Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Meals do not have to be fancy or complicated to be both frugal and delicious.  Simpler meals save on the cost of additional ingredients, they take less prep work and often less clean-up.  They are the perfect go to meals that often become family favourites!

Our local grocery store had boneless, skinless chicken breasts on sale so I bought a family pack.  The chicken breasts were quite large so were a good deal for $7.01.  I mentally calculated a yield of four servings from the package.

I really don't like buying any meat in this type of packaging as none of it can be recycled.  The  foam trays cannot be cleaned well enough to prevent an risk of contamination from the raw meat they held.  I wash the trays well, dry then spray with rubbing alcohol to kill off contaminants.  I reuse these types for applications that will not come into anything edible.

Most meats cooked in the slow cooker need to be browned first.  This seals in some of the juices while adding flavour.  I used organic coconut oil to lightly brown the chicken.  Normally, I would use olive oil as the sauce was tomato based but I'm experimenting with coconut oil.  Coconut oil is very heat stable making it suitable for searing or browning meats.  It adds a light nutty sweetness.

Coconut oil is one of the healthiest oils you can use for both culinary and home made beauty products.  It contains lauric acids that aid in digestion while protecting the body from bacterial and fungal infections.  It is a solid at room temperature.  It can be used as a moisturizer on hair and skin as well.  I highly recommend using it on your hair to keep it healthy and shiny.

Home canned tomato sauces are our number one homemade convenience food.  I make several different, gourmet tomato based sauces each tomato harvest.  They range from plain and smooth to rich and meaty with everything in between.  One of my specialty tomato sauces started off as a roasted tomato sauce that quickly evolved to several versions of fire roasted sauces.  Fire roasting gives a rich depth to the sauces that can't be achieved by simply roasting.

I placed the browned chicken breasts in the slow cooker then poured a 1 L (quart) jar of fire roasted Italian tomato sauce with mushrooms over the chicken.  I set the slow cooker on low for 2 hrs than increased to high for an hour.  This is a newer slow cooker that does operate at higher temperatures than the old one it replaced.

I served the chicken breast on a bed of extra broad egg noodles then ladled with sauce, topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and garnished with fresh parsley from my indoor garden.  It was a simple, low cost meal that was easy to prepare.

My home canned tomato sauces cost me nothing more than the canning lid, cooking fuel (fire roasting, processing) and extra ingredients if necessary.  A 1 L jar of sauce without meat or mushrooms averages about 30¢ but I can reduce that cost using a reusable canning lid (glass insert, Tattler, 4ever recap) by 13¢.  Store bought broad egg noodles are quite inexpensive and homemade even less expensive so the only real cost for me with this type of simple slow cooker meal is the meat.  In this case using store bought chicken at the sale price brought the cost per serving to just under $1.80 which is rather frugal.

Mom's Basic Meatballs

Superbowl weekend is fast approaching.  This year we are entertaining Saturday evening for about twenty.  A couple of those guests will be staying over night to partake of our annual Superbowl party of about twenty.  As you know I have been busy painting the kitchen and now with three days until the festivities, am in high gear doing menu planning and preparing a few dishes ahead of time.  Meatballs are a hit at Superbowl parties.  One of the grocery stores has a 907 g (2 lb) box of meatballs on sale for $4.97, regular price $7.97.  This works out to $2.49 per pound at the sale price.  Homemade meat balls made by grinding your own meat using a shank roast or other cut of beef on sale can be considerably lower than that price per pound.  Unlike store bought meatballs, my homemade version contain no fillers.

I have ground beef from our last beef on the hoof purchase to use up so did not grind from a fresh cut of beef.  The price works out to $2.35 per pound across all cuts of for organic, hormone-free beef.  Hopefully this year's price will be the same!

When I make meatballs, I don't use any fillers.  Any seasonings I do use, I keep to a minimum so the meatballs can be used in a variety of dishes.  I used 4.5 lb of lean ground beef for this batch.  The binder I prefer is cold milk.  The milk tenderizes the meatballs without adding much in the way of flavour.  I used a little garlic pepper as a seasoning.  The screen on top of the mixing bowl is a splatter guard available at kitchen outlets and many department stores.  Meatballs can be fried, baked or boiled but my opinion is frying gives the best results.  I used the larger of my new Paderno EcoPan ceramic coated frypans.  My gosh, as a non-stick surface these fry pans are a dream to work with without the worry of PFOA and PTFF off-gassing of other non-stick cookware.

Cold works as a great binder for ground meats because it congeals the fat in the meat.  I put the metal mixing bowl in the refrigerator to chill.  Once chilled I add the meat and any seasonings, mixing well.  Then I pour in the cold milk a little at a time until the meat sticks together.  At this point it is time to heat the fry pan and start forming the meatballs.

I use a meatball former for consistent sized meatballs.  Larger meatballs can be made by hand but you have to work quickly to prevent warming the meatballs before putting them into the fry pan.

I add just a little extra virgin olive oil to get the frying process started.  I also work in small batches in a rotation style.  Each meatball is formed then placed in the pan one at a time rather than making all the meatballs at once allowing them to warm.  Once the meatballs are browned on one side, I use a slotted wide spoon to carefully turn then then push that batch to the side of the fry pan furthest from me.  While they finish cooking, another batch is added to begin cooking.  I remove the cooked meatballs, turn the others then add a new batch.  I continue in this fashion until all the meatball mixture is used.  This may sound like a lot of work but it really is not.

Once all of the meatballs are cooked, I allow them to cool.  I do not drain them because I am using lean ground beef and a slotted spoon so then is little to drain.  If using regular ground beef, I would recommend draining the meatballs.  At this point the meatballs are ready to be added to the desired dish, home canned or frozen for later use.

Without a lot of added seasoning the meatballs can be used in any dish ranging from soups and pastas to a wide variety of meatball appetizers.  Just pour the frozen meatballs into your slow cooker then add desired sauce and heat.  Serve right from the slow cooker for a Superbowl party.  Just add a slotted spoon and toothpicks so guests can help themselves.  I have a football theme slow cooker just perfect for this type of presentation.  I'm planning on using a honey-garlic sauce on the meatballs for the Superbowl party.

Slow-Cooker Tuscan Chili

I have enjoyed receiving Kraft Foods Canada's formerly free What's Cooking for several years.  I have kept every single copy!  It was with a bit of sadness to read that they will now be charging for a subscription.  The thing is every single recipe in What's Cooking uses one or more Kraft products so in essence the magazine is one big advertisement for Kraft products.  I pay enough for Kraft products as it is so will not be paying for a subscription just to find out how to use one of their products.  Instead I will be visiting their website for free recipes.

I browse though all the delicious dishes in the magazine, marking each one I want to try with a post-it.  As always the newest copy of What's Cooking (Festive 2011) had several interesting recipes.  Yesterday, I made the Slow-Cooker Tuscan Chili modifying it to use home canned diced tomatoes and home canned white kidney beans.    One problem in substituting home canned for commercially canned anything is the size difference.  The recipe called for 19 oz of diced tomatoes and the same amount of undrained white kidney beans but home canned sizes are 1L or about a quart (tomatoes) and 500 ml or about a pint for beans.  In order to make the chili according to the amounts in the recipe I ended up with part jars of tomatoes and beans left over.  The interesting aspect of this chili is there's no chili powder yet it is a rich and flavourable chili, sure to please.  I served the chili with fresh baked French bread (first bread baked in new natural gas oven) and extra virgin olive oil seasoned with basil for dipping.

Slow-Cooker Tuscan Chili
modified from:  Kraft Canada, What's Cooking (Festive 2011), Pp. 25

1 lb mild Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
20 oz home canned diced tomatoes
20 oz home canned or fresh cooked white kidney beans
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
5½ oz tomato paste
½ tsp dried basil leaves
½ tsp dried oregano leaves
2 tbsp Italian shredded cheese mix per serving*

Carefully remove the casing from the sausage.  Break the sausage into pieces while browning.  Drain and spoon sausage into slow-cooker.  Chop peppers and onion.  Add vegetables, tomatoes and beans to the slow-cooker.  Stir well then stir in herbs.  Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.  Ladle into bowls.  Top with shredded cheese.  Serve with fresh baked bread and extra virgin olive oil for dipping.

*Shredded Italian cheese mix (brand name or store brand) can be found in the dairy section or you can make your own by combining shredded provolone, mozzarella, parmesan and emmental cheeses.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

Baked beans are a family favourite.  While many buy baked beans already made in cans then doctor them up, the best baked beans are made from scratch, cooked long and slow to develop their rich flavour.  Dried navy beans are normally used for baked beans.  These beans cost about $1.89 per 900 g package or about 90¢ per pound.  One pound of dried beans is 2 cups that will give a yield of 4 to 5 cups cooked beans depending on the type of beans.  This is the equivalent of about 2½ to 3 cans (398 ml/14 oz) of prepared baked beans.  As a cost comparison the dried beans come in at a third of the price or less of prepared baked beans and they are not difficult to make.  The nice thing about homemade is you control the flavour.

I made a batch of slow cooker baked beans a couple of days ago.  The slow cooker is an ideal choice for the long, slow cooking required for baked beans.  It does not add as much caramelization as oven baked or the smokiness of grilled baked but it does give quite favourable results.  The beans can cook all day without the worry of checking the outdoor grill.  A slow cooker is less expensive in terms of electricity usage than the standard sized oven. 

I used my smaller 2.5 quart Rival (model 5025) for the baked beans.  It was the perfect size although the recipe could have been increased by half without a problem with respect to volume.  I developed the recipe as the end result came to mind.  The flavour was quite good.  I think next time I will add just a little browning (caramel) to heighten the flavour and deepen the colour.

Slow Cooker Baked Beans

2 c dried navy beans
1 bacon end (about 2-inch piece)
1 c ketchup
2 tbsp fancy molasses
2 tsp mustard powder
1 tbsp dry onion flakes
 3-4 drops liquid smoke

Rinse the beans then cover with water and soak overnight or use the quick soak method.  Drain beans and pour into large saucepan.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer and cook 1 hour until beans are tender.  Drain and pour into slow cooker.  Trim excess fat from bacon end.  Add remaining ingredients to beans, mixing well.  Set slow cooker to low.  Cook 4 to 5 hours.

