My love affair with my slow cooker is continuing. The latest offering that I have made is vegetarian Lamb Hot Pot. I am not an exact, scientific cook. I am more of a 'throw in what you have' and improvise type cook, but this is the basis of what I did and it seemed to work well. It is really delicious, even though I say so myself!
Vegetarian Lamb Hot Pot
Ingredients
4 parsnips
2 red onions
2 cloves garlic
4 potatoes
6 carrots
1 butternut squash
1/2 pint veggie stock
1 can butter beans
1 can canellini beans
2 teaspoons rosemary
ground black pepper
1 bag Quorn lamb strips
Method
Chop up the veg and throw it all in the slow cooker with everything apart from the Quorn lamb strips.
Cook for about 6 hours then add the lamb strips.
(At this point you can also top with a bag of Aunt Bessie's frozen dumplings).
Cook for a further hour.
Tip: If it is too wet add a few teaspoons of gravy granules to thicken up the stock.
You can finish it off in the oven for the last 15mins at GM6 if you like a crisper dumpling/cobbler (like I do).
I love my slow cooker. It's taken me a while to see the full potential of my Crock Pot but I think I am now giving it the usage it deserves. It is just so easy to throw the ingredients into the pot in the morning and then it is ready to serve up at dinner time with no further effort required. The healthy, cooked from scratch meals are so easy to make and I feel like a domestic goddess (albeit fraudulently because it is just so easy to do!!)
Today I am making my lazy cook's Five Bean Chilli using Napolina beans. Tinned beans are a main staple in our home. They are convenient, nutritious and versatile plus I think they taste good too!
Ingredients
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 carton of passata
2 chopped onions
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 teaspoons Gourmet Garden chilli
2 teaspoons Gourmet Garden coriander
1 can of Napolina butter beans
1 can of Napolina kidney beans
1 can of Napolina chick peas
1 can of brown lentils
1 can of Napolina cannelini beans
4 oz sliced mushrooms
1/4 pt of vegetable stock
(You can throw a bag of Quorn Mince into the pot an hour before serving if you like.)
Method
Literally throw it all in at 10am after the school run is done.
Serve it with rice and creme fraiche at 5pm when the kids are back home and hungry! It's easy to make, nutritious, delicious and warming in this cold weather.
I was sent a selection of Napolina beans but the recipe is my own. Napolina beans are priced at 79p a tin and are available from all good stockists.
One thing that I love about winter is making stews. Good old vegetable stews with a dumpling or cobbler topping are just the perfect comfort food on these freezing cold December evenings. I've been using my slow cooker which has made my life so much easier! I bung in swede, carrot, onion, leek, sweet potato, potato and parsnip along with veggie stock, rosemary and ground pepper. About half an hour before the end of the cooking time, I throw in some Quorn pieces. Then I finish it off for 20 minutes in the oven with dumplings or cobbler. Yum!!
Root Vegetable and Lentil Casserole Recipe for a Slow Cooker.
As a busy vegetarian mum with a hungry family to feed, I'm constantly on the look out for ideas for making good, wholesome meals (in the most labour saving way possible!) So I was over the moon to be offered a Crock Pot 4.7 litre Saute Slow Cooker to test out Inside the Wendy House.
I've not had any previous experience with Slow Cookers but I've heard so many good things about them. I was excited to see how well it would cook my root vegetable and lentil casserole.
4 oz red lentils
1 pint of organic veggie stock
1 carton tomato passata
teaspoon of rosemary
teaspoon of thyme
ground pepper
I chopped it all up the night before and next morning I threw it all in the pot and added the liquid.
The ingredients ready to be cooked.
I popped the lid on and set it to high at 8.30am before the school run began. At lunch time I turned it down to low and then went out. I was a little nervous leaving something cooking while I wasn't home, because I'd never dream of leaving anything on the hob unattended!
I arrived home at 4pm post school run. I wish I could convey how good it smelt when I opened my front door. The smell of delicious, rich stew was so homely, welcoming and comforting. I gave it a quick stir and allowed it to continue cooking until we had dinner at 5.30pm.
The cooked stew.
I served up enough for three adults, one teenager, one 8 year old and baby Freddy. There was ample.
The vegetables were soft but had all retained their shape. The sweet potato usually disintegrates when I cook it on the hob, so it was nice to actually taste it as an individual vegetable rather than have it smooshed up!
Testing the end result.
Messy but yummy!
The family tucked into their stew. Ella said, "It was cooked to perfection". Kizzy said, "You can taste all the individual vegetables in it. The taste was like it had come from a five star restaurant!" Freddy tucked into his bowlful with gusto!
Next time I think I will finish it off in the oven with cobbler on top, because I did miss having my cobbler! As the dish is ovenproof it will be really easy just finishing it off at GM6 for 20 minutes. I am reliably informed that you can cook perfect suet dumplings in with the stew! The Crock Pot would also be brilliant for making soups, curries and chillis, which would be ready to eat at the end of a busy day with the minimum of fuss. This Crock Pot Saute Slow Cooker is definitely going to revolutionize my mealtimes...it's an impressive, stylish and very useful addition to my household!
