Cooking with a Crock Pot

I love using my crock pot when I'm working. It is nice to be able to come home to a meal that's waiting to be eaten up. Especially in the winter when I've been out in the cold all day, having a nice warm meal to come home to can make the afternoon more tolerable.

There are tons of recipes out there for using in a crock pot, but sometimes you just want to use a comfort food recipe that's been in your family for ages. But what do you do if this recipe isn't made for crock pot cooking? Well a lot of recipes can be converted for crock pot use, I found a great blog that explains how to do it. How to Convert Recipes to a Slow Cooker.

To summarize the aforementioned blog:

Most recipes will need the amount of liquid they call for to be reduced. Crock pots hold in moisture. However, if the recipe you are using has rice, beans, or pasta in it, you may want to leave the amount of liquid the same.

For raw meats, be sure that your kitchen thermometer reads the correct temperature to be sure that they are cooked through. Or you can brown the meat before putting into the crock pot.

Vegetables typically take longer to cook than meats do. Be sure to cut vegetables to a uniform size so that they cook more evenly. Vegetables will also cook better if they are in the bottom of the crock pot.

When converting recipes to your crock pot, it may take a few tries to get everything just right so do not get discouraged.

Time Chart for Crock Pot Cooking:

Oven/Stovetop Cook Time from orig. recipe	Cooking on Low Time Conversion	Cooking on High Time Conversion
15-30 min.	4-6 hours	1.5 - 2.5 hours
35-45 min.	6-8 hours	3 - 4 hours
50 min. to 3 hours	8-16 hours	4 - 6 hours