Slow Cooker Love (and a fabulous giveaway, YAY!)
EDIT: Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments and participation in this competition. Congratulations to Angela, aka Riversea from WA who was drawn as the winner. Your prize is on its way.
Slow cooking. We love it. We love it so much that it’s impossible to believe that just a few years ago you would have been hard pressed to buy a slow cooker anywhere. They were out of fashion for so long, they only seemed to be available, old and round and my eyes! bright orange, in op shops.
Thankfully we have rediscovered them, and to make it even easier on our eyes, they have been brought bang up to date with sleek and shiny design upgrades.
But back to slow cooking – the concept alone wins hearts everywhere. If you are pressed for time, stuck for ideas or don’t rate yourself as a cook, slow cookers provide a welcome way to ease your load. Dump it in, set it and forget it. Even better, come home in the evening to a meal you can smell from the path leading up to the front door, needing nothing further than a quick stir and a glass of wine before you serve it up. Am I right?
Well, not exactly – there are a couple of tips worth knowing
- The single biggest problem with slow cookers is the risk that all meals taste and look the same. To avoid this, start the recipe off by browning the meat and veg in a conventional saucepan to get some depth of flavour for a few minutes, then pouring it into a slow cooker, scraped up crusty bits and all
- If you are cooking a curry or well-spiced dish, roast the spices first by dry-frying them in a small saucepan until they release their oils and start perfuming the kitchen, THEN add them to the slow cooker.
- You need to add enough liquid to cook the meal slowly but too much liquid can make the result too sloppy. Solve this by pouring the juices off into a saucepan in the last ten minutes and reduce the sauce down by half to thicken it up and boost the flavour
- Don’t waste your money buying expensive cuts of meat with little or no fat – slow cooking may actually toughen it up more than you would like. Cheap cuts of meat are the stars here, especially those that have streaks of muscle or fat running through them. Slow cooking reduces the meat to gelatinous goodness. Go for chuck steak, gravy beef, shin meat such as osso bucco or lamb shanks, rolled brisket, hangar or skirt steak, pork knuckles, ham bones or chicken maryland.
Anyway, anyway, anyway, that’s not the reason I started banging on about slow cookers in the first place, oh no. You see, thanks to the delightful and marvellously generous people at Kitchenware Direct, I have been test driving a new slow cooker for the best part of the week. Oh yes. I have a bright and shiny new Morphy Richards slow cooker baby and apart from the scrape of orange rind I threw into my new favourite beef casserole, there’s not a hint of orange in sight.
It’s big (a whopping 6.5 Litre capacity) making it perfect for the biggest lamb shoulder or leggiest ham bone you can throw in it. It has an instruction book that includes some rather nifty recipe ideas. It has a dial that allows for mid-range cooking times. And it sits right at home in any stainless steel kitchen your little heart desires.
Not only that, it comes with a two year warranty.
It’s big, it’s beautiful and it’s very well made. Oh and it came from Kitchenware Direct and I can’t begin to tell you how much I adore this company. They are a local online company made good, and with their excellent range of high quality products, competitive prices and brilliant and responsive customer service I don’t think I’ll ever buy a kitchenware product in a shop again. They asked me to go through their catalogue and choose an appliance to review so perhaps I shouldn’t say that I spent so much time drooling over the kitchenware beauties that I short-circuited my keyboard. Oh I sooo did. And then, when I chose the slow cooker it arrived in less than 48 hours. BRILLIANT service and fast. You can’t argue with that.
I love my new slow cooker and Kitchenware Direct so much I want you to share the love and enjoy it as well. Thanks to Kitchenware Direct, I have a fabulous Morphy Richards 6.5L Slow Cooker to give away to a lucky reader. Oh yes!
And now, in classic spruiker style, allow me to say the immortal words – But wait, there’s more. (I really love saying that.)
The lovely peeps at McCormick Foods have given me a grab bag of goodies that are the perfect partner with your new slow cooker. As well as a slow cooker recipe book, the package includes more than a dozen different recipe base and spice mixes to add to your slow-cooked foods or to your barbecued meats, giving you lots of flavour ideas to make the most of your slow cooker.
The total prize value is – what else? – $120, including the slow cooker valued at a mighty $90.00.
To be in the running for this fantastic prize pack simply add a comment below (not the Facebook page please, it simply makes it more complicated to wrangle everyone’s entries) and include at least one of the following:
- Tell me why you would like to win this pack, OR
- Give me your best, killer, kick-arse slow cooker recipe, OR
- Give us a great cooking tip for making the most from using a slow cooker. Do you make jam in yours? Soup or baby food? Let us know.
You can comment and enter as many times as you want but because of postage costs, the prize can only be sent to an Australian residential address. Sorry ’bout that. The winner will be selected by a computer generated random selector thingy and notified by email.
The giveaway closes at 7pm on 27th April 2012 (Eastern Standard Time). So what are you waiting for? Get cracking!
This giveaway is proudly sponsored by Kitchenware Direct who very kindly gave me a Morphy Richards slow cooker to review and keep in addition to the fantastic giveaway for a lucky reader. The McCormick products were a separate giveaway to bloggers who attended a recent corporate event.
Oh a slow cooker would be fantastic as could indulge in my love of lamb shanks and not have to worry about the electricity bill !
It’s a great power saver compared to an oven
I would really love to win a new slow cooker mine broke about 6 months ago and as yet I have been unable to afford a new one. My favourite meal to cook used to be a lamb roast straight from the freezer and falling off the bone in 6 hours absolutely fantastic.
I would love to experience a slow cooker. I dont have one so cant offer any recipes or techniques. But I do love the idea of prepping in the morning anf not having to do much else with it in the evening as its been cooking all day.
They sell themselves on this feature alone Michelle. Good luck!
As I type this my stomach is rumbling. Why? Because my office is four metres from my kitchen and I’m trying out a new slow cooker recipe. My old slow cooker doesn’t look the best and has some dodgy temperature settings, but it makes cold rainy days warm and toasty (tasty!). I would love to win this pack so I can upgrade my slow cooker and continue the stomach rumbling goodness of slow cooking!
I’m extremely impressed you have such excellent ability to focus on your work under the circumstances Jayne.
Oh, I have wanted to try playing with slow-cookers for years! My favourite thing about this time of year is the things you can cook which make the house smell wonderful for hours on end.
I don’t have a slow-cooker recipe per se, but I’d bet that quinces, sugar, and a little water and maybe cinnamon would be just glorious cooked very slowly and all day…
Now that is an inspired suggestion.
I have just done that – yesterday, in fact! It is unbelievably delicious!
I’d like to win this because, well who wouldn’t? Actually if I do win this I promise (hand on heart) to start a new blog all about slow cooker recipes. Deal?
Deal.
Hang on, I can enter as many times as I want? PICK ME RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR, PICK ME!
hehehehehe
Oh Sandra you must have had so much fun test driving this! I desperately need a new slow cooker because I broke mine over Easter (sob, sob). With 2 hungry boys and an equally hungry husband that loves leftovers for lunch, our slow-cooker was so loved and used it never got put away. We are thinking of having a memorial service for it. On to our favourite kick-ass recipe – roast lamb. This came to said husband via a bloke at the pub over a cold beer the night before I was due home from hospital with son # 2. Bucky (pub bloke), who drives trucks, digs stuff and is never seen without his cap, told hubby to get a leg of lamb, stick it in the slow cooker on low, whack a couple of sticks of “that rosemary stuff” on the top, and that’s it. No oil, no seasoning, no jus. So next day, I and son # 2 are duly collected from hospital, whereby hubbie says, (quite proudly I might add), “I’ve put a roast on for dinner”. With equal parts of trepidation and gratefulness, I tucked into Bucky’s Lamb Roast for dinner that night and it was divine. Since then, we have never cooked lamb any other way. It goes a bit crispy on the outside, beautiful and moist on the inside. Sometimes I get creative and poke some garlic cloves into the leg, but that’s about it. When the leg is ready (or we are ready for the leg), I take it out to rest, turn the cooker up to high, add a splash of wine to pick up all the yummy crusty bits from the bottom, then add some water and gravox. Delish. Damn I miss my slow cooker
I’m giving this one a go! Is it really that easy? And it doesn’t come out slightly grey looking a la my mum’s first attempt at microwaving circa 1985?