Beef and Barley Soup

Old Man Winter is not letting go of his chilly grasp just yet.  In fact we encountered rather ugly roads with heavy slush and freezing rains coming home from the kids this past weekend.  As a result I'm still in soup making mode.  Soups are just so easy to make and they are one dish where you can let your creativity run wild.  Basically anything goes with soups as long as you have a stock or broth and one or more vegetables then one or more of optional ingredients like meat or poultry, grains, lentils, dried beans or noodles.

Barley is a rather underused grain in our home and yet is it very easy to cook.  It goes quite nicely in a soup especially anything beef based.  I made a delicious beef and barley soup a couple of nights ago.  Unlike a lot of my beef soups I added tomato paste to the stock for a zesty flavour. 

While I keep a lot of home canned stocks on hand and use a lot of stocks in cooking I often make soups right from scratch.  That is I make the stock first usually using a pressure cooker than I finish off the soup on the stovetop or in the slow cooker.  This allows me the greatest level of creativity to take the soup in which ever direction desired.

Beef and Barley Soup

2 beef soup bones
1 medium onion
1 carrot
1 parsnip
1 stalk celery

Wash but do not peel vegetables.  Cut carrots, parsnip and celery into 3-inch pieces.  Cut unpeeled onion into quarters.  Place vegetables and soup bones in 6 L pressure cooker.  Fill with water to the  ⅔ mark on the pressure cooker.  Secure the lid.  Place on high heat to bring to pressure.  Reduce heat to just the point where the pressure cooker maintains pressure.  Cook for 40 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to de-pressurize.

Add 1 lb stew beef and about 2 c of water.  Bring pressure cooker to pressure then cook 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and let de-pressurize.  Remove meat pieces and any meat from the bones.  Cut meat pieces into bite size and place in slow cooker.  Strain the stock mixture pouring stained stock into slow cooker.

Add:

1 bay leaf
6 oz tomato paste
⅔ c barley (soaked using quick method)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Cook in slow cooker on high 2 hours.  Sauté a half pound of sliced mushrooms in butter.  Drain and stir into soup.  Add 2 cups frozen peas.  Continue cooking on high 10 minutes.  Remove bay leaf and serve.

Mom's Sausage Bean Casserole

A couple of days ago I wrote about the fundraiser beans I bought to support our grandchild's school.  Many frugalistas advise that if you aren't eating beans at least three times a week you aren't being frugal enough.  Beans are a very inexpensive, budget stretching food yet healthy and nutritious.  They are high in fiber and protein.  Their texture makes them a perfect substitute or extender for meat as well.   In addition to eating beans as a side or part of another dish, beans can be easily sprouted for a rich source of Vitamin C.  Bean sprouts are delicious in salads and stir fry.  Properly stored dried beans will keep 5 years or longer making them the ideal pantry food.

The first package of the bean mixes I tried was the Mom's Sausage Bean Casserole mix.  This 585 g mix consisted of about 3 cups of beans.  About 2 cups were navy beans and a half cup each of romano and kidney beans.  This gives me the idea to mix up a few jars of these using bulk purchased beans for a homemade ready mix.  There were no seasonings included with the bean mix.

The sausage bean casserole was quite easy to make but would not fall under the category of one pot cooking since both the beans and sausage had to be cooked before adding to the slow cooker.  I used an Italian hot sausage that gave a nice flavour.  I also omitted the peppers.  The overall dish was quite thick, nice and chunky similar to a chili.  This is dish is one that I will be making again.  I already have a couple of tweaks in mind like adding niblet corn. 

As promised here is the total cost analysis for the dish.  The cost for the meal was $5.50 (mix), $2.17 (Italian hot sausage), about $1.25 additional ingredients and 44¢ electricity for a total of $9.34 for 6 to 8 servings.  This works out to a cost of $1.17 to $1.56 per serving depending on serving size.  The same dish used with bagged beans bought in the grocery stores  would reduce the cost of the bean mix to about $2 (roughly $2 per lb or less) which would reduce the cost per serving to 73¢ - 97¢ making this a very frugal dish.  Further savings are possible by buying beans at a bulk food store like Bulk Barn.  The number of servings could be increased by using the bean casserole as a topping for plain rice.


Mom's Sausage Bean Casserole
source: modified from The Bean Ladies

1 585g package bean casserole mix
½ lb sausage of your choice
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cloves crushed garlic
28 oz crushed tomatoes
1 c water
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
¼ c ketchup
3 tbsp molasses
salt & pepper to taste

Soak the bean mixture overnight.  Drain.  Cover with fresh water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer.  Cook beans until tender, about 1 hour.  Drain and rinse.  Pour into slow cooker.  Cook sausages, onions, peppers and garlic in fry pan.  Cut the sausages into bit sized pieces.  Pour sausage mixture into slow cooker.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Stir well.  Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

Meatballs with Nidi Capellini

 Pasta is a fun addition to any dish.  It is available in so many shapes, texture, sizes and now colours.  While a large portion of pastas are wheat based with high quality pastas using durum wheat semolina, rice based pastas are also available.  Various colours are derive from the addition of spinach (green), tomato (orangish red), whole wheat (brown), buckwheat (brown) and beets (purplish red).  Low-carb pastas are available as well although they have a bad reputation for poor taste. 

