I often forget that I own a slow cooker, but whenever I remember to use it, I'm in love with it. All I have to do is dump a bunch of stuff in the pot before I leave for work, turn it on, and I come home to a delicious aroma and a dinner that's ready to be eaten. The only catch for me is that I've got to be home at a certain time, otherwise my meat will get overcooked and tough.
For those of you who own a slow cooker, do you feel the same way?
Nike
I LOVE my slow cooker for beef stews and great Spanish chicken and rice!
1I make the best chili in my crockpot. Gotta love how easy it is.
2Yes, my mom bought one for my husband and I last Christmas. She had previously given us a slow cooker cookbook thinking we already had a slow cooker, and I kept making fun of her for doing that. So she finally bought us one, so we could finally make use of that cookbook.
3I don't own one, but I'd like to get one. I don't know if they sell them here though.
4I got one for Xmas and I love it. I made Kalua pork for a party and it was one of the few things that was completely devoured.
5I love my slow cooker but I tend to make too much food. It's just me and my husband and I find we're always stuck with enough leftovers to feed an army. Anyone have recommendations for slow cooking for two? I've tried halving recipes only to find they come out too watery from all the condensation.
6I live on my own, so I'm not sure I need anything like this. A friend of mine has one and he uses it for soups and as a chafing dish when he entertains, but I'm not certain it's anything my dutch oven can't handle when I cook for guests.
7I LOVE slow cookers. I can dump a bunch of ingrediants in it, go to work and come home and dinner's ready! And it makes the house smell soooooo good.
8They had slow cooker recipes this week on America's Test Kitchen, and it made me totally want one!
9I'd love to get more use out of my slow cooker, but I've been afraid of it ever since I made a big deal out of making a slow-cooked beef something or other for a Mexican dinner night, only to come home with my fiance to discover the meat had been burned and dried up to shoe leather - even though I followed a Family Circle recipe to the T! It was a disaster and I burst into tears when I discovered it.
10Love love love our slow cooker! We don't use it much in the summer, but it's a staple in the winter. Especially on Wednesday's when we have bible study. We can prepare dinner in the a.m. or the night before, and when we get home we have enough time to scarf down a quick wholesome meal before heading out. Much more healthy than grabbing fast food and more cost effective too.
11Lawrah, we are only two as well, but I welcome the leftovers. I freeze them and use them when I don't have the time to cook.
12YES and I LOVE IT!! I use it every weekend.
I toss everything in in the mornings,
and forget about it till the evening. Plus- it always leaves enough for leftovers to take to work during the week.
13Oh, and there are some smaller ones, around 3 qt. that would allow to cook even for one.
14Yes, and we use it all the time.
15Proctor Silex on Amazon is only 1.5 qt and very well rated, small enough for one or two people.
One more thing about slow cooking. One recent study says it's healtier because preparing foods at high temperatures increases the levels a potentially toxic compounds, called advanced glycation end products or AGEs. They are associated with disease when found in the body and Diabetics are particularly sensitive to vessel damage by AGEs.
16Yes, i have one and love it!
17Yes, I have one, but I can't think of that many recipes, I hope that means that Yumsugar will be giving us some!!
18Oh how I love to use mine for chili, soup etc.
19pork chops and chicken, it makes it easier to cook.
20flyingroo - We freeze leftovers too but who wants to eat a month's worth of chili? I once made the mistake of cooking a slow cooker pot of chili while my husband was out of town. I didn't want to be wasteful so for a whole week I ate chili. Needless to say I was tired of it. I wish I knew a better way to cut down the recipes to only have 4 servings, not 12. Like I said before my food tends to get overly watery even with cutting back on the liquids.
21I love my slow cookers! Yes, I have 2... A large one and a small one. The small one is awesome for dips and stuff for parties, or when my FH is out of town to cook a small roast. My poor sweetie gets so sick of slow cooker food from Jan - April... I work at an accounting firm and that's pretty much all I cook during tax season! I've gotten some great recipes off of www.allrecipes.com
22I love my slow cooker.
23Lawrah, are you using adapted recipes or recipes for slow cooking? If you are using the adapted ones please keep in mind to reduce amount of liquid in your recipe by one-half. 1 cup of liquid is enough for most recipes. Also, to thicken juices for gravies and sauces after cooking, mix 2 to 4 tablespoons cornstarch or flour and 1/4 cup cold water, pour mixture into dish, bring to a boil at High.
24I have one but I don't know what to do with it!! Does anybody have any websites or recipe ideas? I would love to have dinner waiting but I'm so clueless!
25i have a crock pot, and i got it to make certain soups but after a while it didn't get used at all - and last week my fiance took it out and set it up to make himself dinner. i guess he was happy with it - cause he's been using it like every night!
26OMG, I LOVE my crockpot!! A couple of months ago I got a 5-ingredient or less slow-cooker cookbook and I've made some delicious dishes in my crockpot. Just put the ingredients in before I leave for work and by the time I get home dinner is ready!! It's awesome!!
