Showing posts with label slow cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slow cooking. Show all posts
This is a delicious recipe I adapted from one of my cookerybooks entitled "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook" by Phyllis Pellman Good. Its perfect for those hot summer nights, when you don't want to heat up the kitchen but you want something just a tad bit heartier than a salad! And . . . no surprise here . . . its fabulously delicious!
Red meat isn't something which we eat in this house very often. I know we had that BBQ Beef Pie last week. The week before I had made this French Onion Cottage Pie for a supper one night and it was fabulous. I used my slow cooker and cooked the beef overnight so that it was fork tender, and the gravy was absolutely delicious. I just used the method etc. that I normally use to do a pot roast in the slow cooker. It worked out really well.
IF I am really on the ball on Sundays, I make good use of my slow cooker by popping dinner into it before we leave for church. This week I got lucky and got this lovely Merlot Beef Ragout on quite early in the morning, so it was cooked to perfection by the time we got home. Some rice and a couple of veg and dinner was served in short course! I love it when that happens. I am usually starving when we get home!
Usually on Sundays I try to put something into the crockpot for dinner before I leave for church. We are always so starving by the time we get home, which usually isn't until about 2 PM! If I haven't been really organized and used the crockpot, we end up eating things we shouldn't because lets face it . . . by that time we don't care what goes into our mouths. We just want to fill that gap! Not to self . . . perhaps carry an apple in your church bag . . .
Sister Johansen who is another Senior Missionary here in the UK, said she really wanted to make this Crockpot Chicken and Stuffing recipe that she found on Pinterest, but wasn't sure if she actually could because they don't do boxed stuffing mix here. Well . . . they do, but it's not like any stuffing mix we are used to in North America. Over here in the UK, it is like cracker crumbs . . . I think it's called crumbled rusk. Anyways, like Sister Johansen, I didn't think it would work in this recipe.
And so I promised Sister Johansen that I would find a way to make it work. And guess what??? I did! I created my own stuffing mix. (You will find the recipe below.) And you know . . . it has to be better than anything storebought with artificial ingredients and additives. Well, that's my theory anyways!
It worked really well! Really, REALLY well. This was delicious and so simple to put together. All I had to do was add some potatoes and vegetables. Boiled baby potatoes and some steamed veg were just the trick. The leftovers the next day were even tastier.
*Crock Pot Chicken and Stuffing*
Serves 6 to 8
*Herbed Stuffing Mix*
Makes about 12 cups
I am always looking for a good burrito recipe. I love anything with Mexican/Tex Mex flavours. Mexican food is a real favourite in my home. Tacos, enchiladas, burritos, you name it!
I found this recipe for Crock Pot Burritos on Pinterest a few weeks back and it's been on my mind to cook it ever since. If you would like to see the original recipe, check it out on Plain Chicken.
I have adapted it to use ingredients that are readily available here in the UK. It was delicious!
First of all the chili powder you get here in the UK, is completely unadulterated and way way stronger than the stuff you find in North America. The first time I used it, what I cooked it with was totally inedible.
The chili powder over here will blow your head off. I always bring back packages of North American Tex Mex chili powder when I come back from Canada, but for those of you in the UK who don't have that choice, I have tried to approximate a suitable replacement.
This was the perfect meal to have after church on Sunday. The meat was perfectly cooked and shreddable and the sauce was gorgeous.
I just shredded the meat and put it on the flour tortillas along with a tiny bit of sauce and some cheese . . . rolled it up, placed them in a baking dish and then spooned the remaining sauce over top along with more cheese.
Plain Chicken just pops hers under a grill. I wanted to bake mine so that the flour tortillas would absorb some of that delicious sauce. It worked a charm.
I could hardly wait to tuck in. My tastebuds were tingling in overtime. Just the smell of the meat mixture/filling was enough to do that actually.
The end result was absolutely fabulous. I will be making these again. This is seriously scrumptious and so simple to make.
Perfect. I highly recommend. These are a new favourite!!
*Crock Pot Burritos*
Serves 4 to 6 peopleMix together 1/2 tsp ground chili powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground oregano, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, pinch of ground cloves)
Flour tortillas
Grated cheese (I used a four cheese mix of cheddar, jack, Mozzarella and Emmenthal)
Place
your stewing beef in a slow cooker. Pour the sauce over top. Cover
and cook on low for 8 hours. At the end of that time. Strain out the
sauce to a measuring cup. If you think it is too thin, you can boil it
in a saucepan to thicken it up a bit. Shred the beef with two forks.
Lay out the tortillas one at a time. Spoon a couple of heaped dessert
spoons of beef and a teaspoon of sauce in the centre. Sprinkle some
cheese on top, then roll up the tortilla to encase the filling.
Place
into a buttered casserole dish that is large enough to lay all of your
burritos in, in one layer. Repeat to use it all up. Pour the
remaining sauce over top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake in a
180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 oven for about 15 minutes to heat through and
melt the cheese. Serve hot.
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*Crock Pot Barbeque Chicken*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
Tender, sticky delicious chicken. You can use only breasts or a combination of breasts and thighs. Delicious.
