Andrea J. Clark - Healthy Slow Cooker Cookbook

Slowing down isnt easy in our fast-paced world, and the beauty of cooking fresh, homemade food on the table is undervalued. With stressful lives and often little to no time for in-depth meals, thats where the slow cooker comes in handy. It helps you to slow down and enjoy a nice meal with your family. When you rush a meal, it can be easy to lose flavor because to get a flavorful meal you need to let your ingredients simmer together and mingle to delight your palette.

Times have changed, and there are new demands for the new generation that are hard to keep up with. Almost everyone is currently focusing on how to earn a living, and in most households, both parents are already working full time just to help keep the family afloat and sustain all their monthly expenses. Theres no doubt that its a good thing that women are competing equally in their fields with men, but its also true that the time that they have to spend with their family is often compromised.

The days in which mothers could prepare meals in the kitchen, cooking their family supper, and just spending time with their families are nearly gone. Very few women get this luxury, but technological advancements can help to ease these issues as well. There are kitchen appliances out there to help parents prepare affordable and healthy meals for their family without too much effort or time. This allows you to fit healthy meals into an already busy schedule, and thats where a slow cooker comes in handy.

Slow cookers have been available for decades, but they have become increasingly popular recently. With heat settings and a timer, you dont have to always check on your food, worrying about whether its cooking well. Cooking over low heat doesnt just help to preserve the flavor of the food, but it also preserves the nutrients that the food has. Quick meals cooked over high heat sacrifice these nutrients. This means that a slow cooker is also great for your familys health.

How to use slow cooker

Now that you know what slow cookers can do for you and your family, you need to know how to choose a good one. Theres no reason to waste your money if you know what you are looking for. The first thing that you need to look at is your budget. Slow cookers range from $10 to $300, and the size matters as well. Make sure that you get a slow cooker that can accommodate the size and needs of your family. Other than budget and size, you will find that you still need to look at temperature control settings as well. Basic slow cookers only have a high and low setting. However, you may want to get one with a medium setting. A keep warm setting is often useful as well so that you dont have to reheat your food.

If you are able to spend a little more money, then getting a slow cooker with digital controls is great, especially if you have a busy schedule. If youre not home, then your slow cooker can turn off automatically so that you dont burn your food. Instead of turning off, many digital slow cookers also have a keep warm setting that it can turn to as well when the food was done. To make cleaning easier, you will also want to make sure that you get a slow cooker that has a removable pot.

To use a slow cooker, just follow your recipes. When using a digital slow cooker, make sure that you set it to keep warm if youll be home soon or to turn off, if youre worried that it will overcook. It all depends on your recipe, but most slow cooker recipes dont even require stirring. Just set it and forget it, making it perfect for your fast-paced life.

What you will learn in this book

This book only uses clean ingredients that are good for you and your family, providing you the health benefits that you need. You will get nutrition and flavor in each and every recipe, and you will know the prep time, cook time, and nutritional facts of every recipe before deciding to serve them to your family. You will learn various bread and breakfast recipes, soups, stew and chili recipes, recipes involving beans and grains, savory seafood, fantastic poultry and other meat recipes, as well as side dish recipes that are sure to delight your family. Now that you know what to expect, youre probably ready to get started. So lets look at some delightful bread recipes and delicious breakfast recipes to start!

Serves: 5

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Ingredients

• 4 cups milk (or almond milk)
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 cup of water
• cup toasted pecans
• Sliced bananas for topping

Directions

1. Grease the crockpot with coconut oil.
2. Toss in mashed banana, milk, cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, oats, and salt.
3. Cover and let it cook on low for 7-8 hours.
4. Serve it with milk, banana slices, and pecans.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving:

• Calories: 267 kcal
• Fat: 9.9g
• Saturated Fat: 3.9g
• Carbohydrates: 42.8g
• Protein: 11g
• Dietary Fiber: 5.5g

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 cup steel cut oats
• cup brown sugar
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 2 cups of water
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Place a crockpot liner in your crockpot and grease it with coconut oil to prevent sticking and burning.
2. Add oats, cup brown sugar, vanilla, coconut milk, water, and blueberries.
3. Set your crockpot on low and cook for 8 hours.
4. Stir to combine all your ingredients.
5. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on top of each serving. Top with blueberries.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving: