Warning! Crockpot "warm" setting!

S

Siyeed

New member
Omelet wrote:

This is why the new models cook hotter, for better or for worse.
(Lots of people dislike them and have reported problems with their
recipes.)

--
Jean B.
 
On 2/15/2011 6:03 PM, Jean B. wrote:

I have one that everyone complains about that cooks too hot, but I've
gotten used to it. I've never had a problem with liquids boiling off. I
guess I maybe add more liquid than called for, but they also say don't
take the lid off no matter what while cooking. I cheat a couple of
times with that, but usually to add ingredients that I don't want to
cook the whole time. I just did some really good "country style" pork
over the weekend in mine. With rice they were amazing.
 
"Omelet" wrote in message
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Rice works well in a soup. In a casserole it can be trickier. I used to do
a chicken casserole with a blend of brown and wild rice. It doesn't use a
canned cream soup but a recipe for a faux type soup mix that you make from
scratch. Because you have to use so much liquid to get the rice to cook,
one risk is having it go too mushy. I have had that happen when it cooked a
bit too long.

I gave up on making the dish because daughter didn't like it at all.
 
"Omelet" wrote in message
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I wish I could find a way to do pasta in the crockpot. I just don't think
it would work. Any of the recipes I have seen call for the pasta to be
cooked and added at the last minute. Daughter loves chicken noodle soup.
Would be nice to come home to a pot of that!
 
"Omelet" wrote in message
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I have to have gluten free, egg free. The frozen stuff I bought was horrid.
Actually the pasta wasn't bad but the chicken was rubbery. I can get canned
via mail order but the postage is quite expensive. Haven't seen any in the
stores but there is a gluten free/low carb store near here. They might get
it one day.
 
"Julie Bove" wrote in message
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I make noodle soup all the time in the crockpot with dried noodles. While I
do add them separately near the end of cooking, I don't pre-cook them on the
stove. Dump them in, and when the noodles are done, the soup's done. The
extra step is hardly a bother for me, and the result is worth the trade-off
of not being able to serve up a bowl within 5 minutes of walking in the door
after work.

Jinx
 
"Omelet" wrote
"Julie Bove" wrote:




Hi Om, Julie sometimes forgets to say that some of it is family members but
she does have some medical issues as well.

I forgot and killed a thread on my end where she and I were using recently
on this so won't see her replies (work, really busy, little time to play)
but she has if I recall right name gastroenteritis which means seeds, gluten
and skins of veggies tend to be an issue, milk seems an issue someplace in
the family and she is diabetic.

I am guessing Julie's life doesnt lead to as much basic cookery from raw
products but I do see after she came here, she is working on some skills in
that area to good success. It's not an overnight process as in 'bam!, I
suddenly know all about how to do it' but a learning progress than takes
years or a lifetime.

What I see, she seems to be doing well at shifting and is asking for help at
times while accomodating some food issues many here are not used to.

I have no clue what cooking training her family gave her before she moved
from home, but like most of us, it probably didnt start with a garden plot
of plants (go pull some for dinner) and a bunch of live chickens!

In my case I thought I was a spiffy cook because I could handle a box of
hamburger helper when I moved out so it took me a long time to get where I
am. Mom's lovely and raised 3 great kids but when it came to her cooking,
we prayed for 1960's TV dinners and school lunches (hehehe).

As you can guess, I got relgated to 'bottle washer' right away on my first
turn to make dinner for the roomates until I learned a bit bit better.
Julie is well above this level, but if she seems to have some area where she
asking, she learning and developing and well happy to get ideas she can use
and try them out.
 
"cshenk" wrote in message
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I think I pretty much taught myself to cook. My mom hated cooking and we
ate out a lot. When I was 12 she sent me for cooking lessons from a former
school dietician. I didn't want to go. I finally went only when she agreed
to let my friend come. Neither of us liked the lessons. The woman flat out
refused to let us cook things we wanted to do and insisted on having us make
things we knew we wouldn't eat. Like the BBQ beef that the school made and
everyone hated. The worst part was that after we got done cooking, she
would put us out on the deck to copy the recipes by hand. Neither of us
wanted the recipes because we knew we would never make the dishes again.

And then when it was through we had enough food for at least 3 or 4 meals at
home. The woman seemed not to know how to make small quantities of things.
She had us make the buns from scratch for the BBQ beef. Much of that food
was just thrown away because nobody liked it. After the second lesson, I
just put my foot down and refused to go any more.

I also had two years of home ec classes.

I do know how to cook. For many years I made things from scratch. Even
bread. But now our diets are limited as is my time around dinner time.
There is only one day out of the week when I am actually home prior to
dinner time. So I can make pretty much what I want then. The other days we
are either away from home or we get home at dinner time. Since my daughter
and I are usually the only two here, using the crockpot for most things
doesn't make a lot of sense. I can use it when my husband is home because
he eats a lot more than we do and he also sometimes eats leftovers. We
usually don't unless I have specifically planned them. Such as tonight.
Daughter took mashed potatoes with turkey and gravy with her to the dance
studio.

I also don't quite understand her reply about the pasta in the crockpot. I
seriously have not ever seen a recipe for gluten free noodle soup that can
be made totally in the crockpot. It always tells you to cook the noodles
separately and then add them. If I had the time to do that, I would have
the time to make the soup without using the crockpot. And I have asked on
gluten free forums! It could well be because the texture of gluten free
pasta is not quite the same and it tends to break down very easily. Most of
it does not keep well for leftovers or in pasta salad. It just goes to
mush. I have found one kind that does work in pasta salad. It's made of
corn and quinoa.
 
