If you have a Crock-pot, you probably have a few tried-and-true meals that you like to cook in it. But did you know that it is very easy to adapt other recipes for use in your Crock-pot? Knowing some of these tricks can help you get a home-cooked (and frugal!) meal on the table even on the busiest of days. I see my Crock-pot as an alternative to ordering out on hectic days. Doing a small amount of planning in the morning can save you money (and energy!) come mealtime.
Here are a few tricks for adapting meals to your Crock-pot:
For most recipes, you will want to reduce the amount of liquids you include in the recipe by about a third. This is because liquids do not evaporate in a Crock-pot like they do in other cooking methods.
Generally, you will want to brown ground meats on the stove before adding them to your Crock-pot. This is so you can drain out the excess fat. If you are using very lean meats, you may choose to skip this step.
Soups and stews are easy to adapt to the Crock-pot. Simply add your ingredients, subtracting some of the liquids (about one third) from your recipe. If you like the texture of browned meat better, then you can cook your meat in a skillet just until the outside is browned before adding it to the Crock-pot.
Did you know that you can even cook frozen foods in the Crock-pot? All you need to do is add at least one extra cup of warm liquid to the crock before adding your remaining ingredients. Adjust cooking time by adding an extra 4 to 6 hours on low or about 2 hours on high.
If you are looking for more ways to adapt your favorite recipes to your Crock-pot, check out Rival’s website.
Here are some other articles you might be interested in:
5 Reasons Why You Need a Crock Pot
http://food.families.com/blog/chili-in-a-flashall-day-flavor-in-15-minutes