KUMPULAN MASTER BLOG

Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken- an easy slow cooker version of the classic Jamaican marinated chicken. Packed full of flavour and delicious served with coconut rice. Jump to Recipe I LOVE Jerk chicken. Love it. I quite often make it as a traybake dish with sweet potatoes and peppers. But, what could be better than coming home, walking in the door and smelling jerk chicken almost ready to serve? That's the joy of this slow cooker recipe- just throw it all in and leave to cook. It has all the traditional jerk herbs and spices, that make that spicy, zesty marinade work so well. I like to use chicken breasts so that, once the chicken is cooked, you can shred it easily through the remaining sauce and use it in a variety of ways- with coconut rice, in sandwiches, over jacket potato and so on. You can easily substitute chicken thighs though, if you prefer to serve it as whole pieces of chicken. Looking for more slow cooker chicken recipes? Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Slow Cooker Spanish Chicken

Slow Cooker Smoky Cauliflower Cheese Soup- Cauliflower soup made in the slow cooker with smoked cheese and Dijon mustard. A delicious winter lunch option. Jump to Recipe I have tended to avoid cauliflower in the past, because I find it a bit of a bland vegetable. The only way I really enjoyed it was when it's slathered in cheese sauce on the side of a roast dinner! So, I thought, why not make a cauliflower cheese soup? It was still a little on the dull side until I used smoked cheese and then, and here's the magic, Dijon mustard. I can't tell you what a huge difference the zing of the Dijon makes. It transforms the whole soup from meh to wow. Gorgeous.

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken- spicy, shredded BBQ chicken made in the slow cooker. Perfect for sandwiches. Jump to recipe I love BBQ flavours, don't you? It's such a relief that you can make BBQ meats in the slow cooker too. It doesn't matter if it rains or shines (usually rain here in the UK), the BBQ food can still go ahead. I have made BBQ Beef in the slow cooker for quite some time and, like this BBQ chicken, it's absolutely delicious in sandwiches. Pop over to the recipe and give it a try. You won't be disappointed. This BBQ chicken recipe packs a bit more punch than the beef as it has added jalapenos. If spicy, spicy isn't your thing, just leave them out and you'll get enough spice from the chilli powder. As with all slow cooker recipes, just whack everything in, leave it to cook and then all you need to do is shred the chicken and put it inside a lovely, soft roll with coleslaw, lettuce, whatever floats your boat!

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce made with Roma Tomatoes- a simple, no fuss, slow cooker recipe to make a delicious tomato and basil sauce with your crop of home-grown Roma tomatoes. We had a bit of a family competition this year to grow Roma tomatoes; one plant each, first to get a red one. It went a bit awry thanks to the UK heatwave though... Plenty of tomatoes all stubbornly staying green! They were hibernating, essentially, due to the very high temperatures. Once it cooled off into normal British temps for August, they finally all started to turn red. I didn't win unfortunately but I'm laying the blame for that firmly at the door of my suntrap, back garden! What to do with a big crop of Roma Tomatoes? Well, Roma are the perfect tomato for making sauces and chutneys because they are 'paste tomatoes' which are quite robust and have fewer seeds than other varieties, helping to make a nice, thick texture. This slow cooker tomato sauce is incredibly easy to make and is a perfec...

Beef Chilli Hash- an easy slow cooker comfort food recipe. Classic Chilli made with big chunks of beef and slow cooked with potato chunks. A one pan, all-in-one meal. We enjoyed the last week's slow cooker bolognese hash so much, that I got thinking about what other spins I could put on that recipe. Beef chilli seemed the perfect candidate so I made Chunky Slow Cooker Beef Chilli Hash. It's a hearty, filling chilli recipe that is perfect to having cooking ready for dinner after a long day at work. I absolutely love chilli over a jacket potato, so cooking the chilli with the potato in the slow cooker just takes one step out of the process. It also means that I don't need the oven or the hob on in these warm summer temperatures. The slow cooker emits very little heat, which is why I am a big fan of using it through the summer. I use mince when I make beef chilli usually, but for this Chunky Beef Chilli Hash, I prefer it chunkier so I used chunks of casserole stewing steak ins...

I spent quite a while coming up with a name for the recipe I'm sharing today- Slow Cooker Bolognese and Potato Hash. In the end my friend came up with the name, when she was visiting last weekend. What do you call something that's essentially a traditional beef bolognese made in the slow cooker with potato? We toyed with Bake, but it's not baked. She suggested hash, which resulted in some pondering about what hash means in the foodie sense. Corned Beef Hash has potato in, and is sort of thrown together, so that must work, right? Let's hope so, because that's what I've gone for! I decided to do a spin on spaghetti bolognese, because it has so much flavour. All that rich sauce- it must surely be a good idea to put potato in it? Excellent comfort food! Beef Bolognese works beautifully in the slow cooker. It allows the sauce to really develop a deep, rich flavour. What you do need to be careful of however, is how much liquid you add. It's tempting to put in as m...