No grey food I promise! Essentially it’s a large casserole pot, so think braises in lots of colourful sauces. And yes, dead easy. Promise.
Bucky is hereby immortalised. Brilliant, just brilliant.
I would LOVE this pack!! I dont have a slow cooker yet, even though I hinted at xmas… two years ago. With a large family, this size would be perfect for us.
Two years ago? Can you start hinting NOW for later this year? Mother’s Day? Birthdays?
I would love a slow cooker!! I use to have one until we moved but it went walk abouts between the old house and new
With three small children and living on a farm they are great and this one is soo big!!!!! Please let me win lol
You know, the same thing happened to me. My old slow cooker didn’t arrive at my new house. I reckon someone is using it and loving it though so it’s all good.
Well I can’t tell you my best slow cooker recipe or why I love slow cookers so much because I don’t as yet have one. It’s on my wish list and with me about to go back to work after twelve months at home after having my second daughter I think it will be an invaluable addition to my kitchen. Actually I can’t imagine how I’m going to manage working a full day, doing the childcare pick up for both kids and then getting a dinner on the table while trying to appease the two girls through that hideous late afternoon period where fatigue and hunger are turning normally happy children into whingeing monsters.
And while I don’t currently have a slow cooker, I do love slow cooking. My most requested recipe is for home made baked beans with capsicum, carrots and bacon as well as maple syrup added right at the end. It’s a darn sight better than any canned beans, is so versatile (great for breakfast, lunch or dinner, added to tacos or burritos, topping for baked potatoes or as a side dish), easy to freeze and reheat and is a winner with both my daughters one of whom is very fussy.
Oh and by the way, I too LOVE kitchenwares direct, my go to store for many presents these days.
I hear you Barbara. Do ahead dishes made and frozen on the weekend to re-heat during the week might help you. Good luck x
Thanks Sandra, I do this now, but I’m not always that successful. I would rank myself as a fairly good home cook, I love it and I love trying new recipes. Despite this I find some things that I freeze for later use just isn’t as nice once reheated. Perhaps I need some tips on this. Are there any key criteria for a dish that is good to freeze that I should look out for.
I love slow cookers I work night shift and it makes feeding the family especially in winter so much easier , the best thing I love to do is just a basic casserole meat, a few vegs and my fussy son actually eats it, best invention ever for busy people who can’t cook
I haven’t heard a complaint about them yet.
I fell in love with slow cooking when I had my 2 babies. I first experienced it at a friend’s house and as money was tight I couldn’t buy one. I patiently haunted our local free cycle site until someone gave one away. I use it all the time, summer or winter. I have cooked desserts and mains in it and it is very well used. Unfortunately it is on the small side for our family of 5. If I won the slow cooker it would be very well used. I would also help someone else experience the joy of slow cooking when I freecycle my old slow cooker
I love this idea – pass it on and share it out. Everyone wins. Good luck!
I would LOVE to win this slow-cooker, just to experience what everyone is raving about! Ever since I was little, I have always loved cooking, and the various experiences associated with smells, textures and flavours. I have recently moved out of home for the first time, I study full time, and I adore cooking for my partner. My favourite things to cook include slow braises and casseroles that make the most of often disregarded cuts of meat. But sadly the electricity bills from running the big oven to fit my cast-iron casserole dish are huge, which leaves these sorts of foods low on the priorities list. I would absolutely love to own a slow-cooker to make the most of the set-and-forget device, to open the lid and take in the magnificent aromas of a meal that as cooked itself into tender, morish submission!!.
It was the word ‘submission’ that did it for me Fliss. x
Aha, as many entries as we want right, ummmm.
After reading all the other entries, I’m dying to try a leg of lamb slow cooker style.
Cause I am always pressed for time doing shiftwork.
Or perhaps I could adapt my Irish hotpot recipe, that loves a fair bit of time in a low oven.
It would be magnificent. x
Cause I am always pressed for time with both of us doing shift worl\k.
I hear you x
I would love to win this prize as I’m an amateur when it comes to slow cooking! I have a tiny slow cooker that doesn’t fit much in it and in today’s economy if it ain’t broken, keep it! But this would be perfect and I would be able to do so much more, I’ll donate my little one to Vinnies
An excellent idea – seriously, so many start out with second hand appliances and why not? Share the love.
I would adore a slow cooker. I’m moving out of the family home this weekend, leaving behind my mother’s (a chef by trade) kitchen full of gadgets. As such I am quite poor and a slow cooker would allow me to create beautiful winter dishes to warm us in our new unheated home with cuts which I can afford! Pull on the heart strings much?
Of course it does! But it also gives you entry into the competition, so good luck! x
I would love love LOVE to win a slow cooker. I’m a member of the SS site and I’m so sick of reading all these amazing slow cooker recipes and not being able to cook them! Also, we are hoping to start fostering little babies soon and I imagine we will be rather stuck for time so one of these would be priceless.
It’s unbeatable for busy family lives, that much is true. Good luck Simmyfish x
Hmm, i think my reply went into cyber space. Here it is again!
I would love love LOVE a slow cooker. As a member of the SS site I am so sick of reading all these awesome slow cooker recipes and not being able to make them!
We are also about to start fostering babies and so I imagine one of these would be priceless when we have a screaming baby.
I could make my mums beef bourguignon with pink peppercorns and fresh persimmon! yum.
I’m loving all these great suggestions – persimmon! Fantastic xx
Slow cookers are a must for busy mums, I love mine and stay at home mums blog have a fantastic slow cooker satay chicken recipe that is a huge hit in our house regardless of whether I win or not you should all try it
Recipe please….
My new favourite recipe to cook in my slow cooker is bone broth. It is cheap and nourishing, packed full of goodness like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, collagen, glucosamine. It aids digestion and is good for people with gastro disorders. Overall, great for everyone. Easy to make. Cheap (should cost around $4-$5 for about 4L, even less if you use leftover bones from a roast). And very easy to make up a big batch in the slow cooker.
Ooooh, now there’s something to think about. Have to admit I adore oxtail soup, which is much the same thing.
You’ve got to be in to win it! Doesn’t usually work for me but I never give up trying. I live on Newstart and can’t afford to buy anything like that.
I can’t cook. Seriously. I’m hopeless. My boyfriend does all the cooking.
But I’m about to have my first baby and would love for him to come home each night to a nice, warm meal and you’ve made it sound easy with a slow-cooker.
It would thrill him to bits
Seriously jess, stick around this site, or on our Facebook page and pick up some cooking hints and tips along the way. I’ll have you cooking with confidence in no time with or without a slow cooker. No such thing as a silly question, I promise.
Lamb(or mutton) and bacon……add spuds n carrots and a little stock. cook for at least 5 hours on high and then lower the temp till your ready to eat or I leave it on high when I go to tafe and it falls apart when we eat that night.
Bloody lovely and a great way to use cheaper meat cuts.
mmmmmmmmmmm
My only means of cooking anything is either stove top or small toaster oven. Lucky I only cook for myself. It would be so very nice to own that beautiful appliance.
And you could cook for others with ease. Dinner Party? Good luck! x
I would love to win a slow cooker because I’ve never used one and all my slow cooked recipes are done in my old and loved Le Creuset. A slow cooker would let me leave the house whilst cooking.
Best Slow cooker recipie i have is
Slow cooked pulled pork.
