Category: Slow Cooker Sunday

Slow Cooker Sunday – Butternut Squash Soup with Dairylea

Here is my offering for Slow Cooker Sunday this week, a place for us to share our recipes (Linky below) and to get some inspiration.

It may seem rather odd but when it’s hot out, like it was last week, I like to have soup.  I originally set out to make a Summer Squash soup but when I went to Morrison’s all I could find was butternut squash.  So, I had to adapt the original recipe a bit and Anglicise it as well.

I also opted to use Dairylea instead of our normal cream cheese as it’s now made with all natural ingredients (Milk, cheese, butter and lemon).  I love being able to read all the ingredients on the side of a package.

This was incredibly easy to make and had a lovely creamy texture.

Serves 6

Cooking time 6-8 hours

Cooking Temp Low

Ingredients

  • 2 TBSP of butter or margarine
  • 1 Medium onion chopped
  • 500g of butter nut squash peeled and cubed
  • 500 ml of chicken stock
  • ½ TSP of Oregano as I didn’t have Marjoram
  • Black Pepper to taste
  • 1/8 tsp of Cayenne Pepper
  • 120g of Dairylea Cheese Spread

Method:

  1. Melt the butter in a frying pan, then add the onion and saute for 3-5 minutes until soft.
  2. Put the onion and rest of the ingredients, except the cream cheese into the slow cooker, and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  3. Check to see that the butternut squash is tender and then use a hand blender to puree till smooth.  (You could use a food processor but you’d need to do it in batches.)  Add the Dairlea and cook for another 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Serve with some nice crusty bread.

Disclosure:  We recently attended an event for Dairylea and the Cheese Spread was complimentary.



Slow Cooker Sunday – DIY Frozen Dinners

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.

Slow Cooker Coconut Beef Madras

For a number of reasons; holidays and a technology meltdown, Slow Cooker Sunday had a break for a couple of weeks, but we’re back.  Feel free to share your own recipes by either linking to an old or new recipe on your own blog, a recipe on the net that you love or you can also leave your recipe in the comments section.

Unfortunately, my hubby has deleted the photos of this recipe.  However, we all really rated it and it was incredibly easy to make.  One of the things I like most about slow cooking is that it allows you to use cheaper cuts of meat, and we’re always looking for ways to pinch the pennies, as it cooks slowly all day even the toughest cuts of meat melt in your mouth.

Serves 4

Slow Cooker Setting: Low

Cooking time: 6-8 hours

Ingredients

  • 2 TBSP of vegetable oil
  • 500g of stewing beef or similar, cut into bite sized cubes
  • 1 Large Onion, chopped
  • 2 tsp of Lazy Garlic or 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 5cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
  • 2 green chillies, chopped
  • 4 TBSP Madras Curry Paste
  • 400 ml of Coconut Milk
  • 1 Large cinnamon stick broken in two
  • Salt, season to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the beef until it’s sealed on all sides.  Transfer to slow cooker with slotted spoon.

Put the Onion, Garlic, Ginger and chillies into a food processor, and chop finely.  Squeeze out the excess liquid and transfer to frying pan, sauté for a few minutes until onions start to soften.  Add the Madras paste, mix well and fry for a further minutes, until it’s fragrant.  Add the Coconut Milk and Cinnamon sticks and bring to a boil.  Season to taste with salt.  Pour over the beef in the slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Remove the cinnamon sticks; serve with Basmati rice, yoghurt and Naans.

Do check out everyone elses recipes and like and comment.

Click here for more Slow Cooker Inspiration

Slow Cooker Sunday: Sloppy Joes – 24 June 2012

Slow Cooker Sunday has had a bit of a break, but we’re back and raring to go. My daughter normally eats with her child minder for the better part of the week, but recently it’s been school holidays, so I had to think of things that we all would eat.  So, as I often do, I think about things I ate as a kid.

One of our favourite meals was Sloppy Joes, named for the mess you make while eating them.  I know it may sound gross but it’s dead easy to make and she wolfed it down.  Served with a salad it could be called a balanced meal.  Well it does have ketchup/tomato sauce in it, which is one of your 5 a day.

Ingredients

  • 500g mince
  • ½ onion chopped
  • 1 Tsp of lazy garlic or 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 125ml ketchup/tomato sauce
  • ½ a red pepper, chopped
  • 30 ml Worcestershire Sauce
  • 30 ml Brown Sugar
  • I TBSP of mustard
  • I TBSP of vinegar
  • ½ tsp chilli powder
  • Hamburger buns/rolls

Method

  1. Sauté the onions for about 3 minutes, add the garlic, cook for another minute, then add the mince and brown.  Transfer to slow cooker using a slotted spoon.
  2. In a separate dish mix the ketchup, red pepper, Worcestershire Sauce, sugar, mustard, vinegar and chilli powder.
  3. Pour the sauce over the beef mixture in the slow cooker, mix well, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  4. To serve, put a generous portion on a roll, you can toast them if you like but we didn’t.  It’s lovely with a tossed salad or any green really.

    5. Remember it’s all about sharing, feel free to link up your favourite recipes. It doesn’t even have to be your own. Is there one on the web you use often? As long as it has a URL you can add it. If you don’t have a blog you can always leave your recipes in the comment section.

Slow Cooker Sunday – 2 June 2012

Thanks to Slow Cooker Sunday last week, I was inspired to make Falafel’s.

I was absolutely stunned that this worked. It defies the law of slow cooking, how did they brown on both sides without flipping?

I originally found this Falafel Recipe at Stephanie Odea’s A Year of Slow Cooking. Yes, she used her slow cooker for an entire year; I thought I had an unhealthy relationship with my slow cooker.

She suggested mashing the chickpeas with a fork and then pouring the mixture of lemon, egg, spices etc on top and mix. As usual, I cut corners and just threw all the ingredients into my food processor, chopped and then formed into balls.

When she said ‘dip’ in the oil, I took that as coating both sides of the flattened balls in the oil in the slow cooker.

Verdict:

They were a bit dry if I’m honest, I think I may have cooked them a bit too long. Nevertheless, we quickly rectified that with a huge dollop of Greek Yoghurt. We will definitely be having them again.

Feel free to share your own Slow Cooker Recipes by simply adding a link to your blog/website or alternatively, leave your recipe in the comment section below.

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For more of our favourite slow cooker recipes click here.