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff- a slow cooker version of the classic, creamy Hungarian stew. Perfect with rice or jacket potatoes. Jump to recipe Last week I made beef stroganoff, something I haven't eaten for years. I had mushrooms leftover in the fridge and was looking for inspiration on what to use them for, when I remembered stroganoff. The first time I ever had it was at a friend's house when I was a teenager and I remember being very worried when they told me that's what we were having. It sounded strange and unfamiliar! I needn't have worried- it was creamy and delicious. Beef Stroganoff is a rich, creamy stew, originally from Russia. The main thing that most people associate with stroganoff is mushrooms, but they weren't in the traditional Russian recipe. It was all about the beef! My slow cooker version of beef stroganoff uses beef stewing steak, onions and mushrooms with beef stock, paprika, thyme and sour cream. I also use a little onion powder but if you d...

Slow Cooker Vegan Chilli- a vegan, gluten free slow cooker chilli with chickpeas, kidney beans, peppers and more. Healthy and full of flavour. Syn free on Slimming World and under 300 calories. Jump to recipe We are still in New Year's Resolutions territory, as it's early January, and our household has decided to reduce our meat consumption a little and see if we can make Meat Free Mondays work for us. I'm happy to eat vegetarian food; there are lots of delicious options and once a week seems achievable, especially as I will need to come up with some new recipes. My first Meat Free Monday vegetarian recipe is Slow Cooker Vegan Chilli. Mondays are often very full on, so quite a few of these recipes might end up being slow cooker ones! This Vegan Chilli is almost identical to a traditional chilli but with chickpeas to replace the beef mince and smoked paprika to really give it a smokey flavour. It's packed full of kidney beans, red pepper, onion and butternut squash, alo...

8 Syn Free Slimming World Recipes- winter comfort food recipes that are either syn free or can be adapted to be syn free. Each recipe is also under 400 calories. We're several steps into the new year now, the kids are back at school, and inevitably a lot of us are thinking about how to get back on track with a healthy diet. New year, new you and all that. The trouble that I have with this, is simple. It's winter and it's dark and it's cold! I want to eat warming, filling, comforting food. Luckily, there are loads of amazingly creative, healthy recipes out there which are exactly that. No need to be eating sad-looking out-of-season lettuce leaves- there's plenty of yummy to go around. I have rounded up eight delicious, filling dinner recipes from fellow food bloggers that are perfect for anyone looking to balance out the Christmas indulgence with some healthy meals. All the meals in this healthy recipe round-up are syn-free on Slimming World, if that's the method...

Happy New Year! Hope 2017 has treated you well.   I have been rootling through my blog statistics for the year, to see what 2017's top ten most popular recipes are. Much like last year, slow cooker recipes feature heavily. Read on to see which recipes made the list, along with some 2017 blog stats. 1. Slow Cooker Leek and Potato Soup Also last year's most popular recipe, it's easy to make and very comforting in winter. My slow cooker leek and potato soup recipe is also the most-visited recipe on the blog ever. 2. Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon This one was also very popular in 2016, but has maintained its popularity consistently over this year. Another winter warmer for your collection. 3. Mini Cheese and Onion Quiches This was a new recipe for 2017 and was popular right from the start. Perfect for buffets and parties, they are little parcels of cheesy deliciousness. 4. Slow Cooker Spanish Chicken This was one of my first recipes and is a bit of a personal favourite. As a bon...

Slow Cooker Vegan Curry- a low calorie,vegan and gluten free curry packed with veg for a filling meal- butternut squash, potato, peppers and chickpeas. It makes a really healthy meal. Low syn on Slimming World and 217 calories. Jump to recipe This week I have been making vegetable curry in my slow cooker. I love everything about having a curry- all the trimmings that are involved. Naan bread in particular is a hot favourite for me. I would rather have curry and Naan than have curry and rice. If you like a really fiery curry, often a vegetable curry is the way to go. The veg absorbs a lot of the heat from the spices and really packs a punch! The advantage of using the slow cooker (apart from the usual bonus of leaving it to do its thing) is that it keeps the curry lower in calories because no curry paste or oil is needed. Add that to the fact that veg and pulses in themselves are packed full of nutrients and protein, and you're on to a winner all round. It's also accidentally...

