Banana and choc chip cake - slow cooked

Who knew you could make a cake in a slow cooker? Well it seems you can. I was sceptical and refused for many months...until today.

This cake is light and moist and versatile. You can omit the choc chips, substitute with white or dark choc chips, add chopped nuts or even some seeds. This is how it's done...

Ingredients:

• 2 Eggs
• ½ cup butter (melted in microwave)
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 1 cup plain white flour
• 1 cup wholemeal flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 medium bananas -mashed
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Method:

1. In a bowl combine butter, eggs and sugar. Mix well
2. Add in baking powder, baking soda, salt and 1 cup flour. Mix well
3. Add in the other cup of flour. Mixture should be thick
4. Mash Bananas well and then add to mixture. Mix well
5. Add the choc chips and mix well 
6. Place 3 metal egg rings in the bottom of the slow cooker and add 1 cup of water to the empty slow cooker
7. Place the cake mixture into a round silicone cake mold and place the cake mold on top of the egg rings
8. Cook for 4 hours on low with a tea towel placed under the slow cooker lid
9. The cake is cooked when a skewer comes out clean.

Spicy Vegan Soup - slow cooked

Everyone thought I was crazy starting to prepare soup on a 35 degree day. I must have had an inkling in my subconscious that it would cool later in the day...sure enough it did. A huge southerly hit and the temperature dropped 15 degrees in about 20 minutes. This soup was easy to make, it's healthy as, and it's Vegan. It takes about an hour and this amount serves 6 bowls...lovely served with crusty rolls.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• ¼ cauliflower, cut into florets
• ½ green capsicum, roughy chopped
• 3 tablespoons pearl barley
• 400g tinned corn (or 2 full length corn cobs, kernels removed and cob discarded)
• 400g tin lentils (or 400g dried green lentils, rinsed and pre-soaked)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon rock or sea salt
• 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 500ml water

Method:

1. On a medium to high heat in a large saucepan, heat the oil, throw in the onion and garlic and stir with a wooden spoon
2. Add the celery and carrots, turmeric, curry, cumin, coriander, fennel, salt and pepper and stir well
3. Add a splash of water and scrape the bottom of the pan to mix the spices into the water
4. Stir often, for about 5 minutes so the carrots can soften slightly
5. Add the cauliflower, capsicum, pearl barley, vegetable stock and water, then stir, bring to the boil and turn down to simmer for 20 minutes
6. After 20 minutes add the corn and lentils, stir and simmer for another 40 minutes
7. Serve into bowls with crusty bread rolls...D-E-L-icious XD

Sweet Vegetable Curry - Slow Cooked

This curry is hot hot hot, but also sweet so you may want to adjust the amount of cayenne pepper and curry to your liking. This serves 4 generous serves with rice.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• ½ green capsicum, chopped
• ½ zucchini, chopped
• ½ sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 large red apple, peeled and chopped
• ½ can chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 2 - 2 ½ cup vegetable stock

To add later:

• ½ can light coconut milk
• Salt & pepper

Method:

1. Coat the slow cooker with olive oil
2. Place the onion in the slow cooker along with the spices and mix well so the onion is coated
3. Add the rest of the ingredients (except those marked 'to add later') and stir well
4. Cover and cook for 6 hours on low
5. While it is still hot, stir through the coconut milk, add salt & pepper and mix well to warm through
6. Serve on a bed of rice.  D-E-L-icious  XD

Slow Cooked Mongolian Beef

I've been searching for a recipe for Mongolian Beef as it's my son's favourite Chinese meal, and this one is perfect because I can put it in the slow cooker in the morning before work and come home to a cooked meal. The only thing to do is add garnishing and steamed rice. This serves 4 and is a sweet dish. This recipe doesn't have chilli added, so if you like your food a little spicy - add some chopped chilli to the slow cooker along with the other ingredients. As it is quite sweet, you may also wish to reduce the amount of sugar added because hoisin sauce is a sweet sauce.

Ingredients:

• 500g chuck steak, trimmed and thinly sliced
• ¼ cup cornflour
• 2 onions, peeled and sliced Asian style
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 large spring onions, sliced into 2cm pieces
• ½ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• ½ cup hoisin sauce
• 400g tin corn spears
• Handful of green string beans sliced into 2cm pieces
• One more spring onion for garnishing

Method:

1. Place chuck steak and cornflour into a bag, shake well and allow steak to rest for 10mins
2. Place the onion, vegetables and steak into the slow cooker
3. In a large jar add the garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, ginger and hoisin sauce and mix well
4. Add sauce mixture to the slow cooker and toss gently
5. Cook on low for 4-5 hours
6. Serve with rice and garnish with chopped spring onion.  D-E-L-icious  XD

Lentil & Cauliflower Stew

Miss 17 and I watched a movie called Fork Over Knives. It's a movie about the benefits of eating a plant based diet and eliminating meat. It was very interesting and occasionally shocking. She has now decided she would like to become vegetarian. As she is still growing, her dad and I have agreed that we, as a family, will eat more vegetarian meals in support, but we won't eliminate meat totally. We will, however cut down our meat consumption. At present we eat meat 6 nights a week, so agree that we can cut down to two or three times a week.

Therefore Miss 17 went hunting for some more vegetarian dishes to try. And because I've recently bought a new slow cooker, I insisted that she find some slow cooker vego recipes too. This is the first one we came across.

Ingredients:

• 375 gram packet of dried green lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 400g cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 2 leeks, white and green parts, halved, washed carefully and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 8 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 cups chopped kale

Optional toppings:
Greek yoghurt, crumbled fetta, graten parmesan, low-fat sour cream.

Method:

1. Place all ingredients into the slow cooker, except the vegetable stock and tomatoes
2. In a large jug mix together the stock and tomatoes and pour gently into the slow cooker
3. Toss gently and cook on high for 4hrs or low for 8hrs
4. Serve topped with any of the optional toppings D-E-L-icious XD

Slow Cooked Coca Cola Beef

Don't give me a hard time about this dish. Yes, it has coke in it, but it is cooked for so long that the sugar is cooked off and the beef pulls apart, literally. This is a must try. Go ahead…you will be pleasantly surprised. This serves 4 with vegetables on the side. I did mashed potatoes so it would soak up the delicious gravy :)

Ingredients:

• 700g chuck steak (trim fat, but do not cut them)
• 1 can coca cola
• 1 packet French onion soup
• 1 tin condensed cream of mushroom soup

Method:

1. Place the meat in the slow cooker
2. In a large jug combine the mushroom soup, French onion soup and 1 can of coke
3. Pour over the meat
4. Cook on low for 6-8hrs
5. Just prior to serving, remove the steaks and pull the meat apart with a fork
6. Return to the slow cooker and stir through
7. Serve with vegetables. D-E-L-icious  XD

Slow Cooked Chilli Con Carne

This was the first time cooking chilli con carne in the slow cooker and I was apprehensive about putting raw mince in the slow cooker without browning it. But I did and it was lovely. What a huge time saver…throw everything in the slow cooker before you leave for work and it's ready when you get home. This serves 4 generous serves with rice.

Ingredients:

• 700g lean beef mince
• 2 tins kidney beans (liquid included)
• 2 tins diced tomato
• 1 sachet tomato paste
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 500ml water

Method:

1. Place all ingredients in the slow cooker, break up the mince, stir and turn on low
2. Cook on low for 6-8hrs
3. Serve with rice.

Slow Cooked Chicken & Corn Noodle Soup

Most people make their chicken and corn soup out of chicken drums or thighs. Well I only had breast in the freezer so I used breast as a bit of a test and I must say, I'm impressed.

As some of you know via Facebook - I recently had to replace my slow cooker. This is the first meal cooked in the new one. I didn't follow a recipe, I made this up…threw it in the SC and hoped for the best… we were not disappointed!

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts (kept whole, trimmed of fat)
• 1 x 420g can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 4 celery sticks, thinly chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled, halved and chopped thinly
• ½ green capsicum, roughly chopped
• Half an onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 tin corn kernels, liquid discarded or alternatively use a tin of creamed corn
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon of rock salt
• 1/2 tablespoon of fresh Cambodian cracked pepper (I guess any pepper will do as long as it is peppercorns, freshly cracked)
• 3 litres of chicken stock. I used 1 litre of chicken stock and 2 litres of water as I didn't want it too salty. I had already added the rock salt so was being overly cautious.

