Jean Simmons - 5 Ingredient Slow Cooker Cookbook: 100 Easy Crock Pot Recipes for Busy People

With a slow cooker, you save money, time, and energy. What better time saver can one get from a kitchen appliance that enables you to throw in your food in the morning, go about your business and walk in several hours later to a rich pot of meaty and juicy dinner for the family? Besides the nutritious meal waiting in the pot, there is little or no mess to clean and dishes to wash. Youll agree that this is definitely a big time saver. A slow cooker is designed to bring out the flavor in any food. It can also cook a wide range of foods, including soups, casseroles, stews and one pot meals. Foods cook at low heat for an extended period produce great flavors and taste.

They are healthier as well because they help to retain vitamins and minerals that increase their nutritional value. This is because slow cooked foods do not require oils or fats, but have room to simmer in their own juices; preserving nutrients. Meats cooked at several hours on low temperatures come out tender, juicer and richer in flavor. The slow cooker nicely extracts the meaty flavors and evenly distributes it in the whole dish. Slow cookers give you the opportunity to use tougher cuts of meat which are less expensive. Cheaper cuts like chicken thighs, beef brisket, lamb shoulder and pork shoulder save you money and still produce optimum satisfaction.

Slow cooker recipes are usually rich in vegetables and pulses. This makes it easier for families to eat healthily without a drastic change of diet. Vegetables absorb stocks and spices easily, giving the dish fuller flavors. Additionally, veggies cooked with meat ends up with a deliciously rich, meaty flavor. As a result, less meat is required, saving you more money in the process. Vegetables are also great for fussy eaters.

For instance, the thought of boiled carrots may not excite you; but add it to other ingredients in a slow cooker and watch the flavors meld and transform your dish. It is so super easy to throw in various vegetables and expect a delicious meal afterwards. This is the beauty of a slow cooker its ease of use. Many ingredients in a recipe are added at the same time, stirred once to coat well with the seasonings and liquids and then covered. Many soups and stew recipes are suitable for a one-pot cooking. Commonly used liquids are sauces, stocks, broths, wine and water.

Covering is a very important aspect of cooking, because it seals in all the flavor and moisture. Meals do not require stirring; they are generally left untouched for several hours at a time. Since they are tightly covered, there is little chance of food excessively drying out and burning. They are also safe to use, as they are designed to function without attention. Its produces the same result while youre away or while you sleep. Compared to a standard electric oven, a slow cooker uses less energy to cook.

Your typical oven use about 4,000 watts of energy ever hour, but slow cookers use just 300 watts. So if you are roasting a slab of beef for 2 hours in the oven, youll need 8,000watts while a slow cooker, though cooking for longer, will only require a total of 1,800 watts! Using a slow cooker is environmentally friendly and useful all through the year. Coming home to a simmering stew and soup is a welcome relief in winter; and in summer, they wont heat up your kitchen like an oven. The Slow Cooker Slow cookers come in different shapes and sizes, with lots of different features. From the extremely small 1 quart pot to the very big 7 quarts size, your choice depends on the number of people you cook for. However, note that the pot must not be overfilled.

This is why some recipes are better prepared in a large slow cooker of at least 5 1/2 quarts. Larger sizes also help to assemble more meals in a go. To know your slow cooker size, check the bottom of the insert as the size will be stamped there. Alternatively, measure the amount of water it takes to fill the insert in the cooker to just above the lip. Slow-cookers normally have ceramic interior but there are sophisticated ones with a cast-iron pot that is easily inserted to cooker for browning meat and veggies and performing other functions. Slow cookers are generally oval or round in shape.

Oval slow cookers work better for some roasts, braised vegetable dishes and casseroles than round slow cookers because they fit in easily. There are programmable cookers with digital timers as well as manual cookers. There are also small cookers that are used mainly for heating dips. The device has high and low settings for adjusting the length of time of the meals to be cooked. Low cooking is very safe for when you are not at home, but you can cook on high for at least an hour if you are at home, before switching on to low, if you want to. If a dish usually takes:

• 15 - 30 minutes: cook for 4-6 hours on Low or for 1-2 hours on High
• 30 minutes -1 hour: cook for5-7 hours on Low or 2-3 hours on High
• 1-2 hours: cook for6-8 hours on Low or 3-4 hours on High
• 2-4 hours: cook for 8-12 hours on Low or 4-6 hours on High