One of the best ways to drive away the cold-weather blues is with a warm, comforting meal. Some people opt for pasta with a flavorful sauce while others want a thick soup or a hearty stew. These can take hours to make but crock pot chicken recipes can help you take the fuss out of preparing comfort food so that you can spend your time doing more important things, like snuggling under a blanket.
The crock pot has been a kitchen stand-by since the early Seventies. It's a slow cooker that stands on the counter top. It works on the principle of cooking your food slowly, over a couple of hours, at temperatures low enough to keep everything just simmering.
The extended cooking time means that you can't decide to use your slow cooker fifteen minutes before meal time. However, it's a wonderful time-saving appliance. Once you've added the ingredients to the pot, you simply close the lid, set the timer and let the cooker do its work. You don't need to watch it all the time, so you can go to work and tonight come back to a prepared meal. The slow cooker is a godsend for less talented cooks too because it's almost impossible to burn anything in it.
A good stew or flavorful curry needs slow cooking at a low temperature to be at its best. In this way, the flavors really get to develop. Moreover, long, slow cooking makes meat extra tender so you can use those cheaper, tougher cuts.
Soups are best prepared slowly too. For extra flavor, simply saute the ingredients first. Then add your stock and let it simmer until the vegetables are tender. You can liquidize part of the soup in a blender before serving to get a creamier consistency. With a slow cooker, you can even make your own chicken soup when you have a cold, since you can just put everything into the cooker and then get back into bed with a hot toddy.
It's not only stews and soups that you can make in a slow cooker. Tandoori chicken is prepared slowly too and if you don't like Indian food, it's easy to do a simple, traditional roast. If you have lots of ripe tomatoes, use them for jars of home-made spaghetti sauce. Fruit and berries can be turned into delicious preserves and jams and you can even make slow cooked desserts.
Because slow cooking requires relatively low temperatures, the liquid evaporates much more slowly. Therefore it's important not to add too much water or stock to the pot or your meals will be watery. Another secret is to first saute your ingredients. This helps to seal in their flavor and some of the nutrient content. Before serving, add some extra vitamins to the meal by squeezing a bit of lemon juice over or garnishing the dish with chopped cilantro or parsley.
When you buy your slow cooker, you'll usually find that he packaging includes a booklet with recipe ideas. Use these as a basis and then experiment until you find the crock pot chicken recipes that work best for your tastes. You'll also find lots of inspiration online on cookery websites.
The crock pot has been a kitchen stand-by since the early Seventies. It's a slow cooker that stands on the counter top. It works on the principle of cooking your food slowly, over a couple of hours, at temperatures low enough to keep everything just simmering.
The extended cooking time means that you can't decide to use your slow cooker fifteen minutes before meal time. However, it's a wonderful time-saving appliance. Once you've added the ingredients to the pot, you simply close the lid, set the timer and let the cooker do its work. You don't need to watch it all the time, so you can go to work and tonight come back to a prepared meal. The slow cooker is a godsend for less talented cooks too because it's almost impossible to burn anything in it.
A good stew or flavorful curry needs slow cooking at a low temperature to be at its best. In this way, the flavors really get to develop. Moreover, long, slow cooking makes meat extra tender so you can use those cheaper, tougher cuts.
Soups are best prepared slowly too. For extra flavor, simply saute the ingredients first. Then add your stock and let it simmer until the vegetables are tender. You can liquidize part of the soup in a blender before serving to get a creamier consistency. With a slow cooker, you can even make your own chicken soup when you have a cold, since you can just put everything into the cooker and then get back into bed with a hot toddy.
It's not only stews and soups that you can make in a slow cooker. Tandoori chicken is prepared slowly too and if you don't like Indian food, it's easy to do a simple, traditional roast. If you have lots of ripe tomatoes, use them for jars of home-made spaghetti sauce. Fruit and berries can be turned into delicious preserves and jams and you can even make slow cooked desserts.
Because slow cooking requires relatively low temperatures, the liquid evaporates much more slowly. Therefore it's important not to add too much water or stock to the pot or your meals will be watery. Another secret is to first saute your ingredients. This helps to seal in their flavor and some of the nutrient content. Before serving, add some extra vitamins to the meal by squeezing a bit of lemon juice over or garnishing the dish with chopped cilantro or parsley.
When you buy your slow cooker, you'll usually find that he packaging includes a booklet with recipe ideas. Use these as a basis and then experiment until you find the crock pot chicken recipes that work best for your tastes. You'll also find lots of inspiration online on cookery websites.
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