Tag: crockpot

Slow Cooker Paprika Chicken

I was originally inspired by the Hairy Dieters (Bikers) Chicken Paprika Recipe.  I didn’t buy the book because I’m on a diet, even though I should be, but because I was at a friend’s recently and she made the Lamb Tagine and it was amazing.  I had a quick look through the book and saw quite a few recipes that I could adapt and that I wanted to cook.

It was a really nice midweek meal.  However, next time I may consider adding more Paprika to give it more of a kick.

Slow Cooker Paprika Chicken
Recipe Type: Slow Cooker
Cuisine: Main
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 TBSP sunflower oil
  • 2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
  • 500 g chicken thighs, halved
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 TBSP paprika
  • 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 300 ml of
  • chicken stock
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
  • 3 large peppers (red, green yellow) chopped into chunks
  • 1 TBSP cornflour
  • 1 TBSP water
  • Crème Fraiche
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan.  Fry the chicken for approx 5 minutes until it is sealed.  Add the onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes until they soften.  Stir in the garlic and paprika and cook for another minute.
  2. Transfer to the slow cooker.  Pour in the tomatoes and stock, add the bay leaves, herbs and peppers.  Mix well and cook and cover on low for at least 6 hours.
  3. One hour before serving, mix the corn flour with the water in a separate bowl.  Then mix into the slow cooker, replace the lid and cook for another hour.  This should help thicken it.
  4. Serve on a bed or rice with a dollop of Crème Freche.  Don’t forget to ferret out the Bay Leaves.

 

If you decide to try the recipe, please do pop back and let me know how you got on.

And if you subscribe to my blog, using the form in the sidebar you can get a free copy of my first ever eBook ‘There’s More to Slow Cooking than Stews – 10 Recipes to get you going’.

Slow Cooker Sunday: Creamy Chicken Pasta


Yes, you can cook Pasta in a slow cooker!

I must admit that this isn’t the normal type of thing I cook.  However, it is school holidays, our daughter eats at the childminders for the majority of the week, so I was conscious of making child friendly meals.  We’ve had Sausage and Mash, Macaroni and Cheese and this Creamy Chicken Pasta.

I do wish she had a wider palate, but I have tried and it’s difficult to persuade her to eat slightly spicier food.  I’m fairly confident I couldn’t get her to eat a Lentil Dahl.

I originally, came across this recipe on Chic Pins at first I was a bit flummoxed by the measurements, I couldn’t locate the egg noodles and I prefer to use chicken thighs as I find they don’t dry out as much as breasts do.

So I’ve anglicized it a bit, even though I’m Canadian.

 

Slow Cooker Sunday: Creamy Chicken Pasta
Recipe Type: Slow Cooker
Cuisine: Child Friendly
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 500 g of Chicken Thighs, skinned and cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1.2 litres of Chicken Stock
  • 2 tins (295g) Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
  • 50 g of butter
  • 320 g of tagliatelle
  • Parsley to garnish
Instructions
  1. Place the chicken, stock, soup and butter in the slow cooker. Mix well. Cook and cover on low for a minimum of 6 hours.
  2. An hour before you are going to serve put the Tagliatelle in, replace the lid and cook for another hour.
  3. It’s that easy. Serve with garlic bread and greens.

 

Don’t forget Slow Cooker Sunday is all about sharing recipes and getting inspiration from others.  Feel free to add your own recipes below.  They can be old or new and don’t even have to be your own.  Just one you’ve tried and liked.

And if you need extra inspiration, don’t forget to check out our Pinterest Board, with over a hundred recipes.

Google+ fans, we also have a Community ‘All Things Slow Cooking’ feel free to join in.  Thanks to Aly Hodge it’s now starting to grow legs.

And if you subscribe to my blog, using the form in the sidebar you can get a free copy of my first ever eBook ‘There’s More to Slow Cooking than Stews – 10 Recipes to get you going’.



Slow Cooker Sunday: Sausage and Puy Lentil Stew

 

Slow Cooker Sunday: Sausage and Puy Lentil Stew
Recipe Type: Pork
Cuisine: Slow Cooker
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
This recipe originally came from Sara Lewis, but she called for Venison Sausages and Cranberries.  I only had pork sausages and don’t really like fruit of any description  (e.g apricots, raisins, apple) in my dinner so I just omitted them.  The picture doesn’t do it justice but I can’t stress enough how amazingly good it was.
Ingredients
  • 1 TBSP olive oil
  • 6-8 good quality pork sausages (we get ours from the local butcher)
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, mince (I buy frozen portions of garlic)
  • 2 TBSP plain flour
  • 900ml chicken stock
  • 3 TBSP light or dark brown sugar
  • 2 TBSP tomato puree
  • 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
  • 200g puy lentils
  • 2 bay leaves
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Place the lentils and bay leaf in the bottom of the slow cooker
  2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the sausages on all sides.  No need to cook through as they will be in the slow cooker for 6 hours.  Set aside.
  3. Add the onion and garlic to the frying pan and saute for approx 3 minutes until they soften.  Sprinkle over the flour and mix well for about a minute.  Gradually add the stock, then stir in the sugar, tomato puree, vinegar and season with a bit of salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
  4. Pour the mixture over the lentils and place the sausages on top.  Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours.  Don’t forget to remove the bay leaves and serve with crusty bread.

