Got a crock pot for Christmas- now what?

[Anonymous]

I'm a vegetarian- so The meat dishes don't really apply to us.

Do you prep the food the night before, put it all in the crockpot in the morning and it's just done when you come home? Or do you prep in the morning? My mornings are packed- so just hoping to do what I can the night before. I also have a rice cooker- are these that different?

Any good vegetarian recipes?

[Anonymous]

A rice cooker is handy and will always make perfect rice. You can make other grains in some - check your manual.

I usually prep in the morning, but no reason you can't prep the night before. Do NOT put the stuff in your crock and then in the fridge... It can crack your crock when it starts to warm up if you put it on high. I use a metal bowl and then dump it in the morning of, when I do prep before.

Personally, I find more depth of flavor when I take the time to brown the meats. I know for some people,that defeats the whole point of the crock pot, but I do find a differences that being said, if I'm rushing out the door,it's often a dump and go, and it still ends ups pretty darned tasty.

I make a lot of veggie curries and such in my crock. Butternut squash, sweet potato, parsnips, some rutabega cubed. Onions, garlic. A block or two of frozen spinach. Add a few tbsp favourite premade curry paste. Add a can of tomatoes (DH hates tomatoes so I usually leave out), 1-2 cups of veggie broth (depending on the amount of veggies) and a can of coconut milk.let brew and serve over basmati (from your rice cooker of course!)

[Anonymous]

I usually use meat recipes, in fact, I don't think I've done a vegetarian dish. But I would probably prep the veggies the night before and then assemble and turn on the crock pot in the morning before you leave.

[Anonymous]

^ever done a vegetarian dish in the crock pot.

[Anonymous]

We'll the problem you are going to run into with veggies is that they only need 4-6 hours to cook on low and 3-5 on high, so you can't set it and forget and go to work unless it has a timer feature.

Instead, I'd use it on the weekends more to make soups and stews.

You can make a great butternut squash soup or a minestrone, to start.

Crock pots are ideal for meat so I'm not sure how much use you are going to get out of it unless you find a really good veg slow cooker recipe book.

[Anonymous]

Black beans- a huge improvement on canned. Red lentil dal. Veggie chili. Baked beans. Home made tomato sauce. Any kind of veggie stew. I love my crock pot. Other than soaking the beans the night before I do things in the morning. I use dehydrated onions, freeze dried garlic and ginger. This cuts down on a lot of prep time.

[Anonymous]

The above, plus polenta, Carmelized onions, risotto, homemade veggie stock, fondue, lasagne, channa masala.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The above, plus polenta, Carmelized onions, risotto, homemade veggie stock, fondue, lasagne, channa masala.

How do you make caramelized onions in a crock pot?

Did you get these recipes from a specific cookbook? I've done polenta, risotto, and fondue on the stove top but never in a crock pot, but I'd like to reference the source material. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Vegetarian chili.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for all the ideas! Very helpful

[Anonymous]

22:30 here. Caramelized onions - slice up, add a little butter and/or olive oil, pinch salt, set on low. When it starts heating up, stir to make sure onions are moistened. I normally make these at night and then either put them in grilled cheese (with a little curry powder), or soup. They'll keep.

The other recipes, just google them. The polenta one is so, so easy, but it does take 2 hours on low so if you WOH full time (I work pt), it will only work if you have a programming crockpot or get home early.

Cook's illustrated has a crockpot/slow cooker cookbook and I generally like their recipes. Crockpot365 blog has a lot of recipes too..