slow cooker

Slow Cooker Pizza

Posted by annauk1 on February 24, 2016

Posted in: easy, slow cooker. 2 Comments

Yep. Slow cooker pizza.

It’s actually a thing. Let that sink in for a minute. 🙂

its easy, fuss-free and delicious. What’s not to like.

You’re going to need:

1 pk ready made pizza dough (440g)

enough chopped tomatoes (I used tinned) to cover the bottom.

1 ball of mozzarella, sliced.

Grated cheddar cheese and whatever pizza toppings you like onion, sweet corn, ham, pepperoni, olives……anything goes!

except for pineapple. I draw the line at pineapple. 😉

Spray the inside of the slow cooker (mine is quite a large one- 5.6 litre) with oil, lightly.
Spread both balls of dough over the base, using your fingers, go right to the edge.
Top with whatever toppings your heart desires and cook on high for 2- 2.5 hours, or until the sides look like they are browning and the cheeses have melted.

4. Enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy.

Mmmmm.

Another outing for the Slow Cooker

Posted by annauk1 on November 18, 2014

Posted in: easy, Family recipes, pork, slow cooker. Tagged: dr. pepper, pork, pulled pork. 6 Comments

Dr. Pepper Pulled pork.

You know it makes sense 😉

I need to get this recipe down, because I know my girls will ask for it again and I’ve got to remember what I did, it was just scrummy! 😀

Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork
Inspired by a recipe in my favourite slow cooker book of the year – ‘Slow Cooked’ by Miss South.

Makes enough filling for 12-16 rolls.

1.5kg pork joint. Boneless. Leg or shoulder.
3 onions, sliced
1, 330ml can of Dr. Pepper
1/2 cup of tomato ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp Soy sauce
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 heaped tbsp cornflour.

1. Place the pork joint in the slow cooker, on top of the sliced onions

2. Pour over the Dr. Pepper.

3. Add the next four ingredients and give it a good stir.

4. Cook on high for 5hrs.

5. Remove pork from slow cooker, remove skin and any fat and shred the meat, using two forks.
Place back into slow cooker.

6. Slake cornflour in a little water, add to slow cooker, stirring all the while.

7. Cover and cook for a further hour.

8. Serve in soft bread rolls with creamy coleslaw.

9. Wait for the praise to roll in.

It will. 😀

Slow Cooker Crazy

Posted by annauk1 on November 18, 2014

Posted in: Chicken, easy, Family recipes, Pasta, slow cooker. Tagged: chicken, creamy, mascarpone, spicy, tomato. Leave a comment

I know I’m prone to obsessions, what can I say? It’s definitely a family thing….but I know I’ve taken it a little too far when my daughter (the 15 year old, gorgeous girlie, bless her! She of the gorgeous eyebrows 🙂 ) tells me she’s fed up of casseroles, stews and ‘cooked’ (in her words) dinners that have come out of my workhorse of a slow cooker.

“Please, mum, can we just have some pasta or something…”

This is how my mind works:
Pasta. Pasta sauce. Chicken in the freezer. Mascarpone in the fridge needs using up. I love my slow cooker…..

Help! 😉

That’s how my chicken in a spicy tomato and mascarpone sauce happened.
Oh. My. Gosh.
Let me tell you – it’s just delish!
And will hopefully please both of my girls 😀 and the husband.

Creamy. Spicy. Tomatoey…..Have I sold it to you yet? Give it a whirl! I promise you’ll love it.

Chicken in a Spicy tomato and mascarpone sauce
Serves 4.

4, skinless, boneless, chicken breast fillets, cubed
1, finely chopped onion
1, 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2tbsp Balsamic vinegar
30ml Marsala or sherry
1/2 (half) tsp of chilli flakes
1 tbsp sugar
2-3 tbsp mascarpone
2tbsp cornflour
Salt and pepper, to taste.

1. Turn slow cooker on to high.

2. Place the chicken pieces, which have been cut into bite size cubes, in the base of the slow cooker. Place the chopped onion on top.

3. Place the next seven ingredients on top and give it all a good stir.
Cook on high for 4 hours.

*No peeping! Each lid lift adds 20 minutes on to the cooking time!*

4. Beat the mascarpone and cornflour together with a little of the sauce from the chicken until smooth and creamy.
Pour into the the chicken and sauce, stirring all the while.
Add salt and pepper.

5. Turn the slow cooker to low. Cook on low for a further 30 mins. The sauce will thicken beautifully.

*Don’t try to add the mascarpone at the start of the cooking time. The slow cooker can destabilise dairy products so they end up curdling if they spend more than about an hour in there*

6. Cook enough pasta for 4 people (I used 1, 500g pack of curly pasta)

7. Stir the pasta into the chicken and sauce and serve to four hungry people, even the fussy 15 year old is guaranteed to love it! 😉

Ree and Ribs

Posted by annauk1 on November 2, 2011

Posted in: American recipes, Pioneer Woman, pork, slow cooker. 11 Comments

I’ve made a couple of meaty dishes in the past few days which I’ve really enjoyed and would like to share with you here, I hope you’ll enjoy them too.

I based this recipe on one of the Pioneer Woman’s recipes that I read a while back, it kind of got put to the back of my mind, not completely forgotten, in the ‘try one day’ section….You know the one…..

I had friends coming round last night and I was eager to make them something different that none of us had tried, but would have the ‘wow factor’ and just as importantly would be tasty.

That’s when I remembered the recipe.

I have changed it quite a bit, not least because finding ‘chipotle peppers in adobo sauce’ is nigh on impossible, but I didn’t let that stop me, so here’s my recipe.

