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When the weather outside heats up, the kitchen can be a terrible place to be. There are many things you can do however, when it comes to cooking a nice home made meal that does not require traditional stove top or oven cooking.

Learn to utilize some of the less heat-creating equipment in your kitchen, such as the crock pot, in order to truly beat the summer heat and keep your cool while making a nice hot meal for friends and family.

So, how does crock pot cooking actually help beat the heat? Simply put, the crock pot in and of itself gives off far less heat when cooking than an oven or stove top. This is the first and possibly the best reason to utilize the crock pot in your summer meal planning.

You should also consider the fact that by not heating the house by using your stove top or oven you are also reducing the load on your air conditioning (or other cooling methods) so you are not obligating it to work overtime in order to make up for the extra heat that other cooking methods introduce.

This makes crock pot cooking a win-win situation as the costs involved in operating a crock pot are far less than the expenditure involved in operating a stove or oven. Whether electric or gas, your stove and oven are serious energy users. Add to that the fact that you are not increasing the temperature in your home by traditional means of cooking and you are using even less electricity.

Regrettably, the general consensus has been that crock pots are meant for comfort foods and hearty winter meals. The truth is that the crock pot should be one of your best loved and most often utilized cooking techniques. When it comes to cooking with a crock pot, the options are almost limitless. Almost anything that can be baked can be made in the crock pot and many, many more wonderful and tempting meals and treats as well.

Benefits of Crock Pot Cooking

In addition to the cost advantages written above, when it comes to crock pot cooking there are many other advantages that are worth mentioning. First of all, the bulk of the work involved in crock pot cooking takes place early in the day when you are fresh rather than at the end of a hectic work or play day.

The result is that you are less likely to forget an ingredient or make some other mistake, which can easily happen when trying to cook after a hectic day.

Second, many great crock pot recipes include the vegetables that ensure that we get the vitamins we need. So often, when preparing a meal at the last minute, vegetables and other side dishes are left out for the sake of expedience. Crock pot cooking, on the other hand, is a meal in one pot.

Another great reason to use a crock pot for your summertime cooking is the simplicity of washing up. Unlike conventional cooking with several pots and pans, most crock pot meals are made in one pot. This clearly reduces the hardware needed to be washed up or loaded into the dishwasher (or if you are the same as me – both) afterwards.

So, you spend less time cleaning up, just as you spent less time slaving over a hot stove. Well, make that no time slaving over a hot stove and once the washing up is done, you can get back to enjoying the sun set, mucking about with with the dog or kids, or just waiting for the first stars.

While there will never be a method of cooking that suits everyone, crock pot cooking comes pretty close. So, if you have a crock pot collecting dust somewhere in the back of your pantry it is time to get it out, dust if off, and dig up some appetizing summertime crock pot cooking recipes.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with the 2 quart crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

There can not be many individuals who do not like their food, but the human race, being what it is, I expect that there are a few of them. However, for the remainder of us, cuisine is a font of daily enjoyment and, like drink, it is frequently used to denote a celebration. not only that, but various foodstuffs are used for the various meals or distinct celebrations.

Festive meals were undoubtedly planned around the seasonal foodstuffs available, but a number of foods were ferried enormous distances for the benefit of those who could afford them. For example, my father deemed it a grand treat to get an orange in his stocking on Christmas Day sixty years back. How the times have altered! Very few kids would think an orange a present, special or not, any day of the year in our time.

Nevertheless, the storage of food is still a daily concern and subsequently, I have written a few good tips on preserving food underneath, so that you will obtain the best from that which you have purchased or grown in your garden even a long while later.

Chicken Stuffed With Spoons: a great way of preparing chicken to be eaten at a cold buffet or in sandwiches, is to put as many spoons as possible into the cavity of the chicken (not silver or plated ones though). Then, place the chicken in a large saucepan or pot and bring the water to the boil slowly. Simmer for 10 minutes, cover and leave until the water is room temperature. The spoons will retain the heat and cook the chicken from the inside out. it will be one of the most succulent chickens you have ever eaten.

Roasted Crisp And Light: if you like crisp-skinned roasties, it is best to parboil them first, but that is only half the story. so, boil the potatoes for five minutes and drain thoroughly. Put the lid on the pan and shake it about violently. Bang it hard on the chopping block several times. The harder the better. Then put the parboiled potatoes in the baking tray with the meat or fowl to cook as you would normally.

Salad Soup: Do not throw away salad that has been soaked in salad dressing. Whisk it up in a food processor with a can of tomatoes of tinned soup. Add lots of garlic to taste and adjust the thickness to suit your taste. Chill it down and you will have one of the most delicious summer soups ever.

Curdling Cure: if your mayonnaise has curdled there is one sure fire way to bring it back to life. stir in a couple of tablespoons of Hellmann’s mayonnaise and your problem will be over.

Simply Scrumptious Topping: a really, quick, delicious and almost infinitely variable topping for a savory pie can be made in seconds. Choose the flavour you want from the crisp rack; puncture the bag to let our the air and then crush the contents in the gag. it really adds something to a pie. The same trick can be used on the bottom of a potato pie a Texan housewife told me.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topicss, but is currently involved with researching the 2 quart crock pot. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots

In America, most people call these electric cookers crock pots, whereas in the Great Britain they are usually called slow cookers. Crock pots by Rival, DeLonghi, Hamilton Beach, Cuisinart and Toastess are particularly good examples of advanced crock pots. Some of these crock pots are programmable, which allows the cook more flexibility that the slow cookers of twenty years did not.

The first crock pots had only an on/off switch and no temperature control. This had the consequence that the recipes you could prepare with them were restricted, if you used your crock pot for preparing food while you were out of the house at work for eight hours or more. Modern slow cookers like those crock pots mentioned previously have revolutionized all that. Nowadays, modern crock pots are programmable.

These modern crock pots are very flexible and with the finest of them, you can set the temperature that the slow cooker should function at and the length of time it should cook for just like a microwave oven. For instance, you could program a modern slow cooker to cook at, say, 180c for an hour and then 100c for two hours

Most people do not appreciate the features that modern crock pots have. Regrettably, there are still a lot of individuals who still believe that slow cookers are only any good for cooking rice, boiling soup or preparing cheap cuts of meat like scrag end of mutton. This is just not true any more, although manual crock pots were capable of more than that as well. Modern variable slow cookers can be used to make bread, cheesecake, custards and even sponges.

In fact, it is a good idea to get away from the old fashioned concepts people have about slow cookers and try to see them as an oven, which does not need a pot to cook in. Try the recipe underneath and see for yourself.

BANANA BREAD

1 3/4 c flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/3 c shortening 2/3 c sugar 2 eggs, well beaten 1 1/2 c banana, well mashed, overripe 1/2 c walnuts, coarsely chopped

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the electric beater on low, fluff shortening in a small bowl, until it is soft and creamy. Add the sugar gradually. Beat in the eggs in a slow stream. With a fork, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, ? the bananas another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the rest of the bananas and then the last of the flour mixture. Fold in the walnuts. Turn into a greased and floured baking unit or a 2 1/2 quart mold and cover.

Place on a rack in your crock pot. Cover the crock pot, but prop the lid open with a toothpick or a twist of foil to let the excess steam escape. Cook on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Serve Warm.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching the crock pots by Rival. If you have an interest in cooking or crock pots, please go over to our website now at Large Crock Pots