Happy New Year and the first Slow Cooked Challenge of 2015

It's been a year since I got my Slow Cooker for Christmas in 2014 and launched this challenge to learn more about slow cooking and share recipes with other slow cooking fans. So if you got a Slow Cooker as a gift or nabbed one in the sales, please do join in the rules are simple:

• Make your recipe in your Slow Cooker or use other slow cooking method and post a photograph and the recipe, or a link to a recipe, on your blog
• Link to Farmersgirl Kitchen
• Use the Slow Cooked Challenge logo in your post
• If you use twitter, tweet your post with @FarmersgirlCook and #SlowCookedChallenge and I will re-tweet it to my followers AND post your picture on the dedicated Pinterest Board. 

Rules: 

• Please do not publish recipes from cookbooks on your blog without permission, they are copyright.
• If you are using recipes from another website, please link to the recipe on the website rather than publishing the recipe.
• One entry per blog.
• Recipes must be added to the linky by the 28th of each month.

Labels: challenge, Citrus, Cooking, Food, Slow Cooked Challenge, slow cooker

posted by Janice @ 09:00 18 Comments

July Slow Cooker Challenge and a cookbook giveaway

Summer is a time when most people in the UK put their slow cooker away in a cupboard, only to rediscover it sometime about the end of October.  But this is not the case in warmer climes, where the Slow Cooker or Crockpot is seen as the perfect way to cook without literally sweating over a hot stove.  I also think that it's perfect for days out at the beach or the park or even in the garden. as you can  load it up in the morning and head off knowing you will be coming home to a meal you simply have to serve.

Your challenge, for July, is to come up with the perfect SUMMER Slow Cooker meal. Add your link to the InLinkz tool at the bottom of this post.

While I'm here I'm going to tell you about The Slow Cooker Cookbook by Gina Steer




About the Author: GINA STEER is an established and experienced food writer and stylist. After receiving her diploma for Home Economics, she wrote for many leading women’s magazines and was Cookery Editor for a leading women’s weekly publication. She is now a freelance food writer and editor. She has written a number of cookery books and had a regular feature on London’s LBC Radio. She has always been a great lover of hearty, slow cooked meals, ensuring they are accessible to all.

The Slow Cooker Cookbook starts with advice about buying a slow cooker and some tips on food preparation and cooker care. However, this is a short chapter and you are soon into the recipe chapters.

Starters and Sauces contains some really interesting recipes that I am keen to make like Sunburst Soup, Lentil and Squash Broth, Duck Pate, Cheesy Bean Dip and Tangy Tomato Sauce.

Fish and Seafood covers a wide range of different types of fish, I was drawn to Salmon with Sweet Chile Glaze, Scallop, Prawn and Saffron Rice and Tuna with Mango Salsa.

Meat those of you with a slow cooker will know just how good it is at cooking meat, this chapter covers traditional dishes like Braised Beef, Lamb Hot Pot and Braised Lamb Shanks as well as recipes for Lemon Pork with Cumin, Lamb Fillet with Plum Sauce and Sweet and Sour Ham.

I cook at lot of chicken, so am always looking for different ways to cook it, and in the Poultry chapter there are plenty to choose from.  What about Mexican Chicken Drumsticks, Chicken with 40 Garlic Gloves and Chicken Gumbo Supper, other poultry also features including Duck with Cherries, Guinea Hen with Orange Sauce and Turkey Tagine.

In the Vegetable chapter there are plenty of meat free dishes to enjoy including Stuffed Peppers, Warm Bean and Pumpkin Salad, Stuffed Acorn Squash and Spicy Vegetables with Coconut.

I have still to make any Desserts in my Slow Cooker, I think the first might just come from this book.  I'm finding it hard to resist Sticky Date and Toffee Bake, Maple Syrup Dessert and Gingerbread.

The Slow Cooker Cookbook
Gina Steer
Apple Press RRP £9.99

If you like a chance to WIN this book, enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway by leaving a comment and following the instructions.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Labels: #review, Apple Press, cookbook, Cooking, Food, Gina Steer, giveaway, slow cooker, Slow Cooker Challenge

posted by Janice @ 06:30 19 Comments

Win Edinburgh Book Festival Tickets

I have two tickets to give away for a children's foraging and cooking session on Monday 12th August at the Edinburgh Book Festival, with Fi Bird of The Forager's Kitchen. 

Read my REVIEW of the Forager's Kitchen with recipe for New Potatoes in Ramps and Lemon  I also made Honeysuckle Syrup from the book and it features in  Poached Apricots with Honeysuckle Syrup.

Fi Bird is a graduate of St Andrew's university, mother of six and a past Masterchef finalist who has always had a passion for cooking. She is self-taught, with an approach to food based on knowledge of tight budgets and limited time. Campaigning for healthier diets and for cookery teaching at Primary schools, she writes articles and recipes extensively for newspapers and magazines. She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers, and also develops recipes for Tern TV.

Fi and Dr Stephen Bird are the founders of Stirrin'Stuff, which works in partnerships to educate children about food. Stirrin'Stuff is committed to sustainable development and ethical best practice. Dr Bird has recently completed a course in human nutrition. In May 2008 Matthew Fort wrote that "Fi acts like a frontier food marshal. She gallops from school to school, from community to community, bringing with her experience, passion and boundless enthusiasm." when reviewing the campaign for his Round Britian with a fork column in the Guardian Food Magazine.

Here are the details of the cookery session:

Foraging for Food with Fi Bird

Create culinary delights with expert forager and cook Fi Bird. Whether you live in a large city, in open countryside or by the coast, there are plenty of delicious ingredients growing in the wild. And once you have brought your bounty home, Fi has hundreds of recipes you can use. Tasty treats await!


How to enter the Giveaway

Just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget below.  The prize winner will be contacted by email on Friday 9th August.  I will not publish the name of the winner until after the event but will pass on the name of the winner to Fi Bird to ensure entry to the event.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was not paid to run this giveaway, all opinions are my own. 

Labels: children, Cooking, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Book Festival, Fi Bird, foraging, giveaway, win

posted by Janice @ 13:33 1 Comments

I love food!

Yes, I really love food and lots of different food. Just as well I like cooking too!

I'm going to share some of my favourite recipes here and tell you all about what I am cooking and eating. Maybe some cookery book reviews too, I have too many cookbooks and have a tendency to do too much reading and not enough cooking.

Janice

Labels: Book Reviews, Cooking, Food

posted by Janice @ 15:06 0 Comments