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup (tomato sauce will do in a pinch but it does taste better with ketchup
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar (plus extra to taste when thickening the sauce)
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoon(s) sweet paprika (smoked also is great if you want a smoky bbq sauce)
2 tablespoon(s) Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoon(s) dried mustard
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
1 1/4 teaspoon(s) ground black pepper
1.5 kgs boneless pork shoulder blade roast , cut into 4 pieces
12 soft sandwich buns or ciabatta rolls, warmed
In the slow-cooker mix onion, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, tomato paste, paprika, Worcestershire, mustard, salt, and pepper until combined. Add pork to sauce mixture and turn to coat well with sauce.
cook pork mixture on low setting 8 to 10 hours or until pork is very tender.
Remove pork from mix- pour sauce into a saucepan and simmer till thickened- i try to go for a gravy consistency- Add more sugar and seasoning to taste. I sometimes add some sweet chilli sauce at this point for a bit of a kick.
While sauce is thickening- shred pork with two forks- once sauce is thick put the shredded meat back into the crockpot and add enough sauce so its nice and juicy. If the pork is not hot enough- put the crock pot on high until heated through. Any left over sauce can be put in a gravy boat for the table.
Serve with Fresh rolls and iceburg lettuce. Coleslaw, dill pickles jarred jalapenos and chilli sauce also is really nice. If you are trying to keep the carbs down- the meat is really nice served in a lettuce cup.
Fantastic recipe, thanks. x
I would also love to win a slow cooker because my second baby is due in a couple of months and it would make my life a little easier.
Whereas I asked for a clothes dryer. Anything to ease the workload. x
I just LOVE spending ten mins in the morning preparing a meal, then not having to think about dinner all day until the last minute! That’s the best thing about slow cooking! Plus saving power!
Busy mum + slow cooker = happy family
Hi Sandra, I would love to win this package as to slowcook currently I have to play a game of russian roulette with my gas stovetop that likes to regulary go out, so you have to stay within arm’s length to relight each time. Good way to catch up on reading though!
That would drive me nuts, good book or not. x
When we had a wood oven we used to make an all day lamb shanks recipe which was pretty basic, onion, garlic, carrot, lamb shanks, stock, red wine, tomateos and served with truffled mashed potatoes. Just can’t do it justice in a conventional oven.
It’s the wood smoke. Adds an indefinable something.
Would you please share it. I would look forward to start to make my jams that way. .
I love slow cookers so much. My favourite recipe is Xmas pud in the slow cooker – so easy!
Recipe please …:)
I would love to win this prize- paticularley because the lid of my long serving slowcooker broke yesterday! Also my one is very small, I can’t even fit lamb shanks in it. It’s been great while it was just my husband and I, but our baby has just started solids and as we plan to have more it would be great to have a family sized slow cooker!
I made slow cooked quinces overnight last night and woke up to them this morning
750gms quinces
750ml water
250gms honey
cinnamon stick
2 cloves,
2 cardemon pods
Core and peel quinces and put them in a bowl of cold water with some lemon juice to prevent discolouring.
Heat water and honey in a saucepan until honey is dissolved, then place in slow cooker.
Add the quinces, cinnamon, cloves and cardemon pods.
Heat on low for 9-10 hours, or on high for 2 hours and then low for 6.
I started this at 9pm last night and we had it at 7 this morning on porrige, waking up to the smell of slow cooked quinces was fantastic, can’t wait to repeat the experience (though it would be even better with a slow cooker that has an unbroken lid!)
Anything with quinces is tops with me and the smell of quince as they cook is incomparable. x
Well slow cookers remind me of my childhood, when my mum used to use a pressure cooker, same same but different. The memories are fantastic, as were her delights from the kitchen. I guess that is what gave me my love of food and cooking. There are also many recipes in my catalogue that I would love to try in one. Thanks for the chance.
Now you know that’s just begging for a response along the lines of “what time is dinner?”
My slow cooker days began way back when . . . Harvest Gold & Burnt Orange were the only colours they came in & they were called crockpots . . . love, love, loved mine! After many years it was tired & worn out & needed replacing. Sadly, that brand wasn’t being produced any more. Over the last 10 years have tried a couple of different name brands & been quite disappointed, both in terms of quality of appliance & cooking results. There’s nothing quite like a meal “plopping away quietly” in the background & knowing you don’t have that mad rush to get something prepared at dinnertime! As far as recipes go — a favourite one in our household is a really simple one — a piece of topside or bolar blade with french onion soup packet mix sprinkled on top; it’s delish!
Harvest Gold! Wow, what a memory jerker that was reading your comment Glynis.
back before electricity almost – LOL
I have a really small crappy and dodgy slow cooker, and would love an upgrade. Last night I made a super yummy scrummy hot fudge peanut butter pudding cake in the slow cooker, based on this recipe http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/09/slow-cooker-hot-fudge-peanut-butter-pudding-cake.html. It was divine!
Oh. My. Goodness.
I miss having a slow cooker and I have ahd a few of them over the years. When I was married (33 years ago) the only thing I received two of was Corningware coffee percolators. What do you do with two coffee percolators? I swapped one of them for a slow cooker (‘crock o dial’ brand)! So, my first slow cooker was extremely ugly! It was cream and had a brown glazed (not removable) insert. I was a farmer’s wife so when killing our own meat we ate everything from the nose to the toes. This ugly appliance turned the roughest (and I mean rough) cuts of meat into fall off the bone yummy meals. I also cooked our porrige in it every night. With five kids, this little miracle worked every night was wonderful. No one ever missed the school bus!We only grocery shopped once a week, often once a fortnight, so whatever was lying around the kitchen (that didn’t look too dead) went in the pot. In the winter, our house smelled divine. This ugly duckling eventually died and we bought a ‘Monier’ Crockpot … with a removable bowl!! It was still ugly, orange with the traditional brown glazed insert, but, joy of joys, I could chuck the insert into the dishwasher! I eventually broke the glass lid and had to use a plate. That crock pot died and we bought a beautiful new, almost sexy (in comparison to the last two) stainless steel Breville, with a black insert … and it was oval!!! I could put a whole chook in it … and I did … often! It died of over use too. Only in the last couple of months have I been missing having a slow cooker. The kids have grown and my life had changed. Whenever I smell a slow cooker at work, it brings back such a lot of memories. But now I live in town and I am a teacher who comes home to a cold empty house in the evenings. I miss opening the door the a smell of food waiting for me. I miss having a slow cooker. I got my first slow cooker when I was 20 and I am now 53. Even though I’ve not had a slow cooker for a few years now, doing the maths means I’ve had a slow cooker for many more years than not! Yep, it’s time to start looking around for another one …
Oh I love this, thank you for sharing your memories with us Jane. Best of luck. x
Thanks Sandra, it’s scarely to think so many years have passed! I’m really glad that orange and brown (and lime green!) are not in fashion anymore. Jx
I love the simplicity of using thd slow cooker I can switch it on and by dinner time have a yummy meal I really like the following recipe for easy roast chicken it is delish
1 whole chicken
1 packet French onion soup mix
Wash the chook under cool water and pay dry with paper towel
Cover entire chook with soup mix
Place in slow cooker for about 5 hours on low
I then remove and place in thd oven to crisper up the skin, I often do this when I have my veggies roasting
The juices left in the slow cooker make amazing gravy too
I have a basic slow cooker and would live one with an auto setting
No auto setting on this Slow Cooker, but plenty of other advantages. Good luck!
I love making a stew in ours. Throw in Osso bocco , onion, corn flour, oyster sauce, beef stock and veg.
Oyster sauce? Now there’s something I wouldn’t have thought of but it makes perfect sense. Anchovies would work as well.
I’d LOVE to win this slow cooker for my Mum. I’m already a slow cooker fan and have been trying to talk her into buying one, as I know she’d use it for her and Dad. Winning this for Mum would be awesome!!
Consider your Mum and Dad entered into the Comp Fiona. Good luck x
I would love to win this slow cooker. I have one but it is one of those fancy ones that can do pressure cooking etc as well, and it really does not do a good job of slooooow cooking. It can only cook for two hours before it begins to dry out. I love cooking vegetarian curries and rich winey pasta sauces in the slow cooker.
