Your Slow Cooker Questions, Answered: Part 10

Slow Cooker Chronicles

November 28, 2011 at 7:04 pm
by Irina Gonzalez

Last week’s chat right before the Thanksgiving holiday turned to where to get slow cooker deals, meatballs and pot roasts. Read on for more.

Family Circle: Welcome to the weekly Slow Cooker Chat, this week on Tuesday since we know you’ll all be traveling (or cooking) tomorrow. Let’s start with one of our favorite questions: what did everyone make in their crockpot this weekend?
Michael: This past weekend I made a great lamb and cilantro curry- I posted it on our blog. Take a look.
Tiffany: I have beef stroganoff cooking now and it smells so delicious! Tried a new recipe and cant wait to eat it!
Erin: I know this isn’t really making food, but I put 4 packs of hotdogs in ours and as people came in and out all evening from football games and outside, they had something to eat when they wanted. Thank goodness for crockpots!
Julie: I tried out Slow Cooker Gourmet American Pioneer 21 Bean Soup Mix. It was hot & tasty, though I wish I’d seasoned it tad more.
Lorraine: Chicken
Beverly: Macaroni and cheese.

Helena: I successfully roasted an 8.5 lbs Turkey!
Michael: Helena- tell us more- just a breast right? bone in or out? How long? Give it up!

Maressa: I hope Santa brings me a new crock pot! Lol.. But I love reading all the recipes!!! Yummmy. :)
Michael: Maressa- what crock pot do you use now?
Maressa: @Michael.. None! Mine broke a couple months ago :( .. Im going crazy with out it. It puts such a damper on dinner time!
Michael: Maressa- go to Walmart or some place like that and check out the Hamilton Beach I mentioned. Very well priced.

Emma: I would love a bigger crock pot – any suggestions on a good one?
Michael: Emma- I like the Hamilton Beach 6 quart Stay or Go- it has clips on the side for easy transporting and a cradle for a cooking spoon on top.
Emma: Sound awesome, thanks for the tip!!
Denise: I have the stay or go and its big and just love it Emma!! Emma maybe Santa will bring you one!
Michael: one more thing about the Stay and Go- we have one in the test kitchen that is chrome finished but the handles and crock itself is red! Very jazzy!
Stephanie: My crock had broken, and I purchased the 7-Quart Crock Pot brand, that has has some simple programmable functions. The price was great, and there’s a $5 rebate through the end of the month!
Michael: Stephanie-I agree re price- you can do much better if you shop around Walmart, Loews, Target- those type of stores.

Bethany: Meatballs!!!
Michael: Bethany- do you drop the meatballs uncooked into the sauce or saute them first?
Barbara: Just a tip on meatballs…I make huge batches of them and bake them off in the oven. After they cool, I divide them into freezer bags and when I am in a rush, all I need to do is take them out of the freezer, bang them on the counter to separate them, and throw them in the crockpot with a couple of cans of tomatoes and the usual seasonings…It’s a real timesaver.
Michael: Barbara- meatballs in the freezer is a homerun- sooo easy and who doesn’t like meatballs :)
Barbara: Thanks, just have to boil up some pasta when you get home or simply put out hoagie rolls or italian bread.
Barbara H: I also make huge batches of meatballs but I throw them right in the sauce and then freeze containers of both…great for easy weeknight dinners for the kids!

Jennifer: I made a crock pot Lasagne on Sunday! And so excited that while I’m working Chicken Soup is cooking away at home. ♥ my crock pot!
Michael: Jennifer- let us link you to one of our slow cooker lasagna recipes.
Family Circle: One of our favorites is this veggie lasagna.

Angela: I’m excited to do a creamy crab bisque soup as an appetizer Thanksgiving day! It only has to cook for 2 hours so I don’t even have to wake up early to get it going :)
Michael: Angela- tell us more about the bisque- sounds like a good Thanksgiving starter.

AD Food and Fit: This weekend was soup! I got to sleep in a bit on Sunday, and when I woke up, the boyfriend was in the kitchen chopping veggis to add to the crock pot. Football all day, and soup for a late lunch AND dinner. Simple stew meat, chicken stock, rice and veggis… but oh so good!
Michael: Ad Food- let us link you one of our soup and stew slow cooker stories.
Family Circle: Ad Food- we have a whole collection of soup & stew recipes for the slow cooker.
Ad Food and Fit: I just bought our first slow cooker about 2 weeks ago actually, so it’s all been hit or miss so far. I’ll look that link over! Love it! Thank you!

Jessica: I found whole pork loin for $1.67 this last week so tonight we are having Pork, potatoes and carrots…put it all in the crock pot this morning after I got the kids to school.
Michael: Jessica- pork is great in the slow cooker- we have a slow cooker story in our Dec issue- 5 Ways with Pork Shoulder. We’ll try and give you a link if it’s on line yet.
Jessica: Great! My family loves when I fix pulled pork bbq in the crock pot…rarely have leftovers!
Family Circle: Jessica- you can find the pork shoulder in our Dec issue but it’s not online yet. It’ll be up soon! But in the meantime check out some of our other great slow cooker recipes.

Chantal: I invented my own hamburger stew it was delicious…I would love to find more slow cooker recipes…
Michael: Chantal- Share details about your hamburger stew please.

Barbara H: Made a pot roast with potatoes, carrots & parsnips yesterday…leftovers tonight!
Michael: Barbara H- we love pot roast in the slow cooker too- we’ll link you a recent story we did- 5 Ways with Pot Roast- some nice variations.
Family Circle: We had some great variations on different pot roasts.

Helena: My daughter wants to slow cook Bohemian/peanut squash, acorn and butternut squash in her crock pot for Thanksgiving. Has anyone done this? Recipes/ideas please. Thank you!
Michael: Helena- acorn might be a prob since you normally don’t peel it. The butternut would have to be peeled and cut into say 1-inch pieces. Add chicken broth and seasoning. I think on HIGH and check after 3 hours and then hourly
Family Circle: Helena- great idea! Is anyone else doing side dishes in the slow cooker? We had some ideas in last week’s Slow Cooker Chat.
Helena: Thank you, I’ll pass on the information.
Emily: I want to use my delicata/bohemian squash for this recipe. Would it turn out ok? (My mom asked about this for me earlier, I also have acorn and butternut but would really like to use the delicata/bohemian squash!)

Michael: An idea that was brought up in a previous chat re Thanksgiving was to make mashed potatoes stovetop and then put in slow cooker on LOW with some extra butter. I thought this was a good idea since mashing potatoes at mealtime can be hectic.
Family Circle: One of our editors also made a baked potato soup in the slow cooker that may be perfect for the dinner table this week.

Jessica T: We tried the creamy pork ragu with rigatoni and it was delicious!!!
Michael: Jessica- I’m so glad. Did you freeze some of the sauce for the future?
Jessica T: We had the inlaws over for dinner, so there wasn’t a lot of leftovers! :)

Family Circle: Thanks for joining, everyone! Make sure to come back for our regular Slow Cooker Chat on Wednesday, Nov 30th at 1pm EST. And have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Did you have a great Thanksgiving? We hope so! Share with us below: did you make any Thanksgiving classics or new traditions in your slow cooker? Tune in for our next chat on Wednesday at 1pm EST on our Facebook page.

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