Don’t forget Slow Cooker Sunday is all about sharing recipes and getting inspiration from others.  Feel free to add your own recipes below.  They can be old or new and don’t even have to be your own.  Just one you’ve tried and liked.

And if you need extra inspiration, don’t forget to check out our Pinterest Board, with over a hundred recipes.

Google+ fans, we also have a Community ‘All Things Slow Cooking’ feel free to join in.  Thanks to Aly Hodge it’s now starting to grow legs.

And if you subscribe to my blog, using the form in the sidebar you can get a free copy of my first ever eBook ‘There’s More to Slow Cooking than Stews – 10 Recipes to get you going’.



Slow Cooker Sunday: Black-eyed Bean Soup with Peppers and Coconut Milk

 

Slow Cooker Sunday: Black-eyed Bean Soup with Peppers and Coconut Milk

Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Slow Cooker
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Weirdly, when I first came across this recipe I was attracted to the coconut milk, but when I thought about the combination of tastes I wasn’t sure, but it really did work well.
Ingredients
  • 1 TBSP of Sunflower Oil
  • 1 large leek, trimmed and sliced
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 1 yellow pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp of dried chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp of cumin seeds crushed
  • 500ml of vegetable stock
  • 1 tsp of light brown sugar
  • salt and pepper to season
  • 2x 400g tins of black-eyed beans, drained and rinsed
  • 400 ml tin of light coconut milk
  • Dried Coriander
  • lime wedges to serve
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the leek and peppers and sauté for 3-5 minutes until the onions soften. Add the chilli flakes and cumin seeds and mix well for about a minute.
  2. Add the stock, stir in the brown sugar until it dissolves and season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
  3. Put the beans into the slow cooker and pour over the stock mixture. Add the coconut milk, stir, cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
  4. Serve with wedges of lime, garnish with dried coriander and some crusty bread.

 

If you have any recipes you’d like to share, please do add them to the Linky below.

And if you need extra inspiration, don’t forget to check out our Pinterest Board, with over a hundred recipes.

Google+ fans, we also have a Community ‘All Things Slow Cooking’ feel free to join in.

And if you subscribe to my blog, using the form in the sidebar you can get a free copy of my first ever eBook ‘There’s More to Slow Cooking than Stews – 10 Recipes to get you going’.



Slow Cooker Sunday: Oxtail Soup

You should have seen my face!  I ‘was’ a vegetarian for nearly 20 years.  I now enjoy a good steak and don’t mind handling meat.  However, a South African friend shared a Slow Cooker Oxtail recipe and she even pointed me in the direction of a local South African butcher.

My husband loves Oxtail soup but we normally buy it in a tin.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the look on my face when the Butcher walked out of the fridge carrying a 3 foot long tail must have said it all.

If I’m honest, I was a bit squeamish handling it but got over it in the end and it was worth it as the soup was absolutely gorgeous.  So gorgeous that we had it two nights in a row.

Slow Cooker Sunday: Oxtail Soup

Recipe Type: Slow Cooker
Cuisine: South African
Author: Mediocre Mum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 tin [url href=”http://www.napolina.com/text_only/our_range.html” target=”_blank” title=”Butter Beans”]butterbeans[/url]
  • 1.5kg (3 pounds) oxtail, segmented with fat trimmed (ask local butcher to do this for you)
  • flour, seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 30ml (2 tablespoons) olive oil
  • 3 onions peeled and chopped
  • 4 – 6 carrots – peeled
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 250ml (1 cup) red wine
  • 500ml (2 cups) beef stock
  • 60ml (4 tablespoons) tomato purée
  • 45ml (3 tbsp) brown sugar (optional)
  • 1 bay leaf (optional)
  • 2.5ml (1/2 tsp) dried thyme (optional)
  • 2.5ml (1/2 tsp) teaspoon dried sweet basil (optional)
  • 2.5ml (1/2 tsp) teaspoon dried parsley (optional)
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Dust the oxtail in seasoned flour, brown on all sides and transfer to the slow cooker.
  2. Add the onions, garlic, wine, tomato puree and stock.
  3. Add the sugar to the tomato mixture to neutralise the acidity.
  4. Rinse the beans thoroughly under running water and add to the meat.
  5. Add the herbs if desired.
  6. Cover and cook on low for a minimum of 6 hours until meat falls off bone. (Note: I found that the meat didn’t fall off the bone so I fished it out of the slow cooker, scraped it and returned the meat to the dish.)
  7. Remove excess fat
  8. Serve with rice, mash potatoes, polenta, fresh bead.
  9. It also tastes delicious if left overnight and reheated the following day

 

As always I’m on the hunt for some new recipes to try out.  Do you have any you would like to share?

And if you need extra inspiration, don’t forget to check out our Pinterest Board, with over a hundred recipes.

Google+ fans, we also have a Community ‘All Things Slow Cooking’ feel free to join in.

And if you subscribe to my blog, using the form in the sidebar you can get a free copy of my first ever eBook ‘There’s More to Slow Cooking than Stews – 10 Recipes to get you going’.