Pastas should be cooked to al dente meaning with bite.   When you bite into a piece of cooked pasta there should be a slight resistance.  In general thinner pastas cook faster.  Angel hair pasta is a long, very thin pasta with a short cook time.  It is available in strands or formed into angel hair nests (nidi capellini).  The nests are dropped into boiling salted water.  A gentle stir may be needed but avoid if possible so the nests keep their shape.  Once the nidi capellini is cooked, carefully remove it from the pot using a wide slotted spoon.  Allow to drain on the spoon then place on a plate or in a bowl to add the toppings for serving.

The inspiration for this delicious soup came from the picture on the cover of Food & Drink (Winter 2010).  The pasta looked like angel hair nests in a beef broth topped with chopped tomatoes and green onions.  I started about my creation without looking at the recipe until I started to write the blog post.  My dish was quite a bit different in that I didn't use soba noodles or mirin.  Rather I used angel hair nests and added homemade meatballs and sliced mushrooms.  The end result was quite delicious!  I thought the dish had nice eye appeal served in shallow bowls to show off the nidi capellini.

Meatballs with Nidi Capellini

6 c homemade beef stock
1 c homemade tomato stock
1½ lb lean ground beef
¼ c milk
½ tsp garlic pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
½ lb sliced white mushrooms
½ tsp browning
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste
2 nidi capellini per person
2 green onions
3 - 4 chopped home canned (or store bought) whole tomatoes

Mix garlic pepper into ground beef then pour in milk and mix well.  Form into 1 - inch diameter meatballs.  Heat olive oil in fry pan then add meatballs.  Cook until well browned.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the meatballs to slow cooker.  Add butter to reserve liquid in fry pan and add mushrooms.  Cook until caramelized.  Pour mushrooms over meatballs.  Pour in stocks then add browning, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaf.  Turn slow cooker to high and cook for 2 hours.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cook nidi capellini to al dente in boiling salted water.  Remove nidi capellini with wide slotted spoon allowing it to drain in the spoon.  Place two nidi capellini per person in shallow soup bowl.  Spoon about 2 tbsp chopped tomatoes over the nidi capellini.  Ladle soup mixture over the pasta and tomatoes.  Garnish with thinly sliced green onions.

Biscuit Topped Stew

Stews like soups, chili and chowders originated as a frugal way to stretch a little meat and vegetables during the long winter months.   While the type of meat varied the vegetables used were those that kept nicely in the root cellar.  Typically these vegetables were carrots, winter squash, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, and cabbage. 

The nice thing about stew is you really don't need a recipe.  As a result there is a lot of possible variations.  I add whatever strikes my fancy when it comes to vegetables often adding corn, peas or green beans.

I made a typical beef stew in the slow cooker.  I browned the stew beef in a little olive oil and Montreal steak seasoning then poured that into the slow cooker complete with the liquid.  Next I added prepared carrots, potatoes, onion, water, and bayleaf.  I programmed the slow cooker for 7 hours on low.   About two hours before the cooking time was up I stirred in corn niblets followed by sliced mushtooms about an hour later.  Finally I added Worcestershire sauce, a cornstarch slurry to let the juices thicken in the last fifteen minute and set the slowcooker on high.

We enjoyed a hearty bowl of the stew that night for dinner.  The following day was cold, blustery do nothing day.  I topped the leftover stew with biscuit mix dropped by dessert spoonfuls on top of the stew.  My husband took care of the baking and getting the dish into and out of the oven.  The biscuits and stew were baked at 400ºF until the biscuits were golden brown and the stew warmed through. 

The following day my husband took the leftover biscuits and stew to the office to share with one of our kids.  There small batch of stew was enough for six healthy sized serving.

The biscuit topping added a nice dimension to the second dinner.  They were similar to dumplings on the bottom yet biscuit-like on the top.  It was a lovely, homemade meal perfect for a do nothing day!

The nice thing about both dinners was low prep that could be done sitting down and they were since pot dishes.  This was very much appreciated since I'm still on crutches.  It's times like this that all the home canning I do comes in handy.  However, we are getting the freezers ready for our annual purchase so need to work on using the meat in them up.  

Slow Cooker Braised Beef Ribs

In my quest to learn how to use my new slow cooker I decided to start mainly with tried and true family favourites to see how well they could be duplicated in the slow cooker.   I normally cook braised ribs in one of my pressure cookers.  Braising means to cook in liquid usually long and slow.  This method helps tenderize the meat so it is tender, juicy and falling off the bone.

By far our most used commercial sauce is Diana Sauce®.  This is a very nice sauce available in several flavours distributed in Canada only.  I used about 3 lb of beef braising ribs, a half bottle of Diana Sauce® along with potatoes, whole mushrooms and cabbage.  I set the slow cooker to low for 7 hours. About a half hour before the finish time I stirred in about 3 oz of cornstarch slurry.

The meat was very tender and juicy with lots of flavour.  The vegetable medley was perfect as a side.  I served the meal with homemade bread and a small side salad.  This will be a meal I make again on those days I know we will be out and about wanting a nice home cooked dinner ready for us when we get home.

Chicken Marinara

It interesting that a few years ago during the H1N1 outbreak, the sale meat was pork.  By about this time then I was scrambling to find all the pork recipes I could.  This year it seems like deja vu except the meat is chicken.  There have been some rather good sales recently so we have been taking advantage of them but in moderation as we need to use up a fair amount in our freezers in order to be ready for out half of cow this year.

After the disappointing slow cooker whole chicken I decided to try cooking a whole chicken in the slow cooker using the remaining fresh whole chicken.  I placed the chicken in the slow cooker with 8 oz of fresh whole mushrooms and four 1 - inch thick cabbage wedges.  Then I poured a 1 - L jar home canned marinara sauce over the chicken and set the slow cooker to high for 4 hours.

We were running a bit late that night so the slow cooker automatically switched to the warm setting.  This is a nice feature that keeps the dish hot but not to the point of it being over cooked.   The house smelled wonderful when we walked in the door to an almost fully cooked meal!  I'm starting to like this slow cooker.

Oh my!  This was a delightful meal that was ever so easy to make and on the frugal side.  I served the chicken marinara with a bit of the sauce ladled over the chicken.  Sides were sweet peas, buttered egg noodles and the mushroom cabbage mixture.  The chicken was melt in your mouth tender with a lot of flavour.  The marinara sauce gave a nice flavour not only to the chicken but also the mushrooms and cabbage.  Cabbage is one low cost, nutritious vegetable I have been trying to work more of into our meals.   I didn't thicken the sauce although it could easily have been thickened with a little corn starch slurry.  

What struck me about this meal was in it's simplicity there was an abundance of beautiful, bright flavours.  We ate half of the chicken for dinner with the other half leftover for the following day's lunch and popped the remainder into a quick homemade soup.  This will be one meal I will be duplicating again! 

Slow Cooker Whole Chicken

I posted about the whole chicken sale that Walmart (Canada) was running.  They had whole chickens regardless of the size packaged into two on sale for $10.  That has been the best price I've seen for whole chickens in a few years!  We took advantage of the sale buying two the first trip then four the second trip.  As a bit of an aside, Walmart has been running these packaged lot sales since the new year.  Two weeks ago it was the whole chickens.  Last week it was 3 strip loin steaks and this week it is chicken legs with backs attached.  Again the price is based on number not weight so is a rather good deal.

As mentioned we bought four the second trip.  They were quite nice looking chickens.  As per my normal with respect to sales of this type, half were put-up for later use.  In this case I froze two of the chickens.  I really should have canned them and used the bones to make stock.  However I had just canned up 42 - 500 ml jars of beef, chicken and turkey stocks so decided to freeze the chickens whole in the hopes of making beer can chicken or cooking them on the outdoor grill rotisserie.  That left me with two whole chickens for fresh cooking.  Given the events of the week I decided to test out my slow cooker rather than cut the chickens into pieces. 

If you recall I have a new slow cooker that I am learning to use.  Despite all the cooking that I do and the fact I have three slow cookers, the slow cookers remain my least used small kitchen appliance.  I find I can get better results with my countertop roaster and pressure cookers.  So I'm off on an adventure. 

I did a quick search for a recipe to cook a whole chicken in the slow cooker and settled on Kathy's Delicious Whole Slow Cooker Recipe from Allrecipes.com.  I served the chicken with buttered egg noodles.

The chicken cooked nicely and looked gorgeous in the slow cooker.  The chicken was nicely browned, tender and juicy so I was please with that result.  The problem was the flavour.  It was sadly lacking!  I was a bit disappointed to say the least but this goes to show that not every recipe is a keeper.  This will be a recipe I will work on tweaking but as it stands there just isn't enough flavour as the recipe is written.  I am rather please with the results I can get cooking a whole chicken in the slow cooker though!

Chicken in Mushroom Sauce (Slow Cooker)

I am still on my quest in learning to use my slow cookers more effectively.  One of the complaints I've had about cooking is a slow cooker is lack of browning.  Browning adds a lot of flavour.  There are two ways to achieve browning in a slow cooker.  The first is to pan sear the neat then transfer the meat to the slow cooker to finish cooking as desired.  The second method is to use liquid browning.  Quite often I used condensed mushroom soup as a sauce usually with pork or chicken that has been pan seared.  The soup is added directly to the pan the meat was seared in thinned just slightly with milk and allowed to cook on low heat on the stovetop until the sauce turns a wonderful golden colour full of lovely flavour.  The meat is always melt in your mouth tender.  This method is not always practical as the dish cannot be left unattended while cooking and it adds heat to the kitchen during the summer months.  I decided this would be a dish to try using the slow cooker.

I placed four unseared boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the slow cooker and poured about ¼ cup of home canned chicken stock over them.  I set the slow cooker on low allowing the chicken to cook for an hour.  Then I stirred in 2 tins of condensed mushroom soup and home canned mushrooms and continued cooking on low.  I served the chicken topped with mushroom sauce, buttered orzo with parsley and sweet baby peas. 

