Store Cupboard Staples for Your Crockpot
Sunday, January 31st, 2010The marvelous thing about slow cooking is the way that you can throw a tasty meal together with just a a couple of ingredients from the store cupboard.
Your slow cooker will pay for itself very quickly. The hours you save when you are cooking your meal makes it priceless. But, if you want to make slow cooking part of your regular diet, then it pays to have a some staples to keep in your store cupboard to make meal planning simple.
Beans – Beans are a very economical source of protein that cook very well in slow cookers . Every bean has its own flavor which is increased by the herbs or spices you use to cook with them. Beans can make a meal base when you cook them with meat or even be the main ingredient if you are a vegetarian who wants to make a simple and speedy dish. Whether borlotti, lentil, haricot, or black-eyed, beans can be the start of some fantastic slow cooker dishes.
Fibrous Vegetables – For starters, these means good old spuds and the average kitchen has at least a few potatoes lurking around in the vegetable rack.They are a very versatile food. Mash them, stew them, fry them, or chuck them in the slow cooker.
Potatoes add density to soups, stews and meat-free meals. Potatoes and other fibrous veggies like carrots, swede and turnips, take a time to cook, so they can be thrown in the slow cooker with meat and can cook for a long time.
Fresh Herbs – Using herbs can dramatically change the flavour of almost any meal you make. Herbs can be bought dried, but they release a much better flavour if they are added fresh.
You can even grow your own fresh herbs on your kitchen window ledge. You just need a nice sunny spot, some compost, and remember to water them regularly. Home grown herbs can even be dried to extend their life, making them easy to keep around without worrying too much about wasting them.
Don’t forget to add your herbs near the end of the crockpot cooking cycle so their flavor fills the cooked meal and isn’t lost during the cooking time.
Looking to find the best deal on slow cookers, then visit www.ovalslowcookers.co.uk to find the best advice on oval slow cookers for you.