Cooking For Pleasure With A Slow Cooker...

The Slow Cooker is a great invention and is perfect for busy families who want to come home to a hot, hearty meal after work without having to spend time preparing it. It's worth getting up a bit earlier to prepare some meat and vegetables to throw into your slow cooker to cook while you're at work.
There are so many recipes that can be prepared in your slow cooker – casseroles and stews, soups, puddings, mulled wine, curry and chilli. Some people even use two slow cookers and have their main meal cooking in one and their side dish or dessert cooking in the other.

Slow cookers are available in different sizes – mini for cooking for one up to large for cooking for large families or for entertaining.

If you have got a slow cooker gathering dust on a shelf or in a cupboard, grab it, clean it and get searching for some recipes.

Using a slow cooker will give you many benefits:-

1.Using a slow cooker uses less electricity than cooking in a standard electric oven.

2.You can use cheaper cuts of meat because the slow cooking tenderises the meat.

3.In summer, using a slow cooker will prevent your kitchen getting overly hot.

4.It saves you the time and energy of cooking a meal at the end of the day when you are tired.

5.No effort apart from initial preparation – The food does not need stirring, it can be left happily for 7-10 hours.

6.Natural juices and flavours are retained rather than boiling away.

7.Easy clean up – just one pot and your plates and cutlery.

8.A slow cooker is ideal for entertaining with minimum effort.

9.The food doesn't dry out but is kept nice and moist.

10.The low temperature and slow cooking makes your slow cooker ideal for cooking puddings like egg custard.

Tips for Using Your Slow Cooker

• Preheat the slow cooker before adding ingredients.

• Brown meat before adding to the slow cooker and make sure any liquids are boiling.

• Leave it alone – lifting the lid can add 15-20 minutes onto the cooking time.