If you’re one of those fitness-minded people who’s always looking for ways to eat healthier, you’re going to want to know more about crockpot cookery. When you prepare meals in a slow cooker, you do away with frying in fats and the excessive calories that go along with it. Want to skip all that grease and still eat deliciously? Follow these tips and tricks that are sure to keep your taste buds happy while you whittle your waist and feed your family.
Benefits of crockpot cookery
The reasons why slow cooking all day (or all night) is such a great idea are as varied as the recipes people prepare in crockpots. For folks who have an electric stove in their kitchen, a crockpot saves a ton of energy. If you wish to keep your electric bill lower, prep meals in a crockpot. You can tend to other tasks while your tasty meal practically prepares itself. If you are a meat eater and your family loves dishes like pot roast, you can slow cook less expensive cuts and still wind up with a super tender, delicious dinner. Slow cooking is a fabulous method of meat tenderization, too. Impatient cooks may find themselves less apt to scorch a meal because a slow cooker keeps a simmering temperature that’s just right at all times. In fact, it’s virtually impossible to burn a meal that you’re cooking in a crockpot, says the Fun Times Guide.
Is your kitchen on the small side, with fewer stovetop burners than you need to prep a big holiday meal? A crockpot frees up stovetop space and allows you to use the oven and burners for preparing other tasty dishes. And we’ve all been in a too-hot kitchen, right? You’ll be happy to know that a crockpot won’t heat up the air around it. For this reason, a slow cooker is an ideal appliance for summertime cookery, especially when you are loathed to turn on the stove for fear of overheating the whole house. And speaking of holiday meals, your slow cooker makes a great wine Muller, too. Bring dark red wine almost to a simmer, then add a cinnamon stick, a couple stars of anise, and an uncrushed cardamom pod. Keep the crock pot covered and on low, and the aroma of merry olde England is guaranteed to keep carolers merry.
Crockpot cookery may be healthier for your family, too
Everyone loves to tuck into a heaping plate of savory fried chicken. You probably do, too. The trouble is, an overdose of grease and fats comes along with such a yummy treat. Try a slow-cooked, paleo-friendly meal such as crockpot curry chicken recipe, and you might never go for fried foods again.
When you opt to cook meats slow in a crockpot, they retain their natural juices and don’t require any fat to add flavor. The relatively lower temperatures utilized by crockpots are not so detrimental to vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients as frying, broiling, and other high-temperature cooking methods. Crockpots don’t allow foods to evaporate, so they’re always moist, juicy and delicious.
Breakfast, brunch and beyond
If you think that your crockpot is great for making soups and stews but not much else, please think again. A slow cooker can work overnight to provide a deliciously aromatic oatmeal-with-raisins breakfast to start the morning right. You can prepare fresh homemade granola in your crock pot, too. Planning to serve lunch for a crowd? Use your crockpot to make a bountiful veggie and cheese dip that’s bound to satisfy. Use two or more slow cookers to double or even triple your serving capacity. Mother in law coming for dinner next weekend? Make a marvelous meatloaf that will remind her why her son married you.
Desserts are delightfully easy to make in a crockpot, too. Scout about online to find a wealth of crockpot-friendly recipes for tapioca, bread pudding and other wholesome, warming dessert treats. Crockpots can also be used to create gourmet quality meals, says GreenLiving magazine’s resident gourmet. Their recipe for red potatoes and tiny green peas in a spicy curry sauce is out of this world.
Crockpot cooking does require a bit of prep time, but once you’ve got everything dialed in and ready to cook, you can go about and tend to your other projects and tasks and come home six or more hours later to a nutritious, delicious, lighter-than-fried meal that truly satisfies the whole family.
Eleanor Potter is happiest in the kitchen cooking up delicious meals for her family. But working full time rarely leaves time to do this in the week – Enter her beloved crockpot recipes! Eleanor shares her love for food and her delicious recipes around the web.