Thanks for the inspiration Ree!

Dr. Pepper pulled pork

Small pork shoulder joint (which will fit comfortably in your slow cooker)
1 can Dr. Pepper
half cup BBQ sauce
1 onion quartered
2 tbsp. brown sugar
salt and pepper.

1. Place the pork in your slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients.

2. Cook on high for 6-8 hours, turning a couple of times during that period as the sauce will not cover the joint.

3. When the time is up, remove the pork into a serving dish, pour the sauce into a saucepan and reduce it until it is nice and thick and syrupy, while it’s reducing, shred the pork with your fingers into pulled shreds, removing any fat or gristle you find.

4. Pour the sauce over the pork and stir until combined.

5. Serve in soft floury buns, topped with creamy coleslaw.

Yummalicious!!!!!!!!

Quick Barbecue ribs:

2 racks of pork ribs (Or use boneless belly slices as I have)
1 cup tomato ketchup
half cup sweet chilli sauce
quarter cup soy sauce
quarter cup sherry or marsala
half tsp ginger puree
half tsp garlic puree
half tsp five spice powder

1. Put the pork in a baking dish and cook for about 30 minutes at 180deg.c (160 fan oven) When the ribs have released their juices and started to brown, remove the juices from the pan.

2. While the pork is cooking mix all the sauce ingredients together over a medium heat until amalgamated (Or as nigel slater would say ‘they’ve all got to know one another’)

3. Pour the sauce over the ribs and cook for about another 30 minutes or until the ribs are dark and sticky.

What to cook, when there’s no time to cook…

Posted by annauk1 on September 29, 2011

Posted in: Chicken, Family recipes, slow cooker. 17 Comments

So what do you do, when you find that it’s one of those days you hardly find time to stand still, let alone slave over the stove?
For me, the answer’s simple….Let the appliances take the strain! By appliances, I’m talking about my slow cooker and my rice cooker.
So, before I went to work today, I assembled the Apricot chicken ingredients in the slow cooker (One can hardly call it cooking…) and let it bubble away on high for about 5 hours.

No stress.

Not even a little.

Great, huh?

You can find the recipe here on this great blog!

About half an hour before we ate, I put the rice cooker on and then boiled the broccoli. Nice and easy.

Marks out of ten? 7

Would I make this again? Yes, I’d give it another whirl, definitely!

Would I do anything differently? Yes, I’d make sure to use light/ordinary soy sauce as opposed to dark. If you compare my meal to Stephanie’s on her blog, you will see that mine’s way darker.
I’d use a sprinkle of chilli flakes for a bit of a spicy kick, and I’d use only half a jar of jam as it was way too sweet.

*I used skinless, boneless, frozen chicken breasts (No need to defrost before use, another time saving tip from Stephanie!)
*I used about a tbsp ginger puree.

3 cheers for small kitchen appliances! And for Stephanie and her great blog!

The easiest Sunday dinner ever!

Posted by annauk1 on November 18, 2008

Posted in: Asian, slow cooker. 7 Comments

First of all, I’d like to say – I have a bit of a problem with Sunday dinners..please tell me it’s not just me?

We love our traditional Sunday roasts with all the trimmings, but, let’s face it, it’s not exactly a meal that can be put in the oven and forgotten about is it? I mean there’s all the peeling of vegetables, gravy making, spud peeling, yorkie making……all lovely, but definitely labour intensive!

And what happens when you don’t want to spend your whole Sunday in the kitchen? My husband works really long hours and Sundays are really the only day we can go out together as a family. I think I’ve found the answer……..

Yes, you’ve guessed it.

The slow cooker again.

Now, this isn’t your conventional Sunday dinner, I’ll admit that. But it’s very, very tasty. And the best thing is that after putting it in the slow cooker in the morning, and also putting the rice cooker on at the same time, we got to spend most of Sunday out and about enjoying our day, but also get to come home to a hot cooked meal, including rice!

This is my:

Chineseish Pork chops with water chestnuts in a fruity barbeque sauce

4-6 pork chops
1 cup tomato ketchup
1 cup of apricot jam
one third cup of soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice powder
1 chopped onion
1 small tin water chestnuts
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen edamame (any favourite frozen vegetables would be fine)

First of all I simmered the ketchup, jam, soy, mirin, vinegar and 5-spice in a small saucepan just to amalgamate them.
I then placed the chopped onion, frozen veg and drained water chestnuts in the base of the slow cooker, put the pork chops on top and then pour the sauce on top of the chops.
Cook in the slow cooker for about 4-5 hours on high.
Or I would guess about 8 hours on low (This dish really can’t spoil, it’s so forgiving)
It makes a lot of sauce even though there is no added stock or water, so it’s ideal served over basmati rice.

An unconventional, but delicious, Sunday dinner.

I love my slow cooker!

Posted by annauk1 on November 15, 2008

Posted in: Family recipes, slow cooker. 6 Comments

As the weather has gotten colder, soups and stews seem to be what we all want, what we all crave – and what better than assembling a few ingredients in the slow cooker, switching it on, then going about your business, work, shopping, whatever and returning home to a wonderful smell emanating from the slow cooker – by this time the flavours have melded wonderfully, the colours muted but also more intense, and nothing else to do to get the family fed? Wonderful!
I love using my slow cooker, and it doesn’t even need much washing after a friend sent me some slow cooker liners from the States!
I’ve been reading a great blog, which has inspired me no end, do check it out:

A Year of Crockpotting