In comparison to the stovetop method, the results were different but still The meat was tender and juicy.  Searing would have added more flavour as would have using sautéed mushrooms.  The sauce was not as thick as it is when cooked on the stovetop and it didn't take on the golden hue but it was still quite tasty.  With a bit of tweaking cooking this dish in the slow cooker will be a good substitution when stovetop cooking is not convenient.

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

We recently did our annual turkey runs taking advantage of the turkey sale prices during the week before the American Thanksgiving.  The deal we found involved buying $20 additional purchase per turkey and we bought 4 turkeys so making that $80 extra squeak was my primary goal.  I found a lovely 5 lb pork loin for $7 so that went into the cart.  I decided to divide the pork loin with half to be cured for pea meal bacon and the other half for a roast cooked in the slow cooker.

I decided to cook the pork loin in the same manner I would if cooking in the oven or countertop roaster so I could compare the result when cooked in the slow cooker.  I placed the pork loin in the slow cooker then covered with Diana Sauce and a few slices of onions.  I cooked the pork loin piece using the probe setting set to 71ºC (160ºF).  I served the pork loin slices with steamed carrots, calrose rice and baked beans.

The pork loin was cooked to perfection, juicy and tender.  It had a lovely flavour from the Diana Sauce but the sauce did not thicken as it does using other cooking methods.  That is one thing I am quickly learning about cooking in a slow cooker.  Liquids don't evapourate as they do in other cooking methods so if I want a thicker sauce I need to use a thickener.  There's nothing wrong with a thinner sauce though as I quite often make a thin gravy even when roasting meats.  Other than that the pork loin was very good!  

Slow Cooker Chicken with Rice

I'm on a new mission to find a few great slow cooker meals other than stew or chili.  Those two dishes have been my standard slow cooker meals.  Other than than that despite having 3 slow cookers they are only used for entertaining (keeping foods warm) and bulk cooking.  With the purchase of my new slow cooker I am looking to expand my slow cooker repertoire of recipes.  I would hazard a guess that like many of the 'recipes' I use those used for the slow cooker will be a toss that in type of recipe rather than a rigid no deviation recipe.

Ages ago when you bough a new small appliance it came with a nice manual and recipe book.  That is no longer!  The new slow cooker came with a flimsy basic how-to guide, probe cooking time for larger cuts of meat and very basic tips for slow cooking.  Obviously I was on my own.

I cooked a chicken dish for the second using chicken legs with the backs attached.  One of my pet peeves with with slow cooked meals is the lack of browning so I browned the chicken legs before putting in the slow cooker.  Then I poured in about 625 ml of home canned plain spaghetti sauce.  I set the slow cooker to cook for 4.5 hours then served the chicken on a bed of long grain white rice topped with sauce and fresh grated Parmesan cheese. 

The chicken was nice and tender yet very flavourful.  The next step is learning to cook the rice right in the slow cooker eliminating the use of the rice cooker.  Why run two small appliances if you can get away with running one?  I'm branching out here with a bit of experimenting so watch for some of the slow cooker recipes I come up with.

Slow Cooker Rib Roast

The crockpot aka slow cooker has never been my favourite small kitchen appliance.  The reason is I can get better results often cheaper using an alternative method.  For example a slow cooker costs me about 8¢ per kWh but because it runs anywhere from 6 to 8 hours can cost as much as 64¢ for the same meal I can cook in a pressure cooker in 40 minutes for about 20¢.  So in terms of electricity usage the slow cooker has never been the end all be all for me and since I'm usually home it isn't really a convenience appliance.  As a result the slow cookers (I have 3) ended up being used mainly for bulk cooking sessions and entertaining but occasionally soups and stews.  Well times are changing and with the new TOU electricity rates, I am reconsidering the slow cooker as another appliance to help save a little money in the kitchen.

I honestly never know whether to call it a crockpot or slow cooker.  Clearly my old Rival was a crockpot.  Crockpot is a trade name as far as I can tell whereas slow cooker refers to all appliances similar to a crockpot that do the same thing but can't use the trade name.  Pictured is my old Rival and I do mean old.  I was trying to figure out just how old this slow cooker is.  I think it dates back to the mid 1980's.  There is nothing fancy about it. The temperature settings of low, high and off.  The crock is removable for easy cleaning a considerable improvement over my first crockpot where the crock was not removable.  Circled is the patch job my husband did on the cord several years back.  The cord came into contact with a hot burner baring the wires so my husband wrapped it with electrical tape.

With the onset of the rising electricity rates I started doing a bit of research.  It helped to that in order to rent our vacation home out when we weren't there a slow cooker was mandatory.  I started looking at slow cookers from a different perspective.  A couple of weeks ago Canadian Tire had the Hamilton Beach programmable slow cooker with meat probe on sale for $39.99 (half price) so I finally decided to act.  They were out of stock so gave a rain check for the sale price.  My husband brought home the new slow cooker yesterday.

