I have to finish off the slow cooker challenge with something that the adults will love: slow cooker cocktails. I mean, who doesn’t love a good cocktail in the middle of winter? I know I do. I love to keep hot punches warm in the slow cooker when we entertain, mulled cider and mulled wine work particularly well. Knowing this I decided to winterize one of our favorite summer drinks and have it waiting for dinner guests on evening.
With breakfast and dinner under control I decided to try a new technique with my slow cooker: baking. We were going out of town for a long weekend in Boston and I wanted to pack some sweets to take along with us. I’d already had some success with a batch of Martha Stewart’s slow-cooker brownies and wanted to attempt something else. A simple pound cake seemed like a good place to start. I know they transport well and can be adapted any number of ways. With a jar of nutella on hand I decided to swirl it in to the batter, along with some chocolate chips and give it a whirl.
Don’t forget that today from 12pm – 1pm, we’ll be hosting a live twitter chat along with Food52, The Daily Meal, Fine Cooking, Punchfork, Foodily, OXO Good Grips and more. We’ll be using hash tag #slowcooker. Tune in to talk all things slow cookin’! During the Twitter event and throughout the day we’ll be offering the first giveaway of amazing OXO tools that are essential for slow-cooking valued at over $150!
Next up on my list of Slow Cooker Challenge dishes to try was a grain-based dish. Given my love of baking risotto I had to wonder, could it be slow-cooked? The principal of the dish, rice slowly absorbing moisture and flavors, seemed to lend itself perfectly to the idea. I also thought this might be true of polenta and couscous, but risotto is one of our favorite meals and felt like the right place to start on a busy Monday afternoon. Plus, I had suggested risotto to my husband as he walked out the door that morning and he smiled so wide so I knew my experiment would be right up his alley.
When I first began thinking about The Naptime Chef & Small Kitchen College Slow Cooker Challenge I knew I wanted to experiment with all kinds of dishes. I slow cook stews and lasagnas all the time, but for this week I wanted to tackle a few less commonly slow cooked meals. Breakfast seemed like a good place to start so my first step was to remake my favorite Overnight French Toast casserole for the slow cooker.
Welcome to The Naptime Chef & Small Kitchen College Slow Cooker Challenge! This week Phoebe, Cara, Lily and I are joining forces to talk all things slow-cooker. You might ask: what do college cooks and moms have in common? Answer: they’re BUSY.
Do you use your slow cooker a lot in the winter? What do you make? I hope are excited because we are going to chat slow cooking with you all week long! I know I, for one, am a big fan of slow cooking during naptime and this week I am going to explore all the interesting family foods can be slow-cooked. I’ll give you a hint: it is about much more than soups and stews. We’ll be partnering with Big Kitchen and offering up two great slow cookers, one on each of our sites! See below for how to take home the Breville model. If you visit Small Kitchen College you can also enter to win a great Delonghi version.
