Vermont Acupuncture

Tag: Slow Cooker

  • Slow Cooked Apple Butter

    I made two batches in my slow cooker.
    The first with a ton of sugar and the second with maple syrup and honey. They are both delicious. I cooked the sugary one longer and it came out thicker.

    Apple Butter one

    16 apples, peeled and sliced
    3 cups sugar
    3/4 cup apple cider
    2 T cinnamon
    1 t allspice
    ¼ t nutmeg
    pinch salt

     

    Apple Butter two

    22 apples, peeled and sliced
    ¼ cup honey
    1 cup maple syrup
    1 1/4 cup apple cider
    3 T cinnamon
    2 t allspice
    ½ t nutmeg
    pinch salt

    In the slow cooker on high for a couple hours, then low overnight and/or the rest of the day until the apples cook down to a sauce and the pooled liquid evaporates. Stir occasionally. I cooked my first batch on and off for two days. The cooker went off a couple times and when I turned it back on I put it on high for a bit, then turned it back to low. The second batch I cooked for about 24 hours and would have done it longer as it turned out a little thin. I am sure the sugar also adds to the thickening process.

  • Slow Cooked Steel Cut Oats

    Get this together before you go to bed and you will wake up to the BEST oatmeal.

    In a pyrex, ceramic or metal bowl, combine:

    1 cup steel cut oats

    4 cups water

    pinch of salt

    Put the bowl in the slow cooker. Add enough water in the bottom of the slow cooker (under the bowl) to cover the water/oatmeal line in the bowl. If you have a programmable slow cooker like mine, set it on low for 7-8 hours and it will go to warm after that (which makes getting the bowl of oats out of the hot water bath easier). Otherwise cook it on low overnight, turn it off as soon as you get up.

    In the morning you can top with whatever you like: the traditional raisons, maple syrup, milk and cinnamon or try it straight up with a fried egg.

    Now that you have had breakfast and your slow cooker is till clean, make dinner. Prep the veg the night before so you can throw this together in the morning.

     

  • Slow Cooked Chicken Coconut Curry

    The house will smell so good when you get home if this is in the slow cooker.

    Toss the together into the slow cooker and cook 6-8 hours on low:

    4-6 bone-in chicken thighs or 3 chicken legs (the marrow in the bone makes a tasty broth and is chock full of nutrients)*

    6 shallots (or 1-2 onions)

    1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped

    2-3 potatoes, peeled and chopped

    1 red bell pepper, chopped

    8 crimini (or other type of) mushrooms, stems removed and quartered

    ½ bunch of collards or kale, chopped small (or add spinach at the end)

    2 stalks lemongrass, smash with handle of a knife and then chop into 1 inch pieces**

    1 T ginger, peeled and minced

    1 T curry paste, panang, red, yellow or whatever variety you like***kid-friendly

    1 t salt

    cover with water

    after it has cooked and you are almost ready to eat, add:

    ½ cup coconut milk

    spinach or chard, chopped, if you didn’t use collards or kale

    splash of fish sauce in each bowl or 1 T in the whole batch

    a squeeze of lime in each bowl or a whole lime in the whole batch

    garnish with cilantro

    optional: cook rice noodles and serve soup on top. if adding curry paste to individual bowls, add the curry and a little broth first, then the noodles, then the rest of the soup, coconut milk, lime and garnishes.


    *ideally: cook the chicken first overnight in the slow cooker or for a couple hour in the morning to make a broth. You can pull the chicken out and skim it. Then add the rest of the ingredients and reduce cooking time to 4-6 hours.

     

    **don’t eat the lemongrass chunks

     

    ***kid-friendly – if only some people in your family like spicy food, omit the curry paste and instead put 1 t curry + 1 T hot broth into each bowl, stir to combine, then add the rest of the soup. You can do the same with the coconut milk if you want, adding a little into each bowl and giving a stir.