Ahhh, that’s interesting. I guess it’s hard for an appliance to multi-task. Oh, wait …
I’d LOVE a shiny new slow cooker, my darling husband managed to break ours before last winter. I’m mum to 4 boys under 5 so the slow cooker was my best friend! It’s loss has been grieved frequently.
My favourite meal to cook in the slow cooker is a roast. I put the meat on a layer of veggies in the bottom, add water or stock to halfway up the veggies and cook on slow for 8 hours. At the end of the 8 hours the meat and veg are put on a tray in the oven to brown for 20-30 minutes while I thicken the remaining stock with a bit of cornflour. It makes the most delicious gravy and tenderest meat. Delicious!
I’m still trying to get my head around four boys under five. And you can still write coherently? Props.
All of the reasons above….plus it reminds me of my childhood when I came in from school and my mum was using hers. I knew there would be a lovely home cooked meal prepared with love for me! I would like my children to experience that. (Sometimes on busy days their dinner is baked beans – not that there is anything wrong with beans!)
Nothing wrong with beans at all. xx
Well for my chance to win, here is my best kick-arse slow cooker recipe:
Meatballs in Pasta Sauce (fan-bloody-tastic)
2 packets of prepared meatballs from the meat section in Woollies (I used a packet each of pork and Italian)
1 jar Dolmio Red Peppers pasta sauce or the cheesy one
1 can garlic and herb diced tomatoes
2 small zucchini, grated
1 medium carrot grated
1 teas crushed garlic
1 teas Italian herbs
2 tlbs parmesan cheese
Cut the meatballs into half (as they are too large) and re roll. Place a small amount of oil in a frypan over really high heat and quickly brown off the meatballs.
Add everything else and cook on low setting for about 6 hours.
I made this one up, so you can add any veg you like. I grated them so they disintegrated and my son wouldn’t know it had veg in it. Mushrooms also make a good addition. For the family you could serve it with pasta or spagetti or divide into small containers with about 6 meatballs in each and sprinkle with low fat grated cheese. Freezes really well.
.
Enjoy!!
Mmmmmmmmmmmm
With our first bub on the way this would be perfect for our growing family
I would love the McCormick bag of goodies as well as I am not the best cook and they save my tushie!
Not to mention baby brain … good luck with bubba x
My first Crock pot was a monier. (the inset did not come out. . I have always had one except if mine died and could not afford one. I would love to win this one. Looks like it would give many years of faithful service. Never thought of making jam in one. would love to get hold of some crockpot jam receipes. Buy the time you get all these reciepes you would be able to put out book on crock pot cooking.
Now there’s an idea …xx
i have a recipe for slow cooker bacon jam – but i haven’t been able to bring myself to try it.
Hey Sandra, big congrats on your new toy to play with, creating many wonderful delights indeed I am sure. I have spoken to some who have had their original slow cooker for decades. For me, who loves them too, I have used a few now over the years, they seem to breakdown, just deciding not to work anymore. I miss the smells… whafting through the house. The memories associated with those smells… mum in particular with hers going night and day all through the winter. Pea and ham always a big hit, and oxtail soup a close second. Nothing spectacluar, just simple and tasty and hearty and thick… and smelling the whole house out. The sound of the glass lid clanking on the ceramic bowl after the soup had been stirred and taste tested. I was cooking pea and ham years ago, and a friend popped by… was a cold day.. and my friend came into the house, her nose leading the way to the kitchen haha.. I miss that. The smells… and tastes of course. I haven’t replaced the last one that died years ago. Would be nice to start having nice smells about the place again during the cooler months… meals at the ready when tired at the end of the day.
Oxtail soup. Oh. My. God. Drooling.
I love my slow cooker! My favourite recipe at the moment is for Mexican beef – it’s great in tacos, nachos, burritos – really any mexican food.
In the slow cooker I put – 1 beef roast, 1 cup beef stock, 1 diced onion, 2 crushed cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon cumin, 1 teaspoon coriander, 1/2 cup tomato paste, 1/4 cup chilli sauce (I use Cholula but any hot sauce would do), salt and pepper. Cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 8-10 hours. An hour before serving, pull out the roast and cut it up and shred with a fork then put back into the crockpot.
It is so delicious, I usually make a big batch and then freeze portions for a quick after-work meal!
Ah yes, the joy of making double batches and freezing for later. Win.
I’m currently slow cooking my lasagne sauce on the stove for 8 hours after my slow cooker passed away
so I would love a slow cooker to do it in! My recipe is…
Add to the pot:
1kg skirt steak
3 x 600ml bottles of homemade passatta (thanks to my lovely Italian in-laws!)
2 tins of crushed or diced tomatoes
cut up veggies like carrot, eggplant, capsicum and zucchini (lightly fried first and don’t forget the onion!)
freshly cut parsley and basil
crushed garlic
half a small tin of tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
Bring to the boil and then cook/simmer on low for 6-8 hours then use as the sauce and meat for your lasagne! The meat just melts in your mouth! YUM!
Bolognese sauce in a slow cooker is the BEST. x
Slow cooking – bring it back to basics, a little of this, a little of that and cook cook cook….. Love to do Sausages, white beans, tin tomatoes, rosemary, garlic, onion. Cook, cooo, cook….. Kids love this recipe as well easy, cheap and yummy!!
Would love to win win win!
Please pick me!
Every little bit helps! Good luck x
I’ve made this pulled pork recipe half a dozen times and it’s brilliant. Best cut to use is shoulder (bone in or out, doesn’t matter really). The resulting pulled pork freezes fine and makes great burritoes, toasted sandwich filling, even pizza topping. Perfect for a tasty, reasonably healthy, mid-week meal.
http://www.kidspot.com.au/best-recipes/bbq+4/pulled-pork-buns-recipe+2219.htm
Thanks for this it looks terrific. x
My oven broke a few months ago and while we are in the process of re-doing our kitchen I have been using my slow cooker regularly and haven’t really missed the oven (except for cakes). My favourite recipe is satay chicken but quite often all I do put in my beef, 2tins of tomatoes and whatever vegies I have. It is so hard to stuff up a recipe!! A new bigger slow cooker would be lovely.
You can cook cakes in crockpot. I even have a crockpot cake tin.
I had no idea such a thing existed. Are they like microwave safe cake dishes?
It is metal like ordinary cake tin maybe a little higher . It has a vented lid. One could use ordinary cake tin but would need to use paper towel folded on top of tin to absorb moister. You don’t want it on top of cake. Beautiful moist not soggy.
Now I’m going to keep an eye out for them. *Heads off to check Kitchenware Direct to see if they have one*
I can not fathom what I would do if I had no oven. Best of luck.
I would love to win this.
So often I come home and am far too tired to want to think about cooking.
If I could put it on before I went to work and come home to delicious smelling food that feels like I don’t have to prepare (because I already did the prep, when I had spare energy!), I would eat so much better!
I also have very fond memories of Mum’s slow cooked corned beef which I would be able to recreate again. Perhaps with corned mutton, which I’ve only had once and it was stunning!
Now, corned mutton is something I’ve never had. Sounds amazing.
I am married with a large family of 5 children, so at least once a week (Wednesdays on my monthly menu planner), we have a crockpot meal. And yes, I have one of the very ‘old’ orange and brown ones, purchased from a garage sale about 16 years ago, so I would love a large one, to have leftovers would be awesome too!!!!!!
Got to love the leftovers. Double win. x
Well I have no handy hints. I actually asked you about slow cookers and if you had a recommendation of one brand over another…and whether they really did the trick, given my experiment of them ten years ago resulting in tasteless, watery boiled meat! And your reply and collection of slow cooker recipes have all but convinced me to have another go. BUT I haven’t yet saved up enough to buy one. So winning this one would be fantastic. So here I am throwing my hat into the ring. Thanks for running this competition.
