Fix-It and Forget-It Christmas Cookbook (2 page)

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one large cooker (6- or 7-quart)

Then you’re set for preparing sizable roasts, turkey breasts, chicken legs and thighs, or a big pot of soup.

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one or two medium cookers (4- or 5-quart)

Do your vegetables in these. Or if you’re cooking for a smaller group, you can do your main dish in one or both of them. Don’t forget that you can prepare brunch dishes or desserts in these, too.

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one or two small cookers (1½- 3-quart)

These are ideal for dips, breakfast fruit, dessert toppings, and more.

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Cookers which allow you to program “On,” the length of the cooking time, and “Off,” are convenient. If your model doesn’t include that feature, you might want to get a digital appliance timer, which gives you that option. Make sure the timer is adequate for the electrical flow that your cooker demands.

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A baking insert, a cooking rack, a temperature probe, and an insulated carrying tote are all useful additions offered with some models. Or you can buy some of them separately by going to the manufacturers’ websites.

2. Learn to know your slow cooker

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Some newer slow cookers cook at a very high temperature. You can check the temperature of your slow cooker this way:

1.
   Place 2 quarts of water in your slow cooker.

2.
   Cover. Heat on Low 8 hours.

3.
   Lift the lid. Immediately check the water temp with an accurate thermometer.

4.
   The temperature of the water should be 185°F. If the temperature is higher, foods may overcook and you should reduce the overall cooking time. If the temperature is lower, your foods will probably not reach a safe temperature quickly enough, and the cooker should be discarded.

3. Maximizing what a slow cooker does best

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Slow cookers tend to work best when they’re ⅔ full. You many need to increase the cooking time if you’ve exceeded that amount, or reduce it if you’ve put in less than that.

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Cut the hard veggies going into your cooker into chunks of about equal size. In other words, make your potato and carrot pieces about the same size. Then they’ll be done cooking at nearly the same time. Softer veggies, like bell peppers and zucchini, cook faster, so they don’t need to be cut as small. But again, keep them similar in size to each other so they finish together.

•
Because raw vegetables are notoriously tough customers in a slow cooker, layer them over the bottom and around the sides of the cooker, as much as possible. That puts them in more direct contact with the heat.

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There are consequences to lifting the lid on your slow cooker while it’s cooking. To compensate for the lost heat, you should plan to add 15-20 minutes of cooking time for each time the lid was lifted off.

On the other hand, moisture gathers in a slow cooker as it works. To allow that to cook off, or to thicken the cooking juices, take the lid off during the last half hour of cooking time.

•
Use only the amount of liquid called for in a recipe. In contrast to an oven or a stovetop, a slow cooker tends to draw juices out of food and then harbor it.

Of course, if you sense that the food in your cooker is drying out, or browning excessively before it finishes cooking, you may want to add ½ cup of
warm
liquid to the cooker.

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Important variables to remember that don’t show up in recipes:

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   The fuller your slow cooker, the longer it will take its contents to cook.

•
   The more densely packed the cooker’s contents are, the longer they will take to cook.

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   The larger the chunks of meat or vegetables, the more time they will need to cook.

4. Debunking the myths

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You certainly can cook holiday-worthy dishes in a slow cooker!
These appliances can put out a meal at any level—elegant or comfortable.

One hard-won piece of advice.
You’ll notice that many of the recipes in this cookbook give a range of cooking times (for example, “Chicken ala Orange” on
page 168
tells you to cook the dish 6-7 hours). Every slow cooker is different, so learn to know your cooker before you ask it to make your holiday turkey.

Do a test-run of a sample recipe, note the length of time it took to cook the dish to perfection, and then write that next to the recipe in this book. Make that experiment your baseline for judging the appropriate length of cooking time in your cooker for similar recipes. Now you can relax as you wait for your guests to arrive.

Two more reasons to put your cooker(s) to work during the holidays:

1.
   If your oven is full, use your slow cooker to relieve the space crunch.

2.
   When you want to avoid lots of last-minute work and enjoy your guests instead, make whatever you can in your slow cooker.

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Slow cookers are also
a handy year-round appliance
. They don’t heat up a kitchen in warm weather. They allow you to escape to the pool or lake or lawn or gardens – so why not let them work for you when it’s hot
outdoors. A slow cooker fixes your dinner while you’re at your child’s soccer game, too.

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You can overdo food in a slow cooker. If you’re tempted to stretch a recipe’s 6-hour stated cooking time to 8 or 10 hours, you may be disappointed in your dinner. Yes, these cookers work their magic using slow, moist heat. Yes, many dishes cook a long time. But these outfits have their limits.

For example, chicken can overcook in a slow cooker. Especially boneless, skinless breasts. But legs and thighs aren’t immune either. Once they go past the falling-off-the-bone stage, they are prone to move on to deeply dry.

Cooked pasta and sour cream do best if added late in the cooking process, ideally 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time if the cooker is on high; 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time if it’s on low.

5. Safety

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A working slow cooker gets hot on the outside – and I mean the outer electrical unit as well as the inner vessel. Make sure that curious and unsuspecting children or adults don’t grab hold of either part. Use oven mitts when lifting any part of a hot cooker.

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To prevent a slow cooker from bubbling over, either when it’s sitting still on a counter, or when its traveling to a carry-in dinner, fill the cooker only ⅔ full.

If you’re going to exceed that limit, pull out your second slow cooker (what—you have only one?!) and divide the contents between them.

6. Adapting stove-top or oven recipes for a slow cooker

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Many stove-top and oven recipes can be adapted for a slow cooker. If you want to experiment, use these conversion factors:

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   Low (in a slow cooker) = 200°F approximately (in an oven).

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   High (in a slow cooker) = 300°F approximately (in an oven).

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   In a slow cooker, 2 hours on Low = 1 hour, approximately, on High.

Appetizers, Snacks, and Spreads

Creamy Artichoke Dip

Jessica Stoner

West Liberty, OH

Makes 7-8 cups

Prep. Time: 15-20 minutes

Cooking Time: 1-1½ hours

Ideal slow cooker size: 3-qt.

2 14-oz. cans water-packed artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped (drain one can; stir juice from other can into Dip)

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded, part-skim mozzarella cheese

8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup mayonnaise

½ cup shredded Swiss cheese

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. plain yogurt

1 Tbsp. seasoned salt

1 Tbsp. chopped, seeded jalapeño pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

Dippers: tortilla chips

1. In slow cooker, combine artichoke hearts, cheeses, mayonnaise, lemon juice, yogurt, salt, jalapeño pepper, and garlic powder.

2. Cover. Cook on Low 1 hour, or until cheeses are melted and Dip is heated through.

3. Serve with tortilla chips.

Variation:

Add 2 10-oz. pkgs. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry, to Step 1.

Steven Lantz

Denver, CO