290495 Tue Oct 08 12:47:18 -0700 2002 8 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1577073 Recent changes in my and my husband's job schedules mean that neither one of us is home any more from about 7 in the morning until 7 at night. I have a host of good and fast recipes, but bought a slow cooker with the notion that it would be lovely to come home at night and smell wonderful dinner smells, and dish up a hot, finished meal with almost no effort and absolutely no wait at the end of a long day. (And I got a larger slow cooker, in hopes of being clever and freezing the leftovers.) So far so good. I've made one or two things we've liked, but have mostly found the available recipes to be either stomach-turning (Velveeta and cream of mushroom soup type things) or just plain dull. Any suggestions from the Chowhounds? Extra points for spicy stuff, complex flavor combinations, and/or the use of chipotles in adobo.... Thanks in advance! Sarah Tue Oct 08 12:47:18 -0700 2002 0 sskwire 1 1577074 There was a crock pot thread about a week ago started on 10/2. Scroll down a little and you'll see it. Some poster included links for recipes. Good luck. Tue Oct 08 12:57:36 -0700 2002 1577073 0 tony 2 1577076 Thanks! I'll pursue that. Any other suggestions still appreciated, though. Tue Oct 08 12:59:54 -0700 2002 1577074 0 sskwire 3 1577093 Some feel that pressure cookers do a lot of what slow cookers do, and do it a lot better. But some slow-cooker dishes are quite good. Try to get a copy of Rick Rodgers's READY AND WAITING. He's intensely reliable. (Hearst Books, 1992) Natalie Haughton's THE BEST SLOW COOKER COOKBOOK EVER is also very good. It's important to BROWN most meats before slow-cooking them--it's absolutely key to flavor. Unfortunately, that may mean you have to get up and brown meat at 6 in the morning, but I wouldn't slow-cook meats without browning them. You end up with tasteless gray moosh. Tue Oct 08 15:33:37 -0700 2002 1577076 0 Tom Steele 4 1577101 You could brown and assemble all the ingredients the night before. In the morning you just take it out of the fridge and turn on the crock pot. Tue Oct 08 16:41:39 -0700 2002 1577093 0 Kurt 5 1577194 You could also just slo-cook overnite, and chill to re-heat for supper. Or cook anything else the night before - regular, not slow cooker, to then refrigerate and reheat. I use my pressure cooker more too. Thu Oct 10 00:27:07 -0700 2002 1577101 0 Maureen 6 1577330 Know your crock pot's limitations. Not everything can be done in a crock pot. Although I use mine for pot roast on occasion, there's just no substitute for a pot roast cooked in the oven. Though it's my opinion, I don't believe that a crock pot is the best way to cook vegetables...they seem to take forever. Sat Oct 12 03:02:36 -0700 2002 1577194 0 Marco 1 1577130 Here's the info on a couple of books that I really like (they're both available at amazon.com and if you link to amazon through Chowhound, then Chowhound gets some money): The Slow-Cooker Ready & Waiting Cookbook: 160 Sumptuous Meals That Cook Themselves Rick Rodgers William Morrow & Co ISBN: 068815803X; (February 1998) Sunset Crockery Cookbook/over 120 Delicious Recipes for Your Crock-Pot Slow Cooker Sunset Pub Co ISBN: 0376022248; (September 1992) Wed Oct 09 12:27:57 -0700 2002 1577073 0 Nancy Berry 2 1577157 Here's my favorite, Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook: Feasting with Your Slow Cooker by Dawn J. Ranck, Phyllis Pellman Good. Over 800 recipes. Available at Amazon.com,Sams Club or Costco among others. Wed Oct 09 15:22:23 -0700 2002 1577130 0 Artie