27I have a couple in different sizes. I have also recently been very amused by a blog about crockpot cooking written by a woman whose New Year's Resolution was to use hers everyday! The smaller sizes are definitely more suited to cooking for two.
28We haven't used ours in a while, we need to try some recipes again. But it was nice when I was on maternity leave. I just threw ingredients in and tended to the baby the rest of the day and didn't have to worry about dinner.
29Yep, I love mine. This is a good book for recipes for 2 - http://www.amazon.com/Your-Mothers-Slow-Cooker-Recipes/dp/1558323414/ref...
It even has a lasagne recipe, quite different to your usual lasagne, but nice and rich. Apparently you can make jacket potatoes in the slow cooker, wrapped in foil, but I haven't tried that one yet.
30I love mine. I only have a little one because I'm just cooking for me and my fiance. I make a lot of soup, stews, and chilis in mine.
31Cooking Light has a slow cooker cookbook too! I have it, and have made some yummy recipes!
32If you do own a slow cooker (I don't, but my sister, Party Sugar probably does!), check out this book:
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_...
33Yum and Suzi, I would invest in a slow cooker with a meat thermometer. Mine has a small hole in the lid you stick the thermometer through, and you can program it to switch to warm when it reaches a certain internal temperature (or just after a certain number of hours). So nice!
But that one is like 6 qts. More often I use my little 1.5 qt. guy that was like $10.
34Wolfie - Thanks for the info on the book! I am super excited about not having a servings leftover. Are there any in the book you'd recommend? I'm going to the library to see if they have it!
Thanks!!!!
35I love using my slow cooker and am always looking for new recipes! Please share any good ones
36I love my crockpot! I'm in college and take more than a full load, so it saves me time on cooking and also saves me money, since the pot o food lasts me a couple of days. Coming home to a healthier meal allows me to stay away the fast food temptations that a college student usually feeds into.
37Yes sir-ree bob!
I was it at least twice a month. I'd use it more but it makes so much food that it takes me a week or two to near polishing off my slow-cooked meal. I'm thinking of buying one with a timer since my friends brother showed me how to roast yes roast a turkey in the crockpot until that sucker is browned on the outside and tender on the inside and falling off the bones. Incredible.
My mom had and frequently used a crockpot then she gave that one to my sister and mom got a new one. My sister used that crockpot until it died a lovely death while making a delicious pot of lima beans. Then my sister bought a new fangle crockpot and put it away in her cabinet and forgot about then she went and bought another one just like the one she already had then she forgot about that one and bought another. So when I moved 400 miles away to SF I liberated one of her new crockpots. Since then 11 years ago she has purchased two more crockpots and she now uses all of them. She does an entire weeks cooking in her different sized crockpots. And when my youngest nephew moves out to go to college he plans on "borrowing" the nicest crockpot and using it in the dorm room to make a wicked pot roast for noshing.
38*was* should be use
39We use our crockpot all the time, it's wonderful. We make a lot of chili & jambalaya type dishes, and I like to cook bone-in chicken sometimes. I season the chicken, put it on a bed of onions & let it cook a few hours, then add in some veggies and let those cook a few hours.
That night we have a sort of chicken pot roast with veggies. The next day I go through & pick out any of the bones or other nasty bits from what's leftover (usually a lot). This effectively shreds up the chicken & turns the leftovers into a stew. Then we have chicken stew!
40sure do, I use it a handful of times throughout the year
41Yes! I love slow cookers. Check out the book Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. SO AWESOME.
42Lawrah - My SIL has this book: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Mothers-Slow-Cooker-Recipes/dp/1558323414
It might not be the only one like that.
43So that thread decided me to get a slow cooker (been thinking about it for a while), but for some reason the 3.5qt ones are way cheaper than the 1.5qt.
44Does anyone know if I can get a 3.5qt and cook for just 1-2 people with it? Or do I need to completely fill it up?
I use it several times a year usually for chili during football season. This past year I haven't used it at all. Such a shame! I even own a slow cooker cook book. It's definitely getting some use this year. I want to try one of the cake recipes.
45Lawrah, I have a few slow cooker recipe books, but that one has the most interesting things in it. Some lovely soups (especially the cauliflower one) a whole section on different types of chilli and unusual stuff like the lasagne. I haven't had it long and am still working my way through them, but I am impressed so far...
46My husband had never even heard of these things until one of his friends got three as wedding presents.
47I love my slow cooker although I usually end up with too much liquid. Even when I use a recipe designed for the slow cooker...
48Last night, I had leftover rotisserie chicken bones, so I wanted to make my own chicken stock. I didn't, however, want to watch over it as it simmered for 2+ hours...so I simply stuck it all in my Crock-Pot, turned it to low, went to the kitchen to check up on it this morning...et voila!
49My family has one, and we use it when we're having a hectic day but still want a home cooked meal. I can't say we've ever made anything with it that knocked my socks off, but I haven't really made a point of finding different recipes either. I'm sure they're out there.
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