Last night I dumped a roast into my brand new slow cooker:
Now, I know you're supposed to start it in the morning, but I'm used to cooking my roasts overnight in the oven. I put in 2 cups of water (more than I needed for this roast), then whole frozen garlic cloves, then the 8 lb roast. I cooked it on high for an hour...and then switched to low for 10 hours...with 10 hours of warming after that.
I didn't leave it in all that time. I think it only got 5 hours of warming. I was worried about the internal temperature. My mommy gave me her meat thermometer. (The battery in my old one died!). When I poked the thermometer in (after the 10 hours of cooking), the meat was well into the beef range (170+ F). I had to poke it several times because it felt like I was pushing the thermometer into soft butter. I worried I'd hit a patch of fat. Nope, just tender. mMMmmmmmmmMmMM!
I added cubed potatoes and sliced tomatoes about an hour before serving. I think I'd add them sooner next time. The potatoes were barely soft enough to be considered cooked. We only ate about half the roast, leaving half for left overs and then some nice stew base. I didn't even bother trying to cut the roast. I just broke off pieces with a plastic spatula.
The kids loved it - but demanded ketchup..hehe.
I signed up for amazon's affiliate program just so I could easily find this picture/link, so I hope you like it:
It did NOT heat up my whole house like the oven does. I love that the ceramic bowl comes out for serving. The lid and the ceramic bowl can go in the fridge/microwave/dishwasher. How cool is that!!
I think everyone else has already jumped on the slow-cooking wagon...but this was my first run and I loved it. I'm excited to check out
crockpot365.blogspot.com that several people have suggested.
I picked this slow cooker because it's huge - 6 1/2 quarts - and had the best reviews I could find on Amazon. I have a big family and like leftovers when they're yummy.
No complaints so far. Happy we got it :)