I remember your query Meredith. Good luck in the comp. x
We would lOve to win a family size slow cooker, being a new mum and tutoring in the afternoons a slow cooker is so helpful and convenient. Whilst my daughter has her afternoon sleep ib
Oops pressed the wrong button !
Whilst my daughter has her afternoon sleep I prepare tea, using the slow cooker is a healthy quick and easy way to make dinner.
Our favorites are corned beef with horseradish sauce, osso buco with mixed mushrooms, chicken cacciatore, chilli con carne and many more.
The favorite recipe follows:
1.5 kg corned silverside
1 med brown onion
1 med carrot
1 stalk celery
10 black Peppercorns
1tbs Brown malt vinegar
1 tsp light brown sugar
2.5 litres water
Horse radish cream
2 tbs flour
2 cups hot milk
1 tbs horse radish cream
Fresh parsley chopped
Wash silverside with cold water pat dry
Place beef, onion, carrot, celery, peppercorns , vinegar, and sugar in slow cooker cover with water cook on low 7-8 hours.
Make sauce by melting butter, gradually add flour, cook slowly add milk. Boil add horse radish cream and parsely until thick season to taste
Enjoy and serve with steamed baby potatoes and beans
A happy family dinner
Chantelle
horse radish cream! ooooh, must try.
I’d love to win because i’m a mum of 4 with a fussy husband who refuses to eat so many foods. My slow cooker is on its way out and gets a great work out not only in Winter but all through the year.
It’s great in summer when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen.
I soooo need a new slow cooker. The one I have was a wedding present – back last century! We now have 4 children (with big appetites) and they didn’t make slow cookers quiet that big back then! Mine isn’t orange but not as pretty as a shiny new Morphy Richards would be.
Our favourite recipe book is Slow Cooker by Sally Wise – although one of our most used recipes is a chicken curry – not Sally’s.
Chicken Curry
1 kg diced chicken thighs
1 onion diced
3 tablespoons korma curry paste
tin diced tomatoes
all in at once and leave for hours
Vegetables eg carrots, cauliflower, peas, beans added depending on cooking time and availability
.
can of drained chick peas
15 minutes before serving 1 cup of coconut cream
on serving coriander
Serve with microwave rice & any other curry condiments
This is great for nights when you are running in and out the door every five minutes! I must add this is one of the few ways I can get veg into my 7 year old.
Thanks for the opportunity to win.
Ahh, yes, the great revolving door sessions of after school activities. How perfect is a slow cooker for those evenings.
Definately! Some days I don’t know how we would manage with out such a great appliance! I must say before children my cooker didn’t get the workout it gets now. Reading other people’s comments I’m a bit scared mines going to die soon.
My great tip for making the most of your slow cooker is to make sure the pad that sits on the meat tray underneath the great hunk of meat you are cooking does not accidentally get stuck to the piece of meat and then slow cooked for the next 8 hours.
As you can see… I need a slow cooker to practice not stuffing it up
Now THAT is funny. You’re in grand company LaLa. Ask me about the time I tried to sterilise baby bottles one evening…
As a mum of 4 kids with after school activities most nights a slow cooker is fantastic to make at 2 or 3 o’clock – before the chaos starts and still have a healthy home cooked dinner on the table. It was invaluable when for a month we had no hotplates/stove top. If I can recall 5 or 6 nights of the week we had meals in the slow cooker – the only things we missed were pancakes and pasta – in that order!!
Thanks again – fingers crossed & toes too.
No stove or cooktop for a month? What a life saver! x
It was one of those challenges, but we managed. And from memory only had take away pizza once or twice and at around $6 for a large family pizza it didn’t stretch the budget to much.
My current slow cooker a crockpot was a wedding present 34years ago. I think it might be time to retire it and a new one just in time for winter would be wonderful.
A lot of marriages don’t last that long Sue. Or it could just be me.
My slow cooker kick ass recipe is :
Place about 6 rolled up balls of foil on the bottom of the slow cooker, place a piece of corned beef on top, cover with 3 tablespooons of Golden Syrup, 2 cups of boiling water and cook on low all day
Voila : The best corned beef you will ever taste!
I would love to win this competition to give it to a young girl who is 19 years of age and having her first baby – this would be the best kitchen appliance for her !
Thanks for the opportunity
You had me at golden syrup.x
I wonder if you could make golden syrup dumplings in a slow cooker, your recipe is the beat I’ve ever tried
We have borrowed my mother-in-laws old orange ceramic slow cooker and now I’m converted! I don’t want to have to give this one back… Not until I get my own slow cooker!
We have made a few beef and lamb curries with great success, but it was the Shredded BBQ Beer chicken we made that has turned me into a true Slow Cooker fanatic.
Can of beer, cup of good BBQ sauce, chicken breasts (plus a few other herbs and spices), pop it in and then 6 hours later the most delicious chicken that just fell apart.
Perfect for sandwiches or hoagies. Enjoy with some coleslaw and thousand island dressing.
It’s a very American style dish so its referred to as a Crock Pot dish rather than slow cooker.
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/10/crockpot-bbq-beer-chicken/
That sounds brilliant. Slow cookers were called crock pots here in their earlier incarnation.
I love to use a slow cooker. It is great for making stocks. I save chicken bones from roasts. When I have enough I then add wing tips as I always cut my own wingettes. I add vegetables or even veg peelings, plenty of herbs, pepper corn and bay leaf. I then turn the thing on low and leave it overnight. This generally gives a nice clear stock for soups and broths or even a simple mug of stock on a cold morning.
If I am really short on time I will roll a cheap “roast” in french onion soup mix and add a little water. Set and forget. It is a simple matter to cook some veg when you arrive home.
I had a similar conversation about making stock in a slow cooker earlier in the week. I must investigate it further, it sounds like a great idea.
Food from the slow cooker is filled with warmth and flavour. It is nutritious, yet easy to swallow. Slow cooked food is comfort food.
I doubt anyone would disagree with you there Melissa.
I’d love a slow cooker to prove that vegetarians can do it slow too! Would love to experiment with lots of different legumes. Love the idea of using it to make stock and poach quinces (thanks to previous commenters above) and the like without having to jump up to check it all the time. Great giveaway!
My friend has adapted the Boston Baked Beans recipe (elsewhere on this blog) in a slow cooker with fabulous results. Go the veg!
I love my slow cooker! Roast lamb just falls off the bone with absolutely no effort. Sausages, some dried mixed herbs, some garlic and a couple of tins of tomatoes…just the best after a day working. The kids just love all the dishes. Did I mention the chicken curry I made…thigh fillets, red or yellow curry paste and water simmering away all day, just finished off with coconut cream at the end. MMmm. If I won, I would pass the new slow cooker onto my sister…a single mum with 3 little kids. This would be a life saver for her. Love this blog!
Thanks Wendy for this suggestion. I always think of Thai curries as quick things to make but you’re right – there’s no reason why they wouldn’t work in a slow cooker! x
We have friends staying with us at the moment. They are renovating their home. My way of cooking has been a revelation to them. Shop once a week; make do with what you have; shop for and use cheaper cuts. This week I made them a beautiful beef casserole in the slow cooker. Easy peasy browned skirt with flour and browned onion, carrots, celery and any other vegetable yelling eat me soon from the fridge. Throw in some ketchup, bbq sauce and a bit of liquid. The smell was amazing as I walked in from work. Some potato smash and green stuff and the meal was on the table. I am still using my slow cooker that mum found for me at the op shop. It is fine but I would like to send them home with one and a new attitude towards the weekly budget.
Maybe a copy of my book would help them? (Sorry, couldn’t help myself) xx
lol
I have yet to own a slow cooker, my cooker is stuffed & i’m so tired by the time i come home from work, cooking tea finishes me off. I reckon a slow cooker could be just what the doctor ordered.
Oh I hear you – It saves your sanity. Another reason to love a slow cooker.
