veggie I thought id better point that out before i continue, I was myself a veggie for many years and for some of that time a vegan. Just that you may have thought I was because of what im about to say.

IMHO it is really impractical to cook two (or more) different meals, so is your son old enough to cook? Suggest he does a bit. If he had some responsibility for cooking he would realise all the juggling and fiddling about YOU have to do to cater for everyone.

Also have you tried using TVP (textured vegetable protein) and sosmix. The sausage rolls from sosmix are so similar to real sausagemeat some people don't notice! It could be a moneysaver because if you all ate veggie together it could be cheaper.
If you have to have your meat fix then do things like a veggie casserole which you can turn into a sausage casserole by adding a few cooked slices sausages after you have taken your son's portion out, or tart up a salad by cooking some bacon til its crispy and having it on your dinners just not your son's (though I have known veggies buckle under the strain of the tempting smell of bacon...)

arkonite_babe

I'm making Irish Stew in my slow cooker tonight for tomorrows tea. Yummy!

JULIE

Sarahsaver wrote:

Im not anti veggie I thought id better point that out before i continue, I was myself a veggie for many years and for some of that time a vegan. Just that you may have thought I was because of what im about to say.

IMHO it is really impractical to cook two (or more) different meals, so is your son old enough to cook? Suggest he does a bit. If he had some responsibility for cooking he would realise all the juggling and fiddling about YOU have to do to cater for everyone.

Also have you tried using TVP (textured vegetable protein) and sosmix. The sausage rolls from sosmix are so similar to real sausagemeat some people don't notice! It could be a moneysaver because if you all ate veggie together it could be cheaper.
If you have to have your meat fix then do things like a veggie casserole which you can turn into a sausage casserole by adding a few cooked slices sausages after you have taken your son's portion out, or tart up a salad by cooking some bacon til its crispy and having it on your dinners just not your son's (though I have known veggies buckle under the strain of the tempting smell of bacon...)

Hi sarahsaver, I can see what you're suggesting. my eldest son is 11 and don't think I can stand to watch him faffing about in the kitchen.. .. I don't find it a major juggling act to do his meals..and i don't think that that is an issue you see if i do something like a spag bol i just put his veggie mince in a small pan ours in a bigger one and share out the tinned tomatoes/sauce, herbs etc, so really it only takes a small amount of gas and an extra pot and spoon to wash up,well dish wash

I already do veggie stews and then cook the sausages on the side...mainly for hubby as its not something that bothers me and he genuinely doesn't like veggie mince( i've already tried to pass it off as meat mince..mind you I don't like it either) and other bits....or i'd do a meat and veg casserole in big dish and a veg casserole in a small pyrex and both would be in the oven at same time but with a slow cooker its one or the other or cooking meat as extra which to me defeats the whole object.

I'd just like to point out to those of you that may say that he's too young or I should make him eat the same as us, that he decided to become vegetarian when he was 5, and he said he didn't want to eat dead animals anymore and he hasn't touched meat since..and I respect that.

elona

Julie

Have you tried your husband on Quorn mince as one of my daughters does not like it because"It tastes like mince" even though she has seen the packet and knows what it is.

Could you put a small veg meal in pyrex dish in slow cooker in middle of large non veggie meal?

filigree_2

Thanks for that recipe Iris, like you say Mary Berry is reliable I'll give it a whirl and post the results on here.

halloweenqueen_2

Beef looks and smells wonderful - what do you recommend for a leg of pork for tomorrow?:D

JULIE

elona wrote:

Julie

Have you tried your husband on Quorn mince as one of my daughters does not like it because"It tastes like mince" even though she has seen the packet and knows what it is.

Could you put a small veg meal in pyrex dish in slow cooker in middle of large non veggie meal?

Now that's an idea,I don't think it was the Quorn mince although I have tried him on lots of different vegetarian varieties without him knowing and he can ALWAYS tell.
I'll try the small pyrex within slow cooker but not too sure about space.

Thanks to all for suggestions, there's been some good ideas x x