Make It Fast, Cook It Slow (6 page)

OVERNIGHT BREAKFAST POTATOES AND SAUSAGE

serves
8

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Put the potatoes, onion, olive oil, salt, and pepper into your stoneware. Toss well to coat evenly. Lay the breakfast sausage on top. If you are using precooked sausage, feel free to slice it. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

The Verdict

I really like this breakfast. I don’t peel the potatoes, so the skin comes off a bit, and creates a very rustic breakfast that feels like it should be eaten outdoors on a snow-capped mountain. I have served this at family brunches, and everyone enjoys the meal.

OVERNIGHT GRITS

serves
4

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Combine all the ingredients. No need to melt the butter, just plop it in; it floats! Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. It takes 7 hours in my slow cooker. Stir well and top with desired toppings. (See below.)

The Verdict

These are wonderful—rich and creamy. The kids and I put a bit of shredded cheese on top, but my mom likes to stir in jam. Before trying this recipe, my knowledge of grits came from
My Cousin Vinny
. I now really like grits: they are good for you, supereasy to make, and are naturally gluten-free.

PANCAKES

serves
4 to 6

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Mix the batter according to package directions, and pour it into the buttered stoneware. Cover completely, and cook on high for 2 hours, or until the pancake has browned on top, a knife comes out clean, and the edges have pulled away from the sides of the stoneware. Slice into wedges and remove with a spatula. Serve with butter, maple syrup, and jam.

The Verdict

This was an experiment—and it worked! My three-year-old had been begging me to make pancakes in the slow cooker and I put her off for months. (5½ months, actually. Oops.)

The one large pancake has the consistency of a scone, and tastes marvelous with melted butter and lots of syrup. I was happily surprised with how high it rose.

STRAWBERRY JAM

makes approximately
3
quarts

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Keep a container of hand wipes nearby when making jam—the stickiness seems to spread throughout the house, especially if you cook with children. Wash all of the strawberries, and discard the stems. Quarter the berries and throw them into your stoneware. Use a potato masher to squish the strawberries and to create some liquid. We don’t have a potato masher, so my three-year-old kitchen helper used the attachments from the hand mixer. Add the sugar and pectin and smash some more. Cover and cook on low for a hundred million years (10 to 12 hours). Let cool to room temperature, then pour into plastic or glass containers to store in the fridge or freezer.

YOGURT

serves
12

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. This takes a while, so make the yogurt on a day when you are home to monitor. Plug in your slow cooker and turn it to low. Add the milk. Cover and cook on low for 2½ hours. Unplug the cooker, leave the cover on, and let the yogurt sit for 3 hours.

When the time has passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in ½ cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt. If desired, stir a packet of unflavored gelatin or some nonfat dry milk into your yogurt to help it thicken. Then dump the contents of the bowl back into the stoneware. Stir to combine. Put the lid back on the slow cooker. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the cooker for insulation. Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours.

In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened—it’s not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of lowfat plain yogurt. Line colander with coffee filters, and pour in yogurt.
After a few hours, the whey will have separated (save the whey to use in other recipes!) and you’ll be left with lovely yogurt. Stir in fresh or frozen fruit, if desired, or a packet of pudding mix.

Chill in a plastic container in the refrigerator. Your fresh yogurt will last 7 to 10 days. Save ½ cup as a starter to make a new batch.

The Verdict

Wowsers! This is awesome! I was completely astonished the next morning that the yogurt had thickened. I was so excited to feel the drag on the spoon—I scared the kids with my squealing. This recipe has been tried hundreds of times by readers of my Web site, and many like the thickness provided by the gelatin and/or nonfat dry milk. If your house gets rather chilly at nighttime, your yogurt will not set as well. My house was about 65°F.

I
was not aware of the ease of baking with the slow cooker before this challenge, and am annoyed at myself for not figuring it out earlier. I love that I can throw together a coffee cake or banana bread and leave for an hour or two to run errands instead of baby-sitting the oven. Although things can still burn in a slow cooker, the amount of wiggle room is much larger. It’s okay to take a shower, answer the phone, or attend to a leaky diaper without worrying that your baked goods will be charred by the time you return to the kitchen. Do not try to bake on the low setting—stick to high.

FIVE-LAYER BROWNIES

serves
6

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 2-quart slow cooker. Put the melted butter into your crock, and add water, egg, and the package of brownie mix. Mix until none of the brownie powder is left dry; the batter will be quite thick. Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk over the top. Add the oats, then the coconut, then the walnuts. Cover, but prop the lid open with a chopstick or skewer, and cook on high for 2 to 4 hours. After 2 hours, test with a knife, and continue to check every 30 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let stand with the lid off for 10 minutes before cutting.

The Verdict

This is one rich, satisfying, amazing dessert. And in our case, a rather tasty breakfast, too. I strongly recommend sticking with a small-size slow cooker, or your brownies will burn on the edges but remain gooey in the center.

BANANA BREAD

serves
8

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use an oval 6-quart slow cooker and a 9×5×3- inch metal or glass loaf pan. Combine all ingredients into a batter in a bowl with a handheld or stand mixer. Spray the loaf pan with the cooking spray, and pour in the batter. Place the pan inside your slow cooker. Do not add water. Put on the lid, but prop open with a chopstick or wooden spoon. Cook on high for 4 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Carefully remove the hot pan from the stoneware and let cool before inverting, unmolding, and slicing the bread.

BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE

serves
8

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Butter the inside of your removable stoneware, or use cooking spray. Mix the biscuit mix, sugars, vanilla, butter, eggs, sour cream, and cinnamon in a bowl and carefully fold in the blueberries. Pour the batter into the slow cooker. Use a chopstick or wooden skewer to hold the lid ajar, and cook on high for 2 to 4 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

COCONUT CAKE

serves
8

The Ingredients

The Directions

Use a 4-quart round slow cooker. Pour the dry cake mix into a mixing bowl. Follow the directions on the box for the amount of eggs, butter, and oil to use. Instead of using milk or water for the required liquid, use the same amount of coconut milk. Make sure to shake the coconut milk can well before opening. Add coconut milk and save the rest of the can; you’ll need it later. Add the coconut extract to the batter. Spray the stoneware with cooking spray, and pour in the batter. Cover and cook on high for 2 to 4 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I did not vent the lid with a chopstick for this recipe, because I was interested in seeing if it would cook without being vented. Our cake cooked perfectly in 2½ hours on high. If you see a lot of condensation on the lid, or if you’d prefer to vent, go for it. Your cake will take longer to cook, however.

When fully cooked, mix ½ cup of the reserved coconut milk with 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar. Poke holes in the hot cake with a skewer, and pour the sweetened coconut milk over the top of the cake. If you are not going to frost the cake, sprinkle it with shredded coconut. If you are going
to frost it, save the coconut for later. Let the cake cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for about an hour, or for as long as you can stand it. If you are going to frost the cake, do so now, and cover the top with shredded coconut. Serve the chilled cake right out of the stoneware.

The Verdict

I’m excited about this cake—it’s now one of our family favorites. I made it on a busy weekend when we entertained houseguests. Everyone loved it. Cooking cake (especially a gluten-free cake) in the crock ensures a moist cake every time. I used a store-bought cake mix to save valuable flour mixing time, but if you have a favorite secret cake recipe, go ahead and use it.