Seems from all the posts that slow cookers make good wedding presents, mine is 15 years old and was great when there was only 2 of us but struggles a bit now to cope with meals for 4. The recipe I am submitting was originally for lamb shanks but I can’t fit 4 into my slow cooker so I have adapted it and use lamb chops instead, I miss the shanks mmmmm. The best thing about this recipe is it doesn’t have any very ‘exotic’ ingredients but tastes fantastic.
My most delicious slow cooker recipe:
Spicy Lamb Shanks (or chops!!)
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, sliced
4 bacon rashers, chopped
4 lamb shanks or as many chump chops as you can fit
1 Can tomato soup
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon each of mustard and salt
3 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
Bronwn the shanks or chops in a frypan then add everything to the slowcooker. (If I have time I sometimes fry the bacon and onion too to give it a bit more flavour)
Takes about 4 hours on high and 6 on slow.
You can thicken the sauce by adding some cornflour about an hour before serving if you wish.
Serve with mashed potato.
Enjoy
That sounds delicious, thank you for your recipe x
I like the idea of adding mustard and vinegar, that’s bound to spice things up. x
I would love to win a slow cooker. We just moved across the country and somehow the lid of my slow cooker has been misplaced so we can’t use it. This one looks gorgeous and with winter coming it is all about the slow cooker. I did have an orange slow cooker. Years and years and years ago.
My Mum, (long passed away) had an old Morphy Richards iron. One of the first electric irons available. It would not die. It just went on and on.Year after year and my Mum used to say “it’s not broken, it still works very well, why do I need a new one” I bet the Morphy Richards slow cooker will be just the same , just goes on and on. I hope I can win this one.
Maree, I’ve deleted your address from your user name to protect your privacy, I hope you don’t mind – SR x
My favourite recipe is Beef in Mushroom Gravy as it’s sooo easy.
Ingredients
2 -2 1/2 lbs boneless round steak, diced
1 1/4 ounces dry onion soup mix
10 3/4 ounces condensed cream of mushroom soup , undiluted
1/2 cup beef broth
1 cup mushroom , sliced
1/2 cup onion , finely chopped
Method
1. Place steak in at least a 3-quart slow cooker.
2. Add mushrooms and onions to crockpot.
3. Combine soup mix, soup and water; pour over beef. I often used two packets of the soup mix.
4. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until meat is tender. Serve with mashed potatoes, if desired.
Yum!!
I’ve rediscovered slow cooking lately and I’m loving it. My boyfriend made a memorable mutton stew in it and I cooked a delicious corned silverside with sugar and vinegar. The next thing I’m planning to try is your pulled chicken recipe. I’d love to win this pack to upgrade to a state of the art model and play further with this style of cooking.
Another interesting tip about slow cookers. They are great for dyeing yarn and fiber (just don’t use one that you use for cooking unless you’re using food colouring). If I win this one, I’ll use my old one for dyeing.
Oh wow, I had no idea. That’s amazing.
My Favourite slow cooker meal on a busy day is a Roast beef studded with cloves of garlic, sprinkled with mixed herbs and freshly ground pepper then doused in a half to one cup of red wine or sherry. The juices make an amazing gravy for your roast dinner, or for roast beef rolls with chips and gravy for the kids.
That sounds fabulous. x
Hi,
I would love to give the slow cooker a try. I do not own one but have heard only good things about them. I think it would be so handy to prepare your meal in the morning when my 2 young sons are good humoured unlike at 5pm! My husband works away for 3 months at a time so I think the slow cooker would be invaluable.
Great website
Elizabeth
Thanks Elizabeth, good luck!
With a 3yo plus a 12 week old baby in the house I’ve been trying to cook as many meals as I can in my tiny slowcooker, we be surviving on beans on toast without it! An upgrade to one big enough for roasts is in the cards. At the moment my fave recipe is chuck steak, diced veges {I used pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, onion, celery in my last one} 1 cup of stock, a tin of tomatoes and a teaspoon of oregano plus a splash of red wine. Always plenty oc leftovers for lunches or easy freezer dinners! Plus the 3yo love it!
WHAT did new mums do before slow cookers? Seriously, what did they do?
I’d love love love a slowcooker big enough for roasts! Nothing would beat a slowcooked roast on a cold winters day!
Except a soup. Or a curry. Or a dessert …. I am so conflicted after reading the awesome recipes we have so far … x
Pretty happy with all these new recipes to try out, thanks Sandra
Isn’t it awesome? I love the suggestions as well.
Here is one cake cooked in a slow cooker. Hope you like.
Boiled Fruit Cake with Pineapple
4 oz (125g) butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup water (add 2 tabs brandy to make up the cup)
16 oz (450g) mixed fruit (add extra chopped cherries to make up the 16 oz)
100g glace pineapple
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp bi carb soda
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup plain flour
2 eggs, beaten
Pineapple pieces, glace cherry halves and pecans to top cake (optional but recommended)
Place butter, sugar, water, mixed fruit, pineapple, nutmeg and soda into a large saucepan. Stir until boiling and allow to cool for at least 15 – 20 minutes. This is an important step otherwise when you add the eggs they will cook. Now add the beaten eggs and stir well. Sift the flours and add them to the other ingredients in the saucepan making sure to mix thoroughly.
Spoon into a round slow cooker base or pour into a greased cake tin that fits into your slow cooker (approximately 8 in or 20cm). I like to also line the pan if using the cake tin. You can press extra pineapple pieces and pecans on top of the cake if you aren’t icing it.
Cover with two layers of paper towel as this will absorb any extra moisture on the top of the cake. Cook on high for 2 – 2.5 hours.
Let stand in crock pot for 20 minutes before turning out onto cake rack to cool completely.
I spread a small amount of pineapple jam with a pastry brush over the cake while still hot to add a nice glaze but that is optional. You can also ice the cake if you like. This cake comes out nice and high and tastes even better than it looks. Get out your slow cooker now!
While that is a slow cooker reciepe it cooks just as well in a slow cooker/ crockpot
I would LOVE a slow-cooker, have been wanting one for ages for just the reasons you say – make your meal in the morning, leave it all day and when you come home in the evening, it’s all done! My mother in law makes a “chicken tortilla lasagne” thing in hers – layering chicken, corn, taco sauce, beans and tortillas (and maybe some other things) in the slow cooker and cooking for ages, it is delicious!
And my favourite recipe would be your rogan josh. Is this sucking up too much!? I and my husband LOVE it, have made it with both lamb and beef, it is sooo delish. I also love that it isn’t from a paste, all from scratch! I have only ever done it in my cast iron dish, but would love to try it in a slow cooker too!
I’ve been dying for one of theses babies for so long. I do my slow cooking in corningware (eg Stephanie Alexander’s Beef Bourginon) but I always get the feeling it would taste even better cooked in a slow cooker. My oven thermostat is cr*p so it’s always under- or over-done. So please computer generated random picker thingy, please pick me! Congrats on the book by the way, x.
My fav recipe for the slow cooker is Lamb Casserole made from lamb neck chops. My Grandma used to make it. She would be in the kitchen all day with it. I am sure she would be miffed just like she was when I made mint sauce in the food processor instead of cutting up the mint by hand.
I would love love love a slow cooker! I have been looking at them for a while but havent had spare cash to get one. I love making stews and curries and having one would make things a lot easier for my fiancee and i as he works during the day and i work at nights. This way i would be able to have his dinner cooking and ready for when he gets home
I would love an extra slow-cooker! I use mine so often, I would love to have two – one to cook dinner, and one to make my soup or yogurt – it’s so easy, I would be lost without mine!
I would love it because, speaking frankly, before I discovered the slow cooker I couldn’t cook. Period. Frozen was my friend. I bought a bright orange slow cooker circa 1970′s from the trash and treasure market for 5.00 (light doesn’t work anymore but hey, she still heats) and a 50 cent Margaret Fulton recipe book from the op shop for slow cooking… and a new world opened up for me at the age of 35.
