Recipes for Slow Cooker

[GayleTX 1]

Slow cookers are great for working folks, especially those of us who need very tender, moist dishes.

However....many of these great-sounding recipes are seriously overloaded with calories and sodium from the canned Soups. Also, the rice and potatoes are high carbs (starches) that we don't need if we are serious about losing weight. Therefore, cooking them is fine for a good meal for our families at night....but those of us trying to keep our weight down need to just pick out the meat (protein) from the dishes.

Look at what just one CUP of Cream of chicken Soup has in it :

Amount Per 1 cup Calories 233.43

Calories from Fat 132.38 % Daily Value * Total Fat 14.71g 23% Saturated Fat 4.17g 21% Polyunsaturated Fat 2.99g Monounsaturated Fat 6.55g Cholesterol 20.08mg 7% Sodium 1972.9mg 82% Potassium 175.7mg 5% Total Carbohydrate 18.52g 6% Dietary Fiber 0.502g 2% Protein 6.85g 14% Alcohol 0g

[piercedqt78 658]

When I have to use canned Soup I get the healthy choice. I try to use low sodium onion soup mix (dry packet) Most stuff I do from scratch, Mrs. Dash is my crock pot's best friend. (I also use 21 seasoning salute from Trader Joe's) I make roast with an entire onion, and I add the potatos for the last part of the cooking process, I usually have 1/4 cup of potatos and the rest of my meal is meat. The reason I got the band is so I can still eat what my family eats, just less of it. ~Mandy

[argon 3]

Guess who's pre-cooking some meat for a yummy stew tomorrow??! MEEE!

Potatoes, meat, carrots, mushrooms... and corn! CORN!? Dan's making me put it in. Yuck.

Can anyone tell me, can you cook something like steaks in a slow cooker? What if... you cooked a steak, all day, in what you would normally use to marinade it?

[Yoda 0]

You can do steak but don't expect it to have the same texture as a "regular" steak.....it will be so tender/moist it will be fall aparty like a roast. Be yummy though.

I can't seem to eat corn.....I can't chew the skin down and it doesn't go down well.

[argon 3]

Hmm... I've had corn, and it's been ok. I actually had something tonight with cherries (I won't tell what, cause you guys will DIE!).. and I thought the skins might be a problem, but nope.

Soo... to cook a steak in a slow cooker, you'd want it to be in some kind of liquid, right? What would you use?

[Dani-X 0]

Can anyone tell me, can you cook something like steaks in a slow cooker? What if... you cooked a steak, all day, in what you would normally use to marinade it?

Before you take the put the steak in the slow cooker, I would highly recommend dredging it in some flour and pepper and browning the meat in some olive or canola oil before putting it in. Remember, browning isn't cooking the meat, it's just developing the flavor.

I use Lipton Onion Soup Mix (the dry packages) a lot in my slow cooker when I cook steak. Also, I'd throw in some Worcestershire sauce and some red wine if you've got a bottle open! And you can virutally never go wrong with Campbell's Cream of chicken (or Celery or Mushroom) soups! They make great slow cooker "broths." And the low fat ones are tasty too!