November 21, 2001

Prairie Fare: Slow Cooking for Busy Families

By Julie Garden-Robinson, Food and Nutrition Specialist
NDSU Extension Service

When my husband and I got married, we brought together lots of kitchen equipment. I had a large crockpot. He had two crockpots. Then we received two more crockpots as wedding gifts. We could have started a restaurant, or at least hosted huge parties.

Instead, we exchanged the two new crockpots for some other kitchen equipment. We couldn’t resist buying a tortilla press, pasta maker, bamboo steamer and an ice cream maker. We were going to be kitchen gourmets. We enjoyed our new gadgets for a while and cooked some pretty fabulous meals. Then reality and time constraints set in when our first child was born. We still use the equipment on special occasions, but I’m not sure when we last made tortillas from scratch.

The appliances that still get used on a fairly regular basis in our home are the crockpots, or slow cookers, for making chili, soup and spaghetti sauce. There are some advantages to using these small kitchen appliances. In the heat of summer, you can avoid warming up your kitchen, and they draw less electricity than an oven. Plus, with some advance preparation, you can be greeted at the end of a busy day by the aroma of a ready meal.

Slow cookers allow you to use less tender cuts of meat. The moist, slow cooking tenderizes the meat, and there’s less shrinkage. Slow cookers work well to hold food hot at parties.

Slow cookers are handy kitchen devices, but there are some rules to ensure safety and good quality. The USDA does not recommend the use of slow cookers for whole roasts or whole chickens because the meat may spend too much time at a low temperature, allowing bacteria to grow and potentially produce toxins that can cause foodborne illness.

Here are some tips to ensure a safe, tasty meal using a slow cooker:

• After thawing, cut food into chunks or small pieces to make sure they are cooked thoroughly.
• To reduce calories and fat, trim excess fat from meats and remove the skin from poultry.
• Keep perishable ingredients refrigerated until you’re ready to use them.
• For easier clean-up, spray the inside of the slow cooker with cooking spray.
• For safety and flavor, brown and drain ground beef before adding to the slow cooker. Browning also adds flavor to other meats, including pieces of poultry or stew meat.
• Keep the lid in place. To avoid losing heat, only open the crockpot to stir or check doneness.
• When preparing menu items containing vegetables, thaw or rinse the vegetables with warm water before placing them in the slow cooker. Frozen vegetables will cool the mixture and increase the cooking time. Put vegetables in first, then add meat and cover with liquid such as broth, water or sauces.
• Fill the cooker no less than half full and no more than two-thirds full to allow for adequate heating.
• It’s a good idea to turn the slow cooker to the highest setting for the first hour of cooking time and then reduce the setting to "low," although it is safe to cook on the lower setting all day.
• Reheat leftovers in a microwave oven or pan on the stove to at least 165 F before placing in a slow cooker for hot holding. Slow cookers should not be used to reheat foods.
• After enjoying your slow-cooked meal, refrigerate the leftovers promptly in shallow containers.

If you haven’t used your slow cooker in a while, try this hearty, healthy soup recipe adapted from the Rival Crock Pot cookbook.

Crockpot Beef Minestrone Soup

1 lb. ground beef, browned
1 large onion, chopped
2 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, pared and sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 can (28 oz.) whole tomatoes
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 small bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Water
Parmesan cheese

Brown ground beef and drain well. Place all ingredients except cheese in the slow cooker; stir well. Add water to cover ingredients. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 to 12 hours or on high setting for 3 to 5 hours. Stir well. Sprinkle with cheese prior to serving. Makes 6 servings. Each serving contains 250 calories, 11 grams of fat, a full day’s supply of vitamin A and 67 percent of the daily recommendation for vitamin C.

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Source: Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu