I have found some good recipes on the campbells website in the past; when I was looking for something different for dinner. I do cook with soups pretty regularly.
Yeah. You need one!
It came with a small booklet of Campbell's recipes for use. I don't use much in the way of Cream of Anything soups, so I'm not really interested in the booklet all that much. I may try a couple of them, but I don't know. I used a recipe for Balsamic-Braised Meatloaf from The Great American Slow Cooker Book that I bought a few months ago.
We had dinner about 30 minutes ago. The recipe said about 8 hours, but it was more like 6 from the time I got the crock pot started until it was done. That was for 2 pounds of ground beef, plus the ingredients, plus the potato wedges and the carrots. It made a nice casserole full. When I tested it, the meatloaf was right at 155 degrees, so with a 15-minute standing time, it would have gone to 160 degrees with no trouble; I didn't re-test it, but I'm sure it wasn't a problem. The crock cleaned up nicely.
The meat loaf did not stick at all and it came out in one piece (Rick makes a better meatloaf than I do; mine tend to break when I'm trying to get them out of the pan). This lifted right out in one piece with no problem.
My only complaint was that it had way too much liquid and I need to remember to cut back next time. That was my fault, not the crock pot's problem. I poured the liquid into my sauce pan and simmered it down to thicken it, so it was no big deal.
I think the casserole is too big for just Rick and me, but in a way, that's probably good, too. I tend to cook for the freezer quite often and this way, I'll have extras for Rick's lunches and for the freezer. A larger family, like yours, Mooch, would probably be perfect for this crock pot.
I don't worry about plugging it in when I'm not home. That's what it's for and I have no worries at all. It has a very short cord, so you'll have to keep it back against the wall very close to a plug. (I can still use it in the basement on top of the washer; the cord will extend that far....but not much farther than that).
I am very pleased and would recommend it!(And did I mention that I got it in Plum?!
)
I looked for one in Plum earlier. I need to check from my desktop because i wasn't seeing it. It would be very cool if they have one that matches my mixer.
The pros is dinner is ready when it's dinner time! The meat is almost always tender. Soups are full of flavor. You can pretty much throw things in and go about your day; then have a delicious dinner come evening. Or breakfast come morning. My mother also makes apple sauce in her slow cooker.
I do beef or pork roasts in the crock pot. I sometimes use pre-made sauces from different companies. Cambells is one. Other times they call for broths and/or your own seasoning. I'm just not sure what would be available to you. You'd really have to look at different websites to see if there is something that catches your interest and the ingredients are available to you. The Betty Crocker website has a section dedicated to slow cooker recipes: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/preparation/slow-cooker-recipes
