Chapter 1: The Power of the Crock Pot and Its Benefits

The Ways You Can Benefit

Think of how many times you have experienced ‘spells’ that you did not feel like spending hours over the stove preparing dinner. Can you relate?  How about the times during the holidays when you are planning on a houseful of guests; yikes? By the way, “Don’t sweat it because you have your fabulous cooker and all of these new recipes to try out.”

These are a few ways to make the path a bit easier:

Get Ahead of the Meal: Preparing food with your Crock-Pot® can put you ahead of the game the night before you have a busy day planned. You can always make the meal for the next day in just a few minutes. Put all of the ingredients (if they can combine overnight) into the pot, so when you get up the next morning; all you need to do is take it out of the fridge, and let it get to room temperature. Turn it on as you head out of the door and dinner will be ready when you get home. YES!

Save a lot of Effort and Time: All it takes is a few good recipes and a little bit of your valuable time. In most of the cases, these recipes are geared towards a fast lifestyle and will be ready with just a few simple steps. After some time and practice, you will know exactly which ones will be your favorites; all of them!

Cut Back on Dining Out: Having an enjoyable meal at home is so much more personal for your family because you (and your pot) prepared it! Not only that, You will eliminate the temptation to order foods that might not be so healthy and in turn—will be more expensive.

Watching the Extra Liquids: There is no need to use additional ingredients, other than what is described within each of the recipes. Ideally, you should not fill the more than half to two-thirds full of ingredients. Too much liquid will cause a leakage from the top and may result in improperly cooked food.

Cook it Slow & Leave it Alone: A slow cooker is known for creating delicious dishes while bringing out all of the natural flavors. So, go ahead and go to work or have some fun—or—better yet go to bed early! There is no need to worry about checking on it (unless the recipe calls for it). Each time the lid is removed—valuable heat is escaping—resulting in a breakdown of the advised times. Just keep that element it in mind, even though it smells so good!

Trimming the Fat: One huge advantage to the use of this type of cooking is you can save quite a chunk of money purchasing cheaper cuts of meat. Also, capitalize on the flavorful meat in small quantities and by bulking up on veggies with smaller meat portions.

Hot Antioxidants

Many recent studies have discovered cooking some food items such as tomatoes will increase the bioavailability of many of the nutrients. For example, lycopene which is linked to cancer and heart prevention becomes move available to the body because the heat releases the lycopene.

A study from 2003 compared the content of fresh, frozen, and canned corn which was processed with heat; specifically lutein and xeaxanthin, and found less lutein in the fresh version. This lutein is mostly well-known to protect you from some eye diseases.

Score ‘ONE’ for the Crock-Pot®.

Who Knew?

Basic Times & Settings

The question always arises of how long you should cook your items if you don’t have a recipe for a Crock-Pot®. These are only general guidelines because the size of a pot will make a difference in the cooking times.

Note: You must consider that root veggies take longer than other vegetables and meats which mean they should be placed in the lower part of the pot.

Are You Ready? Of course, you are!

Chapter 2: Healthy Breakfast Recipes

Boiled Eggs

Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night for a ‘potty’ break, and decided you want some boiled eggs or egg salad for breakfast or work tomorrow, but do not have the time to sit around and wait for the eggs to cook? You have a cure for that!

Ingredients and Instructions

The simplicity is amazing!

One-Hour Bread

Crave that fresh bread—no longer! You can have some delicious comfort food shortly!

Ingredients

1 ½ C. Baking Mix

3 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning

½ cup milk (skim is okay)

Optional: ½ C. shredded cheese or 3 Tbsp. Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Breakfast Fiesta Delight

Directions

1 Pound Country-Style Sausage

1 Package (28-ounces) frozen hash brown potatoes (thawed)

½ Cup whole milk

12 large eggs

1 ½ Cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

Directions

Servings: Six to Eight

Prep Time is fifteen minutes

Cooking Time is six to eight hours.

Italian Sausage Scramble

Ingredients

1 ½ Lbs. Italian sausage

1 medium yellow onion

6 medium red potatoes

¼ Cup fresh Italian minced parsley

One medium diced tomato

1 Cup frozen/fresh kernel corn

2 cups grated Cheddar cheese

Directions

Servings: Six

Prep Time is 15 Minutes.

Cook Time: The high setting is for four hours, and the lower setting is for six to eight hours.

The Sweeter Side of Breakfast

Blueberry Steel Cut Oats

Ingredients

1 ½ C. of water

2 C. frozen blueberries

1 banana

1 C. Steel cut oats

1- ½ C. Vanilla almond milk

1 Tbsp. butter

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions

Wake up ready for a busy day by adding a drizzle of honey and get moving!

Servings: Four to Six

Preparation Time: Fifteen Minutes

Cooking Time: Eight hours

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Ingredients

1 C. oats (steel cut)

3 ½ C. water

1 C. pumpkin puree

¼ tsp. each:

• salt
• vanilla extract
• pumpkin pie spices

Optional: 2 Tbsp. maple syrup

Directions

Cooking Time: Eight hours on low

Pumpkin Butter

Ingredients

4 Cups pumpkin

1 tsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

1-¼ Cups honey/maple syrup

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions

You can store in jars in the bottom of the fridge for a healthy addition—anytime.

Yields: About 10 ounces

Preparation Time: Five Minutes

Cooking Time: Five hours

Chapter 3: Time-Saving...