Now this is a gorgeous looking slow cooker with programmable features.  Once the cooking time is finished it automatically switches to the keep warm feature so food is not over cooked but hot, ready for serving.   It also has to locking clips (hard to see but one under the right handle) for securing the lid tightly for travel.  The crock is removable and there is a spoon rest in the lid handle.  What I really like is unlike the Rival the lid is glass so there won't be any discolouration over time.  Checking through Cook's Illustrated (Nov/Dec 2009) I found that this particular slow cooker performed well in their test and is recommended as their best buy.  The sad thing is I likely paid a lot more for the Rival with less features than I paid for the new slow cooker. 

The first meal in the new slow cooker was tried and true, a meal that has been done in the oven, on the grill, in the countertop roaster and now the slow cooker.  I thawed a rib roast so I could use the meat probe.  I put the roast in the crock added a little water, seasonings, potatoes and onions then set the probe to the desired temperature (63ºC/145ºF).  Both of us had our doubts because this was a nice looking roast that we knew would cook up nicely in the oven or countertop roaster.

My husband was sure that the roast would be cooked to well but instead the roast ended up being medium, just nicely pink on the inside.  I served the roast with home canned green and wax beans, potatoes, onions and portabello mushrooms topped with a thin gravy.  The meat was tender and flavourful, nicely done so I am impressed.

Had I cooked the roast in the oven it would have cost about $1.20.  Cooking it in the countertop roaster would have cost about 90¢ and cooking it in the slow cooker cost about 20¢. Clearly in this case the slow cooker was the winner with respect to conserving electricity although the same meal cooked in a pressure cooker would have cost 16¢ in electricity.  Now this is not always going to be the case especially when using the slow cooker during mid-peak and on-peak hours and the slow cooker will not give the same results as the oven or countertop roaster but so far it is looking rather impressive.  Watch for a lot more slow cooker recipes as I do a bit of experimenting!

Parsnips & Beef Stew

Stews are the perfect winter comfort food. Much like soups and chowders, there is a basic method to making stews but the ingredients can vary greatly. Stews generally use a cheaper cut of meat so stewing over long, slow heat in a liquid is meant to tenderize the meat. The addition of vegetables adds flavour, colour, nutrition turning and thickening the liquid to form a gravy makes for a comforting, budget stretching meal. I previously posted recipes for beef stew, crockpot chicken stew, and French Canadian braised beef so today will present another beef stew that has a bit of a different flavour due to including parsnips as an ingredient.

Parsnips

Parsnips are a root vegetable that is often overlooked by many home cooks. While the resemble carrots they have a creamy white flesh and a stronger flavour than carrots. Parsnips can be cooked in many of the same ways as carrots but unlike carrots they are seldom eaten raw. They are richer in vitamins and minerals than carrots. Parsnips are rich in potassium with 600 mg per 100 g and a good source of dietary fiber.

Parsnips in particular is an ideal ingredient when making soups, stews and stocks. They add a depth and roundness in flavour.

Beef Stew

As with all of the stews I make this beef stew made use of what I had on hand. The end result was a lovely, chunky stew packed full of flavour and nutrition. I like browning meat before using it for stew as this adds more flavour. Once the meat was browned I put it into the crockpot then added carrots, parsnips, onions, bayleaf, potatoes and stock. When the potatoes were fork tender I added the corn and flour slurry to thicken continuing to cook for about 20 minutes. I added the frozen peas last letting them cook just enough to brighten. Pea are one of those vegetables that are best put into soups or stews last as they can easily over cook.

Slow Cooker Pork Loin Chops

The weather has turned extremely ugly here so that means I'm going into hibernation mode. Well not hibernation as in sleeping the entire winter but finding any excuse as to avoid going outside. That translates into filling, homemade comfort meals using meats from the freezer and ingredients from the pantry. Quite often the evening meal is decided on the spur of the moment starting with an idea I got from something I saw in the pantry or freezers. Now this is actually a good thing in many respects because stored foods are getting used up.

Pork Loin Chops

When we took the turkey our of the freezer we moved a few packages of meat to the top of the freezer to get used up. This is really important to help rotate the food in the freezer and prevent foods from staying in the freezer too long. One of the packages of meat was pork loin chops. Aren't they gorgeous? I removed the package the night before to start thawing in the refrigerator which is one of the safest ways of thawing meats. Unlike some I very seldom use the microwave oven for defrosting meats. The following morning I moved the pork loin chops to the counter to finish thawing before browning. By then I had decided to take the easy cooking method of using the slow cooker. Now the slow cooker is not one of my favourite appliances but it's so grey outside that my mood change that normally happens in November has already started.

Browning

One of the things I really dislike about the slow cooker is it does not brown meats and there is no way to brown meats using a slow cooker. Browning meat aka searing involves using a hot pan just to seal in the juices. My preferred fry pan for this is a stainless steel with copper core bottom but for this dish I reached for a non-stick fry pan. The reason being is I did not want to add any fat to this dish as it would be heavy enough.

Browning serves a couple of purposes. First it seals in the juices keeping the meat tender. Second browning adds to both the flavour and colour of the final dish. Browning give a richness and depth to the final dish that can't be achieved by any other method. I browned the pork loin chops before putting them in the slow cooker.