Method:

1. Place the chicken breast in the bottom of the slow cooker whole - do not cut as we will shred it later
2. Add the celery, carrot, onion, corn and capsicum to the slow cooker
3. Place the can of soup, the chicken stock and water along with the garlic, ginger salt & pepper into a large jug and mix well, then add to the slow cooker
4. Put a tea towel under the lid of the slow cooker and cook on either low for 6hrs OR auto for about 4hrs. Chicken can become dry in the slow cooker if left too long, or if cooked on high
5. Before serving, take the chicken breasts out with a slotted spoon and shred with a fork. Return to the slow cooker and stir
6. Also before serving, add noodles of your choice, cooked to packet instructions. I used vermicelli which only need to sit in boiled water for a few minutes. After a few minutes - and once they were soft - I placed the vermicelli into soup bowls and simply poured the soup on top of them.  D-E-L-icious  XD

Balsamic Slow Cooked Beef - low FODMAP

This Balsamic Roast Beef recipe is simple and delicious. You'll definitely want left overs for the next day. This serves 6-8 and is best served with mashed potatoes (so you can smother them in gravy) and vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 1kg boneless roast beef (I ask for chuck from the butcher)
• 1 cup beef broth (I make up a cup of gravy with gravy mix and water)
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ teaspoon red chilli flakes
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped (omit for low FODMAP recipe)

Method:

1. Place the roast into the slow cooker
2. In a 2 cup measuring jug - mix together all remaining ingredients
3. Pour over the roast
4. Cook on high for 4hrs or on low for 6-8hrs
5. Serve on a platter and pull it apart. It is so tender it shreds.

For the gravy: Just before serving I scoop out 2 ladles of the sauce and place in a small saucepan on the stove top. I add some corn flour to thicken. You won't need any gravy mix or other flavouring as the sauce is very flavoursome.  D-E-L-icious  XD

This is the beef before cooking

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks

I found a similar recipe to this online and adapted it for my slow cooker. It serves 4 generous serves and has a flavoursome tomato gravy which is perfect when served with mashed potato.

Ingredients:

• 4 lamb shanks to fit your slow cooker. Ask the butcher to trim the bone down if they are too long
• 1 x 400g tin diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon smokey paprika
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup red white
• 1/2 cup beef stock

Method:

1. In a large frying pan, brown the lamb shanks in olive oil, turning and browning all sides
2. Once browned, add them to the slow cooker
3. In the same frying pan, add a little more oil and cook the onion and garlic for 2mins
4. Add the carrots, cumin and paprika, stir through and cook for 2mins then place them in the slow cooker
5. Into the slow cooker, pour the stock, red wine, tinned tomatoes and rosemary
6. Cook for 1hr on high, then turn down to low for 8hrs
7. Serve with mashed potatoes and dutch carrots in maple syrup... D-E-L-icous  XD

Slow cooked beef with barley and tomato sauce

I came up with this recipe when I discovered some chuck steak in the freezer and barley in the pantry which was nearing it's best by date. This is a tasty, warm and nourishing meal and lovely served with pasta and vegetables. It serves 5, but if you wanted to simply have a bowl of it with no veg or pasta, it would serve 3 generous bowls which would be perfect with crusty bread.

Ingredients:

• 500g cubed chuck steak (or gravy beef)
• 2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary or a sprig of fresh
• 1 teaspoon freshly crushed garlic
• 1 cup barley
• 1 tin of water. I use the tomato tins so no tomato juice is wasted. I add the garlic and rosemary to the tin of water and mix before adding to the slow cooker :)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In the slow cooker place all ingredients and stir well so the meat is covered
2. Cook on low for 6-8hrs or high for 4-5hrs

Note: It is very important to add the tin of water because the barley swells up like rice.

That's it! Easy, healthy and D-E-L-icious  XD