"Julie Bove" wrote in message
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I generally don't time it, I just come back whenever (1/2 hour to an hour or
so) so I can't say at what exact minute the noodles are done. I only use
kluski noodles in my soup.

Jinx
 
"Julie Bove" wrote

Apologies Julie, I see I had only a little right but didnt know on other
things. We do not converse that much so I missed a few.



Wht a rotten experience! To start with, it was too young unless one knows
how to teach the young, and far too limited.


Wasn't offered where I was in school except 8th grade and we'd just moved
states so I had to use the elective slot for some state requirement I
lacked. Some useless state specific history if I recall right.


That can happen to us all. My time tends to be limited so Don does the
fancy stuff that takes more than 15 mins. I do the simple stuff when he
doesnt feel like cooking. It's about 4 nights a week I cook (2 weekdays,
most weekends).


Ok. I use the crockpot in a different pattern but that's not at all the
only thing we do.

Tonight was 'pea leaves' (joke of a name). Leaves from pea plants, chicken
stock, simmer then blendered and a bit of cream added. Reheated to just
under simmer (faint simmer) and served with a blot of butter. Also basmati
rice with a canned tomato bisque and black olives (not quite spanish rice
but a decent side anyways), and a steamed 'butterfish' each. No crockpot
this time tonight.


Most pastas do not last in a crockpot at all. You really do them separate
and add and it's more 'effiecient' to just add them to the serving bowl and
pour the soup over.

I have a few workable recipes but they are not soup types and they do not
keep for a day or more in there.

If 'angel hair' (rice noodle) works for you, then you can experiment that
way?
 
"cshenk" wrote in message
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I don't know of any gluten free angel hair. There could be some. There is
a lot of Italian pasta that we may not necessarily get here. I did just get
my order of Italian foods. The pasta was VERY expensive and there was very
little in the package. I can buy Tinkyada here for half the price and get
twice as much. So this will be something I won't do very often unless
perhaps I find the quality to be very much superior.

The problem I have is that both daughter and husband can be very impatient
when they want food. If they know I have something in the crockpot, they
expect to have it the second they come in the door. Daughter would have to
wait until I cooked pasta to add to the soup. She wouldn't be happy, but
she would wait. But husband? Nope. He'd pitch a fit and then just eat
something else, even if it wasn't a healthy food. He hasn't a shred of
patience whatever. So past experience has taught me that to make such a
soup would be a waste of my time.

I can easily do a chicken and rice soup in the crockpot. I just have to
make sure that the pot is full of liquid. If I don't put enough, the rice
will suck it all up. Which it will do eventually, creating a new dish for
the following day. Chicken and rice.!

I did ask a chef about this at a forum I used to frequent. He said the key
to doing a chicken and rice soup and not have the rice suck it all up was to
cook the rice separately. Some people here suggested that I cook the rice
in chicken broth to add to the flavor. I do not do that, but...

This is how I happened upon the Uncle Ben's rice for soup. This is not
something I do all the time. Just when I am very sick and haven't the
strength to cook anything.

Daughter and I were in Walmart to get some needed thing. I can't remember
now what it was but most likely something for school. Walmart is not a
place I like to go. I was very sick. Could not bring myself to make
dinner. Had something for daughter to eat at home. Can't remember now if
it was a leftover or a frozen meal or what. But something she could fix for
herself. I saw a pouch of Uncle Ben's chicken roasted rice. I tossed it in
my cart. I already had chicken broth and canned chicken at home. I threw
it all in a pan, heated it and had very good soup. I don't personally care
for the rice as is. It seems a little too salty or perhaps it has just too
much flavor or something. But made into a soup like that it works. But
also it could be I was just too sick to notice the flavor or something.
This was when I had the pneumonia that just wouldn't quit.

I used to love to cook really elaborate and complicated things. I still
would but aside from the time constraints, I have a totally suckish kitchen.
As much as I might have complained about military housing, the one thing
they did have was a pantry. I have no such place here and much of the
canned/jarred foods that I buy are stored on the counter, simply because I
have no place for them. I do store such things in the garage, but I like to
have at least one of everything in the kitchen to grab it and use it. By
garage, I mean the tiny room with the automatic door that looks and acts
like a garage door. You could maybe put a Smart car in it. Maybe. Maybe
not. It is a pain to have to keep going out there to get things.

So because I have precious little usable counter space. No island. And no
place to put a table in there, that kind of limits what I can make. I used
to make my own ravioli. MIL told me it wasn't Italian ravioli because the
Italians only put cheese in it. I put ground beef because that's what my
husband likes. I was like... Oh, hmmm... I guess all those recipes I have
and those Italian chefs I saw on TV were wrong! Just in my mind of course.
I didn't say that to her. I know there are all sorts of things once can put
in a ravioli, even in Italy. And only one of those is cheese.
 
Warning! Crockpot "warm" setting!

On Feb 15, 11:47?pm, "Julie Bove" wrote:

Make your pasta in advance, chill it, and add it at the end.

I use a smaller crockpot to reheat meals at cat shows. We are in a
large show hall with only the concession stand for food available. So,
I bring the crock pot with something I made in advance, start it in
the morning, and lunch is ready by 11 or noon.

I have done a pasta dish by keeping the pasta separate and adding it
about an hour before we eat. It works great.
 
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