Nice and Easy Slow Cooker Recipes

Take Advantage of your crockpot during these cold January days.  It provides a safe and energy efficient way for you to create a healthy and delicious meal with little effort.  Even beginning chefs will turn out gourmet meals with these great tips for slow cooking success:

    -Only fill the crockpot one half to two thirds full.  The foods will not cook properly if the appliance is filled to the brim.  If the food and liquid level is lower, the foods will cook too quickly.  Overall the pot will not lose liquid as long as you keep the lid on.

- Foods cooked on the bottom of the slow cooker cook faster and will be moister because they are immersed in the simmering liquid.

-Remove skin from poultry, and trim excess fat from meats.  Fats will melt with long cooking times, and will add and unpleasant texture to the finished dish.  Fatty foods will also cook too quickly.

-You can thicken the juices and concentrate flavors by removing the lid and cooking on high for the last half hour of cooking time.

-Don't life the lid to stir, especially if you are cooking on the low setting.  Each time you lift the lid, enough heat will escape that the cooking time should be extended by 20 minutes to half an hour.  To check progress without lifting the lid, spin the cover until the condensation falls off. Then it's easy to see inside.

-Add tender vegetables like tomatoes, mushrooms and zucchini during the last 45 minutes of cooking time so they don't overcook.

-Dairy products should be added during the last 30 minutes of cooking time, unless the recipe states otherwise.

(Content for tips was adapted from www.about.com and www.realsimple.com)

Start saving time this week by trying one of these great Mealbox slow-cooker recipes:
Slow Cooker Beef Stew
Slow Cooker Taco Meatloaf
Slow Cooker Baked Beans
Slow-Cooker Hearty Beef Chili
Slow-Cooked Spiced Pork Chops
Slow-Cooked Beef Roast with Mushrooms
Slow-Cooked Harvest Beef and Veggies
Texas Style Slow-Cooked Chili
Slow-Cooked Pulled Pork
So-Good, Slow-Cooked Ribs
Slow-Cooked Roasted Tomato Country Ribs

5 comments (Add your own)

1. Colleen wrote:
It said in the print coupon section, there is a coupon for pillsbury cinnamon rolls. I could not find that coupon.

January 13, 2009 @ 9:54 AM

2. Meijer wrote:
To view the coupon, you need to select the "specials" tab on Mealbox and then select the "Coupon" tab. The pillsbury coupon for cinnamon rolls is the same as the coupon for crescent rolls so it does feature a picture with the crescent rolls on it. To print the coupon you need to add it to your shopping list and then you can print it from the shopping list tab.

January 13, 2009 @ 12:04 PM

3. susan wrote:
Everytime I click on slow cooker meals, and then beef stew, I am returned to the first page. How do I get to the recipe?

January 31, 2009 @ 8:36 AM

4. Meijer wrote:
When you click on the links to the menu the page will refresh back to the homepage and the recipe will appear in the Mealbox widget on the right hand side of the page. This box is essentially a seperate website where all the recipes are that we mention within the blogs.

February 2, 2009 @ 7:52 AM

5. mercedes wrote:
I love the ease of using your site! The recipes are great and the coupon savings keep me coming back to Meijer!

February 3, 2009 @ 3:04 PM

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