Olson - The Magical Slow Cooker: Recipes for Busy Moms

Party food makes you look like a kitchen diva. You can prepare soups, chilies, stews, and main dishes that impress your family and dinner guests. And how about those yummy slow cooker desserts? Cake was meant to be served warm with ice cream! The last thing I want to do is spend time in the kitchen preparing a meal after working all day. Before I discovered the ease of slow cooking, I would bring home a bucket of chicken or order a pizza more than Id like to admit. I never feel like the picture of health after having fast food or pizza; Im unsure if I will wake in the morning, and if I do, I know I can count on heartburn and ill-fitting clothes. Having my slow cooker loaded up in the morning and simmering away while Im at work keeps me from ordering greasy fast food.

I started my blog, The Magical Slow Cooker, in 2013. I wanted a place to keep track of and share my favorite slow cooker recipes. Some of my recipes are lazily simple, and others have a few more ingredients but are still easy to prepare. Most of the ingredients in this book are easy to find at your local grocery store. Who has time to shop at different stores for dinner, anyway? Ive included my guide for night-before preparations, so the morning preparations are quick and simple. About me My mom didnt work outside the home for most of my childhood.

She was in the kitchen preparing dinner most of the day, stirring the pasta sauce or soup or making enchiladas from scratch. I applaud her; before I worked full-time I was rarely that organized or patient. My reality is this: I dont like mornings, and I wait until the last possible moment to get up. Then I have to find my work outfit; part of it is in the dresser, part in the laundry basket on the couch, and part lying wrinkled in the dryer. Then theres my precious daughter Lola Mae. She is five and often refuses to get dressed.

After countless times of asking her to, I give in, and she ends up wearing pajamas to Grandmas. I throw a few things that I prepped the night before into my slow cooker, set it, and were out the door. I work full-time as a rural mail carrier for the United States Postal Service. You may assume I have the best job, just driving around the countryside in beautiful weather. Though there are great things about living in Oregon, there are probably only ten days out of the year where the weather is a perfect, sunny 72 degrees, which is great for delivering mail. The other days of the year, my right arm is either getting drenched by rain or getting noticeably tanner than my left.

I arrive home anywhere from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm, depending on how much mail volume there was for the day. Thank goodness for my programmable slow cooker that automatically switches to warm after the cooking time is over. Dinner is prepared when I get home. I may have to make a quick side dish or warm up some bread, but how hard is that? My husband Chaz is a saint. Right now he is wondering when I am going to get off this computer and help with the laundry (the answer is never). I do need to clean up the kitchen and prep my slow cooker meal for the morning, and then do this all again tomorrow.

I wouldnt trade this life for anything; I am truly blessed. I hope you enjoy my familys recipes. My Slow Cooker Tips Dont Open the Lid! First and foremost, dont open that lid! Most slow cooker recipes are meant to be left and forgotten, so there is no need to open the lid and stir (unless the recipe specifies). Every time the lid is opened, moisture and heat are lost. It may take 30 minutes or more for the slow cooker to heat back up. Dried Beans Soak dried beans overnight-no exceptions.

I do this right in the slow cooker I will be using. Add the beans to the slow cooker, discarding rocks or dirt clumps. Add water until it is 4 inches above the beans. Place the lid on, and let the beans sit in the water for 810 hours; dont turn on the slow cooker yet. After theyve soaked, drain the water off the beans and continue with the recipe. One last but very important tip about cooking dried beans is not to add the salt until the recipe is done (this can keep the beans from softening).

The Adding Uncooked Pasta to the Slow Cooker Debate This may be personal preference, but I will not add uncooked pasta to my slow cooker. Ive tried adding uncooked egg noodles, lasagna noodles, home-style frozen noodles, and wontons. Each meal was thrown in the garbage. Its a texture issue for me: the uncooked pasta turns to mush. And I prefer noodles that are firm and have bite to them. Im sure there are exceptions, but I will be cooking my noodles separately on the stovetop for my slow cooker dinners.

What Slow Cookers I Use If I had to choose one slow cooker and give up all the others, I would choose my Crock-Pot brand, 6-quart programmable timer slow cooker. You can make just about every recipe with the 6-quart size. I love the timer that switches to warm after the cooking time is up, which is a dinner-saver; no more overcooked food! The other sizes of slow cookers I have range from a 2-cup dip size to a 5-quart. I use these for parties only, and they are gathering dust until then. Optional Night-Before Preparations If you have busy mornings like I do, you may consider prepping your slow cooker meal the night before. My cutting board is already dirty from cutting bread or slicing green onion for that nights dinner.

Here are my tips for prepping as much as you can for the next days slow cooker dinner so the mornings are less hectic. Chopping Veggies: Veggies can be chopped the night before and placed in a plastic baggie. Cut potatoes need to be placed in a bowl and covered in water so they dont brown. Place the chopped veggies in the refrigerator. Drain the water off the potatoes before adding them to the slow cooker. Meats: If the recipe calls for cubed meat and the butcher didnt cube it already for you, this can be done the night before too.

Cube the meat, place it into a large plastic baggie, and put the bag in the refrigerator. Non-Perishable Items: Locate any canned goods and place them on the counter. This is the point when I realize I forgot to buy something and send my husband to the store. Seasonings: Locating the correct seasonings in my cupboard is not fun first thing in the morning, so I locate the needed seasonings the night before. If there are more than three seasonings that need to be measured for a recipe, I measure them out into a small ramekin or Tupperware for the next morning. ground cinnamon tsp. sea salt, to taste A pinch of nutmeg 2 cinnamon sticks 2 small Gala apples, sliced Combine everything into a 6-quart slow cooker and stir. sea salt, to taste A pinch of nutmeg 2 cinnamon sticks 2 small Gala apples, sliced Combine everything into a 6-quart slow cooker and stir.