The Meal

Despite being rich and creamy looking and tasting this meal is actually low fat. I used 4 tins of low sodium condensed mushroom soup mixed with 2 c of skim milk. The pork loin chops where well trimmed too. Then I added about 8 small potatoes cubes, some niblet corn (home froze) and home canned mushrooms. Using a slow cooker for this dish means the sauce doesn't thicken and darken like it does on the stovetop. I thickened the sauce using instant potatoes, stirring in 1 tbsp at a time until I got the right consistency for the sauce. The end result was a very rich yet low fat, low sodium comfort meal perfect for a cold, damp fall evening meal.

Tortellini Soup

Soups are one of the most versatile and frugal dishes you can make. They can be used as the main course or a starter for lunch or dinner. Soups can also be used as an ingredient in other dishes, especially quick assembled casseroles. Creamed soups in particular are ideal for forming the basis for sauces. If that isn't enough to convince you to make homemade soups consider that they are an ideal way to make a little meat go a long way as well as using up those little bits of left overs. Soups are extremely easy to make from scratch. You don't even need a recipe! Some of the best soups simply start out as an idea and evolve from there.

Tortellini Soup

The kids have been telling me for some time about a wonderful homemade tortellini soup they make. I know they have tweaked it from the original idea and like many soups it changes with what ingredients they have on hand. We enjoyed this hearty and flavourful soup for one of the dinners during my recent stay with them. Simply changing the vegetables or tortellini filling can make a difference in the outcome.

Method: There are no real measurements for this soup. Place about 12 medium sized peeled tomatoes in crockpot. Add about 3 cups of water or chicken stock, about a pound of ground chicken and one bay leaf. Set the crockpot to medium. Allow to cook for about 2 hours. Break up the tomatoes and meat. Add enough water or chicken stock to bring the liquid level to just under the ¾ mark. Pour in about 2 cups frozen cheese tortellini and 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables. Cover and continue cooking until tortellini is hot to centre.

Crockpot Chicken Stew

A lot of people love their crockpots but I'm not one of them despite having two. Mine tend to be used mainly for stews, during bulk cooking sessions or to keep something hot like apple cider when entertaining. That's it. One reason I dislike crockpots is because they require a long cook time and while that is good for meats it tends to make some foods turn to mush. While crockpots have a reputation of being energy efficient they actually can cost more to operate than a pressure cooker. In reality, crockpots are money savers but for a different reason. You can put the ingredients in the crockpot before you leave for work in the morning, set it on low and by the time you get home a nice, hot and tasty meal will be ready for you.

Crockpot Chicken Stew

The vast majority of my soups and stews are made from scratch without a written recipe. I start with an idea then add as I go jotting down what I add in my kitchen journal. This allows me to duplicate and tweak further. Saturday we were hosting a larger event and since I had a lot of prep to do for that I wanted something easier for dinner. The idea of making chicken stew in the crockpot came to mind. It meant there would be reduced clean-up so I could spend the time between dinner and guest arrival doing last minute prep.

Crockpot Chicken Stew

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
6 medium potatoes, washed
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
4 lg carrots, coined
1½ c niblet corn
1 L home canned/made chicken stock
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Herbs de Province
2 tbsp flour
water

Lightly brown the chicken breasts. Remove and cut into cubes. Place in slow cooker with the chicken stock. Cut wash potatoes into cubes and add to the crockpot. Prepare carrots, onions and celery. Add to crockpot along with corn. Add Worcestershire sauce and herbs. Mix well. Cover then set the crockpot to low. Allow to cook for 6 hours. Check vegetables for doneness. Increase temperature to high. Allow to cook until vegetables are just tender. Mix flour with water to form a slurry. Slowly pour into the liquids in the crockpot. Stir then allow to continue cooking until the liquids thicken.

Slowcooker (Crockpot) Pork Shoulder Roast

I've mentioned in other entries that I am not a huge fan of crockpots even though I have two. They are mainly used during bulk cooking sessions. With the house being on the market I decided to do a few more meals in the crockpots for a couple of reasons. These include having a ready to eat meal without a lot of mess since for some obscene reason people insist on viewing the house during the dinner hour. The side effects are the house smells wonderful and if needbe a short delay doesn't mean a burnt dinner. But I think what it is also providing is nice homecooked meals consistent with our lifestyle or in short giving us comfort food to help ease the stress.

Crockpot Pork Shoulder Roast

Normally I like cooking pork shoulder roast in the oven but I knew the day was going to be hectic so hauled out the crockpot. I knew I would be away for the morning but the house was pretty much ready for showing. This was so easy!

Method: I placed a frozen pork shoulder roast in the crockpot, added about 1/2 c of water then tossed in a medium onion chopped and set the crockpot to low. That was about 8 am in the morning. I had no idea what sides I was going to serve but already had an idea for the sauce. When I got home about 2:30 pm I poured in 3/4 of a bottle of Dianna Sauce® Original Flavour over the roast then let it continue cooking. About 1/2 hour before serving, I thickened the juices with a little flour slurrey (flour mixed with water to a runny consistency).

Serving Suggestion: This meat literally melts in your mouth, it is so tender! I served it with balsmatic rice, homecanned green beans and a tossed salad. Left overs are ideal for sandwiches the following day.