I had to learn to cook because suddenly, I had an exchange student (from France, culinary capital of the world of all places) relying on me to provide him with wholesome meals, (I didn’t want to get charged with frozen pizza neglect).
My partner, the cook at the time, suddenly got a new job, working away, and what was left was me, a hungry 17 year old and a kitchen.
So out she came, orange decor and all. She made life easier, that orange girl of mine, although I need to admit there were a couple of slow starts. Manfully my french son would struggle through a couple of same tasting meals (thankfully his english wasn’t too good at that point) but slowly together we journeyed back to the seventies, the land of rice pudding (desert) and country chicken and mushroom stew (delicious).
Good old Margaret even had a recipe for beef bourguignon (which he grudgingly admitted “eets pretty good, zo not so good az ze french one”.
Now, I am no longer afraid. I love to attempt things,…. although I am still learning. And yes, my orange friend is still ticking along…though for how much longer is anyones guess.
I would love a new slow cooker, mine was so loved (used) that it passed away quietly through the night late last winter (and it wasn’t orange, it was retro brown in colour).
My best tip for the slow cooker is to prepare everything the night before, put it all into the inner dish and stick theinner dish in the fridge. Then in the morning, when you’re trying to get ready for work, get hubby ready for work, get the kids ready for school, walk the dog, feed the cat and the pack baby off to daycare, you only have to take it out of the fridge and turn it on. Saves so much stress and mess in the mornings!
I would absolutely love a new slow cooker. My extremely old and small slow cooker is put to good use in the house, with 4 hungry children to feed, and is on its last legs! I use it all the time for cooking roasts – just season & add nothing else! The roast cooks in its own juices & is always lovely & moist. I’ve also tried the McCormick Slow Cooker sachets & they are brilliant!
My slow cooker is old, white, and looks like something my mother used to cook with. I NEEEEEEEDDDDD that stainless silver beauty. Imagine what you could make with that?
My fave recipe is slow cooked moroccan lamb – fills the house with the smell of delicious spices, filled with all good things like lentils and veggies, and yet tastes to die for.
THAT’S what I’d make.
I’m inspired… I have a lamb leg roast that is going into my slow cooker tomorrow so that while I attend to a uni assignment, dinner is doing its thing and the boys will be happy smelling the feast to come:)
My fave recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food, his Chili Con Carne. It’s not actually a slow cooker recipe but works fantastically in it and is choke full of veges, flavour and it’s loved by the kids as well.
I throw everything in a cook it on a slow heat through the day and it tastes iven better heated up the following day after a night in the fridge.
Here is the link…http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/jamie-oliver/chilli-con-carne-recipe
I would really love to win this package – what an absolute treat to come home each evening and dinner literaly jumping out the cooker!
I find sometimes that receipes are too thin in the sauce for me and for the last half hour of cooking I take the lid off the slow cooker to thicken – give it a go!
I would love to win this for my brother in law. He has recently moved in with us and trying to get his life back together after a divorce so we are trying to get stuff together for him.
I love the McCormick Herb and Garlic Lamb Shanks. I actually made it 2 days ago. I usually use 2 packs and double the recipe. I add in mushrooms and any other vegies I have that need to be used up. It’s great. Fed 3 of us with 2 more meals (for 3 people) that went in the freezer!
But one of my best recipes is my pumpkin soup. I use 3 different types of pumpkin (Jap, Butternut and Kent), sweet potato and onion.
First, brown diced onion with a little chilli (as much or as little as you like). In the slowcooker put all the diced pumpkin (choose your own quantities), sweet potato and cooked onion and chilli. Add enough chicken stock that it comes ALMOST half way up the pot.
Slow cook away until pumkin is very very tender.
Then blitz with a hand held blender and add some cream. Add seasoning if needed.
I like to add coconut cream sometimes to it instead of plain cream. And at the end grate a little parmesan cheese into the soup
Best tip is it saves time. I can throw everything in and not have to slave over a stove to cook a delicious meal. I use it almost daily in winter (and it summer, cuts down on heating up your kitchen).
I have a 20 yr old slow cooker with veggies on the side n do a killer garlic gravey beef served with mash n veggies , leftovers are put into take away containers n frozen for lunches. Nothing better than coming home after long day at work in winter n being greated at the door by the wonderfully smell , unfortunately think its on it’s last legs as one side gets a tad stuck n we have fights over who gets the caramilsed bits . Please consider us . Love your blog n your book
Like everyone else I’d love to win a gorgeous, modern slow cooker!
My slow cooker is a small one that’s had a few too many beef curries in it (if its stains are anything to go by!). My favourite dish at the moment is corned beef. Cooked with an onion, cloves, bay leaf and orange peel. I got the recipe from my mother in law, but I don’t know where she got it. The corned beef comes out flavoursome and moist. Yum!
Ooh ooh I love my slow cooker but it’s starting to disintegrate! Please can I have a shiny new unbroken one to feed my family even when I’m at work all day?
My best slow cooker recipe is also my simplest.
Best ever slow cooked corned beef – plop your corned beef in the slow cooker, pour over a 1.25l bottle of dry ginger and cook on low all day. Serve with mustard sauce and veggies and the leftovers with homemade green tomato relish on sandwiches the next day. Simplest recipe ever but oh so yummy!
Many years ago, I had a slow cooker, which I adored, and used endlessly! Why oh why did I agree to give it away – it was to a friend who was just starting up home, so not all mad! Not a months has passed since where I say ‘as soon as we get some spare money, I’m buying a new slow cooker’. As we survive on a very very tight budget this day has never arrived! I literally plan in my head all the beautiful meals I can cook, when, eventually my silver cloud arrives!
I would really love to win the slow cooker, although I already have one it is getting a bit dated, This is one appliance I would replace immediately if it died as I use it for everything, from roasting Chicken, pot roasting beef, cooking corned meats (which come out sooo lovely) to soups and of course slow cooking. It is great to use through summer as it doesn’t heat the kitchen up and it keeps the power bills down.
I also would love a new slow cooker. I have always been a big fan and it was a godsend when the kids were little and the best time of the day was in the morning when their day was as sunny as their disposition rather than trying to get the meal to the table amongst tiredness, homework, or rushing to and fro sports. Those days are gone but now the caravanning life is upon us and it is wonderful setting the slow cooker to work straight after breakfast, going off on our excursions and arriving back, foot sore, photographed out, and tired of eat street style lunches to a wonderful aroma coming from the annexe of a home cooked meal with all the nutrition that we need for the next day’s adventures!
I would love a new slow cooker as the one I had broke at the end of last year, we used to cook some amazing Thai green curries in ours and I loved the fact you could prepare it in the morning, go out for the day and dinner was done when you got back!
I really need to win a new slow cooker as my family tell me i am a terrible cook, it sounds so great i cant go wrong!
My big tip for use of a slow cooker, especially given the bigger capacity, is to use left overs as pie fillings.
A good thing to do with left overs that have a gravy however they are cooked.
I would love to win a slow cooker, I would give it to my Mum, hers is on the way out. It is the same on that I remember cooking the most mouth watering chicken soups / stews when I was little over 25 years! I would love to give Mum a new one so that my boys can taste just how wonderful her cooking is, and also so that now I am grown up, I can learn!
I would love the slow cooker prize pack because it would simplify our hectic family life! I would love to be able to create tasty, melt-in-your-mouth hearty meals for my fussy 4 year old and toothless 1 year old with ease. The cooker could take care of dinner while I had more time to spend with the kids and we would all be much more relaxed at the dinner table!
I would love to give my mum her own and first slow cooker! She works all day and has to come home to cook a meal for herself and her two kids (Me – Miss 18 and Mr 17). This would make her life a lot easier and might even get me cooking for her instead!
I have 2 small slow cookers bought many years ago. Downside – now that i have older teenagers I have to use both of them to cook enough for the family. Upside – my husband and one of my sons do’t like their food too spicy whereas my other son and I like spicy food – easy solution – one slow-cooker
spicy and one not so spicy.
