Fit Fare

You probably have one in your kitchen; it might have been an obligatory wedding shower present from Great-Aunt Sara, or a hand me down when you got your first place. But do you use it? You may know it by several other names; Crock-Pot (r) is a registered trademark of the Rival Company, so I will be referring to the appliance as a slow cooker or crockery cooker. The first slow cookers hit the market more than 30 years ago, when Rival purchased the rights to the crockery cooker in 1970 from Naxon Utilities Corporation. According to Rival’s website, by 1981, sales had reached the $30 million mark.

Today, the array of available appliances run from small and simple, with a one quart capacity and little or no ornamentation, to large and very expressively decorated, even themed. The largest slow cookers for residential use have a 7-quart capacity. Would you like a crockery cooker with race cars on the sides or in the shape of a football? They are available. The lids, sizes, and actual temperatures of the heat settings can vary. For me, the only important thing when it comes to a slow cooker is that the ceramic insert is removable. Cleaning up is so much easier when it can be washed in the dishwasher.

Slow cookers fit surprisingly well into our busy lives. Add a few ingredients to the pot as you are preparing to start your day, turn it on, and leave it alone for as many as 10 hours. When you return, your main dish is cooked, and with a few simple additions, such as a salad or steamed veggies, you have a complete meal with very little work. Many recipes can be easily adapted to your slow cooker. A good rule of thumb is to decrease the amount of liquid called for in the recipe by about half. Adapting the cooking times from a conventional recipe to a slow cooker recipe is less simple. In the manual for my slow cooker there is a table that shows approximate times; it says that a recipe that calls for 15-30 minutes in the oven requires 4-6 hours on low and 1-1/2 to 2 hours on high. Most of the things I cook in the oven take 35-40 minutes, and I leave them in the slow cooker for 8-10 hours on low. If you have the manual that came with your slow cooker, refer to that. If you don’t have it, the manuals are available for downloading at the link I put in above.

Slow cookers lend themselves well to soups, stews, chili and roasts. They also lend themselves well to low fat cooking. Inexpensive cuts of meat do well in the slow cooker, because the long cooking process tenderizes the meat. You can use less fat in preparing slow cooker recipes, because the moisture released in the cooking process is retained in the pot. So meats don’t dry out. If you’re going to use your slow cooker to make a pot roast, for example, keep in mind that root vegetables, such as carrots and potatoes, should be placed at the bottom or around the sides of the cooker, as they cook more slowly and heat is concentrated in those areas. They should be cut into roughly even sized pieces. Trim as much excess fat as possible from the sides and ends of the roast. Always, always, always use a meat thermometer to test the meat for doneness; don’t assume that because the cooker has been on since 6 am that your pot roast is done. Place the thermometer into the thickest portion of the meat and it should register at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the USDA, unless it is a rolled roast or was mechanically tenderized. Chicken should be cooked to a minimum of 175 degrees, and pork to at least 160.

The slow cooker should be at least half, but no more than two-thirds, full of food and or liquid in order to operate properly.

Resist the urge to lift the lid and stir or taste whatever you’re cooking. Much like when you open the oven and heat escapes, slow cookers also lose heat very quickly and take a very long time (as much as 20 minutes) to recover from heat loss. Foods should not press up against the lid of the slow cooker for the same reason; heat loss may occur.

Use high heat settings if you want your meal to cook in 5-6 hours and the low heat settings if you want your meal to cook in 8-12 hours.

Add more tender vegetables, such as peas, at the end of the cooking process. Pastas, rice, tender fish, and dairy products should also be added when cooking is nearly finished, about the last half hour of cooking. Some spices, especially ground herbs and spices, will lose flavor in long term cooking, so taste and season appropriately at the end as well.

One of my favorite things to make in the slow cooker is a chicken dish, with creamy gravy. This is actually low fat. I spend entirely too much time surfing the net for recipes and after browsing a large cache of slow cooker recipes, I came up with the idea for this one. My husband loves it - which really irritates me, because I like to make meals that require me to spend lots of time in the kitchen, and this takes less than 20 minutes. I make rice and steamed green beans to go with it. My slow cooker has two sections, so in theory, you could make a side dish in the smaller section. Although I’ve tried rice in the slow cooker, I don’t recommend it. Instead, I set out the pan for the rice, measure the rice and water out and leave them on the countertop. When I get home from work, before I do anything else, I put the rice on so that we can eat within a short time of me getting home. This is less of a recipe and more of some general guidelines for putting together something simple for dinner.

Slow Cooker Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans Campbell’s Healthy Request “Cream of” Soup, any flavor or combination of flavors
1/2 to 3/4 cup skim milk
3 cloves garlic, minced fine
2 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp lemon zest
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Salt
Pepper

In a working bowl, combine soups, milk, thyme, lemon zest, bay leaves and garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Whisk well to combine. When adding milk, note that the mixture should be about the same thickness as cake batter. That’s why the measurement of milk is approximate. The liquid released in cooking by the chicken will be absorbed into the sauce. At the end of the cooking process, you will have more liquid, not less. Put some of the liquid in the bottom of the pot, add the chicken, and cover with the rest of the mixture. Set the slow cooker on low and leave it alone for 8-10 hours. If you’re in a bigger hurry, or have a shorter workday, leave it on high for 4-6 hours. Add the parsley at the end. Take the chicken’s temperature after cooking. It should be at least 175 degrees. Fish out the bay leaves, you don’t want to eat those. Remove the chicken and use the sauce left in the pot as a garnish or a gravy for the chicken. I like it over rice too.

I hope that this has encouraged you to pull out your slow cooker and experiment a little bit. I love knowing that my dinner is cooking as I’m working and use the slow cooker often. As the weather warms up in the northern hemisphere, something else to keep in mind is that the slow cooker won’t heat up your kitchen like the oven does! Possibilites are endless, and you can even make breakfasts in the slow cooker while you’re sleeping. Some good cookbooks to try are “Fix It and Forget It Lightly” by Phyllis Pellman Good; and I also like to refer to my old standby, the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.