4 to 6 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken
1 bottle barbeque sauce (I used the Jack Daniels one)
1 ounces white vinegar (1/4 cup)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 ounces soft light brown sugar (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 tp 1 tsp garlic powder
Place your chicken pieces into the slow cooker. Stir together the barbeque sauce, vinegar, pepper flakes, brown sugar and garlic powder. Pour this over top of the chicken and give it a stir. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.
The next recipe I tested on it was for a Crock Pot Beef Dip Sandwich. I love Beef Dip Sandwiches. It was always one of my favourite things to order when I lived in Canada and we would go out for supper. I remember having a particularly delicious one in Winnipeg Manitoba back in 1977 whilst we were waiting to board a train for Calgary. (You know something is good when 30+ years later you are still thinking about it!)
This recipe is one I found online (forgive me as I can't remember where right now). The meat turned out deliciously tender and we both enjoyed this very much. I will make again. It was almost as good as that one back in 1977, and I loved that I could brown the roast a bit first by using that function in the Flavour Savour.
*French Dip Sandwiches in the Slow Cooker*
Serves 6 to 8
Printable Recipe
Easy to make and oh so delicious with meltingly tender beef tucked into a soft roll, topped with cheese and then served with a beef broth for dipping.
1 medium brown skinned onion, peeled and thinly sliced
6 fluid ounces beef broth/stock (3/4 cup)
2 fluid ounces dark soy sauce (1/4 cup)
4 fluid ounces water (1/2 cup)
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 TBS grainy mustard
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 pounds beef roast for braising (I used a rolled brisket)
Salt and pepper to taste
To serve:
6 to 8 soft sandwich rolls
6 to 8 slices of provolone cheese, or an equivalent
amount of grated emmenthal cheese
one pint of beef broth (about 2 1/4 cups)
Rub the beef all over with some salt and pepper. Place the onion slices in the bottom of the crock pot. Stir together the beef broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, mustard, garlic and water. Put the beef into the crock pot on top of the onions. Pour the broth mixture over top. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours until meltingly tender.
To serve, warm the rolls and cut open. Shred the cooked beef and pile onto the warmed rolls, top with some of the onion and a bit of the juice from the pan, along with a slice of cheese. Close over, cut in half diagonally and serve along with a small bowl of beef broth for each person to dip their sandwich in.
I then decided to test out it's normal cookery function and did a tasty stew in it. I was able to brown my meat and vegetables perfectly and then proceed as per the recipe. At the end we were rewarded with a deliciously tasty Irish Lamb and Barley Stew.
As you can see the lamb was beautifully browned. Stews gain a lot of their flavour from the browning step. All those rich caramelized meat juices really add a lot of taste and colour to the gravy.
*Irish Lamb and Barley Stew*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
A delicious stew that cooks either on top of the stove or in the slow cooker.
2 TBS olive oil
1 kg (2 pounds) diced lamb shoulder
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped coarsely
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped coarsely
1 large parsnip, peeled and chopped coarsely
1/2 small swede, peeled and chopped coarsely
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 litre of chicken stock (4 cups)
1/2 litre of boiling water (2 cups)
200g of pearl barley (1 cup)
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped coarsely
1/2 of a small savoy cabbage, finely shredded
a handful of flat leaf parsely, coarsely chopped
Heat half of the oil in a large saucepan; cook the lamb, in batches until browned. Remove from the pan. Add the remaining oil and heat. Add the vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally until they begin to soften. Return the lamb to the pan, along with the stock, water, barley and thyme. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, for 1 hour, covered. Add the potato and simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered, until tender. Add the cabbage and simmer for about 10 minutes longer, uncovered, or just until the cabbage is tender. Discard the thyme. Serve the stew ladled out into heated bowls and sprinkled with the parsley.
Note: if using the slow cooker, brown the meat and vegetables and then put them into the cooker along with the barley, hot stock and water and the herbs. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours. Add the potatoes and recover. Cook on high for 35 to 40 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook, uncovered on high for 10 to 15 minutes.
*Crock Pot Butter Roasted Pecans*
Makes 6 cups
Printable Recipe
Moreishly buttery and scrummy.
4 ounces butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 pounds pecan halves
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Optional ingredients:
garlic powder
onion powder
dried herbs (savoury, basil, oregano)
Place the butter into a 4.5 litre slowcooker. Heat on high for about half an hour to melt the butter. Add the pecans and toss to coat with the butter. Cover and cook on high for 1/2 hour. Uncover and cook on high for another 2 1/2 hours, giving them a stir every 1/2 hour. (You want to keep an eye on them and stir them often so that they don't catch as you are cooking them on a high temperature.) At the end of that time they should be nicely roasted. Spread out onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with the sale and pepper, and any optional ingredients you wish to use. Give them a good stir together and allow to cool. Store in an airtight container.
All in all I am very pleased with this machine. It has a lovely round shape which fits well into my kitchen. The cord is of a nice length and also stores very easily in the base when you want to put it away. I love that the cooking pot and lid wash up beautifully in the dish washer. I love that I can brown and stew with it, as well as slow cookin on a low, medium or high temperature . . . and I just adored the keep warm function, which means that it will hold your food for a further 2 hours at a warm temperature without over cooking it.
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