Sitting here with the rain coming down outside, I can think of nothing I’d like more than a slow cooker to cook up delicious soups and stews through winter, just like my mum used to do for us.
Oh my. It is pouring cats and dogs here in Melbourne this afternoon. I am trying to cook a vegetable/minestrone soup in my slow cooker for tonight. I have run out of room for the macaroni – really need to get a bigger one! Hope the little selector picks me. Thanks for the opportunity.
As a working mum with two kids under 3 I love the idea of ‘set and forget’. I don’t have a slow cooker, but can’t wait to try one…
I have in front of me my mothers “The Margaret Fulton Crockpot Cookbook” 1978 publication. All I need is the Crockpot,…sorry Slow cooker to go with it. I’d even be happy with the brown,orange,cream,mustard or green ones they picture in the cookbook. Gotta love the 70′s.
Having read all the yummy recipes in these comments, I think I might ask for a slow cooker for Mother’s Day or my birthday. At least it’s cheaper than a ThermoMix right?
I also confess that I would love a 70s era orange one!
I have a 70s orange rice cooker courtesy of my Indian mother-in-law. In it’s accompanying 70′s instruction book/recipe book it says its a slow cooker as well! I have tried it a few times and love the whole leaving-it-on-and-going-out thing, but on my orange number there’s no such thing as “High/Low” setting or no. of hours you want a thing cooked for….no, no, no. On my orange thing there’s just an “On/Off” switch! Oh please pick me, automated picker thingy – so that I can have a lovely silver one and do “proper” recipes. I do have a “Herbed Chicken” recipe I’d like to try:
20 cloves of garlic, peeled & put in the bottom of slow cooker
6-12 chicken legs massaged in a plastic bag in olive oil, 1-2 T dried oregano or rosemary, 1 t salt, 1 t black pepper, 1 t paprika, 1/4 t red pepper flakes.
Brown the chicken in a fry pan for 3-4 mins. Put browned chicken in slow cooker, pour 1/3 – 2/3 cup chicken broth over the top. Cook on low heat for 8 hours.
I have a 70′s orange rice cooker courtesy of my Indian mother-in-law. In its 70s instruction manual/recipe booklet it says it also doubles as a slow cooker! I’ve tried it a few times and love the whole “leaving-it-on-while-you-go-out” thing. But my orange number doesn’t have a “High/Low” setting or any way of telling it how many hours you want something to cook for – oh no, no, no. My orange rice cooker has an “On/off” switch. Please pick me automated picker thingy – so I can have a shiney silver ‘proper’ slow cooker to do proper recipes in! I’m a mum and student at the mo, and love the idea of the whole ‘set and forget’ thing.
well what can i say my slow cooker slowly cooked it’s self to death. i have 5 kids and their favorite dishes where creamy chicken casserole, silverside and curry. by the end of its extensively used life, my cooker had no markings on the dial and holes on the exterior where it was left up against something while cooking and it MELTED!!!!! it is sorely missed :<
this recipe is VERY forgiving and can be halved or doubled, you can add whatever veggies you like and it will work out no matter what!
anyway here is my creamy chicken casserole recipe in a 6 liter slow cooker:
oil for browning
2kg chicken thigh fillets cut into largish chunks
3 brown onions chopped
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp pln flour
1 1/2 cup water
2 tbsp massel chicken stock powder
about 1 tsp of dried thyme
1/2 red capsicum thinly sliced
roughly 500g carrots washed and chopped ( i chop them into thick sticks)
1/2 celery trimmed and sliced
about a cup an 1/2 of frozen beans or peas ( whichever i have)
salt and pepper to taste
flavored rice to serve:
2 cups dry bassmati rice
2 tsp massel chicken stock powder
2 tbsp butter
casserole method:
In a large saucepan brown the onions then lightly brown capsicum and chuck them in the slow cooker dish.
Lightly brown the chicken in batches and chuck them in the dish too, with all the juices.
de-glase your saucepan with a little bit of water and pop that in with the meat.
Chuck in all your veggies and mix it all together. i fill mine to the top but if you can't get all the veggies in that's fine
Return the saucepan to the heat and add the butter, melt and add the flour to make a roux.
When the roux is foamy ( in about 1 minute) add the water and whisk so it goes smooth. i usually take it off the heat to pour in the water and whisk it.
Add the stock powder and thyme to the roux and pour it over the top of everything in the slow cooker and give it a stir.
Don't worry if it looks dry, it won't be in the end.
i used to set my cooker to auto shift and let it go for the day.
If you like it runnier add more water to your roux, or if you like it thicker you can leave the lid off for the last 45 minutes (approx) of cooking.
add salt and pepper to taste. it can do without the salt but not the pepper.
It tastes very much like Chicken a la king but has no cream( SHHH don't tell my dad, coz that's what he thinks it is).
flavored rice:
place 2 cups of bassmati rice in a large saucepan with 4 cups of water and the stock powder.
Place over a medium high heat with the lid on the saucepan till it comes to the boil, reduce heat and simmer fir 2 minutes ONLY. don't be tempted to take the lid off or stir!
turn off the heat and leave it to sit with the lid on for at least 20 minutes and you should have perfectly done rice and no water in the pot.
fluff your rice and stir through the butter. you can leave the butter out but it tastes great.
serve the casserole on a bed of this rice.
use the left overs to make chicken and veg pies another night
this dish costs under $25 and easily does 2 meals
I buy my meat at a discount butcher ( chicken should cost about $16) and all the veg from ALDI,i only get the massel chicken stock from Safeway because it's my favorite, but the ALDI chicken stock powder works just as well.
if you don't have a slow cooker this recipe it great on a stove top in a BIG saucepan. just add an extra cup of water to the roux, add the meat while the roux is simmering bring to the boil and then add your veg, bring to the boil again and then put it on your smallest flame on low and simmer it with thee lid on for 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours(depending on how soft you like the meat), stirring every 10 – 15 minutes. if it's too runny leave the lid off for the last 1/2 hour of cooking.
I don’t need a new slow cooker as mine is working perfectly. (Oops, touch wood!) So give that to someone who needs one and share the love. But I used mine yesterday to cook chilli lamb shanks with honey, yum The smell of it as we walked in last night. And yes the glass of red worked wonders in this cold weatheer. Love the couple of McCormick’s mixes I have tried, and I really must try a few more this winter. So please keep up the good work, and I look forward (hopefully) to seeing some slow cooker recipes appearing on the blog. Thanks.
I would love to win a slow cooker because the days are rapidly turning chilly in Central Victoria and after a year at home with my baby boy I’ll be returning to work part time. It seems to be the season for warming food to ease my family through this transition period!
My slow cooker only cooks on High setting, so looking for a new one, but what i love to cook is Potato leek soup. I fry up 1 finely sliced leek in some butter, then add 2 kgs of diced poatoes to slOw cooker, add cooked leeks, cover them with chIcken stock and cook for 5 hrs. When potatoes are soft, cool then blend with hand blender add 300mls cream and flavour with salt and pepper, superb!
I don’t have a slow cooker but with two boys with hollow legs (not to mention my husband), and I’m about to start a new job which is full time, and winter is starting….I need one, clearly.
I don’t have a slow cooker!
But with two growing boys with hollow legs, not to mention my husband, winter coming on, AND I’m about to start a full time job (so I won’t be home as much to prepare and cook)….I clearly need one?!
With a 12mth old baby who is extremely clingy i find it hard to get dinner on the table so having a slow cooker would be such a time saver for me!!
oh it would also be very convenient, just chuck in your ingredients and walk away, simple
I was just checking the blog – surprise comp hasn’t finished yet! One last chance? I am dreaming of all the lovely things I could make in a big slow cooker – not to mention with the Mc Cormicks pack.
My goodness Sandra, your competition closes in 35 minutes!
As a parent who’s studying and working and parenting on her own, I would LOVE a slow cooker to help me make warming meals over winter. Fingers crossed
ok who won it.