Slow Cooker Lamb Shoulder- lamb, slow cooked with rosemary, thyme, garlic, potatoes and carrots until it's juicy and falling apart. A delicious alternative to your normal Sunday roast, and a lot less effort for the cook! Jump to recipe Last week, I spotted that Lamb Shoulder was on offer when I was doing my online shopping. I don't cook a lot of lamb but whenever I do eat it, I love it, so I ordered some. When it arrived, I laughed because it was such a tiny, wee cut of lamb shoulder. I had made the classic online food shopping error of not checking the weight- 400g! Oh well, it was the perfect size for two. Lamb shoulder is best slow cooked, until it's soft and juicy and can be pulled apart easily you find will talk about slow cooking it in the oven, but I always prefer the slow cooker. It's more economical and it means I can use my oven for other things at the same time as cooking the meat, if I want to. I tend not to move away from the classic complimentary flavours...

Slow Cooker Beef and Butternut Squash Stew- a lovely autumn stew of beef and butternut squash and flavoured with rosemary and thyme, all cooked in the slow cooker for an easy, no-effort dinner. Syn-free on Slimming World. Jump to recipe Our freezer was looking a bit bare this week and the butternut squash was staring up at me from the potato cupboard, so I started with that and added everything else around it to make this Beef and Butternut Squash Stew. It makes a nice big batch, so you could serve it up to the whole family or freeze some, or use some as a meat pie filling. So many options! You could serve it with potatoes, which is what I do, or throw some pearl barley in with it to add bulk and then serve it as it is. Butternut squash goes with almost everything, and this beef stew is no exception. The butternut squash adds a lovely sweetness to the meatiness of the beef. Definitely one to add to your winter warmers list. Y ou can never have too many 'chuck it all in and leave ...

Slow Cooker Lamb Madras- a spicy slow cooked lamb curry, less than 200 calories. A great alternative to a takeaway and syn-free on Slimming World. Jump to recipe You just can't have enough curry recipes in my opinion, especially slow cooker ones. They help to get the absolute best out of those cheap cuts of meat which absorb all the delicious spices. So with that in mind, I was inspired by a pack of diced lamb that I got on special offer, to do a slow cooked lamb madras. Madras comes in many styles and originates from South India. The name madras for the curry however, is a British invention, like most of the curry names that we know and love. Madras is a red curry with plenty of chilli used to make it hot. It usually has a sour element included such as lime juice or vinegar, and sometimes will have yoghurt added to cool the heat. I used both fresh chillies and chilli powder to make this slow cooker lamb madras and add lime juice for the sour flavour. It thickens up beautifully ...

Well the weather here has certainly turned. Below zero temperatures and even some of the white stuff! The change in temperature had me craving something warm and comforting, so I made a nice big batch of chicken stew in the slow cooker last week. Chicken stew is full of flavour just cooking in its own stock, but I wanted to boost that even more by adding rosemary. Chicken and rosemary are a classic flavour combination- so delicious together. The smell of the rosemary floating up the stairs, while it was cooking during the evening, was torture. I had to close all the doors to stop us from drooling! When we could finally eat it the following evening, it didn't disappoint and the rosemary flavour totally makes it, if I do say so myself! I'm sure that using the slow cooker really helps the depth of that flavour as well. I had made a great big batch, so the rest was swiftly split between plastic containers ready for lunches. I used chicken breasts for the Rosemary Chicken Stew becau...

Happy new Year! The blog has been going for 15 months now and I'm pleased with how far it has come. I can't devote my full-time attention to it and I haven't monetized it, so I am pretty happy with what I have managed to do in the last 12 months. If I am not monetizing it, why am I doing it you might be wondering? Well, it was originally born from wanting to get back into cooking and expanding my recipe repetoire and it still serves that purpose for me. There also does seem to be a market for easy-to-follow recipes and my page visitors are increasing, so, if people are interested in reading, then it's worth carrying on. That's not to say that I have ruled out monetizing it at some point... As 2016 is over, I thought I would do a round up of how things have gone for The Improving Cook Blog- social media followers, popular recipes etc.

Slow Cooker Broccoli Cheese Soup- a slow cooker version of the classic soup recipe, that makes a warm and comforting lunch. It also freezes beautifully. Syn-free on Slimming World and under 300 calories. Jump to recipe Today, I'm sharing a recipe for one of my childhood favourites, broccoli cheese soup. It's the only soup I remember my mum making on a regular basis- enormous saucepans full of broccoli boiling away on the hob with cheddar cheese stirred through. As you know, I am a big fan of making soup in the slow cooker, so I don't have to stand over it, or even check on it regularly. In fact, I can even confidently go out leaving something cooking, which I would never do with a pan on the hob. Broccoli cheese soup works beautifully in the slow cooker. Broccoli, carrot and onion are pretty standard in a broccoli cheese soup, but I also use potato to add some creamy thickness. Many recipes will ask you to make a traditional cheese sauce to add to the soup, but my feelin...