Slow Cookers

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By London nutritionist Sylvia Hensher

Benefits of Slow Cookers

The advantage of the slow cooker is that it is able to do the cooking without any human intervention. The cooker takes the heat and indirectly applies it to the food so that the food cooked slowly and evenly. As the slow cooker uses low heat, the food is not burned without stirring. Furthermore, the slow cooker is an economical appliance to use for cooking. It uses as little electricity as a 75-watt light bulb and substantially less energy as compared to an electric oven.

The slow cooker means you can go to work all day and come back to enjoy home-cooked food without having to spend time in the cooking process. In the morning before leaving for work you can easily place all the food ingredients in the slow cooker and set it on low. By the time you  come back from work in the evening, a tasty, nutritious, home-cooked dish will be ready.

Tips For Using Slow Cookers

1. Keep it convenient- Make the slow cooker fit your schedule. Prepare a recipe in the morning and let the slow cooker work all day. Or, get everything ready the day before, cover and refrigerate overnight, and wait until morning to start slow cooking.

2. Use fresh ingredients- Avoid using frozen ingredients, especially meat and poultry, which take longer to cook and can disturb the overall timing of a recipe.

3. Stock the crock the right way-For best results, the slow cooker should be half to two-thirds full. When making soups and other dishes that need to simmer, leave a two-inch gap between the food and the top of the slow cooker. Place ingredients that take a long time to cook—root vegetables and large cuts of meat, for example—on the bottom of the slow cooker so they have maximum heat exposure. More delicate items, such as rice, pasta, dairy products, and certain vegetables, should be added during the last hour of cooking.

4. Keep the lid on, stir sparingly-In general, keep the lid securely on the slow cooker to avoid heat loss, which slows down cooking. However, it’s ok to occasionally lift the lid and stir. In fact, if your slow cooker has hot spots, stirring can be helpful.

5. Season later, not sooner- Slow cooking tends to mellow seasoning so be sure to taste your dish to see if you need to add additional salt and pepper at the end of cooking. Better yet, wait until cooking is nearly complete to season your dish. It’s also a good idea to add fresh herbs near the end, as they have a tendency to blacken when cooked for any length of time.

Slow Cooker Recipes


Ingredients

  • 4 ml olive oil
  • 1/4 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/4 yellow bell pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 onions, chopped
  • 1 cloves garlic, minced
  • 75 g frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
  • 45 g frozen corn kernels, thawed
  • ¼ courgette, chopped
  • ¼ frozen, peeled and  diced pumpkin
  • 2 teaspoons mild-hot chilli powder
  • 2 g ground cumin
  • 1 g dried oregano
  • 0.4 g dried parsley
  • 0.3 g ground black pepper
  • 1/2 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice
  • 1/4 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 (15 ounce) can chick peas, drained
  • 1/4 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
  • 1/4 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce, or more if needed
  • 65 ml organic vegetable stock , or more if needed

Method

  1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the green, red, and yellow bell peppers, onions, and garlic until the onions start to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Place the mixture into a slow cooker. Stir in spinach, corn, courgettes, pumpkin, chilli powder, cumin, oregano, parsley, black pepper, tomatoes, black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, and tomato paste until thoroughly mixed. Pour the tomato sauce and vegetable stock over the ingredients.
  2. Set the cooker on Low, and cook until all vegetables are tender, 4 to 5 hours. Check seasoning; if chilli is too thick, add more tomato sauce and vegetable broth to desired thickness.

Chicken Paprika

Placing the onions on the bottom of the slow cooker will ensure that they become silky soft as the chicken releases its juices, creating a heady sauce.

Ingredients- Serves 4 to 6

  • 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
  • 1 teaspoon hot paprika
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and halved
  • 3 pounds bone-in chicken breasts
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup organic chicken stock
  • 1/4 cup half-fat sour cream or low-fat yoghurt

Method

In slow cooker, stir together onions, and paprika. Spread mixture evenly over bottom of insert.

Rub garlic halves over chicken, then sprinkle chicken with pepper. In medium saucepan over moderately high heat, heat butter and oil until hot but not smoking. Add chicken pieces and brown, turning occasionally, until golden, about 6 minutes. Transfer to slow cooker (do not clean pan), layering chicken on top of onion mixture.

In same saucepan over high heat, bring stock to simmer. Pour over chicken in slow cooker, cover, and cook on low until chicken is tender but not falling off bone, 5 to 6 hours.

Stir sour cream/yoghurt into sauce and serve.

Cook’s note: This recipe was originally prepared in an oval, 6-quart slow cooker.

If you’d like to know more about how you can fit healthy nutriton into a busy lilfestyle call us now on 0207 724 4445 /07812 163 324 or email us at info@yournutritionalhealth.co.uk !

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