Search Articles

Subscribe To Our Site

  • subscribe to our XML feed
  • Google Reader or Homepage
  • Add to My Yahoo!
  • Subscribe in NewsGator Online
  • add our feed to your MSN subsciptions
  • Add to My AOL

to Die For Recipes Article:

Whats So Great About Slow Cooking Anyway?

As I walked through the grocery store aisles a few weeks ago, I noticed the increase in prepackaged slow cooker meals. I've been using my slow cooker and reaping the rewards for years, so it was no real surprise to me when others started proclaiming the benefits of cooking with a crock pot. Why did it take the rest of the country so long to catch up? With this increase in popularity, I've recently been asked by a few 'newbies' 'What's so great about slow cooking anyway?'

That's an easy question to answer even if all you've ever done is make chicken stew with your slow cooker. It's just so dang simple and the food tastes better when cooked slowly and evenly in a crock pot.

I'm a work at home mom. I operate a Family Child Care and also have a busy online business, both of which keep me going all day long. That on top of my daughter's activities and the in and out nature of my husband's business, we're usually searching for time to sit down and eat, especially eating together as a family. There's where the slow cooker comes in handy. I have tons of slow cooker recipes, and can find just about anything to cook that my kids and picky husband will like to eat.

Since I work at home, having the kitchen stay a comfortable temperature is a must, as I spend quite a bit of time there preparing meals and snacks for my day care kids. I use my crock pot year round, and love its usefulness during the warm weather months when I can fix the beginnings of the meal in the morning when I've got other 'stuff' out on the counter anyway, put it all in the pot, and then clean up the whole mess when I'm done. The crock pot requires very little clean up itself, so there you have yet another major reason for why slow cooking is so great.

For those of you who work away from home, consider this scenario: As the day goes along, the slow cooker is busy fixing your meal for you, and when you walk through the door at the end of another grueling day at work, your dinner is waiting. All you need to do, depending on the recipe you've selected, is prepare a side dish or salad, add some bread, set the table, and call the family in to eat. Simple, simple, simple; and very satisfying to come home to.

Here is a favorite slow cooker recipe that you can try with your family. I'm sure you'll all love it.

Country-Style Crock Pot Chicken

6 carrots, sliced

6 celery stalks, sliced

8 chicken pieces

1 can (10-3/4 oz) cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1/3 c or chicken broth

2 tsp cornstarch

Slice vegetables place in crock pot. Place chicken on vegetables. Spread undiluted soup over chicken. Sprinkle dry onion soup mix. Do not add any water. Cook on High 4 hours, or until chicken is done. Stir often, but leave that lid on during cooking! 10 minutes before serving, mix broth and cornstarch. Pour over chicken, stir well. Serves 4.

About the Author: Sherry Frewerd is a busy work at home mom of 3. Visit her website for delicious slow cooker recipes http://familycrockpotrecipes.com. A Watkins Consultant as well, visit her website at http://sherryfrewerd.com to learn how you too can have a successful home business and lead a quality life.

Sausage seasoning varies with the region and the country. Since sausages are preferred by some spicy or simply garlicky, you can imagine how various the sausage herb and spices blends can be. Every individual likes a certain flavor added to the meat and the flavor also varies with the style of cooking the meat. Generally speaking sausages are fired or grilled so perhaps people would be more inclined to use sausage seasoning that somewhat resembles that of barbecued meat. And it so happens that if you want to purchase a certain kind of sausage seasoning and you are in a foreign country, you might not find it on the store shelves. Instead you will find other brands that will reflect the local tendencies in cuisine. Thus the sausage seasoning is not of only one kind and another tendency nowadays is to combine whatever you are into in terms of flavors borrowing ideas from other cultures and cuisines all over the world.

Recipe for a delicious oyster stuffing, perfect for that Thanksgiving turkey, or maybe the Christmas goose. My friend said a couple of years ago "that's the best oyster dressing I have ever eaten. I hope you like it too! -- Frank

Sauces are unusual components of meals. Often they do not merit more than an afterthought as they are the natural cooking mediums of stews. Or they're made as an afterthought. Yet, in French-influenced cuisine a sauce is a central part of the culinary experience that adds to the meal itself. Here, two sauces are presented: one classic and one very modern.

Is your social calendar so packed with activities that you don't have time to cook? Try cooking Olive Garden Restaurant recipes - many only need 1/2 an hour to cook.

Are you wondering how you can use up all that leftover turkey? Are you looking for a new way to use it that will surprise your family? Try this Day After Hash! Surprise your family and/or friends at breakfast or brunch with this turkey hash.