20 Wholefood Slow Cooker Recipes

June 15, 2015 · 19 Comments

20 Wholefood Slow Cooker Recipes

My slow cooker is one appliance I use a lot.

It’s always bubbling away with a roast, bone broth or a lovely slow braise. When my kids were babies, it was a lifesaver.

There is something satisfying about getting dinner sorted early and enjoying the wafting aromas all day long.

Check out my article with tips and safety for using the slow cooker too!

Here are 20 nourishing, yummy meals for your slow cooker!

Slow Cooker Beef Cheek Curry from Alisha at Naughty Naturopath Mum.

Winter Beef Stew from Lou at Yogi Tree

Chinese Crispy Roast Pork in the Slow Cooker from Sarah at Clever Cook

Slow Cooked Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry from Sasha at Inspiring Habits

Slow Cooker Pomegranate Lamb Shanks from Kyrstie at A Fresh Legacy

Mexican Pulled Pork from Beth at Hungry Cub

Slow Cooked Lemon Chicken by Sandra at The $100 Food Challenge

Slow Cooker Osso Bucco by Kyrstie at A Fresh Legacy

Slow Cooked Lamb with Figs and Olives from Samantha at Food Health Wealth

Slow Cooker Red Lentil Dhal by Lindsey at Cafe Johnsonia

BBQ Pulled Pork with Cauliflower Cream by SBS Food

Slow Cooked Lamb Necks with Preserved Lemon and Fennel by Maggie Beer

Pork Belly with Apple, Fennel and White Wine from Eloise at Ellies Eating

Slow Cooked Asian Style Beef Ribs by Sandra at The $100 Food Challenge

Goat Curry with Nourishing Broth from Cyndi at Changing Habits

Slow Cooked Beef Ragu from Rhiannon at Move Nourish Believe

Just simple Sweet Potatoes in the Slow cooker from the girls at Super Healthy Kids

Slow Cooker Bolognaise by Annabel Langbein

Mexican Chocolate and Zucchini Cake from Tania at The Cook’s Pyjamas

Cranberry and Coconut Quinoa from the girls at Super Healthy Kids

Want more?

♥ Check out this gorgeous cookbook, Whole Food Slow Cooked for heaps of healthy recipes.

♥ Get lead-free slow cookers on sale here.

Do you use the slow cooker for meals? Link us up with your favourite!

10 Nourishing Winter Dinners

July 9, 2014 · 7 Comments

One great thing about winter is the food! A chance to tuck into warming, hearty dishes!

Your slow cooker is your best friend in winter time. Load it up with meat, veges, flavourings and a little bone broth in the mornings and you will come home to a nutritious meal.

Make a huge batch and you will have meals for several nights or freeze the leftovers for another time.

Here are ten warming ideas from some amazing Aussie wellness bloggers.

My Slow Cooked Goat Chops in Red Wine with Polenta.

Fish and Corn Congee from Wendy at Vegie Smugglers.

Kangaroo Pies with Homemade Tomato Sauce from Nikki at The Wholefood Mama.

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks by Jules Galloway, Naturopath

Cheap as Chicken Curry from Louise at Yogi Tree.

Hearty BBQ Meat Loaf by Jen’s Paleo Kitchen

Homemade Baked Beans by Jo at Quirky Cooking

Slow Cooked Beef Cheek Casserole from Angela at Lovely Little Coconuts.

Vegetable Paella from Cyndi at Changing Habits.

Healthy Roast Marinated Chicken from Georgia at Well Nourished.

Do you have a favourite winter warmer recipe for dinner? Share it with us!

Don’t forget to check out the 10 Nourishing Winter Soups post!

3 Easy Ways to Jazz up Chicken

August 5, 2013 · 25 Comments

We eat a lot of chicken.

It’s one of the cheaper meats to buy organically and it’s a kid pleaser.

We are lucky enough to have a local farmer who has beautiful organic, free range, pasture-fed chicken at a great price. If you are not so lucky, Woolworths and Coles usually have organic chicken. Please, at least try to get free range. It’s just nicer for the chookies.

These are our three favourite go-to recipes to jazz up our chicken pieces.

Okay, so this is what you do:

I like to make up the mix and marinate in the morning or the night before for better flavour, but you don’t have to. Use any chicken pieces you like. If you have drumsticks, I put two slashes in the meaty part. It makes the chicken cook quicker and it helps get the flavour into the meat. I like to massage the marinade into the meat with my hands to really get it well coated (and maybe it feels a bit therapeutic as well!). These marinades are good for about 500g – 700g of meat. Any more than that, double the recipe.

At dinner time, just whack your chicken in the oven and while they are cooking, steam some fresh veges or knock together a salad. I use either a pyrex lasagne dish or a rack on a biscuit tray, both uncovered.

How long it will take to cook depends on the cut of chicken you use. I find chicken breast or thigh fillets take about 10-15 minutes and chicken on the bone, about 25-30 minutes. I usually cook it on 200º celsius, as this gives a nice brown, caramelization on the chicken. Baste a few times with the marinade if you like.

I always make extra for lunches the next day. The chicken is really beautiful sliced cold on top of a salad or in a sandwich or wrap. You could also use the extra to put on top of pizzas for the next night’s dinner. Get creative and save yourself time in the kitchen!

Healthy, wholesome food, dead easy!

Sticky Pomegranate Chicken

This one (pictured) is simply 1/2 cup of tomato relish or chutney and 2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses. When I am organized, I make my own tomato relish with rapadura sugar in the thermomix. When I am not, I just use the Macro organic one from Woolworths. Just check the one you use has no numbers! If you can’t get pomegranate molasses, balsamic glaze is also really nice in this recipe. Yes, there is a bit of sugar in these products, but you are only using a little bit and it makes it nice and sticky and appealing to kids. The excess marinade left in the pan also makes a nice little bit of sauce to go over the chicken.

Spicy Yoghurt Chicken

Mix together really well, 1/2 cup of natural, organic greek yoghurt with 1 tablespoon of organic spice blend or 1-2 tablespoons of curry paste. I really like the Five AM brand of yoghurt – there are no fillers or anything artificial added. For spice mix, we like Your Inspiration at Home blends. You could also try the mild curry rub from Artisse Organics or the blends from Gourmet Organic Herbs. If you are clever, make your own blends! I just find that using a blend is easy and it gets used up quickly, rather than having heaps of spices in the pantry.

Use more or less spice, depending on how much your kids like. Or you can make up a very mild batch for them and make an extra-spicy adult batch. I like to cook this one on a rack so the chicken doesn’t go too wet and gloopy, but goes nice and dry and crispy.

Maple Mustard Chicken

This is a beautiful combination – sticky and flavoursome. Just mix 1/2 cup of dijon mustard with 1/4 cup of maple syrup. You can now get organic mustard from the Woolworths Macro range. Always buy real maple syrup, not imitation maple flavoured syrup – it’s loaded with artificial stuff! This recipe is also really tasty if you wrap the chicken pieces in some good quality organic bacon first. Mmmmm yummy. I like to cook this one one a rack too, but you don’t need to!

Okay, so they are just some of the ways we like to jazz up our chicken. I have a few more ideas up my sleeve I will share with you in the coming weeks.

How do you jazz up your chicken? Leave me a comment or a link!

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