Long simmering crock pot recipes

[TrekDianna]

I have a couple of slow cooker cookbooks that I like. This one..Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook is used a lot.

[luvmyguys]

Alternatively, you can set a crock pot out and let it *start* cooking mid-day, so that it's ready before you get home. I don't have a timer on mine, but I use a cheap plug-in timer for those occasions when I need it (which isn't too often, I grant you).

My favorite crock-pot cook book is Slow Cooker Revolution by America's Test Kitchen. No inundation with cream of yuck soup, which is my primary complaint with most crock pot recipes. One down side is that there is a decent amount of prep with many of the recipes, including end prep once the food is done cooking. The other primary down side is that some of the recipes have exotic ingredients that I have trouble finding (and I live too far away from a Whole Foods Market - or as it is known at our house, "Whole Paycheck Market").

[Irulan]

Alternatively, you can set a crock pot out and let it *start* cooking mid-day, so that it's ready before you get home. I don't have a timer on mine, but I use a cheap plug-in timer for those occasions when I need it (which isn't too often, I grant you).

So everything sits out, in the crockpot, at room temperature, on the counter for 4-5 hours before it turns itself on? I don't think I'd do that if there's any meat product in the pot.

[maillotpois]

When you say "turn itself off," do you mean that it goes from hi/low to "warm"? Mine goes to a warming feature when the alloted time or temp is passed/reached, but I've never used that feature for more than a half hour or so. I'm too paranoid about food staying at or above a certain temp to totally trust it.

It stays warm and I have used that for a while. It seems to work ok and doesn't cook the stuff too much.

[Dogmama]

When it's over 100 degrees, anything hot seems unappetizing. I make salads in the morning for evening meals. Here is one I love:
2 cans of beans (kidney and/or black)
1 chopped bell pepper
3 slices of red onion, chopped
1 cup slices green olives
1 cup frozen corn
2 tomatoes, diced
~ 1/2 - 1 cup sharp shredded cheddar (top dressing)
~1/2 cup fat free Catalina dressing

The longer it marinates, the better it is. I put the tomatoes on top & mix them in at the last minute since they can get a bit "mealy" sitting in the dressing. I put the higher calorie cheese on top before serving. You'll use less cheese = lower calories. The salad is fine without cheese also. Serve with tortillas, baked tortillas chips, a nice loaf of bread or cornbread.

[mariacycle]

Not sure if 15-20 minutes is too long for you but that's how long most dinners take for DBF and/or I to cook for two. Rice takes 10-15 minutes and so does cooking chicken and vegetables. Then you can decide if you want to make rice/chicken/vegetables for a Mexican, Chinese, or Thai meal! For Mexican, we add a can of Cuban style black beans and guacamole. For Chinese we add some sort of sauce (General Tso's probably) and peanuts. For Thai we just add curry paste with coconut milk or a curry sauce from a jar. Once we got into the swing of regularly cooking dinner it became astounding how quickly we could turn around a really satisfying dinner.

[tangentgirl]

You know, it seems like a lot of dinner is prep work. So if in the morning, you chopped stuff and got chicken (or other meat) marinating, just to toss it in a pan or on the grill when you get home, you could be eating pretty quickly.