Apparently summer is on the way and the UK is about to be hit by a mini heat wave with temperatures reaching 30 degrees on Thursday. Most of us tend to use out slow cookers more in the winter than in the summer. However, this is the perfect time to use your slow cooker as it won’t heat up your house like the oven will and you can spend more time in the garden drinking Pimms!
A friend of mine, who knows I have a thing for my slow cooker, sent me the following link, DIY Frozen Meal Packs for your Slow Cooker. I think it’s a fabulous idea. You can bung all of the ingredients for your slow cooker recipes into a Ziploc bag and then put them in the freezer so when you need a meal, just grab a bag from the freezer and bung it into the slow cooker! How easy is that! There are also some great ‘Summer’ Slow Cooker recipe ideas on there. I now just need to work out where I can put a chest freezer.
I could really use some summer recipe inspiration. Do you have any recipes I should try? Feel free to link up your own recipes or ones you found online. Alternatively, you can always leave your recipe in the comments section.
Thanking you in advance.
Hi!
Here is recipe I was talking about. I came across it as I’d defrosted 4 rather small pork chops and then realised the torch was coming our way so decided a SC meal was in order. Added to that daughter, son and daughter’s boyf said they’d be here for dinner so realised I’d need to bulk it out!
Pork Belly with chorizo and haricot beans:
750g Pork Belly cut into chucks (I bought 4 pork belly strips (only about £2) and added those to the chops I had)
Diced pancetta (one of those little packs already diced)
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1tsp hot smoked paprika (I used smoked paprika and a little hot paprika)
200g chorizo
Tin chopped toms
150ml red wine (who measures….)
Tin of haricot or cannellini beans
I fried pork in batches and put in slow cooker. Next fry onion, garlic and pancetta. Add paprika and chorizo, mix and fry together. Again I then added this lot to the pork. Put tomatoes and red wine into frying pan bring to a simmer (I did this mainly to deglaze pan as it had yummy bits from the meat in it but you could just put straight in SC). Pour liquids into SC stir and add water to cover ingredients. I cooked this on medium for around 8 hours – I did add a little cornflour towards end of cooking to slightly thicken. Recipe suggested chopped fresh coriander to finish – I happened to have some but you could leave this out.
Last of all chuck the beans in!! You can do it later but I put them in straight away and they didn’t go to mush.
Although this recipe looks like a meat fest and a little more suited to winter we had it with new potatoes, broccoli and a bit of crusty bread to mop up plates! Definitely one to do again!
Enjoy!
Natalie x
Thanks for the recipe Nat, can’t wait to try it!
Do we take it out of the ziploc first – I am have my index finger resting gently on by slightly open mouth ?
OOOOOPS! Yes, take it out of the bag first!